Carton for tapered and cylindrical articles

Abstract

A carton is provided with side walls and chamfered corners shaped to securely or tightly enclose a group of cylindrical articles, such as beverage bottles. The curvature of the edges of each side wall is selected to cause the end wall or end closure structure to conform to the cylindrical and tapered shape of articles in the endmost row. More specifically, the end edges of each side wall are substantially concave and their curvature is determined such that the minimum width of each side wall is less than or equal to the width of the top wall. To encourage side end flaps, which partially form the end closure structure, to crease so as to define the chamfered corners, a fold line is formed in the side end flaps.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a blank, according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a carton formed from the blank of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the carton of FIG. 2, the carton having been configured as an open ended tubular structure.

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view of the carton of FIG. 2 showing and enclosed endmost article.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the carton of FIG. 2 showing an enclosed endmost article.

Claims

1. An end loaded carton for enclosing a plurality of articles, said carton comprising: a top wall, a bottom wall, and a pair of opposed side walls hingedly connected to form a tubular structure, each of said side walls being defined in part by a pair of opposing end edges that are at least partially curved concavely toward each other; anda pair of side end flaps that at least partially form an end closure structure for at least partially closing each end of said tubular structure, each side end flap being hingedly connected to a respective one of said side walls along one of said end edges thereof, each end closure structure comprising an end wall and a pair of chamfered corners;wherein each of said side end flaps is uncreased except along a fold line, wherein each fold line extends diagonally upward from a first point that is located approximately at a lower end point of a respective one of said end edges to a second point that is spaced apart from the periphery of a respective one of said side end flaps.

2. The carton of claim 1, further comprising a bottom end flap hingedly connected to each end of said bottom wall wherein each of said bottom end flaps overlaps a distal lower end wall portion of each of said side end flaps of a respective pair to form at least part of said end wall of a respective one of said end closure structures, each of said lower end wall portions being defined in part by a respective one of said fold lines.

3. The carton of claim 2, wherein a proximal lower corner portion of each of said side end flaps forms at least part of one of said chamfered corners of a respective one of said end closure structures, said lower corner portion of said each side end flaps being defined in part by a respective one of said fold lines and being adjacent to said distal lower end wall portion of said each side end flap.

4. The carton of claim 3, wherein said lower corner portion of each of said side end flaps is angled with respect to an adjacent one of said side walls and with respect to an adjacent one of said end walls.

5. The carton of claim 1, further comprising a top end flap hingedly connected to each end of said top wall wherein each of said top end flaps overlaps a distal upper end wall portion of each of said side end flaps of a respective pair to form at least part of said end wall of a respective one of said end closures structure.

6. The carton of claim 5, wherein a proximal upper corner portion of each of said side end flaps forms at least part of one of said chamfered corners of a respective one of said end closure structures, said upper corner portion of said each side end flaps being adjacent to said distal upper end wall portions of said each side end flap.

7. The carton of claim 6, wherein said upper corner portion of said each side end flaps is angled with respect to an adjacent one of said side walls and with respect to an adjacent one of said end walls.

8. The carton of claim 1, wherein the width of said bottom wall is greater than the width of said top wall.

9. A blank for forming a carton, the blank comprising: a plurality of panels hingedly connected one to the next that can be arranged to form a tubular structure, the plurality of panels comprising: at least one side panel comprising a pair of end edges; anda pair of side end flaps for at least partially defining end closure structures at opposite ends of said tubular structure, said end flaps being hingedly connected to said end edges of said at least one side panel, wherein each of said end edges of said at least one side panel is arcuate such that said end edges are curved concavely toward each other.

10. The blank of claim 9, wherein each of said end flaps include a terminated fold line that extends from a first point that is located approximately at a an end point of a respective one of said end edges to second a point spaced apart from the periphery of a respective one of said side end flaps.

11. A package, comprising: a group of cylindrical articles each having a relatively larger bottom portion and a relatively smaller top portion, said articles being arranged in one or more rows; anda carton enclosing said article group, said carton comprising: a top wall, a bottom wall, and a pair of opposed side walls hingedly connected to form a tubular structure, each of said side walls being defined in part by a pair of opposing end edges that are arcuate such that said end edges are curved concavely toward each other; anda pair of side end flaps that at least partially form an end closure structure for at least partially closing each end of said tubular structure, each side end flap being hingedly connected to a respective one of said side walls along one of said end edges thereof, each end closure structure comprising an end wall and a pair of chamfered corners;wherein each of said side end flaps is uncreased except along a fold line, wherein each fold line extends diagonally upward from a first point that is located approximately at a lower end point of a respective one of said end edges to a second point spaced apart from the periphery of a respective one of said side end flaps.

12. The package of claim 11, wherein each of said rows extends along said end closure structure, and a curvature of each of said end closure structures provided by associated ones of said arcuate end edges and chamfered corners conforms to the taper of the articles in the endmost of said rows at a respective end of said tubular structure.

13. The package of claim 11, wherein said second point on each of said side end flaps to which a respective one of said fold lines extends is positioned substantially at the height of a shoulder of each of said articles.

14. The package of claim 11, wherein a portion of each article in said endmost rows at each end of the tubular structure extends outwardly beyond a respective one of said end edges of each of said side walls.