END LOAD CARTON HANDLE IMPROVEMENT

PERFECTIONNEMENT DES FENTES DE PREHENSION DES PAROIS D'EXTREMITE DE CARTONS PORTE-BOUTEILLES

English Abstract

A bottle carrying carton for carrying bottles in an upright
state includes a bottom panel on which said bottles are arranged.
Opposed side panels and opposed end panels are provided, each end
panel having a handle flap cut therein to define a handle upon
being folded inwardly. The invention relates to an improvement
comprising a primary fold line formed in the handle flap from one
side to the other thereof, and a slit formed in the handle flap
from the mid point of the primary fold line to the lowermost edge
of the handle flap.

French Abstract

La présente invention vise un panier en carton servant à transporter des bouteilles en position verticale. Le panier est constitué d'un panneau de fond sur lequel sont disposées les bouteilles, deux panneaux latéraux et deux panneaux d'extrémité dans lesquels des poignées sont découpées et qui permettent de transporter le panier lorsqu'elles sont pliées vers l'intérieur. L'invention vise plus particulièrement l'amélioration de ces poignées découpées constituées d'une ligne de pliage principale se prolongeant d'un côté à l'autre, et d'une fente se prolongeant, elle, du point médian de la ligne de pliage jusqu'au bord le plus bas de la poignée.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:


1. In a bottle carrying carton for carrying bottles in an
upright state, said carton including a bottom panel on which said
bottles are arranged, opposed side panels and opposed end panels,
each end panel having a handle flap cut therein to define a
handle upon being folded inwardly, the improvement comprising a
primary fold line formed in said handle flap from one side to the
other thereof, and a slit formed in said handle flap from the mid
point of said primary fold line to the lowermost edge of said
handle flap.

2. The improvement of Claim 1, further comprising at least one
secondary fold line extending at an inclined angle from said slit
to the lowermost edge of said handle flap.

3. The improvement of Claim 2, wherein two said secondary fold
lines are provided, configured as a shallow, inverted V from the
junction of said slit and said primary fold line to the lowermost
edge of said flap.

4. The improvement of Claim 3, wherein said carton is a carton
for holding twelve bottles in a three wide by four long
arrangement, there being a bottle situated directly adjacent said
handle flap at each end of said carton, and wherein said primary
fold line is spaced from the upper edge of said handle flap by
a distance less than or equal to the distance between the upper




edge of said handle flap and the neck of a said bottle located
directly adjacent said handle flaps.

5. The improvement of Claim 4, wherein said secondary fold
lines, at the lower edge of said handle flap, are spaced apart
by a distance greater than or equal to the width of a said neck
of a said bottle.

6. The improvement of any of Claims 2 - 5, wherein said primary
and secondary fold lines are lines of perforations.

7. The improvement as claimed in any of Claims 2 - 5, wherein
said primary and secondary fold lines are pressure formed
debossed lines.

Description

~920~3

The present invention rela-tes to the field of
packaging. In particular, the present invention relates to
an improvement in the handle structure of a carton for
holding bottles.



A beverage that is traditionally sold in bottles is
beer and it is common to package beer in cartons of 6, 1~ or
24 bottles. The present invention has particular relevance
to cartons for holding twelve boktles of beer in a three by
four configuration. Cartons for packaging beer bottles in
such a configuration are rectangular in plan view,
lengthwise dimensioned to hold four upright bottle~ of beer
in a row and widthwise dimensioned to hold three such rows
of four bottles each. At each end of the carton, there is
an end panel, that is prsvided with a handle. As disclosed
for instance in applicant's co-pending Canadian Patent
Application No. 2,045,825, filed June 27, 1991, the handle
is situated near the upper edge of the end panels, in about
~he centre thereof. Each handle is defined by a flap that
is generally rectangular, with rounded corners, hinged to
the end panel at its upper edge, and separable usually by
being die-cutl from the end panel along the remainder of its
periphery. To use the handle, one pushes in on the flap,
and grasps the end panel of the carton at the upper edge of
the flap, where it is hinged to the end panel. Th;s form of

2 ~ 2 ~

handle has been in common use for quite a long time,
especially on twenty-four pack cartons of beer.

In the case of a twenty-four pack carton, it will be
understood that the configuration of bottles is four wide by
six long, and therefore in the centre of the end panel of
such a carton there will be a space between two bottle
necks. In the case of a three by Eour carton, though, in
the centre of the carton where the flap from the handle
folds in, there is located the neck of a bottle. As the
flap is folded in~ i~ it is pushed against that bottle neck,
it will often tear, and a tear will often travel up the Elap
to khe end panel of the carton, causing structural failure
of the end panel. To avoid this problem, it became common
practice to dimension the handles so that they were not wide
enough to contact the centre bottle neck, and would not
thereby be caused to tear. This provided a handle that is
difficult for many persons to grasp, however, since it is
quite narrow.

In applicant's aforementioned co-pending Canadian
patent application, it is proposed to provide a wider
handle, with a hinge line formed in it so that, upon being
pushed in, the Elap will not tear when it contacts the
centre bottle neck, bur rather will bend. Such a solution
has proven successful but there remained a tendency for some

2~12~23

handle flaps to tear, especially if they are puPhed in
abruptly and with force.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an
~ oved handle ~or a three bottle by four bottle
configuration carton, that is large enough to accommodate
most or all persons hands, but will not hear upon being
pressed against a bottle neck.

In a broad aspect, the present invention relates to an
improvement in a bottle carrying carton for carrying bottles
in an upright state, said carton including a bottom panel on
which said bottles are arranged, opposed side panels and
opposed end panels, each end panel having a handle flap cut
therein to define a handle upon being folded inwardly. The
improvement comprises a primary fold line formed in said
handle flap from one side to the other thereof, and a slit
formed in said handle flap from the mid point of said
primary fold line to the lowermost edge of said handle flap.

In a preferred embodiment of th~ present invention, at
least one secondary fold line extending at an incllned angle
from said ~lit to the lowermost edge of said handle flap.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment, two said
secondary ~old lines are providedl configured as a shallow,



~192~


inverted V from the ~unction of said slit and said primary
fold line to the lowermost edge of said flap.

Said carton may be a carton for holding twelve bottles
in a three wide by four long arrangement, there being a
bottle situated directly adjacent said handle flap at each
~nd of said carton. Moreover, Said primary fold line is
advantageously spaced from the upper edge of said handle
flap by a distance less than or equal to the distance
between the upper edge of said handle flap and the neck of
a said bottle located directly adjacent said handle flaps.

Furthermore, said secondary fold lines, at the lower
sdge of said handle flap, are spaced apart by a distance
greater than or e~ual to the width of a said neck of a said
bottle, in the most preferred embodiment of the present
invention.

In drawings that illustrate the present invention by
way of example:
Figure 1 is an end view of a carton employing the
improve~ handle of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a detail view of the handle shown in Figure
1; and
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the carton of Figure
1.

2 ~ 3



Referring now to the drawings, a carton C is
illustrated, with an end panel defined by top and bottom
flaps 1 and 2 that overlie side flaps 3 and 4. The carton
illustrated is an end load carton, generally configured as
described and claimed in applicant's aforementioned pending
Canadian patent application, but it: will be understood that
the present invention is applicable to virtually any carton
construction.

A handle flap 5 is formed in the end oE the carton, the
handle being wide enough (measured from top to bottom) to
accommodate the fingers of a large human hand. The handle
flap is cut from the material of the carton end and is
generally rectangular, with side edges 6 connected together
by a lower edge 7 cut in the carton end, and an upper edge
8 that forms a hinge line so that the handle flap may be
pushed in to form a handle aperture in the end of the
carton.

A primary fold line 9 is formed in the handle flap,
from side to side, by perforating same as illustrated, or by
other suitable means such as debossing with pressureO The
primary fold line is located a distance from the hinge line
8 that is equal to or less than the absolute distance
between the neck of the middle bottle nearest the hinge line

2~2~23


8 in a three by four bottle arrangement so that upon folding
inwardly of flap 5, the flap will bend at primary fold line
9, and the portion of the flap above primary fold line 9
will nct bear against such bottlle neck. The approximate
alignment of a bottle neck in a three by four carton is
shown by phantom line B in Figures 1 and 3.

~ slit 11 extends downwardly from a point substantially
at the centre of primary fold line 9, to the bottom edge r/
of flap 5. Slit 11, which is cut entirely through flap 5,
preferably when the blank form which the càrton is die-cut,
permits that part of the flap 5 that contacts the bottle
neck to separate away from the bottle neck, without tearing
of the flap. Since slit ~1 terminates at primary fold line
9, it will not transmit any tear into the upper part of the
handle flap.

Extending downwardly from the junction of slit 11 and
primary fold line 9, in a shallow inverted V~ are secondary
fold lines 10 that terminate in the region of the lower
corners of flap 5. As flap 5 is pressed inwardly~ then,
against a bottle nack, and begins to bend slightly at
primary fold line 9, and to separate at slit 11, it will
als~ tend to bend at secondary fold lines 10, thereby
further ensuring that there is no transmittable tearing of
the handle flap. This also makes the handle flap somewhat


, .

easier to press in, for those who do not possess great
~inger strength. It will be understood that secondary fold
lines 10 are spaced apart at their lower extremities b~ at
least the width of a bottle neck, preferably a greater
width. They may, like primary fold lines 9, be formed by
lines of perforation (as illustrated) or by debossing with
pressure.

It is to be understood that the examples described
above are not meant to limit the scope of the present
invention. It is expected that numerous variants will be
obvious to the person skilled in the field of carton design
without any departure from the spirit of the invention. The
appended claims, properly construed, form the only
limitation upon the scope of the invention.




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Representative Drawing