Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AN IMPROVED COIL PACKAGE
This invention relates to the packaging of wire or
cable and more particularly to the packaging of coils of
bare or insulated electric wire or cable, for example
wire or cable of the kinds used in house wiring systems,
all such bare and insulated wire and cable hereinafter,
for convenience, being included in the generic term
"wire".
By a "coil" of wire is meant a self-supporting
multiplicity of turns or convolutions of wire.
The interests of the manufacturer, wholesaler or
retailer, and user of wire are in conflict insofar as
transportation and packaging of wire are concerned. For
ease of manufacture and transportation within the
factory, it is in the interests of the manufacturer that
wuire used within the factory be in coil form. From the
point of view of the wholesaler or retailer who has to
- keep a large stock of wires of different kinds from one
another, storage of wire is facilitated if it is
supplied in packages of a shape and size such that they
can be readily stacked. On the other hand, the user
prefers wire to be supplied on a reel from which wire
can be readily unwound as and when required. Generally,
wire is marketed either in coils which are covered by a
toloidal lapping of paper or cheap fabric or on non
25- returnable reels. The former type of packaging is cheap
but it is not popular with wholesalers and retailers
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because such packaged coils are not readily stackable
and is not popular with users because wire cannot be
readily withdrawn from a coil and because once the
toroidal lapping is removed to enable wire to be
withdrawn from the coil, the balance of the coil is left
unprotected and may become tangled, as replacement of
the toroidal lapping is usually too tiresome to be
undertaken by the user. The alternative form of
packaging in non-returnable reels is unpopular with the
wire manufacturer because it is more labour intensive
and costly and i9 disliked by the wholesaler and
retailer because reels cannot be readily stacked.
Several forms Or wire packages have been proposed
that serve the dual purpose of a container or carton for
a coil and of a reel from which wire from the coil can
be readily withdrawn but all suffer from the
disadvantage that they are not easily stacked for
storage purposes and/or, once the container or carton
has been opened to withdraw wire from the coil, are not
readily re-closed for the purpose of protecting that
part of the coil remaining in the package.
It is the object of the present invention to
provide an improved coil package which serves the dual
purposes of a coil carton and a reel, which is simple
and inexpensive to manufacture and which provides for
ready removal and-replacement of the carton.
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3 20143-769
According to the invention our improved coil package com-
prises a closable carton which is formed from at least one folded
blank of cardboard or plastics material and which has a pair of
oppositely disposed major side walls, each of which major side
walls has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with the
aperture of the other major side wall; a pair of separately formed
substantially flat reel flanges, each of which reel flanges is
adjacent to the inner face of, and is restrained against movement
in a direction away from and against rotational movement about its
axis with respect to, one of the major side walls and each of which
reel flanges has an aperture in substantially axial alignment with
the apertures of the major side walls; a coil of wire positioned
between and bounding the apertures in the reel flanges; and,
extending between parts of the reel flanges bounding said aligned
apertures and secured with respect to the reel flanges, a substan-
tially rigid hollow hub.
Since the reel flanges constitute component parts of the
coil package and serve to strengthen its major side walls, the
improved coil package has the important advantage that the carton
can be formed of a cardboard or plastics material or a thickness
such that it can be readily folded.
When the coil of wire substantially fills the carton the
coil of wire will itself, at least in part, serve to restrain move-
ment of each reel flange in a direction away from its associated
major side wall but, in the preferred improved coil package, each
reel flange is restrained against movement in a direction away from
its associated major side wall irrespective of the quantity of wire
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4. 20143-769
remaining on the coil.
Preferably, each reel flange is positively restrained
against movement in a direction away from and against rotational
movement about its axis with respect to the adjacent major side
wall of the carton by positioning the flange in inter-facial con-
tact with, and securing the flange to, the inner face of the adja-
cent major side wall by any convenient securing means, e.g. staples
and/or adhesive, and, in this case, preferably the reel flanges
are permanently secured to appropriate parts of the blank before
it is folded to form the carton.
Where the reel flanges are restrained against movement
in directions away from the major side walls and it is desired to
withdraw wire from the coil package, the entire carton can be
removed to leave a
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5.
reel from which wire can be readily unwound. Where the
reel flanges are secured to the major side walls, when
it is desired to withdraw wire from the coil package, an
outer peripheral wall of the carton extending between
the two major side walls is removed so that wire can
readily be unwound from the resulting reel. For this
purpose, preferably the boundaries between the major
side walls and the outer peripheral wall of the carton
are perforated or otherwise weakened to facllitate
removal Or the outer peripheral wall.
The rigid hollow hub may be made of metal or metal
alloy, plastics or any other suitable material and may
be secured with respect to the reel flanges in any
convenient manner.
Where the reel flanges are permanently secured to
the inner faces of the major side walls, to facilitate;
stacking of improved coil packages, preferably the
apertures in the ma;or side walls are of greater
diameter than the apertures in the reel flanges and end
parts of the rigid hollow hub protruding through the
apertures in the reel flanges are so rolled radially
outwardly or are otherwise so distorted that the
distorted ends form stops which bear against the outer
faces of those parts of the reel flanges surrounded by
the boundary walls of the apertures in the major side
walls and that no part of the hub protrudes beyond the
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planes containing the outer faces of the major side
walls.
The invention is further illustrated by a
description, by way of example, of a preferred form of
the improved coil package with reference to the
accompanying drawing which shows an isometric view of
the improved coil package.
Referring to the drawing, the improved coil
package comprises a carton 1 formed from a blank of
cardboard and having a pair of oppositely disposed major
side walls 2 each of which is of square shape and has a
central aperture in axial alignment with the aperture of
the other major side wall. A pair of separately formed
flat reel flanges 4, each of circular shape and having a
central aperture in axial alignment with the apertures
of major side walls 2, is in inter-facial contact with
and is secured by adhesive to the inner faces of the
- major side walls and a coil 5 of wire is positioned
between and bounds the apertures in the reel flanges. A
rigid hollow hub 7 formed my a transversely folded metal
strip extends between the major side walls 2 and end
parts 8 of the hub are rolled radially outwardly to bear
against the outer faces of the major side walls. The
boundaries 9 between the major side walls 2 and the
outer peripheral wall 3 are perforated to facilitate
removal of the outer peripheral wall.
