Patent ID: 8479972

Claim:
A trapezoidal-shaped carton having an expandable top formed from a unitary blank, the carton comprising: a generally rectangular bottom with a pair of major bottom flaps and a pair of minor bottom flaps where the bottom flaps are folded to form a substantially closed bottom; a plurality of upstanding side panels, including a pair of major side panels, a pair of minor side panels, and a secondary side panel, where the major and minor side panels are upstanding relative to the bottom, the major and minor side panels are attached to the bottom at lower ends thereof and the secondary side panel is attached to one of the major side and minor side panels via a fold and an adjacent one of the major or minor side panels via adhesive, the pair of minor side panels being further apart at their upper end as compared to their lower end; a first score line along a midpoint region of one of the pair of minor side panels extending from the lower end of one of the pair of minor side panels toward an upper end and a second score line along a midpoint region of the other of the pair of minor side panels extending from the lower end of the other of the pair of minor side panels toward an upper end; a first pair of score lines on one of the pair of major side panels extending from an adjacent bottom corner region toward a midpoint region of the top end and the other bottom corner region toward the midpoint region of the top end and a second pair of score lines on the other of the pair of major side panels extending from an adjacent bottom corner region toward a midpoint region of the top end and the other bottom corner region toward the midpoint region of the top end; a top with a pair of major top flaps and a pair of minor top flaps attached to an upper end of the major and minor side panels and folded generally perpendicular thereto, having score lines extending longitudinally along midpoint regions of the pair of major top flaps and the pair of minor top flaps from a top edge region toward a bottom edge region; and an opening defined by upper ends of the major side panels and the minor side panels opposite the bottom, the opening having a closed state where the major and minor top flaps are folded generally perpendicular to the major and minor side panels to form a closed top, and an expanded state where the opening is non-rectangular and the score lines along the major and minor side panels are configured to fold outward and the major and minor top flaps are configured to fold downward adjacent their respective side panel and outward along their respective score lines to increase the distance from opposite midpoint regions of the major and minor side panels as compared to when in the closed state.