Abstract:
The present invention is a carton having a forty-five degree off-set seal from its bottom and a blank therefor. The carton may have a square cross-section or an octagonal cross-section. The forty-five degree off-set seal allows for a stiffer package and material savings of up to seven percent over a traditional gable top carton. A method and apparatus for fabricating the forty-five degree off-set seal are also disclosed herein.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to cartons. Specifically, the present invention relates to gable top cartons and carton blanks therefor. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Gable top cartons have been known for the better part of the twentieth century. Their characteristic simplicity and resealability have helped to sustain their popularity as containers for traditional liquid food products such as milk and juice, but in recent years they have been used for products ranging from ammunition to Epsom salts. Gable top cartons typically begin as generally rectangular carton blanks made of a laminated paperboard or similar material. The carton blanks are provided with a number of creases to facilitate folding and forming the blank into a rectangular carton having the characteristic gabled top. 
     When fully folded, filled, and sealed, the gable top cartons included a gabled top structure that engages four side-panels. Traditionally, each side panel is generally perpendicular to each adjacent side panel. The panels are each divided from one another by a single vertical score line extending the entire height of the side wall. These side panels form the characteristic hollow rectangular body of the container and define the volume of product that a carton may hold. In accordance with accepted design approaches, the design of a traditional gable top carton to accommodate a specified volume involves adjusting the dimensions of the four side walls defining the rectangular body that is to contain the specified volume. Very often, these product volume requirements are specified by the packager and selected from standard volumes that have been deemed accepted in the consumer market for the product (i.e., pint, quart, half gallon, gallon, half liter, liter, etc.). When this design approach is utilized, there exists a generally established relationship between the surface area of the carton blank and the carton volume. The surface area of the carton, and particularly the area of the four side walls constituting the bulk of the surface area, is thus generally fixed for a given container volume. 
     Additional end panel extensions and end panel shapes are often employed to assist in folding and sealing the traditional gable top cartons. These added extensions and shapes result in added carton surface area per unit volume of product. 
     The traditional approaches to gable top carton design have heretofore devoted little effort to optimizing the carton surface area per unit volume of product. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a carton with a 45 degree off-set top seal. The off-set top seal allows for the stiffening of the side panels by the bottom corners, and also increases the carton&#39;s volume. There is also a possible material saving of seven percent for a carton. 
     One aspect of the present invention is a traditional gable top carton with the off-set seal. Another aspect is an eight-sided carton with an off-set top seal. Yet another aspect of the present invention is a method and apparatus of fabricating the off-set top seal carton. Still another aspect of the present invention is a carton blank for fabricating a carton with a forty-five degree off set top seal. 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a carton with an off-set top seal. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-sided carton with an off-set top seal. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a blank for an eight-sided carton with an off-set top seal. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a blank for a carton with an off-set top seal. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus of fabricating a carton with an off-set seal. 
     Having briefly described this invention, the above and further objects, features and advantages thereof will be recognized by those skilled in the pertinent art from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Several features of the present invention are further described in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 1 a perspective view of a folded and sealed carton of the present invention. 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 2 a perspective view of a folded and sealed carton of the prior art. 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 3 a top plan view of the carton of FIG.  1 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 4 a front plan view for the carton of FIG.  1 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 5 a blank for the carton of FIG.  1 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 6 a perspective view of a folded and sealed carton of the present invention. 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 7 a top plan view of the carton of FIG.  6 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 8 a front plan view for the carton of FIG.  6 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 9 a side plan view of the carton of FIG.  6 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 10 a blank for the carton of FIG .  6 . 
     There is illustrated in FIG. 11 a top plan schematic view of a packaging machine for fabricating the carton of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A carton  20  with a forty-five degree off-set top seal is shown in FIG.  1 . The carton  20  has a gable top  22  with a top fin  24  arising from a pair of top panels  28   a-b.  The gable top  22  crowns a plurality of side walls  25   a-h  that engage to form a bottom  26  with a square cross-section. The carton  20  of the present invention has its gable top  22  off-set forty-five degrees relative to the bottom  26  as compared to a typical gable top carton  20   a  which is shown in FIG.  2 . The prior art gable top carton  20   a  has its top fin  24   a  parallel to a side wall  27   a  whereas in the present invention the top fin  24  is at an angle to the side walls  25   a-h.  The off-set top seal creates a pseudo eight sided carton  20   a , generally about the middle of the side walls  25   a-h.  This eight-sidedness is best seen in FIG. 3 in reference to the apices  31   a-d  and the edges  33   a-d  formed by the intersection of the adjacent side walls  25   a-h . For instance, side wall  25   h  is defined by apex  33   c  and edge  31   c  while side wall  25   a  is defined by apex  33   c  and edge  31   d . Near the bottom of the carton  20 , the side walls  25   h  and  25   a  are essentially one side wall, however, near the middle (the middle defined as the midpoint between the top and bottom of the carton) side walls  25   h  and  25   a  are essentially two side walls. 
     The rotation allows for the bottom corners  35   a-d  to be used to stiffen the side walls  25   a-h  and increase the overall volume of the carton  20 . The rotation may also result in a material surface reduction of six to seven percent of the overall carton  20 . This material savings may lower the cost of the carton  20  while still providing a carton  20  that is capable of containing an equal volume of product. 
     A possible carton blank for creating such a carton  20  is set forth in FIG.  5 . The carton blank  100  generally has a structure of a fiberboard base with polyethylene coatings on the surfaces. Other film structures may employ the use of barrier layers, or non-scalping polymer coatings. The carton blank  100  is defined by various score lines that allow for folding of the blank  100  to create the carton  20  of FIG. 1. A plurality of vertical score lines  105   a-h  separate the side walls  25   a-h  from each other. A lower horizontal score line  107  separates the side walls  25   a-h  (which be designated side panels in the blank form) from a plurality of bottom panels  109 . 
     An upper horizontal score line  111  separates the side walls  25   a-h  from a plurality of top panels  128   a-i . A fin horizontal score line  117  separates the plurality of top panels  128   a-i  from the plurality of fin panels  124   a-i . The top panels  128   d  and  128   e  form the top panel  28   b  of FIG.  1  and the top panels  128   a  and  128   b  form the top panel  28   a . The top fin  24  is formed by the top fin panels  124   a ,  124   d ,  124   e ,  124   h  and  124   i . The top fin panels  124   a ,  124   d ,  124   e ,  124   h  and  124   i  all have a maximum length that is greater than that of the top fin panels  124   b ,  124   c ,  124   f  and  124   g . The unique top fin panel arrangement allows for the forty-five degree off-set sealing of the carton  20 . 
     An alternative embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6-10. The carton  220  of FIGS. 6-9 is for an eight-sided carton as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,144 to Anchor et. al., entitled Eight-Sided Gable Top Carton which is hereby incorporated by reference. The difference between that the carton of the above-noted patent to Anchor et al. and the carton  220  of FIG. 6 is the gable top  222  of the carton  220  is off-set forty-five degrees from the bottom  226 . The carton of the above-noted patent to Anchor et al. has the top fin in alignment with an inverted apex on the bottom while the carton  220  has its fin  224  in alignment with a bottom corner  235   a.    
     The side walls  225   a-h  are separated from each other by the four edges  231   a-d  and four apices  233   a-d.  Unlike the embodiment of FIG. 1, the carton  220  of FIG. 6 is configured to have eight sides defined from the edges and apices, which are formed from additional vertical score lines extending from the top of the carton blank to the bottom as described below in reference to FIG.  10 . The carton  20  of FIG. 1 is proved with eight-sidedness due to the forty-five degree off-set seal. Each apex of the apices  233   a-d  extends outward from the carton  220  thereby forming the most distant line/point on each of the sides. 
     Not only do the apices  233   a-d  provide an unique shape to the carton  220 , the apices  233   a-d  allow for a greater volume per surface area of the carton  220  as compared to a traditional flat four-sided carton. The forty-five degree off-set seal further increases the volume per surface area of the carton  220  creating a carton with an optimum volume per surface area. Thus, the carton  220  will provide the consumer with the same volume of product as a traditional carton while using much less material. The carton  220  is also more grippable than typical cartons. 
     A possible carton blank for creating such a carton  220  is set forth in FIG.  10 . The carton blank  300  generally has a structure of a fiberboard base with polyethylene coatings on the surfaces. Other film structures may employ the use of barrier layers, or nonscalping polymer coatings. The carton blank  300  is defined by various score lines that allow for folding of the blank  300  to create the carton  220  of FIGS. 6-9. A plurality of vertical score lines  305   a-h  separate the side walls  225   a-h  from each other. A lower horizontal score line  307  separates the side walls  225   a-h  (which be designated side panels in the blank form) from a plurality of bottom panels  309   a-i.    
     An upper horizontal score line  311  separates the side walls  225   a-h  from a plurality of top panels  228   a-i . A fin horizontal score line  317  separates the plurality of top panels  228   a-i  from the plurality of fin panels  224   a-i . The top fin  224  is formed by the top fin panels  324   a ,  324   d ,  324   e ,  324   h  and  324   i . The top fin panels  324   a ,  324   d ,  324   e ,  324   h  and  324   i  all have a maximum length that is greater than that of the top fin panels  324   b ,  324   c ,  324   f  and  324   g . The unique top fin panel arrangement allows for the forty-five degree off-set sealing of the carton  220 . 
     A plurality of diagonal score lines  357   a-f  define an integrated pour spout area of the carton  220 . To access the contents of the carton  220 , the integrated pour spout is readied by tearing open the carton  220  at the top panels. In opening the pour spout, the top fin  224  is split in two by the consumer. It is further contemplated that a fitment, not shown, may be attached to the carton  220  for accessing the product. 
     Top fin  224  defines a central plane of the carton  220  extending from the top to the bottom of the carton  220  with the top fin  224  lying on the central plane. The carton  220  has an octagonal cross-section. In such an embodiment, if apex  233   a  is at zero degrees, then each of the other apices and edges would have the following rotational coordinates: edge  231   d , forty-five degrees; apex  233   d , ninety degrees; edge  231   c , one hundred thirty-five degrees; apex  233   c , one hundred eighty degrees; edge  231   b , two hundred twenty-five degrees; apex  233   b , two hundred seventy degrees; and edge  231   a , three hundred fifteen degrees. 
     The inverse pyramidal bottom  226  is formed from a plurality of bottom panels  309   a-i . Flaps  309   e ,  309   f ,  309   a ,  309   b  are folded inward first while flaps  309   c ,  309   d ,  309   g ,  309   h  and  309   i  are folded on top thereof to form the inverse pyramidal bottom  226 . For each bottom corner  235   a-d , there is a bottom inverse apex  243   a-d . As mentioned previously, the top fin  224  is in alignment with the bottom corner  235   a.    
     A possible method and apparatus of forming the forty-five degree off-set top seal carton  20  of the present invention is illustrated in FIG.  11 . The machine  400  includes a bottom forming station  500  where the bottom of the carton  20  is fabricated in a conventional manner. This usually occurs on a mandrel wheel where an erected carton blank is set upon a mandrel, pre-folded, heated, and then pressed together for sealing. One of the benefits of the present invention is that the bottom may be formed in a traditional manner. The only major adjustment to a packaging machine would be to the conveyor line  502  that must receive, hold and transport the cartons  20  at an angle, to the various stations on machine  400 . One possible adjustment would be to have the carton pockets  505  on the conveyor line  502  in a diamond shape. In this manner, the cartons  20  are transported to the sterilization station  507 , the filling station  509  and the top sealing station  511  at the necessary forty-five degree angle. At the top sealing station  511 , the top sealing jaws will operate in a conventional manner to seal the fill carton  20  to create the desire forty-five degree off-set top seal carton  20 . 
     From the foregoing it is believed that those skilled in the pertinent art will recognize the meritorious advancement of this invention and will readily understand that while the present invention has been described in association with a preferred embodiment thereof, and other embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, numerous changes, modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention which is intended to be unlimited by the foregoing except as may appear in the following appended claims. Therefore, the embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined in the following appended claims: