Patent Publication Number: US-6213298-B1

Title: Shoe box with internal display and flip tag

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to cartons for packaging footwear, particularly boxes that contain and display athletic shoes. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Footware can be designed to provide a variety of stylistic and functional benefits. In order to inform the prospective purchaser and draw attention to these features, it is desirable to effectively impart information about them at point of purchase. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,779 to Densen discloses a container having side walls that are formed from a panel having a central fold line and having the top portion folded over to form the interior of the side wall. The interior of the side walls, along with the interior of the bottom and end walls, have indicia. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,831 to Bagdis et al. discloses a magnetic disk package having instructions and other indicia written on the interior sides of the end walls. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,631 to Hackenberg discloses a container having side walls made from an outer wall and inner wall. The outer wall is removed by the end user. The inner walls have a decorative surface. 
     Others have attempted to incorporate tags in containers. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 1,860,309 to Davidson discloses a container that has a tag connected along a fold line to side wall. The panel is folded inside the box and covered by lid. After the container is opened, the panel is put in an upright position for display. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,721 to Hompe discloses a carton having a panel having advertising written on the interior. After the carton is opened, the panel is opened to display the advertising. 
     Therefore it is desirable to provide a blank carton specifically adapted for shoe packaging that incorporates a display for viewing when the shoe box is fully-constructed, while minimizing the amount of blank needed to form the remainder of the un-printed box. 
     It is further desirable to provide a shoe box with a decorative tag that can be activated when the box is open to enhance the attractiveness of the display and identify the product. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to the subject invention, a shoe box is provided having a bottom, a front, a back and lateral sides, the box having an open top wherein the front and lateral sides have partial internal flaps folded over their top edges forming an internal border. The back side has an internal panel that is folded over, presenting a display with printed product information. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, a shoe box is provided having a bottom, a front, a back and lateral sides, the box having an open top wherein the front has in internal surface on which a figurine with an outwardly facing display is secured, the figurine being folded downwardly and inwardly when in a stowed position and upwardly and outwardly when in a displayed position visible to a prospective purchaser. 
     An advantage of the present invention is that a shoe box is provided that avails itself of a strategic area of the internal product display surface that is most visible to a purchaser, while minimizing the need for internal printing and material usage for the remainder of the box. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that a pop-up display tag is provided that identifies the product and attracts attention of a purchaser from a most visible location. 
     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art, by a careful examination of the following Specification, Claims and Drawings wherein reference numerals correspond to like descriptions in the Specification. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an opened blank used to form a shoe box of the present invention, shown prior to construction; 
     FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a shoe box of the present invention, fully-constructed from the carton blank of FIG. 1, showing the internal rear panel having product indicia displayed for a prospective purchaser; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross section taken at lines  3 — 3  of FIG. 2, through the major folded over rear panel; 
     FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of a shoe box with a flip tag of the present invention, shown in a “DOWN” position; 
     FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the shoe box of FIG. 4, with the flip tag shown in an “UP” position for outward display to a prospective purchaser; and 
     FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along lines  6 — 6  of FIG.  5 . 
     Those skilled in the art will more fully appreciate the above FIGS. 1-6 by a careful reading of the following Detailed Description of one or more preferred embodiments, to which the same pertain. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     According to the present invention, a carton blank and shoe box fully-constructed therefrom are generally shown at  10 , in FIGS. 1-6. More specifically and for purposes of illustration, FIG. 2 generally shows a display with product information and FIGS. 4-5 show a pop-up display figurine that emerges when the top (not shown) of the box  10  is removed. In each embodiment, the display is hidden during storage or shipping of the product, then visible to a prospective purchaser when the packaging is opened for retail display. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the present invention could take the form of packaging used for a sports shoe or other footwear. 
     Further according to the subject invention, as shown in FIG. 1, blank  10  has a bottom  12 , a front  14 , a back  16  and lateral sides  18  formed from a unitary carton material. The sides  18  each have major  20  and minor  22  adhesion flaps that are folded inwardly and adhered against corresponding surfaces of the front  14  and back  16  of blank  10 , respectively, as shown box  10  as fully-constructed in FIGS. 2-3. Front  14  and lateral sides  18  each have partial top flaps  24  that fold over inwardly and are adhered onto internal surfaces  26 ,  27  of the front and sides, respectively. Back  16  has a panel  28  that folds inwardly over onto an inner surface  30  thereof and a lower flap  32  that is folded inwardly and adhered to bottom  12 , as shown in FIGS. 2-3. As shown in FIG. 2, the inwardly facing surface of panel displays product indicia of the type shown, to prospective or new purchasers. Moreover, the display presented by panel  28  is visible to purchasers from the viewpoint of the front of box  10 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 4-6, box  10  is fully-constructed in the manner described above in relation to FIGS. 1-3. A flip-tag in the form of figurine, generally indicated at  34 , has a base  36  adhered or otherwise secured to the front flap  24  presenting a display side  38  facing outwardly toward the purchaser when figurine is folded upwardly and outwardly from a stowed (FIG. 4) to a displayed (FIG. 5) position. The various stowed and displayed positions are further shown in phantom (stowed) in FIG.  6 . 
     The flip-tag  34  and internal back display panel  28  may be employed as product indicia, either alone or separately in box  10 . 
     Obviously, other substitutions, modifications and alterations of the embodiments presented herein are made apparent to those skilled in art, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus, the description contained in this Specification is intended by way of example rather than limitation vis-a-vis the appended Claims.