CARTON HAVING STACKING STRENGTH-ENHANCING FEATURE
A carton has a triangular shaped internal buttress arrangement for enhancing the stacking strength of the carton. The arrangment is formed from the distal portion of at least one of the side end flaps.
This application claims priority under 35 USC § 1.19 (e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/735,619, filed Nov. 9, 2005, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates generally to cartons for use in packaging articles and, more particularly, relates to a carton whose stacking strength is enhanced by a special arrangement of an end closure structure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCartons are useful for allowing consumers to purchase, transport and store a desired quantity of articles. However, some articles are flexible and/or deformable such as juice pouches. Such articles tend to get easily rearranged and crushed within the carton. Moreover, not all cartons have sufficient strength to physically protect the contents when arranged in a stacked condition. Cartons may tend to break open unintentionally when the cartons are subject to compression. What is needed, therefore, is an improved carton for packaging flexible or deformable articles. The improved carton should have good stacking strength to protect the contents when stored or displayed with like cartons in a stacked condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides a carton which utilizes end flaps to increase the structural integrity of the carton while continuing to facilitate easy access to the articles within the carton. Flexible and/or deformable articles such as stand-up pouches may be retained within the carton in an organized manner.
Generally described, top and bottom opposed walls are hingedly interconnected by a pair of side walls to form a tubular body. An end closure structure is provided to at least partially close each end of the tubular body. A buttress arrangement is provided by each end closure structure. Each buttress arrangement is disposed within the interior of the carton and extends vertically between the top and bottom walls to enhance the stacking strength of the carton.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each end closure structure may include a pair of side end flaps joined to the side walls respectively. Each side end flap may include a proximal portion hingedly connected to the respective side wall and extending toward the other side wall. Preferably at least one of the side end flaps at each end further includes a distal portion hingedly connected to the respective proximal portion. The distal portion of the one side end flap may extend into the interior of the carton to form the respective buttress arrangement. The other side end flap may also include a distal portion extending into the interior of the carton. The distal portions of the side end flaps of each end closure structure may be disposed to form, in conjunction with its hingedly attached proximal portion, and the adjacent side wall, a tubular structure with a triangular cross section to form the respective buttress arrangement. The distal portion of any side end flap not formed into a triangular cross section may be positioned such that distal portion is disposed between the articles within the carton to serve as a partition. These distal portions extend all the way between the top and bottom walls to be in abutment at their upper and lower ends on the top and bottom walls.
The present invention in a still another aspect provides a carton comprising top and bottom opposed walls hingedly interconnected by a pair of side walls to form a tubular body, an end closure structure for at least partially closing each end of the tubular body, and a buttress arrangement provided by each end closure structure. Each buttress arrangement is disposed within the interior of the carton and extends vertically between the top and bottom walls to enhance the stacking strength of the carton. Each end closure structure comprises a pair of side end flaps joined to the side walls respectively. Each side end flaps of each end closure structure comprises a pair of proximal and distal portions. The proximal portion is hingedly connected to the respective side wall whereas the distal portion in hingedly connected to the respective proximal portion. The proximal portions of the side end flaps extend from the side walls toward each other while the distal portions extending from the respective proximal portions into the interior of the carton. Preferably at least one distal portion at each end is disposed to form in conjunction with its respective proximal portion and the adjacent side wall a triangular tubular buttress arrangement. Each side end flap includes a vertical fold line dividing that side end flap into the distal and proximal portions. The distal portion has a horizontal transverse size greater than that of the proximal portion, and preferably between 1.2 and 1.8 time the horizontal traverse size of the proximal portion.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, each buttress arrangement may be held in place without need for an extra gluing step by using slight pressure from the articles within the carton to maintain the buttress arrangement in the desired triangular cross section. Each distal portion of each buttress arrangement may extend all the way between the top and bottom walls to be in abutment at its upper and lower ends on the top and bottom walls, while the distal ends of the distal portion abut the nearest side wall.
The foregoing has broadly outlined some of the more pertinent aspects and features of the present invention. These should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the dislosed information in a different manner or by modifying the disclosed embodiments. Accordingly, other aspects and a more comprehensive understanding of the invention may be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, the drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of cartons 10 (
Generally described, the cartons are formed from foldable sheet material such as paperboard. Carton 10 shown in
Still referring to
Side end flaps 60, 62 , 64 and 66 include medial fold line 70, 72, 74 and 76, respectively. The medial fold line of each side end flap divides that end flap into a pair of proximal and distal portions 60a, 60b; 62a, 62b; 64a, 64b; and 66a, 66b. Preferably, as shown in
The articles “A” are preferably stand-up pouches which may be deformable and are made from a flexible material such as a plastic-aluminum laminated film. In the empty condition, each article “A” is flat. In the filled condition, each article “A” has a flat bottom and generally rectangular front and rear panels. The front and read panels extend from the bottom into a mutual contacting and sealed relationship at the top of the pouch. The bottom of each pouch is in the form, generally, of a hexagon. Each side wall of each pouch has a generally triangular configuration with its base being at the bottom. Therefore, the bottom of each pouch is considerably wider than the top when viewed from the side.
In order to erect or form the carton 10, the side end flaps 60, 62, 64 and 66 are folded upward along transverse fold lines 36 and 38 as shown in
Alternatively, the corner columns may be completed at the later stage of the carton-forming process. In such an alternative process, the distal portions 60b, 62b, 64b and 66b may be merely pre-folded along the medial fold line 70, 72, 74 and 76 with respect to the vertically-disposed proximal portions 60a, 62a, 64a 66a to the extent that the distal portions lie somewhat inwardly of the blank to assume a position space above the adjacent side walls 20 and 22. The pre-folded distal portions, as described later, are subject to the load of the articles to be placed on such distal portions during the article-loading step and will thereby further folded to reach the respective bracing positions where the distal portions provide part of the respective corner columns.
In either carton-forming process, the distal portion of each side end flap is not glued to, and thereby remains detached from, the adjacent side wall. However, the corner columns are held in their erected tubular forms by means of the articles received in the carton, as will be described in moe details later.
Next, two seperate rows of filled pouches “A” are arranged on the side walls 20, 22 of blank 14 as shown in
Following the above step, the side walls 20 and 22, are folded toward each other along fold lines 32 and 34 in order to further erect the carton. This is best illustrated in
From the condition of
As shown in
Furthermore, the distal portions of each end closure structure extend all the way between the top and bottom walls 24 and 18 and provide a buttress arrangement for enhancing the stacking strength of the carton. The upper and lower ends of each distal portion are in direct abutment on the top and bottom walls 24 and 18 respectively to be able to bear the load transmitted from the top and bottom walls when the carton is arranged with like cartons in a stacked condition.
As shown in
An alternative method of forming the carton of
In order to form the carton 12, the side end flaps 60, 62, 64 and 66 are folder upward along transverse fold lines 36 and 38 as shown in
Next, the top wall 24 is folded upward along the fold line 30, and the upper end flaps 56 and 58 are folded inward and respectively glued to the adjacent proximal portions 60a and 62a. The bottom wall 18 is folded upward along the fold line 32, and the lower end flaps 52 and 54 are folded inward and respectively glues to the adjacent proximal portions 60a and 62a. This provides the partially fabricated carton 12 as shown in
Next, two vertically-arranged, seperate rows of filled pouches “A” are placed or loaded, either simultaneously or one row at a time, on side wall 20 as shown in
After fully loading the carton as shown in
A carton of a second embodiment is illustrated in
The proximal portion 64a and distal portion 64b of side flap 64 in
The partially erected and fully loaded carton as shown
After fully loading the carton as shown in
It will be recognised that as used herein, directional references such as “top”, “bottom”, “base”, “end”, “side”, “inner”, “outer”, “upper”, “lower”, “forward”, and “rear” do not limit the respective panels to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another. Any reference to hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only: indeed it is envisaged that hinged sonnection can be formed from one or more of one of the following, a sore line, a line of perforation, a line of short slits or their combination, without departing from the scope of invention.
It should be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the present invention, for example, the size and shape of the panels may be adjusted to accommodate articles of differing size or shape. The carton may accommodate only one or more than two rows of articles. The carton may be provided with one or more removable portions for access to the contents. Also, the pouches contained within the carton, although generally described herein as being in rows or groups with pouch bottoms oriented in a particular direction, may also be placed in various other configurations, such as with every other pouch bottom facing an alternating direction, or in other configurations where some pouches in a row will face one direction and other pouches in a row will face another direction.
The present invention and its preferred embodiment relate to enhancing stacking strength of a fully enclosed carton. It will, however, be apparent and those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is capable of many modifications and variations without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is described by the claims appended hereto and supported by the foregoing.
Claims
1. A carton comprising:
- top and bottom opposed walls hingedly interconnected by a pair of side walls to form a tubular body having an interior;
- at least one article received in said tubular body;
- an end closure structure for at least partially closing each of opposite ends of said tubular body;
- a buttress arrangement provided at least in part by each said end closure structures to enhance the stacking strength of the carton, each of said buttress arrangements including at least one tubular column of a generally triangular cross section, said at least one tubular column being disposed next to said at least one article such that a portion of said at least one tubular column is pressed against one of said side walls and thereby said at least one tubular column is held in an erected tubular form.
2. The carton of claim 1 wherein said each end closure structure comprises a pair of side end flaps joined to said side walls respectively, each of said side end flaps comprising a proximal portion hingedly connected to a respective one of said side walls and extending toward the other side wall, one of said side end flaps further comprising a distal portion of hingedly connected to said proximal portion of said one side end flap, said distal portion of said one side end flap extending into said interior to form a respective one of said buttress arrangements.
3. The carton of claim 2 wherein said distal portion of said one side end flap extends all the way between said top and bottom walls to be in abutment at upper and lower ends thereof on said top and bottom walls.
4. The carton of claim 1 wherein said buttress arrangement at said one end of side tubular body is removable from said carton along with a removable portion to permit said articles to be dispensed from said carton.
5. The carton of claim 3 wherein said each side end flap includes a vertical fold line dividing said each end flap into said distal and proximal portions, said distal portion having a horizontal transverse size greater than a horizontal transverse size of said proximal portion.
6. A carton comprising:
- top and bottom opposed walls hingedly interconnected by a pair of side walls to form a tubular body having an interior;
- an end closure structure for at least partially closing each of opposite ends of said tubular body; and
- a buttress arrangement provided by each of said end closure structures, each of said buttress arrangements being disposed within said interior and extending vertically between said top and bottom walls to enhance the stacking strength of said carton,
- wherein said each end closure structure comprises a pair of side end flaps joined to said side walls respectively, each of said side end flaps of said each end closure structure comprising a proximal portion hingedly connected to a respective one of said side walls, and a distal portion hingedly connected to said proximal portion, said proximal portions extending from said side walls toward each other, said distal portions extending from said proximal portions into said interior and contacting a side wall to form a triangular buttress arrangements, wherein the triangular buttress arrangement is maintained by pressure from the contents of the carton, and
- wherein said each side end flap includes a vertical fold line dividing said each side end flap into said distal and proximal portions, said distal portion having a horizontal transverse size greater than a horizontal transverse size of said proximal portion.
7. The carton of claim 6 wherein said respective buttress arrangement is achieved without the use of a glued joint between the end of said distal portion and said contacted side wall.
8. The carton of claim 7 wherein each of said distal portions of said respective buttress arrangement extends all the way between said top and bottom walls to be in abutment at upper and lower ends thereof on said top and bottom walls.
9. A method for forming a carton for retaining a plurality of articles, said method comprising the steps of:
- folding opposed end flaps of each said side wall with respect to the remainder of said blank to respective positions forming triangular buttress arrangements along the inside of the carton at the end and extending from top to bottom of the carton and; and
- arranging a first row of articles on a first side wall of a blank for forming said carton;
- arranging a second row of articles on a second side wall of said blank;
- such that one or more articles lay upon the each said triangular buttress arrangement to help retain its shape; and
- moving said first and second side walls toward each other such that said articles in said first row are brought into contact with said articles in said second row, whereby Upon closure of the carton the volume of the contents is sufficient to nearly fill the carton and to exert pressure on the inner walls of said triangular buttress to maintain their shape.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said end flaps folding step comprises folding each said end flap upward along a first fold line between said each end flap and a respective one of said side walls, and folding said each end flap along a second fold line in said each end flap, said second fold line defining dividing said each end flap into a pair of proximal and distal portions such that said proximal portions of said each side wall extend upwardly from said each side wall and said distal portions of said each side wall extend inwardly from said proximal portions toward a side wall.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 9, 2006
Publication Date: Jun 28, 2007
Inventors: Aaron Bates (Raleigh, NC), John Cargile (Decatur, GA)
Application Number: 11/558,214
International Classification: B65D 5/56 (20060101);