Carton with Dispenser

Abstract

A carton and blank for forming the carton having a dispenser for dispensing cylindrical containers or other types of articles. The dispenser has a removable dispenser panel that is accessed from an access panel foldably attached to the carton.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank used to form a carton according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective of the carton.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged portion of FIG. 2 showing an access panel being actuated.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 but showing the access panel fully actuated so that a dispenser panel may be grasped.

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4 but showing the dispenser panel being removed from the carton.

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 6 but showing further removal of the dispenser panel.

FIG. 7 is a detail perspective from one side of the carton with the dispenser panel removed, a perspective view from the other side being a mirror-image.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a blank used to form a carton of a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a detail view of a portion of the carton showing a dispenser panel removed from the carton, in accordance with the second embodiment.

Claims

1. A carton for containing a plurality of articles, the carton comprising: a plurality of panels that extends at least partially around an interior of the carton, the plurality of panels comprises a top panel, a bottom panel, a first side panel, and a second side panel;at least two end flaps respectively foldably attached to respective panels of the plurality of panels, wherein the end flaps are overlapped with respect to one another and thereby at least partially close an end of the carton; anda dispenser for allowing removal of articles from the carton, the dispenser comprising a dispenser panel that is at least partially defined by a tear line in the carton and is for being at least partially removed for at least further opening a dispenser opening,in the closed end, the tear line comprises an upper tear line and a lower tear line, the upper and lower tear lines being spaced apart and respectively extending across the closed end; andan access panel in at least one of the side panels for being inwardly folded to initiate removal of the dispenser panel.

2. The carton of claim 1 wherein the at least two end flaps comprise a first side end flap foldably attached to the first side panel and a second side end flap foldably attached to the second side panel.

3. The carton of claim 2 wherein the dispenser panel includes a portion of the first side panel, a portion of the second side panel, a portion of the first side end flap, and a portion of the second side end flap.

4. The carton of claim 1 wherein the upper tear line is curved and forms a downwardly protruding lip in the closed end.

5. The carton of claim 4 wherein the lip is centrally located in the closed end.

6. The carton of claim 4 wherein the lower tear line is generally straight.

7. The carton of claim 6 wherein the lower tear line is spaced apart from the upper tear line by a minimum distance of at least approximately 2 inches.

8. The carton of claim 1 wherein the dispenser comprises a hinge and a pivotable flap for enlarging the dispenser opening.

9. The carton of claim 8 wherein the hinge comprises a curved tear line in each of the first side panel and the second side panel.

10. The carton of claim 9 wherein the pivotable flap comprises at least a portion of the closed end, a portion of the first side panel, and a portion of the second side panel.

11. The carton of claim 1 wherein the access panel comprises an actuation panel foldably connected to one of the first and second side panels.

12. The carton of claim 11 wherein the access panel comprises two access flaps foldably connected to the actuator panel.

13. The carton of claim 12 wherein the access flaps are generally petaloid-shaped.

14. The carton of claim 1 wherein the end flaps comprise a top end flap and a bottom end flap, the top end flap having a top corner panel foldably attached to the top end flap and the bottom end flap having a bottom corner panel foldably attached to the bottom end flap.

15. The carton of claim 14 wherein the top corner panel forms a top oblique corner at the closed end of the carton, and the bottom corner panel forms a bottom oblique corner at the closed end of the carton.

16. The carton of claim 1 further comprising a handle in the top panel for grasping and carrying the carton.

17. The carton of claim 1 in combination with a plurality of articles, the plurality of articles comprising containers that are arranged in at least two rows in the carton.

18. A blank for forming a carton comprising: a plurality of panels, the plurality of panels comprises a top panel, a bottom panel, a first side panel, and a second side panel;at least two end flaps respectively foldably attached to respective panels of the plurality of panels;dispenser features comprising at least one dispenser panel that is at least partially defined by a tear line for at least partially separating the dispenser panel from the blank;the tear line comprises two spaced apart tear lines in the at least two end flaps, the two tear lines respectively extending across the at least two end flaps; andan access panel in at least one of the side panels for being inwardly folded to initiate removal of the dispenser panel.

19. The blank of claim 18 wherein the at least two end flaps comprise a first side end flap foldably attached to the first side panel and a second side end flap foldably attached to the second side panel.

20. The blank of claim 19 wherein the dispenser panel includes a portion of the first side panel, a portion of the second side panel, a portion of the first side end flap, and a portion of the second side end flap.

21. The blank of claim 18 wherein one of the two spaced-apart tear lines is curved and the other of the spread-apart tear lines is generally straight.

22. The blank of claim 21 wherein the tear lines are spaced apart by a minimum distance of at least approximately 2 inches.

23. The blank of claim 18 wherein the dispenser features further comprise a hinge and a pivotable flap, the hinge comprises a curved tear line in each of the first side panel and the second side panel.

24. The blank of claim 23 wherein the pivotable flap comprises at least a portion of the side end flaps, a portion of the first side panel, and a portion of the second side panel.

25. The blank of claim 18 wherein the access panel comprises at least one actuation panel foldably connected to one of the first and second side panels.

26. The blank of claim 25 wherein the access panel comprises two access flaps foldably connected to the actuator panel.

27. The blank of claim 26 wherein the access flaps are generally petaloid-shaped.

28. A method of opening a carton comprising: providing a carton having a plurality of panels that extends at least partially around an interior of the carton, the plurality of panels comprises a top panel, a bottom panel, a first side panel, a second side panel, and end flaps respectively foldably attached to respective panels of the plurality of panels, wherein the end flaps are overlapped with respect to one another and thereby at least partially form a closed end of the carton, a dispenser comprising a dispenser panel at least partially defined by a tear line in the carton, the tear line comprising an upper tear line and a spaced-apart lower tear line, each of the upper and lower tear lines extending across the closed end, and an access panel in at least one of the side panels;inwardly folding the access panel to allow access to the dispenser panel;grasping the dispenser panel and at least partially separating the dispenser panel from the carton by at least partially tearing the carton along the upper and lower tear lines to create a dispenser opening in the carton.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising removing a container from the carton through the dispenser opening.

30. The method of claim 28 further comprising expanding the dispenser opening by pivoting a pivotable flap to increase the size of the dispenser opening in the carton.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the carton comprises a hinge formed by a curved tear line in each of the first side panel and the second side panel, and wherein the pivoting of the dispenser section comprises separating the pivotable flap along the curved tear lines.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein the inwardly folding of the access panel comprises inwardly folding an actuation panel to separate two access flaps from the carton.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the carton comprises at least one tear line in the first side panel and at least one tear line in the second side panel, wherein the dispenser opening is created by tearing the carton along the tear lines in the first side panel and the second side panel.