US3670872A

US3670872A - Combination carrying carton and display stand

Info

Publication number: US3670872A
Application number: US105002A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward M Rock; Joseph F Loughman Jr; Ann Mcmanus
Original assignee: HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH Inc
Current assignee: HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH Inc
Priority date: 1971-01-08
Filing date: 1971-01-08
Publication date: 1972-06-20
Anticipated expiration: 1989-06-20

Abstract

A fully enclosed carton, preferably of an elongated rectangular configuration, is parted along the end panel diagonal so as to allow the carton to be divided into triangular halves. At least one of the triangular halves includes a plurality of slots disposed along the apex thereof, with the slots being spaced from one another so that books or like material may be displayed therein when the half is disposed on its unslotted leg. The carton is preferably of a size adapted to house a quantity of books approximately equal to those which may be displayed in either one or both of the triangular halves.

Description

United States Patent Rock et al.

1 51 June 20, 1972 [54] COMBINATION CARRYING CARTON AND DISPLAY STAND [72] Inventors: Edward M. Rock, Hauppauge; Joseph F. V

Loughman, Jr., Ossining; Ann McManus,

[21] Appl. No.: 105,002

2,947,637 8/1960 Fobiano ..206/45.14 x 3,013,668 12/1961 Mennen .211/40 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 524,291 8/1940 Great Britain ..206/45. 14

Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Reinhold W. Thieme AuomeyKenyon & Kenyon Reilly Carr & Chapin ABSTRACT A fully enclosed carton, preferably of an elongated rectangular configuration, is parted along the end panel diagonal so as to allow the carton to be divided into triangular halves. At least one of the triangular halves includes a plurality of slots disposed along the apex thereof, with the slots being spaced from one another so that books or like material may be displayed therein when the half is disposed on its unslotted leg. The carton is preferably of a size adapted to house a quantity of books approximately equal to those which may be displayed in either one or both of the triangular halves.

11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures COMBINATION CARRYING CARTON AND DISPLAY STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to cartons and more particularly to one adapted to be converted from a carton into a book display stand.

Frequently books, pamphlets and other loose paper material or folders have been placed within spaced vertical members so that they may be displayed and made readily accessible to those working with them. Such stands are in frequent use in both offices and classrooms. Although such stands are quite convenient and provide ready access to the material on display, it has always been a problem to regroup and move the material once usage thereof is ceased. This is particularly true in schools and other educational centers.

For instance, books are parnphlettype materials are frequently provided to schools for use in conjunction with selflearning programs. Such self-learning programs are often utilized by different grade levels and even more frequently by different classes in the same grade level. In such a situation, once one class or grade level has completed its usage of the material it must then be transported to a different classroom and sometimes a different floor or building. This has in the past required that all the material be removed from the display stand and packaged in a separate carton for transportation to its destination. Aside from the inconvenience, misplacement or loss of the material at times resulted. By the means disclosed herein, a combination carrying case is supplied which when brought to a place such as a classroom may readily be converted into a display stand so as to encourage the students to participate in the self-learning program.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, a carrying carton is provided which can readily be converted into a display stand so that the books housed within the carton may be placed on display. The carton includes four elongated side panels and an end enclosing panel attached to each of the side panels. Each side panel is attached only to its adjacent side panel while the end panel is parted along a diagonal so that the carton may be divided into triangular halves. Each of the triangular halves includes a plurality of slots disposed along its apex which slots are of a width sufficient to hold book or pamphlet-like material therein. Carrying or shipment of the carton is facilitated by hinges or other holding means which fasten the two triangular halves together to form a fully enclosed carton adapted to house a plurality of books therein.

Preferably, the carton has side panels and end panels which are rectangular in form. The length of the side panels can be made sufficient to receive the number of slots required to hold all of the books in one of the triangular halves. In this manner, all of the books within the carton may be displayed at one time in the slots of one of the triangular display stands. When each of the triangular halves is provided with slots, the carton can again be preferably of a length sufficient to hold all of the adjacently spaced books in the two halves. The carton may further be provided with flange members along its parting lines or free edges which are adapted to mate with one another when the halves are assembled together. Dimples and receptacles are then alternately positioned on the flanges so that a proper mating between each of the triangular halves may be accomplished. In this manner, a group of books or other pamphlet-like material may be placed within a carrying carton and conveniently transported from one site to another. Once at the site, all of the books or pamphlet-like material may readily be displayed so as to encourage usage by students.

Accordingly, means for carrying and displaying books or pamphlet-like material.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a carton display stand assembly wherein books or pamphlet-like material user with a complete package of educational material as well as a display stand.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the combination carrying carton and display stand of the invention in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section view of the closed carrying carton taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the combination carrying carton and display stand of this invention with the .top triangular half removed;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the triangular halves positioned on a flat surface to form a display stand; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the triangular display stands including books positioned within the slots of the stand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, the carton I0 is of a rectangular configuration and includes four elongated side panels l1, l2, l3 and 14. A pair of

end enclosing panels

15 and 16 are attached to each of the side panels and include parting lines 17 which extends diagonally thereacross. The pairs of side panels 11 and 12 as well as 13 and 14 are attached to one another, respectively, in order that the carton may be opened along the diagonal lines 17. Thus side panel 11 is attached only to side panel 12 and side panel 13 is attached only to side panel 14. In this manner the carton 10 when open forms a pair of substantially identical triangular halves.

The portions of each of the side panels not attached to an adjacent panel can include a flange member 18 to facilitate and maintain the proper mating of the triangular halves when forming the enclosed ;carton. Also, the

end panels

15 and 16 include similar flanges I9 along the parting lines 17. A plurality of spaced holes and studs in registry therewith can be provided along flanges l8 and 29 in order to register each of the triangular halves with respect to one another. For instance, a hole 20 is provided on flange 18 extending from side panel 13 while a mating stud 21 is positioned on the flange 18 extending fromside panel 12. Preferably, the next registering means would be oppositely disposed so that the stud 21 would then be on the flange of panel 13 and the hole on the flange of panel 12. This insures registering each of the triangular halves with respect to oneanother in a predetermined manner and results in proper mating while forming the fully enclosed carrying carton 10.

Each of the end panels can be provided with a latch member 22 which holds the two triangular halves together and forms the enclosed carton. The latch 22 can be formed of resin material of a type which is adapted to be flexed or folded along a hinge line disposed between moving portion 22a and fixed portion 22b. The latch is adapted to engage lug 22c when the two halves are assembled together. Both the lug and the latch are disposed free of the diagonal parting line of the end it is an object f this invention to id a height of the carton, and as shown the carton 10 is of a length suflicient to accommodate two stacks of booklets disposed adjacent to one another. The booklets housed within the carton 10 may be conveniently transported or shipped from site to site when the carton is fully enclosed and hinged together as may be conveniently housed in a manner so as to provide the shown in FIG. 1.

Each of the triangular halves of the carton includes at the apex thereof a plurality of spaced slots 23. By way of example, it has been found that slots approximately one-half inch wide are particular useful with smaller pamphlet-type materials. Such slots can accommodate three or four of these pamphlets, depending upon their individual thicknesses. Further by way of example, 10 slots can be spaced apart from one another by one inch with each slot being one-half inch in width. In such an example, the total extent of the width of all of the slots is approximately 5 inches. The carton as illustrated has an interior height of approximately 5 inches. Consequently the container can receive a pile of booklets of approximately 5 inches in height which corresponds to the total extent of all the slots in one of the triangular halves. As a result one-half can receive such a pile of booklets in its slots. When slots are provided in each of the triangular halves, two piles of booklets 30 may be alternately housed within the carton 10 or placed on display in the slots. In this manner, all of the booklets contained within the carton 10 may be placed on display so as to encourage use of the materials.

Thus, there has been described a combination carrying case and display stand for books or book-like material. The carrying case or container is of size sufficient to house therein all of the book material which can be displayed in each of the slotted halves. When the book material is desired to be put into use, one merely has to separate the two triangular halves and place the books within the slots for display purposes. Thus either or bothof the halves can provide a storage rack for the material originally disposed in the container. This allows those who wish to use the material to readily view each of the books or whatever material may be on display and select those of the most interest.

Although the above description is directed to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is noted that other variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:

l. A container adapted to form a storage rack comprising:

a. a wall structure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can be disposed, a portion of the wall structure being separable from theremainder thereof along a predetermined parting surface which is adapted to mate with a substantially corresponding surface of I the remainder of the wall structure, the separable portion extending outwardly from the parting surface and the interior of the housing-and being adapted to rest upon at least a portion of the parting surface when separated from the remainder of the wall structure, the separable portion having a plurality of slots each extending through the wall thereof and intersecting at least two spaced apart points of the wall, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nested therein and bearing upon the spaced apart points thereby enabling the separable portion to serve as a storage rack; and

b. means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structure to the remainder thereof to close the container, whereby the wall structure forming the housing can altemately provide a container when the separable portion is attached to the remainder of the wall structure and a storage rack when the separable portion is separated from the remainder of the wall structure.

2. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which:

a. the wall structure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can be disposed comprises two sections each having a'pair of side walls joined to and extending substantially at right angles to one another and a pair of end walls extending between the adjacent end portions of each of the side walls, the sections being separable from one another along a predetermined parting line extending along the free edge portions of the side walls and the end walls of each of the sections;

b. the plurality of slots' comprises slots each extending through at least a portion of each of the side walls of at least one of the sections, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nested therein thereby enabling the section to serve as a storage rack; and

c. the means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structure to the remainder thereof comprises means for attaching the sections to one another.

3. A container adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising means disposed upon at least a portion of the predetermined parting surface of the separable portion of the wall structure and upon the substantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wall structure for aligning the separable portion in proper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure when the separable portion is placed with the predetermined parting surface in a mating relationship with the substantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wall structure to close the container.

4. A container adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 3 in which said means for aligning the separable portion in proper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure comprises the predetemrined parting surface of the separable portion and the substantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wall structure having a plurality of holes and a plurality of studs adapted to engage the holes when the separable portion is placed in proper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure.

5. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which the means for attaching the sections to one another comprises:

a. a lug disposed upon one end wall of the end walls at each end portion of the container when the two sections are attached to one another; and

b. a latch disposed upon the other end wall of the end walls at each end portion of the container when the two sections are attached to one another, the latch being adapted to engage the lug adjacent thereto,

whereby the engagement of the latches to their respective lugs attaches the sections to one another. 7

g 6. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which:

a. the two sections when attached to one another are adapted to receive a plurality of books stacked within the interior thereof; and Y b. each of the plurality of slots extending through at least a portion of each of the side walls of at least one of the sections is adapted to support and store at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be received by the two sections when attached to one another.

' 7. A combination carrying carton and display stand adapted to house a plurality of books and to be converted into a book display and storage stand which comprises:

a. a pair of sections-each including:

i. a pair of elongated side panels connected to one another along a longitudinal edge of each thereof and extending at substantially right angles with respect to one another,

. a pair of end enclosing panels each being attached along edges thereof to the edges of a different end portion of said pair of side panels and extending therebetween, the free edge of each end panel extending substantially between the free longitudinal edges of the pair of side panels, the free edges of each of the sections forming parting lines along with the pair of sec- 8. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein each of said slots has a width at least equal to the thickness of at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be housed in the carton.

9. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein the number and the width of the slots are predetermined to enable a predetermined portion of the plurality of books to be disposed in the slots of one of the said sections.

10. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,670,872 Dated June 20, 1972 Edward M. Rock: at 9.1;

Invent0r(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line m, "29" should be 19 Column a, line 66, "with" should be which Signed and sealed this 17th day of October 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer USCOMM-DC 6037 6-P69 FORM PO-1050 (10-69) u.s. GOVERNMENT mm'rme OFFICE: I969 o-aes-au

Claims

1. A container adapted to form a storage rack comprising: a. a wall structure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can be disposed, a portion of the wall structure being separable from the remainder thereof along a predetermined parting surface which is adapted to mate with a substantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wall structure, the separable portion extending outwardly from the parting surface and the interior of the housing and being adapted to rest upon at least a portion of the parting surface when separated from the remainder of the wall structure, the separable portion having a plurality of slots each extending through the wall thereof and intersecting at least two spaced apart points of the wall, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nested therein and bearing upon the spaced apart points thereby enabling the separable portion to serve as a storage rack; and b. means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structure to the remainder thereof to close the container, whereby the wall structure forming the housing can alternately provide a container when the separable portion is attached to the remainder of the wall structure and a storage rack when the separable portion is separated from the remainder of the wall structure.

2. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which: a. the wall structure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can be disposed comprises two sections each having a pair of side walls joined to and extending substantially at right angles to one another and a pair of end walls extending between the adjacent end portions of each of the side walls, the sections being separable from one another along a predetermined parting line extending along the free edge portions of the side walls and the end walls of each of the sections; b. the plurality of slots comprises slots each extending through at least a portion of each of the side walls of at least one of the sections, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nested therein thereby enabling the section to serve as a storage rack; and c. the means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structure to the remainder thereof comprises means for attaching the sections to one another.

4. A container adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 3 in which said means for aligning the separable portion in proper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure comprises the predetermined parting surface of the separable portion and the substantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wall structure having a plurality of holes and a plurality of studs adapted to engage the holes when the separable portion is placed in proper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure.

5. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which the means for attaching the sections to one another comprises: a. a lug disposed upon one end wall of the end walls at each end portion of the container when the two sections are attached to one another; and b. a latch disposed upon the other end wall of the end walls at each end portion of the container when the two sections are attached to one another, the latch being adapted to engage the lug adjacent thereto, whereby the engagement of the latches to their respective lugs attaches the sections to one another.

6. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which: a. the two sections when attached to one another are adapted to receive a plurality of books stacked within the interior thereof; and b. each of the plurality of slots extending through at least a portion of each of the side walls of at least one of the sections is adapted to support and store at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be received by the two sections when attached to one another.

7. A combination carrying carton and display stand adapTed to house a plurality of books and to be converted into a book display and storage stand which comprises: a. a pair of sections each including: i. a pair of elongated side panels connected to one another along a longitudinal edge of each thereof and extending at substantially right angles with respect to one another, ii. a pair of end enclosing panels each being attached along edges thereof to the edges of a different end portion of said pair of side panels and extending therebetween, the free edge of each end panel extending substantially between the free longitudinal edges of the pair of side panels, the free edges of each of the sections forming parting lines along with the pair of sections are joined to form a carton, at least one of said sections having a plurality of spaced slots intersecting the connecting longitudinal edges of a pair of side panels and adapted to display and store book material therein when said one section is nesting on the free edges of its side and end panels; and b. means for coupling each of said sections to one another to form a fully enclosed carrying carton adapted to house a plurality of books therein.

8. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein each of said slots has a width at least equal to the thickness of at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be housed in the carton.

10. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein: each of said sections contains therein a plurality of slots, said carton is of a length sufficient to house two stacks of adjacently spaced books, the space equal to the sum of the widths of the plurality of slots in each section is substantially equal to the height of said carton taken in the direction of the extent of the stacks of books adapted to be disposed therein.

11. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 10 wherein said end panels are of a rectangular configuration.