CARTON BOX FOR VIALS, BLANK AND PACKAGING PROCESS

Abstract: The invention relates to a blank that comprises a lid portion of a box; a folding portion which can be erected to form an internal support (S) to house vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles endowed with a body, a neck and a head, that comprises at least one first section (7) endowed with a first plurality of holes (F7) and at least one second section (9) endowed with a second plurality of holes (F9), one of the two sections being provided with holes that have such dimensions as to retain said articles in correspondence of their necks and presenting around said retaining holes (F9) means for temporarily and reversibly increasing the dimensions of the said holes; at least one folding portion engaging with said internal support (S) for maintaining it erect and square. The invention also relates to the boxes obtained from this blank and a procedure for packaging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles in such boxes.

Description: CARTON BOX FOR VIALS . BLANK AND PACKAGING PROCESS FIELD OF THE INVENTION τ ne p reserι t invention relates to a folding blank, the boxes obtained from this blank and a process for packaging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles in such boxes. More particularly the invention relates to a folding blank in one piece comprising a folding portion which forms a support to immobilize said vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles structurally constituted by a body, a neck and a head, and hereinafter referred to only as articles, inside the box. STATE OF THE ART Boxes are known with internal supports provided with two or more perforated and contra-positioned sections to house articles of lengthened shape such as vials, ampoules and similar articles generally made of glass. US 5402889 and US 5871 145 describe examples of such boxes prepared by starting from folding blanks in one piece. Such blanks are composed of various adjacent sections, which are suitably folded and glued, then filled with the desired articles and closed. According to such teachings, the internal support is initially folded and glued and left flattened; subsequently the remaining blank is folded, the walls and the box are glued - in flattened and semi-glued form - leaving the bottom and the part destined to be the lid open, then it is processed by suitable machinery to erect it, fill it with the articles and close it. US 3921895 describes a box for vials equipped with a folding internal support to give a structure with three perforated sections, one of which rests on the base of the box to receive the body of the vials. US 31 15247 describes another box for vials equipped with only two perforated sections, also in this case to hold the body of the vials. The vials are in contact with the bottom and the cover of the box, where a protection system is provided for the vials by means of embossing at the points of contact between the vials and the box. These boxes present the drawback of requiring several assembly phases and can be filled only after the blank has been partially folded, glued and the semi-formed box opened out. Beyond the assembly difficulties, the boxes known in the art present the drawback of not ensuring suitable immobilization of the articles that they contain. In fact, often said vials or miniature bottles touch the bottom or the walls of the boxes that contain them, or are not sufficiently immobilized in the support, with the consequence that a bump can damage them. US 53581 16 describes a box in which is housed an internal support, physically independent of the box, endowed with suitable coaxial holes to immobilize by the neck products such as, for instance, vials. In this way, two different containers (support and box) need to be provided, with consequent increase in packaging times and costs; furthermore, the support is used for a reduced number of vials, only in one line, and must be removed from the box when a vial has to be extracted. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to provide a box for vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles structurally constituted by a body, a neck and a head, equipped with an internal support, obtained starting from a folding blank, able to retain said articles in a secure way to avoid their breakup in case the box is bumped or accidentally falls. Another purpose of the invention is furthermore to provide a box suitable for being filled before being folded and glued, i.e. able to receive the vials in suitable positions in the internal support when only the support has been erected and the remaining body of the blank is still flat. A further purpose of the invention is to provide a blank for the aforementioned purposes, which can be folded and glued, in particular suitable for forming the box in few operations. Such purposes are achieved by the blank of the invention that comprises a portion able to be folded to give a suitable internal support to house and restrain the articles; beyond that, the blank of the invention possesses a lid portion of the box preferably having the characteristic that said portions are arranged on opposite sides of the blank. The internal support is endowed with two facing sections provided with holes of such size to hold down the articles by their necks and in this way prevent accidental chipping or breakage. Therefore, a first object of the invention is a blank as described in Claims from 1 to 5. In particular, the invention relates to a blank that comprises: a iid portion of the box; a folding portion which can be erected to form an internal support (S) to house vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles endowed with a body, a neck and a head, said portion of support comprising at least one first section (7) endowed with a plurality of lodging holes (F7) to house the body of said articles and at least one second section (9) endowed with a plurality of retaining holes (F9) with such dimensions as to retain said articles in correspondence of their necks; means (9a) to temporarily and reversibly increase the dimensions of the said holes, disposed on said blank around said retaining holes (F9); at least one folding portion (14; 13,23) engaging with said internal support (S) to maintain it erect and square. In the present description the term "holes" means more or less regular circular openings or openings of different form, for instance, a flower or star. Immobilization of the neck is obtained by means of holes F9 disposed on one of the two sections of the internal support, said holes having dimensions selected specifically to retain the article at the narrowest point, i.e. the neck, and immobilize it. The F9 holes are smaller than the F7 holes, because they must retain the part of the article - the neck - with diameter smaller than the rest of the article, in particular the body. The body of the article is engaged instead in the F7 holes corresponding coaxially to the other perforated section of the blank, which is brought into a position parallel to the first perforated section when the internal support (S) is erected be filled with the articles. As already mentioned, the holes F7 are wider than the holes F9 since it is their function to surround the body of the article, while allowing a small amount of shifting or rotational play to prevent damage. The particularly preferred aspects of the blank of the invention are reported in Claims from 6 to 1 1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SKETCHES Some preferred technical solutions of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the enclosed sketches which are by way of example and not limiting, in particular: Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in completely extended form; Figure l a is a plan view of a blank according to another preferred embodiment of the invention in completely extended form; Figure 2 is α plan view of the blank of fig. 1 partially folded and glued to form the support for lodging vials; Figure 3 is a prospective view of the blank of fig. 2 with vial support erect and partially filled; Figure 4 is a prospective view of the finished box, open and partially filled; Figure 5 is a plan view of another embodiment of blank according to the invention in flat extended condition; Figures 6 and 7 show the perforated sections in detail of the blank according to some embodiments; Figures 8 and 8a show a further embodiment of the blank; Figure 8b is a plan view of a further embodiment of the invention; Figures 9 and 10 show a prospective view of the structure for lodging the vials; and Figure 1 1 shows a plan view of the structure for lodging the vials. With reference to Figure 1 , a blank according to the invention comprises a primary structure having at least one flap 2 and a tab 1 forming a lid portion of the box, and a plurality of sections forming a back wall 3, a base 4, a front wall 5 and a portions 6 to 10 forming the internal support in which the vials are housed. The support portion of is preferably located on the opposite side, i.e. the opposite extremity of the blank with respect to the lid portion 1 -2. The support portion comprises two sections 6 and 10 to be glued on the front wall 5, two sections 7 and 9 equipped with lodging holes (F7) and retention and engagement holes (F9) for the vials, and an intermediary section 8 placed as a bridge between the two perforated sections. In the preferential embodiment shown, the sections 6-10 of the portions for lodging and supporting the viais are arranged each with its own major axis A-A substantially perpendicular to the major axis B-B of the primary structure of the blank. As shown above, a characteristic of the invention is that the holes F9 of section 9 are smaller than the holes F7 of section 7; in particular, the holes F9 are of the same dimensions as the neck of the articles that they contain, and retain them in a protected position inside thebox, keeping them from being damaged in the case of the box falling or being bumped. In the present description, independently of their disposition in the structure of the blank, reference number 9 always refers to the perforated section endowed with the retaining holes F9 engaging the necks of the articles and number 7 always refers to the perforated section endowed with the holes F7 housing the bodies of said articles. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, cross- shaped or different-shaped slits 9a, for instance as shown in tne Figures, are cut into the cardboard of the blank around said holes F9, that facilitate the introduction and the removal of the articles from the box. Advantageously, the slits 9a presents points of retention 21 , shown in Figure 7, that cooperate to immobilize the article, but give way easily in the moment of the removal of said article from the box. The points of retention 21 are positioned in such a way as to allow the introduction of the article into the support, allowing the passage of the head of the article through the holes F9 without giving way. The points of retention 21 give way instead to the passage of the body of the vial through said holes F9, facilitating their extraction from the box. In particular, according to a preferred embodiment, the holes F9 are surrounded by lines of weakening 20 cut along the perimeter of polygons circumscribing the retention holes F9; in particular Figure 7 shows squares circumscribing the holes F9, but other forms - for instance pentagons, hexagons, etc. -- could be provided. According to α particularly advantageous embodiment, the slits stretch up to the vertexes of said polygons; in this way the removal of the articles from the box is easier, they may be extracted by gripping them from the bottom of the body or from the head. In the latter case, during the extraction of the article, the body of the article passes through the passage delimited by the sides of the aforementioned polygons, opening the slit sections around the holes in the direction of the extraction; the blank bends in correspondence of the lines of weakening 20, without breaking as often happens when using the slits alone. In this way, the support remains substantially intact and the retention of the remaining vials is not compromised. It is evident from the above that the polygons must have such dimensions as to allow the passage of the body of the article at the moment of its extraction from the box. In the case shown, the side L of the square is equal or greater than the diameter of the vial. This solution is particularly suited to the embodiment in which the vials are extracted from the box head first (figg. 2, 8 and 8a). The perforated section 7 has the function of housing the bodies of the articles and is set at a distance from the section 9 defined by the dimensions of the intermediary section 8. The width of the holes F7 and F9 and the height of the intermediary section 8 can obviously vary and are selected on the basis of the dimensions of the article, even though the dimensions of the necks of vials or ampoules conventionally in use are very similar. According to a preferred embodiment, the height of section 8 is comprised between 40% and 75% of the length of the body of the article, more preferably between 50% and 70%, advantageously between 55% and 65%, for instance 60%. This particular dimension of the section 8 allows the blank of the invention to be used for more than one type of article, of different dimensions. The disposition of the holes F7 and F9 is advantageously chosen to ensure a reasonable guarantee against damage; the distance between the articles positioned inside and the walls and cover of the box is preferable at least some millimeters, preferably greater than 3 mm, advantageously 5-6 mm. Furthermore, the distance between two adjacent vials is preferably around 4-5 mm, so that even in the case of the box being bumped, the articles do not come into contact. In other words, given Lf the length of the vial and h the height of the structure that, as visible in figure 3, corresponds to the height of section 5 of the blank, then h = Lf + (3mm x 2). This is reflected in the height of section 6 that must be at least equal to the length of the projecting portion of vial plus the 5-6 mm indicated above; according to a preferential embodiment, the height of section 6 is equal to 80% - 1 10% of the height of the section 8. The holes F7 and F9 could be disposed along parallel lines, where necessary staggered or distributed in a different way, according to the ornamental and/or functional requirements, on the basis of Xe shape and size of the articles. With reference to Figure l a, the blank shown is very similar to that of Figure 1 in which however the disposition of the sections 7 and 9 is reversed; according to this technical solution, the vials will be arranged in the box obtained from folding the blank with their heads toward the flap 2, i.e. toward the opening of the box, contrary to the result obtained by folding the blank of Figure 1 , in which the vials are in the upside-down position. The internal support S endowed with the aforementioned holes can be used for any type of blank to manufacture boxes containing vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles. Beyond the primary structure shown, the blank of the invention also comprises a secondary structure; the sections of the blank constituting such structure could be of varying shape. The secondary structure, connected to the primary structure, forms the side walls of the box and comprises at least one folding portion engaging with the support S, constituted preferably by a flap interlocking with or glued to the internal support S. Figures 1 and l a show a secondary structure that comprises portions 12 and 13 of the blank that compose the sides walls and the flap 1 1 that is folded back at the moment of closing. Section 14, indicated by a broken line, corresponds to a flap which is folded and engaged with the internal support S, that is used to glue the sides walls as is clearly visible in fig. 3 and will be described below. With reference to Figure 5, the blank of the invention comprises the primary structure of Figure 1 but a different secondary structure having the sections 13a and 12a and the flap 1 1 a. According to both the solutions, the blank is treated as follows: the blank is folded along the line between sections 5 and 6 and section 6 is glued internally to the front wall 5 in correspondence of the zone of application of glue indicated schematically by 15. In the same operation, sections 9 and 10 are also folded back along the fold line between sections 8 and 9 to bring them under sections 8 and 9, between these and section 5. Section 10 is glued in correspondence of the zone of application of the glue 16 on the wall 5, so that the support S for lodging the vials is fixed to the body of the blank. Afterwards, as shown in fig. 3, the support portion S is erected, i.e. opened out, and the fins 14 where present are glued to the sides walls 13 or 13a; the support S remains accordingly in the open position. Other than by means of the fins 14, the support can also be maintained in open position by means of interlocking fins 23 (figg. 8 and 8a); if necessary, during packaging a temporary blocker or mechanical support present on the packing machine, and indicated schematically by reference number 1 7, will be used. In this way, the support S for lodging the articles 18 is held open and can be filled according to conventional techniques while the rest of the blank is still in flat position, with the parts destined to form the walls and the base of the box still completely extended. If necessary, a leaflet or an illustrative brochure can be inserted at this point before further folding of the blank. When this phase is finished, the remaining blank is folded around the structure formed by the vial lodging support portion. In particular, the tabs 19 are folded and glued to section 4 , which will form the base of the box according to the invention. It should be noted that this box lacks an opening in correspondence of the base, this being formed by section 4 that is of one piece with the rest of the box body. At this point, section 3 is superimposed to section 8 and, in the solution provided in Figure 1 , sections 12 are glued to sections 13, while in the solution provided in Figure 2, sections 12a are glued to the back wall 3. The box so formed and filled, shown in fig. 4, can now be closed by folding the tabs 1 1 or 1 l a and the flap 2 in sequence, finally inserting tab 1 into the box body to close it. Figures 8 and 8a show an alternative technical solution to the use of the fins 14. According to this particular embodiment of the invention, the fins 23 are cut into the sides fins 13, folded along predefined lines and inserted to lock into the internal support S, as indicated schematically by the outline lines 24, to maintain the support S erect and square during the phase of filling the box in the packaging procedure. Such predefined lines of folding are for instance fold-lines 25 or semi-cut or perforated lines. Subsequently, the fins 12 are glued onto the fins 13 similarly to the aforementioned for the preceding figures. Figure 8b shows an embodiment for manual or semiautomatic packaging, in which the support S is kept square by an additional flap 13b comprising a tab 13c with related fold-lines, a cutout 13d corresponding to the fold-line between flap and tab and a tongue 13e that sticks out into the cutout 13d and, with the support erect and flap 13 folded back, corresponds to and engages in a slot 13f cut into section 8. The procedure provides therefore for folding, gluing and erecting the support S as in the other embodiments and keeping it square with the tongues 13e inserted into the slots 13f. After the vials have been inserted, the fins 19 are glued to section 4 and the box closed in the way described above. Other fins or optional tabs could be present on the secondary structure when it is desired, for example, to strengthen any parts of the box by means of a double thickness of the blank. The blank of the invention can be easily filled due to the interlocking and/or glued fins that maintain the internal support S in erect position; furthermore, the open blank with the internal support erect could be filled equally from either of the two directions, since the remaining part of the box stays completely open and extended. The blank of the invention is made of the conventional material for packaging such articles, for instance in cardboard and can be printed as desired before proceeding to its assembly. The boxes of the invention are particularly suited for, but not exclusively destined to, the packaging of pharmaceutical products, such as injectable fluids, vitamin mixtures, fermentation products etc., or vegetable extracts such as, for instance, homeopathic products. According to another embodiment, the invention relates to a box as described in the Claims from 12 to 13. According to a further embodiment, the invention has relates to a procedure for the packaging of articles starting from a blank according to the invention as described in the Claims from 14 to 1 7. The procedure of the invention allows the boxes to be filled with the articles before said boxes are folded and partially glued, i.e. working with the blank extended. The procedure of the invention therefore allows the stages necessary to the packaging to be reduced and thus reduces the costs of production accordingly. According to another embodiment, the invention relates to a structure for lodging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles as described in the Claims 18 and 19. In particular, the invention also relates to a structure for lodging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles endowed with a body, a neck and a head, that comprises at least one first section endowed with a first plurality of lodging holes for the articles and at least one second section endowed with at least one second plurality of holes characterized by the holes of one of the two sections having such dimensions as to retain said articles in correspondence of their neck and by presenting slits or equivalent means for temporarily and reversibly increasing their dimensions. Figures 9, 10 and 1 1 show a blank that presents some sections already described in the preceding figures but that lacks sections providing for the closure of the box. In particular, the blank of the structure presents the sections necessary for the formation of three side walls only and of the internal support S, the structure being deprived of base and of upper wall (or lid flap) necessary for the formation of the box. Additionally, there are larger fins 22 instead of the fins 14, of the same dimensions in general as the fins 13 and glued to the latter. Alternatively, the structure could provide for a blocking system of the internal support S similar to that shown in figure 8 and discussed above. The blank for the structure described above is folded similarly to the preceding blank to give the structure shown in Figures 9 and 10. Such structures could be easily aligned inside a box of large dimensions, for instance in hospital-type medicine packs where the number of dosing units of the medicine is higher than that for sale in pharmacies. According to another embodiment, the invention relates finally to a blank for the preparation of the aforementioned structures as described in Claim 20.

Claims: CLAIMS 1 . Blank in one piece for folding boxes characterized by comprising: a lid portion of the box; a folding portion which can be erected to form an internal support (S) to house vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles endowed 2. with a body, a neck and a head, said portion of support comprising at least one first section (7) endowed with a plurality of lodging holes (F7) to house the body of said articles and at least one second section (9) endowed with a plurality of retaining holes (F9) having such dimensions as to retain said articles in correspondence of their necks; means (9a) for temporarily and reversibly increasing the dimensions of the said holes, disposed on said blank around said retaining holes (F9); at least one folding portion of blank (14; 13,23) engaging with said internal support (S) to maintain it erect and square. 2. Blank according to Claim 1 , characterized by said at least one folding and engaging portion being constituted by a flap interlocking with and/or glued to said internal support (S). 3. Blank according to Claims 1 or 2, characterized by the perforated sections resulting sufficiently spaced from the base (4) and from the tab (2) after the erection of the support to maintain the extremities of said articles sufficiently distanced from said base (4) and said tab (2). 4. Blank according to any of the preceding Claims, characterized by said retaining holes being equipped with a plurality of slits and being surrounded by lines of weakening (20) defined by polygons circumscribing said holes. 5. Blank according to any of the preceding Claims, characterized by said slits presenting points of retention (21 ). 6. Blank according to an any of the preceding Claims, characterized by said lid portion of the box and said folding portion forming an internal support (S) being arranged on opposite sides of the blank. 7. Blank according to the preceeding Claim, characterized by comprising a primary structure composed of adjacent sections forming in sequence the lid portion (1 -2), the back wall (3), the base (4), the front wall (5) and the portions (6-10) forming said internal support (S) of the box and a secondary variable structure composed of sections, disposed sideways with respect to the primary structure, forming the two side walls of the box. 8. Blank according to the preceding Claim, characterized by the portion forming said internal support (S) comprising two sections (6) and (10) which are glued to the front wall (5), two sections (7) and (9) equipped with holes and an intermediary section (8). 9. Blank according to Claims 7 or 8, characterized by the secondary structure comprising the sides walls (12) and (13) and a flap ( 1 1 ) . 10. Blank according to the Claim 8 or 9, characterized by intermediary section (8) being endowed with fins (14) suitable for being glued to the sides walls (13; 13a) . 1 1 . Blank according to the preceding Claims, characterized by the fins (13) being equipped with folding fins (23) which interlock with the internal support (S). 12. Box obtained from the blank of Claims from 1 to 1 1 . 13. Box according to Claim 12 for vials, ampoules or miniature bottles in glass. 14. Process for packaging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles starting from a blank according to Claims from 1 to 1 1 in open position, characterized by: α) folding and gluing the internal support (S), b) engaging a flap of the blank with said internal support (S) to keep it erected, c) inserting the articles in spaces in the internal support (S), d) folding and gluing the remaining sections of the blank to form the box. 15. Process according to the Claim 14, characterized by a) folding and gluing sections (6) and (10) to the front wall (5), b) maintaining the internal support (S) erected by gluing by means of two points of glue between the fins (14) and the sides walls (13) or (13a) or alternatively by means of the insertion of the openings (23) suitably folded, c) insert the articles in the spaces in the internal support (S), d) folding the primary structure of the blank and gluing the sides walls (12) and (13) or alternatively accessory section (12a) onto the back wall (3). 16. Procedure according to Claims 14 or 15, characterized by a leaflet or an illustrative brochure being inserted before phase d). 17. Process according to Claims from 14 to 1 6, characterized by the internal support (S) being engaged by a temporary mechanical support in phase b). 18. Structure for lodging vials, ampoules, miniature bottles or similar articles endowed with a body, a neck and a head, that comprises at least a first section (7) endowed with one first plurality of holes (F7) for lodging of the articles and at least one second section (9) endowed with a second plurality of holes (F9) characterized by the holes of one of the two sections having such dimensions as to retain said articles in correspondence of their necks, presenting means for temporarily and reversibly increasing their dimensions and being surrounded by lines of weakening (20) defined by circumscribed polygons. 19. Lodging structure according to Claims 18 and 19, characterized by presenting the sections necessary to the formation of three side walls and the internal support (S) and being deprived of the base and upper wall. 20. Blank in one piece for the structures of the Claims from 18 to 20.

Inventors: BELLOLI GIANPAOLO, DE FIORI GIACINTO, RESTA ALESSANDRO, BELLOLI, GIANPAOLO, DE FIORI, GIACINTO, RESTA, ALESSANDRO
Applicants: BELLOLI GIANPAOLO, EIKON GRAFICHE SRL, FIORI GIACINTO DE, INGENIUS SRL, RESTA ALESSANDRO, BELLOLI, GIANPAOLO, DE FIORI, GIACINTO, GRAFICHE EIKON S.R.L., INGENIUS S.R.L., RESTA, ALESSANDRO
Application year: 2000
Main classification: B65D5
IPC codes: B31B3, B31B11, B65B21