The present invention relates to a packaging box for substantially oblong products such as flasks or glass or plastic bottles, each product having an intermediate part of overall width which is greater than that of its ends, the box comprising a bottom and a lid made of cardboard sheet or corrugated cardboard material.
It also relates to a blank or to a set of blanks making it possible to obtain such a packaging box.
Methods for packaging products (such as shampoo, creams, shower gels, etc.) in flasks or plastic bottles are known, in particular, which use shrink wrap with or without a supporting cardboard sheet, most often in batches of four to ten products.
Such packaging makes it possible to limit the overall width of the package, which actually corresponds substantially to the width of the flasks themselves, the plastic film being of very fine thickness.
This type of packaging has drawbacks, however.
More specifically, the plastic film has to be torn for stacking the products on shelves and for placing them individually onto the shelves. This results in loss of time associated with the repeated handling, to which are added the problems of arranging the products in an aligned manner.
An incorrect orientation and/or risks of falling due to a lack of stability are also observed when a consumer puts a product back on the shelf.
Palletizing shrink-wrapped products is more unstable, as the film has the tendency to stretch over time. It may also have been badly manufactured and/or badly positioned when the package was formed, in view of the occasional random conditions of contraction associated with the temperature of the upstream oven, untimely differences in the unrolling speed of the plastic films when they are continuously positioned, or even the quality itself of the plastic used, often poorly controlled.
Finally, although with such packages the products are practically completely covered in plastic, it is possible for dust to be deposited on the products during long-term storage, in view of the existence of electrostatic phenomena.
In conclusion, although the advantages of plastic film compared to packaging of the cardboard type are, in particular, the low cost of materials and the high packaging speeds, plastic film has disadvantageous drawbacks.
Packages made of cardboard in the form of a tray with a lid, or even in the form of a wrapper, are also known which do not have the drawbacks of the plastic film mentioned above but which are not satisfactory otherwise, as they are too bulky.
More specifically, such packages have excessive thicknesses when palletized side-by-side.
As a result, the total width of a layer of packages is greater than with plastic films.
Thus, this excessive thickness proves to be prohibitive relative to packaging in plastic specifically designed to optimise the merits of storage on pallets.
More specifically up to five centimetres of total difference is observed, which leads to losses of usable volumes, no package being able to overhang an edge of the pallet.
Packaging sheets are also known (FR 2-215-354) permitting the products to be tightly packed, but apart from the fact that said packaging sheets require complex equipment to be fitted tightly onto the products, they do not permit the stability and the rigidity required for good palletization.
The present invention, therefore, aims firstly to remedy the drawbacks mentioned above of the types of packaging of the prior art, whether they are in the form of plastic film or cardboard, whilst presenting the advantages thereof.
Moreover, it is observed that users have increasing demands for packaging of the “retail-ready” type, i.e. easy to stack on the shelves and permitting the promotion of the products, which will be possible with the present invention.
The present invention aims, therefore, to provide a packaging box and a set of blanks responding better than those previously known to the demands of practical experience, in particular in that it permits the grouping of the products on a partially printed support, which may be placed on the shelf and thus ensure the promotion of the products, and the dispensing with shrink wrap which is not ecologically sound, whilst maintaining the logistical advantages thereof, namely not reducing the extent to which the pallet is filled with products due to excessive thicknesses associated with cardboard.
The invention also aims to improve the appearance of the products on said pallets and to produce a package of which the overall width does not exceed that of the products.
This makes it possible for space not to be created between the products on the shelf and, as a result, to optimize the rate of filling the shelves in retail outlets, whilst minimizing the quantity of cardboard used.
To this end, the present invention proposes essentially a packaging box for substantially oblong products, each product having an intermediate part of an overall width which is greater than those of its ends, comprising a bottom and a lid made of cardboard sheet or corrugated cardboard material, characterized in that the lid comprises two lateral walls connected to one another by an upper wall, the bottom and the upper wall having a width which is smaller than or equal to said overall width and the lateral walls being perforated by apertures spaced apart at regular intervals opposite one another, arranged to allow the respective intermediate parts of said products to be tightly packed.
In other words, the invention proposes a packaging box of which the lid completely covers the products and maintains them grouped together in a rigid manner, by being perforated at various points such that the shoulders of the products in the region of their greatest width pass through the perforated zones.
Also and in other words, a package is proposed comprising, on the one hand, products such as disclosed and, on the other hand, a box with perforated walls in which said products are tightly packed as indicated above.
As a result, although the products are grouped together under a lid and on a tray which keeps them stable so that they may be palletized and transported, the external dimensions of the batch over its periphery are identical or less than those of the product on its own, of predetermined size, without the lid and/or the tray. There is, therefore, no excessive thickness compared to grouping together under film and, as a result, no increased cost in logistics.
Advantageously, the bottom is in the form of a base having vertical or substantially vertical walls.
A packaging box is thus also proposed for a plurality of substantially oblong products comprising a bottom and a lid, characterized in that the bottom is in the form of a base with vertical walls over a specific height, to enclose at least partially a first end of the products and having a first specific width, in that the lid comprises two lateral walls connected to one another by an upper wall provided with blocking means spaced apart at regular intervals for the second respective end of each of the products and having a second specific width, equal to or substantially equal to the first specific width, said lateral walls being perforated by apertures spaced apart at regular intervals in a straight line with the corresponding blocking means, to allow said products to be tightly packed at the side.
In advantageous embodiments, moreover, one and/or the other of the following arrangements is used:
The invention also proposes a blank or a set of blanks made of cardboard sheet or corrugated cardboard material for forming a packaging box such as described above.
It also proposes a blank or a set of blanks made of cardboard sheet or corrugated cardboard material for forming a packaging box provided with a bottom and a lid for substantially oblong products, each product having an intermediate part of an overall width which is greater than those of its ends, comprising a flap capable of forming the bottom and a series of three flaps capable of forming the lid, characterized in that the series comprises two lateral flaps capable of forming the lateral walls of said lid connected to one another by an upper flap capable of forming the upper wall of said lid, the flap capable of forming the bottom and the upper flap having a width which is smaller than or equal to said overall width and the lateral flaps being perforated by apertures spaced apart at regular intervals and arranged opposite one another and to allow the respective intermediate parts of said products to be tightly packed when the box is formed.
The invention will be better understood by reading the following description of embodiments given hereinafter by way of non-limiting example.
The description refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The box 1 comprises a bottom 6 of a first determined width and a lid 7 made of cardboard sheet material, for example of flat cardboard or even of corrugated cardboard of 2 mm or 3 mm thickness.
The lid 7 comprises two identical rectangular lateral walls 8 and 9 connected to one another by an upper rectangular wall 10 of a second specific width, equal to or substantially equal to the first width, for example equal to said first width plus two thicknesses of cardboard, the bottom 6 forming a base of specific height, for example over one fifth of the height of the lid and/or of the box. The specific height is, for example, between one tenth and one third of the total height of the lid and/or of the box.
The first and the second widths are smaller than the overall width of the product in its intermediate part 3.
The lateral walls 8 and 9 are perforated by oval, oblong, rectangular or substantially rectangular apertures 11, spaced apart at regular intervals opposite one another and arranged to allow the respective intermediate parts 3 of the products to be tightly packed.
More specifically, and in this embodiment, these apertures 11 are for example formed by perforated strips of slightly trapezoidal shape of one to two centimetres in width, depending on the intermediate part of the product to be tightly packed.
The upper wall 10 is itself also perforated by oval or circular horizontal apertures 12, spaced apart at regular intervals, located in a straight line with the apertures 11, i.e. with axes centred in the same vertical plane and/or centred symmetrically in identical fashion, (in other words, the centre or the vertical axis of the horizontal apertures is parallel to the vertical axis of symmetry of the apertures 11) arranged to allow the upper ends 4 of the products to be tightly packed, for example formed by the bottom thereof.
In the embodiment disclosed in
The first blank 13 arranged to form the display tray 6 comprises a central rectangular flap 15 connected on each of its edges 16 by first fold lines 17 to four lateral flaps opposed in pairs, namely two small transverse flaps 18 and two large longitudinal flaps 19, the small flaps 18 being provided with rectangular or trapezoidal end folding portions 20 located on both sides, connected to the lateral edges of the these transverse flaps 18 by second perpendicular fold lines or in the extension of, or substantially in the extension of, the first fold lines.
The second blank 14 capable of forming the lid 7 itself comprises a series of three flaps, namely a central rectangular flap (upper wall) 10 perforated by the oblong holes 12 intended to receive the bottom and/or the cap 4 or 5 parts of the products 2 and two lateral flaps (lateral walls) 8 and 9, connected to the central flap 10 by parallel fold lines 21, the two lateral flaps 8 and 9 being themselves also perforated by the holes 11 capable of receiving the wider intermediate parts of the products, for example in the form of elongated apertures of substantially rectangular or slightly trapezoidal type.
In
The products may themselves be arranged top down (
Hereinafter the same reference numerals will be used to denote identical elements or similar elements.
In this case, the first blank 37 and the second blank 38 comprise means 39 for fixing one of the blanks to the other by a snap-in connection in the region of their overlap. More specifically, the first blank comprises, regularly spaced apart and longitudinally along the principal lateral flaps 19, one, two, three or more parts 40 formed from small squares which are partially frangible or pre-cut on the middle in a Y-shape, to form a pushed-in corner, arranged to be forcibly snapped with clearance into the pre-set orifices 41 of complementary shape made in the bottom part 42 of the flaps of the lid, to allow a snap-in connection in the manner known per se.
The second blanks 51 comprise, themselves, either tear strips 52 as specified with reference to
In the embodiments disclosed here, the second blanks 51 comprise lateral flaps 55 provided with lateral edges having indentations 56, for example forming discontinuous rectilinear lines, to replace the perforated part allowing the end products to be tightly packed.
More specifically,
The external edge 67 of the flaps of the lid is itself indented, as disclosed with reference to
In the embodiments of the lid of
The blank 75 is, for example, substantially identical to the blank 45 of
The blank 74 itself is indented 80 in the form of a broken line and provided with rectangular frangible parts 81 to form the angles 69, and comprises two cut edges 82 and three fold lines 83, 83′, 83″ parallel to the join line 84, namely two lines in the lateral flap 85 and one line in the central flap 86.
They are, for example, made up of oblong orifices 90 pre-cut at regular intervals, in the form of inverted arches in a longitudinal folding portion 91, itself connected to an external folding portion 92. One pre-cut portion 93 on two sides and connected to the folding portion 92 without folding is provided to be tightly packed in the oblong orifice to form blocking means in the region of each cap, once the folding portion 91 is folded toward the interior of the tray and the external folding portion 92 is folded perpendicularly and flattened against the bottom of the tray.
Said figures provide side views of packages 96 and 97 with the products on the inside, either the cap of the product being upright (
The packages 99, 100 and 101 respectively comprise, for example, trays 102, 103, 104 respectively of the type of the template 98 (tray 102) or of the template 94 (trays 100 and 101).
The lids respectively 105, 106, 107 are themselves either of the conventional type (105), as disclosed by referring to
Now described with reference to
From the bottom 6, arranged flat, the products 2 (for example six in number) are placed in rows in a manner known per se, the caps 5 pressed against the central flap.
Then the lateral flaps previously covered with adhesive are folded up (see
The lid 7 is then brought over the top, the parts 4 of the products 2 being inserted into the holes 12 opposite the upper flap, then the lateral walls 8 and 9 of the lid, in this case also previously covered with adhesive internally, are folded down, the lower ends being opposite the vertical walls of the tray with which they cooperate by bonding, the intermediate parts 3 of the products thus being inserted into the lateral orifices 11, to obtain the package 1 of
When it is desired to stack the products on the shelf, the lower parts of the walls are detached, by detaching them in the known manner per se, by manual lateral traction toward the outside, then the lid is lifted and removed (see
It goes without saying and as a result of the above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described more specifically. The invention encompasses, however, all variants and in particular those where the products are different from those shown and/or those where the lid and the tray are inverted, or even those where the tray is bonded externally to the lower edges of the lid, the clearances being compensated due to the gripping/pressing of the tray on said edges of the lid.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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07/03437 | May 2007 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/FR08/00657 | 5/13/2008 | WO | 00 | 11/2/2009 |