Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~Qr~.r~,AP,~~LE RTICLE~ARRrER AND BL~AN-K
'sac g~ra d of the Inyention
The iavGndon relates to an article Gamier produced for packaging a pluraIfty
of articles, for
example bottles. More particularly the invention relates to a easier of the
top gripping type
which attaches to the tops of the articles thereby securing the articles in an
array.
It is known to provide top gripping carriers which comprise so called sunburst
apertures
1o having a series of ~erencially arranged tabs which enable the bottle top to
pass through
the apertures which tabs engage on the underside of a bottle top or on a
flange of the bottle
neck to prevent the removal of the bottle from the aperture. A problem arises
when the
location at which the tab engages the underside of the bottle torp is high up
on the bottle neck
This creates a carrier that is unstable. Further, the tabs are weakened by the
unstable nature '
i5 of the bottles within the carrier so reducing their effectiveness. '
A farther problem is that a top gripping ceariGr needs to be of sufficient
str~gth to support
the bottle especially where the bottle is large or if the bottles to be
packaged vary in size.
One example of a top gripping carrier is illusti~ted in US 3528597 which shows
a cagier for ,
20 gripping bottles with relatively narrow necks, so that the side walls of
the earner are parallel.
This carrier is limited to the type of bottles that can be packaged i_e.
narrow necked bottles.
' The present invention seeks to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of
the prior art ,
r
25 Shy ~ the Invention '
One aspect of the invention provides an article carrier for accommodating a
plurality of
articles, for example, bottles, comprises a top wall, a base and opposed side
walls
interconnecting the top and the base and one or more of the side walls is
atzanged in an acute
30 angular relationship with respect to said base to form a tubular structure
of trapezoidal cross
section. The carrier is collapsible along a supplereental hinged connection
formed in the
base panel thereby to enable the carrier to move between a flat collapsed and
a set up r
conditions.
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collapsible along a supplemental hinged connection formed in the base panel
thereby to enable
the Garner to move between a flat collapsed and a set up conditions.
Beneficially, the Garner can package a variety of article types with different
shapes of neck.
Furthermore, the Garner can be transported to the bottler in a collapsed
condition to be erected
easily during article loading.
According to one optional feature of this aspect of the invention, the hinged
connection may be
disposed at a location diametrically opposed to one of the four corners of the
trapezoid forming
the opposing hinged connection when the carrier is placed in a flat collapsed
condition.
Optionally, there may further comprise an internal partition panel which is
tilted with respect to
the top wall to be collapsible.
Preferably, the top wall panel may comprise a plurality of apertures each of
which has at least
one foldable retention tab to operatively engage the underside of a radially
protruding part of a
container present in each of the apertures. More preferably, internal
partition may comprise a
corresponding plurality of apertures aligned with the top panel apertures.
Each of which
internal partition apertures has one or more foldable retention tabs which
passes through the
corresponding top panel aperture to operatively engage another portion of the
underside of the
radially protruding part.
Each said internal partition aperture may be formed in part by opposite
retention tabs of
different lengths such that, in use, the upper edges of the internal partition
retaining tabs are co-
planar with the upper edge of the at least one retention tab of the top panel.
According to another optional feature of this aspect of the invention, the
base may comprise a
plurality of lower receiving apertures aligned with the corresponding
apertures of the internal
partition and the top panel which lower receiving apertures are provided with
stabilising tabs
foldably connected to the base panel to support a portion of the article.
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A second aspect of the invention provides a blank for forming a tubular
article carrier
comprising a top wall panel, a side wall panel, a base panel and an opposing
side wall panel
hingedly connected together in series wherein the distance between the hinged
connections of
the base panel are greater than the hinged connections of the top panel. The
base panel fizrther
comprises a supplemental hinged connection to allow the article carrier formed
from the blank
to be moved between flat collapsed and set up conditions. There may fiu~ther
comprise an
internal partition panel hingedly connected to one of the side wall panels
which internal
partition panel includes securing means to be secured to the opposing one of
said side panels.
to According to another optional feature of the second aspect of the
invention, the top wall panel
may have a plurality of apertures each of which has at least one foldable
retention tab that can
engage part of the article presentation in a set up Garner and wherein said
internal partition
comprises a corresponding plurality of apertures to be aligned with said top
panel apertures
when the carrier is in a set up condition, each of which has at least one
foldable retention tab
which is capable of passing through the corresponding top panel aperture to
operatively engage
a portion of this article. Optionally, said aperture is divided in part by
opposite retention tabs of
different lengths such that, in use, the upper edges of the said internal
partition retaining tabs are
co-planar with the upper edge of said at least one retention tab of said top
panel.
2o The base may comprise a plurality of lower receiving apertures with
stabilising tabs foldably
connected to the base panel thereby to support a portion of the article held
in a set up carrier.
A third aspect of the invention provides a package comprising a plurality of
articles in a grouped
arrangement and an article Garner defined in any of the preceding paragraphs.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of
example only, by
reference to the following drawings, in which:
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FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming an article Garner according to
one embodiment
of the invention;
FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a blank for forming an article Garner according to
another
embodiment of the invention;
FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of the article carrier in set up and collapsed
conditions, formed
from the blank shown in Figure 1;
1o FIGURES 4 and S are schematic elevational views of the article carrier
formed from the blank
shown in Figure 1 shown during loading;
FIGURE 6 is an elevational view of the article carrier in set up and collapsed
conditions, formed
from the blank shown in Figure 2;
FIGURES 7 and 8 are schematic elevations views of the article carrier formed
from the blank
shown in Figure 2;
FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the article Garner set up and loaded and
formed from the
blank of Figure 1; and
FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of the article Garner set up and loaded and
formed from the
blank of Figure 2.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Referring to the drawings, and in particular Figure 1 thereof, there is shown
a blank 10 for
forming an article carrier for accommodating a plurality of articles, for
example, bottles,
comprising a top wall, a base and opposed side walls interconnecting the top
and the base and
one or more of said side walls is arranged in an acute angular relationship
with respect to said
base to form a tubular structure of trapezoidal cross section, wherein the
carrier is collapsible
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wall panel 16, base panel 18, a second silo wall panel 20, a top wall panel 22
and an outer
first side wall panel 24, hingedly c~nar~ed one to the next along fold lines
30, 32, 34 and 36 '
respectively. Aa internal partition structure comprises a partition panel 14
hingedty
connected to inner side wall panel 16 along fold line 28.
In those embodiments with an internal partition structure there iluther
comprises a securing
means for securing the inbexnal partition panel to one of the side wall
panels. 'fhe securing
mesas is provided by a glue flap 12 hingedly eonnectod to internal partition
panel 14 slung
fold Line 26. Alternatively, a loctang tab arrangement may be used whereby
tabs ceding
t0 from partition panel I4 are reccivad by corresponding apertures in the
adjacent side wall
panel, '
( ,
The base panel 18 includes a fold line 66 extending longitudinally along the
length of base
panel 18. In use, this fold line 66 enables the carrier to be placed in a flat
collapsed condition
described in more detail below. '
As illustrated in Fgure 1, the paxriidon panel 14 of this embodiment is formed
with one or
more pairs 38 and 40 of rct~ntion tabs which are foIdably connected thereto
along fold lines
26 and 28 respectively. rn this embodiment, four pairs of retention tabs arc
provided and are
laterally spaced intermediate the side edges of retaining panel 14. Each pair
38 and 40 is
struck from retaining panel 14 to de~ne an article receiving aperturt 47
illustrated partially in
Figure 5.
I.
Turning in detail to the prefeixed cx~guration of one pair 38, a.Q of
retention tabs, these '
comprises retention tab 38 struck from and hingedly connected to glue flap 12
along fold line '
26. Tab 38 extends inwardly of retaining panel I4 to its distal edge. A second
retention tab
40 is hingcdly connected to side panel 16 along fold line 28 and in this
embodiment, tab 40 is
oppositely disposed to tab 38 and extends into aperiurc 47 (Figure 5). The
distal edge of tab
40 is juxtaposed the distal edge of tab 38 and is separated therefrom by cut
line 42. Tabs 38
and 40 comptsse opposed side edges formed from Cut lines 44, 46. Each tab 38,
40 may
further comprise one or more stress relief fold lines 39, 41 to assist in
deforming the retaining
tabs without tearing occurring. It will be seen from Figure 1 that stress
relief lines diverge
outwardly fmm the distal edges of the retaining tab 38, 40 towards the
proximal comers of
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the respective tabs. The length Ll of retaining tab 38 is Longer than the
length x,." of tabs 40,
for the reasons outlined below.
The base panel 18 includes a plurality of lower article receiving apertures 48
which, in this
s embodiment, comprises four apertures in spaced collinear awangemont adapted
to ~neceive an
upper portion of the neck of a bottle. The apertures 48 are positioned to be
aligned with the
corresponding aperture 47 in the internal partition. Preferably, each aperture
48 is provided
with a plurality of tabs 50 in an antaular array around the edge of the
aperture, leach tab 50
is foldably connected to brio panel 18 along fold line 52 and is separated
from the next
to adjacent tab by cut line 53. Of coursc,~in some embodiments, the tabs 50
are spaced apart.
The tabs 50 are provided to allow articles of different sizes to be loaded
into the article
carrier whereby an article with a Larger diatnetcr of neck causes the tabs 50
to be moved out
o:f alignment with respect to the base panel 18.
is ?'he top panel Z2 also comprises a plurality of apertures 58 that are
siigned with a
corresponding aperture 48 in the base panel 38. It will be seen from 1 figure
1 that there are
one or more tabs extending inwat~dly into the aperture S8. In this embodiment
there
comprises a pair of tabs 54, 56 hinged to opposing side edges of the apezture
58. The hinged
connection for each tab 54, 56 is provided by one or more fold lines. Figure I
illustrates
20 divergent fold lines 60, 62 and 6I, 63 respectively to connect to the side
edges of the
respective aperture 58. Aperture 58 is shaped to receive the corresponding
retaining tabs 38,
40 from the internal partition panel 14, discussed in more detail below.
In this embodiment, the top panel 22 also comprises fold line 64 that extends
longitudinally
25 along a central portion of the top panel 22 and is intcauptcd by apertures
58. In use, fold line
64 assists in causing the retaining tabs to move out of alignment with the top
panel 22.
It is envisaged that suitable handle means generally known may be provided in
the top and/or
side panels.
>~igure 2 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention which is similar to
the first
embodiment arid therefore corresponding panels are numbered with the same
reference
numerals but prefixed with the reference numeral "I", As the blank of the
second
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CmbOdln7ent 1;S SiIn118r' t0 the 111.11 eIrlbOdlDlCnt OTlly th05C dllfOCB
Shall be desCdlbCd In '
a»y further detail. 'Ihe second embodiment fuxd~er comprises a tear strip I68
struck from '
second side panel I20 and extending between apertures 148 arid 158. The strip
168 is ,
fiangibly connected to side panel 20 along tear Iines 170 and 172. A tab 174
extends
downwardly below the base panel when the carrier is in set up condition to
assist in pulling
the tear strip from the c~nri~' th~neby to provide access to an article so
that it can ba removed '
without destroying the overall integrity of the carrier.
Turning to the conshuction of the carrier, by rcferenx to Figures 3, 4, 5 and
9, the blank I D
1o rewires a series of sequential folding and gluing operations to form the
carrier which can be
performed in a straight line machine so that the carrier is not required to be
rotated or '
c
inverted to complete its construction. The folding process is not limited to
that described
below and can be altered aceordi~g to particular maaufacturing requiram,ents.
is The first stage of constzvvcdon is far the carrier to be formed into a flat
coll~sed a0ndition, ;
This is achieved by folding partition panel 14 and glue flap 12 about fold
line 28 ao bring the
aforesaid panels into face contacting relationship with first inner side wall
panel 16 and part ,
of base panel I8 respectively. Thereafter, the blank is folded about fold Iine
66 whereby ,
panels 12, 14, 16 and 18 are folded so as to bung glue flap into face
contacting relationship
2o with second rids wall panel ZO and secured together by glue or other
switable means known
in the art. Outer first side well panel 24 is folded along fold line 36 into
overlapping
relationship with inner side wall panel 16 and is secured together by glue or
other suitable .
' means known in the art. Thus the carrier is in flat collapsed condition as
illustrated in Figure ,
3. It will be seen that the hinged connection formed by fold line 66 is
diametrically opposed j
2S to the hinged corner 36 formed by top panel 22 and side wall 15/24 such
that dimension DS '
is substantially equal to the total of dimension of D6 and D7 (Figure 1) to
enable the crier
to collapse.
In those embodiments with an internal partition, the partition panel 14 tilts
with respect to the '
30 top panel 22 so that it can collapse vcrithout its' integrity being
da~nnaged by unwanted folding. '
To achieve this, the panel is tilted so that the distance Dl of top panel 22
and the distance D2
of the side wall 20 is equal to total of the distance D3 of the partition
panel I4 and the
distance D4 of side wall 24, shown in Figure 3.
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inner side wall panel 16 and is secured together by glue or other suitable
means known in the
art. Thus the Garner is in flat collapsed condition as illustrated in Figure
3. It will be seen that
the hinged connection formed by fold line 66 is diametrically opposed to the
hinged corner 36
formed by top panel 22 and side wall 16/24 such that dimension DS is
substantially equal to the
total of dimension of D6 and D7 (Figure 1 ) to enable the Garner to collapse.
In those embodiments with an internal partition, the partition panel 14 tilts
with respect to the
top panel 22 so that it can collapse without its' integrity being damaged by
unwanted folding.
To achieve this, the panel is tilted so that the distance D1 of top panel 22
and the distance D2 of
the side wall 20 is equal to total of the distance D3 of the partition panel
14 and the distance D4
of side wall 24, shown in Figure 3.
The carrier is supplied to a bottler for final erection and loading. 'This
first stage of the loading
process: the carrier is erected by compressing the edges formed by the hinged
connection 66 and
36. Thereafter the bottles A are grouped together in a row of articles, for
example 1x4 and the
erected carrier is introduced to the group from above by relative vertical
means between the
bottles and the blank preferably during forward feed movement as is well known
in the art.
As the carrier is lowered it is erected whereby the side wall panels 16/24, 20
are moved apart
and the base 18 is folded out of alignment with respective side wall panels.
Those portions of
base panel 18 either side of fold line 66 are placed in a collinear
relationship, as shown in Figure
4. Similarly, the top panel 22 is folded along fold lines 34 and 36 into a
spaced arrangement
with the base panel 18 and the carrier is thus erected as shown in Figure 4.
The articles are then inserted into apertures 48 in the base panel 18 and for
the larger articles,
tabs 50 are moved out of alignment with base panel 18. As the articles move in
direction X, the
retaining tabs 38, 40 in the partition panel 14 are folded out of alignment
about fold lines 26 and
28 respectively to reveal aperture 47 and are pushed upwardly through aperture
58 together with
the upper portion of the article. As shown in Figure 5, the article continues
to move through
aperture 58 and tabs 54 and 56 are folded out of alignment with top panel 22
such that retention
tabs 54, 56 and 38, 40 are folded upwardly to come into contact with and
engage with the
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underside of a protruding portion P 1 of the bottle associated within each of
the apertures 48 and
s8. To assist this, the tabs 38, 40 are different lengths L1, L2 respectively,
so that the tilted
arrangement does not affect the relative positions of the upper edges of the
tabs.
s In the embodiment illustrated the tabs 54, 56 are shaped to include recesses
Ss,57 (Figure 1) on
each side so as to allow tabs 38, 40 to be engaged in the recesses, thereby to
minimise
movement of these tabs, once erected.
Optionally, the edge of each article receiving aperture 48, 58 is in contact
with a neck portion of
l0 each of the respective bottles B to provide additional support. Thus, the
distal edges of tabs 38,
40 and 54, 56 are engaged with the underside of the protruding portion P 1.
Beneficially,
partition panel 14 serves as a brace between the opposing side panels as shown
in Figure 5. In
use, the partition panel 14 provides a support to better maintain the bottles
in an upright
position. Thus, the carrier is provided in a fully loaded and erected
condition as shown in
is Figure 9.
The construction of the second blank to form the carrier shown in Figure 10 is
substantially the
same as the first blank, which is illustrated in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 10, and
is not, therefore
described in any more detail. However, the pull tab 174 is clearly
illustrated.
It will be recognised that as used herein, directional references such as
"top", "base", "end",
"side", "inner", "outer", "upper" and "lower" do not limit the respective
panels to such
orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another.
Any reference to
hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single
fold line only:
2s indeed it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or
more of one of the
following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line, without departing
from the scope of
invention.
The present invention and its preferred embodiments relate to an article
Garner. which is shaped
to provide satisfactory strength to hold bottles securely but with a degree of
flexibility so that the
load transferred through the retention tabs is absorbed by the carrier. The
shape of the blank
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minimises the amount of paper that would be required and the carrier can be
applied to an array
of bottles for hand automatic machinery. It is anticipated that the invention
can be applied to a
variety of Garner and is not limited to those of the top-gripping type. In
particular it is possible
to use the invention for wraparound or end loaded Garners, in which case the
base would not
have apertures and the internal partition may be dispensed with. Importantly,
the hinged
connection in the base panel would be provided to ensure the Garner could be
placed in a flat
collapsed condition.
Furthermore it is envisaged that the invention can be applied to a Garner with
a different
1o arrangement of articles, for example two rows of three articles without
departing from the
scope.
