Container

Aug. 1, 1967 _N BUCHNER 3,333,758

CONTAINER Filed June 21, 1965

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22·

24·

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'42

FIG.3

INVENTOR.

NORBERT BUCHNER

BY

ATTORNEY

FIG.2

FIG.4

3,333,758

Patented Aug. 1, 1967

United States Patent Office

3,333,758 CONTAINER

Norbert Buchner, Hegnach, Waiblingen, Germany, assignor to Firma Fr. Hesser Maschinenfabrik A.G., Stuttgart-Bad Conustatt, Germany, a corporation

Filed June 21,1965, Ser. No. 465,307 Claims priority, application Germany, June 23, 1964,

H 53,064

Claims. (Cl. 229—17) . The invention relates generally to a liquid shipping and dispensing container of thermoplastic coated paperboard, or the like, and, more particularly, to an improved closure flap arrangement thereof.

In the prior art containers of this type are fabricated from a paperboard blank which is formed into a tubular container by securely joining overlapping coated edges of the wall panels. The bottom is closed in a similar manner. The sealed edge is turned to lay flat against the bottom and the projecting portions, or flaps, from the side panels are folded 180° to rest the same against the bottom of the container. The top part of the container is also in most instances formed in this manner. In order to keep the flaps positioned against the bottom of the container, to avoid, damage during shipping and other handling thereof, it is necessary to secure the same in a suitable manner. This is frequently accomplished by providing a small adhesive surface area. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the container blank be coated inside and outside and the overlapping flap adhesively secured to either the folded seam or directly to the bottom closure flap.

The containers of the type above described however have a number of shortcomings. The necessity of gluing the excess flap to the main container body necessitates machinery to perform this step. On the other hand, coating the container on both sides to avoid the foregoing appreciably increases the cost of the containers.

The container in accordance with this invention, avoids these disadvantages, by constructing the panels and connecting end flaps in such a manner that the edges thereof vary in width and extend relative to each other in overlapping relationship. The resulting sealed edge is flattened and the corner flap portions turned inward whereby the exposed coated surface of one of the edges is adapted to establish contact with another exposed and coated edge of the comer flap to facilitate welding the corner flap to the sealed edge.

The time required for fusing the coated parts together depends primarily upon the rate of heat penetration through the paper or cardboard. As the heat has to penetrate only through one layer of paper to effect fusing, as compared to the multiple layers as known in the prior art, it is possible to achieve an increase in packaging output.

Therefore the primary object of this invention is to provide a container of simplified construction.

A further object of this invention is to provide a container which permits a more rapid machine closing of the end openings thereof.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a container formed of a blank which is thermoplastically coated on one side only and requires no additional application of glue, or the like, for the closing of the end openings.

Another object of this invention is to provide a container of the type as above described and in which one of the flaps of the top opening is uniquely adapted for dispensing the fill goods.

An aspect of the present invention resides in the provision of a container adapted for fluids which has a tube-like configuration and the inside thereof is coated with a thermoplastic substance. The container is formed with front and back marginal edges of unequal width which are adapted to be disposed in sealed overlapping engagement to form a seam and foldable to bear flat against an end portion of the container, such as the front end flap, with portions of the wider marginal edge exposing a thermoplastic coated surface facing away from this end portion. The corner .flaps have an exposed portion which is also thermoplastically coated and faces the exposed coated surface of the wider marginal edge and is foldable for bringing into sealing contact the said exposed portion and the exposed marginal edge.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is. had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

. FIGURE 1 is a top view of a blank, including fold lines, for forming a container in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the top portion of the container;

FIGURE.3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the container with a partly formed dispenser opening; and

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the container, with the dispenser opening in usable form.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a suita30 bly cut blank 10 composed of paperboard, thin carton, paper or the like. One side of the blank is coated with a thermoplastic material such as, for instance, polyethylene or polyvinylchloride. The blank is divided by fold lines into a number of sections including front and back panels 35 12 and side panels 14. The blank 10 is formed into a tubelike container shell of rectangular cross-section by folding the panels 12 and 14 about foldline 16, then bringing the marginal edges 18 into overlapping engagement so that the thermoplastic coated surfaces thereof are face to 40 face. The surfaces of edges 18 are fused together forming a longitudinally extending seam and are bent to rest against one of the panels 12, as is shown in FIGURES 2 to 4.

Contiguous ^{tO and inte}8^rally constructed with panels 12 and 14 are at the top end of the container closure flaps 20, 22, 24 and 26 and at the opposite end thereof bottom flaps 20', 22', 24' and 26'. The width of the closure flaps, and more particularly of the marginal edge thereof as measured from foldline 28, is varied in stepwise 50 fashion. Each equal width marginal edge of the closure flaps, see 30 and 32, spans a distance substantially from one center of a side panel to the center of the opposite side panel. The width of top marginal edges 30 and 32 is the same as the width of marginal edges 30' and 32' respectively, the location of the edges being in reversed order.

The bottom of the container is closed in the conventional manner. The bottom end is laid flat to bring into contact the coated surfaces of edges 30' and 32' which are thereafter suitably sealed together and the main portions of closure flaps 22' and 26' are folded in place about bottom foldline 21. The resulting seam is then folded in such a manner that the edge 32' will rest against the flap portion 22'. In this position, that surface portion of the coated edge 32' which is not covered by edge 30' faces upwardly although both edges 30' and 32' point away from the container.

The folding of flaps 22' and 26' and the sealing to70 gether of marginal edges 30' and 32' leaves the two corner flaps 20' and 24' in &gt;an upright position. Each corner flap is folded 180° to bring the same to bear against the

3,333,758 closure flaps of the front and back panels. More particularly, the coated edge portion 32', which forms part of comer flaps 20' and 24', is thereby brought into contact with the coated edge portion 32' which also forms part of panel 22'. The engaging surface of 32', or parts thereof, are then fused together to complete the closure of the bottom end.

Upon filling the container, the top is closed in the same manner as above described. A prime mark has been affixed to the numerals identifying the bottom closure ; parts. The corresponding top closure parts are identified in FIGURES 2 to 4 with the same numerals but without the distinguishing prime mark.

The blank 10 and more particularly the flap portions for the top closure are formed with two slits 36 and 37 : located in the two comer foldlines 16 of the side panel 14 at the terminal end of corner flap 24.

The container in accordance with this invention is adapted to be employed as a gradual dispenser of the fill good and in order to facilitate this purpose, the top ! closure can be converted to provide a pouring spout 38, see FIGURE 4.

The spout 38 is formed by first lifting the corner flap 24, which borders between slits 36 and 37, off the edge portion 32 at the point of adhesive contact which is designated 40 in FIGURE 2, and thereafter by unfolding the flap 180 degrees to place same in the original position which existed at the time of forming the seam between the marginal edges 30 and 32. The sealing edge of corner flap 24 is taken hold of and tom in the direction of slits 36 and 37 along tear line 40α, 406 and 40c. The tear line 406 extends parallel to the foldline 28 meeting diagonal lines 40α and 40c which define a 45 degree angle relative to foldline 28.

After portions of the flap 24 have been separated to form the spout 38, the latter when viewed from the top takes on a trapezoid configuration and a triangular internal surface, thermoplastically coated, is visible, see FIGURE 4. By squeezing the corners 42 of flap 24 against the middle, the side panel 14 is pushed outward and flaps 22 and 26 slightly upward thereby creating a substantially four cornered rhomboid-like spout configuration. To facilitate a simple and clean foldout, one side panel 14 is formed in the center thereof with a foldline 44 which extends vertically up to the terminal edge of flap 24. It is possible of course to utilize the above described spout arrangement in containers in which the corner flap is not sealed in the manner as above delineated.

While there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.