FOLDED CARDBOARD ARTICLE FOR PACKAGING KNIVES

Abstract: Display case for knives, of the so-called "blister" kind, made by punching a paper board sheet (18) according to a proper shape provided with windows (26a-26j), for displaying the blade (14) of a knife contained in the blister, and with cuts (38a-b) suited to accommodate tangs (30a-b), also obtained by punching the same paper board sheet (18), providing to close the blister.

Description: FOLDED CARDBOARD ARTICLE FOR PACKAGING KNIVES The present invention refers to a display case for knives, of the so-called "blister " kind, made by simple punching, followed by folding along pre-set lines, of a paper board sheet. Since long time cases for displaying articles, called "blisters" and used for containing articles housed on display stands available by the public of shop centres, are well known. Particularly hardware and household article shops need simple and efficient blisters, for containing displayed articles, which are used also as package of the article, when purchased. Said blisters are particularly useful in case of dangerous household articles, such as knives, which, if not properly protected, can be cause of also serious accidents. Since long time are in trade plastic material blisters for displaying and packaging knives which do rather well this duty, said blisters consisting of a kind of flexible plastic sheath formed by two sheets welded on at least three peripheral edges, which operates as a pocket housing at least the blade of the knife. It is preferred that one of the sheets is transparent in order to see the blade of the knife, and is used a strap embracing the handle of the knife to prevent an unwanted slipping of the blade from blister sheath. However, said blisters have some drawbacks, such as the danger of slackening of the strap fastening the handle of the knife to one of the blister sheets, which in the case of blisters to be hung in display stands of the kind keeping downwards the knife handle, may risk a partial descent of the blade with exposure to people and danger of accidental injuring. Another drawback, also connected to slackening of the strap fastening the handle and, consequently, to the partial mobility of the blade, is the chance of accidental cuts in the plastic sheets forming the blister with possibility of knife loss and/or larger exposure of dangerous portions thereof. It is an objet of the present invention to provide simple and inexpensive blisters able to be hung in display stands without the above mentioned dangers and drawbacks. Another object of the present invention is to provide a blister not needing any joining or welding operation of separated pieces. Also another object is to provide a blister starting from just one sheet of rigid and light material, such as paper board, without any additional operations different from inserting edges, tails or tangs in corresponding cuts for providing the manufacture of the blister itself. The above and other objects are provided by the present invention consisting of a blister formed from a sheet in just one piece, from which is obtained by punching, characterized in that the sheet comprises a first and a second face, each other mirror symmetrical, each other joined along a side fit to form a bending line on the sheet in one piece, of which the first face has at least a tang cut along three sides and adjacent a side edge of the face, which tang is foldable to be inserted in a corresponding cut on the second face, and further the first face is provided with a recess shaped as the handle of a knife to be inserted in the blister and the second face is also provided with a recess, mirror symmetrical with respect to the recess of the first face. In addition, one of the faces is provided with a plurality transversal windows to allow the view of the blade of a knife housed in the blister. Also in addition, both faces are provided with windows for the insertion of pins allowing to hang the blister to a display stand. Preferably the tangs and the corresponding cuts of the opposed face are at least two in number. Alternatively, the number of tangs and corresponding cuts is higher than two. The features of the present invention are defined in the claims forming the concluding portion of the description. However, other features and advantages thereof will result from the following detailed description of an embodiment, given as an example and not in a limiting way, and provided with the enclosed drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a front view of a blister, according to the present invention, housing a knife to be hung in a shop display stand; Figure 2 is a section view of the blister with knife of figure 1 taken along the line 2-2 of figure 1 , and Figure 3 is a planar view of a shaped paper board sheet, depicting the geometric development of the blister according to the invention, as obtained by punching. Looking at the figures, it is seen that a blister 10, according to the present invention, expected for containing a knife formed by a blade 14 and a handle 16, consists of a paper board sheet 18, shaped through punching, comprising a front face 20 and a rear face 22 separated by a line 24. The front face 20 comprises a plurality of windows 26a-26j, having the duty of showing the blade 14 of the knife, a recess 28 for housing and retain the portion of the handle 16 nearest to the blade , a first punched tang 30a connected to the face 20 by a fold 32a, a second tang 30b connected to the face 20 by a fold 32b and a window 34 for housing a pin providing to hang the blister itself. The rear face 22 comprises a recess 36, coinciding with the recess 28 of the face 20, for housing the handle 16 of the knife, a first cut 38a for receiving the tang 30a of the face 20, a second cut 38b for receiving the tang 30b of the face 20 and a window 40, coinciding with the window 34, for housing the pin hanging the blister. The blister is stored flat, as depicted in Figure 3, until is used for packaging a knife. For carry out the packaging of a knife, the below proceeding is followed: the sheet 18 is bent along the bending line 24 to have the rear face 22 downwards and the front face 20 upwards; then a knife is inserted between the two bent faces 20 and 22 of the sheet 18 in such a way that the blade 14 remains between them and the handle 16 is housed in the recess 36 of he face 22; the tangs 30a and 30b of the front face 20 are folded to have them coinciding with the cuts 38a and 38b of the rear face 22, by inserting them thereunto; and the tangs 30a and 30b, having passed through the cuts 38a and 38b, are distended again, allowing the closure of the blister, which will be able to be open only when the tangs 30a and 30b will be slipped from the cuts 38a and 38b for extracting the knife from the packaging blister. The above disclosed blister has some advantages: a) is obtained by simple punching from a paper board sheet in one piece; b) does not need any staple or glue for the manufacture; c) does not need any transparent cover, being the knife blade visible enough through the windows 26a-26j of the face 20; d) retains the handle of the knife within the recesses 28 and 36, preventing the knife to descend when it is closed in the blister, so that no portion of the blade 14, which in case of professional knives may be particularly sharp and dangerous, can be exposed and get in touch with the hands of people wanting to handle the blister (for example, a purchaser detaching the blister from the hanger). What has been here above stated depicts an embodiment of blisters for knives according to the present invention and every person skilled in the art will be able to devise, from reading the above description, obvious variations to be considered as covered by the claims forming the concluding portion of the description. For example, the tangs 30a and 30b may be different from two in number, as well as the corresponding cuts 38a and 38b, being three or four in number. Moreover, the windows 26a-26j may be different in number as well as have different slope with respect to what depicted in the figures 1 and 3.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Blister for knives formed by a sheet (18) in one piece, from which is obtained by punching, characterized in that the sheet (18) comprises a first and a second face (20, 22), each other mirror symmetrical, each other joined along a side fit to form a bending line (24) on the sheet (18) in one piece, of which the first face (20) has at least a tang (30) cut along three sides and adjacent a side edge of the face(20), which tang is foldable to be inserted in a corresponding cut (38) on the second face (22), and further the first face (20) is provided with a recess (28) shaped as the handle (16) of a knife to be inserted in the blister and the second face (22) is also provided with a recess (36), mirror symmetrical with respect to the recess (28) of the first face (20). 2. Blister, as in claim 1, characterized in that one (20) of the faces (20, 22) is provided with a plurality transversal windows (26a-j) to allow the view of the blade (14) of a knife housed in the blister. 3. Blister, as in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that both faces (20, 22) are provided with windows for the insertion of pins allowing to hang the blister to a display stand. 4. Blister, as in preceding claims, characterized in that the tangs (30) punched on a face (20) and the corresponding cuts (38) of the opposed face (22) are at least two in number. 5. Blister, as in claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the number of tangs (30) and corresponding cuts (38) is higher than two.

Inventors: SANELLI ENRICO, SANELLI, ENRICO
Applicants: SANELLI ENRICO, SANELLI, ENRICO
Application year: 2000
Main classification: B65D73
IPC codes: B65D73