US3087666A - Twin compartmented container for shipping long stemmed flowers - Google Patents

Description

April 30, 1963 T. c. KITCHELL TWIN COMPARTME NTED CONTAINER FOR 'SHIPPING LONG STEMMED FLOWERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1958 INVENTOR 720mm- 676mm ATTORNEY Apnl 30, 1963 'r. c. KlTCHELL TWIN COMPARTMENTED CONTAINER FOR SHIPPING LONG STEMMED FLOWERS Filed Aug. 15, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ii/o/wve 6f Maw 44 HTTOF/VEY United States Patent Ofi ce 3,087,666 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 3,087,666 TWIN COMPARTMENTED CONTAINER FOR SHIP- PINGLONG STEMMED FLOWERS Thorne C. Kitchell, New Providence, N.J., assignor to Union Bag-Camp Paper Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Virginia Filed Aug. 15, 1958, Ser. No. 755,303 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-15) The present invention relates to improvements in packing and shipping containers. More particularly it pertains to an improved box for packing and shipping fresh flowers such as gladiolus and the like.

More and more of the supermarkets are selling fresh flowers until it has now become a lucrative business for the supermarkets and a boon to the flower growers. One of the most popular sellers is the gladiolus. At present the box in use for shipping such flowers from the grower to either retail florists or supermarkets holds 25 dozen flowers. This is a disadvantage because many of the smaller retail outlets cannot use that many which means that the packaged unit has to be broken up. The box of the present invention overcomes this disadvantage by providing a unit made up of twin sections each of which holds -12 dozen flowers. These twin sections are held together by top and bottom caps and shipped as a unit. If the retailers do not want to take the full 24 dozen, there is no handling involved in splitting the shipment. Shipments made to date indicate that this twin box has been very well received, particularly by the food chains. It will also be apparent that the unit of the present invention can be designed to hold more than the two sections herein described so that multiple sections can be shipped and handled in the same way. This results in a distinct advantage and convenience with perishable items such as flowers.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a box of the character stated, which is simple in design, rugged in construction, economical to manufacture, and can be shipped and stored in unassembled form in flat condition but can be easily and quickly set up.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the invention which will be indicated in the claims.

:For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyin g drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a filled and taped box embodying the improvements of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the respective parts of the box in separated relationship;

FIGURE '3 is a perspective view of one of the container sections of the box;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of one of the container sections showing the closure flaps stitched in place.

Referring :more particularly to the drawings, FIGURES 1 and 2. show two duplicate contain-er sections 10 and two duplicate caps 11. Each of these pieces is of one-peice construction and may be made of corrugated board or other suitable fibrous board. They are suitably cut and scored or creased along certain lines to facilitate formation of the box of the present inventionand are supplied to thecustomer in flat condition.

Each container sectionltl is made up with a series of wall panels 13, 14, 15 and 16, flexibly connected together along fold lines 17, 18 and 19. The ends of the panels 13 and 16 are connected together by suitable means, for example taping or stitching, so that a tube is formed. The ends of each section are formed by flaps 20, 21, 22 and 23 flexibly connected to the panels 13, 14, 15 and 116 respectively along the score lines 24, 25, 26 and 27 (FIG- URE 3). The flaps at one end are folded inwardly along the latter score lines and secured in place with adhesive or staples 28, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 6; the container section is then filled with flowers; and the other end is closed in a similar manner. The panels of each section are die cut to provide hand holes 29 and ventilating holes 30.

Each cap 11 is of conventional and well-known construction. It consists of a top base 31 having depending flanges 32., 33, 34 and 35 along the sides thereof. The flanges 33 and 35 have extensions 36 which are folded inwardly and stitched to the other depending flanges 3-2 and 34. After the caps have been placed over the ends of the container sections 10, gummed tape 37 may be applied for holding the caps to the sections. However, if the caps are made to fit tightly over the container sections, they will be held in place by friction without any tape or other means.

As can be seen from FIGS. l-3 of the drawing, the height of the side flanges 3'2, 33, 34 and 35 of cap 11 is substantially equal to the width of each of the end panels of the container, end-s 13 and 15, for example.

Thus, it will be apparent that the herein disclosed invention provides a new and useful box which is particularly adapted for the packing and shipping of fresh flowers and which embodies the features heretofore set forth. Since certain changes may be made in the above article, and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description (and shown in the accompanying drawing) shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A shipping box which forms a shipping unit of twin sections adapted to be split into single container sections each holding for shipping and storage long-stemmed, freshly cut perishable flowers therein without unpacking both sections comprising a pair of one piece tubular container sections of rectangular cross section forming twin sections, each tubular container having folded and connected side and end panels with top and bottom closures and each section being of substantially the same height with a side panel of each contacting the other in face-toface relation and with the corresponding end panels being in abutting relation in both sections; each of the end closures consisting of flaps integral with the sides and foldingly connected to and extending from each of the sides, said flaps being adapted to fold inwardly for quick closing and to unfold for quick opening; frictionally held, removable end caps for the tops and bottoms of the adja cent twin sections for-med of a rectangular base member conforming in size and shape to the combined tops and bottoms of said adjacent sections, each of said end caps being provided with four depending flanges extending upwardly from the respective sides of said base member for frictionally engaging tops and bottoms of the twin sections along the sides thereof, each of said flanges overlapping in the length thereof the side and end panels of said tubu- Jar sections for easy movement in telescopically fitting and removing the caps from both top and bottom of the tubular containers, and ventilating holes distributed in the sides of said tubular container sections permitting access of air through said sides to the flowers contained inside each of said twin sections and means facilitating conveying said shipping box.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Walter June 24, 1930 Dalton Sept. 1, 1931 Goebert Sept. 28, 1937 Flamm Sept. 5, 1939 Montague Jan. 21, 1947 Props Feb. 6, 1951 Zelonka Sept. 25, 1956 Krukonis July 21, 1959

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