Tapered collapsible container

Feb. 26, 1963

3,079,062

D. L. CRADDOCK ETAL

TAPERED COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER

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United States Patent Office

3,079,062

Patented Feb. 26, 1963

3,079,062

TAPERED COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Donald L. Craddock, Akron, Ohio, and Arnold Saul Wasserman, Alexandria, Va., assignors to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation or New York

Filed Feb. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 9,768 8 Claims. (CL 229—16)

This invention relates to collapsible containers, such 10 as cardboard boxes, suitable for holding articles having a smaller dimension at one end than at the other.

An object of this invention is to provide a collapsible container occupying a volume only slightly greater than that of an article with one small end contained in it. An- 15 other object is to provide a collapsible container differing in shape from one end to the other and provided with an absolutely flat end, permitting it to be stood on end for counter or shelf display. Still another object is to provide a collapsible container having a display panel 20 .®f^ea^^{er w}iJth than any side of the end or base on whicn the container rests when placed on a counter or shelf, for display.

These objects are accomplished by constructing the container from a blank of cardboard or other suitable 25 foldable material so designed that one end will fold into a quadrilateral shape, which end may be provided with a conventional tucked in flap closure, and the other end will come to a more or less sharp edge disposed diagonally of the first end, and with six longitudinally fold lines ³⁰dividing the sides into six triangular panels. Four of these triangular panels will have bases adjoining the four edges of the bottom end of the finished container and apices at the ends of the diagonal top edge and the other two panels will have bases along the diagonal top edge ³θ of the finished container and apices at two opposite corners of the bottom. The diagonal edge opposite to the quadrilateral or bottom end may be left open if desired, since the edges of the stiff material will normally stay close together,. or the diagonal edge may be closed by ⁴⁰gluing or folding. When such a blank is properly assembled, with its glue flap adhered to the opposite edge of the blank in the usual manner, it will lie flat for storage and shipment and can be set up by opening the end described above as the bottom end to its intended quadri- ⁴⁵lateral configuration, after which the contents can be inserted and the bottom end can be closed by folding and tucking in the closure flaps. The container so made is a 7-faced polyhedron with a quadrilateral fiat base and six vertical triangular side faces terminating in a single edge ⁵⁰at the top.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows a cut-out blank for constructing one form of the container. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the finished container. FIG. 3 shows a blank ⁵⁵for making a modified form of the container, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the finished container of FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1, the cut-out container blank consists of a sheet of cardooard or other suitable foldable material 10 having at one longitudinal edge 11 a glue flap 12 for ad- ⁶⁰hesion to the other longitudinal edge 13. Since the edge 11 will later become a fold, it is suitably scored to facilitate folding. In addition, five other score lines are provided between the edges 11 and 13, as will be explained below. The edges 11 and 13, which will come together to form one folded edge, and the central score line 14 are always straight, so that the container with the glue flap 12 adhered to the opposing edge 13 will lie flat for storage and shipment. The other four longitudinal score 70 lines may or may not be straight.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the central score line 14 forms the edge between two panels 15 and 16 of triangular shape. In the simple form of the invention illustrated, in which the bottom is square and the top edge has a length equal to the diagonal of the square, these panels 15 and 16 are right triangles with bases 17 and 18 forming common edges with the square bottom and each having as a hypotenuse score lines 19 and 29 respectively, extending from opposite corners 21 and 22 of the square bottom to one end 23 of the diagonal top edge 24 of the container. Adjoining the score lines 19 and 29 are two more panels 25 and 26 in the shape of isosceles triangles, the bases of which are at the diagonal top edge of the container formed by the score line 24, which is the base of triangular panel 25, and the mating free edge 27, which is the base of the corresponding opposite triangular panel 26. The remaining sides of these isosceles triangular panels 25 and 26 are formed by score lines 28 and 29, respectively, equal in length to lines 19 and 2®. The score lines 28 and 29 form the hypotenuse of the remaining panels 30 and 31, respectively, equal in size to panels 15 and 16. Panels 30 and 31 will ultimately come together at a folded edge formed by junction of the folded edge 11 of the glue flap and free edge 13 of the blank. The bases of panels 30 and 31 are the remaining two sides 32 and 33 of the square bottom of the finished container and are equal in length to sides 17 and 18. For closure of the square end any three of the sides 17, 18, 32 and 33 are provided with the usual flaps 34, 35 and 36, one of which, 36 in this case, is of sufficient size to cover the entire square opening and has the usual tuck-in flap 37. Since the tuck-in flap 37 will lie against the inside of a triangular panel, it is necessary for one corner of the tuck-in flap to be cut away at the same angle as the hypotenuse of the triangular panel, as indicated at 38.

The top or diagonal edge of the container, formed by juxtaposition of fold line 24 at the top of panel 25 and free edge 27 of the panel 26, may be closed by a flap 39 having a tongue 49, which can be inserted in a slit 41 in the opposing face 26 of the finished container.

The cut-out blank is put together by applying glue in the usual manner to the glue flap 12 and by folding the blank along score lines 11 and 14, so as to adhere the glue flap 12 to the blank adjacent to its opposite edge 13. The glued blank will then be perfectly flat for convenience in storage and handling with panels 15, 25 and 39 on one side and panels 16, 26 and 31 on the other side.

When the box is to be set up, flap 39 is folded on score line 24 which attaches it to panel 25, and the tongue 49 is inserted in the slit 41, which operation closes the top diagonal edge of the final container. The bottom end is then opened by spreading edges 17 and 32 from edges 18 and 33 to an approximately square opening, through which the contents of the container may be inserted. The square bottom end is then closed by folding down flaps 34 and 35, followed by flap 36, which is held in place by the tuck-in flap 37 in the usual manner.

The finished container has a perfectly flat square base upon which it can be stood perfectly steady without any rocking. When so stood up it will have the appearance of a square prism with parallel vertical faces, having two of the vertical edges sliced off from corners 21 and 22 at the bottom to a diagonal line 24 at the opposing or top end. This will leave triangular remnants 15, 39, 16, and 31 of the hypothetical originally rectangular side faces and will produce two triangular wedge faces 25 and 26 coming together at the diagonal edge just mentioned. This aspect is illustrated in FIG. 2, showing the completed container so turned that the right-hand edge will be the edge 11 resulting from folding back and gluing of the glue flap 12. The left-hand edge in FIG. 2 is the

8,079,062 posite margin 13, the slits or score lines 55 will appear as transverse interruptions in the folds of the sheet material. When the container is set up, this permits the material to break into clean folds along the entire length of the ogee score lines 47, 48, 51 and 52, up to the slits or score lines 55, with the remaining portions of the wide longitudinal panels 49 and 5® near the top of the container being separated by short straight single folds instead of a plurality of closely adjacent folds.

IiTthis embodiment, as in the other, the glued, folded box, before it is set up, lies perfectly flat. When it is set up by folding flap 42 and tucking tongue 43 in slit 44, opening the square end and folding tucking the closure flaps, the box has an absolutely flat bottom on which it can stand without rocking. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the diagonal panels, such as panel 49 extending from the diagonal top edge of one of the comers of tne bottom, maintain a width nearly as great as the length of the diagonal top edge for almost half the length of the container, so as to provide an extensive area for identification or other display purposes^ At the same time, the lower half of the container has its volume only slightly reduced, because of the narrowness of panel 49 between the lower branches of ogee fold lines 47 and 51, and the 25 consequent rion-planar, curved shape of the face of panel 49.

It is plain that other proportions may be used, since it is not essential that the container have a square bottom, or parallel side panels, or a sharp upper diagonal edge, 30 or the exact shape of straight or curved intermediate score lines shown in these embodiments, if the shape of the article to be contained should make it desirable to modify some of these elements. Nevertheless, it appears now to be most advantageous to incorporate square bottoms 35 and parallel sides when the shape of the contained article permits.