Patent ID: 8028839

Claim:
A combination shipping and dispensing carton for containing a plurality of articles, the carton comprising: a plurality of panels that extends at least partially around an interior of the carton, wherein the interior is for containing the plurality of articles, the plurality of panels comprising a first side panel, a second side panel, a bottom panel, and a top panel; at least two end flaps respectively foldably connected to respective panels of the plurality of panels, wherein the end flaps are overlapped with respect to one another to form a closed end of the carton; at least one line of separation that at least partially divides the carton into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first and second portions are configured for being at least partially separated from one another along the line of separation to convert the carton from a shipping carton to at least one dispensing carton in which the first portion is a first dispensing portion for containing a first subset of the articles, and the second portion is a second dispensing portion for containing a second subset of the articles; the line of separation extending across the entire width of each of the first side panel, the second side panel, the bottom panel, and the top panel and comprising at least one tear line separating the first dispensing portion from the second dispensing portion, wherein the at least one tear line comprises a first portion in the top panel, a second portion in the top panel being spaced apart from the first portion, a third portion in the top panel extending between respective ends of the first portion and the second portion, and fourth portion extending from the third portion to an edge of the top panel; and article retaining features for retaining the plurality of articles.