Container

Abstract

 A container made of cardboard, corrugated board or similar lightweight semi-rigid foldable sheet material, which includes portions (5 to 8) arranged to form an integral pocket (3), for receiving a greetings card (4) for example.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to boxes, cartons or like containers made of cardboard, corrugated board or similar lightweight foldable semi-rigid sheet material.

[0002] .Such containers are frequently used to house articles which are to be given as presents, such as Easter eggs or bottles of spirits, and it is then desirable to provide the container with some means of incorporating a message of greetings to the intended recipient. It is of course known to print the outside surface of the container with a suitable area on which a message may be written, but this is not entirely satisfactory.

[0003] According to the present invention there is provided a box, carton or like container made of cardboard, corrugated board or similar lightweight foldable semi-rigid sheet material, which incorporates a pocket for receiving a greetings card or the like, the said pocket being provided on a face of a panel of the container and being open at one side for the reception of the said card or the like but closed at its other sides and bottom, the pocket being formed from a subsidiary panel and flap structure hingedly connected to an edge of the said panel, folded over and secured to the said face thereof.

[0004] Although the said pocket could be located inside the container it is preferably exposed externally so that it and a greetings card (for example) which it may contain are at once visible to a recipient of the container and its contents.

[0005] Preferably the arrangement is such that the said pocket lies substantially flat on an external surface of the erected container. Then, in a preferred form of the invention, the said subsidiary panel and flap structure comprises a rectangular body panel hingedly connected to the said edge of a panel which forms a side or end wall of the said container, the said body panel being arranged to form a rear wall of the said pocket when folded into face to face engagement with the outside of the said side wall forming panel, and a plurality of flaps hingedly connected to said body panel and arranged to make up a front wall of the said pocket when folded into face to face engagement with the said body panel.

[0006] In one form of the invention the said body panel is hingedly connected to a top horizontal edge of a side wall forming panel of the container. In another form the said body panel is hingedly connected to a lateral vertical edge of a side wall forming panel; such an arrangement, in which the hinged connection between the body panel and its associated side wall forming panel is parallel to the hinged connections between the respective side wall panels of the container, makes for easier relative folding of the said panels during erection of the container.

[0007] The scope of the invention also extends to a blank for making a container as set forth above.

[0008] An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a plan view of the relevant parts of a cardboard blank for making an Easter egg carton, according to the invention; and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the erected carton.

[0009] The illustrated blank is of a conventional outline shape already used for making Easter egg cartons, with the exception of certain added features in accordance with the present invention, and features of the blank which are conventional will not be described herein.

[0010] The blank includes a panel 1 for forming a front wall of the erected carton, which panel is formed with a cut-out 2 to display an Easter egg to be housed in the carton. Portions for making an integral pocket 3 for receiving a greetings card 4 comprise a rectangular body panel 5 hingedly connected to the top horizontal edge of the side wall-forming panel 1, and three flaps 6 to 8 hingedly connected to the body panel 5. Upon erecting the carton the body panel 5 is folded forwardly and downwardly and glued face to face to the side wall panel 1 to form the rear wall of the pocket 3, and the flaps 6 to 8 are then folded inwardly and glued together to form the front wall thereof. The greetings card 4, which may of course be printed with any desired decorations or words of greeting, is finally tucked into the pocket where it will be clearly visible to a recipient.

[0011] It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon.

Claims

1. A box, carton or like container made of cardboard, corrugated board or similar lightweight foldable semi-rigid sheet material, which incorporates a pocket for receiving a greetings card or the like, the said pocket being provided on a face of a panel of the container and being open at one side for the reception of the said card or the like but closed at its other sides and bottom, the pocket being formed from a subsidiary panel and flap structure hingedly connected to an edge of the said panel, folded over and secured to the said face thereof.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said pocket is exposed externally of the container.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said pocket lies substantially flat on an external surface of the container.

4. A container as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said subsidiary panel and flap structure comprises a rectangular body panel hingedly connected to the said edge of a panel which forms a side or end wall of the said container, the said body panel being arranged to form a rear wall of the said pocket when folded into face to face engagement with the outside of the said wall forming panel, and a plurality of flaps hingedly connected to said body panel and arranged to make up a front wall of the said pocket when folded into face to face engagement with the said body panel.

5. A container as claimed in claim 4, wherein the said body panel is hingedly connected to a top horizontal edge of a side wall forming panel of the container.

6. A container as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the said body panel is hingedly connected to a lateral vertical edge of a side wall forming panel of the container.

7. A blank for making a container as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6.

Drawing