Patent Publication Number: US-5836450-A

Title: Packaging device using membrane, platform, and aperture as a means of restraint

Description:
This application is a continuation-in-part Ser. No. 08/482,290, filed Jun. 7, 1995, now abandoned. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to improvements in packaging, more particularly to a packaging system wherein goods are secured into a container without contacting the exterior sides of the container thereby helping to prevent damage to the goods if the container is dropped. One of the objects of this invention is to provide an inexpensive method to safely package a large variety of items using identical packaging for items of different size and shape. A further object of this invention is to reduce the amount of waste products generated during packaging and shipping. A further object of this invention is to provide a packaging system that can be folded flat for storage prior to and after use. 
     This invention is a package assembly that is typically made up of three components: an outer carton, a load bearing platform positioned within that carton, and a membrane. The goods to be protected are placed within the membrane and the loose ends of the membrane are inserted through an aperture in the load bearing platform. The goods are suspended in the in the membrane in the carton. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Heretofore packaging of small articles for shipping had relied upon methods of filling the space around the cargo with filler materials such as excelsior, straw, STYROFOAM, STYROFOAM &#34;peanuts&#34;, popcorn etc. My unique invention forces the cargo to stay in place without filling the container with such eventual debris. This invention therefore also reduces financial and environmental costs of packaging, reduces weight for shipping and eliminates the cost of the need for disposal of the material normally used as filler. 
     Many U.S. patents have been granted for devices wherein goods are fastened with membranes, belts and filaments to inside and outside surfaces of display containers and holders of different types. 
     For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,030,996, to Lustig, describes a display apparatus wherein the cargo of bags of candy or peanuts is wedged into serrated perforations in a semi-rigid sheet of material that converts from being the face of a display into an exterior wall of a carton. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 539,554, to Smith, uses a simple holder fastened upon the outside wall of a container to display merchandise. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,565 describes a reinforcing band to fasten the cargo of the doll to the inside face of an exterior wall of a display box. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,702, to Viio, one or more straps are used with perforations or slots to fasten cargo of tools to an exterior face of a tool holder. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,535,229, to Paolantonio, uses a frangible cover of a display card of knives wherein the knives are held by elastic straps against the card while a sheet of the frangible material is also held against the card by the elastic. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,854 uses bailing strands to hold stored paper against a substantially rigid board member. 
     Speigel et al. (U.S. Pat No. 3,885,671 and 3,885,667) uses a heat shrunk tube to hold cargo to a display card. 
     Frowenfeld (U.S. Pat. No. 1,877,840) uses string to hold articles to display a card. 
     Dillon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,213, uses elastic members to hold articles to a support panel. 
     Wang in United Kingdom Patent Specification 377,948 uses press buttons to secure bands holding articles to a display card. Although these inventions may display or store articles well, none of them offer any protection to the articles if the invention is dropped with the articles on the impact side of the container. 
     There is a definite need for an inexpensive, simple packaging device which does not rely upon fillers and eliminates other shortcomings of previous methods. The global environment is being inundated daily with debris and much of this debris was originally used as packaging material. This invention will reduce a substantial portion of that debris. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An inexpensive packaging invention of a container, preferably a cardboard carton, with a load bearing platform, preferably of cardboard, supported at a distance from, e.g., more than one-half inch above, the designated floor of the carton. The platform may be a perforation smaller than the article of goods to be packaged, and the perforation is located generally toward the geometric center of the platform. The article of goods to be packaged is enrobed in a flexible membrane and the ends of the membranes are bunched together, drawn downward through the aperture in that platform with enough tension to draw the article of goods firmly against the platform and fastened to the platform in any manner. If the container is dropped the goods will be protected from damage by being held away from the sides of the container. 
     Another embodiment of this invention uses a plurality of apertures wherein corners or other parts of the membrane are drawn through different apertures for fastening different cargo shapes. 
     Another embodiment of this invention is one in which said membrane is drawn through said aperture and then brought to the front edge and fastened to the platform using a fastener, such as a staple or clip, or to fasten the membrane to the platform. 
     Another embodiment of this invention has the platform in a vertical or other non-horizontal position. 
     Another embodiment of this invention uses a spring powered clipping or holding mechanism to prevent the membrane from being drawn back though the aperture. 
     Another embodiment of this invention uses a heat source to tighten the membrane after the membrane is fastened to the platform. 
     This unique and yet extremely simple and inexpensive packaging invention may be the most innovative advance in packaging in many years. Even the long term effects of the environment of the decreasing use of filler materials may be considered a substantial effect of this invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective, exploded view of an embodiment of this invention with one article of cargo inserted into one membrane and supported by one platform with the entire assembly lowered into one carton. 
     FIG. 2 shows a perspective, exploded view of an embodiment of this invention with two articles of cargo contained one each in two separate membranes and each membrane is inserted through one or two separate apertures in the same platform with the entire assembly lowered into one carton. 
     FIG. 3 shows a perspective, exploded view of an embodiment of this invention with two articles of cargo inserted one each into two separate membranes with each membrane inserted into an aperture in one of two separate platforms with the entire assembly lowered into one carton. 
     FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 show representative clips suitable for attaching the membrane to the load bearing platform. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In FIG. 1, a conventional corrugated cardboard carton 8 is illustrated in which one end of the carton 8 is open and designated as the top and the rest of the carton 8 is conventionally sealed. The four carton flaps 9 are shown in the open position. A piece of conventional cardboard may be used as a shelf or platform 3 that is of a size to fit snugly into the carton 8 when inserted parallel to the bottom and top of the carton 8. Two corrugated cardboard supporting tabs 5 are shown attached to the platform 3. These two supporting tabs 5 are each attached to an opposite edge of the platform 3 and angled downward at a 90° from the platform. The purpose of these supporting tabs 5 is to support platform 3 a distance equal to the supporting tabs 5 shorter dimension above the floor of the carton 8. These two supporting tabs 5 may be of any shape and size that will fit into the carton 8 since their shape and size is not critical but in this preferred embodiment the supporting tabs 5 shown are rectangular with a longer dimension equal to the length of the edge of the platform 3 to which they are attached and with this longer edge used as the edge that attaches to the platform 3 and of a shorter dimension equal to one-sixth of their longer dimension. These two supporting tabs 5 can be attached to the platform 3 in any manner whatever bit in this preferred embodiment they were originally part of a sheet of cardboard stock that the platform 3 was made from and they were formed by one face of the cardboard stock, which will eventually form the upper face of the supporting platform 3, being scored along the two lines that mark the two opposite edges of the platform 3 that attach to the supporting tabs 5 and then the supporting tabs 5 are created by the cardboard being bent downward at a 90° angle and thus these two supporting tabs 5 are fastened to the platform 3 by the lower skin of the platform 3 bending downward at 90° and continuing as the adjacent skin of the supporting tabs 5. Two corrugated cardboard positioning tabs 4 are shown with each one attached to one of the supporting tabs 5. The purpose of these positioning tabs 4 is to hold the supporting tabs 5 in a certain position inside of the carton. In this preferred embodiment the supporting tabs 5 are held in position parallel to two sides of and against the bottom of the carton 8. These two positioning tabs 4 are rectangular in shape and of the size required for them to fit snugly into the carton 8 when both are inserted parallel to the same two sides of the carton that the supporting tabs 5 are parallel to and the carton flaps 9 are closed. Each of these two positioning tabs 4 is fastened to a separate one of the supporting tabs 5 with the entire face surface of each supporting tab 5 that faces the exterior of the carton 8, when attached as described above to the platform 3 and angled downward at 90°, contacting against one face surface of one of the positioning tabs 4 and fastened together in any manner whatever. In this preferred embodiment, however, each of the two positioning tabs 4 is created out of the same piece of cardboard stock as the platform 3 is created from by having the cardboard stock scored on the same face which will eventually form the lower face of the platform 3, along the two straight lines that would designated the longer edge of each supporting tab 5 opposite the edge attached to the platform 3, and then the positioning tabs 4 are created by bending the cardboard stock away from these two scored lines 180° and thus bringing the face of each positioning tab 4 that will face towards the platform 3 flush against the face of one supporting tab 5 that will face away from the platform 3. Thus each of the two positioning tabs 4 are attached to one of the two supporting tabs 5 by having the skin of the faces that is to be folded flush to each other be of the same continuous skin of cardboard bent 180° at their common edge, thereby stopping movement with respect to each other in a parallel plane. In this preferred embodiment when the platform 3 is inserted into the carton 8 as described above with the two supporting tabs 5 fastened and bent at 90° downward as described above and the two positioning tabs 4 are fastened to the two supporting tabs 5 and bent upward at 180° as described above, the assembly can be slid down into the carton 8 from above. A article of goods 1 is enrobed by a membrane 2 and the loose ends of the membrane 2 are bunched together and inserted downward through an aperture 6 in the platform 3, pulled through the aperture until the cargo is snugly held against the platform 3 whereupon the bunched ends of the membrane 2 are pulled up and over either edge of the platform 3 that is not encumbered by a supporting tab 5 and a common metal staple 2A is stapled through both the bunched membrane 2 and the platform 3. Whereupon the entire assembly including cargo 1 is lowered into the carton 8 and the flaps 9 are closed and sealed. 
     I refer to the various edges of the membrane as &#34;ends&#34; and intend them to be attached or fastened to the platform 3 in some fashion, preferably to the edge of platform 3 and after passage through the orifice or aperture 6. These membranes 3 are desirably used such that one membrane 2 is used with each platform 3 although the invention is not limited. It is not my intention that the membrane 2 be used to suspend the object to be protected between two platforms 3 placed in the surrounding corten. 
     FIG. 2 shows a variation of the invention in which a dual set of goods 1 are enclosed in a membrane 2. The dual membranes 2 are then passed through dual openings 6 in the platform 3 and held in place by one or more fasteners 2A. 
     FIG. 3 shows still another variation of the invention in which two platforms 3 (and the ancillary membrane 2, goods 1, etc.) are installed into a single box for shipping. Clearly, the variation shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are not limited to the &#34;doubled&#34; variation shown there, but may be any convenient number. 
     Included in this invention are the obvious variations in which the platform or platforms and the carton are formed from the same piece of corrugate and are used without separating those two functional portions from each other. 
     FIG. 4 shows a simple spring clip 12 which may be used to fasten the loose ends of the bunched membrane (2 in the Figures discussed above) to the various platforms 3. In this variation of the clip 12, the clip merely slides onto the platform 3 and maintains the membrane in place. 
     FIG. 5 shows a &#34;clothes-pin&#34;-like multi-section clip 14 also suitable for holding the loose ends of the membrane in place. 
     FIG. 6 shows a further variation of the invention in which another spring clip 16 is used to fasten the loose ends of the bunched membrane (2 in the Figures discussed above) to the various platforms 3. In this variation, the clip 16 may be molded of a suitable polymer and exerts force against the face of the platform 3 when pressed over the edge of the platform 3. The regions of the clip 16 contiguous to the platform may be serrated or have long &#34;teeth&#34; 18 to maintain the clip in position during the rigors of shipping. This clip 18 also is to maintain the membrane in place. 
     Again, other clips and devices for holding the membrane in place are suitable in my inventive concept and such attaching devices form a portion of my invention.