The present invention relates to a carton for containing a plurality of articles and in particular to a carton which is provided with a shaped panel to increase the advertising effect of the carton.

It is known to provide cartons having apertures shaped to accommodate the articles they are intended to contain, GB 2346602 to Grimes and GB 1481559 to Von Nell and Jaekel, as well as WO0220367 are examples of this.

Cartons for packaging multiple articles, such as beverage or food containers are often formed from high-grade paperboard and have graphic printable surfaces, which are necessary for providing cartons with advertising printed on the carton. When using cartons constructed from a minimum amount of material the surface area available for printing such graphics may be reduced. Similarly, if low-grade paperboard material is used to construct a carton, the outer surfaces of the carton may not be printable with graphic or the quality may be poor. It is therefore desirable to provide a carton having other means of incorporating advertising and marketing material.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carton for containing a plurality of articles, such as yoghurt pots, the carton comprising a plurality of main panels for forming the carton top, side and bottom walls, the carton further comprising a shaped panel struck from at least one of said carton walls, the shaped panel being defined in part by a first aperture struck from the one carton wall and in part by an end edge of the one carton wall wherein the shaped panel provides means for enhancing the visual impact of the carton upon an observer.

Preferably, the first aperture is struck entirely from a side wall of the carton and is defined in part by a substantially vertical straight edge extending between the top wall and the bottom wall, which substantially vertical straight edge provides a frame of reference against which a user can discern the shaped panel.

Preferably, the end edge of the one carton wall is contoured to define a first edge of the shaped panel.

Preferably, first aperture is defined in part by a contoured edge which defines a second edge of the shaped panel.

Preferably, the shaped panel is shaped similarly to an outline of an article to be contained within the carton to emulate a feature of that article on said one carton wall.

Preferably, the shaped panel contains/displays a graphical representation of an object and at least part of an outline of the object is defined by one or both of the first aperture and the cut line.

Preferably, the first aperture and said end edge are spaced from each other and do not intersect such that the shaped panel remains integral with said one wall.

Preferably, the shaped panel is shaped to enhance the visual impact upon the observer of a message to be displayed upon the carton.

Preferably, the message to be displayed may be indicative of a quality of the contents of the carton said quality for example being a health benefit provided by the contents.

Preferably, the shaped panel is shaped to enhance a trademark or trade name displayed upon the carton.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

• Figure 1 shows a side panel of a carton which is provided with a shaped panel according to a first embodiment of the invention;
• Figure 2 shows a side panel of a carton which is provided with a shaped panel according to a second embodiment of the invention;
• Figure 3 shows a side panel of a carton which is provided with a shaped panel according to a third embodiment of the invention;
• Figure 4 shows a side panel of a carton which is provided with a shaped panel according to a fourth embodiment of the invention;
• Figure 5 shows a perspective view of the carton of Figure 5 loaded with articles;

A first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1 illustrates a panel 10 which may form a main panel of a carton, such as a side panel of a wraparound carton. Figure 5 illustrates a wraparound carton 450 comprising the main panel 10 of the fourth embodiment shown in Figure 4, the main panel 10 forms the side panel of the wraparound carton 450. The main panel 10 is vertically elongate as viewed in Figure. 1 and is formed of paperboard or other foldable sheet material such as a plastic sheet or the like. In the embodiments shown in figures 1-5 the main panel 10 is designed to form part of a carton 450 for packaging articles such as pots of foodstuff (e.g., yoghurt; pudding; processed fruits, vegetables or meet; etc.), beverage containers (e.g., cans, bottles, bricks, cups, glasses, etc.), wrapped or packaged dried leaves (e.g., tea bags, cigars, cigarettes, etc.), wrapped candies or the like.

Figure 5 shows a carton 450 containing sixteen articles C which are arranged in two tiers each tier comprising a 2x4 array of 8 yoghurt pots. It is however envisaged that other articles and/or different numbers of articles in different arrangements may be contained within the carton 450 and that the blank may therefore be sized accordingly. Furthermore, the wraparound carton 450 is shown by way of example only to illustrate the type of carton in which the main panels 10, 110, 310, 410 of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated.

The main panel 10 will now be described in detail with specific reference to Figure 1. The other embodiments of the present invention, illustrated in Figures 2-5, each contain similar features to those of the first embodiment. Such features are depicted by similar reference numerals in the figures, but for ease of understanding the reference numerals in subsequent embodiments have been raised by a factor of 100, 300 or 400.

Main panel 10 may form a complete carton wall or may only form part of a composite carton wall, when incorporated in a set up carton (such as that shown in Figure 5). Main panel 10 comprises an upper edge 28 and a lower edge 30. It is envisaged that in a setup carton the upper and lower edges 28, 30 may be defined by a hinged connection between the main panel 10 and a top wall and a bottom wall of the carton respectively such that the main panel 10 provides a side wall of the carton. This is illustrated in Figure 5 where main panel 410, shown in Figure 5, forms a side wall of a wraparound carton 450 and the main panel 410 is hingedly connected between a top wall 428 and a bottom wall 430. The other side wall 429 of the carton 450 is hingedly connected between the top and bottom walls 428, 430. As a result, the walls 410, 428, 429, 430 form the carton 450 of a tubular structure.

Returning to the main panel 10 of Figure 1, a shaped panel 18 is formed from the main panel 10, the remainder of which panel is denoted as a graphic portion 16. In Figure 1, it can be seen that the shaped panel 18 is formed from the main panel 10, and the outline of the shaped panel 18 is defined in part by an aperture 20 and in part by an end edge 26 of the main panel 10. The other opposed end edge of the main panel 10 is designated by reference numeral "27". The graphic portion of the main panel 10 is defined between the aperture 20 and the other end edge 27 of the main panel 10. The first aperture 20 comprises a substantially vertical straight edge 22 which extends along a notional line between the top side edge 28 of the graphic portion 16 and the bottom side edge 30. This vertical straight edge 22 serves to define a frame of reference against which an observer can distinguish the shape of the shaped panel 18.

The first aperture 20 is also defined by a first contoured edge 24, which edge 24 also defines an edge of the shaped panel 18. In this embodiment the shaped panel 18 has an outline shape which represents a cartoon character's head, such as a monkey or dinosaur. The shaped panel 18 is further defined by a second contoured edge provided by the end edge 26, which edge 26 is also shaped to depict a portion of the character's head. The shaped panel 18 remains integral with the graphic portion 16 by the spacing and separation between the cut edge 26 and the aperture 20.

It can be seen by referring to Figures 1-5 that the shaped panel is formed solely from one panel forming part of the carton. In the embodiments shown this is the side wall, however in alternative embodiments this may be the top, bottom or end panel. Turning now to Figure 2, 3, 4 and 5 it can be seen that the end edge 126, 326, 426 and the aperture 120, 320, 420 both extend substantially between the top and the bottom walls of a setup carton.

Figure 3 shows that the end edge 326 and the aperture 320 in combination define a shaped panel shaped to represent a downwardly pointing arrow. The shaped panel 18 is formed having a symmetrical shape.

It will further be appreciated that removal of a portion of the main panel 10 to define the shaped panel 18 has the effect of exposing to view at least part of the contents of the carton 450. The location of the aperture and the contoured end edges may be selected so as to expose a specific portion of the carton contents so as to cooperate with the message enhancing quality of the shaped panel 18.

The shaped panel 18 forms a shaped panel which may serve to enhance the visual impact of the carton upon a potential purchaser. The shaped panel may highlight or enhance or otherwise represent a message which it is desired to be conveyed to the purchaser. For example the message may be that the contents of the package have some health benefit such as weight control, cholesterol reduction, immune system enhancement or intestinal health benefit. Such a message may be printed on or otherwise carried by one or more of the articles to be packaged in the carton of the invention or by the graphic portion or other portion (including the top, bottom and side walls) of the carton of the invention. Alternatively the shaped panel may be shaped to enhance a trademark, trade name or a cartoon image to be printed or otherwise displayed on one or more of the articles or on the graphic portion or other portion of the carton.

It will be appreciated that any of the embodiments shown in Figures 1-4 may form part of a carton as shown in Figure 5. Turning to the construction of the carton 450 from a blank (not shown), a series of sequential folding and gluing operations are required, which preferably can be performed in a straight line machine, so that the carton 450 and/or blank are not required to be rotated or inverted to complete the construction. The folding process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing requirements. It is envisaged that the carton 450 will be formed around a group of articles C. However in cartons other than the wraparound carton 450 shown in Figure 5 the carton may be formed into a tubular structure prior to loading of the articles C.

In other embodiments of the invention it is envisaged that other articles may be contained within the carton and that the invention is not limited to a carton, or a blank for forming a carton, for containing yoghurt pots arranged in two tiers or 2x4 arrays. Accordingly alterations may be made to accommodate other articles.

It can be appreciated that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, for example, the size and shape of the panels may be adjusted to accommodate articles of differing size or shape. The shaped panel may be shaped according to a variety of user requirements. Other variations may also be made within the scope of the invention.

It will be recognised that as used herein, directional references such as "top", "bottom", "front", "back", "end", "side", "inner", "outer", "upper" and "lower" do not limit the respective panels to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another. Any reference to hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only; indeed it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or more of the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line without departing from the scope of the invention.