Abstract:
A blank capable of being formed into a carton to define a volume for receiving articles is provided. The carton includes a lid formed hingedly connected at a fold at one end and including a line of weakening to facilitate separation of the lid from the main body of the carton. The volume can accommodate introduction of ice or other substance with and/or between the articles and the lid can be hinged between open and closed positions.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/573,521, filed Feb. 9, 2007, which is the National Stage of International Application PCT/US2005/028050, filed on Aug. 5, 2005, which claims the benefit of Great Britain application serial no. GB 0417746.5, filed on Aug. 10, 2004, the contents of all documents hereby being incorporated by reference, in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to cartons having hinged lids. Such cartons are particularly but not exclusively suited for cans such as beverage cans, the opening lid enabling the cans to be removed and enabling ice to be easily inserted into the carton in the spaces between the cans. 
         [0003]    According to the present invention there is provided a carton comprising a main body defining therein a volume for receiving articles and a lid which is hingedly connected by means of a fold to the main body to selectively open and close the volume, a marginal portion of the lid adjacent a free edge opposite the fold being secured to the main body and a line of weakening being provided to facilitate separation of the remaining portion of the lid from the main body to enable the carton to be opened. 
         [0004]    The carton has substantially rectangular faces, comprising a base, a top, a front, a rear and oppositely disposed sides and also can have each side comprising a plurality of partial side panels secured relative to each other. In some embodiments the partial side panels at each side comprise base, top, front and rear partial side panels hingedly connected to the respective main panels. 
         [0005]    The lid can incorporate at least the forward part of the top panel of the carton and can have a partial front panel which extends downwardly from a front edge of the top panel. The partial front panel generally overlaps an upper area of the main front panel of the main body and providing the marginal portion, which is adhered to the main body. Conveniently a line of adhesive is provided across the carton between the front panel of the main body and the marginal portion of the partial front panel of the lid, the line of weakening being positioned just above the line of adhesive. 
         [0006]    The hinge lid between the lid and the main body can constitute the junction between the top and rear sides of the carton. In some embodiments the hinge fold incorporates weakening means to facilitate complete removal of the lid. 
         [0007]    In some arrangements, the lid incorporates upper parts of the sides of the carton, the upper parts being defined in the sides by further lines of weakening. With these embodiments, the further line of weakening can extend downwardly at an angle from the hinge fold between the lid and the main body and then substantially horizontally such that it is generally in alignment with the line of weakening in the partial front panel of the lid. Sections of the front and rear partial side panels can project above the further lines of weakening. 
         [0008]    Usually each of the upper parts incorporates the top portion of the top partial side panel, adjacent the hinge with the top panel and in addition each of the upper parts also incorporates an upper corner portion of the front partial side panel, spaced from the hinge with the front panel. 
         [0009]    The articles are cans arranged to sit with their bottom end on the base panel of the carton. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail. The description refers to the following drawings in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a view of the blank for producing a carton according to the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the assembled carton. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the  FIG. 2  carton being opened. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the  FIG. 3  carton fully opened. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the  FIG. 4  carton with all articles removed. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the  FIG. 4  carton with the lid fully removed. 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a view of an alternative blank for producing another carton according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    In  FIGS. 1 to 6 , a paperboard blank  10  for producing a carton  11  is shown. In use, the carton  11  contains in this example a number of beverage cans  12 . In the particular embodiment shown ten cans  12  are provided in two rows of five cans, but other numbers and arrangements can be accommodated by simple modification. 
         [0019]    The blank  10  comprises a main front panel  13 , a base  14 , a rear panel  15 , a top panel  16  and a partial front panel  17 , all hingedly connected together by a series of parallel folds  18 ,  19 ,  20  and  21 . Each of the panels  13  to  17  is hingedly connected at each end to a partial side panel  22  to  26  respectively. 
         [0020]    Across the main front panel  13  a glue line  27  is indicated such that when the panels  13  to  16  are folded into a rectangular sleeve, the partial front panel  17  overlaps the part of the main panel  13  remote from the fold  18  and a marginal portion  28  of the partial front panel  17  is secured to the glue line  27 . The marginal portion  28  of the partial panel  17  is defined from the remainder by means of a line of weakness  29 , such as perforations or aligned, spaced cuts. 
         [0021]    In each top partial side panel  25  a further line of weakening  30  is provided to define upper and lower portions  31 ,  32 , for example using perforations or aligned, spaced cuts. The line extends at an angle from the area of the fold  20  and then proceeds generally horizontally to the free edge. In addition, the topmost corner portion  33  of the front partial side panel  22  is defined by a further line of weakness  34 , such as perforations or aligned, spaced cuts, which line of weakness  34  is spaced from the hinge with the front panel  13 . 
         [0022]    After the main panels have been formed as a sleeve about the cans  12  (the sleeve can either be formed around the cans or the cans can be inserted into the formed sleeve), the partial side panels  22  to  26  can be folded in and secured relative to each other. This results in the fully enclosed, erected carton shown in  FIG. 2 . In order to gain access to the cans  12 , the marginal portion  28  of the partial front panel  17  is pulled from one end as indicated in  FIG. 3 . This causes the marginal portion  28  to separate along the line of weakening  29  and to overcome the adhesive connection of the glue line  27 . Once the marginal portion  28  is fully removed, the remainder of the partial front panel  17  together with the top panel  16  and the upper portions  31  of the partial side panels  25  can be hinged about the fold  20 , thus severing the further lines of weakness  30 ,  34 . The carton  10  effectively now has a lid  40  and a main body  50 , the lid  40  being openable and closable relative to the main body  50  by hinging about the fold  20  as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5  (in  FIG. 4  the cans have been omitted to show more clearly the internal construction of the carton  11 ). 
         [0023]    Once the carton  11  has been opened as shown in  FIG. 5 , cans  12  can be removed or ice can be added to the main body  50  of the carton, and thus to the spaces between the cans  12 , to cool the cans  12 . The lid  40  can then be closed again until a can  12  is to be removed or more ice added. The lid  40  can also be fully removed from the main body by tearing along the fold  20 , which may also incorporate weakening to facilitate complete removal. 
         [0024]    In the illustrated embodiment, the full height main front panel  13  and the remaining upper portions  35  of the front partial side panels  22  retain and support the front part of the lid  40  when it is closed after initial opening. Also it can be seen that upper sections  36 ,  37  of the front and rear partial side panels  22 ,  24  project above the top partial side panels  25  (which are folded and glued last during assembly) and these sections  36 ,  37  again support the sides of the lid  40  when it is closed after initial opening thus increasing pack integrity after initial opening. 
         [0025]    In the blank  60  shown in  FIG. 7 , many features are the same as those shown in the blank of  FIG. 1  and so they have been given similar reference. The principal differences are in the areas of the lines of weakening  29 ,  30  between the lid  40  and the main body  50 . The front line of weakening  29  in the blank  60  comprises a pair of parallel lines of weakening  61  which are provided above the adhesive joining the marginal portion  28  to the main front panel  13  and which define therebetween a paperboard zipper  62  of a generally known type. Similarly, parts of the side lines of weakening  30  are also constituted by spaced lines of weakening  66  to define side zippers  67 . These side zippers  67  could extend the full length of the lines of weakening  30  if desired. At one side of the front lid panel  17  and at one end of the zipper  62  is a detachable portion  63 . Ideally, the product bar-code is printed on the detachable portion  63  which can be torn off easily by virtue of the perforated line of weakening  64 . Once detached, the portion  63  can be handed to a cashier or checkout operator for scanning, thus avoiding the need to lift and handle a potentially heavy carton. Even after removal of the detachable portion  63 , a bar-code  65  or other data means remains on the front of the pack in case the portion  63  has been accidentally detached. 
         [0026]    The detachable portion  63  could be any shape or size and could be provided anywhere on the carton, not necessarily at one end of the front zipper  62 . The particular location described and shown is however suitable as it is a redundant piece of paperboard when the pack is opened and thus does not interfere with the future opening/closing of the lid. Ideally, the adhesive line  27  does not extend between the detachable portion  63  and the main front panel  13 . 
         [0027]    Although the hinge of the lid  40  is shown as coinciding with the fold  20  between the rear and top panels  15 ,  16 , it will be appreciated that the hinge could be moved to a crease formed at another suitable location on the carton  11 . In one example the hinge could be partway along the top panel  16  or even a short way down the rear panel  15 . Obviously suitable modifications would also need to be made to the further lines of weakening. Also, the carton itself need not be rectangular but other shapes could be envisaged.