Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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B~CKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to decorative gift
boxes that require no additional wrapping paper, and
in particular, to pre-wrapped gift boxes.
In the past, many types of boxes or cartons have been
made wherein the boxes are stamped out of a sheet of
flat material, such as cardboard, to form a blank.
The boxes are then creased or scored at appropriate
locations and shipped to the end user, where the user
folds the blank into the desired carton shape. The
boxes can be coloured or printed, but normally they
have to be covered with wrapping paper to make them
- sufficiently attractive to be used for enclosing
gifts.
In order to overcome the need to gift wrap a
box or carton, attempts have been made to apply
wrapping paper directly to the box blank, so that
when the blank is foIded into the desired box shape,
the box is automatically wrapped with the wrapping
paper. An example of such a structure is shown in
United States Patent No. 2,479,456 issued to W. H.
Arthur. A difficulty with this structure, and in fact
most prior art structures of this type, is that they
are very fragile and difficult to package and ship
without damage. Further, the assembly of these
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prior art structures still requires a great deal of
skill or manual dexterity, with the result that the
desired end effect of a pleasing and skilfully
wrapped gift is often not achieved.
The present invention provides a box that is
sturdy, that can be folded into a flat and compact
configuration to facilitate shipping and point of
sale marketing without damage, and which easily folds
into an attractive and professional looking gift box,
with or without pre-wrapping applied to it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention, there
is provided a box blank comprising a central panel
having a center portion and opposed end flaps joined
; 15 thereto along respective first crease lines. Opposed
side panels are joined to the central panel along
respective second crease lines located
perpendicularly to the first crease lines, each side
panel having an inner portion and opposed end
;~ 20 portions joined to the inner portion along extensions
~ of the first crease lines. The end portions have
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transverse slots for interlocking engagement with a
respective adjacent end portion when the side panels
are folded perpendicularly to the central panel.
Also, opposed outer panels are joined to the side
panels along respective crease lines located parallel
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to the second crease lines, each outer panel having a
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mid portion and opposed distal flaps joined to the
mid portion along extensions of the first crease
lines.
According to another aspect of the invention
there is provided a box comprising a central panel
having a center portion and opposed perpendicular end
flaps. Opposed side panels are joined to the center
portion and disposed perpendicularly to the center
portion, the side panels having inner portions
extending between the end flaps and interlocking end
portions located inside the end flaps. Also, opposed
outer panels are joined to the side panels and have
mid-portions overlying the center portion to close
the box. The outer panels further have opposed
perpendicular distal flaps located beside the
respective end flaps.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now
be described, by way of example, with reference to
the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRA~INGS:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred
embodiment of a box according to the present
invention turned upside down for the purposes of
illustration;
Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the
box of Figure l folded flat ready to be packaged for
sale;
Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank used to make
the box shown in Figure l;
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Figures 4 to 7 show the sequence of steps
involved in the assembly of the box shown in Figure
l; and
Figure 8 is a plan view of another embodiment
of the invention wherein the blank is pre-wrapped
with wrapping paper.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMEWTS
Referring to the drawings, a preferred
embodiment of a decorative or no-wrap box according
to the present invention is generally indicated by
reference numeral 10. Box 10 is made from a plain
blank 12 (Figure 3) or a pre-wrapped blank 14 (Figure
8), and in either case, the appearance of the box
made from these blanks is of the same shape as shown
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in Figure 1. It will be noted that box 10 as shown in
Figure 1 is upside down. In use, the box normally
would be turned over so that it has a flat smooth top
surface and seam 16 shown in Figure 1 would be on the
. . .
bottom.
Figure 2 is a slightly enlarged view of box 10
folded flat into a shipping or point of sale flat
configuration 18, where it can be shrink wrapped or
enclosed in a suitable bag or other type of wrapping
for convenient display and sale without damage.
Re~erring now to Figure 3 the box blank 12 is
shown having a central panel 20 which includes a
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center portion 22 and opposed end flaps 24 joined
thereto along respective dotted crease lines 26. It
will be appreciated that crease lines 26 could either
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be embossed or crimped lines or they could be score
lines as is common in this type of box or carton
construction, and for the purposes of this
disclosure, the term "crease lines" is intended to
include all configurations intended as fold lines or
to faciliate the folding of one portion of the blank
about another.
Blank 12 is formed from a suitable cardboard or
card stock material as is commonly used in gift
boxes, but it will be appreciated that other
materials could be used as well, such as plastics. It
will also be appreciated that one surface of blank 12
becomes the outside surface of box 10, and the
opposite surface of blank 12 becomes the inside
surface of box 10. Normally, only the outside surface
of box 10 would be colored or printed decoratively.
Blank 12 also includes opposed side panels 28
which are joined to central panel 20 along respective
second dotted crease lines 30 located perpendicularly
to first crease lines 26. Each side panel 28 has an
inner portion 32 and opposed end portions 34 joined
to inner portions 32 along extensions of first
crease lines 26. End portions 34 have transverse
slots 36 for interlocking engagement with a
transverse slot on a respective adjacent end portion
`! 34 when side panels 28 are folded perpendicularly to
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central panel 20, as will be described further below.
Blank 12 also has opposed outer panels 38,39
joined to side panels 28 along respective third dotted
crease lines 40 located parallel to second crease
lines 30. Each outer panel 38,39 has a mid-portion 42
and opposed distal flaps 44 joined to mid-portion 42
along extensions of first crease lines 26.
Optional self-adhesive strips 46,48 are applied
to the inside surface of blank 10 adjacent
respectively to the outermost peripheral edge of each
: end flap 24 and the mid-portion of outer panel 39.Preferably, self-adhesive strips 46,48 are of the type
that are pressure sensitive and also not permanent, so
that the respective end flaps 24 and outer panel 39
can be releaseably attached to the mating or adjacent
portions of blank 12 when the box is assembled, so
. that box 10 can be disassembled or unfolded for flat
storage and repeated use.
~ The width of outer panel 39 is approximately
: 20 one-half the width of central panel 20, and the width
: of outer panel 38 is greater than one-half the width
of central panel 20, preferably by about one
centimetre, so that outer panel 39 rests on top of
and overlaps outer panel 38 when box 10 is assembled
' 25 but seam 16 (Figure 1) remains about in the center of
box 10. Alternatively, both of the outer panels 38,39
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central panel 20, so that it would not matter which
outer panel overlapped the other. The result would be
that seam 16 would be slightly off center, but this
would not materially detract from the appearance of
box 10.
In the preferred embodiment, the width of end
flaps 24 i5 equal to the width of both the inner
portions 32 and end portions 34 of side panels 28,
and also equal to the width of distal flaps 44. The
term "width" is intended to mean the horizontal or
left to right dimensions of central panel 20, side
; panels 28, side panel inner and end portions, 32 and
34, and outer panels 38,39 as viewed in Figure 3, and
distal flaps 44 is intended to mean the vertical or
lS top-to-bottom dimensions of these flaps as viewed in
Figure 3. Further, the term "equal" when referring to
. the width of the various portions of blank 12 is
~ intended for the purposes of this disclosure to mean
approximately equal or within the thickness of the
material used for blank 12. As will be apparent from
the discussion af the assembly of box 10, the end
flaps 24, end portions 34 and distal flaps 44 overlap
: upon assembly of the box, and it may be desirable to
alter the width of these elements slightly depending
upon the width of the material used for blank 12 to
give the best appearance, as will be apparent to
. those skilled in the art.
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End flaps 24 and distal flaps 44 have side
edges 50 adjacent to side panels 28 that intersect
side panels 28 at acute angles. These angles are
preferably about 30 degrees, but they could be
larger, such as 45 degrees if desired. Preferably,
all of these angles are equal, to give the most
pleasing appearance to the ends of box 10.
Referring to Figures 2 and 3, it will be
appreciated that the configuration shown in Figure 2
is obtained by folding the end flaps 24, end portions
34 and distal flaps 44 inwardly along crease lines
26. Side panel 28 and outer panel 38 are then folded
inwardly along the respective crease line 30, and
side panel 28 and outer panel 39 are then folded
inwardly along their respective crease line 30.
Referring next to Figures 4 through 7, the
assembly of box 10 will now be described. First, as
shown in Figure 4, one of the side panels 28 is
folded upwardly and inwardly and its respective end
portions 34 are folded inwardly. The other side panel
28 is then folded upwardly and inwardly as seen in
Figure 5 and the respective end portions 34 are then
interlocked by mating the respective transverse
slots 36. Transverse slots 36 are spaced from first
crease lines 26 a distance equal to one-half the
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width of central panel 20 and this makes side panels
28 perpendicular to center portion 22 of central
panel 20.
Outer panel 38 is then folded inwardly and
downwardly as are its respective distal flaps 44 as
seen in Figure 6. This causes mid-portion 42 of outer
panel 38 to overlie central panel 20 and close
approximately one-half of box 10. Outer panel 39 is
then folded inwardly and downwardly as well as its
respective distal flaps 44 to complete the closure of
box 10 as seen in Figure 7. Prior to completing this
step, a protective strip 52 (Figure 6) is removed
from the self-adhesive strip 48 to expose the
adhesive 54, thus causing outer panel 39 to adhere to
15 outer panel 38.
Finally, end flaps 24 are folded upwardly and
inwardly to contact distal flaps 44. Prior to this
step, however, protective strips 56 (Figure 7) are
removed from self-adhesive strips 46 to expose
adhesive 58 and thus cause end flaps 24 to adhere to
distal flaps 44. This completes the box to the
~ ~ configuration shown in Figure l.
: Referring next to Figure 8, pre-wrapped blank
14 is shown having a layer of wrapping paper 60
applied to the outer surface of this blank. The
:- wrapping paper is wrapped around the peripheral edges
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- of blank 14, and only these wrapped around peripheral
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edges are adhesively attached to the inside surface
of blank 14. In Figure 8, end portions 34 have been
folded inwardly to show the limit of coverage of
wrapping paper 60. It will be appreciated that by
folding over and adhesively attaching the edges of
wrapping paper 60 in the manner shown in Fisure 8, no
loose edges or surfaces of the wrapping paper are
left exposed to be damaged prior to assembly of the
box. Also, the embodiment of Figure 8 can be folded
so that it has the configuration of Figure 2.
E3aving described perferred embodiments, it will
be appreciated that various modifications may be made
to the structures described. For example, the overall
shape of box ]0 can be changed so that it has any
length, width and height dimensions desired. As
mentioned above, the shapes of end flaps 24 and
distal flaps 44 can be modified to change the
appearance of the ends of box 10. For example, end
flaps 24 could be rectangular in shape in which case
-~ they would cover the full box ends. Other
interlocking means, such as adhesive tape or hook and
loop fastening devices could be used to interlock end
portions 34 in place of slots 36. Distal flaps 44
could be located outside of end flaps 24, and distal
flaps 44 could also be rectangular in shape if
desired.
From the above, it will be appreciated that a
very simple and easily assembled decorative or
no-wrap gift box is provided by this invention that
j can be attractively packaged for point of sale appeal
1 with little chance of the box or the blanks being
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;¢~ damaged prior to use.
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