Abstract:
A prefabricated gift wrapper includes a tubular sleeve having opposite open ends through either of which a gift box is insertable, and independently movable end flaps for closing each open end to rapidly and conveniently wrap the box without excessive manual manipulations.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention generally relates to wrapping parallelepiped-shaped boxes that contain gifts or like merchandise.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Gift wrapping generally involves tearing a selected length of gift wrapping paper from a supply roll, and draping it around a box, typically after multiple cutting, shaping, folding and taping operations. These wrapping actions result in considerable inconvenience and time spent in attempting to create a neat, finished, decorative appearance for the wrapped box. Other than employing the professional services of people experienced in wrapping gifts, the art has proposed the use of preformed gift wrappings. U.S. Pat. No. 2,294,690 discloses a prewrapped box which has a wrapper secured thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,240 discloses a sleeve manufactured with reinforcing sheets and requiring separate taping operations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,025 discloses an envelope-type bag into which a box is inserted. U.S. Pat. No.  3 , 366 , 313  discloses a flat sheet which a user must wrap around a gift box. As advantageous as some of these preformed and non-preformed gift wrappings have been, there is still a need to minimize the amount of time and effort involved in gift wrapping, and to enable even people of limited wrapping skill to rapidly and conveniently wrap a box with a minimum of manipulations, and create a wrapped box of high aesthetic appearance.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a prefabricated gift wrapper that avoids the drawbacks described above.  
           [0006]    More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to rapidly and conveniently wrap a box with a minimum of manipulation and skill.  
           [0007]    Still another object of the present invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive wrapper which can be manufactured at minimum cost.  
         FEATURES OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    In keeping with the above objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a prefabricated wrapper for wrapping a parallelepiped-shaped box having two mutually parallel end walls spaced apart along a longitudinal direction, two mutually parallel side walls spaced apart along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and two mutually parallel top and bottom walls spaced apart along a vertical direction perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverse directions.  
           [0009]    In accordance with this invention, the wrapper includes a sleeve of sheet material and extending along the longitudinal direction between opposite open ends through either of which the box to be wrapped is insertable. The sleeve includes two mutually parallel top and bottom sleeve portions overlying and engaging the top and bottom walls of the box after insertion, two mutually parallel side sleeve portions overlying and engaging the side walls of the box after insertion, and two end flap systems overlying and engaging the end walls of the box after insertion. Each end flap system includes two independently movable top and bottom flaps foldably connected to the top and bottom sleeve portions respectively, and two independently movable side flaps foldably connected to the side sleeve portions respectively. The top, bottom and side flaps of each end flap system are folded into an overlapping relationship to close a respective open end of the sleeve.  
           [0010]    The wrapper further includes an adhesive on one of the flaps, for example, the bottom flap, of each system, for maintaining the overlapping relationship of each end flap system after folding. The adhesive is preferably protected by a protective strip peelably removable to expose the adhesive.  
           [0011]    In use, the box is inserted into either open end of the sleeve. Then, the side flaps of each system are folded over to overlie a respective end wall, and thereupon, the top and bottom flaps of each system are folded over the side flaps. The last flap to be folded is the one bearing the adhesive. Each flap is, as described above, independently foldable so that the movement of one flap does not cause concomitant joint movement of another flap. With a minimum of manipulation, the opposite ends of the sleeve are closed, and the box is neatly and professionally wrapped.  
           [0012]    The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a blank from which a gift wrapper according to this invention is fabricated;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 1 in a flattened state suitable for stacking;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 2 during insertion of a box to be wrapped; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a wrapped box. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    Reference numeral  10  generally identifies a wrapper for wrapping a box  12  (FIG. 3) that contains merchandise, for example, a gift. The wrapped box is shown in FIG. 4.  
         [0018]    Box  12  has a parallelepiped shape with two mutually parallel end walls  14 ,  16  spaced apart along a longitudinal direction, two mutually parallel side walls  18 ,  20  spaced apart along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and two mutually parallel top and bottom walls  22 ,  24  spaced apart along a vertical direction perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverse directions. Each wall of the box is generally planar and has a rectangular shape, which includes a square shape. As is conventional, the box includes a container for the gift and a removable cover or lid.  
         [0019]    The wrapper  12  is formed from a rectangular blank  26  depicted in FIG. 1 and constituted of a sheet material, preferably paper of thin, flexible stock (70 pound), which is plain or ornamented. Blank  26  is creased with longitudinal fold lines  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  in mutual parallelism, and with transverse fold lines  36 ,  38  in mutual parallelism. Fold lines  32 ,  34 ,  36 ,  38  form a side sleeve portion  48  which, as described below, will overlie and engage box side wall  18 . Fold lines  28 ,  30 ,  36 ,  38  form a side sleeve portion  50  which will overlie and engage box side wall  20 . Fold lines  30 ,  32 ,  36 ,  38  form bottom sleeve portion  54  which will overlie and engage box bottom wall  24 . Fold lines  28 ,  36 ,  38  bound a top wall portion  52   a  with an outer edge of the blank. Fold lines  34 ,  36 ,  38  bound a top wall portion  52   b  with an outer edge of the blank. The two top sleeve portions  52   a ,  52   b  partially overlap at regions  40 ,  42  and are adhered to each other, as shown in FIG. 4, to constitute a top sleeve portion that will overlie and engage box top wall  22 .  
         [0020]    The flat blank  26  is formed into a tubular sleeve by overlapping the regions  40 ,  42  and adhering them to each other. This is preferably done by the manufacturer with the sleeve in a flattened condition as shown in FIG. 2, which is also desirable for stacking and shipping purposes in the case where a quantity of such wrappers are to be shipped from the manufacturer to a retail store.  
         [0021]    The flattened sleeve is erected by a user to an erect condition as shown in FIG. 3 by lifting the top sleeve portions  52   a , b to directly overlie the bottom sleeve portion  54 . The erected sleeve has opposite open ends  56 ,  58  through either of which the box  12  is insertable. As shown, the box  12  is inserted into end  56  in the longitudinal direction of arrow A until the top sleeve portions  52   a , b overlie top box wall  22 , the bottom sleeve portion  54  overlies bottom box wall  24 , and the side sleeve portions  48 ,  50  overlie side walls  18 ,  20 . Preferably, the box is snugly received within the sleeve.  
         [0022]    In order to close the open ends  56 ,  58 , two end flap systems  60  are provided at opposite ends of the sleeve. Each system  60  includes two independently movable side flaps  62 ,  64  foldably connected to the side sleeve portions  48 ,  50  along transverse fold lines  36 ,  38  (see FIG. 1), and an independently movable bottom flap  66  foldably connected to the bottom sleeve portion  54 . Top flap portions  68   a ,  68   b  are foldably connected to the top sleeve portions  52   a ,  52   b , respectively. The top flap portions  68   a ,  68   b  together constitute an independently movable top flap  68  that is foldably connected to the top sleeve portion.  
         [0023]    As shown in FIG. 1, triangular sections are removed between adjacent flaps  68   a ,  64 ;  64 ,  66 ;  66 ,  62 ; and  62 ,  68   b  so that each flap is independently movable and foldable about their respective fold lines without causing concomitant joint simultaneous movement of another flap. In the preferred embodiment, angle x is about 89° and angle y is about 87°. Each flap  62 ,  64  has a trapezoidal shape. Each flap has longitudinal edges that are free, i.e., unconnected to adjacent flaps, to permit the independent flap movement.  
         [0024]    Once the box  12  is inserted, the side flaps  62 ,  64  of each system are folded inwardly in directions of arrows B toward each other to lie in a common plane overlying the respective box end wall  14 ,  16 . Thereupon, the top flap  68  is folded inwardly to overlie the side flaps. Before folding the bottom flap  66  to overlie the top flap  68 , adhesive layers  44  were applied over the bottom flaps  66  and were overlain with peel-off protective strips  46  (see FIG. 1). These strips are peelably removed to expose the adhesives  44  underneath. Now, the bottom flaps can be folded and pressed against the top flaps  68  to retain the flaps of each system in their overlapping relationships.  
         [0025]    It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, also may find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.  
         [0026]    It will be further understood that the terms “top” and “bottom” as used herein were used for purposes of convenience and that they could be interchanged. Thus, the seam formed by overlapping regions  40 ,  42  are preferably positioned on the underside of the wrapped box for aesthetic purposes, and not on the upper side of the box depicted in FIG. 4.  
         [0027]    While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a prefabricated gift wrapper, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.  
         [0028]    Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.