GB2300853A

GB2300853A - Packaging

Info

Publication number: GB2300853A
Application number: GB9610299A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Morgan
Original assignee: United Biscuits Ltd
Current assignee: United Biscuits Ltd
Priority date: 1995-05-18
Filing date: 1996-05-16
Publication date: 1996-11-20
Also published as: GB9510033D0; GB9610299D0

Abstract

A container has a corner portion divided from the remainder of the container by a line of weakening 10 whereby, if the container is severed along the line of weakening 10, the corner portion may be removed from the remainder of the container.

Description

ImProvements in and relating to ackaaina The present invention relates to containers for storing a multiplicity of individual items and in particular to containers having means for permitting access to be obtained to the interior of the box for removal of one or more of the items at a time.

It has previously been known to provide an aperture in a wall of a container through which a hand may be inserted to withdraw an article within the container.

Such containers, which are generally of cardboard, are, for example, used to hold snack products which are packed in bags, a multiplicity of the bags being contained within a said container. The containers are used, for example, in shops or bars where the snack products are sold by the packet. The closed containers are delivered to the shop or bar and an aperture is made in a wall either by removal of a piece of the wall enclosed by perforations previously provided in the wall or by cutting out a portion of the wall using a sharp implement. Individual packets of the product may then be removed through the aperture until the container is empty, when the container may be replaced by a full container, in which an aperture is similarly formed.

It is also known to provide in a container a removable portion which includes portions of first + second adjacent walls, the removable portidn, ~us1*- including a substantial proportion of an edge of the box.

It has been found, however, that in those known structures the strength of the container may be reduced significantly as compared with boxes in which no such removable portion is provided. That can be a significant disadvantage, as it is often the case that a number of the containers are stacked one above the other, in order to permit the user to choose one of a number of different articles. For example, each container in the stack may contain a different flavoured snack product.

The weakening may also be a disadvantage during manufacture and erection of the container. That is especially so where automatic erectors are used, as the containers are subjected to considerable forces during erection by such machines and may become torn or damaged.

In general, automatic erection and handling machinery used in erection of packing and handling of containers engages the containers at a central region of a wall. In the previously known containers having a removable portion in one wall, it is not uncommon for the removable portion to be torn accidentally during the erection operation or during handling of the packed container.

Further, the containers are in some cases moved by means of suction devices which apply suction to a wall of the container enabling the container to be pulled to the desired position. Such devices do not always operate satisfactorily if the suction device is applied over a perforated portion, and that may be difficult to avoid where, as in the previously known containers, a removable portion is provided centrally in a wall.

The present invention further provides a container for storing a multiplicity of articles, the container being substantially cuboidal in shape and comprising six substantially rectangular walls, each wall cooperating along each of its edges with a respective adjacent wall and cooperating at each of its vertices with two other walls to form a corner, the container having a corner portion which is defined by a line of weakening, said corner portion comprising one of said corners and an adjacent portion of each of the three walls that cooperate to form that corner and said line of weakening dividing that corner from the other said corners, the arrangement being such that, if the container is severed along the line of weakening, the corner position is separated from the remainder of the container.

Whilst it might have been expected that provision of a removable portion at a corner of the container would affect detrimentally the strength of the container, it has been found that the containers of the invention are sufficiently strong to be stacked one above the other even after removal of the removable corner portion.

Moreover, during erection of the container, the problem of premature detachment of a removable portion encountered in the erection of certain previously known containers is reduced or eliminated as a result of the fact that it is unnecessary to provide a weakened area centrally in a wall. A further advantage of the container of the invention is that, in comparison to the previously known containers in which an aperture is provided in one wall, the accessibility for the purpose of removal of items is improved, in that it is in practice considerably easier to insert a hand into the container of the invention than in the previously known containers by virtue of the fact that the angle of entry into the container is less restricted.

Preferably, at least a portion of the path along which the line of weakening extends is curved. Where the portion of the line of weakening across one wall is curved, the radius of curvature is advantageously constant. Preferably, the radius of curvature is equal to the spacing between the corner and the line of weakening.

The line of weakening is preferably non-continuous.

For example the line of weakening may be a line of perforations. The term "perforations" as used herein refers to weakening means consisting of a break in the container material, including, where the container material consists of two or more layers of material, a break in at least one of those layers. In particular, the term extends to elongate slits, for example, cuts in the container material. The perforations may have a pitch (that is, the spacing between adjacent perforations) of from 2 to 12mm, and advantageously of from 2 to 6mm. Where the perforations are cuts, each cut may be from 2 to 12mm, and advantageously from 2 to 6mm, in length. The optimum pitch and cut length will depend on the nature of the material used to form the carton, the choice of suitable values in practice being a routine matter for those skilled in the art.

The walls advantageously comprise double-lined corrugated board. Any other suitable material, for example, cartonboard, may however be used.

The present invention further provides a blank for forming a container according to the invention, the blank comprising an elongate portion having first and second ends and being divided by transverse fold lines into four rectangular parts, the blank being so foldable about said fold lines that said first end can be attached to said second end to form an endless body providing four side walls of said container, a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a first longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said first edge and to cooperate with one another in the erected container to form an upper wall of the container, and a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a second longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said second edge and to cooperate with one another to form a lower wall of the container whereby in the erected container each wall cooperates along each of its edges with a respective adjacent wall and cooperates at each of its vertices with two other walls to form a corner, said blank comprising a line of weakening which intersects one of said longitudinal edges and which is so dimensional and so positioned that, in the erected container, it defines a corner portion comprising one of the said corners and divides that corner from the other said corners.

The line of weakening may comprise a curved portion of a first radius located within a said flap portion, the remainder of the line of weakening having a second radius which is smaller than said first radius. Advantageously, at least the first radius is not smaller than the length of the flap in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the elongate portion extends. There may be provided immediately adjacent to the line of weakening in the elongate portion a removable piece. In use, that removable piece may first be removed by pressing it inwards, and the aperture so formed may facilitate the grasping of the corner portion to effect detachment of that portion.

The elongate portion may comprise at an end thereof a further part divided by a further transverse fold line from the adjacent rectangular part. Said line of weakening may be non-continuous. The line of weakening may advantageously be a line of perforations.

Alternatively, it may be a scoreline. The fold lines may advantageously be formed by creasing. They may, however, be formed by any other suitable means, for example, scoring.

Whilst it is in principle possible for both the fold lines and the line of weakening to be formed by scoring, it will be appreciated that in those circumstances the line of weakening will need to be scored more deeply than the fold lines.

The container of the invention may advantageously be used for storing food products, for example, bagged snack products.

One form of container according to the invention will now be described by way of illustration with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carton; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the carton of Figure 1 after removal of the removable portion; Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank erectable to form the carton of Figure 1.

With reference to Figure 1, a carton 1 comprises first and second opposed end walls 2, first and second opposed side walls 3, an upper wall 4 and a lower wall opposed to the upper wall. The upper wall 4 is composed of two pairs of flaps, each flap 5 of the first said pair (not shown in Figure 1) being joined at a respective edge 6 to an end wall 2 and each flap 7 of the second said pair being joined at a respective edge 8 to a side wall 3. The lower wall, which is not shown in the drawings, is in like manner formed by two pairs of flaps.

A corner portion of the carton including one corner 9 formed between a side wall 3, an end wall 2 and the upper wall 4 is divided from the remainder of the carton (including the remaining seven corners) by a line of weakening 10 which extends across each of the walls adjacent to the corner 9. The line of weakening is in the form of perforations.

The corner portion is removable from the remainder of the carton by tearing along the line of weakening.

In order to facilitate commencement of removal of the corner portion, a further line of weakening is provided in each of the walls 2 and 3 each further line cooperating with the line 10 to enclose a small piece 11 of the respective wall. If the removable piece 11 is first pressed out, it is easier to grasp, and thus to remove, the corner portion of the carton.

Because the removable portion is at a corner of the carton, the carton is less susceptible to damage during automatic erection and handling. In particular, the carton can be grasped by the conventionally used automatic erectors and other handling machinery without inadvertent tearing of the removable portion because the grasping means in general is able to grasp the carton at a position other than at the removable portion.

Further, because the grasping means in general grasps the carton at or in the vicinity of a centre of a wall, that is, at a position removed from the perforations, the effectiveness of suction grasping means is not substantially reduced as in the previously known cartons.

Figure 2 shows the carton of Figure 1 after removal of the corner portion. For the sake of simplicity, the contents of the carton are not shown.

Figure 3 shows a packaging blank 12 which may be used to form the carton of Figure 1. The blank has an elongate portion 13 having a first end 14 and a second end 15. The elongate portion is divided by four transverse fold lines in the form of preformed creases 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d into five parts, consisting of two parts, 2' and 2" which in the carton are to form the end walls 2, two parts 3' and 3" that are to form the side walls 3, and, at the end 14 of the elongate portion, a fifth part (end part) 17. Along each lateral edge of the elongate portion 13 are provided a plurality of flaps 18 a to h each of which is separated from the elongate portion by a crease, and is separated from the or from each adjacent flap on the same lateral edge of the elongate portion by a slot, each slot coinciding with a preformed crease 16b, 16c or 16d.

A curved line 19 of perforations is provided in the blank about a point 20c on the lateral edge of the elongate portion at the crease 16c between the parts 3' and 2" of the blank. The line 19 consists of two parts 21 and 22, each of which forms part of an arc of a respective circle. The part 21, which is located within the elongate portion and the flap 18b has a slightly smaller radius than the part 22 which is located within the flap 18c. At a lateral extremity of the blank, in the flap 18c, there is a cut-out 23 which facilitates carton formation and, in addition, enables the formation of a protruding portion of the flap 18c on removal of the corner portion to be avoided.

In accordance with normal practice in the manufacture of cartons, the length of part 3" is slightly less than that of part 3' and the length of part 2' is slightly less than that of part 2" in order to ensure that, when the part 17 overlaps the inner surface of the part 2' in the erected carton, the walls 3 are of substantially equal dimensions and, similarly, the walls 2 are of substantially equal dimensions. In the blank shown in Figure 3, the dimensions were as follows: Part Dimensions (mm) Longitudinal direction Transverse direction 2' 220 185 3' 376 185 2" 223 185 3" 373 185 The dimensions in the longitudinal direction were measured in the direction of extension of the elongate portion, and the dimensions in the transverse direction were measured in the direction perpendicular to the said longitudinal direction.

The blank is provided with print on that face which will, in use provide the outer surface of the box, that is, in the blank of Figure 3 on the front side. In order to form the carton, the blank is folded about the creases 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d and the front face of the end part 17 is adhesively attached to the unprinted side of the part 3" to form an endless piece. Where the blanks are to be erected by an automatic erector it will generally be found convenient for such endless pieces to be preformed and delivered to the erector. The formation of partially formed blanks and their erection to form cartons is well-known and need not therefore be described in detail. The erection of blanks of the invention may be carried out in the same manner as in the case of the previously known cardboard cartons and without modification of the known automatic erectors.

After filling the carton with bagged snack products the flaps 18b, 18d are attached to the flaps 18a, 18c using adhesive or, if preferred, the edges of the flaps 18b and 18d may be joined together with a strip of adhesive tape.

The points 20a and 20a', 20b, 20c and 20d on lateral edge of the elongate portion of the blank of Figure 3 are located, when the blank is erected, at the four upper corners of the carton of Figure 1.

On removal of the corner portion from the erected carton, it is necessary to tear through two thicknesses at the upper wall, corresponding to the flaps 18b and 18c. Because the line of weakening in the flap 18c is of slightly larger radius than that in the elongate portion and the flap 18b, the torn edge of the inner flap 18c does not project over the flap 18b even if the flaps 18b and 18c are slightly misaligned.

The perforated line of weakening may be provided by any suitable means, for example, die cutting or rotary cutting. It will be appreciated that, at those points where the line of weakening passes through a crease, which will in the erected carton form an edge, it should be ensured that there is a cut through the crease as difficulty will otherwise be experienced in severing the carton at the said edge. The carton shown in the drawings is of double-lined corrugated board having an inner lining layer of 150 g/m2 (Test) paper on the side that is inside in the erected box and an outer lining layer of 150 g/m2 (White Top Kraft) paper on the side that is outside in the erected box. Semi-chemical fluting of 112 g/m2 is arranged between the inner and outer layers. The total weight of the carton is approximately 400g.The fluting extends in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, that is, in the direction indicated by the double arrow A. The perforations are elongate cuts which are obtainable by rotary cutting using a cutter with 3mm parallel-sided blades and a spacing between adjacent blades of 3mm, the resulting cuts being of average length 3mm and the average pitch (that is, the spacing between adjacent cuts) being 3mm. The carton may contain, for example, 48 individual 30g bags of snack product.

The carton 1 may be stacked with a number of other cartons in a vertical column and with the corner portions removed. The cartons are so arranged that the apertures so formed are each at an upper corner of a respective carton. Notwithstanding the removal of a corner portion from each of the cartons, the cartons retain sufficient rigidity for the stack to remain stable even when the cartons are full.

In the blank shown in Figure 3, the curved line 19 is centred approximately about the point 20c, which point in the erected carton is to form the corner in the removable corner portion. It will be appreciated that it would be possible, instead for the points 20a and 20a' to form the corner of the removable corner portion in the erected container. In that case, two separate, substantially semi-circular lines of weakening will be provided in the blank centred on points 20a, 20a' respectively, those two lines cooperating to form a substantially endless line of weakening in the erected container.

Claims

1. A container for storing a multiplicity of articles, the container being substantially cuboidal in shape and comprising six substantially rectangular walls, each wall cooperating along each of its edges with a respective adjacent wall and cooperating at each of its vertices with two other walls to form a corner, the container having a corner portion which is defined by a line of weakening, said corner portion comprising one of said corners and an adjacent portion of each of the three walls that cooperate to form that corner and said line of weakening dividing that corner from the other said corners, the arrangement being such that, if the container is severed along the line of weakening, the corner position is separated from the remainder of the container.

2. A container for storing a multiplicity of articles, the container being substantially cuboidal in shape and comprising six substantially rectangular walls, each wall cooperating along each of its edges with a respective adjacent wall and cooperating at each of its vertices with two other walls to form a corner, the container having a corner portion comprising one of said corners and an adjacent portion of each of the three walls that cooperate to form the said corner, wherein the corner portion is divided from the remainder of the container by a line of weakening whereby, if the container is severed along the line of weakening, the corner portion may be removed from the remainder of the container.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which at least a portion of the path along which the line of weakening extends is curved.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the portion of the line of weakening in a first wall is curved, the radius of curvature being constant.

5. A container as claimed in claim 4, in which the radius of curvature is equal to the spacing between the corner and the line of weakening.

6. A container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, in which the line of weakening is non-continuous.

7. A container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, in which the line of weakening is a line of perforations.

8. A container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, in which the walls comprise double-lined corrugated board.

9. A container substantially as described herein with respect to and as illustrated by Figures 1 and 2.

10. A container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 in which there is provided immediately adjacent to the line of weakening a removable portion.

11. A blank for forming a container having a removable corner portion, comprising an elongate portion having first and second ends and being divided by transverse fold lines into four rectangular parts, the blank being so foldable about said fold lines that said first end can be attached to said second end to form an endless body providing four side walls of said container, a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a first longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said first edge and to cooperate with one another in the erected container to form an upper wall of the container, a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a second longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said second edge and to cooperate with one another to form a lower wall of the container whereby in the erected container each wall cooperates along each of its edges with a respective adjacent wall and cooperates at each of its vertices with two other walls to form a corner, said blank comprising a line of weakening which intersects one of said longitudinal edges and which is so dimensioned and so positioned that, in the erected container, there is defined a corner portion comprising an adjacent one of the said corners and divides that corner from the other said corners.

12. A blank for forming a container having a removable corner portion, comprising an elongate portion having first and second ends and being divided by transverse fold lines into four rectangular parts, the blank being so foldable about said fold lines that said first end can be attached to said second end to form an endless body providing four side walls of said container, a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a first longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said first edge and to cooperate with one another in the erected container to form an upper wall of the container, and a plurality of flap portions extending laterally from a second longitudinal edge of said elongate portion and arranged to be foldable relative to the elongate portion along said second edge and to cooperate with one another to form a lower wall of the container, said blank comprising a line of weakening extending about a length of one of said longitudinal edges, the said length including a part of the longitudinal edge that in the erected container will form a corner of the container.

13. A blank as claimed in claim 11 or 12, in which the line of weakening comprises a curved portion of a first radius located within a said flap portion, the remainder of the line of weakening having a second radius which is smaller than said first radius.

14. A blank as claimed in claim 13, in which at least the first radius is not smaller than the length of the flap portion in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the elongate portion extends.

15. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 14, in which there is provided immediately adjacent to the line of weakening in the elongate portion a removable piece.

16. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 15, in which the line of weakening is non-continuous.

17. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 16, in which the line of weakening is a line of perforations.

18. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 17, in which the elongate portion comprises at an end thereof a further part divided by a further transverse fold line from the adjacent rectangular part.

19. A blank for forming a container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7.

20. A blank substantially as described herein with respect to and as illustrated by Figure 3.

21. A blank as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 19, which is of double-lined corrugated board.