PACKAGE

Abstract: This invention relates to a package in the form of a tray, carton or case (1). The package has a base (2), side walls (6) and end walls (4) at least and also a support which is formed by two panels (20, 50, 60) positioned within the package and one adjacent each of the end walls (6) or the side walls (4). Protrusions (21, 23, 51, 61, 63) or recesses (52, 62) are provided on each panel (20, 50, 60) and these are of a size so that with the packages positioned in a stack vertically adjacent protrusions (21, 23, 51, 61, 63) and/or recesses (52, 62) are in contact without substantial compression of the packaging material positioned between vertically adjacent panels (20, 50, 60). Suitably positioned apertures (12) are provided in the package. The package in a preferred form also includes lugs (40) provided at each corner of one face the lugs (40) being angled and the package also having corresponding cut-outs (41) so that in a vertical stack the lugs (40) of one package are positioned in the cut-outs (41) of a vertically adjacent package.

Description: This invention relates to a package comprising a tray, carton or case having a base, a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls formed of a relatively compressible package material and a support formed of a relatively incompressible material, said support comprising a pair of panels within said tray, carton or case and positioned adjacent the pair of end walls and/or the pair of side walls, said panels in use having upper and lower edges, a protrusion or protrusions on said upper edge and a protrusion or protrusions and/or a recess or recesses on said lower edge on each said panel, said protrusions and or recesses being arranged so that, with said package positioned in a stack of like packages, panels of adjacent packages in said stack have adjacent upper and lower edges respectively separated by package material positioned between said panels, said package material being provided with suitable apertures through which said protrusions and/or recesses are engageable. Packages and packages formed from cardboard such as corrugated cardboard and formed from material having like properties and used for transportation of, for example, fruit are known which stack one upon another and which may be interconnected for example by interlocking tongues and apertures. Such packages can be disadvantageous in that applying strapping or other pressures to the package may cause the material from which the wrapper of the package is made to compress. For example a stack of such packages may compress about 1mm to 1 1/2mm for each thickness of board. Thus in a 30 high stack compression of up to 90mm can occur. Such compression can cause difficulties, for example, size regularity may be lost, pressure can be exerted on the contents in some circumstances and there can be strength losses in the package as well as air gap loss. It is known from FR-A-2158106 to provide a package formed from folded cardboard and including two lining panels of a relatively rigid material and which in the assembled package are bonded to vertical end walls of the package. Each panel has an upper edge provided with two recesses and a lower edge provided with two projections forming feet for the package and which extend into the recesses of panels of a lower package when stacked. The projections and recesses are of corresponding shape and are mutually engageable through apertures in the packaged material so as to resist lateral relative movement between packages when stacked. A disadvantage of this package is that package material trapped between adjacent upper and lower edges in a stack is compressed to an extent depending on the applied loading so that the stack may become unstable. According to the present invention said disadvantage is remedied with a package in which the protrusions and/or recesses are sized such that contact is made between adjacent protrusions and/or recesses in the stack and such that the adjacent upper and lower edges are thereby spaced apart by a distance substantially equal to the uncompressed thickness of the package material positioned between the panels. One preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank for use in forming one preferred form of package according to the invention, Figure 2 and Figure 3 are diagrammatic perspective views of two alternative end panels for use in the construction of the invention, Figure 4 is a plan view of the blank of Figure 1 and the end panel of Figure 3 the blank being partially erected into a box, Figure 5 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a further alternative end panel, Figure 6 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a package according to a preferred form of the invention in an erected position, Figure 7 is a diagrammatic perspective end view of the package of Figure 6 with the end wall shown in an open position, Figure 8 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view through a stack of packages the packages being shown without corner lugs and with end panels such as for example shown in Figure 5, Figure 9 is a view as in Figure 8 but with panels of the form shown in Figure 2, Figures 10 and 11 show two alternative constructions of the invention, and Figure 12 is a view as in Figure 8 showing the use of the panel of Figure 3. Referring to the drawings a package is provided as follows. In one preferred form of the invention a package is formed utilising a blank 1 as shown in Figure 1 and formed for example of corrugated cardboard or material having like properties. The blank has a base area 2 and from the base 2 through fold lines 3 are provided end walls 4 and through fold lines 5 are provided side walls 6. A locking tab 7 is provided at each end of the side wall 6 being separated from the side wall 6 through a fold line 8. The locking tab 7 in use is positioned against the end wall 4 and to this end a cut 9 is provided between these positions. The package could be a tray, a case, or a carton but in the construction shown in Figure 1 a case is provided which has a lid for example a double lid formed by a pair of lid flaps 10 separated from the side wall 6 through a fold line 11. Cut-outs 12 may be provided along the fold line 11 and these provide ventilation holes for the package when erected. At the ends of the lid parts 10 is provided a lid locking tab 13 separated from the lid through fold lines 14 and the use of these will be further described hereinafter. A support for the package is provided and this comprises a pair of panels which are to be positioned in the erected case adjacent the end walls 4. The package of one preferred form of the invention utilises panels 20 as shown in Figure 3. Each panel 20 may be formed from timber for example or other materials such as moulded plastics and provides a pair of extensions 21 on its upper surface 22. The panel 20 also provides extensions 23 on its lower surface 24. The panel 20 is positioned on the base 2 so that the downward protrusions 23 extend through apertures 25 formed in the lower surface 2. These are desirably a snug fit. The end wall 4 can be adhered to the panels 20 if desired. The protrusions 23 extend desirably substantially fully through the apertures 25. It will be apparent that the position of the lids and apertures 25 can be rearranged so that the supports are provided on the longer or side walls. In order to enclose the upper protrusions 21 suitable cut-outs 26 are provided on the lid parts. If a panel 20 is positioned with its protrusions 23 extending through the apertures 25, the sides 6 are then folded up and the panels 7 turned inwardly. Finally the end panels 4 can be turned up so that a construction is provided substantially as shown in Figure 4 in which a gap 30 is provided between the panel 20 and the end wall 4. If the lid panels 10 are then turned over the apertures 26 will pass over the protrusions 21 and the flaps or tabs 13 can be positioned into the slot 30 thereby the system retaining the lid flaps in a closed position. As can be seen from Figures 1 and 4 the blank has a suitably shaped cut-out at 31 to allow the correct positioning of the tabs 30. The tabs 7 can be adhered to the end panel 6 and if desired the panel 20 can also be adhered to the end panel 6. The thickness of the panel 20 will depend on several factors including the expected weight of the package contents, the size of the package and the material from which the panel 20 is made. A locating means is also provided between adjacent packages in a stack thereof. These locating means may take the form of upstanding angled tabs 40 provided at each corner particularly of the upper surface of the package for example as shown in Figures 6 and 7. The tabs 40 can also be seen in Figure 1 where they are formed in part by the shaping of the recess or cut-out 31. A cut-out 41 is also provided at the lower corners of the package and this can be formed by the removed portion 41 shown in Figure 1. It is important to also remove a part of the corner tab 7. The shaping of the tab 40 and cut-out 41 is desirably again so that the snug fit is achieved and in the embodiment shown this is achieved by making the cut-outs arcuate at least in the positions where the edge of the tab 40 will be adjacent the edge of the cut-out 41. Because the protrusions 21 and 23 are substantially of a length such that they will pass wholly through the apertures 25 and 26 when a stack of packages is provided and with tabs 40 positioned into recesses or cut-outs 41 the adjacent protrusions 21 and 23 will come into contact without substantial crushing of the material from which the package is made. Referring now to Figure 2 an alternative panel 50 is provided which has protrusions 51 on its upper surface and recesses 52 on its lower edge or surface. The protrusions 51 are made a little longer, for example a height X, than the depth of the recesses which are for example of a depth Y. If the external measurement of the depth is called A then the external measurements of the protrusion X is A plus the thickness of board or material which will be trapped inbetween panels of a stack. Again therefore panel to panel contact in the stack is achieved. In this construction the corner tabs 40 and 41 are not necessarily required as the protrusions 51 when entering the recesses 52 will give positioning of the adjacent stacks. The use of such a construction is shown in Figure 9 where a double thickness of packaging material can be seen at 53 between the two panels 50. An alternative end panel 60 is shown in Figure 5 and in this construction protrusions 61 and recesses 62 are shown but these are provided on a base or plinth 63 and 64 respectively. The use of this type of construction is shown in Figure 8 where it can be seen that contact between adjacent panels 60 is achieved by contact between the bases or plinths 64 and 63 while positioning is again achieved by the protrusions 61 being positioned into the recess 62. In the embodiment of Figure 10 the blank has been modified so as to provide a fold over end for the end panel 70, the tabs 7 being shown inwardly positioned in Figure 11 and outwardly positioned in Figure 10. In this embodiment the end wall 4 is extended by panel 71 which may be provided with tabs 72 at its extreme end able to fit into the apertures 73 which also receive in the stack the protrusions 74. In use the packages of the invention are filled, for example with fruit and stacked. Engagement of the vertically adjacent panels reduces or eliminates any tendency of the material between the panels to crush either by weight of the packages or by application of strapping or the like. Thus it can be seen that at least in a preferred form of the invention a package is provided which has the advantage that in a stack of like packages the end panels of the packages are in direct contact. Thus when the package or stack of packages is strapped and tightened pressure goes onto the in contact panels and there is no or substantially no compression of the material from which the wrapper of the package is made. This has the advantage that there is little or no tendency for the stack of packages to loosen during transportation or storage particularly when a substantial number of packages are contained in the stack. This invention obviates or minimises the difficulties attendant on compression of material in the stack. Also at least the preferred form of the invention provides a strong corner and end construction for the protection of the product contained in the package.

Claims: A package comprising a tray carton or case (1) having a base (2), a pair of side walls (6) and a pair of end walls (4) formed of a relatively compressible package material and a support formed of a relatively incompressible material, said support comprising a pair of panels (20,50,60) within said tray, carton or case and positioned adjacent the pair of end walls and/or the pair of side walls, said panels in use having upper and lower edges, a protrusion or protrusions (21,23,51,61,63) on said upper edge and a protrusion or protrusions and/or a recess or recesses (52,62) on said lower edge on each said panel, said protrusions and or recesses being arranged so that, with said package positioned in a stack of like packages, panels of adjacent packages in said stack have adjacent upper and lower edges respectively separated by package material positioned between said panels, said package material being provided with suitable apertures (25,26) through which said protrusions and/or recesses are engageable, characterised by said protrusions and/or recesses being sized such that contact is made between adjacent protrusions and/or recesses in the stack and such that the adjacent upper and lower edges are thereby spaced apart by a distance substantially equal to the uncompressed thickness of the package material positioned between the panels. A package as claimed in claim 1 wherein said panels are formed from timber. A package as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said panels are formed from moulded plastics material. A package as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said package has lugs (40) at each corner of the, in use, top or bottom surface thereof, said lugs being angled, said package also having cut-outs (41) at the corners of the opposite surface thereof so that when in a stack lugs on one package are positioned into the cut-outs of an adjacent package. A package as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said package is provided with a lid. A package as claimed in claim 5 wherein a space is provided between each said panel and the adjacent end or side wall over at least a part of the length of that wall, said lid having tabs (13) positionable into said space.

Inventors: ANDERSON, RICHARD JOHN, OSWIN, BRUCE WAYNE, PHAROAH, JAMES FREDERIC, PRYOR, RAYMOND JOHN, TOWNSEND, COLIN JEFFREY BAIGEN
Applicants: PRINTPAC-UEB LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B65D5, B65D21