Single size display carton for packaging either a tape cassette or tape cartridge

A carton for packaging an object such as a tape cassette or an 8-track tape cartridge includes bottom, top, side and end walls which form an outer carton, and an inner carton portion formed within the outer carton for preventing movement of the contained object in first or lateral horizontal directions, in a second or longitudinal horizontal direction and in a vertical direction. In a preferred embodiment, the inner carton portion is formed from a flap hingedly connected to an outer wall. The flap is folded to form an inner horizontal wall within the outer carton and is further folded to form an inner vertical wall within the outer carton, thereby defining a first compartment beneath the inner vertical wall and a second compartment on the other side of the inner vertical wall. Two side-by-side tabs are formed on the flap adjacent the inner vertical wall. The first tab is folded along the same fold line separating the horizontal and vertical inner walls at an angle relative to each of the inner walls so that it extends into the first compartment and abuts a portion of the object contained within the first compartment thereby preventing movement in a second horizontal direction. The second tab extends in an opposite direction from the first tab into the second compartment so that it abuts a portion of the object contained within the second compartment, thereby preventing movement in a second horizontal direction. The sizes of the two compartments are different so that the carton is adapted to package one of two different size objects.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to packaging cartons, and is concerned 
particularly with points of sale cartons for small rectangular objects 
such as tape cassettes and 8-track tape cartridges. 
Pre-recorded and blank tape cassettes and 8-track tape cartridges are 
marketed generally in packages only slightly larger than the exterior 
dimensions of the tape unit or in elongated cartons with windows which 
permit visual inspection of the cassette or cartridge packaged within the 
carton. These elongated cartons, commonly referred to as "spaghetti boxes" 
in the trade, which typically may include a vertical inner wall within the 
carton to prevent movement of a packaged casette in a first horizontal 
direction and an edge surface within the carton positioned beneath a 
cassette or cartridge to prevent movement of the packaged cassette or 
cartridge in a second horizontal direction. Both of these packages are 
disadvantageous for a number of reasons. 
First, the small packages are highly susceptible to pilferage. See, for 
example, "The Pilferage Report," published in 1977 by GRT Corporation, 
1286 N. Laurence Station Road, Sunnydale, Calif. 94086, a condensation of 
200 page study regarding pilferage of pre-recorded tape cartridges and 
cassettes. Accordingly, it has been common in the trade to store tape 
selections, particularly the smaller type cassettes, behind locked glass 
panels. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, sales are not realized 
because potential customers do not have ready access to the tape selection 
and are not free to browse. As a result, marketing costs are increased 
because of the need for sales personnel to assist customers who wish to 
purchase tape selections in the locked cabinets. In contrast, sales of 
record albums are more successful because potential customers are free to 
examine the record album selections and react to art work and other 
information printed on the record album containers. 
A second problem is that packages for tape cartridges and cassettes are too 
small to include a significant portion of the art work and informational 
material such as producers and secondary artists (commonly called 
"credits") normally appearing on record album containers. At best, the 
artwork on cassette and cartridge packages heretofore available was a 
sub-miniature of the artwork on the corresponding album and was sometimes 
barely legible. 
A third problem is that record album containers in many cases include bulk 
material such as librettos, artists' posters, lyric sheets or illustrated 
booklet accompanying the record. These materials are typically not 
included in the packages heretofore used for tape cartridges or cassettes. 
Therefore, cassette and cartridge purchasers receive less than record 
purchasers. In order to alleviate this problem, record companies have, in 
many instances, undertaken to provide insert cards with cassettes and 
cartridges so that purchasers can order these materials. The fulfillment 
cost of handling and mailing, usually supplied with the records directly 
from the record company increases the cost of the record companies of 
marketing cassettes and cartridges. 
Another serious problem in the packaging of tape cartridges or cassettes is 
the lack of uniformity of carton size. Tape cartridges and cassettes are 
usually packaged in different size cartons. This results in increased 
handling and shipping costs for the record companies and requires separate 
inventories to be kept for cassette packages and cartridge packages. 
A serious problem with the "spaghetti boxes" referred to above is that the 
boxes are not selection oriented; that is, they usually do not provide any 
artwork on the box which distinguishes the box containing a particular 
cassette or cartridge from another box containing a different cartridge or 
cassette. Thus, the "spaghetti box" packages also limit the marketing of 
cassettes and cartridges. 
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a 
carton of uniform size made from a single piece carton blank which is 
adapted to contain either a tape cartridge or tape cassette and which is 
sufficiently large to lessen the likelihood of pilferage. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a selection-oriented 
carton for packaging a cassette or a cartridge on which the same artwork 
appearing on the front and back of the corresponding record packages 
appears on the front and back panels of the carton, reduced only slighly 
in size; and further, a carton which can be embossed, pebbled, laminated 
or gold stamped and generally receive the same surface treatment as 
corresponding record albums. 
A further object is to provide a carton for the packaging of a tape 
cassette or cartridge which is sufficiently large to contain the same bulk 
material such as posters, lyric sheets, and the like, which are contained 
within record packages and, also, such collateral material as tape 
cleaners and catalogs. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a carton for packaging 
cassettes and cartridges that can accept a machine readable Universal 
Product Code and that can be machine loaded with a cartridge or cassette. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
These and other objects are obtained by providing a conventional outer 
carton formed of top, bottom, side and end walls, and an inner carton 
portion including an inner vertical wall adapted to prevent movement of a 
cassette or cartridge in a first horizontal direction, and tab elements 
providing a retaining surface adapted to prevent movement of the cassette 
or cartridge in a second horizontal direction. An inner horizontal wall is 
also provided to prevent movement of a packaged cassette in a vertical 
direction. 
Preferably, the inner carton is formed by a flap hingedly connected to an 
outer wall. The flap is first folded horizontally and then folded 
90.degree. to provide an inner vertical wall, thereby dividing the carton 
into first compartment below the inner horizontal wall and a second 
compartment on the other side of the vertical wall from the first 
compartment. A tab is formed at one end of the inner vertical wall. The 
first tab is positioned at an end of the first compartment so that the 
edge of the tab forms the retaining surface for the packaged object, such 
as a tape cassette. Preferably, a second tab is formed at the end of the 
inner vertical wall next to the first tab. The second tab extends into the 
second compartment, so that its edge provides a retaining surface for the 
packaged object, such as a tape cartridge.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a carton blank 2 embodying the present invention and adapted 
for conventional straight tuck closure. Carton blank 2 includes a top wall 
4, bottom wall 6, a pair of side walls 8 and 10, end wall 12 with a flap 
portion 14, end wall 16 with a flap portion 18, and closure tabs 20. 
A flap 22 extends laterally from and is integral with the supporting top 
wall 4, but separated therefrom by a scoreline 24. In the Figures, the 
supporting wall is illustratively shown as top wall 4, but it will be 
understood that other walls may be employed as the supporting wall. A 
second scoreline 26 is parallel to and spaced laterally outwardly of 
scoreline 24 and preferably separated therefrom by a distance equal to the 
height of a tape cassette. A scoreline 28 is parallel to and positioned 
laterally outwardly of scoreline 26 and separated therefrom preferably by 
a distance equal to the width W.sub.1 of a tape cassette. A scoreline 30 
is parallel to and positioned laterally outwardly of scoreline 28 and 
separated therefrom preferably by a distance equal to the height of a tape 
cassette. Laterally outwardly from and parallel to scoreline 30 is the 
edge 32 of flap 22. 
The inner carton portion scorelines 24, 26, 28 and 30 may be partially cut 
or perforated scorelines in order to facilitate erection of the carton. 
The width of flap 22 is predetermined so that the width W.sub.1, together 
with the width W.sub.2 of a tape cartridge, is approximately equal to the 
width of top wall 4. 
A cut scoreline 34 extends perpendicularly from edge 32 partially into flap 
22 towards the supporting top wall 4, preferably, cutline 34 extends from 
edge 32 at least to scoreline 28. A second cut scoreline 36 extends 
perpendicularly from edge 32 the same distance as cutline 34. In the 
preferred embodiment cut scorelines 34 and 36 are both parallel to edges 
38 and 40 of flap 22. Preferably, cut scoreline 34 is separated from edge 
40 by a distance equal to the length L.sub.1 of a tape cassette, while cut 
scoreline 36 is separated from edge 40 by a distance equal to the length 
L.sub.2 of a tape cartridge. Cut scorelines 34 and 36 and a portion of 
edge 32 form three sides of a first tab 42 hingedly connected to flap 22 
along scoreline 28. A second tab 44 adjacent tab 42 is defined by cutline 
36, edge 38 and edge 46 of flap 22. As shown in FIG. 1, edge 46 need not 
be colinear with edge 32, and may be positioned laterally inwardly or 
outwardly therefrom. However, to aid in erecting the carton blank, it is 
preferable that edge 46 be either colinear or positioned laterally 
inwardly from edge 32 of flap 22. 
As shown in FIG. 1, a portion of end wall 10 may be coated with glue or 
paste 50 which, preferably, should extend laterally inwardly from the 
outside edge 52 of end wall 10 a distance no greater than the distance 
separating scorelines 24 and 26. Alternatively, glue or paste 50 may be 
placed on the underside of wall 54 defined by scorelines 24 and 26 and 
edges 38 and 40. Additionally, glue or paste 56 is placed on the underside 
of wall 58 which is defined by edge 32, cutline 34, scoreline 30 and edge 
40 of flap 22, as seen in FIG. 2. 
Flap 22 is bent at right angles at scorelines 24, 26, 28 and 30 to form a 
first compartment where wall 54 is vertical, wall 60 (which is defined by 
edge 40, scoreline 26, edge 38, and tab 46) is horizontal, inside wall 62 
(which is defined by edge 40, scoreline 30, cutline 34 and scoreline 28) 
is vertical, and wall 58 (defined by scoreline 30, edges 40 and 32, and 
cut scoreline 34) contacts and becomes secured to top wall 4 by glue 56. 
Thus, flap 22 is folded onto top wall 4 to provide an inner vertical wall 
62 and an inner horizontal wall 60 which defines a compartment 
approximately equal in size to a tape cassette. 
The carton is completed by folding carton blank 2 at right angles at the 
scoreline 64 separating top wall 4 from end wall 8, again at a right angle 
at scoreline 66 separating end wall 8 from bottom wall 6, and again at 
scoreline 68 separating bottom wall 6 from end wall 10. Closure tabs 20 
may be folded at right angles with respect to end walls 8 amd 10. Front 
wall 12 may be folded at scoreline 70, and front flap portion 14 may be 
folded at scoreline 72 so that the flap portion 14 can be positioned 
inside the outer carton formed by the carton blank. Similarly, rear wall 
16 and rear flap portion 18 may be folded respectively at scorelines 74 
and 76 for closure. 
When erected, carton block 2 illustrated in FIG. 1 is adapted to hold a 
standard size tape cassette in one compartment or a standard size 8-track 
tape cartridge in a second compartment, or both, if desired. Tab 42 is 
positioned at an angle with respect to each of inner horizontal wall 60 
and inner vertical wall 62. Accordingly, a cassette may enter this first 
compartment, designated I in FIG. 3, from the opening of the carton near 
rear wall 16 until its leading edge meets the edge of tab 42 formed by cut 
34 which, as mentioned above, is located from edge 40 a distance equal to 
the length L.sub.1 of the tape cassette. Thus, the cassette will be secure 
from movement in all directions. 
Alternatively, a tape cartridge 80 may be inserted into the second 
compartment, designated II in FIG. 3, from the same opening of the outer 
carton at rear wall 16 before closure thereof. As mentioned above, the 
distance from inside wall 62 to end wall 8 is approximately equal to the 
width W.sub.2 of the tape cartridge. The tape cartridge 80 may enter the 
second compartment until it reaches the edge of tab 46, which is located, 
as mentioned above, a distance from edge 40 approximately equal to the 
length L.sub.2 of the tape cartridge 80. As shown in FIG. 3, tab 46 is 
coplanar with horizontal wall 60. Alternatively, tab 44 may be slightly 
angled with respect to horizontal wall 60, as shown in phantom in FIG. 3. 
Tab 44 may also be angled along its length, if desired. Thus, the 
cartridge is secured from movement in all directions. 
In the preferred embodiment, the height of end walls 8 and 10 slightly 
exceed the height of the tape cartridge 80, so that a folded poster 82 may 
be inserted between tape cartridge 80 and bottom wall 6. If no bulk 
material is to be inserted in the carton, the height of the side walls 8 
and 10 can be adjusted to be approximately the height of a standard 
cartridge so that the cartridge is secured from vertical movement. 
Alternative embodiments for the outer carton may be used. For example, FIG. 
5 shows a carton blank 2 which includes a top wall 4', side wall 8', 
bottom wall 6', side wall 10', end walls 12' and 16'. Instead of closure 
tabs 20 and end flap portions 14 and 18 respectively as in the preferred 
embodiment, the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 includes panels 84 and 86, each 
adjacent to end walls 12' and 16', repectively, but separated therefrom by 
side wall 8'. Both end walls 12' and 16' include a coating of glue 88 on 
the inside surfaces thereof, so that after panels 84 and 86 are folded at 
right angles with respect to bottom wall 6', walls 12' and 16.degree. 
respectively may be folded thereover so that the glue 88 contacts the 
outside surfaces of panels 84 and 86 to secure walls 12' and 16' 
respectively thereto. 
The outer carton of FIG. 1 can also utilize a reverse tuck closure by 
positioning one of the walls 12 or 16 on bottom wall 6 rather than top 
wall 4, and by reversing the direction of taper of closure tabs 20 
adjacent the repositioned wall. Other modifications may be made within the 
scope of the prior art. 
FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate yet another alternate embodiment of my invention. 
This embodiment consists of top and bottom walls 104 and 106 hingedly 
connected to one another along a sidewall 108. End flaps 110 and 112 are 
hingedly connected to the top wall and bottom wall, respectively. Side 
flaps 114 and 116 are hingedly connected to bottom wall 106 and side flap 
118 is hingedly connected to one side of top wall 104. Flap 122 is 
substantially similar to flap 22 described above with respect to the 
preferred embodiment. Flap 122 is hingedly connected to top wall 104 along 
scoreline 124. Scoreline 126 is spaced outwardly from scoreline 124. Wall 
154 is formed between scorelines 124 and 126. Spaced outwardly from 
scoreline 126 is scoreline 128 and spaced further outwardly is scoreline 
130. The area between scorelines 128 and 130 defines wall 162 which 
comprises the inner vertical wall of the carton. Flap 158 is hingedly 
connected to wall 162 along scoreline 130. 
In this embodiment, flap 158 is adapted to be glued to the portion of the 
top wall 104 which comprises the second compartment rather than to the 
portion of the top wall which comprises the first compartment as in the 
first embodiment. Obviously, flap 158 can be glued inwardly or outwardly 
with respect to the second compartment. The gluing of flap 158 to top wall 
104 is shown in phantom in FIG. 6. 
Tabs 142 and 144 formed on flap 122 in the same manner as in the first 
embodiment described above. As shown in phantom in FIG. 6, tab 142 is 
adapted to extend inwardly towards the second compartment which is adapted 
to retain a cassette and tab 144 extends inwardly towards the first 
compartment which is adapted to retain a tape cartridge. 
In the erected carton, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the glue flaps 116 and 114 
of the bottom wall 106 are glued to the outwardly facing surfaces of flaps 
118 and 154 of top wall 104. Similarly, flap 112 of bottom wall 106 is 
glued to the outwardly facing surface of top wall flap 110. 
The various elements of this embodiment which have not been described are 
similar to and operate in the same manner as the correspondingly numbered 
elements described above with respect to the FIG. 1 embodiment. 
It will be seen from the foregoing description that flap 22 provides inner 
vertical and horizontal walls adapted to prevent movement of a contained 
tape cassette or tape cartridge in a first or lateral, horizontal 
direction, and movement of a packaged cassette in a vertical direction, 
and that the edges of tabs 42 and 46, when properly positioned, provide a 
retaining surface to prevent movement of the cassette or tape cartridge in 
a second or longitudinal, horizontal direction. 
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other equivalent 
arrangements may be devised utilizing the present invention, and it is 
therefore preferred that this disclosure be taken in an illustrative sense 
and that the scope of protection accorded to the present invention be 
defined by the appended claims.