Flap arrangement for a carrier carton

A partial interior end wall of a carton is formed from a pair of flaps, one of which has a projection which is sealed to the other flap providing improved wall structure in a carton formed from a nestable blank.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to cartons formed from paperboard and, more 
particularly, to cartons having improved sealing characteristics. 
2. The Prior Art 
The arrangement of flaps for forming and sealing carton walls illustrated 
in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawing represents the arrangement used heretofore 
in the packaging industry. The two figures are included to emphasize the 
advancement made by the present invention. The configurations and 
arrangement of flaps used heretofore provides uneven sealing compression 
when the carton is sealed. Two rectangular flaps attached to each other in 
an overlapping relationship leave a substantial gap (136), shown in FIG. 
6, and thus create a poor adhesion of the components forming a wall of a 
carton. Consequently, the carton does not possess sufficient sealing 
qualities. 
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages encountered in the prior 
art and provides a carton having good sealing qualities. The extended tab 
28 on flap 26 is employed to get greater contact between the dust flaps 
and the outer closure panels to improve the end closure seals. For the 
type of package shown in the application (a carrier for 12/12 oz. cans) 
poor adhesion between the dust flaps and outer panels creates a potential 
hazard. The weight of the cans will pop any marginal bond and spill cans. 
This greater contact between the panels is particularly important if the 
adhesive used to close the end flaps so a preapplied adhesive. The 
preapplied pattern does not have a great deal of thickness, so in the 
conventional split panel arrangement as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the 
preapplied pattern on flap 130 is virtually useless because it does not 
really contact the inner surface of panel 124. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A partial interior wall of a carton is formed from a pair of flaps. One of 
these flaps has a projection while the other one has a portion thereof, 
corresponding in configuration and size to the projection, removed 
therefrom. The projection is sealed to an area of the other flap in an 
overlapping manner. This arrangement substantially reduces the sealing 
compression problem which exists in the prior art.

Referring now to the drawing, more specifically to FIGS. 1 through 4, there 
is shown a carton 10 formed from a nesting blank 11. 
The carton has a bottom wall 12 and a pair of side walls 14 hingedly 
attached to the side edges of said bottom wall along fold lines 15. 
A top wall of the carton is formed from two top wall forming sections. 
First of such sections, designated 16, is foldably hinged to an edge of 
one of said side walls 14 along a fold line 19 while the second of said 
sections, identified with reference numeral 18, is similarly attached to 
an edge of the other of said side walls 14 along a fold line 19. Both top 
wall forming sections 16 and 18 have hand holes 20 formed therein for 
providing carrying means for the carton. 
End wall forming panels 22 are hinged to the end edges of the bottom wall 
12 along fold lines 25. Likewise, end wall forming panels 24 are hingedly 
attached to the edges of the respective side walls 14 along fold lines 25. 
The top wall forming section 16 has a flap 26 foldably attached to each of 
the two end edges of the section along hinge lines 27. Each of the flaps 
26 has a projection 28 extending outwardly therefrom. 
The top wall forming section 18 has a flap 30 hinged to each of the two end 
edges of the section along hinge lines 31. Each of the flaps 30 has a 
portion 32 removed therefrom which corresponds in size and shape to the 
projection 28 and, as best seen in FIG. 1, allows nesting of the blanks 11 
since the portion 32 of one blank abuttingly mates with the projection 28 
of the next blank. 
A pair of V-shaped cut-outs 34 are formed in the section 18. As it is well 
known in the art, the cut-outs are used where overlapping panels are 
hinged along a common score line to prevent build up. 
To form the initial tubular or sleeve-like configuration, a line of 
adhesive 17 is applied to an outer surface of the panel 18 and another 
line of adhesive (not shown) is applied to the underside of the extension 
28 of the flap 26. 
To close the end of the carton, a pattern of preapplied adhesive 35 on the 
outside surface of the flap 26 is mated with the patterns of the 
preapplied adhesive 35 on the inside surfaces of the panels 24. 
Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6 there is shown a carrier carton 110 having a 
flap arrangement heretofore used in the packaging industry. The 
presentation of FIGS. 5 and 6 is made for the purpose of a comparison with 
the arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4. 
In FIGS. 5 and 6 elements corresponding to the elements shown in FIGS. 1-4 
have been identified with the same numerical identifiers except the 
numbers have been increased by 100. 
Thus, the carton has side walls 114, top wall forming sections 116 and 118 
and end wall forming panels 124. 
A flap 126 is hinged to the section 116 while a flap 130 is hinged to the 
section 118. Both flaps, 126 and 130, are rectangular in configuration and 
have adhesive 135, or the like, applied to their top surfaces. In sealing 
the end wall of the carton, the flap 126 is placed in an overlying 
position with respect to the flap 130 and is joined thereto. Subsequently, 
panels 124 are folded toward the flaps 126 and 130. One of the panels 124 
engages the adhesive 135 on the surface of the flap 126 and is adhesively 
secured thereto. Since the distance between the flap 130 and its adjacent 
panel 124 is greater than the distance between the flap 126 and its 
adjacent panel 124, a gap 136 is formed between the panel 124 and the flap 
130 when the end wall of the carton is closed. The gap 136 materially 
reduces the compressive sealing and siftproof qualities of the carton.