NZ334196A - Stackable cardboard container formable from corrugated paper blank with inwardly inclined end walls and reinforced side walls - Google Patents

Abstract

A stackable container is formed from a laminated paper blank with a corrugated ply. The blank has a base panel 1, side wall panels 2, and end panels 3. The end panels have flaps 4 which, when the blank is erected are adhered against the inside of the sidewalls to reinforce them. The flaps 4 are angled so that the end walls are inclined inwards slightly and have indexing tabs 5 on what will be their upper edges. The side edges of the base panel contain indexing apertures 10 into which index tabs 5 on the upper edges of a lower container fit. The corrugated fluting runs vertically in each end wall. The sidewall reinforcing flaps 4 extend to meet at the center of the sidewalls.

Description

NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No: 334196 Date: 15 February 1999 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION "A Container " We, CARTER HOLT HARVEY LIMITED, a company duly incorporated under the laws of New Zealand of 640 Great South Road, Manukau City, Auckland, New Zealand, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement The present invention relates to a stack indexable container formable from a blank.

Crates have in the past been manufactured from a variety of materials where they are to be provided, for example, for the purpose of conveying and displaying vegetable or fruit produce. More recently there has been a trend in supermarkets to utilise re-useable crates of appropriate shape formed from a plastics material.

Such re-useable crates however have been found to include a hidden cost and there is now some significant interest in single use crates of materials that readily lend themselves to disposal or recycling. A suitable such material is a paper laminate, eg, of paper lined corrugated paper board.

The present invention therefore is directed to a stack indexable container formable from a blank, a blank suitable for such container formation and to related methods and uses and the product of the related methods.

Accordingly in a first aspect the present invention consists in a stack indexable container formable from a planar blank, said container having a rectangular or square base, two end walls and two side walls, each wall at least in part being defined by a flap hinged about a fold line from the base, wherein the blank is of a paper including laminate having at least one corrugated ply defining a flute running direction, and wherein each end wall is provided by a flap from the base perimeter, and wherein each end wall flap, by means of lateral extensions thereof beyond a fold line (each hereafter a "side wall reinforcement"), provides, in the assembled container, an internal side wall reinforcement to and from the base, and wherein each side wall reinforcement is adhered to its proximate side wall flap, and wherein each end wall inclines inwardly slightly from its fold line from the base, and wherein the flute direction is such that there is a substantially vertical running of the flutes in each end wall and each side wall reinforcement, and wherein each side wall reinforcement for each side wall flap from one end wall extends to or substantially to the corresponding side wall reinforcement from the other end wall, and wherein each side wall reinforcement member includes at least one indexing projection that extends above the general height of the side wall, and wherein openings are provided through the base at and/or adjacent the perimeter thereof defined by the fold line of the side wall flap to the base, each such opening being adapted to receive a corresponding said indexing projection of a like container in a stack indexed condition, and wherein each region of each said side wall reinforcement adjacent a said opening is relieved so as to accommodate a said corresponding indexing projection through the associated opening in the assembled container.

Preferably said end walls are from the lesser boundaries pair of fold lines of a rectangular base.

Preferably each said lateral extension of an end wall flap includes two indexing projections.

Preferably said container is provided with a pair of handles provided by an opening or cut in an opposed pair of walls.

In still a further aspect the present invention consists in a stack indexable container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

Preferably said blank is formed of a paper lined corrugated paper cored laminate.

In still a further aspect the present invention consists in a blank of a paper including laminate having at least one corrugated ply defining a flute running direction, said blank being erectable to provide a stack indexable container of the present invention, wherein said blank has a square or rectangular base bounded by end wall flaps and side wall flaps, each flap having a fold line from said base, and wherein the end wall flaps each have a pair of said side wall reinforcements, each with at least one said relieved region and with at least one corresponding indexing projection, and wherein said base or each transition of said base into side wall define openings for indexing projections of a container erected from a like blank, and wherein, when erected, each end wall inclines inwardly said flute run direction will be upwardly running in each end wall and each side wall reinforcement, and said side wall defined in part by a side wall flap is at least near fully reinforced from each end by a said side wall reinforcement.

In still a further aspect the present invention consists in a blank for a stack indexable container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or 2 of the accompanying drawings.

In still a further aspect the present invention consists in the use of a container or crate in accordance with the present invention or a method of erection of a crate or container in accordance with the present invention which is performed substantially as hereinafter described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

To those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 is a simplified plan view of a preferred blank in accordance with the present invention, Figure 2 shows the blank of Figure 1 but showing pre-crush regions of the preferred laminate material, the material preferably being a laminate of a corrugated paper board of any appropriate kind preferably lined on each side by an appropriate paper board liner, Figure 3 is a perspective view of an erected crate or container in accordance with the present invention, Figure 4 is a perspective view from the other side of the erected crate, Figure 5 is an end view from either end of an erected crate, and Figure 6 is a side view from either side of an erected crate.

In the preferred form of the present invention any appropriate material can be utilised. A preferred material that confers significant strength but which may be substituted by other materials whether of greater dry or wet strength or less is a double cushion laminate identifiable as 6116WC UPS.

Preferably a preferred crate size is one with an external dimension of 580 x 380 x 240mm. Such a product is readily cut from a blank size of material 967 x 1122mm.

As can be seen particularly with reference to Figure 2 there is a rectangular base 1, side wall flaps 2, end wall flaps 3 (each with lateral extensions 4 which provide the side wall reinforcement with upstanding projections 5 on each side wall reinforcement member 4 with appropriate relief at 6 to accommodate projections 5 of a like container once erected).

As can be seen the fold line zone (preferably mainly internally but at least in part externally of the fold line 7) may be subject to an optional pre-crushing. This pre- ^ /; «■ p u i ij crushing at zone 8 and zone 9 about the openings 10 (which are to accommodate indexing projections 5 of a like container) reduces settling in a stack by the pre-crush amounts.

As can be seen the slight angling of the lateral extensions 4 of the end wall flaps 3 and the disposition of their fold line 12(not shown in Figure 2) is such as to ensure a slight inward incline of the end walls 3 in the erected condition such that a top edge 11 of one erected container will underlie the base of a like container. This eases stack indexing. The fold line 12 of each end wall flap to its side wall reinforcement lateral extensions 4 can be seen. In close proximity but preferably without any overlap are the distal edges 13 of the sidewall reinforcements 4.

Any other mode of achieving such end wall slight inwards incline using end wall flaps is within the scope of the present invention.

A crate or container as depicted can if desired be provided with handle provided cuts 14 (see Figure 4) or alternatively cutouts.

A container or crate of the kind formed from the material provides an economy of use of the blank forming material, easy machine erection, large areas capable of being adhesively affixed for speed of throughput whilst providing enhanced stacking strength.

The indexing of projections 5 into openings 10 together with the reinforcement of the side walls 2 by the reinforcement members 4 provides significant resistance to bulging of the side walls whilst the slight incline of only a few degrees of the end wall is sufficient to ensure a resistance of bulging at the end even though the end walls 3 are not supported in a similar manner to the side walls.

The flute run of the corrugated core of the blank laminate is such preferably to provide vertical or near vertical running of the flutes in both the end walls and in the reinforcing members 4 for better load taking. Yet the longer side walls are tying the end walls 3 to the upright condition reliant upon the strength of a horizontal run of the flutes in 2.

Claims (11)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A stack indexable container formable from a planar blank, said container having a rectangular or square base, two end walls and two side walls, each wall at least in part being defined by a flap hinged about a fold line from the base, wherein the blank is of a paper including laminate having at least one corrugated ply defining a flute running direction, and wherein each end wall is provided by a flap from the base perimeter, and wherein each end wall flap, by means of lateral extensions thereof beyond a fold line (each hereafter a "side wall reinforcement"), provides, in the assembled container, an internal side wall reinforcement to and from the base, and wherein each side wall reinforcement is adhered to its proximate side wall flap, and wherein each end wall inclines inwardly slightly from its fold line from the base, and wherein the flute direction is such that there is a substantially vertical running of the flutes in each end wall and each side wall reinforcement, and wherein each side wall reinforcement for each side wall flap from one end wall extends to or substantially to the corresponding side wall reinforcement from the other end wall, and wherein each side wall reinforcement member includes at least one indexing projection that extends above the general height of the side wall, and wherein openings are provided through the base at and/or adjacent the perimeter thereof defined by the fold line of the side wall flap to the base, each such opening being adapted to receive a corresponding said indexing projection of a like container in a stack indexed condition, and wherein each region of each said side wall reinforcement adjacent a said opening is relieved so as to accommodate a said corresponding indexing projection through the associated opening in the assembled container.

2. A container of claim 1 wherein said end walls are from the lesser boundaries of a rectangular base.

3. A container of claim 1 or 2 wherein each said lateral extension of an end wall flap includes two indexing projections.

4. A container of any one of the preceding claims provided with a pair of handles provided by an opening or cut in an opposed pair of walls.

5. A container of claim 5 wherein said pair of handles is one per end wall.

6. A container of any one of the preceding claims wherein said blank is of a paper lined corrugated paper cored laminate.

7. A stack indexable container substantially as herein before described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

8. A blank of a paper including laminate having at least one corrugated ply defining a flute running direction, said blank being erectable to provide a stack indexable container of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said blank has a square or rectangular base bounded by end wall flaps and side wall flaps, each flap having a fold line from said base, and wherein the end wall flaps each have a pair of said side wall reinforcements, each with at least one said relieved region and with at least one corresponding indexing projection, and wherein said base or each transition of said base into side wall define openings for indexing projections of a container erected from a like blank, and wherein, when erected, each end wall inclines inwardly said flute run direction will be upwardly running in each end wall and each side wall reinforcement, and said side wall defined in part by a side wall flap is at least near fully reinforced from each end by a said side wall reinforcement.

9. A blank for a stack indexable container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or 2 of the accompanying drawings.

10. The use of a container or crate of any one of claims 1 to 7.

11. A method of erection of a crate when performed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. t - - , ^ n I w- V S) v L v DATED THIS AJ PA It* DAY OF JMnt, J«nt R THE APPLICANT H \library\patents\djj\specs\392699 b