Abstract:
A carton for viewing the contents thereof without disturbing the integrity of the carton comprising a unitary body enclosed by a wall or walls having apertures for manipulating and viewing the articles contained therein.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present application relates to a carton for viewing the contents thereof without disturbing the integrity of the carton. More particularly, the present invention relates to a carton having a unitary body enclosed by a wall or walls having apertures for manipulating and viewing articles contained therein.  
           [0003]    2. State of the Art  
           [0004]    The art is replete with references to cartons for the packaging, transportation and display of various articles of commerce including foodstuffs and beverages. U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,505 issued to D. G. Wolf on Oct. 3, 1972, describes a container for shipping asparagus, the container having windows spaced on its side walls for ventilation of the vegetables during transit. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,228 issued to R. A. Hall on Nov. 28, 1978, describes a carton primarily for the long distance shipping of asparagus, and also for displaying the foodstuff. The carton comprises two parts: the lower half, the box for packing the asparagus having vent holes for ventilating the carton, and the upper half, the cover for the box also having vent apertures for ventilating the food stuff. The carton has viewing apertures in the box and cover enabling a prospective buyer to inspect a portion of the asparagus contained in the box without disrupting the carton. U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,330 issued to E. F. Gilbert on May 6, 1980 also describes a shipping carton having container slots in the rear and front walls for ventilation and a slot on the cover, which is hinged to the container, for ventilation and partial viewing of the contents (not specified) of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,612 issued to T. L. Nederveld on Nov. 23, 1993 discloses a strong stackable container primarily for storing fresh produce such as asparagus spears, the container providing specific openings to partially view the asparagus spears within the container, as well as specific openings for ventilation and hydrocooling of the foodstuffs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,562 issued to W. C. Lai on Nov. 16, 1999, shows a multicomponent bean sprout culture carton having a water carrying plate, a transparent box with a plurality of vent and draining holes, a net plate, including a net sheet, and a transparent hood having a plurality of vent ports, the bean sprouts being only partially viewable from the sides and the top of the carton. U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,425 issued to W. C. Stapp on Jan. 9, 1973, describes a crush resistant shipping carton made of corrugated paper having end panels of paper faced wood veneer with apertures in the front and rear of the cartons, providing a partial view of the contents of the carton.  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,660 issued to L. B. Hunt, Jr. on Jul. 29, 1980, discloses a carton for beverage cans having a matrix of inspection holes on the top and bottom of the carton for partially viewing the cans. U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,657 issued to D. T. Thibodeau on Nov. 29, 1983, describes an open top carton having chambers to hold beverage cans in the vertical position and a carrying strap across the open top. U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,869 issued to D. Dickson, et al., on Mar. 21, 1995, describes a display ready shipping carton formed of a corrugated material having an opening in the front panel and an extension of the opening into the top panel for viewing by the purchaser of the contents of the carton and being sufficiently large to remove the contents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,700 issued to M. Joss, et al., on Dec. 27, 1994, discloses a carton for displaying an item contained in the carton by means of a cut out window opening in the front panel of the carton to allow a customer to view the article without opening the container. U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,777 B1 issued to D. L. Bierly on May 29, 2001 shows a carton for displaying articles contained therein, the carton having cut outs for the partial visualization of the article, surrounded by a printer silhouette to simulate the article. U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,371 issued to J. S. O&#39;Neill on Apr. 9, 1996, teaches a partitioned shipping and display carton having a cut out in the front wall for partially viewing the contents, generally household products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,970 issued to W. F. Trauschke on Jan. 4, 1972, describes a carton having a window on one of its sides containing an article having a label affixed thereto, the article label of the article being held in register with the windows by a rotation preventing insert.  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,555 issued to R. Barbedienne on Feb. 16, 1971, depicts a carton for packing flexible tubes side by side having a base and side pieces with openings to visually inspect a portion of the tubes stacked on the base.  
           [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,220 issued to M. R. Bacchetti, et al. on Oct. 31, 1995, describes stackable shipping and display cartons having ventilation holes on the top panel, large holes in the front, rear and side panels, stacking holes in the bottom panel overlaid with a moisture pad. The contents of the carton, fresh produce, such as asparagus may be watered through the top holes and drained through the various drain holes and partially viewed through the holes.  
           [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,008 issued to R. G. Platt on May 22, 1990, depicts paperboard cartons for holding a cylindrical article having cut-out windows in the front, back and side walls, the cut-out windows having v-shaped bottom dimensions to partially view articles.  
           [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,759 issued to C. E. Palmer on Sep. 7, 1965 describes a carton for the packaging of a non-rotatable container having a window in the front panel extending to the side panels for the partial viewing of the label on the container.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    As discussed in the section “State of the Art,” numerous cartons are described in the art for the packaging, shipping, inspecting and displaying of various articles of commerce such as foodstuffs, beverage containers, household products and utensils. Many of the cartons are designed to prevent damage to the contents, water and ventilate the foodstuffs contained in the carton during storage and transportation, inspecting the contents of the carton during shipping and displaying the contents at the point of final destination. None of the cartons are designed, however, to allow a person to view entirely an article contained in the carton, for example, the label attached to and completely surrounding an article, for example, a bottle, vial or the top and bottom of a blister pack or a blister, without comprising the integrity of the carton.  
           [0011]    The present invention relates to a carton for the packaging, shipping, storage, inspecting and viewing of the contents of the carton at its destination, without disrupting the integrity of the carton, particularly for viewing an article in its entirety, for example, the labeling of the container for a medicinal for clinical evaluation in the carton. The total viewing of an article in the carton is accomplished by, if necessary, manipulating the article through an aperture, for example by rotating the vial or bottle contained in the carton to expose the whole label, or by flipping a blister pack or blister to expose the label on the front or back of the blister pack or blister, and viewing the article through an aperture, if necessary. The aperture through which the article is manipulated must be sufficiently large to accommodate an instrument such as a finger to rotate the bottle or vial, or flip the blister pack or blister, and view the article, and small enough to prevent the item from escaping. Any instrument small enough to be inserted through the aperture and long enough to be able to rotate or flip the contents of the carton may be used to manipulate the items. A pointer, stylus, needle, rod, or a finger, preferably, the index finger or the index finger and thumb of the human hand would suffice for the intended purpose of flipping or rotating the article within the container. The apertures may be any shape that would permit the insertion of the instrument into the carton to manipulate the articles so that the entire surface labeling of the article may be viewed. Circular, square, triangular or rectangular apertures would be suitable for inserting the instrument; a rectangular aperture would be particularly suitable for the thumb and index finger as the instrument for manipulating the articles of the carton.  
           [0012]    The apertures may be arranged on any or all of the walls of the carton in various shapes and configurations, and combinations thereof. The apertures may be positioned symmetrically, staggered, randomly and independently on each wall. An arrangement where all of the walls of the carton have circular apertures positioned symmetrically on all walls of the carton except the end walls, the end walls having rectangular apertures, for manipulating and viewing of the articles in the box is preferred. The end side rectangular apertures provide a convenient means for manipulating the articles as preferred in the carton for complete viewing of the labeling attached to the surfaces thereof.  
           [0013]    The carton may be fabricated from any rigid or flexible, transparent, translucent or opaque material commonly used for the construction of packaging and shipping containers. Wood, paper, including corrugated cardboard and plastic may be used. Corrugated cardboard and plastics such as polyvinyl chloride are particularly useful for constructing the carton. When transparent corrugated cardboard is used for constructing the carton, the apertures are used for both manipulating and viewing the contents of the carton. Similarly, when a translucent material such as ______ is used, the apertures are used for both manipulating and viewing labels of the bottles, vials and blister packs and blisters contained in the carton. The apertures suitably arranged on the walls of the carton may be employed to manipulate the contents of the carton, when a transparent plastic, for example, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, or poly(ethylene teraphthalate) is employed. The article within the container may also be viewed through the container when it is constructed from a transparent plastic. Typically, a carton for manipulating and viewing entirely the labels of bottles, vials, blisters, and blister packs containing medicaments for clinical evaluations is rectangular, having circular or symmetrically circular apertures in plural rows on four walls of the carton and rectangular slots (apertures) on two opposing walls, the carton being made of a flexible plastic such as poly(ethylene teraphthalate).  
           [0014]    In accordance with the present invention related to a carton having provisions for manipulating and viewing the articles contained in the carton, without disturbing the integrity of the carton, and accessing the contents of the carton, a blank is provided to construct the carton. The blank is cut and scored to define the walls and tabs of the carton, having suitably arranged apertures, and a means of accessing the carton. The carton typically has top, bottom, back, front and end walls and is constructed from a flexible material. The construction of the carton generally involves folding a bottom panel along a scored line over the end panels resting the bottom panel on the tabs of the end panels, and securing the end panels, preferably by an adhesive. The carton is secured by tucking the fold over the flap of a bottom panel in back of the panel and installing a tamper evident seal.  
           [0015]    While the carton may be fabricated from a plastic material, preferably a flexible plastic material such as, for example, a polyethylene, a polypropylene, a polyvinyl chloride, or a poly(ethylene terapthalate), it may be made from a fiber such as paper, for example, corrugated paper board, or wood, or a metal such as a sheet metal. In keeping with the present invention, the carton may be geometrical in shape such as spherical, cylindrical, cubic or rectangular; the apertures may be circular, square, triangular or rectangular. For packaging and shipping, a cubic or rectangular carton is preferred; for viewing an article, a transparent, flexible carton having round or rectangular apertures is also preferred. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 is a plan view of the blank from which the carton is constructed.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the carton constructed from the blank of FIG. 1 with the hinged access cover in the open position.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the carton constructed from a blank FIG. 1 with the hinged access cover in the closed position.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the carton constructed from the blank of FIG. 3 having a row of vials containing medicaments (not shown) for dispensing in clinical trials.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the carton constructed from the blank of FIG. 1 having a stack of blister packs containing medicaments for dispensing in clinical trials. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0021]    In accordance with the practice of the present invention, a carton illustrated in FIGS.  2 - 5 , generally designated by the reference numeral  10  is constructed from a flexible plastic material by utilizing the carton blank  11  shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0022]    The carton blank  11  includes symmetrically situated a front panel  12 , a rear panel  13 , end panels  14  and  15 , top panel  16  and bottom panel  17 , each panel separated from the other by fold lines  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21  and  22 . The panels  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15  and  16  contain apertures  23 ,  24 ,  25  and  26  for manipulating and viewing the contents of the carton. The end panels  14  and  15  include support flaps  27 ,  28 ,  29  and  30  foldably attached to the top edge  31  and bottom edge  32  of the end panel  14  by fold lines  33  and  34  and to the top edge  35  and bottom edge  36  of end panel  15  by fold lines  37  and  38 . The rear panel  13  includes joining flap  39  foldably attached to the outer edge  40  of the rear panel  13  through fold line  41 . The top panel  16  and the bottom panel  17  incorporate closure flaps  42  and  43  foldably attached to the outer edges  44  and  45  of top wall  16  and bottom wall  17  by fold lines  46  and  47 , respectively. While the panels of the carton blank  11  are shown to be rectangular providing a rectangular carton by constructing the preferred embodiments of the present invention, carton blank  11  having related shapes providing cartons having related configurations are embraced by the instant invention.  
         [0023]    The carton blank  11  of FIG. 1 is folded and assembled into carton  10 , shown in FIG. 2. The various panels and flaps of the blank  11  are arranged as walls and flaps of carton  10 , as follows: The rear panel  13  is folded upwardly and inwardly along fold line  21  of end panel  15  until it is perpendicularly aligned with inner edge  48  of end panel  14  to form wall  14 . Top panel  17  attached to the upper edge  14  of rear panel  13  along fold line  22  is then folded upwardly and inwardly and positioned on support panels  27  and  28  of end panel  14  to form wall  17 . Closure flap  39  attached to rear panel  13  along fold line  41  of edge  40  of rear panel  13  is now folded downwardly and inwardly along fold line  41  to complete wall  13 . Front panel  12  attached to end panel  14  along fold line  18  of edge  49  is then upwardly and inwardly folded along fold line  18  at the edge  49  until front panel  12  is perpendicularly aligned with end panel  14  to form front wall  12 . End panel  14  attached to front panel  12  is folded downwardly and inwardly along fold line  18  of edge  49  of front panel  12  until end panel  14  is perpendicularly aligned with edge  50  of front panel  12  and the inner surface  51  of end panel  14  is juxtaposed with the outer surface of the closure flap  39  of rear panel  13  to form end wall  14  and adhesively secured to joiner flap  39  to form wall  14 . The closure flap  43  attached to the outer edge  47  of bottom panel  17  is folded upwardly along fold line  47 . The bottom panel  16  is then folded upwardly and inwardly until it is perpendicularly aligned with front panel  12  and juxtaposed on support flaps  29  and  30  of end panel  15  and tucked into rear panel  13  to form cover  16  of carton  10 . Similarly, closure flap  42  attached to outer edge  44  of top panel  16  is folded downwardly along fold line  36 . Top panel  16  is then folded downwardly and inwardly until it is perpendicularly aligned with front panel  12  and juxtaposed with support flap  29  of end panel  15  and tucked inside of front panel  12  to form top cover  16 . The top and bottom covers  16  and  17  respectively, are secured to front and rear walls by a tamper evident lock (not shown).  
         [0024]    The carton  10  may be assembled by simultaneously folding the opposing panels and flaps and tabs securing the end panels to the rear panel.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 shows carton  10  with the top cover  16  in the open position to accept and remove articles such as bottles  51  (FIG. 4), vials (not shown), blister packs  52  (FIG. 5) and blisters (not shown). Each of the containers, the bottles, vials, blister packs and blisters, which typically contain medicaments generally to be dispensed to patients in clinical investigations, are surrounded by labels  53  (FIGS. 4 and 5) as required by law. When the carton  10  is fully packed with the containers, at least part of the label  53  is restricted from view.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 shows carton  10  with top cover  16  in the closed position secured to front wall  12  by, for example, a tamper evident lock (not shown). The bottom panel  17 , which is hingedly attached to the edge  48  of rear wall  13  of blank  11  (FIG. 1), may be opened to gain access to the bottom panel  17  of carton  10  to remove the containers.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 shows carton  10  containing bottles  51  with the top cover  16  in the open position to remove the bottles contained in the carton after viewing the entire label attached to the bottle with the top cover  16  in the closed position. To view the entire label  53  bound to the bottle, the bottle is rotated until the entire label  53  is exposed to the viewer  54 . Rotation of the bottle within carton  10  is accomplished by inserting the index fingers into the carton through suitably placed apertures in the walls of the carton  10  and turning the bottle manually around its vertical axis through 360° or until the entire label is exposed to the viewer  54 . In the event the carton  10  is constructed from a transparent material, the viewer  54  will be able to see the entire label  53  through the walls of the carton  10 . The viewer  54  may also view the entire label  53  through the appropriate aperture  23 ,  24 ,  25  or  26 . When the carton  10  is constructed from a translucent or transparent material, the viewer  54  would by necessity view the entire label through the appropriate apertures  23 ,  24 ,  25  or  26 .  
         [0028]    The bottles  51  of carton  10  may be rotated to expose the entire label  53  to the viewer  54  by suitable mechanical means through the appropriate apertures  23 ,  24 ,  25  or  26 .  
         [0029]    Vials, not shown, in carton  10  may be rotated to expose the label attached to the vial, and the label viewed in its entirety by rotation and viewing as in the case of the bottles, above.  
         [0030]    Labels  55  attached to the top  56  and bottom  57  of the blister pack  52  as shown in FIG. 5 are exposed to the viewer  54  by flipping the blister pack over, that is, turning it 180° over the axis parallel to the bottom panel  16 . Initially the top of the blister pack is exposed to the viewer  54 ; the bottom is exposed to the viewer by flipping the blister pack through 180° within the carton  10 . As in the case of the bottles  51  illustrated and discussed above, the labels  53  on the top  56  and bottom  57  of the blister pack  52  is viewed through the walls of the carton  10 , when the carton  10  is made of a transparent material, or through the appropriate apertures  23 ,  24 ,  25  and  26  when the blister pack is made of a translucent or opaque material. The blister packs are generally turned over, this is, rotated or flipped 180° over the axis parallel to the top or bottom of the carton  10 , by the viewer  54  inserting his index fingers, and if necessary, the thumb, into the appropriate aperture,  23 ,  24 ,  25  or  26 , preferably the rectangular apertures  25  and  26  of the end panels  14  and  15  of the carton  10 , by placing the fingers below the blister pack and moving the fingers upwardly and outwardly, or inwardly to view, initially the top, and then the bottom of the blister pack&#39;s label  55 . Any device similar in shape and size, for example, a stylus, dowel, or rod may be used in place of the fingers.  
         [0031]    A preferred embodiment has been illustrated and described. The invention, it is understood, should not be limited by the illustration or description, since various modifications of the invention may be made within the scope thereof.