Abstract: An electric lamp bulb (or similar fragile article) is retained in suspended centralized position within a collapsible open-ended carton of rectangular sleeve-like configuration by a dual-panel liner that extends across the interior of the carton and has apertured medial parts which nestingly receive and interlock with the bulbous portion of the lamp bulb. Each of the liner-panels has a pair of hinged flaps that swing in opposite directions and are displaced in criss-cross fashion by the bulbous part of the lamp bulb to form a single aperture in the associated liner-panel and a pair of cradle-like structures. The hinged flaps are so shaped and dimensioned that their free ends are pressed against the adjacent walls and diagonally-opposite corners of the carton by the inserted lamp bulb and thus produce buttressing forces which not only counteract the natural tendency of the carton to collapse but lock the carton in its erected form.

Abstract: One or more lamp bulbs are protectively packaged by inserting them into an open-ended wrapper of single-faced corrugated paperboard and slip-fitting the resulting lamp pack into an open-ended boxboard sleeve that overlies and closes the open ends of the wrapper. The sleeve has oppositely disposed corner portions with inwardly bowed flexible junctures of such curvature that they exert a wedging force on the associated end edges of the inserted wrapper. The resulting clamping action frictionally locks the wrapper and the contained lamp bulbs within the boxboard sleeve despite the smooth surfaces of the latter.

Abstract: The ability of an open-ended corrugated-paperboard lamp wrapper to withstand compressive forces and retain an inserted frictionally-gripped lamp are both enhanced by orienting the corrugations so that they extend obliquely across the walls of the wrapper at an angle of from about 10.degree. to 35.degree. with respect to the transverse axis of the wrapper. The compressive strength of a single-lamp wrapper fabricated from single-face corrugated paperboard having corrugations offset by 20.degree. is increased by 19% and lamp-retention is increased by 20% compared to a conventional wrapper having corrugations that extend parallel to the transverse axis.

Abstract: A single lamp bulb is retained within a collapsible open-ended tubular sleeve of stiff paperboard by an integral panel that extends within the interior of the sleeve and has a medial cut-out which interlockingly accommodates a protruding arcuate portion of the lamp bulb. The locking panel is slit, scored and secured to only one of the sleeve walls in such a manner that it automatically flexes and is pushed into locking position when the sleeve is set up for use. The central portion of the panel obliquely spans a corner of the erected sleeve and another portion of the panel frictionally engages and is wedged against one of the sleeve walls to provide a bracing action that inhibits the inherent tendency of the sleeve to return to collapsed condition.