Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
PACKAGING FOR RECTANGULAR PARALLELEPIPEDAL PACKAGES AND
METHOD OF APPLYING THE PAC~AGING
SP~CIFICATION
Field of the Invention
My present invention relates tu a packaginy for a 0~.6 pie_e
or multipiece article having a rectangular parallelepipedal
configuration and thus a rectangular and, in a special case, square
outline. More particularly, the invention relates to the formation
of such a package wherein a base or bottom frame and a top or head
frame of cardboard or paper board can be applied to the article and
each frame is composed of angle frame elements in cross section with
one flange of the angle underlying or overlying the article and
another flange lying along a side wall thereof. Reference may be
had to my copending Applica-tion Serial No. 2,050,271 of August 29,
1991 which shows this configuration of packaging materials for
holding elements of the article in place when -the article is a
stack of objects, and/or for pro-tecting the edges of the article
or stack.
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sackground of the Invention
Reference may be made herein to a cubic ar'cicle, this term
being used to describe a three dimensional structure of rectangular
parallelepipedal configuration. The article may be a single piece
S which must have its edges protected for shipment or storage~ or a
stack of sheets which also requires the edge protection and the
packaging system for holding the stack in place, or a multiplicity
of rectangular parallelepipedal objects stacked together to form the
rectangular parallelepipedal article. In that case, the base or
bottom frame and the top or head frame may be bridged by a wrapping
which holds the objects in place and retains the frames against the
article. In other cases straps or struts extending transversely to
the rectilinear elements of the frame may serve to interconnect the
frames and hold the assembly together.
As noted, the frame elements can be angles and can have one
shank or flange underlying the article in the case of the base or
lower frame, or overlying the upper surface of the article in the
case of the top or head frame. For both frames, however, the
elements have vertical flanges which are juxtaposed with and lie
against the sides of the stack.
The packing material or package thus includes, in addition to
the article which may be a one piece or multipiece article, the
bottom and top frames as described and usually at least one band
around the frames or struts between the frames, perpendicular to the
frame element crossed by the band or strut, for holding the frames
against the article. This band or strut can run perpendicular to
the frame elements or limbs.
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The frame elements or limbs can be interconnected to a
one-piece or continuous frame. In this case, in the region of the
corner of the rectangular or square outline, the strand forming the
element can be buckled. The ends of the strand may be joined
together to close the frame.
In DE 40 27 762 and my aforementioned copendingapplication, a
packaging material of the aforedescribed type is detailed which has
been found to be successful in practice. The shanks or flanges of
the angle elements rest against the side walls of the material to be
shipped and, in addition, either overlie or underlie this material.
The material, even in its bent state forming the angle, is provided
in a single layer. It has been found that it is possible to improve
the strength of the frames to enable them to withstand the stresses
to which the frames are placed to even a greater extent than
heretofore.
obi ects of the Invention
It i5 the principal object of the present invention to
provide an improved pàckaging for rectangular parallelepipedal,
especially cubic, articles, utilizing the principles of my copending
application whereby drawbacks of earlier systems are avoided.
Another object of this invention is to provide a frame system
for rectangular parallelepipedal packages which can withstand
greater tensions than earlier systems, is especially effective to
withstand the tensile stresses of packaging and which can be
fabricated at low cost with a high degree of reliability and
reproducibility.
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Still another object of the invention is to provide an
improved method of making the package or appl~ving the packaging
material to the article which is to be packaged.
Summary of the Invention
These objects and others which will become apparent herein-
after are attained, in accordance with the invention, by providing
on the flange or a shank of the angle element forming each frame
limb, a fold which is doubled over that flange, the fold edge
between the flange and the flap forming an upper edge at least of
the frame element of the lower frame.
According to a feature of the invention, the flap can be
provided on the side of the flange facing the side of the article to
be packaged. Alternatively, although less preferred, the flap can
be provided on the side of the flange turned away from the article.
It has been found to be advantageous, moreover, to secure the
flap against the flange to which it is connected by the fold with an
adhesive. This further increases the strength of the frame element
or limb.
According to yet a further feature of the invention, along
the fold as well as along the bend to be formed between the flanges
and prior to the bending or folding thereof, a groove-shaped scoring
can be provided. This ensures reliable bending of the flanges at a
right angle to one another and precise folding of the flap to lie
along one or the other side of the flange.
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With the system of the invention and doubling of the side
flange of the frame by reason of the folding over of the flap,
comparatively thin cardboard strips can be fabricated into frames of
high strength so that high strength packaging can be fabricated with
low utilization of materials.
The strength of the frame is especially high not only because
of the doubling as has been described, but also because the fold
edge between the flap and the side flange increases the geometrical
moment of inertia, strength and stiffness.
It is especially advantageous that the system of the
invention can be used with the process described in the aforemen-
tioned copendingapplication and, particularly with a folding of the
flap as the cardboard strip is fed to the packing location and bent
to form the angle between the flanges and wound around the article
to produce the base and head frames. For a frame of a givén
strength, a thinner strip can be used if it is provided with the
flap of the invention, thereby saving material. The weight of the
entire package is not thereby increased. For a cardboard strip of
the same thickness as the earlier system, the bottom and top frames
fabricated according to the invention have greater strength.
Brief Description of the Drawing
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the
present invention will become more readily apparent from the
following description, reference being made to the accompanying
drawing in which:
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FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a package in accordance with
the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the package of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a section of the region III of FIG. l;
FIG. ~ illustrates in perspective view the folding of a flap
onto a strip before it is fed to the packaging location in accord-
ance with the prior application;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating another
embodiment of the angle element; and
FIG. 6 is a detail section of an angle element showing an
adhesive ~etween the flange and the flap at a fold thereof.
S~e~ic Oe~ri~ti~n
The packaging shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rectangular
parallelepipedal article 1 which i5 seen in FIG. 2 to be constituted
o a stack of generally rectangular parallelepipedal objects la.
The article can have a rectangular or square outline. The packaging
is formed by a bottom or base frame 2 and a further top or head
frame 2' can be provided if desired, the latter being identical to
the bottom frame 2 but inverted over the top of the stack of
objects.
In principle, a wrap can be provided around the frames
perpendicular to the limbs thereof as described in the aforemen-
tioned copending application. The frame 2 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is
rectangular to follow the outline of the article and comprises two
relatively short limbs 2a and-two relatively long limbs 2b, all of
angle cross section as shown for the frame element 3 in FIG. 3 and
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which may be continuous with one another, simply buckled at the
corners of the article.
As can be seen especially from FIG. 3, the frame elements 3
are fabricated from a cardboard strip 4 (see also FIG. 4).
When bent and folded to its final configuration, the frame
element 3 has a side shank or flange 5 at a right angle to another
shank or flange 6. The flange 6 underlies the article 1 to be
packaged or, in the case of a top frame, overlies the article 1.
The side flange 5 lies alongside the article in a vertical plane
with the frames oriented horizontally. Reference may be had to
DE 40 27 762 or the aforementioned copending application in this
respect.
As can also be seen from FIG. 3, the flange or shank 5, lying
along the side of the article, is doubled by a flap 7 folded over
this flange 5 and interconnected therewith by a fold edge along the
upper edge of the frame element 3.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the flap 7 is disposed on
the side of the flange 5 turned toward the article 12. In the
embodiment of FIG~ 3, the flange 7' is connected by a fold 8' with
~0 the flange 5', but is turned outwardly and lies along the side of
the flange 5' which faces away from the article. As can be seen
from FIG. 6, the flap 7 may be bonded to the flange 5 by adhesive 10
applied to either the flap or the flange or both before the flap is
folded.
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The fold edge 8 and the bend between the flanges can be
formed respectively at grooved scorings 11 and 12 formed in the
strip 13 which is fed to the packaging location and there bent to
produce the angle elements of the frame and to fold the flap 7, for
example, inwardly (FIG. 4). The scorings 11 and 12 may be embossed
in the strip prior to the folding and bending.
FIG. 4 also indicates that the flap 7 can be folded on the
strip in the course of advancing that strip to the packaging
location where it is wrapped around the base of the article 1 and
buckled and ultimately joined at the ends to close the frame in the
manner described in the aforementioned copending application.
