Modular unit for receiving phials, ampoules and the like

Abstract

 A modular unit able to contain articles 3 like phials, ampoules or the like, which is insertable in a container 1 of such articles 3, either individually or together with other units of a similar type, comprising a plurality of front tongues 33, obtained on the front wall 30 and bound to the same by means of vertical articulated joints, and a plurality of rear tongues 13, obtained on the rear wall 10 and bound to the same by means of vertical articulated joints. Each one of the tongues 13,33 can rotate towards the inside of the same modular unit through a corresponding window 11,31, made on the respective wall.
Said tongues 13,33 are deep enaugh to overlap one another, when they are folded towards the inside of the modular unit, and to fit together in a tight contact subsequently to the action of the respective elastic reactions V2', V1' having opposite directions, so defining corresponding transversal dividing walls Y, which in turn define aseries of compartments 4, which are regularly arranged andintrinsically stable, and which are able to receive respective articles 3.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a modular unit which is insertable, either individually or together with other units of similar type, in a suitable container for phials, ampoules and the like, and which is particularly used for packaging of pharmaceutical or cosmetic products.

[0002] It is known that packaging of phials, ampoules or similar articles can be done by inserting a plurality of them into a container which has been built with a rigid material, e.g. cardboard or a plastic material, in an orderly sequence and in a predefined number, which is usually enaugh to fill the same container.

[0003] A common drawback occurring with packages of such kind is that phials can move when the container is transferred, both during its transport and when using the product. Said movements can lead the phials to bump into one another or to overturn, especially when the container is not completely full. These bumps can lead to phial crashes, because they are usually made with very thin and fragile glass, thus wasting the product.

[0004] Several solutions have been proposed to solve that problem, but each one has its own drawbacks.

[0005] According to a known solution, e.g., an insert having an approximately parallelepipedal shape is made by using cardboard or other similar material.
The insert is open on its upper side and provided with windows on one of its lateral walls. For each of these windows a tongue is provided in the lateral walls, which can be folded towards the inside of the insert, thus defining a series of compartments. Phials are inserted into said compartments, and they are both protected against mutual bumps and held in a vertical position, because they can lean against consecutive tongues or against the insert walls.

[0006] The presence of phials prevent the tongues to go back to their original position, which is on the same plane of the insert lateral wall. Said insert, after being filled with phials, can be introduced into a container.

[0007] Problems which are related to the above explained solution arise because the so arranged tongues are intrinsically unstable, i.e. they tend to go back to their original position due to their elastic reaction. When, during the use of the phials product, the package is partially cleared out, tongues which have been released take their original position again, and the remaining phials tend to tilt and to upset.

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide an unit for housing phials, ampoules or similar articles, which is insertable into a container, individually or together with other units of a similar type, which is able to assure a complete stability of the housed articles, at the normal use and transport conditions.

[0009] A further object of the present invention is to achieve the previously described object by making the compartments to receive the articles without any use of adhesives nor any other locking means, and moreover by using only natural materials, like cardboard, having a low environmental impact.

[0010] The above stated objects are obtained accordingly to the Claims contents.

[0011] The features of the present invention are better detailed in the following description, wherein:

• Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a container provided with two modular units for containing phials and the like, which has been made according to the present invention;
• Fig. 2 shows a schematic rear view of a preferredembodiment of a modular unit in a flat tubular configuration;
• Fig. 3 shows a schematic front view of the same embodiment of the modular unit in a flat tubular configuration;
• Fig. 4 shows in a perspective view one of said modular units, which has been led to a box configuration;
• Fig. 5 shows a schematic top view of the modular unit, during the front and rear tongues opening phase;
• Fig. 6 shows a schematic top view of the same modular unit, with the front and rear tongues being in their operating position;
• Fig. 7 shows the same view of Fig. 2, related to analternative embodiment of the modular unit, according to the present invention;
• Fig. 8 shows the same view of Fig. 4 of the alternative embodiment of the modular unit.

[0012] Referring now to Fig. 1, numeral 1 indicates a container for articles 3, for instance for phials, tidily arranged inside a couple of modular containing units.

[0013] In a similar way, inside the same container 1, a different number of modular units having suitable size can be inserted, said modular units being preferably made of cardboard or thin cardboard.

[0014] Each of these modular units is supplied in a flat tubular configuration A, as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. It is open in its upper side and comprises a rear wall 10, a front wall 30, two lateral walls 40,41 and a bottom 43. The modular unit, before to be filled with phials 3, is led to its box configuration, by means of a known opening process, which comprises closing the bottom 43, in order the same modular unit can assume a substantially parallelepipedal shape B (see Fig. 4). Moreover, the front wall 30 and rear wall 10 can be countersunk on their upper side, to allow an easier extraction of phials 3. In a preferred embodiment of the modular unit, on the front wall 30 is a plurality of substantially rectangular front windows 31. They are arranged horizontally and suitably spaced. Each window 31 is obtained by means of a complete cutting of the horizontal edges and of one of the vertical edges, and by means of the partial cutting of the remaining vertical edge, thus defining a front tongue 33. This one is then jointed to the front wall 30 on that vertical edge, and it is foldable towards the inside of the modular unit according to a direction V1. When folded, said tongue 33 is subject to an elastic reaction in a direction V1' (see fig. 6), which tends to take it back to a position that is located on the same plane of the front wall 30.

[0015] In a similar way, in the rear wall 10 is arranged a plurality of rear windows 11, which are equal in number to the front windows 31 and which have smaller size with respect to said front windows 31. The rear windows 11 define as many rear tongues 13, which are jointed to the corresponding rear wall 10 along a vertical edge of the rear window 11. Tongues are foldable towards the inside of the modular unit according to a direction V2, which is opposite to the direction V1; they are subject to an elastic reaction in a direction V2'. Each of the rear windows 11 is offset with respect to a relative front window 31, in a way that allows the respective partial cuttings to be placed on the same transversal plane.

[0016] The depth of front tongues 33 and rear tongues 13 is such that, when folded, they overlap one another and fit together by contact of their respective vertical edges. Since their respective elastic reaction V1' and V2' are opposite in direction, they tend to self-stabilize, keeping a transversal arrangement and thus defining a series of transversal dividing walls Y; said dividing walls, in a cooperation with the modular unit's walls and bottom, define a series of compartments 4, which are destined to receive the phials 3.

[0017] Stability of the compartments doesn't depend on whether phials are present or not, but it is guaranteed by the opposite rear tongues 13 and front tongues 33 configuration.

[0018] According to a different embodiment of the modular unit for containing phials 3 or similar articles (see Fig. 7 and Fig. 8), each one of the rear tongues 13 is horizontally split to an upper portion 13a and a lower portion 13b. They are destined, when folded towards the inside of the modular unit, to engage their respective front tongue 33 on its both sides, holding it like scissors, thus improving the self-stabilizing effect in order to obtain more stable compartments.

[0019] Referring now to Fig. 2 to 6, the modular unit is built, starting from the flat tubular configuration A, by means of an opening process, followed by a bottom closing process, performed with known processing means. At the same time, other known means takecare of folding the front tongues first, until theyreach a folding angle X. This is greather than 90°and is large enaugh to allow a sbsequent folding ofthe rear tongues 13 until they tresspass the edge of front tongues 33. Both tongues are then released, and they go back to fit together by action of their elastic reaction, upon a contact of their respective vertical edges. So they reach a position of stable equilibrium, (see Fig. 6), which depends on the amount of said elastic reactions; in that position, corresponding front tongues and rear tongues define the cited transversal dividing walls Y.

[0020] Referring now to the above mentioned different embodiment, the upper portion 13a of the rear tongues 13 is folded first, with a folding angle suitably greather than 90°; then, the front tongue 33, with a folding angle equal or slightly greather than 90°,and the lower portion 13b, with a folding angle closeto 90°, are folded at the same time. The above mentioned three tongues are then released, and the front tongue is inserted between the rear tongues 13a,13b.
In a similar way the lower portion 13b can be folded first, followed by the front tongue 33 and by the upper portion 13a. The result which is obtained in this case is functionally identical to the previous one, but each portion of the rear tongue 13 engages the corresponding front tongue 33 on opposite sideswith respect to the previous case.
Advantages that can be achieved with the present invention consist, first of all that in the modular unit intrinsically stable compartments 4 are obtained, which are able to receive the articles 3 and to hold them in a vertical position. Said articles 3 are moreover protected against bumps, apart from the modular unit filling percentage. Again, said compartments 4 are built without using any adhesive or other locking means, but only using natural, low environmental impact materials, like cardboard. For that reason the modular unit for containing phials 3 and similar articles can be made by easier industrial processes, thus achieving a greather efficiency and cheapness.

[0021] The present invention has been described, with reference to the enclosed drawings, only by way of example and without any limiting purpose and it is therefore evident that all the modifications can be made to the same invention, from whose which are suggested by its application and usage, and which are however deducible by the following Claims.

Claims

1. A modular unit for containing phials and similar articles, having a substantially parallelepipedal shape, which is able to be inserted, either individually or together with units of a similar type, into a container 1, said unit being open on its upper side and also comprising a rear wall 10, a front wall 30, two lateral walls 40,41 and a bottom 43; said modular unit being characterised in that it comprises: a plurality of front tongues 33 obtained in the mentioned front wall 30, to which said front tongues 33 are jointed by means of articulated joints defining substantially vertical axes, wherein each of the front tongues 33 can rotate, against the elastic reaction of the material forming its respective articulated joint, towards the inside of the same unit through a corresponding front window 31 made in the cited front wall 30; a plurality of rear tongues 13, obtained in the mentioned rear wall 10, to which said rear tongues 13 are jointed by means of corresponding articulated joints defining in turn substantially vertical axes, which are opposite to the vertical axes of said front tongues 33, each rear tongue 13 being able to rotate, against the elastic reaction of the material forming its respective articulated joint, towards the inside of the same unit through a corresponding rear window 11 made in the cited rear wall 10, the depth of corresponding front tongues 33 and rear tongues 13 being such that allow to the respective vertical edges to overlap because of said rotation of the same tongues by the action of said elastic reactions, in order to define corresponding transversal dividing walls Y, which cooperate with said walls 10,30,40,41 and bottom 43 in order to define an orderly series of compartments 4, which are able to receive respective articles 3.

2. A modular unit according to Claim 1, characterised in that the size of each one of said front tongues 33 and rear tongues 13 is equal to the size of its respective window and, moreover, said front tongues 33 and rear tongues 13 are bound by means of articulated joints to the respective front and rear walls at vertical edges of said windows.

3. A modular unit according to Claim 1, characterised in that each rear tongue 13 is horizontally split to an upper portion 13a and to a lower portion 13b, so that they can engage their respective front tongue 33 on both of its sides, holding it like scissors, to improve the stability of dividing walls Y.

4. A modular unit according to any of the previous Claims, characterised in that it is made of cardboard or of thin cardboard.

Drawing