Patent Publication Number: US-2006011714-A1

Title: Cardboard box and method for its production

Description:
The present invention relates to a cardboard box and to a method for producing it.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      It is known that boxes intended particularly but not exclusively for cosmetic products are currently commercially available which have a mirror applied to the surface of the lid that is designed to face the inside of the box.  
      In this way, when the user opens the lid in order to access the contents of the box, he can use the mirror.  
      Currently known boxes provided with a mirror are produced by using fine materials, and the cost of the application of the mirror is absorbed without problems within the total cost of the product, but in a box made of cardboard the presence of an applied mirror would entail an unacceptable cost increase.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The aim of the present invention is to devise a cardboard box and a method for obtaining it which have a low cost though allowing the user to view himself in the mirror after opening the lid.  
      The proposed aim is achieved by a cardboard box, according to the invention, characterized in that it is made of cardboard in which the surface that lies inside the box is reflective.  
      A method for obtaining the box according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: 
          transferring onto a smooth surface of a cardboard sheet from a lacquered film;     transferring onto said surface from a metallized film;     die-cutting and folding the sheet prepared in the preceding steps.       

    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
      Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein the only FIGURE is a view of box in the open condition. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      With reference to the FIGURE, the reference numerals  1  and  2  designate respectively the container and the lid of the box according to the invention, which is provided by working on a sheet of cardboard in which the surface that is intended to form the inside la of the container and  2   a  of the lid is reflective, while the other surface is opaque.  
      At the internal surface of the lid there is also a colored border  2   b , which can assume for example the same coloring as the outer surface of the thin card and frames the surface  2   a  so as to give the feeling of a true applied mirror.  
      A method for obtaining the described box comprises a first step, which is provided in a per se known manner by working with a normally-used machine, for transfer onto a surface of a sheet of cardboard, treated so as to be particularly smooth, from a lacquered plastic film.  
      The extremely thin layer of lacquering that is deposited from the film onto the surface of the cardboard constitutes the optimum preparation for performing the second step, which consists in a transfer, again obtained in a known manner, onto the previously treated surface, from a metallized plastic film; the film thus deposited is the film that provides the sought reflective effect.  
      The presence of the border  2   b  is obtained with a third step of the method, which consists in transferring, again in a known manner, said border from a colored plastic film so as to superimpose it on the previously provided reflective surface.  
      Conventional steps for die-cutting and folding the sheet obtained in the preceding steps lead to the obtainment of the box.  
      Obviously the box can have any shape and dimensions, and it is noted that the invention has characteristics of very low cost and is suitable for obtaining decorations of any kind on the reflective surface.  
      The described invention is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims: thus, for example, the box can have any kind of decorations, or even have no decorations, on-its reflective internal surface.  
      In turn, the method might not comprise the first step of transfer from a lacquered film, starting directly with the step for transfer from a metallized film.  
      A per se known printing step can be introduced in the method if the outer surface of the box provides for the presence of lettering or pictures.  
      The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MN2004A000018 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.