FR2873660A1 - Spacer panel for stacked layers of gable-top containers has flat upper surface and underside with projections shaped to fit between container tops - Google Patents

Abstract

The spacer panel (1), made from an injection-moulded plastic, consists of a core, a flat upper surface to receive the flat bases of a layer of gable top containers, and an under surface (50) with a series of projections (90) in parallel rows (91). The projections have sloping surfaces (92, 94) so that inverted V-shaped recesses are formed between adjacent rows to receive the sloping upper surfaces of gable top containers. Gaps between the rows of projections receive the joined edges of the container tops, and recesses can be included to receive projecting pourers or other accessories.

Description

HANDLING TRAY FOR STACKING

LAYERED PACKAGINGS

  The invention relates generally to an intermediate handling plate for stacking the packaging of a product in successive layers.

  Currently, there are few solutions for stacking on top of each other several layers of non-planar and non-superimposable top form packaging, such as gable top packaging (pinion top) in English terminology). These packages, containing various kinds of fluid products, such as fruit juice or milk or various kinds of dry products such as sugar, cereals, etc. are typically made of sealed cardboard and have the shape of a parallelepiped square base or rectangle terminated by a roof-shaped top with a vertically set crimped tab.

  Given the particular shape of these packages, and more specifically the top roof-shaped, it is complex to stack several layers on each other without crushing the cardboard, especially at the roof and the tongue.

  Or it is desirable that these packages are in perfect condition during handling, during transport on pallet and especially for their presentation in the store, including the head of gondola in a large area. Indeed, if for example a corner where the tongue is crushed (e) during the production of the superimposed layers, this may generate a significant risk of destruction of the package by deformation or explosion, and therefore the leakage of the fluid. Moreover, from an economic point of view, presenting a product in a deformed packaging is detrimental to sales, as customers are a priori not attracted by packaging in poor condition.

  Among the existing solutions, the patent FR 2 486 496 describes an intermediate basket having transversely elongated lower protuberances provided with two slopes on either side making it possible to adapt geometrically to the two-piece top gable top packing tops. The packages are thus placed side by side in line, resting at their respective bases on the substantially flat upper part of a lower basket. An upper basket is then placed on this layer of aligned packages, so that the slopes of two adjacent transverse protuberances fit perfectly to the sides of all packaging on which they rest.

  One of the drawbacks of this solution lies in the fact that it is impossible to produce layers of packaging having a stopper on one of the inclined faces of their top as soon as the basket is supported on all the sections of each packaging. Furthermore, the overall height of this intermediate basket is particularly important. In addition, the nesting of empty baskets on each other is inconvenient because it occupies a lot of space lost in stacking height, which is a major drawback for their storage. Finally, these baskets require a lot of material, a molding because of their complexity of form and a particularly expensive process.

  To solve these problems, the present invention proposes to make a spacer plate for stacking gable top packaging layers that rests only partially on the inclined faces of the roof form of said packaging.

  More specifically, the invention relates to an intermediate handling plate for stacking top-top gable top packaging layers, comprising a core, a substantially planar upper face adapted to support said and a honeycomb bottom face. provided with a plurality of support pads distributed in parallel lines and rows. Each bearing pad has two opposite inclined faces joining one edge so that the inclined faces facing two adjacent pads of the same line forming a recessed housing in the form of a roof, in which may rest partially the vertices of two adjacent packages, the adjacent support pads of the same row being sufficiently spaced from each other by a concavity adapted to accommodate at least one conditioning accessory disposed on a part of its top, when said intermediate plate rests on a layer at the level of the inclined faces of the support pads. The accessory may be a pouring plug of the product, a vacuum valve, or any decorative element in elevation by a section of the packaging.

  According to preferred embodiments of the present invention: - the bearing pads are identical and regularly in a repeating pattern, so that a first set of inclined faces has a common inclination and a second set of opposite inclined faces has a common inclination; each hollow housing, as well as each pair of inclined faces, forms an angle of approximately 120; the upper face is delimited by at least one peripheral edge, in particular by two upper lateral peripheral edges and an upper longitudinal peripheral edge; - The plate further comprises centering means and translational stop to maintain in place, and vertically aligned with each other, at least two identical spacer trays stacked one on the other, - advantageously, the centering means and abutment comprise at least one notch made on at least one lateral upper peripheral edge and a protrusion formed under the plate, so that the protrusion of a first intermediate plate cooperates with the notch of a second lower intermediate plate when the two interposed plates are stacked vertically one on the other, - each lateral upper peripheral edge is provided with a pair of notches and the lower face is delimited by two lateral lower peripheral edges each provided with a pair of protuberances, each protrusion being arranged in alignment with a corresponding notch so as to cooperate in be they.

  - The centering and abutment means further comprise V-shaped cutouts made in a longitudinal upper peripheral edge cooperating with teeth of corresponding shape formed under the plate, in a longitudinal lower peripheral edge, so that the teeth of a first intermediate plate cooperate with the cutouts of a second lower intermediate plate when the two intermediate plates are stacked vertically one on the other. Thus, the height of a stack of n identical spacer trays is less than n times the thickness of a tray.

  Preferably, the teeth and the V-shaped cuts each form an angle of about 120. The plate is made of injection-moldable plastic such as expanded polystyrene with a density of between 20 and 40 g / l, preferably 30 g / l. - Two support pads of the same line are spaced by a groove, in particular to receive a crimped tongue of the top of a package, - each groove has a conical section tapering from the inclined faces up to to the core of the plate, the depth of the groove is such that there is a clearance of about 2 to 4 mm between the end of the crimped tongue and the bottom of said groove.

  Other features, details and advantages of the invention will become apparent on reading the description which follows, made with reference to the appended drawings given by way of example and which represent respectively: FIG. 1, an isometric perspective view of above an intermediate plate according to the present invention, - Figure 2, an isometric perspective view from below the intermediate plate, - Figure 3, a bottom view of the intermediate plate, Figure 4, a side view of the 5, a sectional view along line AA of FIG. 3, FIG. 6, a sectional view along line CC of FIG. 3, FIG. 7, a detail view B of FIG. FIG. 5, - figure 8, another detail view D of figure 5, figure 9, a detail view E of figure 6, - figure 10, a partial side view of a stack of two. identical spacer trays; FIG. 11 is a sectional detail view a plurality of gable top packages arranged in layers between a first and a second spacer plate, between a second and a third spacer plate and on the third plate, - Figure 12 is a detail view F of Figure 11, and - Figure 13 is a similar detail view Figure 8 with the top of a package.

  Figure 1 shows a spacer plate 1 according to the present invention. This plate is provided on the one hand to receive a gable top packaging layer (see Figure 11), that is to say parallelepiped shape with a roof-shaped top, and secondly to rest on a layer of identical packages to serve as a separator between two superposed layers of packaging.

  For this purpose, the intermediate plate 1 is preferably made in one piece of lightweight plastic material and injection moldable, such as expanded polystyrene density substantially equal to 30 g / l. According to the embodiment described, the intermediate plate 1 externally has the dimensions of a standard half-pallet, that is to say 800 mm long and 600 mm wide.

  For this purpose, the intermediate plate 1 comprises a solid core 5 and a substantially flat upper face 10 defining a receiving zone for a plurality of identical gable top packages. The upper face 10 is delimited by two upper lateral peripheral edges 20 and 30 and by a longitudinal upper peripheral edge 40. These borders 20, 30 and 40 make it possible in particular to limit the translation of the packages when they are placed on the upper face. The last side of the upper face 10 has no border so that it is possible to form a continuous flat surface of 1200 mm by 800 mm when two identical spacer plates 1 are placed end to end head to tail, this corresponding surface to that of a full standardized pallet.

  As shown in particular in FIG. 2, the intermediate plate 1 furthermore has a honeycombed lower face 50 delimited by two lateral lower peripheral edges 60 and 70 and a longitudinal lower peripheral edge 80. The lower peripheral edges 60, 70 and 80 are respectively located in the extension of the upper peripheral edges 20, 30 and 40.

  The upper side peripheral edges 20 and 30 are each provided with a pair of notches 22 and 32 and the lower side peripheral edges 60 and 70 are each provided with a pair of protuberances 62 and 72 to form with the notches 22. and 32, means 25 for centering and abutment in translation. Indeed, the protuberances 22 and 32 fit perfectly into the notches 62 and 72 when two identical spacer trays 1 are stacked one on the other, as shown in particular in FIG. the dimensions given to the shapes, these teeth make it possible to maintain the flatness of the intermediate plates and thus avoid their deformations in time by bending during stack storage.

  Furthermore, the longitudinal upper peripheral edge 40 has V-shaped cutouts 42 of substantially equal angle 120, and the longitudinal lower peripheral edge 80 has teeth 82 of complementary shape, that is to say forming an angle of 120 also. Thus, when two intermediate plates 1 are stacked one above the other, the teeth 82 are inserted into the cutouts 42 so as to form other centering and abutment means of the stack of intermediate plates thus formed, as shown in Figure 10.

  Thus, when no packaging is placed on the intermediate plate 1, it is possible to stack a large amount of trays on each other to save space, especially for storage at the manufacturer, for their transport and their delivery to a customer, or in-store, after removal of a layer of packaging.

  It is therefore simple and practical to create an almost perfect stack of several interposed trays 1 superimposed without it collapses bending because the centering keeps the trays aligned with each other. In addition, due to the perfect embedding provided between the notches and protuberances as well as between the cutouts and the teeth, a stack of n intermediate plates 1 is less than n times the height of each interposer plate taken individually. Thanks to this optimization of the compactness of the battery, the gain in place is important and particularly advantageous in terms of cost of handling and transport.

  In order to be able to rest on the two inclined faces 110 of the top 105 of each packing 100 of the gable top type, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the honeycombed bottom face 50 of the intermediate plate 1 comprises a plurality of distributed identical bearing blocks 90 and spaced apart from each other in a regular pattern. Thus, the support pads 90 are arranged side by side along lines 91 parallel to the largest dimension of the plate 1, that is to say parallel to the longitudinal peripheral edges 40 and 80. The dimensions of the intermediate plate 1 are provided for there to be eight lines 91 of support pads 90.

  Each bearing block 90 has a roof-shaped top defined by two inclined faces 92 and 94 joining in a stop 95. As can be seen in FIGS. 4, 6, 9 and 11, two inclined faces 92 and 94 of FIG. two adjacent studs 90 of the same line 91 thus form a hollow housing 96 also in the form of a roof forming an angle of approximately 120 approximately, that is to say an angle identical to that formed by the inclined faces 110 of the packaging 100.

  A groove 97 is also provided between two adjacent studs 90 of the same line 91, below and in extension of the hollow housing 96, as can be seen more particularly in FIGS. 4 and 9. This groove 97 presents, in section, a cone shape tapering from the inclined faces 92 and 94 which borders it towards the core 5 of the intermediate plate 1.

  Typically, the groove 97 measures substantially 20 mm in width in its largest section from the sloping sides 92 or 94, 12 mm wide at the bottom near the core 5, and about 30 mm from the bottom. top 95 of the pads 90. The longitudinal distance between the middle of two grooves 97 is about 74 mm. Each bearing pad 90 has a width of about 30 mm (see FIGS. 5 and 7 in particular), a length of about 62 mm at the base, that is to say measured at the bottom of two consecutive grooves 97. and a length of about 54 mm from the inclined faces 92 and 94.

  As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the groove 97 is intended to receive a crimped tongue 108 of the top 105 of a gable-top-type package 100, and its depth is therefore intended to leave a clearance of at least 2 4 mm between the bottom of the groove 97 and the edge 109 of the tongue 108 to prevent said tongue bends and is damaged when the different layers of packaging are superimposed. The slope of the grooves 97 furthermore makes it possible to guide said tongue 108 towards each corresponding groove 97 when placing an intermediate plate 1 over a layer of packages 100.

  A concavity 98 is also arranged between two adjacent studs 90 of two parallel lines 91, so that there is discontinuity of the support pads 90 both along the lines 91, because of the grooves 97, but also perpendicularly to these lines 91, contrary to the prior art. This concavity 98, larger than the groove 97, is visible in more detail in FIGS. 7, 8 and 13. It is a rounded hollow having a width of approximately 44.5 mm, a substantially equal length at 74.5 mm and a hollow bottom radius of about 17.5 mm. The longitudinal distance between the middle of two concavities 98 is about 74.5 mm.

  Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 11, the shape of the support pads 90 makes it possible for an intermediate plate 1 to rest on the inclined faces 110 of each package. In particular, taking into account the dimensions of the intermediate plate 1, in particular studs and voids 97 and 98, and considering that the plate described is adapted to receive 8 rows of 10 Gable Top type packs 70 x 70 mm section, each pan inclined 110 of a package rests on two inclined faces 92 or 94 of two adjacent pads of the same line. In this case, the width of a pad being about 30 mm, each inclined section 110 of the package 100 rests on both sides on two strips of 15 mm width, four support planes having a sufficiently large surface to ensure good seating, good plateau stability, good weight distribution, and good centering, which avoids damage packaging.

  Because of the discontinuity between two adjacent support pads 90 of two adjacent lines, each concavity 98 can accommodate an accessory 115 of the package 100 attached to one and / or the other of its inclined faces. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, a closure and pouring plug 115 sealed on a panel 110 of the package 100 can fit into the concavity 98 without this preventing or disturbing the contact between the inclined faces 110 of the package and the inclined faces 92 and 94 of the bearing pads 90. The concavity 98 is also dimensioned to receive plugs having relatively large dimensions both in diameter and height as can be seen more particularly in FIG. 13.

  Thus, thanks to the intermediate plate 1 of the present invention, it is particularly easy and convenient to stack several layers of cardboard packaging gable top type provided for example with a cap, which was impossible with the devices of the prior art.

  It should be understood, however, that the detailed description, given solely by way of illustration of the subject of the invention, in no way constitutes a limitation, the technical equivalents also being included in the scope of the present invention.

  Thus, it is possible to adapt the various dimensions of the intermediate plate (height / width / length of the pads, spacing of the pads in both directions, angle of inclination of the panels ....) to different types or dimensions of packaging Gable Top, or even adapt them to other vertical packs with caps that are complex to stack without risk of crushing.

  The overall dimensions of the intermediate plate, that is to say its size, can also be modified and for example correspond to a standardized pallet measuring 1200 x 800 mm or 1200 to 1000 mm.

  The plug can be more or less wide and high than that shown, the dimensions of the voids 98 provided for this purpose between the pads 90 can of course be adapted accordingly even if those described in connection with the embodiment shown allow already significant room for maneuver.

  Similarly, the cap can be replaced by other accessories such as a spout, a handle, hinged or not and folding or not on one of the inclined faces of the roof of the package. It is even conceivable to provide each of the two inclined faces of the roof of the package with a cap, for example a small flow cap and a larger flow cap.

  The intermediate plate is provided for a stack of 4 to 5 layers of packaging such as those described, but it is possible to reduce or increase the number of layers if necessary.

  The material used is preferably an expanded polystyrene with a density of between approximately 20 and 40 g / l, preferably 30 g / l, but it may be replaced by other injection moldable plastic materials, such as polypropylene or polyethylene. high or low density, polyester, or corrugated cardboard with single or double layers or a stamped metal sheet.

  It is possible to provide the interposer tray with decorative patterns, to choose a material other than white, to advertise on the slices or to add a traceability device such as a barcode or tracking chip.

  The infill platform design and its logistical definitions have also been designed to allow mechanized and automated packaging of palletized pallet loading operations using a special machine adapted to this function.

Claims (16)

  Interleaving handling tray (1) for stacking top-top gable top layers (100) comprising a web (5), a substantially planar upper surface (10) adapted to support said packages and a honeycombed underside (50) provided with a plurality of support pads, characterized in that the pads (90) are distributed in parallel lines and rows (91), each support pad (90) having two inclined faces opposing (92, 94) joining at an edge (95), in that the inclined faces (92; 94) facing two adjacent studs (90) of the same line (91) form a hollow recess (96) in the form of a roof in which the vertices of two adjacent packages can partially rest, and in that the adjacent support pads (90) of the same row are sufficiently spaced from each other by a concavity (98) adapted to accommodate at least one accessory (115) for conditioning (100) arranged on a pan vertex, when said intermediate plate (1) rests on a layer (100) at the inclined faces (92, 94) of the support pads (90).   2. Interlayer tray according to claim 1, wherein the bearing pads (90) are identical and regularly distributed in a repeating pattern.   An intermediate tray according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hollow housing (96) forms with each pair of inclined faces (92, 94) an angle of about 120.   4. Interlayer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the upper face (10) is delimited by at least one peripheral edge (20; 30; 40).   An intermediate tray according to claim 4, wherein the upper face is delimited by two upper lateral peripheral edges (20, 30) and a longitudinal upper peripheral edge (40).   6. Interlayer tray according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means (25) for centering and abutment in translation to maintain in place, and vertically aligned with each other, at least two intermediate trays. (1) identical stacked one on the other.   An intermediate tray according to claims 4 or 5 and 6, wherein the centering and abutment means (25) comprise at least one notch (22; 32) formed on at least one lateral upper peripheral edge (20; 30). and a protuberance (62; 72) formed under the plate (1), so that the protuberance (62; 72) of a first spacer plate (1) cooperates with the notch (22; 32) of a second plate interlayer (1) lower when the two intermediate plates (1) are stacked vertically one on the other.   An intermediate tray according to claim 7, wherein each lateral upper peripheral edge (20, 30) is provided with a pair of notches (22, 32) and the lower face (50) is delimited by two lateral lower peripheral edges. (60, 70) each provided with a pair of protuberances (62, 72), each protuberance (62, 72) being aligned with a corresponding notch (22, 32) so as to cooperate with each other.   An intermediate tray according to any one of claims 4 or 5 and 6 to 8, wherein the centering and abutment means (25) further comprise V-shaped cutouts (42) formed in a longitudinal upper peripheral edge. (40) cooperating with teeth (82) of corresponding shape formed under the plate, in a longitudinal lower peripheral edge (80), so that the teeth (82) of a first intermediate plate (1) cooperate with the cuts ( 42) of a second lower intermediate plate (1) when the two intermediate plates (1) are stacked vertically one on the other.   An intermediate tray according to claim 9, wherein the V-shaped teeth (82) and cutouts (42) each form an angle of about 120.   11. Interlayer tray according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is made of injection moldable plastic such as expanded polystyrene density between 20 and 40 g / l, preferably 30 g / l.   12. Interlayer tray according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein two support pads (90) of the same line (91) are spaced by a groove (97), in particular to receive a crimped tab (108). from the top (105) of a package (100).   Intermediate tray according to claim 12, wherein each groove (97) has a tapered section tapering from the inclined faces (92, 94) to the core (5) of the tray (1). .   The intermediate tray according to claim 13, wherein the depth of the groove (97) is such that there is a clearance of about 2 to 4 mm between the rim (109) of the crimped tongue (108) and the bottom of said groove (97).   15. Interlayer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the concavity has a rounded section and a greater width than that of a support pad.   16. An assembly comprising at least one packing (100) of gable top type having an apex (105) with sloped sides (110) to 120 and an intermediate plate (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the intermediate plate (1) is in contact with the inclined faces (110) of the package at four portions of inclined faces (92, 94) belonging to four adjacent bearing pads (90).