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(11) | EP 1 454 838 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | A package having a structure which is associable to a bag, for housing objects in a stable position |
| (57) The package (10) comprises a structure (12) made of cardboard or a like semirigid
material and comprising a series of flaps which are assemblable into a prismatic form,
which can be associated to a plastic or paper bag (11) to create a container and a
support which can be used for the secure and stable transport of objects. The structure
(12), initially a flat sheet (15), is located in an unassembled position in the bag
(11) when the package is stored, before use. The structure is later assembled at moment
of use by joining the first end flap (19) and the second end flap (20) of the flat
sheet (15). The cardboard structure is usable independently of the bag (11). |
[0001] The invention relates to package comprising a cardboard structure, or a structure made of another semi-rigid material, which can be associated with a plastic or paper bag, for housing objects securely.
[0002] The invention also concerns plastic or paper bags having an internal support or anchoring structure for objects, as well as a flat development consonant with the shape of the structure.
[0003] Specifically, though not exclusively, the invention is usefully applied for the transport of bottles in a plastic or paper bag, as well as for holding the bottles in a steady position during and after transport.
[0004] At present, when drinks bottles, in particular wine bottles, are sold to the public, the packaging of the products is done using special cardboard containers, provided with holes or handles, which keep the bottles (packed side-by-side) steady.
[0005] The packaging can be done in the production stage or at moment of sale, using various containers according to the number of bottles to be inserted in the package. Therefore, there is the need to keep a considerable variety (and consequently a large number) of the containers handy.
[0006] The containers are also customised by the producer of the bottles, for publicity reasons. These exhibit numerous drawbacks, however, connected with the fact that they are poorly adaptable to modem evolved printing techniques and, especially, that the advertising message has a very short span of use, as the container cannot be re-used and will in effect only exist for as long as it takes to get the bottle from the point of sale to its destination.
[0007] The main aim of the present invention is to propose a packaging container which enables transport and housing in general of bottles, jugs and the like, stably and inside the type of bags normally used for shopping.
[0008] A further aim of the invention is to provide a cardboard or similar material structure which is easily assemblable to stably support objects of various types, both inside bags and independently.
[0009] A further aim is to provide a container, in particular for ordered transport of loosely-sold goods, which container also has a publicity aim.
[0010] The above aims are all achieved by a packaging, especially for singly or loosely-sold objects, which comprises a structure made of cardboard or a similar semi-rigid material, which is associable to a plastic or paper bag, for stably housing the objects. The structure is parallelepiped and can be internally anchored in the bag to create a structure of a proper shape and size for housing the objects to be transported in adjacent and non-interfering positions. The structure is also assemblable independently and separately of the bag and can therefore be used as a support, either temporary or long-term, for the objects. The structure of the packaging, made of cardboard or a similar semirigid material, is constituted by a series of folding flaps, which are folded together, with the first and last of the flaps being joined together. The structure is insertable, in its pre-assembly flat form, in a bag so that it is of no encumbrance previous to use. One of the flaps, destined to constitute the top surface of the parallelepiped structure inside the bag, is provided with openings having peripheral and regular small tooth-like indentations for housing objects destined for transport and/or storing.
[0011] The structure can also be provided with a surface located at an intermediate height of the parallelepiped assembled package, for supporting objects which are shorter or the same height as the assembled package.
[0012] Advantageously the flaps destined to constitute the vertical walls of the parallelepiped package exhibit different heights, so that the flap comprised between them, destined to become the surface in which the housing openings are afforded, is arranged at an inclination, useful in particular when the structure is arranged horizontally as a permanent support for the objects, i.e. when they are not simply being transported.
[0013] The above-described package of the invention proposes a series of advantages and functions which are extremely innovative with respect to packages at present in use, with reference both to secure transport in a normal plastic (or similar) shopping bag, and to re-use of the package and the shopping bag both together and as separate entities.
[0014] Further advantages relate to improvement of the effect of the publicity message connected to the package, as it is possible to use especially evolved printing processes on the bags, with respect to the processes which can be used on prior-art bags; also, thanks to the longer working life of the packaging, the resulting advertisements will be on view for a longer time.
[0015] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will better emerge from the detailed description that follows of two preferred but non-exclusive embodiments of the invention, illustrated purely by way of nonlimiting example in the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:
figure 1 is a perspective view of the package of the invention in a configuration of normal use;
figure 2 is a special configuration of use of the internal structure of the package of figure 1;
figure 3 shows a flat configuration of the structure illustrated in figure 2;
figure 4 is the package of figure 1 in a configuration in which the package can be stocked and stored;
figure 5 is a further embodiment of the package of the invention;
figures 6a and 6b show the components of a flat configuration of the structure of figure 5;
figure 7 shows the package of figure 5 in a configuration in which it can be stocked and stored.
[0016] With reference to figure 1, 10 denotes in its entirety a package, in particular for drinks bottles. The package comprises a bag 11 internally of which a structure 12 is located, which structure 12 is made of cardboard and which in the present embodiment is prismatic with a trapezoid transversal section. The structure 12 totally occupies the lower part of the bag 11 and superiorly exhibits circular openings 13 in which bottles 14 or other similarly-shaped objects can be inserted.
[0017] The structure 12 is obtained by a joining of the two end flaps of the succession of flaps the flat cardboard is comprised of, which can be seen clearly in figure 3, where, as is clearly visible, the flat sheet 15 of cardboard comprises a succession of four main flaps 16, 17, 18 and 19, each being of a same length as the width of the bag 11. Each of the flaps is described and separated from the other flaps by transversal fold lines, while an end flap 20 is used to assemble the structure 12, being destined to enter a slot 21 afforded in a first end flap 19 which will be opposite to the second end flap 20 when the structure 12 is being assembled from the flat sheet 15.
[0018] The first end flap 19 is destined to constitute the bottom surface of the structure 12 when located in the paper or plastic bag 11. The first end flap 19 is conformed in such a way as to be coupled with the bag 11 and to be anchored 12 thereto. The first end flap 19 exhibits two lateral cuts 22, 22', which enable two lateral appendages 23, 23' to be inserted in folds 24 formed laterally in the bottom surface of the bag 11 when the bag 11 is manufactured. The bag 11 is obtained from cut tubular material and is heat-welded at a point which will constitute the bottom surface thereof.
[0019] The V-shaping of the lateral cuts 22, 22' eases location of the first end flap 19 in the bottom surface of the bag 11, facilitating the insertion of the lateral zones of the first end flap 19 in the triangular folds 24 of the bag, giving the conformation shown in figure 1 of the drawings.
[0020] Two of the flaps (16 and 18 in the figure) constitute the lateral surfaces of the structure 12 when the structure 12 is used as part of the package 10, while when the structure 12 is laid on its side to be used independently of the bag 11 the two flaps constitute the rest surface and the top surface thereof (see figure 2). One of the flaps, in the figure denoted by 16, is longer than the other flap 18, causing the frontal surface 17 of the structure 12 to be inclined, favouring the location and extraction of the bottles 14 in the use configuration of the structure as shown in figure 2.
[0021] Stability of the bottles in the structure 12 is obtained thanks to the presence of indentations 25 along the edges of the circular openings 13 for housing the bottles.
[0022] Figure 4 shows the configuration of the package which can be obtained simply after having inserted the flat sheet 15 of the structure 12 in the bag 11 and after having jointed the end flap 19 of the flat sheet 15 to the bottom of the bag 11. The assembly thus obtained is folded on itself in the configuration of figure 4, to limit the overall volume of the package 10 for storing and stocking before use. This will occur after the structure 12 has been assembled internally of the bag 11 by inserting the second end flap 20 of the flat sheet 15 into the slot 21 of the opposite first end flap 19.
[0023] A similar operation is carried out for the embodiment shown in figure 5. In this case the package 30 is dedicated to the housing of objects 50 of smaller sizes, which, however, must be stably positioned in the bag 31 without touching one another.
[0024] The structure 32, in this case, has an exactly parallelepiped shape and comprises an intermediate plane 33, which constitutes a rest surface for objects housed in the openings present in the top surface 34 of the structure 32. The openings can be of various shapes and variously arranged, They can be circular 35, or rectangular 36, as in the illustrated embodiment, and can be provided with indentations or wings 37 arranged around edges of the openings in order to afford a stable location of the objects.
[0025] This structure 32 is also obtainable from a flat sheet 43 with a succession of flaps, 38, 39,40,41,42, illustrated in flat form in figures 6a and 6b. A further flap 44 is glued, centrally superposed, to the succession of flaps in such a way that when the structure 32 is assembled the flap 44 folds according to fold lines thereof 45 to create an intermediate plane 33 on which the objects inserted in the superior openings 35 and 36 can be rested. Obviously the flap 44 can be omitted in other embodiments of the invention.
[0026] Note that also in this embodiment the end flap 38, destined to be the bottom surface of the structure 32, affords lateral cuts 46, 46', which enable the lateral portions 47, 47' of the flap to be joined in the triangular folds 48 formed in the bottom of the bag during the manufacture thereof.
[0027] Also note that the shaping of the lateral cuts 46, 46' is in this embodiment simply straight, not specially shaped, as the joint with the flap 38 of the bottom surface of the bag can be carried out easily, given the small size of the flap 38. The structure 32 is assembled at moment of use of the package 30, starting from the storage configuration of figure 7, simply by folding the flat sheet 43 until the end flap 42 is located beneath the end flap 38, between the end flap 38 and the bottom surface of the bag 31.
[0028] In this embodiment too the cardboard or similar material internal structure 32 can be extracted from the package 30 and used independently to stably support transported objects. The bag 31 can thus be re-used, separately of the structure 32.
[0029] A perforated line between the end flap 38 and the flap 39 enables flaps 39, 40 and 41 and the end flap 42 to be detached, leaving only end flap 38 (used as the bottom surface) inside the package.
[0030] The bag 31 can also be re-used together with the internal structure 32 for the transport of like objects.
[0031] Regardless of type of use the bag is guaranteed a longer working life, and therefore so is the advertising message printed on the bag, with undoubted economical advantages which go to add to the other advantages, such as rationality and functional efficiency of the package of the present invention. These characteristics and advantages are conserved in other embodiments of the invention.
[0032] The overall conformation of the package could be changed, both in size and form of the internal structure, in accordance with the type of objects it is destined to house. Obviously the shape and number of the openings for housing the objects could be changed according to need.
[0033] The bag can be made of plastic or paper, variously decorated or printed on according to various printing techniques, and in the case of a paper bag, the structure could be glued to the bag itself. In the accompanying figures of the drawings the bag is indicated by a dotted line only in order to improve understanding of the drawings themselves.
1. A package, in particular for objects sold in single loose units, characterised in that it comprises a structure made of cardboard or a like semirigid material, which is
associable to a bag made of plastic or paper or a like material, the structure having
a parallelpiped shape and being internally anchorable to the bag to create inside
the bag a container of a shape and size which is useful for housing the objects to
be transported in positions which are adjacent but affording no interference between
the objects.
2. The package (10, 30) of claim 1, characterised in that the structure (12, 32) is assemblable independently and separately of the bag (11,
31) and can constitute a temporary or permanent support for the objects.
3. The package (10, 30) of claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the structure (12, 32) is constituted by a succession of variously-shaped flaps which
are described by scored lines and which together constitute a flat sheet (15, 43).
4. The package of the preceding claim, characterised in that a flap (17, 40) of the succession of flaps is destined to constitute an upper surface
of the structure (12, 32) internally of the bag (11, 31), the flap (17, 40) being
provided with openings, the openings being of a size which is useful for housing the
objects to be transported.
5. The package of the preceding claim, characterised in that the openings are circular (13, 35) or rectangular (36) and are provided with indentations
(25) or with wings (37) arranged along circumferential edges thereof in order to aid
stable positioning of the objects in the structure.
6. The package of claim 3, characterised in that a first end flap (19, 38) of the succession of flaps is destined to constitute a
bottom surface of the structure (12, 32) internally of the bag (11,31), the first
end flap (19, 38) bring provided with lateral cuts (22, 22', 46, 46') which are shaped
in such a way as to enable appendages (23, 23', 47, 47') of the first end flap (19,
38) to be inserted internally of triangular folds (24, 24', 48, 48') formed laterally
in a bottom surface of the bag (11, 31) during manufacture of the bag (11, 31), the
bag being formed from a tubular matrix.
7. The package of the preceding claim, characterised in that the cuts (22, 22') are V-shaped, with a side of the V-shaped cut being parallel to
an external edge of the first end flap (19) and another edge of the V-shaped cut being
inclined internalwise of the first end flap (19) and being curved.
8. The package of claim 3, characterised in that the first end flap (19) and a second end flap (20) of the succession of flaps are
joined together when the structure is assembled.
9. The package of claim 3, characterised in that the structure (32) comprises an intermediate plane (33) on which the objects (40)
rest, the objects being housed in the openings (35, 36) present in the upper surface
(34) of the structure (32).
10. The package of claim 3, characterised in that the flat sheet (15, 43) of the structure (12, 32) is inserted in the bag ( 11, 31
) and is anchored, by the first end flap (19, 38) to the bottom surface of the bag
(11,31), the bag (11, 31) and the flat sheet (15, 43) being folded flat together in
order to limit a volume of the package when stored before use.
11. A flat sheet of a structure made of cardboard or a like semirigid material, characterised in that it comprises variously-shaped flaps described by fold lines which are transversal
to the flat sheet, a first and a second end flaps of the flaps being couplable to
each other when the flat sheet is assembled to form a prismatic structure which can
be inserted in a bag; at least one of the first or second end flaps being insertable
in the bag; at least one of the flaps being couplable to a bottom surface of the bag;
at least one of the flaps affording openings having suitable size and shape for housing
and transporting objects or for housing objects which are sold in single loose units.
12. A package, in particular for objects which can be sold in loose units, comprising
a structure made of cardboard or a like semirigid material, which is associable to
a bag made of plastic or paper or a like material, and a flat sheet constituting the
structure, according to the preceding claims and according to what is described and
illustrated with reference to the figures of the enclosed drawings and for the set
aims.