Snap-top display carton

2,984,401

May 16, 1961

F. W. HERKENDER

SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON

Filed June 18, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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May 16, 1961

2,984,401

F. W. HERKENDER

SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON

Sheets-Sheet 2

Filed June 18, 1959

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2,984,401

Patented May 16, 1961

United States Patent Omce

2,984,401

SNAP-TOP DISPLAY CARTON

Frank W. Herkender, Norwalk, Ohio, assignor to The General Carton Company, Norwalk, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio

Filed June 18, 1959, Ser. No. 821,131 W

Claims. (Cl. 229—41)

This invention relates to cartons of the type made from ¹⁵a foldable blank of sheet material such as paperboard, and it has special reference to a carton having a normally tab-secured cover panel which may be released to open position by pressure applied to the edge panels of the carton.

The object of the invention is to provide a carton suitable for the fully or partially enclosed packaging of various commodities in a manner suitable for counter, pin-board, rack, or other display so that the carton ₂₅packages may be handled by customers and readily opened for inspection of their contents, and re-closed and restored to display position if the contents are not of the type desired by the customers.

To this end the invention comprises a carton having ₃₀side panels, edge panels joining said side panels in relatively displaceable condition, a cover panel, and an end panel, the cover panel being hinged to one of the side panels at one edge and having an opposite free edge provided with offstanding tab means for securing engage- ₃₅ment with an aperture in the other side panel, the edge panels preferably being of inverted bellows form and serving, upon application to them of opposed pressure, as when gripped between the thumb and fingers, to collapse toward each other to thus forcibly relatively dis- ₄₀place, or separate, the side panels outwardly and thereby withdraw the tab means from the aperture in the aforesaid other side panel and release the cover panel to open, or openable, condition for inspection and removal of the carton contents; and the invention comprises, further, a carton, having the aforedefined characteristics, which may be constructed from a flat blank folded and secured in flat-folded, erectable form in which the end panel is provided with a medial folding score to accommodate it to the desired flat-folded assembly, and further, ₅θ the carton may be provided with window, or display, aperture means, and with an end opening through which a part of the packaged commodity, such as the handle of a brush, may protrude, and with means whereby it may be suspended for display purposes, all as will be .. explained hereinafter more particularly and finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated. _ ₆₀

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the inner face of a sheet material blank for forming one preferred type of carton according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the flat-folded carton formed from the folded and secured blank of Fig. 1, ea

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the erected and closed carton of Fig. 2, as seen from the side opposite that shown in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the other side of the carton, .

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the application of pressure to the edge walls to cause snapopening of the cover panel,

Fig. 6 is a face view of the carton of Figs. 1 to 5 with a commodity, such as a number of small batteries, packaged therein and displayed through the window opening, δ Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the filled carton of Fig.

in which the contents are indicated in broken lines.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the inner face of a sheet material blank for forming another preferred type of carton according to the invention, this type being particularly adapted to the packaging of paint brushes,

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the flat-folded and secured blank of Fig. 8,

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the erected and closed carton of Fig. 9 as seen from the side opposite that shown in Fig. 9,

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10, but showing the other side of the carton,

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the opposite end of the carton of Figs. 8 to 11, and ²⁰ Fig. 13 is a plan view of this carton with a paint brush packaged therein.

Although the cartons shown in Figs. 1 to 7 and 8 to 13, respectively, illustrate the invention as adapted primarily for the packaging of two particular commodities, ²⁵ it will be apparent that the size, proportions, and structural details of the carton may be so modified as to adapt it for the packaging of a variety of other commodities.

Having reference to the embodiment of the invention ³⁰ shown in Figs. 1 to 7, it will be seen that the blank, Fig. 1, comprises side panels 1 and 2 which will normally be at the front and back sides, respectively, of the carton, a cover panel 3, and an end panel 4. The front side panel 1 is provided with edge panels 5 and 6 joined to it ³⁵ along folding scores 7 and 8, respectively, and the edge panel 5 is joined to one edge of the back side panel 2 along a folding score 9. The opposite edge of the back side panel 2 is provided with a glue flap 10 joined to it along a folding score 11. The end panel 4 is joined ⁴⁰ at one edge to the front side panel 1 along a folding score 12 and its opposite edge is provided with a glue flap 13 defined by a folding score 14. The edge panels 5 and 6, and the end panel 4, are provided with medial folding scores 15, 16 and 17, respectively.

The back side panel 2 carries an extension 18 preferably provided with a hole 19 by which the package of the carton may be suspended in display position upon a pin-board or rack, or the like, and in substantial alignment with a folding score 20 along which the cover panel 50 3 is hinged to the front side panel 1, the back side panel 2 is provided with a slit 21 and aperture 22 for the separable engagement of securing tab means 23 offstanding from the free edge 24 of the cover panel 3.

If desired, the front side panel 1 may be provided with 55 a window opening 25 through which the carton contents can be viewed, as shown in Fig. 6.

The blank of Fig. 1 will be assembled and secured in flat-folded form, as shown in Fig. 2, by folding the back side panel 2 upon the medial folding score 15 of the edge 60 panel 5 flat against, and in register with, the front side panel 1. With adhesive applied to the outer half of the edge panel 6, and to the glue flap 13 of the end panel 4, as indicated by stippling in Fig. 1, these elements are folded upon their respective medial folding scores 16 ⁶⁵ and 17 and secured, respectively, flat against the glue flap 10 of the back side panel 2 (see broken lines, Fig. 2) and against the outer face of this back side panel.

When the carton is erected for the reception of the commodity to be packaged, it is merely necessary to ap. ⁷⁰ ply opposed pressure to the opposite edges of the medially folded edge panels 5 and 6 to thereby cause the front and back side panels 1 and 2 to be displaced from each

2,084,401 ³ other in substantial parallelism, and after the carton has been filled the cover panel will be folded upon its folding score 20 to closed position with its securing tab means 23 extending, through the slit 21 and aperture 22 and the cover panel thus secured, as shown in Figs; 3, 4, 6 and 7.

As thus erected it will be seen that the carton is· furnished at its edges with deformable means provided by the inverted bellows-like, laterally-projecting, angular arrangement of the two longitudinal halves of the edge panels 5 and 6, and that in the presence of opposed pressure exerted upon the thus disposed edge panels of the filled and closed carton the side panels 1 and 2 will be relatively displaced and the securing tab means 23 withdrawn from the slit 21 and aperture 22 to permit the cover panel 3 to snap open upon its hinge 20, as shown in Fig. 5.

By this manipulation a customer may select a package from the display and open it for inspection of its contents. He may thereafter re-close it by again applying pressure to the edge panels, closing the cover panel and holding it closed while releasing the pressure to thus permit the securing tab means 23 to re-enter the slit 21 and aperture 22 in closure-securing condition.

In the modified embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 8 to 13 the essential panel elements of the carton are similar in basic structure, assembly and function to those of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 7, and have been given similar reference characters.

However, to properly adapt the carton to the packaging of paint brushes (Fig. 13) or other articles having handles, or other extensions, which need not be enclosed, and preferably are not enclosed, the end panel 4 is provided with an opening 26 (Figs. 8, 9 and 12) through which such handle or extension may project or depend, the body of the article, or brush, being longitudinally retained within the carton by the cover panel 3 and the edges of the end panel 4 at the opening 26, as indicated in Fig. 13 by the broken line showing of a paint brush.

Also, in this modified embodiment, the slit 21, bordering one edge of the aperture 22 and extending past its ends, as shown in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 7, is dispensed with, and the seeming tab means 23 are merely snapped into and out of the aperture 22 during closing and opening of the cover panel 3 on application of opposed pressure to the offstanding edges of the folds of the edge panels 5 and 6.

It will be noted that the cover panel 3 and end panel 4 have their end edges so angularly shaped as to extend over, and conform to, the angles of the offstanding edge panels 5 and 6 to thus provide full closures at both ends of the carton.

Preferably, the extension 18 of the side panel 2, is provided at its base with a transverse line of fold 27 lying in substantial alignment with the upper edge of the aperture 22 and hence with the outer face of the closed cover panel 3 so that the extension 18 may be folded flat against the closed cover panel to conserve space for bulk packaging of the filled cartons. This practice will be particularly advantageous in respect to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7, but will serve also in relation to the embodiment of Figs. 8 to 13. In either case it will be understood that when the cartons are to be suspended in display position it will be necessary only to erect their extensions 18 from the folded position and engage the holes 19 thereof with the suspension elements of a rack or the like.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claims.