FR2688200A1 - FOLDABLE BOX WITH FLEXIBLE INTERNAL ENCLOSURE WITH CLOSABLE SPOUT. - Google Patents

Abstract

The object of the invention is a box comprised of an external enveloppe (24, 25; 31, 35, 36) and an internal enveloppe (1) configured like a tubular transversally sealed sheath (3) characterized in that the pouring spout is formed in one of the two upper corners (5) of the tubular sheath (1) which are delimited at the extremities of the transverse seal (3) by means of a cutting (6) made of a semi-rigid material and arranged flush with said seal (3) and overlapping the line (4) which joins the extremities facing the upper and lower sealings, and the upper closing lugs (31, 35, 36) of the external enveloppe are provided with means (32, 37) for access to said corner (5), whereas the sidewall (26) of the box is provided of a detachable flap (28) which forms a notch (29) for the passage and extension of the pouring spout. Application to foldable packages, particularly for dry, granular, powdery or liquid products.

Description

FOLDABLE BOX WITH FLEXIBLE INTERNAL ENVELOPE
WITH CLOSABLE POURING SPOUT
The present invention relates to a foldable packaging for dry, granular, powdery or liquid products, of the type comprising a foldable box containing an internal flexible envelope in which the product is sealed and provided with a reclosable spout.

 Document FR-A-2,071,733 discloses a cardboard packaging provided internally with a flexible bag. The box-shaped packaging includes a flap which can be opened during the first use in order to extract part of the sachet which is cut to form a pouring spout.

 Such a spout, informal, does not hold, is not at all practical for use and does not give satisfaction, either with regard to the pouring of the product or with regard to the reclosing whose tightness is illusory.

 Document FR-A-2,644,430 proposes a foldable box with an internal flexible envelope and a resealable pouring spout.

The spout is shaped in one of the closure tabs of the box and the inner envelope is glued at least around the entire periphery of the spout.

 In addition to the fact that the integration of the pouring spout into one of the legs makes the structure of the foldable box more complex, its mounting and closing, the need to place the inner flexible envelope very precisely in line with the spout. and sticking it properly around the entire periphery, makes the manufacturing process of such packages even more complex and involves the use of special machines.

 Furthermore, such a pouring spout, shaped in the material of the box, is rigid or semi-rigid and therefore does not have the flexibility which would be desirable to best conform the spout for optimal flow of the product.

 The present invention aims to eliminate the drawbacks of known devices and to propose a new design of spout, more practical and flexible to use, more effective, suitable for filling the bag or internal envelope as well before its insertion in the box. packaging that are inserted and do not require special machines for placing the internal envelopes and making the spouts.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a foldable box with an internal flexible envelope with a resealable pouring spout, comprising a rigid or semi-rigid external envelope comprising four faces each extended by two opposite closing tabs and an internal envelope in the form of a sheath. tubular sealed transversely at its upper and lower ends, characterized in that
- the spout is made in one of the two corners
upper of the tubular sheath defined at
ends of the transverse seal, using a
cut out of a semi-rigid material and
arranged flush with said seal and straddling the
line joining the ends opposite the
upper and lower seals, and
- the upper closing tabs of the envelope
exterior are provided with means of access to said corner
provided with said cutout, while the wall
side of the box is provided, to the right of said
cutout, a detachable flap forming a notch
allowing passage and deployment of the spout
pourer.

 Such packaging has a number of substantial advantages.

 Since the spout is produced no longer on the rigid external envelope but on the flexible internal envelope by bringing in a semi-rigid cut, the design of the external envelope is simplified and that of the internal envelope is not modified since the spout is in fact shaped by an added element, in particular by gluing, which is a simple cut, special in its configuration but simple to make, easily applicable on the internal flexible envelope by a simple machine of the labeling type, before sealing of said sheath.

 According to one embodiment, the cutout has a generally rectangular or square shape and is provided with grooves facilitating its shaping, with pre-cutouts serving as a guide for tearing the internal envelope in line with the tip of the corner forming pouring spout. and peripheral notches allowing a hooking of the cutout on the edges of said passage notch and deployment of the pouring spout.

 The cutout has for example a width substantially equal to that of the small lateral faces of the external envelope and, in the folded position of the box with its internal envelope filled, lies astride the edge of the box delimited between a small face side and the top face.

 In this embodiment, the part of the cut folded down parallel to the top face of the box is advantageously sandwiched between one of the long side flaps, which is provided with a suitable cut allowing the deployment of the spout, and the two other adjacent flaps whose said access means are constituted by detachable parts produced by pre-cutting.

 Said precuts used for guiding the tearing of the internal envelope are constituted by a line, for example in V, delimiting the spout orifice of the spout, arranged in the center and in the upper part of the cut, and the ends of which end in notches located opposite a similar notch forming a tear-off primer formed in the upper sealing strip of the internal flexible envelope.

 Such a design of the pouring spout retains its total integrity in the flexible casing, in particular in terms of mechanical strength and sealing, which in no way are weakened or weakened.

 The wall of the pouring spout is in fact constituted by the wall of the internal flexible envelope, in one of the upper corners, after cutting the latter by tearing, the externally plated cutting acting as a shaping mold giving its volume, its positioning and its resistance to said spout.

 The semi-rigid nature of the cutout material as well as the shape and positioning of the spout in the notch allow the spout to be easily closed after use by simply flattening the outlet orifice, the spout retaining its external shape.

 Since the pouring spout is formed simply by adding a cut in the general shape of a label to the external face of the internal flexible envelope, this cut is advantageously applied using a machine of the labeling type, either flat on the sheet to constitute said envelope, before the formation of the tubular sheath, or after formation of the sheath and completion of the longitudinal sealing and before the upper transverse sealing.

Other characteristics and advantages will emerge from the description which follows of a preferred embodiment of the box according to the invention, description given by way of example only and with reference to the appended drawings in which
- Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a
internal flexible envelope to be inserted in a
foldable cardboard box, provided with a cutout
the invention constituting a spout
- Figure 2 is a plan view of the cutout of the
figure 1
- Figure 3 is a partial perspective view of the
upper part of the flexible casing of the
figure 1 parallelepiped shape
- Figure 4 is a plan view of a cardboard blank
to constitute an outer box or envelope
according to the invention and capable of receiving
the flexible envelope of Figure 3; ;
- Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the flexible envelope of the
Figure 4 in place inside the box of the
Figure 3 folded;
- Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view of the complex
Figure 6
- Figure 8 illustrates the external appearance of the packaging
of the invention, completely closed
- Figures 9 to 12 illustrate various opening phases
box and spout formation, and
- Figure 13 illustrates the method of closing the spout
pourer after use.

 In Figure 1 there is shown a flexible bag consisting of a tubular sheath 1 formed from a thin sheet of a suitable thermoplastic material, sealed along a longitudinal strip 2 parallel to the generatrix of the sheath 1 and two transverse strips of which only the upper band 3 is shown.

 The sealing strip 3 is perpendicular to the strip 2 as well as, at its two ends, to the line symbolized by 4 joining the two opposite ends of the upper sealing strips 3 and lower respectively.

 The heat-sealed sheath 1 thus formed defines, at the two ends of the transverse sealing strip 3, when it is in volume, two corners 5 of generally conical shape, one of which is intended to constitute a pouring spout.

 To this end, in accordance with the invention, there is added, preferably by gluing, a cutout 6, shown flat in FIG. 2, made of a semi-rigid material such as a sheet of suitable thickness of a material plastic or paper coated with plastic.

 In the embodiment shown, the cutout 6 has a substantially square general shape, is provided with two perpendicular central grooves 7 and 8, with a V-shaped notch 9 in the middle of the upper edge 10, V-shaped notches in the middle lateral edges 12, two joined V-shaped notches 13, in the middle of the lower edge 14 and a V-shaped pre-cut 15 in the upper half-part 6a of the cut, the ends of said pre-cut 15 ending in V-notches 16 on the upper edge 10.

 The notches 11 are connected, by grooves 17, to the notch 9 and, by grooves 18, to the twin notches 13, the grooves 17 and 18 extending along the diagonals of the small squares delimited by the grooves 7 and 8.

 The twin notches 13 define between them a point 19, the sides of which are in alignment with said grooves 18.

 One of the sides of the notches 16 is in alignment with the pre-cut line in V 15 so as to delimit a detachable part 20 of the cut 6, including the notch 9 and having a V shape.

 In FIG. 1, two generators of the sheath-bag 1 corresponding to the two edges of the envelope 1 are shown at 21 once filled with product and shaped (FIG. 4) in a parallelepiped of dimensions corresponding to those of the cardboard box which must welcome him.

 The cutout 6 has a width equal to the distance between the two generators 21 above, that is to say substantially the width of the small lateral side of the box in which the flexible envelope 1 will be received.

 The cutout 6, advantageously coated on one side with an adhesive substance, is glued to the external wall of the sealed envelope 1 so that, once all the seals (2,3) have been made, it is astride said line 4, with the edge 10 flush with the transverse sealing strip 3.

 The crease 8 coincides with the line 4, the edges 12 with the generators 21 and the crease 7 with the future edge of the envelope 1 filled and shaped as a parallelepiped (FIG. 4) corresponding to the internal dimensions of the receiving box (FIG. 5).

 The cutout 6 is advantageously applied to the envelope 1 using a machine of the labeling type, either flat before the formation of the tubular sheath, or after formation of the sheath and completion of the longitudinal sealing 2 and before sealing transverse (3).

 FIG. 3 illustrates the flexible envelope 1 filled with a dry, granular, pulverulent or liquid product and shaped as a rectangular parallelepiped with a view to its insertion in a folding parallelepiped box.

 To this end, the envelope 1 is shaped so as to define two small lateral faces, one of which (22) is delimited by the lines or edges 21 and the upper face of which is a rectangle in the axis of which extends the sealing strip 3, folded against said upper face.

 The corner 5 is flattened in the shape of a triangle by folding down the angles of the cutout 6 around the grooves 17.

 The notch 9 thus releases the extreme tip 23 from the envelope 1.

 The corner 5 thus flattened will be folded against the upper face of the parallelepiped envelope 1 during insertion into the foldable box and closing of the latter.

 FIG. 4 represents a box according to the invention intended to internally receive the flexible envelope of FIG. 3.

 The cut and creased cardboard blank shown in this FIG. 4 comprises two large lateral faces 24 and 25, two small lateral faces 26 and 27, all extended at each end by closure flaps.

 The structure of the box is traditional and only the upper closure flaps and one of the small side faces are shaped, at the height of the spout carried by the flexible internal envelope 1, so as to allow access to the spout. and its deployment.

 To this end, said small side face (26) has at its upper end a detachable part formed by a flap 28 of generally triangular shape with the tip down.

It should be noted that the V-shaped pre-cutting line 29 of said flap intersects the upper edge 30, corresponding to the edge 7 of the parallelepiped volume shown in FIG. 3, at some distance from the adjacent angles of the box, the width of the flap 28 in line with the edge 10 being substantially less than the width of the face 26.

 The upper flap 31 attached to the face 26 comprises a detachable part formed by a flap 32 of trapezoidal shape delimited by a pre-cut line 33 joining the line 29 on the edge 30 and extended by a cut 34 in the form of a half Moon.

 The two adjacent upper flaps, 35 and 36, attached to the two large lateral faces 24 and 25 respectively, are specially arranged on their edge opposite the flap 31.

 The flap 35 comprises a detachable part 37 and a half-moon cutout 38, corresponding to the elements 32 and 34 of the flap 31, the two assemblies superimposed on the closure of the box and the flaps 32 and 37 forming the pendant of the flap 28 relative to edge 10.

 The flap 36 has a notch 39 of trapezoidal shape, the opening of which is substantially less than the width of the flap 36 for purposes which will be explained with reference to FIG. 7.

 Figures 5 to 8 illustrate the closing phases of the box after insertion of the flexible filled envelope 1 conforming to the interior volume of said box.

 The flattened corners (5) being folded outwards, the flap 36 is the first to be put in place, then, the corner 5 (FIG. 6) is folded over said flap 36. The notch 39 is dimensioned and arranged so that once the corner 5 folded against the flap 36, then the flap 31 folded against the corner, the latter is sandwiched and secures the inner envelope 1 of the outer cardboard envelope.

Advantageously, the internal face of the flap 36 can be adhesive-bonded to secure the envelope 1 of the box.

 The flap 35 is put in place (Figure 8) last, so that externally the box has a traditional parallelepiped shape with smooth faces and without extra thickness. Only the half-moon 38 appears on the top of the box, which allows the removal of the flaps 37, 32 and 28 (Figure 9) to access the spout.

 The removal of the flap 32 by means of the half-moon 34 causes, by continuing the movement, that of the adjacent flap 28.

 One thus discovers the upper half-part 6a of the cut in the plane of the flap 35 and the lower half-part 6b through the V-shaped notch 29 on the face 26.

 The next step is (figure 10) the extraction of the pouring spout by pulling on the corner 5, by pivoting around the line 7. By continuing the pivoting movement towards the outside, the cutout 6 is constrained (figure 11) to bend while trying to pass through the notch 29, the width of which is deliberately less than that of the cutout 6 precisely to force the latter to conform to a chute as illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13.

 The movement continues until the notches 11 and 13 appear at the bottom of the notch 29 (notches 13) and the horizontal upper edge 10, at least what remains, of the box and sty block on horseback under the effect of elastic withdrawal of the envelope 1 which is released and of the cutout 6 which arqueboute elastically against the surrounding cardboard.

 The pouring spout thus shaped is locked in position.

 Once the pouring spout is deployed, the tip of the wedge 5 is removed by tearing (FIG. 11), although this removal can be carried out, preferably moreover because more easily, before the complete deployment of the spout, ctest that is to say before the engagement of the lower part 6b of the cutout in the notch (29) formed in the face 26. For this purpose, a tear-off primer constituted by a notch 40 is formed on the free edge of the sealing strip 3, facing the two notches 16 of the cutout.

 The tear is carried out by hand as illustrated in FIG. 11. The tear line is channeled by the notches 40, 16, then the edge of the cut delimited by the pre-cut line 15, up to the groove 8.

 After removal of said tip from the flexible packaging 1, there remains (FIG. 12) an orifice delimited by line 15 of the cutout (6a).

 The notch 9, formed in the part 20 of the cutout intended to be removed during the first use of the pouring spout, has the role of releasing the external tip of the corner 5 and of facilitating the folding in triangle of the upper half-part 6a of the cutout when placing the envelope 1 packed in its cardboard envelope.

 The maximum opening (Figure 12) of the pouring spout is obtained by moving the sealing strip 3 away from the cutout (6a), the latter being well held in a convex shape and in place since it is locked by the notches 11, 13 and the elastic bending of said cut.

 It should be noted that the product flowing through the spout does not come into contact with any material other than that of the flexible envelope 1 which lines the internal face of the cutout up to the edge 15.

 Reclosing after use of the spout is even easier since it suffices (FIG. 13) to bring the end of the strip 3 closer to the cutout 6a, so as to close the outlet orifice. The elasticity of the curved cutout 6a tends to press the wall parts opposite the casing 1 one against the other, which provides a suitable sealing closure for the spout.

 The packaging according to the invention can then be stored in this state (Figure 13) and be reused at any time. Just pull on the strip 3 to reopen the spout as shown in Figure 12.

 The role of the grooves 7 and 8 is to allow appropriate placement of the pouring spout (during the insertion of the casing 1 into its box) and optimal shaping of the pouring spout during its deployment and locking. in place.

 The design of the spout orifice, that is to say the determination of the shape and location of the precut 15, is chosen according to the nature and the viscosity of the product which must contain the envelope 1, said cutout 15 being able to be, for example, along a V with curved branches or a half-moon.

 The installation of the cutout 6 on the envelope 1 can be done during the formation, from a sheet of thermoplastic material, of a tubular sheath transversely sealed from place to place to form a string of sachets, the well known manner, said sachets being filled simultaneously with their production. The cutouts 6 are then deposited at the desired locations on the external face of the tubular sheath, at the filling station, using a conventional labeling machine.

 It should be noted that in the complex packaging according to the invention, the internal envelope 1 is easily separable from the external cardboard box, which allows the selective subsequent recovery of the two materials constituting the external envelope on the one hand and the inner envelope on the other hand.

 The envelope 1 can also be filled under vacuum or under nitrogen or other neutral gas.

 Finally, the invention is obviously not limited to the embodiment shown and described above, but on the contrary covers all variants thereof, in particular with regard to the shapes, dimensions and nature of the added cutout 6, the locking means. of the latter in the notch (29) formed in the wall of the external envelope during the deployment of the spout through said notch, as well as the means of access to the spout formed on the face and closing flaps of the outer envelope.

 The invention obviously applies to square boxes, that is to say with side faces 24 to 27 of the same width.

 It is also possible to provide the spout no longer on one of the small lateral faces but on one of the large faces (24,25), which makes it possible to produce a wider spout. The inner envelope 1 is then placed in the outer envelope with its upper seal 3 in the direction of the large faces. The corner carrying the pouring spout and the homologous cutout of the cutout 6 of the embodiment shown, extends over the entire width of one of said large faces (24,25) and the homologous shutter of the shutter 28 has a width, in line with the upper edge of said large face, substantially less than the width of the large face, similarly to said flap 28.

 The other upper flaps are shaped so as to allow access to the spout under the same conditions as in the embodiment shown, the two small flaps being folded down before the two large ones.

Claims (12)

CLAIMS =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =: =  1. Foldable box with internal flexible envelope with resealable pouring spout, comprising an outer envelope (24 to 25; 31,35,36) rigid or semi-rigid comprising four faces each extended by two opposite closing tabs and an internal envelope (1 ) in the form of a tubular sheath transversely sealed (3) at its upper and lower ends, characterized in that  - the spout is made in one of the two corners  upper (5) of the delimited tubular sheath (1)  at the ends of the transverse seal (3),  using a cutout (6) made of a material  semi-rigid and arranged flush with said seal (3)  and straddling the line (4) joining the ends  opposite the upper and lower seals, and  - the upper closing tabs (31, 35, 36) of  the outer envelope are provided with means (32,37)  access to said corner (5) provided with said cutout (6),  however that the side wall (26) of the box is  provided, at the right of said cut, with a flap  detachable (28) forming a notch (29) allowing the  passage and deployment of the spout.  2. Box according to claim 1, characterized in that the cutout (6) has a generally rectangular or square shape and is provided with grooves (7,8) facilitating its shaping.  3. Box according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cutout (6) is provided with pre-cutouts (16) serving as a guide for tearing the internal envelope (1) to the right of the corner point (5 ) forming a spout  4. Box according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cutout (6) is provided with peripheral notches (11,13) allowing a hanging of the cutout on the edges of said indentation (29) passage and deployment of the spout.  5. Box according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the lateral face (26) of the outer casing facing the spout is provided with a detachable flap (28) of generally triangular shape with the tip at the bottom and extending to the upper edge (10) of the external envelope, the width of said flap (28) in line with the edge (10) being substantially less than the width of said face (26) .  6. Box according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the cutout (6) has a width substantially equal to that of the small side faces (26,27) of the outer envelope and, in the folded position of the box with its internal envelope (1) filled, is straddling the upper edge of the box (10) delimited between a small lateral face (26) and the top face (35).  7. Box according to claim 6, characterized in that the flap (31) attached to said small face (26) and the longitudinal flap (35) closing the box last are provided with detachable flaps (32,37) forming the pendant said flap (28) relative to said edge (10), said flaps (32,37) being extended by cutouts (34,38) allowing the gripping of said flaps.  8. Box according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the part (6a) of the cutout folded parallel to the top face of the box is advantageously sandwiched between one (36) of the long side flaps, which is provided with a suitable cutout (39) allowing the deployment of the pouring spout, and the two other adjacent flaps (31,35) whose said access means are constituted by detachable parts (32,37) produced by precut .  9. Box according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said precuts used for guiding the tearing of the internal envelope (1) are constituted by a line (15) delimiting the discharge opening of the spout and shape appropriate to the nature and viscosity of the product contained in the internal envelope, arranged in the center and in the upper part of the cutout (6), the ends of which end in notches (16) situated opposite a similar notch (40) forming a tear-off primer, formed in the upper sealing strip (3) of the internal flexible envelope.  10. Box according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that one (36) of the upper closure flaps is secured by gluing of the flexible internal envelope (1).  11. Box according to one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that said shaping grooves consist of two perpendicular central grooves (7,8).  12. Box according to one of claims 4 to 11, characterized in that said peripheral notches consist of two notches (11) formed on the lateral edges (12) of the cutout (6), at the ends of one of said grooves (7) and two twin notches (13) formed on the lower edge (14) of the cutout (6), at the end of the other of said grooves (8), so as to constitute a point (19) hanging.