Corner protector

Abstract

A corner protector for protecting a corner of merchandise, comprising a first portion contacting a first surface of the merchandise. A second portion is interconnected with the first portion, and contacts a second surface of the merchandise. A third portion is interconnected with the first portion and the second portion, and contacts a third surface of the merchandise, in such a way that a corner of the merchandise at the intersection of the first, second and third surfaces is covered by the corner protector. A first zone of protection is located at the intersection of the second portion and the third portion, the first zone of protection having a corner protrusion defining a hollow recess so as to form an empty space along an edge of the corner of merchandise, whereby an impact on the corner protrusion will have its energy distributed by the corner protrusion to the second and third portions so as to generally prevent contact between said edge of the corner of merchandise and an inner surface of the corner protrusion.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a corner protector for protecting merchandise, such as furniture, appliances and raw materials, from being damaged by impact during shipping or other transportation.

2. Background Art

The storing, shipping and handling of manufactured goods such as furniture and appliances can damage the edges, corners and surfaces of the goods if they are not otherwise protected. Collisions can cause edges and corners to be scratched or crushed, and surfaces to be damaged, and this often results in a devaluation of the goods. Consequently, it is desirable to provide a low-cost device that can protect these manufactured goods during shipping and handling.

Prior-art devices have been developed to help protect goods during shipping and handling. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,041, issued on Dec. 29, 1992 to Webb et al., describes a corner protector, which is formed entirely of paper honeycomb material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,692, issued on Oct. 21, 1997 to Gratz, describes a corner protector made of molded pulp. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,608, issued on Oct. 7, 2003 to Hurley et al., describes a shipping protector made of vacuum molded paper fiber. These prior-art devices are not durable and suffer from minimal reusability due to the material from which they are made.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,231, issued on Feb. 7, 1978 to Helms, describes a corner protector which requires an adhesive in order to be affixed to the structure being protected. This has the disadvantage of potentially damaging the surface of the structure being protected. The adhesive also makes the device cumbersome in an industrial setting and limits its reusability.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,854, issued on Sep. 29, 1964 to Jamieson, describes a body guard device for temporary mounting on furniture. The described device has a bulbous portion rendering it impractical for packaging, stacking and shipping. In fact, this device is designed mainly to be used to protect infants, children, the elderly, and other persons from exposed corners, rather than to protect the furniture from external impacts.

It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a simple and inexpensive device that is resilient, reusable and generally designed for industrial and residential application, for protecting the corners, edges and surfaces of goods during storing, shipping and handling.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a novel corner protector addressing the issues of the prior art.

Therefore, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a corner protector for protecting a corner of merchandise, comprising a first portion contacting a first surface of the merchandise; a second portion interconnected with the first portion, and contacting a second surface of the merchandise; a third portion interconnected with the first portion and the second portion, and contacting a third surface of the merchandise, in such a way that a corner of the merchandise at the intersection of the first, second and third surfaces is covered by the corner protector; and a first zone of protection located at the intersection of the second portion and the third portion, the first zone of protection having a corner protrusion defining a hollow recess so as to form an empty space along an edge of the corner of merchandise, whereby an impact on the corner protrusion will have its energy distributed by the corner protrusion to the second and third portions so as to generally prevent contact between said edge of the corner of merchandise and an inner surface of the corner protrusion.

Further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a corner protector for protecting a corner of merchandise, comprising a first portion contacting a first surface of the merchandise; a second portion interconnected with the first portion, and contacting a second surface of the merchandise; a third portion interconnected with the first portion and the second portion, and contacting a third surface of the-merchandise, the second portion and the third portion having a first zone of protection adapted to at least partially distribute and partially absorb the energy of an impact by expanding upon receiving an impact; and a deformation zone in the first portion for stretching as a result of an expansion of the first zone of protection, thereby further distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus generally described the nature of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, showing by way of illustration a preferred embodiment thereof and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a corner protector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, positioned on merchandise so as to protect a merchandise's corner;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the corner protector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the corner protector of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the corner protector of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, a corner protector in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention is generally shown at 10 protecting merchandise 11.

The corner protector 10 comprises three main portions, which are coplanar to the three surfaces defining the corner of merchandise 11 that is to be protected. The corner protector 10 is designed to fit over and protect a corner 11′ and edges 11″ of merchandise 11. For example, the corner protector 10 can protect the corners of furniture, appliances, machinery or merchandise having corners that one wishes to protect from scratching, scraping or crushing during storing, shipping and handling.

A first portion 12 of the corner protector 10 is generally triangular. A second portion 14 extends downward from a first edge of the first portion 12 and is generally perpendicular to the first portion 12. A third portion 16 extends downward from a second edge of the first portion 12 and is also generally perpendicular to the first portion 12. The second portion 14 and the third portion 16 intersect and form an edge 18 extending downward from a corner 19 defined by the intersection of the three portions 12, 14 and 16. The corner protector 10 can therefore be placed on merchandise 11 so as to cover the corner 11′ of the merchandise 11 and a section of each of the three edges 11″ extending from the corner 11″. It is understood that the three main portions could be arranged differently as long as the three main portions intersect to form the corner 19. For example, the first portion 12 could have a quadrilateral shape.

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of the invention displaying five zones of protection designed to protect the corner, edges and surfaces of the merchandise 11. The first portion 12 of the corner protector defines two zones of protection. A front part of the first portion 12 defines a first zone of protection 20. A rear part of the first portion 12 defines a second zone of protection 22. Two other zones of protection 24 and 26 are defined by the second portion 14 and third portion 16 of the corner protector 10. Finally, the edge 18 defines a fifth zone of protection 28. While the preferred embodiment of the present invention would contain the five zones of protection, it is contemplated that a corner protector made in accordance with the present invention need not define all five zones of protection. For example, the corner protector might only define one of the two zones of protection defined by the first portion 12.

The first zone of protection 20 is provided to help distribute impact forces. As seen in FIG. 2, a plurality of semispherical protrusions 30 are provided on an exposed side of the zone of protection 20. The protrusions 30 are hollow, whereby semispherical hollow recesses 32, seen in FIG. 3, are found on the hidden side of the first portion 12 and are generally located under the semispherical protrusions 30. The hollow protrusions 30 form an air cushion that will absorb impact energy. The protrusions 30 and the hollow recesses 32 therefore allow the zone of protection 20 to spread the force of an impact, thereby protecting the top surface adjacent to the corner 11′ of merchandise 11. Moreover, the arcuate structure of the protrusions 30 is well suited to supporting loads, as will be described hereinafter.

The second zone of protection 22, as seen in FIG. 2, contains semicylindrical protrusions 34 and linear openings 36. As seen in FIG. 3, semi cylindrical hollow recesses 38 are found on the bottom side of the first portion 12 and are generally located under the semi cylindrical protrusions 34. The presence of the linear openings 36 removes some rigidity in the second zone of protection 22, whereby the second zone of protection 22 has a greater elasticity. This is advantageous when associated with potential expansion of the second and third portions 14 and 16, as will be described hereinafter. The recesses 38 will form another air cushion to absorb impact energy, thereby protecting the top surface of merchandise 11. Moreover, the arcuate structure of the protrusions 34 is well suited to supporting loads, as will be described hereinafter.

The protrusions 30 and 34 also help protect the top surface of merchandise 11 from, and distribute the weight of, a second piece of merchandise placed or stored on top of the merchandise 11.

It is understood that the protrusions 30 and 34, openings 36, and recesses 32 and 38 need not have the shape described above as long as they obtain similar results.

Referring to the zone of protection 24, hollow vertical ribs 40 protrude from the second portion 14, thus enabling the second portion to expand when the ribs 40 are crushed by impact. This allows the force of the impact to be spread over a portion of the second portion and the side wall of merchandise 11. As seen in FIG. 3, the hollow vertical ribs. 40 each have a vertical recess 42 to enable the expansion of the second portion 14 upon impact. As shown in FIG. 4, some vertical ribs 41 are solid, and therefore constitute a resilient mass that will absorb a portion of impact energy, while the impact energy is also distributed over the surface of the merchandise 11.

It is understood that the vertical ribs 40, 41 and vertical recesses 42 could take on different shapes. For example, they could form waves or they could be horizontal.

The zones of protection 24 and 26 are shaped the same way, so that a description of the zone of protection 24 with respect to the second portion 14 also applies to the zone of protection 26 with respect to the third surface 16. The zone of protection 22 facilitates the expansion of the zones of protection 24 and 26, by its lesser rigidity resulting from the presence of the linear openings 36.

The fifth zone of protection 28 that is located on the edge 18 defined by the intersection of the second portion 14 and third portion 16 contains a generally cylindrical protrusion 44. This cylindrical protrusion 44 accentuates the protection given to the front edge 11″ and corner 11′ of the merchandise 11. Furthermore, as seen in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a cylindrical hollow recess 46 further protects the front edge 11″ and corner 11′ by allowing the protrusion 44 to be crushed to a certain extent without impacting the edge 11″ and corner 11′. It is, of course, understood that the protrusion 44 and recess 46 could take on different shapes.

Similar protrusions 45A and 45B are provided on opposite sides of the protrusion 44. It is seen from FIG. 4 that the protrusions 45A and 45B are respectively aligned with planar hidden surfaces of the second portion 14 and the third portion 16, respectively. The protrusions 45A and 45B resiliently absorb impact energy to protect the corner 11′ and the edge 11″. Moreover, the alignment of the protrusions 45A and 45B with the second portion 14 and the third portion 16, respectively, and as described previously, is in view of impacts normal to the surfaces of the merchandise 11.

The thickness of the device's material also protects the side edges 11″ of merchandise 11, which are protected by the intersections of the surfaces of the device.

The corner protector is preferably made of plastic, rubber or any other impact-absorbing polymers or any combination of such materials. This allows the device to be recyclable, resistant to heat and cold, and to be easily made in different colors. Furthermore, the thickness and resilience of the material used allows the corner protector 10 to be tailored to different degrees of protection. The hardness of the corner protector 10 varies with the weight of the merchandise 11. However, heavier pieces of merchandise 11 will have corner protectors 10 of increased hardness to efficiently protect the surfaces, covers and edges of the merchandise 11 from being damaged from impacts. For example, different characteristics of the material may be necessary for industrial application versus residential application.

It is also understood that the angle formed by the shape of the first portion 12 and the intersection of the second portion 14 and third portion 16 allows the device to be used with differently shaped objects. For example, a corner protector meant to protect the corners of a rectangular table would have a ninety degree angle, as illustrated in FIG. 2. A table shaped like an equilateral triangle would require a device with an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees. The device 10 may be provided in different sizes, as a function of the merchandise to be protected.

The device can be held in place over a corner of the merchandise 11 by many different methods or by simple gravity. For example, a strap encircling the merchandise 11 could hold the devices in place, or an adhesive could be used. Trapping the devices between the merchandise 11 and a fitted storage container (e.g., box, shrink-wrap packaging, bags or any other similar packaging) could also ensure that the device remains in place.

Claims

1. A corner protector for protecting a corner of merchandise, comprising:

a first portion contacting a first surface of the merchandise;

a second portion interconnected with the first portion, and contacting a second surface of the merchandise;

a third portion interconnected with the first portion and the second portion, and contacting a third surface of the merchandise, in such a way that a corner of the merchandise at the intersection of the first, second and third surfaces is covered by the corner protector; and

a first zone of protection located at the intersection of the second portion and the third portion, the first zone of protection having a corner protrusion defining a hollow recess so as to form an empty space along an edge of the corner of merchandise, whereby an impact on the corner protrusion will have its energy distributed by the corner protrusion to the second and third portions so as to generally prevent contact between said edge of the corner of merchandise and an inner surface of the corner protrusion.

2. The corner protector as defined in claim 1, wherein the corner protector is made of a resilient material whereby a portion of impact energy is resiliently absorbed by the corner protector.

3. The corner protector as defined in claim 1, wherein the first portion defines a second zone of protection adjacent to the corner of merchandise, the second zone of protection being adapted to at least partially distribute and partially absorb the energy of an impact.

4. The corner protector as defined in claim 3, wherein the second zone of protection has at least one hollow protrusion defining an empty space between the inner surface of the hollow protrusion and the first surface of the corner of merchandise, whereby the resilience of the hollow protrusion allows the second zone of protection to deform thereby at least partially distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

5. The corner protector as defined in claim 1, wherein the second portion and the third portion defines a third zone of protection adapted to at least partially distribute and partially absorb the energy of an impact.

6. The corner protector as defined in claim 5, wherein the third zone of protection has at least one solid protrusion on an outside surface whereby a resilience of the solid protrusion allows the third zone of protection to at least partially absorb the energy of an impact.

7. The corner protector as defined in claim 5, wherein the third zone-of protection has at least one hollow protrusion defining an empty space between the inner surface of the hollow protrusion and the protected surface of the corner of merchandise, whereby the resilience of the hollow protrusion and the empty space allows the zone of protection to expand thereby at least partially distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

8. The corner protector as defined in claim 5, wherein the first portion defines a deformation zone adapted to stretch as a result of the expansion of the third zone of protection, thereby further distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

9. The corner protector as defined in claim 8, wherein the deformation zone comprises at least one opening, thereby increasing the elasticity of the deformation zone.

10. The corner protector as defined in claim 1, wherein the corner protector is made of an impact-absorbing polymer.

11. The corner protector as defined in claim 1, wherein the corner protrusion has three protrusion portions to absorb impact energy, with two of the three protrusion portions respectively aligned with the first portion and the second portion.

12. A corner protector for protecting a corner of merchandise, comprising:

a first portion contacting a first surface of the merchandise;

a second portion interconnected with the first portion, and contacting a second surface of the merchandise;

a third portion interconnected with the first portion and the second portion, and contacting a third surface of the merchandise, the second portion and the third portion having a first zone of protection adapted to at least partially distribute and partially absorb the energy of an impact by expanding upon receiving an impact; and

a deformation zone in the first portion for stretching as a result of an expansion of the first zone of protection, thereby further distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

13. The corner protector as defined in claim 12, wherein the first portion defines a second zone of protection adjacent to the corner of merchandise adapted to at least partially distribute and partially absorb the energy of an impact.

14. The corner protector as defined in claim 13, wherein the second zone of protection has at least one hollow protrusion defining an empty space between the inner surface of the hollow protrusion and the first surface of the corner of merchandise, whereby the resilience of the hollow protrusion allows the zone of protection to deform thereby at least partially distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

15. The corner protector as defined in claim 12, wherein the first zone of protection comprises at least one solid protrusion on an outside surface whereby a resilience of the solid protrusion allows the zone of protection to at least partially absorb the energy of an impact.

16. The corner protector as defined in claim 12, wherein the first zone of protection has at least one hollow protrusion defining an empty space between the inner surface of the hollow protrusion and the protected surface of the corner of merchandise, whereby the resilience of the hollow protrusion and the empty space allows the zone of protection to stretch thereby at least partially distributing and absorbing the energy of an impact.

17. The corner protector as defined in claim 12, wherein the deformation zone comprises at least one opening, thereby increasing the elasticity of the deformation zone.

18. The corner protector as defined in claim 12, wherein the corner protector is made of an impact-absorbing polymer.