Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
This invention relates to package assemblies which
enable a number of packages to be transported as a single
unit from the package manufacturer or filler to a place
where the packages are r,equired.
There are many instances where such packaye assem-
blies would be useful. For example, in the food industry,
food of various kinds is packages in various different types
of packages, such as cans or cartons of circular or rectangu-
lar section. For many years, it has been the conventional
practice to transport such packages from the manufacturer
to a retail outlet in cardboard boxes, and a considerable
amount of expense and labour is incurred in the packing of
such boxes by the manufacturer and subsequently unpacking
the bo~es and arranging the packages on display shleves
such as are commonly found in a supermarket. Other pack-
ages assemblies have been proposed, but these still involve
a considerable amount of expense and labour.
It is therefore an object of the present inven-
tion to provide a package assembly which requires less
expense and labour in packing and unpacking and which is
especially useful in the food industry for transporting
packages from the manufacturer to a retail outlet.
According to the present invention, a package
assembly comprises a rigid, frangible base member having
at least one pair of parallel lines of weakening defining
a tear strip, at least one row of packages positioned on
the base member and removably secured to a teæ strip by frangible
adhesive, and a film of plastic material passing over the
packages and secured to the base member to retain the pack-
ages in assembly therewith, the packages being removable
~'
3~
from the assembly by removing the plastic film, tearing thetear strip from the remainder of the base member, and separa-
ting the packages from the tear strip by breaking the fran-
gible adhesive.
There may be a plurality of rows of packages, with
the base member having a plurality of tear strips, each tear
strip extending beneath the respective row of packages. The
packages may be removably secured to the base member by spots
of frangible adhesive, and the film may provide an imper-
forate covering the packages to resist entry of dust or dirt.
The base member may b~ of fibrous material, withthe adhesive having a greater adherence to the fibrous
material than to the packages to cause substantially all
the adhesive to remain attached to the tear strip when the
packages are removed therefrom.
The top and/or bottom of the packages may be pro-
vided with tamper-evident structure. For example, each
package may have superposed folded over portions at the
bottom, the lowermost portion having an aperture exposing
an adjacent portion and the tear strip having a partially
cut-out portion secured by adhesive to the bottom of each
package over the aperture, each partially cut-out portion
separating from the remainder of the base member when the
associated package is separated therefrom and remaining
attached to the bottom of the package. The bottom of such
a package cannot be opened without destroying the adhesive
connection between the cut-out portion and the bottom of
the package.
Each package may have superposed folded over por-
tions at the top, an uppermost of said portions having a
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slot exposing an adjacent portion, a spot of thermoplastic
material having been deposited in the slot to engage the
adjacent portion and also overlapping at least one side
edge of the slot to engage the uppermost portion. The top
oE such a package cannot be opened without fracturing the
spot of thermoplastic material in and around the slot.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described,
by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying
drawings, of which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a base member
in accordance with one embodiment of the
invention,
Figure 2 is a similar view showing packages of
rectangular section positioned on the
base member,
Figure 3 is a simiiar view showing a plastic film
extending around the packages and secured
` to the base member,
Figure 4 shows the package assembly of Figure 3
in an inverted position,
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a base member
in accordance with another embodiment,
Figure 6 i5 a similar view showing packages
of circular section positioned on the
base member of Figure 5,
E'igure 7 is a perspective view of a package show-
ing tamper evident top and bottom struc-
ture in an open position,
Figure 8 is a plan view of a base member having
tamper-evident structure cooperable with
the tamper-evident bottom structure of
the package of Figure 7,
Figure 9 is a bottom view of the package after
separation from the base member,
Figure 10 is a sectional view along the line l0-10
of Figure 9, and
Figure 11 is a plan view of the package after
closure of the top.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1
shows a base member 12 in the ~orm of die-cut paper board
which is rigid yet frangible. The base member 12 has three
pairs of parallel lines of weakening, each forming a tear
strip 14 t and with each tear strip 14 having a tab 16 at
one end which has been punched out of the board. The base
member 12 has a relatively smooth bottom surface and a
rougher, more fibrous upper surface. If desired, appro-
priate printing may be applied to the smooth bottom surface.
By means of appropriate equipment, the nature of
which will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the
art, three rows of spots of molten adhesive 18 are applied
to the fibrous upper surface of base member 12, with the
spots 18 in each row being spaced along a respective tear
strip 14. Usually, the adhesive will be applied by appli-
cators situated above a conveyor along which the base member
is travelling. The adhesive may be conveniently of the kind
commonly known as hot melt.
While the adhesive is still molten, a series of
packages 20 of rectangular section are placed in adjacent
side-by-side relationship on the base member 12 so as to
occupy substantially the whole area of the base member.
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3 ~
The packages may for e~ample contain food~ and may be car-
tons or paper packagesO Usually, the packages 20 will be
positioned on the base member 12 by equipment which feeds
the packages in a direction perpendicularly to the direction
in which the base member 12 i5 travelling, and then posi-
tions a pre-arranged set of packages on the base member 12
immediately after the adjesive spots 18 have been applied
thereto.
As shown in Figure 2, the packages 20 are arranged
in the same number of rows as there are tear strips 14,
i.e. three, with each package 20 being positioned over an
adhesive spot 18. The adhesive is such that it will adhere
to the packages 20 to the extent that the packages 20 are
secured to the base member 12 firmly enough to resist move-
ment relative thereto during normal handling, but which can
be broken by manual force to separate the packages 20 from
the base member 12 when desired.
Referring not to Figure 3, a plastic film 22 is
then passed completely around the packages 20 and secured
to the bottom surface of the base member 12 near the edge.
The plastic film 22 is arranged to form an imperforate
cover over the packages to resist entry of dust and dirt
or alternatively may form a tunnel-like wrapping which is
open at the ends. Again, the nature of the equipment re-
quired for this purpose will be readily apparent to a person
skilled in the art.
The resultant package assembly can then be trans-
ported conveniently from the manufacturer to a retail out-
let such as a supermarket. Then the package assembly is at
the retain outlet, it is merely necessary to turn the package
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assembly upside down, as shown in Figure 4, remove the
plastic film 22, and pull each tab 16 to tear the tear strips
14 away from the remainder of the base member 12, with the
adhesive spots 18 on each tear strip 1~ separating from the
packages 20 without tearing fibre from the packages. The
remainder of the base member 13 is then removed.
Figure 5 shows a different manner of positioning
adhesive spots 26 which is suitable when the packages are
metal cans 28 (shown in Figuxe 6). Adhesive spots 26 are
positioned in each tear strip 14, and are arranged such
that each can 28 engages two adhesive spots 26 which are
diametrically opposite on the bottom of the can.
Any convenient number of packages may be positioned
on the base member in a single layer, for example six, twelve,
twenty-four or thirty-six, and the packages may be of paper,
metal or plastic. The packages may be arranged in two layers,
before application of the plastic film, and in this case
it is preferable for the packages to be shap~d in such a
manner that there is some interlocking between the bottoms
of the packages in the upper layer and the tops of the pack-
ages in the lower layer.
The packages and ~ase membex may be provided with
structure which enables the packages to be tamper-evident,
that is to say have structure which indicates when un-
authorized tampering with the top or bottom of the packages
has occurred. Referring to Figure 7, the bottom of
a package 32 has a bottom panel 34 which is an integral
extension of one wall and which has a central rectangular
aperture 36. The bottom panel 34 also has a flap 38 which
is insertable into the container at the opposite wall. Side
flaps 40, 42 are integral extensions of opposed side walls,
and are folded across the bottom of the package before the
bottom panel 34 when closing the bottom of the package, so
that the ends of the flaps 40, 42 appear in the aperture
36. Slits 37 are provided between the bottom panel 34 and
flap 38 at the ends to provide locking in the closed posi-
tion.
The top of package 32 has a top panel 44 which is
an integral extension of one wall. The top panel 44 has
a flap 46 which is inserted into the package at the opposite
wall and also has a slot 48 extending inwardly in a gener-
ally diagonal manner from one of the corners of the panel
44 adjacent the flap 46. Side flaps 50, 52 are integral
extensions of opposite side walls, and are folded across the
top of the package before the top panel 44 when closing the
top of the package, so that the slot 48 lies across one of
the flaps 50, 52
~ s shown in Figure 8, the base member 54 is of a
si~e to receive four containers 32 and has tear strips 56
positioned so that two strips 56 extend under each container
32. Spots of frangible adhesive 58 are applied to the tear
strips 56 immediately before the packages 32 are positioned
on the base member 54. The base member 54 also has four
rectangular cut-out portions 60 which are severed from the
remainder of the base member 54 except at the corners where
retaining portions hold the cut-out portions 60 in place.
Spots of non-frangible adhesive 64 are positioned on the cut-
out portions 60 immediately before the packages 32 are posi-
tioned on the base member 54. The cut-out portions 60 are
arranged to be somewhat larger than the apertures 36 in the
bottom panels 34 of the packages 32.
The bottom of package 32 is closed before filling
and, after filling, the top of the package 32 is then closed.
The adhesive spots 56, 64 are applied to tbe base member 54
and four packages 32 are placed thereon. The non-frangible
adhesive spots 64 on the cut-out portions 60 are positioned
so that they will be partly within and partly outside the
periphery of the apertures 36 in the bottoms of the pack-
ages 32 so that the cut-out portions 60 become adhesively
secured to the ends of the flaps 42 and to the bottom panel
34. A spot of thermoplastic material 66 is applied to the
top of each package 32, partly in the slot 48 to contact the
flap 52 and partly overlapping the edges of the slot 48 so
as to contact the top panel 44.
When the resultant package assembly is opened by
removal of the plastic film, and each package 32 is sep-
arated from the base member 54, each cut-out portion 60
remains attached to the associated package 32 and breaks
away from the remainder of the base portion 54, with frac-
ture of the retaining portion 62. The bottom of the re-
moved package 32 is shown in Figures 9 and 10. The bottom of
the package 32 is consequently tamper-evident since the bot-
tom cannot be opened without destroying the ad~esive conne~
.....
tion between the cut-our portion 60 and the package itself.
Similarly, the top of the package 32, as shown in Fi~ure
11, is also tamper-evident since it cannot be opened with-
out destroying the adhesive connection between the thermo-
plastic spot 66 and the panel 44 and flap 52.
Other emobdiments of the invention will be readily
apparent to a person skilled in the art, the scope of the
invention being defined in the appended claims.
