US2537374A - Egg carton - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 9, 1951 l.. SCHWARTZBERG EGG CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 3, 1947 Jan. 9, 1951 l.. scHwARTzBERG EGG CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. s, 1947 w@ WNH- wwmwdmmmmm@ ,jak/275W Patented Jan. 9, 1951 EGG CARTON Louis Schwartzberg, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 3, 1947, Serial No. 726,140

This invention has to do with an improvement in egg carton construction and has for its object to eiect a reduction of egg breakage without an accompanying cost increase.

The production and distribution of eggs is a` business involving at best a narrow margin of profit per sale; and competition practically compels the use of the cheapest obtainable cartons which will aord reasonable protection and which at the same time does not usurp more than a minimum of storage space. This requirement is generally regarded as best met by the familiar paper board folded type of carton which can be shipped and stored flat, beforebeing put to use, and occupies, when in use, only slightly more space than would be occupied by unpackaged eggs. Such cartons answer the purpose quite c well, provided they are handled with reasonable care When lled; and they have continued for a long time largely to monopolize the market because of their low cost and other advantages. Cartons of better construction and capable of aording greater protection for the eggs have been proposed, but the additional cost of such cartons makes them prohibitive so far as ordinary ccmpetitive egg business is concerned.

What I have done in the present instance is to modify a pre-existing, successful folded paper board carton in such a way `as to increase its protective qualities, substantially without increasing its cost; and the manner in which I have accomplished that desirable end will now be eX- plained with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a top perspective View of an egg carton embodying the invention, the cover being shown in its open position;

Fig. 2 is bottom perspective view of the carton;

Fig. 3 is a View of the perforated and creased paper board blank which, upon being properly folded, becomes a carton like that shown in Figs. l and 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the carton; and

Fig. 5 is a detail view showingL the middle partition of the carton opened up tov display more clearly the manner in which the inner plies thereof are cut out or apertured to produce shock-absorbing cushion areas between the eggs at either side of the partition.

The carton which is shown in the drawings constitutes the preferred form or embodiment of the invention. It is formed from a single paper board blank iii, shown flat in Fig. 3; and said blank is shaped and perforated as clearly de- 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-29) as indicated by the several dotted lines on the blank. Usually, and in the present instance, the carton is designed to contain Va dozen eggs and, accordingly. is provided with twelve egg-receiving .cavities arranged in two parallel rows of six each.

The cavities in one row are all identied by ref. erence numerals II while those in the other row are identiiied by reference numerals I2. Generally speaking the carton comprises a front, a cover equipped back, and a bottom between the lower margins of the front and back. The central portion of the carton bottom is shaped to form an upstanding longitudinally extending par'- tition Which is located midway between the front land back of the carton and coacts with a plurality of laterally spaced cross-partitions to form or define the two rows of egg containing cavities.

The two rows comprising the cavities vII and I2 are separated by the partition I3 which is an integral part of blank I8 and consists of two outer plies id and i5 and two inner plies I6 and picted in that gure, and is creased for folding I1, as most clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The bellies of the eggs in adjacent cavities II and I2 at either side of partition I3 bear against said partition, and where the latter is relatively solid and unyielding, as in the prior art, there is very little resiliency to absorb the impact which is imparted to each pair of adjacent eggs when, for example, the carton is dropped on one side or the other.

The substance of my invention consists in pro- Viding cut-outs or apertures i8 in the inner plies I6 and il of the longitudinally extending partition I3, so placed as to form air chambers Within the partition I3 at points intervening each pair of cavities II and I2. The several air chambers thus provided function as shock-absorbing cushions and have been found to greatly reduce shell breakage. In Fig. 5 the iour plies I4--I'i are shown spread apart in order to expose the cutouts or apertures i3. These are shown as being of rectangular form, but they may be of any convenient conguration. The size of said apertures is not especially critical but Yshould be so chosen as to aiiord a good cushioning effect. I prefer to provide cutouts in both inner plies, but good results are provided in only one of the two plies.

I do not assert that the present improvement constitutesa complete solution of the breakage problem, but it does effect a substantial reduction of breakage and, as will be apparent, it adds nothing to the cost of the carton beyond the insignicant cost of modifying the blanking and piercing die to cut the apertures I8.

re also obtainable where cut-outs' Having described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. As a new article of manufacture, an egg carton formed from a blank of paper board and comprising a front, a cover equipped back, a bottom extending between the lower margins of the front and back and having the central portion thereof shaped to form an upstanding longitudinally extending four ply partition midway between said front and back, and a plurality of laterally'spaced upstanding cross-partitions extending transversely of the longitudinally extending four ply partition and between the front and back, having their lower central portions in interlocked relation with the adjacent portions of the upper margin of the partition, and forming with the partition and said front and back two adjacent rows of egg containing cavities, the iny ner plies of the partition being connected at their upper margins to the upper margins of the outer plies and being in abutment with each other and also in abutment with said outer plies, one of the inner plies having formed therein a longitudinal series of spaced apart cutouts which are of egg belly height and are so positioned with respect to said adjacent portions oi the upper margin of the partition and of Such size that they form adjacent the inner central portions of the cavities air cushions for receiving the impact of the bellies of the eggs on said partition and absorb at least a part of the shock of `such impact to the end that breakage of the eggs in the cavities is reduced.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an egg carton formed from a one-piece blank of paper board and comprisingr a front, a cover equipped back, a bottom extending between the lower margins of the front and back and having the centra-l 4 portion thereof shaped to form an upstanding longitudinally extending four ply partition mid- Waybetween said front and back, and a plurality of laterally spaced cross-partitions extending transversely of the longitudinally extending four ply partition and between the front and back, having their lower central portions in interlocked relation with the adjacent portions of the upper margin of the partition, and forming with the partition and said front and back two adjacent rows of egg containing cavities, the inner plies of the partition being connected at their upper margins to the upper margins of the outer plies, being in abutment with each other and also in abutment with said outer plies, and having formed therein laterally spaced registering cutouts which are disposed at egg belly height and are so arranged with respect to said adjacent portions of the upper margin of the partition and of such size that they form between the inner central portions of the cavities air cushions for receiving the impact of the bellies of the eggs on the partition and absorb at least a part of the shock of such impact to the end that breakage of the eggs in the cavities is reduced.

LOUIS SCHWARTZBERG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the .le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,075,425 Burger Mar. 3o, 1937 2,113,459 Brundin Apr. 5, 1938 .2,192,992 Bohnke Mar. 12, 1940 2,299,966 Dearbaugh Oct. 27, 1942

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