A carton

Abstract

 A carton comprises a body with a top, side walls, an open bottom having one or more closure flaps, and a base having integral feet for raising the carton body above a supporting surface to facilitate lifting thereof. The base comprises a panel foldable into two portions. One of said portions has feet attached thereto and forms an outer skin of said base. The other of said portions is inserted into the carton body during assembly and folded so as to form an inner skin of said base. The closure flap or at least one of said closure flaps is trapped between said inner and outer skins so as to hold said base fixed relative to the body.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a carton and more particularly to a carton comprising a body with a top, side walls and open bottom having one or more closure flaps, and a base having integral feet for raising the carton body above a supporting surface to facilitate lifting thereof.

[0002] A carton of this kind may be considered as comprising an integral pallet thereby dispensing with the need for separate pallets such as are normally provided in warehouses for the purposes of storing cartons or other containers in a manner facilitating transport thereof. Hitherto the provision of integral pallets has involved an unacceptable increase in the manufacturing costs of cartons partly because of the difficulty of providing a strong base properly integrated with the carton body.

[0003] It is an object of the present invention to overcome this problem.

[0004] According to the present invention there is provided a carton comprising a body with a top, side walls, an open bottom having one or more closure flaps, and a base having integral feet for raising the carton body above a supporting surface to facilitate lifting thereof, characterised in that the base comprises a panel foldable into two portions one of which has said feet attached thereto and forms an outer skin of said base and the other of which is inserted" into the carton body during assembly and folded so as to form an inner skin of said base, the closure flap or at least one of said closure flaps being trapped between said inner and outer skins so as to hold said base fixed relative to the body.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-

Fig. 1 shows the blanks from which a box and a pallet arrangement which comrise the carton according to the present invention are constructed;

Fig. 2 shows the box and pallet arrangement constructed from the blanks shown in Fig. 1; and

Figs 3(a)(b) and (c) show the carton according to the present invention in various stages of assembly.

[0006] Referring to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings there are shown a number of blanks 1, 2, 3 and 4 made of a stiff material, such as faced corrugated fibreboard or cardboard.

[0007] Blanks 1 and 2 are creased and cut so as to enable a box to be constructed therefrom as shown in Fig. 2. The sides of the box are formed by panels 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the blanks 1 and 2, which are, themselves, connected together to form -the box along the adjacent free edges thereof by means of flanges 9 and 10. Along both the top and bottom edge of each panel 5, 6, 7 and 8 is provided a flap 12, 13, 14, each of which is foldable along a crease line 11 towards the middle of the opening at their respective ends of the box. Flaps 12 are dimensioned so that at least one opposing pair thereof meet in the middle to close the opening at their end of the box and, in fact, in use it is this end of the box which is the opening to the carton embodying the present invention. Flaps 13 may also meet in the middle of the opening at their end of the box, but it is important that flaps 14 do not as will be explained in detail hereinbelow.

[0008] Blanks 3 and 4 form the pallet arrangement of the carton embodying the present invention, and in this respect blank 3 represents the pallet base and blank 4 represents one of the pallet supports, there being three pallet supports in the embodiment of the present invention, shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0009] Blank 3, or the pallet base, is a rectangular sheet of material, having a crease line 15 therein, approximately half way along its length. It is dimensioned so that when folded in half along the crease line 15 it has the same dimensions as the bottom of the box described hereinabove.

[0010] Blank 4, or the pallet support, is also a rectangular sheet of material, but it has four crease lines 16 therein and it is folded along these crease lines 16 into a box sectioned tube. Depending upon the purpose the carton embodying the present invention is to serve the pallet supports 4 may be sufficient in themselves to support the weight of the carton and its contents. However, if necessary a rectangular block 17 of, for example, polystyrene may be inserted into the hollow pallet support 4 to give it additional strength. The length of the pallet support 4 is approximately equal to one half the length of the pallet base 3.

[0011] Each of the pallet supports 4 is secured to the pallet base 3 with its longitudinal axis extending in the direction of or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pallet base 3, but with all of them to one side of the crease line 15. Moreover, the pallet supports 4 are only secured to the pallet base 3 about the middle thereof. That is to say, there is a gap between each end of the pallet supports 4 and the pallet base 3. This gap is of at least the same length as the sides of the flaps 14.

[0012] Referring now to Fig. 2, there are shown the completed box 18 and pallet arrangement 19 which comprise the carton embodying the present invention. Assembly of the carton itself will now be described with reference to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

[0013] Referring still to Fig. 2, flaps 13 are folded along crease line 11 into the opening of the box 18. As stated previously they may meet in the middle of the opening, but it is not important and in this case they do not. At this stage the pallet base 3 is folded along crease line 15 and the panel 20 thereof, on that side of the crease line 15 which does not carry the pallel supports 4, is inserted in the direction of arrow A into the gap between panel 5 and the sides of flaps 13. Needless to say the pallet supports 4 are kept to the exterior of the box 18.

[0014] Referring now to Fig. 3, and, in particular, Fig. 3(a), panel 20 is pushed fully into the interior of the box until the panel 21 of the pallet base 3 opposite thereto, and carrying the pallet supports 4, rests on the folded-in flaps 13. At this stage the flaps 14 are also folded, along crease lines 11, in towards the middle of the box 19, and into the gaps provided between the ends of the pallet supports 4 and the panel 21. As the carton is constructed from stiff material it may be quite difficult to fold the flaps 14 into this position and for this reason a crease line (not shown) may be provided along the length of each flap 14 to facilitate its insertion into the aforementioned gap. The carton at this stage in its assembly can be seen in Fig. 3(c).

[0015] Finally, the carton is turned right-side up, so as to rest on the pallet supports 4 and assembly is completed by pushing panel 20, which is inside the box and cannot be seen, into the floor of the box. As the panel 20 is of substantially the same dimensions as the floor of the box 4 it completely covers the same, giving the box a completely smooth floor.

[0016] In use an object to be packed and placed into the carton will rest on the panel 20. The weight of the object acting downwardly on the panel 20, causes the flaps 13 of the box 18 to be clamped between the panels 20 and 21 and the flaps 14 to be clamped between the panel 21 and the pallet supports 4. This gives the carton, when packed, a particularly strong and rigid structure and ensures that the pallet arrangement 19 is integral with the box 18, without the use of fixing means such as staples and glue.

Claims

1. A carton comprising a body with a top, side walls, an open bottom having one or more closure flaps, and a base having integral feet for raising the carton body above a supporting surface to facilitate lifting thereof, characterised in that the base comprises a panel foldable into two portions one of which has said feet attached thereto and forms an outer skin of said base and the other of which is inserted into the carton body during assembly and folded so as to form an inner skin of said base, the closure flap or at least one of said closure flaps being trapped between said inner and outer skins so as to hold said base fixed relative to the body.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feet are elongate and extend in parallel spaced relationship over substantially the entire length of the outer skin of the base being secured thereto only intermediate their ends so as to provide between corresponding ends of the feet and the adjacent panel surface two pockets in which an opposed pair of said closure flaps are received to further secure the base to the body.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 2, wherein there are four closure flaps arranged in two opposed pairs one of which is received in said pockets and the other of which is trapped between the inner and outer skins of said base.

4. A carton as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein each foot comprises a panel folded into a hollow box section.

5. A carton as claimed in claim 4, wherein the hollow interior of each foot is filled with a rectangular block of reinforcing material, e.g. polystyrene.

6. A carton substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawing