CARTON AND BLANK FOR MAKING THE SAME

Abstract: A carton (1) made from a single blank of cardboard (10), paperboard or the like has a top (2) having a rear portion (3) which is substantially horizontal and a front portion (4) which slopes downwardly and forwardly from said rear portion. The front portion may receive a dispensing spout (7). The carton is filled by first forming the top of the carton, then filling the carton through the open base and then closing the base. A blank for making the carton has front and rear top forming panels (22, 23), and tuck forming panels (32, 33, 32', 33') connected between the top forming panels and side wall forming panels, the latter connection being by way of a hinge line (28, 29) with two contiguous sections at an angle to each other.

Description: CARTON AND BLANK FOR MAKING THE SAME This invention relates to cartons made of cardboard, paperboard or similar lightweight foldable sheet material, and to blanks for making the same, and is particularly directed to the provision of such a carton for carrying and dispensing liguids such as liquid detergents and having improved qualities of liquid-tightness. Viewed from one aspect the invention provides a carton made from a single blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar lightweight foldable sheet material and having a base, a front wall, a rear wall, two side walls and a top, the top having a rear surface portion which is substantially horizontal and a front surface portion which slopes downwardly and forwardly away from the said top surface portion and is suitable for receiving a dispensing spout, the said rear surface portion being formed by a rear top panel hingedly connected to the top of the said rear wall, the said front surface portion being formed by a front top panel hingedly connected to the top of the said front wall, and the said front and rear top panels being connected to the said side walls by respective arrays of inwardly folded tuck panels which underlie the said top panels. Viewed from another aspect the invention provides a one-piece blank made of cardboard, paperboard or similar lightweight foldable sheet material for forming a carton as described above, comprising a row of four hingedly interconnected wall panels for forming the said front, rear and side walls of the carton, an array of base- forming panels on one side of the said row of wall- forming panels, front and rear top-forming panels hingedly connected to the respective front and rear wall-forming panels on the other side of the row, the hinge line between the said front top-forming panel and the front wall-forming panel being nearer to the said base-forming panels than is the hinge line between the said rear top-forming panel and the rear wall-forming panel, and respective arrays of tuck-forming panels hingedly connected between the said front and rear top- forming panels and the said side wall-forming panels, the connection between the tuck-forming panels and a said side wall-forming panels being by way of a hinge line which has two contiguous sections at an angle to each other, one such section being substantially colinear with the hinge line between the rear top- forming panel and the rear wall-forming panel and the other such section extending obliquely from said one such section to meet the adjacent end of the hinge line between the front top-forming panel and the front wall- forming panel. Preferably the sloping front surface portion is provided with pouring means in the form of a dispensing spout. This could be of any desired construction, but preferably it is a pouring spout formed of a plastics material. Advantageously the spout has a mounting flange which locates against the inside of the sloping top surface. Preferably, if the carton is -formed of thermoplastics coated paperboard, the flange is of a material which has the same or a similar melting point as the thermoplastic coating of the carton material so that it may be fixed thereto by sonic welding. It is particularly advantageous if the pouring spout extends from the sloping surface to a point where it forms a plane with the horizontal top surface. This facilitates stacking, although it will be appreciated that the carton may facilitate stacking solely by virtue of having a horizontal top portion. Preferably the rear top-forming panel and said front top-forming panel are connected to a mutually adjacent side-wall forming panel by first and second S U B S TITUTESHEET tuck-forming panels respectively, said first tuck- forming panel being connected to said side wall-forming panel by a said one such section of a said two-section hinge line and to said rear top-forming panel by a further hinge line, said second tuck-forming panel being connected to said side wall-forming panel by said other such section of said two-section hinge line and to said front top-forming panel by a yet further hinge line, said first and second tuck-forming panels each having tuck-hinge lines extending upwardly and inwardly from the respective outer ends of the said two-section hinge line. In a preferred embodiment, the tuck hinge lines angularly bisect said first and second tuck-forming panels. During assembly, as the top-forming panels are folded about their respective hinge lines to close the top of the carton, the tuck-forming panels are folded inwardly, about their respective hinge lines to underlie the top-forming panels. It is possible that the first and second tuck- forming panels may be separate from each other, but in a particularly preferred embodiment, they are joined by a web of material extending upwardly from the point of intersection of the said one such and other such sections of the two-section hinge line between the tuck- forming panels and the side wall-forming panel.This ensures a good seal at the point of intersection, where the slope of the top of the erected carton changes. To obviate buckling of the first and second tuck- forming panels during folding, the web may be formed so as not to extend to the top edge of said first and second tuck-forming panels. Thus a cut-out may be defined between the first and second tuck-forming panels which does not extend as far as the point of intersection of the two section hinge line. It would of course be possible to provide the web SUBSTITUTESHEET with a series of further folds rather than a cut out, but the latter is preferred since it puts less stress on any thermoplastic coating material of the carton. A fold line may extend along the web from the point of intersection of the two-sections of the hinge line to the cut-out. In the case where the first and second tuck-forming panels are separate or where they are formed with a cut¬ out between them so that the panels have free, opposing edges, the panels are preferably shaped such that when the carton is erected, these edges will be adjacent to each other. The height of the top-forming panels is preferably substantially the same as the length of the adjacent section of the hinge line joining the tuck-forming panels to the side walls. In this way when the carton is erected, the respective top-forming panels will meet along the junction between the horizontal and sloping areas of the top. It will be appreciated that only the tuck-forming panels provided on one side wall-forming panel have been described above. In the preferred construction, the other side wall-forming panel is provided on its upper edge with tuck-forming panels which are a mirror image of said first and second tuck-forming panels. In a particularly preferred arrangement one of the top-forming panels, preferably the front top-forming panel has a flap connected to its upper edge along a hinge line. During assembly, this flap will be introduced into a pocket formed between the tuck-forming panels and the other top-forming panel. The corners of the flap are preferably chamfered to facilitate this. The blank may have a securing strip extending along the edge of one of the outer side panels. Preferably it is attached to the side wall-forming panel which is opposite to that having the top-forming panel. During assembly, the outer surface of the securing strip is SUBSTITUTESHEET adhered by suitable means to the inside edge of the adjacent side wall-forming panel to form a tubular blank. The sealing strip could of course be formed adjacent another side wall-forming panel. The invention also provides, from another aspect, a method of filling a carton as described above comprising the steps of forming the top of the carton, then filling the carton through the open base with the carton inverted, and then closing the base of the carton. In more detail, the procedure of forming and filling a carton according to the invention may comprise, firstly, forming the carton blank into an open-ended tubular structure by securing the terminal walls of the row to each other, for example by means of a conventional flamesealing strip provided at one end of the row. A pouring spout, if required, may then be attached to the tubular structure. Preferably, as stated above, the spout is formed with a flange which engages around the back of a hole formed in the sloping top panel, the flange being of a thermoplastics material with the same or similar melting point as the thermoplastics coating material of the carton, so that the flange may be attached to the carton by heating or ultrasonic welding. With the spout attached, the top of the carton is then formed. The tubular structure, with its top pre- folded, may be placed on a mandrel and hot air directed at those parts of the top where it is desired to melt the thermoplastic coating for adhesive purposes. The top-forming and tuck-forming panels are then folded into their final positions and the top closure clamped firmly between an anvil and the mandrel to ensure that good contact is obtained between the components to achieve a good seal. Of course other ways of adhering the various components of the top closure to one another can be envisaged such as selective application of adhesive. SUBSTITUTESHEET The top could also be ultrasonically welded on the mandrel. Once the top closure has been formed, the carton may be filled with a chosen liquid such as a detergent, a dairy produce or a food product for example. Once filled, the base is then formed. The base of the carton may be of any convenient kind. However one advantageous construction is of the type commonly seen in cartons containing fruit juices and the like. In this arrangement, base-forming panels are joined to the bottom edges of the side wall-forming panels along colinear hinge lines, with a further hinge line extending along the base-forming panels parallel to the colinear hinge lines to form a strip of sealing panels between the hinge line and the terminal edge of the blank. The base- orming panels attached to the side wall-forming panels having the top-forming panels have further hinge lines extending inwardly from their upper corners to the parallel hinge line to define a triangular panel, and a vertical hinge line extending from the parallel hinge line to the free edge of the blank. Such a bottom closure will be closed in the following manner. Firstly, the triangular .portions referred to above are pulled outwardly and the closure panels on the other two walls pushed inwardly to bring opposed surfaces of the sealing panels together. These are then heated and pressed together by for example a plough arrangement to form an upstanding fin which is then folded onto and adhered to the flattened closure panels with finally the triangular closure panels being folded over on top of both and adhered thereto. This method of construction allows the folds in the top of the carton to be secured firmly in position on a mandrel and a substantially flat bottom surface to be provided on the carton. One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the following drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a carton in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows how cartons in accordance with the invention may be stacked; Figure 3 shows a carton blank from which the carton of Figure 1 may be erected; Figure 4 shows an intermediate stage in the erection of a carton in accordance with the invention; and Figure 5 shows a later stage in the erection of the carton shown in Figure 4. With reference to Figure 1, a carton 1 for holding liquid detergents or the like is formed from one-piece blank of thermoplastics coated paperboard and has a top 2 with a rear, substantially horizontal, portion 3 and a front, downwardly sloping, portion 4. These respective portions are formed by respective rear and front top- forming panels ( Fig. 3) attached to respective side walls along folds 5,6 vertically displaced from one another. A screw topped pouring spout 7 with a removable cap is provided in the sloping portion 4. As can be seen from Figure 2 , the top of the pouring spout 7 lies in the same plane as the horizontal portion 3, which facilitates stacking of the cartons. The side walls 8 each have a trapezoidal shape, being delimited at their upper ends by a hinge line 9. The above carton may be produced from a blank as shown in Figure 3. With reference to that Figure, a cut and scored blank lO has four side wall-forming panels 11-14 and a securing strip 15. These panels are joined along hinge, fold or score lines 16-19. The blank is also formed with a top closure 20 and base closure 21. Top closure 20 comprises top-forming panels 22,23 which are connected to the upper edges of front and rear SUBSTITUTESHEET wall-forming panels 12,13 respectively along straight hinge lines 24,25. Hinge line 24 is nearer the base- forming panels than hinge line 25. The top closure also comprises an array of tuck- forming panels 26,27 which are connected to the upper edges of side wall-forming panels 11,13 along hinge lines 28,29. These hinge lines are each in two contiguous sections 28a,28b, 29a,29b, which are at an angle to each other, meeting at points 30,31, respectively. The sections 28a and 29a are colinear with the hinge line 25 between the rear top forming panel 23 and the rear side wall-forming panel 14, and the sections 28b and 29b slope downwardly away from the portions 28a and 29a to the hinge line 24. The lengths of portions 28a and 29a are substantially equal to the height of the panel 23 while the lengths of portions 28b and 29b are substantially equal to the height of panel 22. Upon assembly, the side wall panels 11,13 will form the trapezoidal sides 8 of the erected carton bounded at the top by the folds 9 made along the hinge lines 28,29, and the panels 22,23 will form the front and rear top surfaces 3,4 respectively of the carton. The array of tuck-forming panels 26, joined to the side wall-forming panel 13 along the hinge line 28 comprises first and second tuck-forming panels 32,33. First tuck-forming panel 32 is joined to the rear top- forming panel 13 along section 28a of hinge line 28. It is generally L-shaped and is formed with a tuck-hinge line 35 which bisects the panel 32. A second tuck- forming panel 33 is joined to the front top-forming panel 22 along hinge line 36 and to the side wall- forming panel 13 along section 28b of hinge line 28. It is generally kite-shaped and is formed with a tuck-hinge line 37 which bisects the panel 33. The first and second tuck-forming panels 32,33 are joined by a web 38 of material which extends upwardly SUBSTITUTE SHEET from the point 30. The web does not extend to the upper edges of the first and second tuck-forming panels 32,33 and a cut-out 39 is thus defined between the opposed edges 40,41 of the tuck-forming panels. The panels 32,33 are shaped such that when the carton is erected the opposed edges will lie adjacent each other. Since the tuck-forming panels 32,33 are substantially symmetrical about the respective tuck-hinge lines 35,37, maximum overlap of these panels will be achieved upon erection of the blank for good adhesion and sealing. The array of tuck-forming panels 27 joined to the top edge of side-wall forming panel 11 is a mirror image of the array 26 and corresponding features are indicated by the reference numerals 32 ' ,33 • ,35' ,36 • ,37 • ,38 • , 39 • ,40* ,41' . In this array, however, there is of course no hinge line corresponding to hinge line 34, since when the carton is erected, tuck-forming panel 32 • will be adhered to the upper portion 42 of the securing strip 15, with the hinge line 43 in the latter coinciding with tuck-hinge line 35'. The tuck-forming panel 32' will therefore effectively be hingedly connected to the rear top-forming panel 23 by the hinge line 44 at the upper inner edge of the sealing strip 15. The panel 22 has an aperture 45 for accepting a pouring spout as will be described later and also has a flap 46 with chamfered edges 47,48 connected along its upper edge for a purpose that will also be described later. Turning now to the base of the container, the base closure 22 comprises an array of base-forming panels 49- 52 connected to the bottom edges of the side wall panels 11-14 along a hinge line 53. Parallel to hinge line 53 there is a further hinge line 54 which together with hinge line 53 defines a sealing strip 55 made up from a plurality of panels 56-59. Hinge lines 60-63 in panels 50-52 divide the panels 50-52 into triangular portions. Further hinge lines 64,65 extend from the apex of the SUBSTITUTE SHEET central triangular portion of each panel to the free edge of the strip 55. The erection of the carton as described above will now be explained. After cutting and scoring the blank by conventional methods, it is first erected into a tubular structure 66 by folding along the hinge lines 16-19 and sealing the outer surface of the securing strip 15 to the inner surface of opposed panel 11. As stated above, hinge lines 43 and 35' are aligned. The sealing may be achieved by any conventional method e.g. flamesealing. After this, the pouring spout 7 may be attached to the front top-forming panel 22. This is done by passing the spout 7 through the aperture 45 from the inside until a flange at its base abuts the inner surface of the panel 22 around the aperture 45. This may then be secured on the surface by, for example, ultrasonic welding. The spout 7 could, alternatively, be added after formation of the top closure, which will now be described. With reference to Figure 4, the top closure 2 is is formed with the tubular structure 66 erected from the blank 10 being placed on a mandrel (not shown) . The top-forming panels 22, 23 are pushed together (by means not shown) with the arrays of tuck- forming panels 26,27 being pushed inwardly to lie under the panels 22,23. The first and second tuck forming panels 32,33 and the corresponding panels 32'33* will fold inwardly about their respective tuck-hinge lines 35,37 and 35',37'. The flap 46 is then pushed into the pocket 67 formed between the rear top-forming panel 23 and the inwardly folded portions 68 and 68' of the first tuck-forming panels 33,32' . To achieve a good seal, substantially the whole overlapping areas of the tuck-forming panels 32,33, 32 ',33 are adhered to one another, and the flap 40 is adhered inside the pocket 67. This may conveniently be SUBSTITUTESHEET done by melting the thermoplastic coating on these portions by, for example, hot air jets and pressing them together between the mandrel and an anvil. In this way a substantial pressure may be applied in order to properly form the folds and achieve good sealing between the various panels. The top could alternatively be ultrasonically welded on the mandrel. The cut outs 39,39* allow the tuck-forming panels 32,33,32 ' ,33 • to fold inwardly without substantial buckling. This means that the thermoplastics coating on the carton material in this region will not be ruptured. After assembly, the opposed edges 40,41,40' ,41" of the tuck forming panels 32, 33, 32', 33' will lie substantially adjacent one another. Once the top closure is formed, the carton may be filled with liquid to a predetermined level, after which the base is formed. Panels 49 and 51 are pushed together while panels 50 and 52 are pulled outwardly, in order that the sealing strip panels 55-59 overlie one another. Opposed sealing strip panels are then adhered together to form a sealing fin 69 upstanding from a substantially flat base having a rectangular portion 70 and a triangular flap 71,72, at either end, as shown in Figure 5. This may be done by melting the -thermoplastic coating on the inner surfaces of the sealing panels 56- 59 and pressing them together with a plough or roller arrangement. The sealing fin 69 is then folded over in the direction of arrow A and sealed onto the rectangular base portion 70, after which the triangular flaps 71, 72 are folded back on to and adhered to the base surface 70, as shown by the arrows B. It will be noted that the bottom edge of the sealing strip 15 is attached to the inner surface of sealing panel 55, which gives a very satisfactory seal in this area. The above method of construction allows the folds of the top closure to be sealed effectively under SUBSTITUTE SHEET considerable pressure, while allowing a substantially flat base to be formed after the carton has been filled. It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specifica ion, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon. Furthermore the manner in which any of such features of the specification or claims are described or defined may be amended, broadened or otherwise modified in any manner which falls within the knowledge of a person skilled in the relevant art, for example so as to encompass, either implicitly or explicitly, equivalents or generalisations thereof. SUBSTITUTE SHEET

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. A carton made from a single blank of cardboard, paperboard or similar lightweight foldable sheet material and having a base, a front wall, a rear wall, two side walls and a top, the top having a rear surface portion which is substantially horizontal and a front surface portion which slopes downwardly and forwardly away from the said top surface portion and is suitable for receiving a dispensing spout, the said rear surface portion being formed by a rear top panel hingedly connected to the top of the said rear wall, the said front surface portion being formed by a front top panel hingedly connected to the top of the said front wall, and the said front and rear top panels being connected to the said side walls by respective arrays of inwardly folded tuck panels which underlie the said top panels. 2. A carton as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sloping front surface portion is provided with pouring means in the form of dispensing spout. 3. A carton as claimed in claim 2 wherein the pouring spout extends from the sloping surface to a point where it forms a plane with the horizontal top surface. 4. A one-piece blank made of cardboard, paperboard or similar lightweight foldable sheet material for forming a carton as claimed in claim 1, comprising a row of four hingedly interconnected wall panels for forming the said front, rear and side walls ox the carton, an array of base-forming panels on one side of the said row of wall- forming panels, front and rear top-forming panels hingedly connected to the respective front and rear wall-forming panels on the other side of the row, the hinge line between the said front top-forming panel and the front wall-forming panel being nearer to the said SUBSTITUTESHEET base-forming panels than is the hinge line between the said rear top-forming panel and the rear wall-forming panel, and respective arrays of tuck-forming panels hingedly connected between the said front and rear top- forming panels and the said side wall-forming panels, the connection between the tuck-forming panels and a said side wall-forming panel being by way of a hinge line which has two contiguous sections at an angle to each other, one such section being substantially colinear with the hinge line between the rear top- forming panel and the rear wall-forming panel and the other such section extending obliquely from said one such section to meet the adjacent end of the hinge line between the front top-forming panel and the front wall- forming panel. 5. A carton blank as claimed in claim 4 wherein said rear top-forming panel and said front top-forming panel are connected to a mutually adjacent side wall-forming panel by first and second tuck-forming panels respectively, said first tuck-forming panel being connected to said side wall-forming panel by a said one such section of a said two-section hinge line and to said rear top-forming panel by a further hinge line, said second tuck-forming panel being connected to said side wall-forming panel by a said other such section of said two-section hinge line and to said front top- forming panel by a yet further hinge line, said first and second tuck-forming panels each having tuck-hinge lines extending upwardly and inwardly from the respective outer ends of the said two-section hinge line. 6. A carton blank as claimed in claim 5 wherein said tuck hinge lines angularly bisect said first and second tuck-forming panels. SUBSTITUTESHEET 7. A carton blank as claimed in claims 5 or 6 wherein said first tuck-forming panel is joined to said second tuck-forming panel by a web of material extending upwardly from the point of intersection of the said one such and other such sections of the two-section hinge line between the tuck-forming panels and the side wall- forming panel. 8. A carton blank as claimed in claim 7 wherein said web does not extend to the top edge of said first and second tuck-forming panels. 9. A carton blank as claimed in claims 5 to 8 wherein said first and second tuck-forming panels have opposed, free edges and are shaped such that upon erection of the carton, said free edges lie adjacent to each other. 10. A carton blank as claimed in any of claims 5 to 9 wherein the other side wall-forming panel is provided, on its upper edge, with tuck-forming panels which are a mirror image of said first and second tuck forming panels. 11. A carton blank as claimed in any of claims 4 to 10 wherein the front top-forming panel has a flap connected to its upper edge along a hinge line, for insertion in a pocket to be formed between the said tuck-forming panels and the rear top-forming panel upon erection. 12. A carton blank as claimed in any of claims 4 to 11 wherein the blank has a securing strip extending along the edge of one of the outer wall-forming panels, for securing to the opposite outer wall panel upon erection. 13. A carton blank as claimed in claim 12 wherein the securing strip is attached to the wall-forming panel which is opposite that having the front top-forming SUBSTITUTE SHEET panel . 14. A carton blank as claimed in any of claims 4 to 13 wherein the base-forming panels are joined to the bottom edges of the side wall-forming panels along colinear hinge lines, with a further hinge line extending along the base-forming panels parallel to the colinear hinge lines to form a strip of sealing panels between the hinge line and the terminal edge of the blank, the base- forming panels attached to those side wall-forming panels which have the top-forming panels having further hinge lines extending inwardly from their upper corners to the parallel hinge line to define a triangular panel, and a vertical hinge line extending from the parallel hinge line to the free edge of the blank. 15. A method of filling a carton formed from a blank as claimed in any of claims 4 to 14 comprising the steps of forming the body and the top of the carton, then filling the carton through the open base with the carton inverted, and then closing the base of the carton. 16. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein a pouring spout is attached to the front top-forming -panel prior to forming the top. 17. A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the pouring spout has a mounting flange which engages with the inner surface of the front top-forming panel around a spout receiving aperture in the panel. 18. A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the blank is formed of thermoplastic coated paperboard, and the flange is of a material which has a similar melting point to the thermoplastic coating of the blank material, and including the step of sonically welding the flange to the inner surface of the front top-forming SUBSTITUTESHEET panel around the said spout receiving aperture. 19. A method as claimed in any of claims 15 to 18 wherein, to form the top, the tubular carton body is placed on a mandrel and hot air is directed at those parts of the top where it is desired to melt the thermoplastic coating for adhesive purposes, the top- forming and tuck-forming panels then being folded into their final positions and the top closure clamped between an anvil and the mandrel. 20. A method as claimed in any one of claims 15 to 19 wherein, " in the step of closing the base, the said triangular panels are pulled outwardly and the closure panels on the other two walls are pushed inwardly to bring opposed surfaces of the sealing panels together, the sealing panels are then heated and pressed together to form an upstanding fin which is then folded onto and adhered to the flattened closure panels, and the triangular closure panels are then folded over on top of the base and adhered thereto. SUBSTITUTESHEET

Inventors: CURRY ERNEST, SALES MAUREEN, CURRY, ERNEST, SALES, MAUREEN
Applicants: REED PACKAGING LTD, REED PACKAGING LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B65D5