Paperboard container

April 13, 1954 j. _w main 2,675,166

PAPERBOARD CONTAINER Filed July 9, 1952

<img file="US2675166A_D0001.tif" />

Patented Apr. 13, 1954

2,675,166

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

Claims.

^ΤΙ1Λ ^improved paperboard container comprising the present invention has been primarily designed for use in connection with the packaging and shipping of fruit and other edible perishable goods. The container is, however capable of other uses and the same may, with or without modification, be employed for the packaging and shipment of staple goods, whether edible or otherwise.

It is among the principal objects of the present ^proy^{lde a} Paperboard container, preferably formed from a single blank of the paperboard material, which, when set up or erected for use, presents top and bottom surface areas that cooperate in a novel and efficient manner with counterpart bottom and top surface areas respectively on adjacent superimposed containers for locking the containers together in stacked relationship.

^m?^{re s}Pfe^cific but equally important object f the invention is to provide a container of this which.the upper open rim thereof, m addition to constituting one element of a locking assembly as outlined above, also provides a novel means whereby when two or more containers are stacked the bottom of an overlying container will remain out of contact with the ^g°^{ods ntal}P^ed in an underlying container, even when the latter is filled to capacity.

Yet another object of the invention is to pro^c°^ntainer which the stacking areas P™]™?^{ed at the} top and bottom of superimposed containers are reinforced against vertical thrust /X™ ^rlgldity °f two spaced vertically disposed paperboard panels which, in combination constitute an end wall of the container.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a container of this sort in which the inner oi the two thrust-receiving panels referred to ?^boyc ^con5titutes _a retaining wall and barrier ^contents of the container to prevent the latter from coming into contact with the fingers of the stacker or other handler when they are vw°^JH^C-^ed^^r°^{Ugh a hand hoIe} conveniently provided in the outer of the two thrust-receiving panels.

™ ^{these and otber} objects in view, which ^Λ?®^0οηιθ “^ore.^readily apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination nan Jnl^angei?^leni °^{f parts shown in} the accompanying single sheet of drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a partially erected contemer constructed in accoXncwith principles of the present invention;

2,675,166 paperboard container James W. Main, Bellevue, Wash., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, III. a corporation of Delaware ’’

Application July 9,1952, Serial No. 297,859 (Cl. 229—38) ^{2 is a} bottom view of the container shown m Fig. 1. in this view, portions of the composite container bottom have been broken away to reveal more clearly the nature of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a pair of the containers, owing the same in stacked relationship; and vig· 4 is a plan view of a blank from which the container of Fig. 1 is formed.

' ⁿ?^{W to the} drawings in detail and ^K1§'· ^the improved container ofT Λ t ^present invention is in the form nnrff»^ectangular, open-top structure having composite side and end walls 10 and 12 respectively and a composite bottom 14. Each end wall in is comprised of an outer vertical panel 16 IS an inner vertical panel 18 arranged in spaced relation and connected together by an upper horirmrt^bof^dth^{ng WaU} °^{r Panel 20 which} constitutes as a ShnL 1 ^upp®^r θ^Ρ®^{η rim of the} container fhc b -j,^{As W1U be} Pointed out subsequently mairder^gof th^{WalIS 28} -^{are elevated} above the reSid ^{th open} ™ Portion of the container a? the ton M³⁰“^parat7^{eIy wide} backing areas ar trie top of the container as well as servin? contaffi£^abott^{PS f}°r supporting a superimposed , °i^a θ¹ bottom and maintaining the same elevated above the level of the contents of the conThl ^]tn^{ter iS fllled t0} capacity.

an^{de Walls 0 are llk}ewise each formed of foteSer toTh “ ““θ¹'^{paneI 24} connected to^ethei by a bridging wall or panel 2S the lattudtoa^ ^s.^om,^{ewbat less} in extent than the longitudinal extent of the side wall 19 as a whole and ' tog°naiefs^t2fl^{P0Sed the plane of the bridg}’ ²⁰ associated with the end walls 12

2?and 26^e«ff h* ^eIevatT ^{of the} bridging panels u and 26 affords a ventilating void or opening lality of the containers are stacked upon one another as well as maintaining the bottom of tento^Pnf^{r c}°?^{tainer out of} contact with the confilFedtoP^JT¹· container when the latter is mieq to capacity.

hanrttoflA ^all^anels 16 are each formed with a end wan ηΛ ₁₍ο^{&amp;υΒΘ oi the fact that} the inner end wall panels (8 are imperforate, the fingers hiles^B^p’ ^Whel? ^projected through the hand contents’th^{mamtalned out} of contact with the contents of the container.

The container briefly described above is formed ^unit^ary blank 32 shown in Fig. 4. The ³? ^mvoJ^ves in its general organization the four outer side and end wall panels 16 and 22 respectively which are arranged in alignment in the blank and which are connected by hinge lines 34. One of the outer side wall panels 'll of the blank 32 is provided at its outer or free end with an attachment tab or flap 36 adapted to be secured to an edge region of the outer end wall panel IS at the other end of blank 32.

Each outer end wall panel 16 has hmgedly connected thereto along a hinge line 38 an inner bottom panel or flap 48 and each outer side wall panel 22 similarly has hingedly connected thereto along a hinge line 42 an outer bottom panel, the latter two panels being designated at 44 and 4b respectively. The panels 44 and 46 are designed for interlocking engagement with each other and, accordingly, the panel 48 is provided with an elongated slot 48 while the panel 44 is provided with a cooperating tongue 49 capable of being received through the slot 48 when the panels 44 and 46 are brought into overlapping relation during setting up of the container. The panels 44 and 46 are of slightly less longitudinal extent than are the side wall panels 22 to which they are hinged in order that a locking effect will be produced between adjacent containers when one container is stacked upon another, all m a manner that will be set forth in detail presently.

The inner side wall panels 24 are connected to the bridging panels 26 along hinge lines 50 while these latter panels are connected to the outer side wall panels along hinge lines 52.

wall panel 24 is severed along transverse lines 54 and longitudinal lines 56 to provide a cut-away corner portion 58 which is divided by a fold line 60 into rigid and bendable sections 62 and^64~respectively for purposes that wi_-------subsequently. , . - ,

The edge portions of each side panel indicated at 25 are defined from the major portion of the panel by crease lines 25α. The portions 25 are adapted to be folded at a right angle to the walls 24 so that the portions 25 will lie flat on the bottom of the container. The ends of portions 25 are preferably cut away as indicated at 25b, 25b for a purpose which will later be described.

The inner end wall panels 18 are connected to the bridging panels 29 along hinge lines 66 and these latter panels are connected to the outer end wall panels along hinge lines 68. Each end wall panel 18 is provided with bendable edge regions or friction flaps 70 which exist by virtue of fold lines 72 and severance lines 74. The friction flaps 70 cooperate with the inner faces of the inner side wall panels 24 for holding the container in its erected condition as will be explained presently.

In the setting up or erecting of the container of Fig. 1 from the blank of Fig. 4, the blank is folded along the transverse fold lines 34 and 35 to bring the attachment flap or tab 36 and an edge of the remote end wall panel 16 into overlapping relation and these parts are then secured together in any suitable manner, as for example by stapling as indicated at 76. It is to be noted that the staples 76 constitute the only positive fastening means employed in connection with the present container. Obviously, if desired, the staples 76 may be omitted and the attachment tab may be applied to the end wall panel by gluing or the like. This portion of the operation is ordinarily carried out in the container manufacturing plant.

After the folding operation just described, the container may be squared up, the two bottom wall panels 40 may be folded along hinge lines 38 up and into the container body and the inter10

Tffalso be set forth 35 operation taking place just prior to complete f old2,675,Ιββ the panels 40 and the tongue 49 inserted through the slot 48. These latter panels appear as indicated in Fig. 2 after they and panels 48 have been restored to closely overlying relationship. Because of the fact that the longitudinal extent of the interlocking panels 44 and 46 is less than the longitudinal extent of the adjacent side wall panels 22, the underneath faces of the bottom panels 40 will be exposed along regions designated at 78 in Fig. 2. These exposed regions, as will be more particularly outlined, constitute stacking areas which are designed for cooperation with the bridging panels 20 on an adjacent container when the two containers are stacked in superimposed relation as shown in Fig. 3.

To complete the assembly or setting up of the container, the inner side wall panels 24 are moved into positions of parallelism with the outer side wall panels 22 by folding the partially erected 20 blank along the lines 50 and 52. Thereafter, the inner end wall panels 18 may be moved into approximate parallelism with the outer end wall panels 18 while at the same time the edge regions or friction flaps 70 are bent at an angle to the 25 plane of the panels 18 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 so that they bear against the panels 24 after the container has been completely erected. The lower edges of the panels 18 are preferably moved &gt;π τ,ο tne umei sine along the inturned portions 25, 25 until they snap Each inner side 30 in behind the cut-away edges 25b, 25b thereby positively locking the portions 18, 18 m place.

The bendable sections 64 are turned inwardly as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and underlie the end regions of the bridging panels 20, this, bending ing of the end wall portions of the container.

With the container thus erected, it will be seen that when one container is placed upon another similar container in stacking relation as shown in 40 Fig. 2, the rigid sections 62 of the outer side wall panels 22 of the lower container, in combination with the bridging wall panel sections 29 and adjacent paperboard regions, constitute in effect a pair of pedestals at opposite ends of the lower 45 container for supporting the upper container thereon. The stacking areas 7 8 of the upper container will rest upon the bridging wall panels 20 of the lower container while the interlocking panels 44 and 46 will seat within the void existing 50 between the two pedestal portions. Since the longitudinal extent of the interlocking panels 44 and 46 is approximately equal to or slightly less than the intervening distance between the verti- cal inner end wall panels IS, and since the com55 bined thickness of the overlapping portions of the interlocking panels 44 and 46 is of an appreciable nature, the extreme end edges of these overlapping panels are presented to the opposing inner faces of the inner end wall panels 18 so that 00 little if any shifting of one stacked container longitudinally on another container is possible.

The invention is not to be considered as limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this speci; 65 flcation as various changes in the details of com , struction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Only insofar as the invention has particularly been pointed out • in the accompanying claims is the same to be 70 limited.