EP1951582B1

EP1951582B1 - A collapsible box

Info

Publication number: EP1951582B1
Application number: EP06824550A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dan Molander
Original assignee: Molander TECH AB
Current assignee: Molander TECH AB
Priority date: 2005-11-21
Filing date: 2006-11-16
Publication date: 2011-04-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-16
Also published as: EP1951582A4; EP1951582A1; DE602006021455D1; WO2007058613A1; SE529476C2; ATE506268T1; SE0502537L

Abstract

A collapsible box comprises a bottom (1), two long- side walls (2) and two short-side walls (3). All walls are inwardly foldably attached to the bottom. Each short-side wall has two end flaps (3´), which serve for releasable connection to the respective long-side walls and are foldably connected to its short-side wall by a hinge (10) substantially perpendicular to the attachment to the bottom. The hinge (10) is positioned in the short-side wall a short distance from the end flap (3´), and the end flap has a very short flap portion (3A), which is substantially perpendicular thereto and forms a part of the short-side wall (3), when the end flap is in the folded-up position.

Description

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a collapsible box, comprising a bottom, two long-side walls and two short-side walls, wherein all walls are inwardly foldably attached to the bottom and each short-side wall has two end flaps, which serve for releasable connection to the respective long-side walls and are foldably connected to its short-side wall by a hinge substantially perpendicular to the attachment to the bottom. A container of this type is known from WO00/68101 A .

Background of the Invention

It is customary to pack goods, for example clothes, in boxes for later transport on for example pallets in standard containers. A common material for such boxes is corrugated cardboard, and such boxes are often only used once and then discarded.
A better solution is in many instances to employ plastic boxes, which may be used several times. An advantageous volume utilization is obtained if the boxes when empty and returned for new loading or when stored are collapsed, i e that the walls are folded down against the bottom and each other. It is desired to fold down and stack the walls as effectively as possible for obtaining a collapsed box with a minimum height.
When the short-side walls are provided with end flaps, provided with connection means with the long-side walls to form a rigid box, as in this case, it will be difficult to fold down all walls on top of each other without special measures. End flaps are known from WO 93/24378A

The Invention

This problem is according to the invention solved in that the hinge is positioned in the short-side wall a short distance from the end flap and in that the end flap has a very short flap portion, which is substantially perpendicular thereto and forms a part of the short-side wall, when the end flap is in the folded-up position.
When the flaps are folded in at the hinges, the width of the short-side wall will be decreased by the width of the flap portions, so that the short-side wall may easily be folded down inside and under the long-side walls. The flap portions will on the other hand add somewhat to the height of the box in collapsed condition.
The hinge has preferably the form of a longitudinal notch in the common material of the short-side wall and its end flap.
In a preferred embodiment the long-side walls and the short-side walls are attached to the bottom by snap-locking means. In a practical case the long-side walls and the short-side walls are provided at their lower edges with tongue-shaped protrusions with conical extensions for snap-locking cooperation with corresponding openings in beads around the periphery of the bottom.
These beads extend upwards from the bottom and make the above described folding provisions for the short-side walls even more necessary.
Means may preferably be provided for preventing the walls from folding-up substantially over 90° in relation to the bottom. This may in a practical case be attained in that each wall has a shoulder for cooperation with an outer shoulder of the bead.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described in further detail below under reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig 1 is a perspective, exploded view of different members forming a collapsible box according to the invention,
Fig 2 is a perspective view of one of the members belonging to the collapsible box as shown in Fig 1 but with a portion folded,
Fig 3 is a perspective view of a box according to the invention in an early stage of being collapsed,
Fig 4 is a perspective view of a box according to the invention in a later stage of being collapsed and with a cover to be put on the collapsed box,
Fig 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a collapsed box with cover,
Fig 6 is a detail view of a hinge portion of a member of the box, and
Fig 7 is a perspective view from within of a corner portion of a folded-up box according to the invention.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

A collapsible box according to the invention comprises a number of members, namely a bottom 1, two long-side walls 2, and two short-side walls 3. Optionally and preferably, the box may also comprise a cover 4. All these members are manufactured, preferably by injection moulding, from a suitable plastic material, preferably polypropylene.
The long-side walls 2 and the short-side walls 3 may initially be snap-locked to the edge areas of the bottom 1 (and are not intended normally to be dismantled again during the use of the box) by being provided with protrusions at their lower ends for snap-locking engagement with corresponding openings in the bottom 1 in a way to be further described under reference to Fig 5.
Each short-side wall 3 is provided with two end flaps 3' for connection to the respective long-side wall 2 by suitable, releasable connection means 5 to be described below, most clearly with reference to Fig 7. In an assembled condition, the short-side wall end flaps 3' are positioned inwardly of the long-side walls 2.
The short-side walls 3 may be provided with handle openings 6. In principle, also the long-side walls 2 could be provided with such openings.
Fig 2 illustrates that the end flaps 3' may be folded-in to a position in parallel with the short-side wall 3.
Fig 3 illustrates that when not connected to the long-side walls 2 by the connection means 5, the short-side walls 3 (with the end flaps 3' folded-in) can be folded down to the bottom, whereupon - as illustrated in Fig 4 - the long-side walls 2 can be folded down on the short-side walls 3. As a final step the cover 4 may be put on top of the long-side walls 2, which are the uppermost members of the folded-down or collapsed box.
Fig 5 is a transverse cross-section through an end region of a fully collapsed box, i e the cross-section shows a long-side edge of the bottom. Visible in full lines in Fig 5 are the bottom 1, a short-side wall 3 with a folded-in end flap 3', a long side-wall 2, attached to the bottom 1 and provided with a connecting member 7, and the cover 4.
The cover 4 preferably consists of a flat member having a length and width generally corresponding to the length and width of the bottom 1 and provided with a transverse, circumferential brim 4'. The height of this brim 4' shall preferably not be much greater than the total thickness of the bottom 1 and the walls 2 and 3 in the collapsed condition, so that the cover 4 does not unnecessarily add to the total thickness or height of the collapsed box.
As has already been stated, each side wall 2 and 3 is at its lower edge provided with protrusions 8 for snap-locking engagement with corresponding openings in a circumferential bead 9 around the bottom 1. Each tongue-shaped protrusion 8 is provided with a lower, conical extension to be snap-lockingly engaged with a lower bead shoulder below the bead opening. The protrusions 8 and the openings in the beads 9 may together be called snap-locking means.
The bead 9 around the bottom 1 has an outer shoulder 9A at a somewhat greater height than an inner shoulder 9B. The long-side wall 2 is folded down over the lower inner shoulder 9B, as is shown in full lines in Fig 5. The long-side wall 2 is provided with a shoulder 2A for supporting engagement with the outer bead shoulder 9A, when the long-side wall 2 is in folded-up position, as is shown in dashed lines in Fig 5. Hereby, the long-side wall 2 is prevented from being folded outwards. The outer surface of the long-side wall 2 may preferably be substantially in line with the external side surface of the bottom bead 9, as is shown in Fig 5.
What has been said in the preceding paragraph about the shown long-side wall 2 is valid also for the other long-side wall 2 and for the short-side walls 3 of the box.
It appears from the earlier description and is clearly shown in Fig 5 that the short side wall 3 (with its end flaps 3' folded-in under it) is below the long-side wall 2. This is mainly accomplished by a suitable height of the inner bead shoulder 9B for the short-side wall 3 in relation to that of the long-side wall 2.
It is an important object of the invention to accomplish a box which in a folded condition has an external bottom dimension not exceeding the dimension of the bottom 1 and a minimum height. When folded up, ready for use, the usable dimensions of the box shall be as large as possible, and the end flaps 3' of the short-side walls 3 shall be flush with the long-side walls 2. In order to accomplish this, the following design is used.
A hinge 10 between the short-side wall 3 and its respective end flap 3' is comprised of a notch in the wall material, so that these two members are integral with each other. This hinge is positioned not exactly at the junction line between these two members, but the end flap 3' has a very short flap portion 3A substantially perpendicular to the flap 3', so that the hinge 10 is actually positioned in the short-side wall 3 a short distance from the flap 3'. This means that the short-side wall 3 - after the end flaps 3' have been folded-in - no longer has its full width and accordingly can be folded-down and go inside the bottom beads 9 and under the long-side walls 2, as shown in Fig 5 and others.
Each connection means 5 between a long-side wall 2 and an end flap 3' can have the following practical design. As earlier said, each long-side wall 2 is towards each end provided with a connecting member 7, which is punched out and permanently pressed out from the wall material to a certain extent. A corresponding opening 11 is punched out of each end flap 3' at a location for cooperating with the connecting member 7. The connection means 5 is best shown in Fig 7.
The connecting member 7 can be introduced in the opening 11, and a tongue 12 of the connecting member 7 can spring up and lockingly come to rest against a locking edge 13 of the opening 11.
After manually pushing down the tongue 12 from engagement with the locking edge 13, the connecting member 7 can be pulled out of the opening 11 for removing the connection between a long-side wall 2 and an end flap 3'.
As shown in Fig 7, a head 14 may be attached to the bead 9 for keeping the lower portion of each end flap 3' against the long-side wall 2 in the assembled condition.
When an assembled box is to be collapsed after use and ready for storage or transport, for example to a remote location for loading with new goods, the connection means 5 are first disconnected. Then, the end flaps 3' are folded in and the short-side walls 3 folded down flatly on the bottom 1, as is illustrated in Fig 3. The long-side walls 2 can then be folded down on the short-side walls 3, whereupon the cover 4 can be placed on top of the collapsed box, as is illustrated in Fig 4.
In order to fit into international standard sizes for pallets and containers, the box can have a bottom dimension of for example 800x600 mm or 600x400 mm. If it is desired to obtain an optimal height in collapsed condition without any overlapping of the long-side walls 2, the height of the box can be 290 mm in the first case and 190 mm in the second case.
It has proven suitable to manufacture the bottom 1 with a material thickness of 2.5 mm, whereas the side walls 2 and 3 may have a slightly lower thickness. Under these circumstances it is possible to obtain an optimal height of 18 mm for the collapsed box including cover 4.
Other considerations may lead to the choice of for example a height of 360 mm for the side walls 2 and 3. In that case the long-side walls 2 will overlap in the collapsed condition of the box, which leads to a slightly greater height in collapsed condition.

Claims

A collapsible box, comprising a bottom (1), two long-side walls (2) and two short-side walls (3), wherein all walls are inwardly foldably attached to the bottom and each short-side wall has two end flaps (3'), which serve for releasable connection to the respective long-side walls and are foldably connected to its short-side wall by a hinge (10) substantially perpendicular to the attachment to the bottom, characterized in that the hinge (10) is positioned in the short-side wall a short distance from the end flap (3') and in that the end flap has a very short flap portion (3A), which is substantially perpendicular thereto and forms a part of the short-side wall (3), when the end flap is in the folded-up position.
A box according to claim 1, wherein the hinge (10) has the form of a longitudinal notch in the common material of the short-side wall (3) and its end flap (3').
A box according to claim 1, wherein a releasable connection means (5) in the form of a connecting member (7) with a tongue (12) of the long-side wall (2) and an opening (11) with a locking edge (13) of the end flap (3') is provided for releasably connecting the end flap to the long-side wall.
A box according to claim 1, wherein the long-side walls (2) and the short-side walls (3) are attached to the bottom (1) by snap-locking means (8, 9).
A box according to claim 4, wherein the long-side walls (2) and the short-side walls (3) are provided at their lower edges with tongue-shaped protrusions (8) with conical extensions for snap-locking cooperation with corresponding openings in beads (9) around the periphery of the bottom (1).
A box according to claim 5, wherein means (2A, 9A) are provided for preventing the walls (2, 3) from folding-up substantially over 90° in relation to the bottom (1).
A box according to claim 6, wherein each wall (2, 3) has a shoulder (2A) for cooperation with an outer shoulder (9A) of the bead (9).
A box according to claim 1, wherein a cover (4) with a circumferential brim (4') has dimensions corresponding to the dimensions of the bottom (1) and is intended to be positioned either on a folded-up or collapsed box.