Boxes

A box is disclosed which comprises three blanks. The blank comprises a rectangular base panel, four wall panels which are joined along crease lines to the panel and four end flaps joined along crease lines to the wall panels. The second and third blanks each comprise a wall panel and two end flaps joined to one another along crease lines. The wall panels are configured to provide a centre section and two end sections with steps between them. The wall panels of the blanks are adhered to the outer faces of wall panels of the blank and the flaps are adhered to the outer faces of the end portions of the wall panels. Re-activatable adhesive is used. The adhesive can be heat, solvent or water reactivated.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to boxes. 
BACKGROUND TO INVENTION 
Fruit packing seasons are generally very short as all the fruit in a 
particular area or on a particular farm ripens at about the same time. It 
must then be picked and packed over a period which could be measured in 
days but would normally be a few weeks. 
What this means in practice is that a packhouse must have a very large 
number of boxes available to it during the packing season. In a major 
fruit growing area the number of boxes needed runs into the millions. 
Obviously, empty but erected boxes require a large amount of storage space 
and it is not possible to start a packing season with all the boxes that 
are going to be needed pre-erected and in store. Consequently the boxes 
are erected during the packing season and immediately thereafter packed. 
Any delay in the supply of boxes has disastrous results on the ability of 
the packer to get the fruit to market in prime condition. 
Because of these difficulties it has been understood for a long time by 
those skilled in the art that a machine erectable box would have 
substantial advantages over the currently used boxes which are hand 
erected and such boxes have been proposed in the past. However, the boxes 
of which applicant is aware are complex and costly. The erecting machines 
are also complex and costly and also tend to be unreliable when operated, 
in packhouse conditions, by relatively unskilled workers. If such a 
machine breaks down on a remote farm, and the repair team only arrives 
after a considerable delay, then valuable packing time is lost. 
MAIN OBJECT OF INVENTION 
The main object of the present invention is to provide a box which can be 
erected by hand but which can also be erected by a relatively simple and 
robust machine. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a box 
comprising a first blank including a rectangular base panel and four wall 
panels standing upright along the edges of the base panel, and second and 
third blanks each of which includes a wall panel and end flaps joined to 
the ends of the wall panels of the second and third blanks, the wall 
panels of the second and third blanks being adhered to the outer faces of 
one opposed pair of wall panels of the first blank and the flaps of the 
second and third blanks being adhered to the outer faces of end portions 
of the other pair of opposed wall panels of the first blank. 
In the preferred form there are end flaps joined to the ends of said one 
opposed pair of wall panels of the first blank to which the second and 
third blanks are secured. 
To provide an interlock feature the wall panel of each second and third 
blank can comprise a centre section the width of which is equal to the 
height of the wall panel of the first blank to which it is secured, and 
two end sections which are displaced vertically in the same direction with 
respect to the centre section thereby to provide steps in the upper and 
lower edges of the second and third blanks, the upper and lower edges of 
said centre sections coinciding with the upper and lower edges of the wall 
panels of said one opposed pair, and the upper and lower edges of the end 
sections lying above or below the upper and lower edges respectively of 
the wall panels of the said one pair. It is preferred that the upper edges 
of the said end sections are above the upper edges of the wall panels of 
said opposed pair. 
The present invention also provides a stack of boxes, the boxes being as 
defined above, wherein said end sections interlock and said steps are in 
contact with one another whereby lateral shifting of the boxes with 
respect to one another is prevented. 
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a 
method of erecting a box the method comprising; 
cutting three blanks, the first blank including a rectangular base panel 
and end and side wall panels joined to the base panel along the four edges 
thereof, and each of the second and third blanks comprising a wall panel 
which is longer than the end wall panels of the first blank and which has 
end flaps at the ends thereof, at least the second and third blanks having 
thereon re-activatable adhesive; 
folding the wall panels of the first blank upwardly with respect to the 
base panel so that they are erect; folding the end flaps of the second and 
third blanks so that they are at right angles to the wall panels of the 
second and third blanks; and 
adhering the wall panels of the second and third blanks to the outer faces 
of the end wall panels of the first blank and adhering the end flaps of 
the second and third blanks to the outer faces of the end portions of the 
side wall panels of the first blank using said re-activatable adhesive. 
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a 
kit from which a box can be erected, the kit comprising first, second and 
third blanks which in the erected box are adhered to one another, the 
first blank including a rectangular base panel, opposed end wall panels 
and opposed side wall panels joined to the base panel along the four edges 
thereof, and each of the second and third blanks comprising a wall panel 
which is longer than the end wall panels of the first blank and end flaps 
at the ends of the wall panel thereof, at least the second and third 
blanks having thereon re-activatable adhesive for permitting said second 
and third blanks to be adhered to the outer faces of the end wall panels 
of the first blank. 
The first blank can further include end flaps joined to the ends of the end 
wall panels thereof. 
To provide an interlock feature, the wall panel of each second and third 
blank can comprise a centre section the width of which is equal to the 
erected height of the end wall panel of the first blank to which it is to 
be secured, and two end sections which are displaced in the same direction 
with respect to the centre section thereby to provide steps in both the 
upper edges and the lower edges of the first and second blanks. 
In this form said centre section and said end sections can be of the same 
width. 
To provide further strength, all or some of the wall panels can be of 
composite form and comprise corrugated board and a length of wire, the 
wire being secured to one face of the board and serving to reinforce the 
panel. Said wire can include an upper horizontal portion, a lower 
horizontal portion and vertical portions defining a frame. Where wall 
panels have flaps at each end thereof, said wire can extend into the flaps 
.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring firstly to FIG. 1, the centre one of the three blanks illustrated 
is designated 10 and is of corrugated board. The blank 10 includes a 
rectangular base panel 12 which is joined along parallel crease lines 14 
to end wall panels 16 and along parallel of crease lines 18 to side wall 
panels 20. Flaps 22 are connected along crease lines 24 to both ends of 
each end wall panel 16. It will be noted that the width of each panel 16, 
measured from the crease line 14 to the free edge of the panel 16, is 
greater in the preferred form than the width of each side wall panel 20 
measured between the crease line 18 and the free edge of the side wall 
panel 20. The remaining two blanks illustrated in FIG. 1 are each 
designated 26. Each of these blanks comprises a wall panel 28 and end 
flaps 30 connected to the wall panel 28 along crease lines 32. The length 
of each wall panel 28 between the crease lines 32 is slightly longer than 
the length of each end wall panel 16 between the crease lines 24. 
Each panel 28 comprises a centre section 34 and two end sections 36. The 
configuration is such that when the blank 26 is standing vertically, the 
end sections 36 are offset vertically with respect to the centre section 
34 thereby to provide steps 38 and 40 in the upper and lower edges of the 
blanks 26. Each end flap 30 forms part of one of the sections 36. 
As will be described in more detail hereinafter, the centre and end 
sections 34 and 36 are coated with re-activatable adhesive. If the 
adhesive is of the type which requires both of the components that are to 
be secured to have re-activatable adhesive thereon, then those faces of 
the end wall panels 16 which face outwardly in the erected box and the 
outwardly facing end portions of the side wall panels 20 are also coated 
with adhesive. 
The box is erected by folding the blank 10 about the crease lines 14 to 
standup the end wall panels 16 and then folding the blank again about the 
crease lines 24 so that the flaps 22 extend at right angles to the end 
wall panels 16. Thereafter, the blank 10 is folded again about the crease 
lines 18 so that the side wall panels 20 stand up, the flaps 22 being 
adjacent the inner faces of the end portions of the side wall panels 20. 
The partially erected box is then as shown in FIG. 2. 
The adhesive on the blanks 26, and on the outer faces of the panels 16 and 
20 if applicable, is then re-activated and the blanks 26 folded about the 
crease lines 32 so that the end flaps 30 are at right angles to the 
sections 34, 36 as shown in FIG. 3. The blanks 26 are then positioned as 
shown in FIG. 3 and adhered to the outer faces of the panels 16 and 20. 
As will be seen from FIG. 4, the upper and lower edges of the centre 
section 34 co-incide with the upper and lower edges of the end wall panels 
16. Outwardly of the steps 38 the end sections 36 protrude upwardly above 
the upper edges of the end wall panels 16. Outwardly of the steps 40 the 
lower edges of the end sections 36 are above the lower edges of the end 
wall panels 16. Likewise, the upper edges of the flaps 30 are above the 
upper edges of the flaps 22 and the lower edges of the flaps 30 are above 
the lower edges of the side wall panels 20. 
Various types of re-activatable adhesive can be used. These are: 
Hot Melt 
Hot melt adhesive must be re-activated by heat. If this adhesive is used 
only the blanks 26 need be coated with it and the adhesive can be 
re-activated by blowing hot air onto it or by subjecting it to radiant 
heat. 
Solvent based adhesive 
Adhesives of this nature are re-activated by appropriate solvents. Only the 
blanks 26 have to be coated with this form of adhesive. 
Latex based adhesive 
If this adhesive is used then not only the blanks 26 but also the outer 
faces of the end wall panels 16 and the outer faces of the end portions of 
the side wall panels 20 must be coated. 
Contact adhesives 
These adhesives must also be coated onto both the components that are to be 
secured and are solvent based. 
Water based adhesive 
This is re-activated by the application of water and need only be coated on 
the blanks 26. 
Turning now to FIG. 5, this illustrates a modification of the blank 26 
which has a wire frame 42 secured to it. The wire frame 42 can be secured 
to one face of the blank 26.1 or can be sandwiched between two layers of 
corrugated board which are adhered to one another. It will be noted that 
ears 44 of the wire frame 42 protrude beyond the crease lines 32 into the 
areas of the end flaps 30.1. When the blank 26.1 is folded to the position 
shown in FIG. 3, the ears 44 are bent around with the end flaps 30.1. 
If the ears 44 are omitted then the wire frame 42 is of rectangular shape 
comprising an upper horizontal portion and a lower horizontal portion 
joined by two vertical portions. The chain-dotted lines in FIG. 5 
illustrate a modification of the wire frame. The upper horizontal portion 
protrudes above the blank 26 to form two ears 46. The lower horizontal 
portion is bent upwardly at two locations to form two recesses 48. When 
two boxes are stacked, the ears 46 of a lower box enter the recesses 48 of 
an upper box thereby to form an additional interlock. It is possible, of 
course, when the ears 46 are provided, to omit the interlock constituted 
by the steps 38 and 40 and rely on the ears 46 and recesses 48 to inhibit 
relative motion between boxes. 
The term `re-activatable` as used herein to define the type of adhesive 
means that the adhesive, after being coated onto a blank and allowed to 
dry, will not stick to another blank unless water, solvent or heat is 
first applied. It also encompasses adhesives which present a non-tacky 
surface after being applied and allowed to dry and will thereafter only 
bond when pressed against a further blank which is coated with the same or 
a compatible adhesive.