Container

Aug. 15, 1944.

W. H. INMAN

CONTAINER

Filed April 15, 1942

2,355,729

Sheets-Sheet 1

<img file="US2355729A_D0001.tif" />

Aug. 15, 1944.

W. H. INMAN

CONTAINER

2,355,729

Filed April 15, 1942

Sheets-Sheet 2

<img file="US2355729A_D0002.tif" />

Patented Aug. 15, 1944

2,355,729

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,355,729

CONTAINER

William H. Inman, Newark, N. Y., assignor to Bloomer Bros. Company, Newark, N. Y., a corporation of New York

Application April 15,

Claims.

This invention relates to containers, or cartons, made from a blank of cardboard, or similar material, cut, scored and folded to form an erected container adapted, for example, for holding liquid or semi-liquid materials such as ice cream, oysters, and the like. One object of the invention is to provide such containers with improved handle and closure means formed efficiently and inexpensively from the carton material itself and without separately formed attachments of metal or other relatively expensive materials.

Another object is to provide a container of the character described having flap portions capable of being raised to serve as carrying handles, or of being compactly folded down flat across the top of the container to serve as top closure flaps when the containers are stacked together for transportation, or separately transported in a paper bag.

A further object is to provide such containers with improved handle and closure locking means each arranged to operate with maximum strength independently of any pull of one against the other.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank cut and scored for making a container embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the erected container with its top closure flaps in raised or open position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of parts shown in Fig. 2 but with the inner closure flaps folded down;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the closed container with flap portions raised for use as handles;

Fig. 5 is a similar view but showing the flap parts folded down;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the container, partly in section, arranged as in Fig. 4 but with the handle portions removed;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the container as arranged in Fig. 5, and

Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation on the line 8a—8a in Fig. 7.

The invention is embodied in the present instance, by way of illustration, in a type of container, or carton, known as a “pail,” and commonly employed for holding ice. cream, oysters

1942, Serial No. 439,074 (Cl. 229—26) and the like. It is preferably made from a blank such as shown in Fig. 1, cut and scored for folding to form a rectangular bottom 10 and tapered side walls ii, 12, 13 and (4. The adjacent side walls, δ at each corner of the carton, are integrally connected by folding portions 15 and IS having an interposed score line 17 for folding on each other.

One pair of opposite side walls 12 and 14 are integrally extended at their tops to provide inner 10 top closure flaps 18 and IS foldable about score lines 20 and 2I. Each of these inner flaps is preferably provided on each of its sides with relatively narrow wings, as at 22 and 23, foldable about score lines 24 and 25. The corner fold portions 15 adjacent each of the inner flaps 13 and 19 are extended outwardly to form auxiliary top flaps 26 and 27, foldable about score lines 28 and 29, and separated by cuts from the wings 22 and 23, similar parts being provided on the opposite side of 20 the blank adjacent the flap 19.

The other pair of side walls 11 and 13 are each extended outwardly to provide outer top closure flaps 30 and 31 folding about score lines 32 and 33. Each of these outer flaps has an interior portion cut out by lines of severance, as 34 and 35, having their inner ends terminating at the score line 32 and their outer ends connected by a cut 36 of appreciable width, as shown. This construction forms an outer handle section 37 and a separate, inner locking section 38. Section 38 has a cut extending transversely from its outer edge to its center line and the inner edge of the cut projects beyond the outer edge to provide a stop shoulder 40 for a purpose to be presently explained. A similar construction is employed for the opposite flap 31 with its handle section 41 and its locking section 42, except that the locking cut 43 of section 42 extends in a direction opposite to that of cut 39 of section 38. To hold the carton in erected position, side walls II and 13 are provided with glue areas as at 44 and 45 and certain of the folding corner portions have glue areas 46 and 47 for the same purpose, as more fully explained hereafter. Each of the handle sections 37 and 41 is preferably supplied with glue as at the areas 48 and 49 shown on section 37.

In folding the above blank to erect the carton, the side walls 11 to 14, inclusive, are folded upwardly as shown in Fig. 2. The folding portions 15 and 16 at each corner are folded outwardly as the side walls are erected and then folded, in overlapping relation, against the side walls II and 13 and secured in such folded position by the glue areas 44, 45 and 46. The auxiliary flaps

2,355,729 and 27, extending upwardly from the folding comer portions, are secured to the outer flaps 30 and 31 by the glue areas 48 and 49, the parts then occupying positions substantially as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, with the top flaps raised so that the contents of the carton are readily accessible.

To close the carton, the inner flaps 18 and 19 are folded inwardly and downwardly about the score lines 20 and 21, with their wings 22 and 23 folded upwardly and their outer ends overlapping, substantially as shown in Fig. 3, so as to effectively close the top of the carton, the wings and 23 serving to produce a tighter joint at the edges of flaps 18 and 19. If it is desired to leave the handle sections 30 and 31 raised for use in transporting the carton, the locking sections 38 and 42 are then folded inwardly and downwardly about the score lines 32 and 33 extending along the adjacent top corners of the carton, these locking sections being thus foldable independently of the handle sections. As these locking sections are folded downwardly, they engage and fold downwardly also the wings 22 and and the locking sections are brought down in overlapping relation with each other against the inner flaps 18 and 19. In approaching this position the rounded outer end of one locking section, as 38, is inserted through the transverse cut, as 43, in the opposite section until shoulder 40 is stopped by engagement with the inner end of the cut 43, when the oppositely extending cuts interengage each other, as best shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, and the sections are securely interlocked with each other across the inner flaps 18 and 19 so as to hold them tightly closed.

In the arrangement just described, the handle sections 30 and 31 will remain erect, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and may be folded about score lines 32 and 33, so as to extend in a substantially straight line inwardly and upwardly from their bases at the carton corners, into proximity with each other at their outer ends, to serve as handles for the carton, as shown in Fig. 4. In this arrangement, it will be noted that the handle sections are independent of the locking sections, so that the weight of the carton on the handle sections has no tendency to increase the tension on the locking sections nor to disengage nor tear them. At the same time, each of the handle sections extends in a substantially straight line from the top of the adjacent reinforced side wall to the top of the other section and the point at which they are grasped, thus applying the pull on the sections, not as a shearing but as a tensile stress. As the material of the blank is strongest in resistance to tensile pull, the handle sections, attached to their reinforced side walls, are adapted to afford a particularly strong and rugged construction, which is fully adequate to resist any usage to which the handles are likely to be subjected, while the top closure remains securely closed and locked.

In case it is desired to compactly stack a quantity of the cartons in a crate for transportation, or to carry the cartons separately in paper bags, as sometimes desired, the handle sections may be folded down and secured flat against the inner closure flaps 18 and 19, so as to form outer and additional closure flaps. In this arrangement, Figs. 5 and 7, the handle sections 37 and 41 are folded down, in overlapping relation with each other, against the inner flaps 18 and 19 and the locking sections 38 and 42 are then folded inwardly and downwardly over the outer flaps 37 «0 and 41 and interlocked with each other, as previously described, thus producing the securely closed, flat top condition shown in Fig. 5.

The invention thus accomplishes its objects. The handle sections are carried at the tops of the side walls which are reinforced by the folding portions 15 and 16, and are further reinforced by the auxiliary flaps 26 and 27. When used as handles they extend directly inwardly and upwardly from this reinforced base portion, so that the pull applied to them is a force of the tensional character which they are best adapted, to resist. The handle sections and locking sections are foldable and perform their functions independently of each other, so that there is no tendency of a pull on one to weaken the other. The ingenious arrangement of the parts enables the top of the carton to be closed and locked with the handle sections either raised for use in carrying the carton, or else compactly folded across the carton top under the locking sections so as to serve as outer and additional closure flaps. These advantageous features are furnished, furthermore, by integral portions of the material of the blank itself, formed economically as the blank is died out of the stock, thereby eliminating the necessity for separately formed and attached handle or fastening means formed of metal or other relatively expensive materials.

While the invention is herein disclosed in a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that such disclosure is intended in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts will occur to those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims.