End closure for a combination package

July 16, 1968 r. a. krzyzanowski 3,392,901

END CLOSURE FOR A COMBINATION PACKAGE

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July 16, 1968

R. A. KRZYZANOWSKI

3,392,901

END CLOSURE FOR A COMBINATION PACKAGE

Filed Sept. 14, 1966

Sheets-Sheet 2

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ATTORNEY

July 16, 1968 _{R A} krzyzanowski 3,392,901

END CLOSURE FOR A COMBINATION PACKAGE

Filed Sept. 14, 1966

Sheets-Sheet 3

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attorney

3,392,901

Patented July 16, 1968

United States Patent Office

3,392,901

END CLOSURE FOR A COMBINATION PACKAGE

Robert A. Krzyzanowski, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to

Milprint, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware

Filed Sept. 14,1966, Ser. No. 579,248 4 Claims. (CI. 229—14)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A package combining an outer carton and inner pouch in which the carton has an extended flap along one of its ends. The inner pouch has wall portions extending beyond the end of the carton having the flap and such wall portions are joined to the flap. Part of the flap, including part of the extending pouch wall portions joined to the flap, overlies and is joined to an outer wall of the carton.

IS

This invention relates to the art of packaging, more particularly, to a combination package including an inner pouch and an outer carton wherein the carton has a flap at one of its ends and the inner pouch has one of its ends joined to the flap in a particular manner.

Among the principal objects of this invention are to provide, in a combination package of the character described, an arrangement in which a portion of the inner pouch is joined to a flap of the carton so that when the flap is tucked inside the carton, there will be a “dead fold” in the pouch material to give a high degree of protection; to provide a construction in which the inner pouch can be opened upon severance of a portion of the flap of the carton to which the pouch is joined; to provide a package in which the inner pouch is joined to an extension flap of the carton so that there will be positive folding of the pouch in order to provide a good protective closure against the entrance of air; and to provide an end closure arrangement 'for the combination package which will have the foregoing features. A more specific object, of this invention is to provide the particular new or improved details of construction hereinafter claimed.

In summary, this invention comprises a combination package including an outer carton, which can be of any desired construction, that has an extended flap along one of its ends. An inner pouch, which may be packed with food, tobacco items, or any other desired commodity or articles, is placed inside the carton and one of the end portions of the pouch is joined to the flap. The flap is then folded over to close the end of the carton to which it is joined, and in this initial closure position, a part of the pouch is joined to the outer wall of the carton. To open the package, the initial closure is detached or ruptured so that the extended flap can be swung to an open position and the pouch opened to remove all or part of its contents. In the instance when part of its contents is withdrawn, the carton is closed by tucking the flap inside the carton body with the opened inner pouch still joined to it to thereby provide for effective closure of the open end of the pouch and enhanced protection of its contents. The flap of the carton may also include a tear line construction near one of its ends and the inner pouch placed in a particular relation to the flap construction so that the pouch can be opened upon severance along the tear line. This invention also relates to the provision of cartons suitable for the desired combination packages.

A clear conception of this invention will be had from the ensuing description which is made with reference to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof in which there are shown, by way of illustration but not limitation, two presently-contemplated modes for carry25 ing out this invention. These will be discussed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to fully comprehend this invention, but it is to be understood that other embodiments of the invention may be devised and structural changes may be made in the embodiments described herein, both without departing from the true scope and contribution of the present invention. The same reference numeral refers to the same part throughout the several drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an outer carton incorporating an extension flap for the practice of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical, sectional view, with a part broken away, illustrating an inner pouch carried in the carton of FIG. 1 in the manner of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same as FIG. 2, showing the carton in an initially closed condition;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the combination package of FIGS. 2 and 3 after its initial closure has been opened and showing an intermediate stage in opening of the inner pouch carried in the carton;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 2 with a portion broken away showing the package after the pouch has been completely opened;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the closed condition of the carton after the pouch has been opened and the extension flap is tucked inside the carton; and

FIGS. 7-9 are perspective views (with portions broken away in some views) of a carton having another form of an extension flap in a carton for the practice of this invention.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a carton, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, constructed for the practice of this invention which includes a front wall 11 and a rear wall 12 (see FIG. 2) joined together by side walls 13 and 14 and a bottom wall 15. The carton 10, as described to this point, may be of any desired construction and can be, for example, a sealed bottom carton or a tucked bottom type. The carton may be formed of any suitable carton material, generally paperboard, cardboard or other foldable paper sheet material, and may be coated or uncoated. The various scorelines or hinge lines described below can be formed in the carton by any suitable creasing or scoring mechanism which will define a zone or line along which the carton material can be folded. The carton 10 will normally be erected from a flat blank formed of a sheet of material cut and scored to define the various panels and structural numbers.

The novel portion of the carton as related to this invention is in the extended flap 20 shown along the top end of the carton and the manner in which the pouch, as described below, is arranged vis-a-vis the flap 20. As indicated in the drawings, the flap 20 is formed as an extension of one of the walls of the carton, herein the rear wall 12, and is coextensive in width with such wall so as to form a closure for one end of the carton; in a suitable application, the flap could be of a different width, such as narrower, than the carton wall if it were so desired. The flap 20 is divided into three panels, a first panel 21, an intermediate panel 22, and an outer panel 23. The flap 20 is hinged to the rear wall 12 along a fold line 24, formed as a creased portion of the carton wall, so that the flap can be folded over the end of the carton. The first panel 21 is wide enough to close the end of the carton.

Returning now to FIG. 1, the first panel 21 is joined to the intermediate panel 22 along a fold line 25 which extends across the width of the flap in order that the intermediate panel can be folded about such fold line. The outer panel 23 is joined to the intermediate panel 22 along a tear line 26. The tear line 26 can be of any suitable

3,392,901 construction that will provide a severable zone or line across the flap and is shown herein as comprising a series of short separated slits that extend through the thickness of the flap. Other constructions which may be utilized, by way of example, include perforated lines, elongated slits extending partially across the flap, hookshaped slits that extend through the flap but are separated from one another , etc. Where the tear line 26 intersects the margins of the flap 20, notches 27 are formed to facilitate initiating tearing of the flap 20 along the tear line 26 for the purpose explained below.

As indicated in the sectional views of FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom wall 15 may be formed of overlapped flaps 16 and 17 joined to the front wall 11 and rear wall 12 respectively and then joined to one another to close the end of the carton.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a pouch 30 is shown inserted in the carton 10. The pouch has front and rear walls 31 and 32 respectively, joined along a bottom 33. The pouch can be of any construction, including a pair of superimposed sheets joined together along their side and bottom marginal portions to define a pouch body or a sheet of material folded in a tube and sealed along a medial longitudinal seam on either the front or rear wall and then sealed across the bottom, and it may have gusseted bottom or gusseted side constructions. The pouch, or bag, no limitation being intended by the use of either term, can be formed of any suitable flexible packaging material selected with due regard to the articles which are to be packaged inside the pouch. Heat sealable materals may be used for the bag walls, such as thermoplastic films which are inherently heat sealable without modification, e.g. low density polyethylene, or film material that has a functional heat seal coating applied to allow heat seal joinder between the several portions which need to be sealed together to form the pouch, or plastic-coated non-heat sealable materials such as paper, foil, etc. The bag can be made of single layer monofilms, multiple-layer laminated films of two or more similar or dissimilar films, or coated films such as those having functional heat seal coatings. Typical materials include synthetic plastic films such as polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl polymeric and copolymeric films, polyester films; cellulosic films such as cellophane or cellulose esters; and metal foil and foil-paper laminates. For normal packaging uses, the bag walls may be in the range of Vz to 10 mils thick, but can be thicker, if desired. The pouch 30 may be used to package any desired articles or commodities, food items as well as non-food items, and is shown herein as including articles 34 inside the pouch body. Typical articles include cigars, tobacco, rice, dried fruits, freeze dried food products, etc.

The front and rear walls 31, 32 of the pouch each have elongated lip portions, 31α and 32α, which extend beyond the pouch cavity in which the articles 34 are carried. Near their outer marginal portions, the walls 31 and 32 are sealed together along a top seam 35 to complete the bag enclosure. As indicated in FIG. 2, the portions 31α and 32α of the two bag walls are approximately equal in length to the flap 20 joined to the carton, although being slightly shorter than such flap, and the pouch is joined to the flap along two zones, zone 36 in which the pouch is joined along the intermediate panel 22 of the flap 20 and zone 37 in which the pouch is joined to the outer panel 23 of the flap 20. The zones 36 and 37 can be any suitable seam or joinder means commonly used in the carton art and may include spots or discrete areas of adhesive, heat sealed areas, or even mechanical fastening means such as tape, staples, sewing, etc. In any event, the seam zones 36 and 37 comprise means joining the pouch to the carton along the defined areas of the flap 20.

Turning now to FIG. 3, the manner in which the carton is initially closed is therein illustrated and will now be described. To form a closure, the flap 20 is hinged along the fold line 24 and subsequently about the fold line 25, so that the intermediate panel 22 and outer panel 23 of the pouch overlie the marginal portion of the front wall 11 of the carton. When in this condition, the front wall 31 of the pouch is joined to an outer portion of the front wall of the carton along an adhesive means 38, which, like the seams 36 and 37 may comprise a spot of adhesive, heat seal seam, etc. or other typical flap joinder methods used in the converting field. The adhesive means 38, by whichever way it is formed, is to be rupturable without tearing the walls of the pouch or tearing the wall of the carton. In this fashion, the carton is effectively closed for storage, shipment and display of the merchandise or articles carried inside the pouch 30 and this is the condition in which the consumer or purchaser will normally receive the carton. The condition of FIG. 3 will hereinafter be referred to as the initial closure condition of the composite package.

When it is desired to open the combination package, the user breaks the means 38 joining the pouch to the outer portion of the front wall 11 of the carton and then folds the flap 20 and its attached portions of the pouch 30 to the upright position indicated in FIG. 4. At this stage, the user then severs the outer panel 23 of the flap 20 along the tear line 26, starting the tearing action at one of the notches 27, and by tearing the flap along the tear line will simultaneously tear the two pouch walls 31 and 32 along their areas which overlie the tear line. (For this feature, it is preferable that the materials of the wall from which the pouch is made be tearable or rupturable by hand in at least one direction.) Referring back to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be noted that the tear line 26 is positioned underneath the lower edge of the top seam 35 joining the two bag walls together along their marginal portions, that is, the tear line is between the upper edge of the carton body, as bounded by the upper edge of the front wall 11 and the fold line 24, and the bottom edge of the top seam 35. Due to this positioning of the tear line 26 and the flap relative to the top seam 35 in the pouch, the pouch will be severed below the lower boundary of the seam and thereby open the pouch so that access may be had to its interior to withdraw articles 34 packaged therein. This action is indicated in FIG. 5 which shows the package after the top panel 23 has been severed along the tear line 26 and the portions of the pouch walls 31 and 32 overlying the outer panel 23 have been removed along with said panel and discarded. The front wall 31 of the pouch can be moved from the dotted line position shown in FIG. 5 to the full line position shown therein, as indicated by the arrow 40, to open the pouch and withdraw articles 34.

If only part of the articles 34 are withdrawn from the pouch 30 and it is desired to close the package so as to protect the remaining articles, the condition illustrated in FIG. 6 can be established. First, the front wall 31 of the pouch is moved back to the dotted line position of FIG. 5, the flap 20 is hinged along the fold line 24 to close the top end of the carton, and then the intermediate panel 22 of the flap is hinged along the fold line 25 and tucked inside the marginal portion of the front wall 11 of the carton. There is thus formed a tuck-flap type of secondary closure after the initial closure has been opened. Referring also again to FIG. 6, it will be noted that this tucking action of the flap 20 (now comprising panels 21 and 22) and the attached pouch wall portions, provides what is sometimes termed a “dead fold” in the pouch such as the approximately 180° fold of 41 shown along the interior portion of the fold line 24. Also, along the flap portions inside the fold line 25, a 90° fold 42 is also formed. Folds of this nature provide effective closure of the pouch which greatly restricts the mount of air which can enter the interior of the pouch and thereby enhances the protection of the remaining articles 34. While this condition cannot be described as being a hermetic closure, it has found that a high degree of air-proofness is obtained with

3,392, 5 the folding closure action possible with the combination package of this invention.

FIGS. 7-9 show three views of a carton 10α including a flap 20α which has the same principal panels as the flap 20 shown in FIGS. 1—6 but also has additional structural 5 members. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a tab 45 is joined to each end of the first panel 21 of the flap 20α, the end of said panel being the margin thereof perpendicular to the other panels of the flaps. Each tab 45 is joined to its respective end of the first panel 21 along a severance zone ₁₀46 shown herein as being defined by a series of spaced hook-shaped slits 47. After an inner pouch is joined to the flap 20α in the manner described above in connection with the carton 10, and the flap 20α is placed in the initial closed position, as indicated in FIG. 8, each tab 45 is 15 folded over an end portion of the exterior of the side walls 13 or 14, as the case may be, of the carton body. When in this position, the interior surface of each tab is joined to its respective adjacent side wall of the carton, such as by gluing or adhesive means. One of the principal 20 purposes of this construction is to eliminate a gap between the first panel 21 of the flap, which closes an open end of the carton, and the balance of the carton body such as may occur when the carton is formed as to have wide side panels, particularly those more than about one and a half 25 to two inches wide, and thereby improve the appearance of the carton when it is closed. Another principal feature of this construction is that it allows the use of lighter weight stock for the carton body since the presence of the tabs 45 and their joinder to the side walls of the carton 30 10α aids in preventing bowing or outward bending of the side walls, thereby enhancing the structural rigidity of the completed carton. Turning now to FIG. 9, when the user opens the carton 10α, the panels 22 and 23 of the flap 20α are first swung outwardly upon rupturing or breaking 35 of the means holding the flap in its initial closed position and then the first panel 21 is separated from the tabs 45 along the two zones of severance 46 by a tearing action. As indicated in FIG. 9, when the carton is opened, the tabs 45 remain joined to the side walls of the carton. 40 Although the severance zones 46 are shown as a series of spaced hook-shaped slits, other tearable or severable constructions can be utilized, such as a line of perforations, a line of interrupted slits, or a line or series of lines which extend partially through the thickness of the flap in order to form a weakened zone along which the tabs 45 can be separated from the panel 21 of the flap 20α. While the tabs are shown as being of the same width as the first panel 21, they may also be narrower than the panel if so desired and still provide the desired functions. Thus the ₅θ carton 10α incorporates all of the features previously discussed in connection with the carton 10 but can have additional useful features as mentioned above.

There has thus been described a combination package including an outer carton, shown in two forms, and. an gg inner pouch in which, according to the present invention, a foldable flap is joined to one of the walls of the carton surrounding an open end thereof and the pouch is joined to the flap in a particular manner in order to achieve certain utilitarian features. In the preferred forms, the fold- _0Oable flap is formed of three panels and the upper portion of the pouch is joined to the two outer panels of the flap with the top closure seam in the pouch overlying the outer flap panel and joined thereto, which outer panel is severable from the remainder of the flap to simultaneously ₀₅open the pouch inside of or underneath the top seal. For the initial closure, the flap and its attached pouch portion is folded over and joined to the exterior of a carton wall. After the initial closure of the package is opened, effective reclosure is obtained with the combination package γθ of this invention in that the inner pouch is folded in a manner to provide a maximum degree of closure..

While two forms of cartons for use in a combination package according to this invention have been shown, other modifications have been suggested above and it is expected 75

901 that further modifications of the illustrated examples can be made. Thus, while the feature of having a tearable portion of the flap and arranging the top seam of the. pouch relative to such tearable portion in order to provide for simultaneous opening of the pouch is highly useful and enhances the utility of the combination package, it is not an essential feature and can be omitted, especially if, for example, it is sufficient to use an open pouch for the particular articles packaged therein. In this situation, the flap 20 could be made of two portions, the inner and intermediate panels, and the effective reclosure feature would be obtained even though the simultaneous-opening feature would not be present. While the pouch is shown as being joined to the carton wall to form the initial closure, the flap could have a portion extending substantially beyond the end of the pouch and such flap portion could be joined to the carton wall for the initial closure. Although shown herein in reference to a carton body having a rectangular cross section, the structure of the present invention can be utilized with cartons of other shapes. Other modifications of the described embodiments will suggest themselves to those skilled in the packaging art. In addition to changing the disclosed embodiments, those skilled in the art may also devise construction not herein illustrated but which will also constitute embodiments of this invention.

It is to be understood that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the examples of this invention herein chosen for the purpose of illustration, as well as other examples not shown, which do not constitute a departure from the spirit and scope of this invention.