CARTON AND CARTON BLANK

Abstract: A wraparound carton and a blank for forming a wraparound carton for holding one or more articles (A) comprising a plurality of wall panels for forming a top wall (20), opposed side walls (14, 22) and a base wall (12, 28). There further comprises an article retaining tab (53, 144) defined at least in part by a tear line (45, 49; 146, 148; 246) formed at least in part in one of the wall panels so as to enable the carton to become adaptable for articles of different sizes.

Description: CARTONAND CARTONBLANK Background of the Invention The invention relates to a carton and a blank for forming a carton for packaging one or more articles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wraparound carton that is adapted to receive articles with different diameters. It is well known to use wraparound cartons having a top receiving aperture and a top tab defining a part of the top of the receiving aperture. For example, in US 4 215 781 the top tab is formed in part of the carton top wall. The top tab has opposed side edges defined by a pair of slits extending from the aperture 29 into the top wall. Similar slits are shown in US 3 429 496 and FR 2 488 857. The top tabs are designed to extend outwardly beyond the top of the bottles contained therein so as to protect the articles. A problem associated with the prior art is that articles of the same design will inevitably have varying diameters due to the low tolerances in the formation of the primary article. With known wraparound cartons, those bottles having the largest diameter variation make it very difficult to lock the pack and/or the pack will tear at weak points in the carton resulting in a loss of rigidity or even the pack tearing open, which is undesirable. Accordingly, the present invention seeks to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of the prior art by providing a wraparound carton that absorbs the differences of diameters in the same bottle. Summary of the Invention One aspect of the invention provides a carton for holding one or more articles comprising a plurality of wall panels for forming a top wall, opposed side walls and a base wall, there further comprising an article retaining tab defined at least in part by a tear line formed at least in part in one of the wall panels so as to enable the carton to become adaptable for articles of different sizes. One advantage of employing a tear line is that it will tear for those articles that are larger, thereby absorbing the difference in size of the article. The retaining tabs also introduce a degree of flexibility in the wall panels. Preferably, the article retaining tab may be further defined by a second tear line formed at least in part in the one wall panel to define an opposing edge of the article retaining tab. According to an optional feature of this aspect of the invention the or each tear line may include one or more nick connecting portions to improve the rigidity of the article retaining tab. In one embodiment, the tear line may be inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "U" shaped. Alternatively, the tear line may inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "C" shaped. According to another optional feature of this aspect of the invention the article retaining tab may be formed in the top wall defining at least in part a top receiving aperture wherein the retaining tab is adapted to abut the top of an article held in the carton. Preferably, a second article retaining tab maybe formed in one of the side walls defining at least a part of an article support structure for the lower portion of an article held in the carton. According to a further optional feature of this aspect of the invention the article retaining tab may be formed in one of the side walls defining at least a part of an article support structure for the lower portion of an article held in the carton. A second aspect of the invention provides a blank for forming a carton for holding a plurality of articles comprising a plurality of wall panels for forming a top wall, opposed side walls and a base wall. The blank includes an article retaining tab defined at least in part by a tear line formed at least in part in one of the wall panels so as to enable the carton to become adaptable for articles of different sizes. Preferably, the article retaining tab may be further defined by a second tear line formed at least in part in the one wall panel to define an opposing edge of the article retaining tab. According to an optional feature of the second aspect of the invention the or each tear line may include a nick connecting portion to improve the rigidity of the top or side wall. In one embodiment, the tear line may be inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "U" shaped. Alternatively, the tear line may be inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "C" shaped. According to another optional feature of the second aspect of the invention the article retaining tab may be formed in the top wall defining at least in part a top receiving aperture. According to a further optional feature of the second aspect of the invention the article retaining tab may be formed in the side wall defining at least in part a part of an article support structure comprising a pair of article retention flaps struck from the opposing edges of an article receiving aperture. Brief Description of the Drawings Exemplary embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - FIGURE 1 is a blank for forming a carton according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIGURE 2 is a wraparound carton formed from the blank of Figure 1 ; FIGURES 3 and 4 illustrate one embodiment of the retaining tab of an upper article retaining structure; FIGURE 5 is an embodiment of the retaining tab applied to the article support structure; FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate a second embodiment of retaining tab for the upper article retaining structure. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to the drawings, and in particular Figure 1, there is shown a blank for forming a carton, for example a wraparound carton, made from paperboard or similar foldable sheet material. Although in this embodiment there is illustrated a single part blank, it is envisaged that the carton can be formed from two or more blanks without departing from the scope of invention. The invention can be applied to different carton types for example basket carrier or end loaded carton, where it is required to package one or more articles with varying tolerances. The first embodiment of the invention is applied to the blank 10 of Figure 1. The blank 10 comprises a plurality of panels for forming the wraparound carton. In this embodiment, there comprises in series, first base panel 12, a side wall panel 14, a top panel 20, a second side wall panel 22 and a second base panel 28 hingedly connected together in series along fold lines 30, 32, 34 and 36. Each side wall panel 14, 22 may comprise upper and lower parts, so that the first side wall panel 14 comprises lower side panel 16 hingedly connected to an upper side panel 18 along fold line 38. Likewise, second side wall panel 22 comprises an upper side panel 24 hingedly connected to a lower side panel 26 along fold line 40. Base wall may include an intermediate panel 42 hingedly connected to side wall panel 14 along interrupted fold line 30 and to base panel 12 along fold line 44. The intermediate panel 42 is interrupted by article support means 46. In this embodiment, the article support means 46 is described in more detail by reference to Figure 5. Article support means 46 comprises a first flap 48. First flap 48 may comprise upper and lower flap portions 50, 52. Upper portion 50 is hinged to intermediate panel 42 along fold line 56. Lower portion 52 is hinged to base panel 12 along fold line 54 and to upper portion along fold line 58. First flap 48 is struck from intermediate panel 42 and base panel 12 by an upper cut line 60, central cut line 62 and bottom cut line 64 and is pivotal about hinged connections 54, 56. Cut line 60 is preferably arcuate. Similarly, a complementary second flap 65 is provided which comprises upper and lower flap portions 66, 68 respectively. In this embodiment of the invention, second flap 65 is a mirror image of first flap 48 along a plane through cut line 62. Therefore, the second flap 65 is not described in any greater detail. Of course, they need not necessarily be mirror images, and indeed only one flap might be provided in a given article and support separation means. Also it is envisaged that where two flaps are provided, they need not abut along cut line 62 and, indeed a significant gap could be provided between the flaps, for example. In use an article receiving aperture 55 is defined in part by the flaps 48 and 65. It is envisaged that the article support means could be dispensed with without departing from the scope of invention. In such an embodiment, it would be preferable to include an aperture struck from one or more of the side wall panel, intermediate panel or base wall panel. Although an aperture is not essential for the invention. In one class of embodiments, there further comprises one or more tear lines 45, 49 extending from an edge of aperture 55 into lower side panel 16. In the embodiment illustrated, the tear lines 45, 49 define a retaining tab 53 that, in use, is adapted to flex thereby to provide support for an article held in the article support means. The tab 53 is substantially "U" shaped, although it could be "C" shaped. Alternatively, the retaining tab could be defined by a single tear line, without departing from the scope of invention. The tear line(s) 45, 49 may be provided with a plurality of nick connecting portions 47, 51, used to improve the solidity of the retaining tab 53 with respect to the lower side panel 16. The operation of the retaining tab 53 will be described in more detail below. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, there are three article support means provided with a pair of flaps 48, 65; 67, 69; 70, 72 struck from the intermediate panel 42 and base panel 12 to receive three articles A (Figure 2). Each pair of flaps 67, 69; 70, 72 is preferably in alignment, as shown in Figure 2. Likewise, on the other side of the carton C illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, there is a second intermediate panel 74 connected to lower side panel 26 along interrupted fold line 36 and to a second base panel 28 along fold line 76. The intermediate panel 74 is interrupted by article support means being substantially the same as the article support means 46 formed from panels 42 and 12, illustrated in Figure 5, described above, and is therefore not described in any greater detail. Thus, three pairs of flaps 78, 80, 82 are struck from the intermediate panel 74 and base panel 28 to receive three articles A. The position of each pair of flaps is, in this embodiment, aligned with each article support means of the corresponding panels 42 and 12. Optionally, three apertures 84 are struck from base panel 12, each aperture extending from the lower edges of respective ones of pairs of flaps 48, 65; 67, 69; 70, 72. Likewise, three apertures 86 are struck from base panel 28, each aperture extending from the lower edges of respective ones of pairs of flaps 78, 80, and 82. In use, these apertures 84, 86 are used by a mechanism in packaging machinery to pull the base panels of the carton around the articles. Securing means is provided to secure inner and outer base panels 12, 28 together. For example, glue may be used, although preferably, one or more retaining tabs 88, 90 are struck from base panel 12 and complementary pairs of locking tabs 92, 94 are struck from second base panel 28. In this embodiment, the locking tabs 94 and retaining tabs 90 are able to lock in different positions, depending upon the size of the articles. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that other methods of interlocking the base panels together during construction can be adopted and the invention is not limited to locking tabs illustrated in the embodiments. Turning to the top part of the carton, there may further comprise opposing end wall panels 96, 98 hingedly connected to top panel 20 along fold lines 100 and 102 respectively. In order to assist in forming the end wall panels 96 and 98, they may each be connected to opposing upper side panels 18 and 24 respectively. More preferably, gusset panels 104 and 106 hingedly interconnect end wall panel 96 to the respective upper side panel 18 and 24 along fold lines 108, 110; and 112, 114 respectively. Likewise, end wall panel 98 is provided with an arrangement of gusset panels that is the same as end wall panel 96 so like reference numerals have been used with the addition of the letter "a". In use, the end wall panels prevent the articles from being inadvertently removed from the open ends of the carton. The top panel 20 may further comprise handle means, which is provided, in this embodiment, by a pair of opposed finger apertures struck from top panel 20. The apertures are preferably provided with cushioning tabs 116, 118 hingedly interconnected to the top panel 20 as is well known. It is envisaged that in other classes of embodiment other known hand or finger engaging means may be provided to facilitate lifting of the carton by an end user. In order to retain an upper part T of the article, top retaining aperture 150 is provided which will now be described in greater detail, by reference to Figures 1, 3 and 4. Along an upper edge of the article retaining aperture 150 there may further comprise a retaining tab 144 which is formed in part by one or more tear lines 146, 148. In this embodiment there are two tear lines 146, 148 extending from an edge 142 of aperture 150 into top panel 20. The tear lines define a retaining tab 144 that, in use, is adapted to flex thereby to provide support for the top of an article in the article receiving aperture 150. The tab 144 is substantially "C" shaped, although it could be another shape, for example "U" shape. The tear lines 146, 148 may be provided with a plurality of nick connecting portions 147, 149, used to improve the rigidity of the retaining tab with respect to top wall panel 20. In the embodiments of Figures 1, 3 and 4, the top retaining aperture 150 is provided along opposing edges with upper retaining structure 120 comprising flaps 132, 138 that are hingedly connected to side wall panel 18 along fold lines 134 and 144 respectively. In this embodiment, fold lines 134 and 140 are shaped to be a shallow curve. The flaps 132 and 138 may abut and are separated by cut line 136. It will be seen from Figure 3 that retaining tab 144 is separated from flaps 132 and 138 by a cut line 142. Of course, in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1, the retaining tabs are spaced from flaps 132, 138 by aperture 150 and the blank 10 comprises six upper retaining structures 120, 122, 124, 126, 128 and 130. An alternative embodiment of retaining tab is shown in Figures 6 and 7, where like parts have been designated by the same reference numeral with the prefix "2" and only the differences are discussed in any greater detail. It will be seen that retaining tab 244 is defined by a single tear line 246, which is preferably curved. The retaining tab 244 is spaced from the flaps 232, 238 by aperture 250. Turning to the construction of the completed carton, illustrated in Figure 2, the blank 10 requires a series of sequential folding and securing operations which can be performed in a straight line machine so that the carton is not required to be rotated or inverted to complete its construction. The folding process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing requirements. The first step is for articles A, for example bottles, to be grouped together in an array. In this embodiment, there comprises six bottles arranged in two rows of three bottles each, although other arrays are envisaged. The blank is introduced to the bottles, by relative vertical movement between the bottles and the blank during forward feed movement as is well known in the art by which the bottles enter their respective apertures 150 of the upper article retaining structures wherein the bottle tops T come into abutment with the top panel 20. In those embodiments with flaps 132, 138, they are folded out of alignment with their adjacent upper side panel 18, 24 along fold lines 134, 140, so that the top T of the article protrudes therethrough, as shown in Figure 2. The side panels 14 and 22 are folded inwardly along fold lines 32 and 34 respectively into an angular relationship with top panel 20 such that upper side panels 18 and 24 taper downwardly and outwardly from top panel 20. Thereafter the end wall panels 96, 98 are formed whereby end wall panels 96, 98 are folded inwardly along fold lines 100, 102 and gusset panels 104, 106; 104a, 106a are folded along fold lines 110, 108; 112, 114 to form a face contacting arrangement with the respective ones of the upper side panels 18, 24. Thus, the end wall panels 96, 98 are in substantially perpendicular arrangement with top panel 20. Optionally, glue may be applied to the face of the gusset panels 104, 106 in contact with the upper side panels 18, 24 to hold the end wall panels 96, 98 in place. The article retaining means 46 is then formed by folding each pair of flaps 48, 65 inwardly along fold lines 54 and 56 respectively and the base panels 12, 28 and intermediate panels 42, 74 out of alignment with side wall panels 14 and 22 respectively such that the flaps 48, 65 are brought into contact with the articles A such that the article protrudes through the aperture 55 formed by the article retaining means and is held in position by the tabs 48, 65 of the retaining means, as shown in Figure 2. Base panels 12 and 28 are brought into overlapping relationship and connected together by locking tabs 92, 94 and corresponding retaining tabs 88, 90 as is well known. If the articles A are a smaller dimension then when the base panels 12, 28 are secured together, they will be pulled tighter around the bottles A which will in turn pull the side wall panels 14, 22 in a downward direction. In those embodiments with retaining tabs 144, the tabs 144 will be moved out of alignment with top panel 20 for those articles that are larger in size or diameter by tearing along the tear lines 146, 148. Similarly, in those embodiments with lower retaining tabs 53, they may be torn along tear lines 45, 49 thereby to allow the retaining tabs 53, 144 to be flexed for those embodiments with larger sized articles in the retaining structure.. By providing locking and engaging tabs 94, 90 that can lock in different positions and retaining tabs 48, the result is the tubular structure thereby formed can vary in size of cross- sectional area. Therefore, for articles of a smaller dimension, the tubular structure is reduced cross-sectional area to maintain a tight pack. Of course, for those bottles with a larger diameter, the tubular structure of the present invention would be formed with a larger cross- sectional area. Thus, the pack is provided which can flex if the size of article varies, without destroying its integrity. It is an advantage of the present invention to apply it to known wraparound cartons for the same designed bottles but with varying diameters. Accordingly, it is envisaged that the retaining tabs and tear lines can be applied to a range of known cartons, where it is likely that the article diameter will vary. Furthermore, it is envisaged that in some embodiments, the retaining tab need only be applied to the top of the carrier, or alternatively the lower retaining means, without departing from the scope of invention. It will be recognised that as used herein, directional references such as "top", "base", "end", "side", "upper" and "lower" do not limit the respective panels to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another. Any reference to hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only: indeed it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or more of one of the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line, without departing from the scope of invention. It should be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the present invention, for example, the size and shape of the panels and apertures may be adjusted to accommodate articles of differing size or shape, alternative top and base closure structures may be used. A single article receiving structure may be provided in some embodiments, and in other embodiments a linear array of additional apertures may be provided in each of the article receiving structures such that the carton may accommodate more than one article. Additional panel(s) may be provided between the main and transverse article receiving panels so as to form a curved interface there between.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A carton for holding one or more articles comprising a plurality of wall panels for forming a top wall, opposed side walls and a base wall, there further comprising an article retaining tab defined at least in part by a tear line formed at least in part in one of said wall panels so as to enable the carton to become adaptable for articles of different sizes. 2. A carton as claimed in claim 1 wherein the article-retaining tab is further defined by a second tear line formed at least in part in the one wall panel to define an opposing edge of the article-retaining tab. 3. A carton as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the or each tear line includes one or more nick connecting portions to improve the rigidity of the article retaining tab. 4. A carton as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the tear line is inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "U" shaped. 5. A carton as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the tear line is inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "C" shaped. 6. A carton as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the article retaining tab is formed in the top wall defining at least in part a top receiving aperture wherein the retaining tab is adapted to abut the top of an article held in the carton. 7. A carton as claimed in claim 6 wherein a second article retaining tab is formed in one of the side walls defining at least a part of an article support structure for the lower portion of an article held in the carton. 8. A carton as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the article retaining tab is formed in one of the side walls defining at least a part of an article support structure for the lower portion of an article held in the carton. 9. A blank for forming a carton for holding a plurality of articles comprising a plurality of wall panels for forming a top wall, opposed side walls and a base wall which carton includes an article retaining tab defined at least in part by a tear line formed at least in part in one of said wall panels so as to enable the carton to become adaptable for articles of different sizes. 10. A blank as claimed in claim 9 wherein the article retaining tab is further defined by a second tear line formed at least in part in the one wall panel to define an opposing edge of the article retaining tab. 11. A blank as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 wherein the or each tear line includes a nick connecting portion to improve the rigidity of the top or side wall. 12. A blank as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11 wherein the tear line is inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "U" shaped. 13. A blank as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11 wherein the tear line is inwardly arcuate to define the retaining tab that is substantially "C" shaped. 14. A blank as claimed in any of claims 9 to 13 wherein the article retaining tab is formed in the top wall defining at least in part a top receiving aperture. 15. A blank as claimed in any of claims 9 to 13 wherein the article retaining tab is formed in the side wall defining at least in part a part of an article support structure comprising a pair of article retention flaps struck from the opposing edges of an article receiving aperture.

Inventors: BLIN PATRICK, BLIN, PATRICK
Applicants: BLIN PATRICK, MEAD CORP, BLIN, PATRICK, THE MEAD CORPORATION
Application year: 2001
Main classification: B65D71
IPC codes: B65D5, B65D71