Patent Publication Number: US-2003226881-A1

Title: Paper container

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a paper container, more particularly to a paper container with a strong and reliable structure to transport food.  
       [0003] 2. Description of Related Art  
       [0004] More and more people prefer to buy prepared meals rather than cook at home. However, the convenience of collecting food at an outlet rather than have to dress tidily for a restaurant etc means that disposable containers are an essential part of modern dining. Most of the disposable containers are made of paper to allow for recycling and are water-proof. A conventional paper container has a bottom surface, multiple side walls and a round top edge. The bottom surface is integrally formed with the side walls and each side wall is integrally formed with the adjacent side walls. The conventional paper containers are often shallow with a side wall weaker than the bottom surface. When containing food with large volume or weight, or soup inside the conventional paper containers, the conventional paper container is easily damaged, leading to loss of the food, mess, staining of clothes and so on. Clearly those limitations put off some consumers and thus there is a demand for a reliable and secure paper container.  
       [0005] The present invention provides a paper container with a stronger side wall than a conventional one to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problem.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a paper container with a stronger structure than the conventional one to provide convenient and secure transportation of food.  
       [0007] The paper container has a bottom, at least two pairs of side walls, at least two pairs of side margins and at least one pair of strengtheners. The bottom has at least two pairs of edges, and the side walls are integrally formed with the edges of the bottom. Each side wall has a top edge, and the side margins are integrally formed with the top edge of the side wall. The strengtheners have a shape almost the same with the side margin and are adhered to an underside of the side margin. With the structure of the paper container, the paper container can provide convenient and secure transportation of food and with a low pollution threat due to the container being made of recyclable material.  
       [0008] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper container of a first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded plan view of the paper container in FIG. 1;  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a partial exploded perspective view in FIG. 1;  
     [0012]FIG. 4 is a plan view of showing a bottom surface in FIG. 1;  
     [0013]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a second embodiment of a bottom surface of the paper container;  
     [0014]FIG. 6 is an exploded plan view of a third embodiment of the paper container;  
     [0015]FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the paper container; and  
     [0016]FIG. 8 is an exploded plan view of a fifth embodiment of the paper container. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0017] With reference to FIGS.  1  to  3 , a paper container ( 10 ) of a first embodiment in accordance with the present invention is made of water-proof paper and has a bottom ( 11 ), at least two pairs of side walls, such as two small side walls ( 12 ) and two large side walls ( 13 ), two small side margins ( 124 ), two large side margins ( 134 ), two strengtheners ( 135 ) and multiple connecting pieces ( 14 ).  
     [0018] The bottom ( 11 ) has two short edges (not numbered) and two long edges (not numbered). The short edges are opposite with each other, and the long edges are opposite with each other.  
     [0019] Each small side wall ( 12 ) has a bottom edge (not numbered), a top edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The bottom edge is integrally formed with the one of the short edges of the bottom and forms a first folding line ( 121 ). The small side walls ( 12 ) are opposite with each other.  
     [0020] Each small side margin ( 124 ) has an outer edge (not numbered), an inner edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The inner edge is integrally formed with the top edge of the small side wall ( 12 ) and forms a second folding line ( 122 ).  
     [0021] Each large side wall ( 13 ) has a bottom edge (not numbered), a top edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The bottom edge is integrally formed with the one of the long edges of the bottom ( 11 ) and forms a third folding line ( 131 ).  
     [0022] Each large side margin ( 134 ) has an outer edge (not numbered), an inner edge (not numbered) and two side edges (not numbered). The inner edge is integrally formed with the top edge of the large side wall ( 13 ) and forms a fourth folding line ( 133 ). The large side walls ( 13 ) are opposite with each other. The strengthener ( 135 ) is shaped the same with the large side margin ( 134 ) and attached to an underface of a respective large side margin ( 134 ).  
     [0023] Each connecting piece ( 14 ) is a fan-shaped and is integrally formed between one of the large side walls ( 13 ) and the adjacent small side wall ( 12 ). Each connecting piece ( 14 ) has two side edges (not numbered) and an arcuate periphery (not numbered). The side edge is shorter than the side edges of each side wall ( 12 , 13 ). One of the side edges of each connecting piece ( 14 ) is integral with the side edge of one of the small side walls ( 12 ) to form a fifth folding line ( 123 ), and the other side edge is integrally formed with the side edge of the corresponding large side wall ( 13 ) to form a sixth folding line ( 132 ).  
     [0024] Each small side wall ( 12 ) is folded along the respective folding lines ( 121 ,  123 ,  131 ,  132 ) with the large side wall ( 13 ) and all pieces are folded towards the bottom ( 11 ). The small side margins ( 124 ) and the large side margins ( 134 ) are folded away from the bottom ( 11 ) and along the folding lines ( 122 , 133 ). Because the connecting pieces ( 14 ) are integrally formed between the short side wall ( 12 ) and the large side wall ( 13 ) and each connecting piece ( 14 ) is pasted to an outer face of the short side wall ( 12 ) and up the large side wall ( 13 ), the paper container ( 10 ) can be a bowl to contain food and prevent the food juice from escaping. Each strengthener ( 135 ) is respectively pasted to an underface of each large side margin ( 134 ) to increase the structural strength of the paper container ( 10 ) such that the paper container ( 10 ) in accordance with the present invention can contain heavy food.  
     [0025] With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottom ( 11 , 11 ′) of the paper container ( 10 , 10 ′) can be folded as a plateau or dome so that the edges of the bottom ( 11 ) are lower than the center of the bottom ( 11 ). Because the edges of the bottom ( 11 ) are lower than the center, oil in food can be collected at the lower edges of the bottom ( 11 ).  
     [0026] With reference to FIGS.  6  to  8 , the paper container in accordance with the present invention has a third, fourth and fifth embodiments and the structure of the paper container is almost the same as foregoing but with different shapes and comprises at least two pairs of the side walls. With reference to FIG. 6, the paper container ( 20 ) has a bottom ( 21 ), two pairs of the side walls ( 22 , 23 ), two parallel margins ( 24 ), two arcuate margins ( 25 ), two strengtheners ( 241 ) and four connecting pieces (not numbered). The bottom ( 21 ) of the paper container ( 20 ) has two opposite arcuate edges (not numbered) and two parallel edges (not numbered). One pair of the side walls ( 23 ) is integrally formed with arcuate edges and respectively extended into the arcuate margin ( 25 ). The other pair of the side walls ( 22 ) is integrally formed with the parallel edges and respectively extended into the parallel margins ( 24 ). The parallel margins ( 24 ) are respectively formed as the strengtheners ( 241 ). When folding the paper container ( 20 ), the strengtheners ( 241 ) are folded under the parallel margins ( 24 ).  
     [0027] Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the fourth and fifth embodiments have further variations on the configuration of the container. Accordingly, the shapes of the paper container ( 30 , 40 ) depend on the shape of the bottom ( 31 , 41 ). When the shapes of the bottoms ( 31 , 41 ) are either a rectangle and an octagon, the paper container ( 30 , 40 ) is formed almost like the shape of the bottom ( 31 , 41 ). The strengthener ( 32 , 42 ) is pasted to an underface of the side margin to make the paper container ( 30 , 40 ) stronger.  
     [0028] The paper container in accordance with the present invention has the following advantages:  
     [0029] Strength—The container reinforcements provide a structure that will not collapse under the weight of food normally put into conventional containers.  
     [0030] Environmentally friendly—Because the container is made from recyclable paper, less damage will occur as consumers switch from plastic to paper, and fewer paper containers will be needed compared to the prior art due to the superiority of the present invention.  
     [0031] Design appeal—Consumers previously put off by the crude and unreliable prior art paper containers will be attracted to the ingenious and novel structure of the present structure.  
     [0032] Point of use appeal—Professional food providers will be impressed by the reliability of the present paper container whereby food sales will be increased due to customer preference.  
     [0033] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, that the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed is to be understood.