Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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WRaP AROUND AR~ICLE C~RTF~ WIl~I VARIABLE
HEIGH~ END PANELS
This invention relates to an article carrier of the
wrap-around type which accommodates a plurality of
similar primary conta1ner such as bottles or cans. The
article carrier includes end panels for concealing coded
information present on the individual articles at each
end of the carrier so that the code carried by a single
article is not read or registered when the code for the
article carrier itself is required.
US Patent No 3 747 835 discloses a wrap-around article
carrier which has end panels which serve as a secondary
means of ret~ ng the articles in the package. In the
present invention the end panels are not intended to
serve as retention means and although a similar panel
arrangement results, it is of the essence of the present
invention that certain fold lines by which the end
panels are hinged to ad~acent parts of the carrier can
be set at different angles to vary the height at which
the end panels span the ends of the article carrier.
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: One aspect of the present invention provides an article
carrler of the wrap-around type having a top panel,
bottom panel means and a pair of spaced side panels
lnterconnected so as to form a tubular structure in
which articles are accommodated wherein each open end of
the carrier is sp~nne~ by end panel means each end panel
means being hinged to respective ones of the side panels
of the carrier so that portions of the end panel means
are folded ad~acent said side panels internally of the
carrier and wherein the fold lines by which the end
panel means are hinged to the carrier side panels extend
downwardly and outwardly relative to the carton top wall
towards said bottom panel means.
Another aspect of the present invention provides an
elongate blank for forming a wrap-around article carrier
which blank has a set of primary panels comprising, in
series, a first base panel, a first side wall panel, a
top panel, a second side wall panel and a second base
panel hinged one to the next and wherein end panel means
extend along opposite edges of the blank, each end panel
means having a longitudinal edge which lies beyond that
of the carton base panels and is connected to said
primary panels only at each of its opposite ends, said
connection being a fold line in a respective one of said
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side wall panels said fold line extsnd~ng obliquely
relative to the longitllA~nal axis of the blank.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by
way of example, with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:-
FIGURE 1 is a plan vlew of a first paperboard blank forforming an article carrier according to the invention;
FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a second paperboard blank for
forming another article carrier according to the
invention;
FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a third paperboard blank for
forming yet another article carrier according to the
invention; and
FIGURE 4 is a perspective view from above and one end of
an article carrier formed from the blank illustrated in
Figure 1.
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Referring first to Figures 1 and 4 of the drawings, in
Figure 1 there is shown an elongate blank 10 formed from
paperboard or similar foldable sheet material and which
comprises, in series, a first base panel 12, a first
S side wall panel 14 (comprising a lower side wall panel
16 and upper side wall panel 18), a top panel 20, a
second side wall panel 22 (comprising second upper side
wall panel 24 and second lower side wall panel 26) and a
second base panel 28 hinged one to the next along
transverse fold lines 30-40.
The base panel 12 is formed with a series of male
locking tabs "t" which are adapted to be inserted
through locking apertures formed in base panel 28 and
which are defined by retaining tabs "R" when panels 28
and 12 are brought into overlapping relationship as
shown in Figure 4. Each of the panels 12 and 28 have a
series of deltoid tightening apertures "a" which, in
use, are engaged by a locking mechanism of a packaging
machine which draws the blank tight around the articles
to be packaged and brings the base panels into the
correct registry for locking to be accomplished. These
features of wrap-around article carriers are well known
in the art.
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At the top of the carton and struck from first upper
side wall panel 18 and second upper side wall panel 24
are article retA1 n~ n~ apertures "r~ arranged in two rows
and each of which is adapted to receive a neck portion
of a bottle as shown in Figure 4 so as to assist in the
retention of the bottles within the package.
Blank 10 is also provided with end panel constructions
C1 and C2 respectively. Both end panel constructions
are similar and end panel construction C2 is given like
reference numerals to that of end panel construction C1
with the addition of suffix ""'.
Referring to end panel construction Cl, the panel
comprises an elongate strip of paperboard material which
extends longitl~d~n~lly at the side edge of the blank and
is separated therefrom by an elongate cut line 42 which
defines the longitudinal edge of the top wall 20, both
the upper side wall panels 18 and 24 and parts of the
longitudinal edges of the lower side wall panels 16 and
22.
At one of its ends, the end panel construction is
connected to the lower side wall panel 16 by means of a
fold line 44 and, likewise at its opposite end, the end
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panel construction Cl is connected to lower side wall
panel 26 by a fold line 46. Fold lines 44 and 46 are
therefore the only locations at which the end panel
construction Cl is connected to rem~ n~ ng parts of the
carton blank.
The panel construction itself comprises a main end
portion 48 which is adapted to extend externally
substantially across the open end of the carton as shown
in Figure 4. The main portion is hinged to two side
portions 50 and 52 by means of transverse fold lines 54
and 56 respectively, such arrangement allowing the
external part of the end panel construction to more
closely follow the contours of the endmost bottles in
the package. Internal portions 58 and 60 of the end
panel construction are hinged to panel portions 50 and
52 along transverse fold lines 62 and 64 respectively
and tuck panels 66 and 68 provide the endmost portions
of the end panel construction and are hinged to the
internal panels 58 and 60 by means of fold lines 70 and
72 respectively. End panel construction C2 is similar.
The carton accommodates a group of six bottles arranged
in two rows of three bottles each. As shown in Figure 4
when the carton is formed the end panel construction is
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erected so that it spans the space between the carton
side walls and has portions comprising panels 58 and 66
and 60 and 68 disposed in folded face to face
relationship ad~acent respective side walls internally
of the carton. In this arrangement, it will be seen
that the fold lines 44 and 46 which connect end portions
66 and 68 to the ad~acent side walls 16 and 26 are
- disposed obliquely so that as seen in Figure 4, those
fold lines extend outwardly and downwardly with respect
to the top wall of the carton towards the base panels of
the carton.
It will be seen by reference to Figure 1 that the fold
lines 44 and 46 are both oblique with respect to the
longitudinal axis of the carton blank. The innermost
extremity of each fold line lies in a vertical plane
passing through the blank which is inward of a parallel
vertical plane containing the ad~acent end edge of the
top panel (i.e. the inner edge of the end panel
construction C1 itself). Each of fold lines 44 and 46
terminates at a parallel vertical plane which contains
the longitudinal edges of each of the base panels, such
location being inwardly of a like vertical parallel
plane which contains the outermost longitudinal edge of
the end panel construction.
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Alterat$ons to the angle at which the fold lines 44 and
46 are set causes changes in the height of the end panel
construction relevant to the exposed faces of the
endmost articles in the carton.
For example, in a similar blank shown in Figure 2 of the
drawings (in which like parts have been designated like
reference numerals with the addition of suffix "a") fold
lines 44a and 46a extend from fold line 38a to fold line
40a and from fold line 32a to fold line 30a,
respectively, and are more closely aligned with the
longitudinal axis of the blank. This arrangement in the
erected carton brings the end panel construction to a
location which is higher up in the carton than that
shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3 shows a further blank having similar end panel
constructions in which like parts are designated like
reference numerals with the suffix "b" but which is
adapted to carry a group of cans in two rows of two cans
each. Therefore the retaining apertures at the top of
the carton are shaped differently so as to suit the
packaging of cans rather than bottles as in the previous
embodiments. In this particular blank the fold lines
44b and 46b are set at an angle such that they are more
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g
sharply oblique relative to the longit~ nal axis of the
blank than is the case for the blank shown in Figure 1
and this results in the end panel construction in the
erected carton being set at a lower height than that
shown in Figure 4 of the drawings.
