Patent Application
20080283443
The present invention relates generally to bulk packaging for shipping and display and more particularly, to a packaging assembly for economically and safely shipping and displaying one or more products.
Traditionally, products have been shipped in bulk from a manufacturer to a retailer in cartons containing protective packing material Individual products were then from the cartons to be individually placed on a shelf or rack for display. For small, expensive and easily stolen products, the shelf or rack might be located within a secured display case to minimize the risk of theft.
This system of shipping and display is both costly and time consuming. The manufacturer must often pay relatively expensive initial packaging costs, particularly for items that are easily damaged by rough handling. The retailer must pay employees to individually place each product item on display in a manner that is both appealing to the customer and safe for the product. Furthermore, for small, expensive and easily stolen products, which are kept in display cases, the retailer must pay a sales person to attend to each customer wishing to inspect the products. These costs are typically passed along to the consumer, who receives little benefit from them other than to receive a product that has safely survived the rigors of shipping. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for more economical means of safely and efficiently shipping and displaying products for sale.
It is known that small products may be packaged in comparatively large containers to deter theft. However, these containers require the use of large amounts of retail space, and the containers must be decorated and otherwise configured to appeal to consumers, adding to the total product packaging cost. Therefore, some manufacturers have used smaller packaging, with an optional, transparent display pack, such as a blister pack, available at a retailer's request.
The display pack, which contains the product within its smaller packaging, typically is significantly larger than the small packaging, providing for increased deterrence of theft. Typically, display packs are configured with an appealing appearance to the customer, and provide added safety in shipping. Display packs are usually made from two vacuum-formed sheets of clear plastic material, sealed around the edges, forming a chamber for holding the product. Such display packs are relatively inexpensive, and benefit from the appealing appearance of the small packaging, which is visible through the display packs. For example, U.S. Design Pat. No. D353,092, to Greer, entitled “Blister Pack,” discloses a transparent display pack assembly having several cavities for containing products.
Warehouse shopping clubs typically require manufacturers to ship products according to strict guidelines that ensure the products are adequately protected during shipment and ready to be displayed on the warehouse floor. A challenge for manufacturers is in striking an appropriate balance between adequately protecting the products and minimizing the amount of handling necessary to display the products on the store floor. Internal plastic packaging is preferred because it allows the product to be viewed by consumers. However, such packaging is more susceptible to damage during shipment and is difficult to display in bulk form. Consequently, warehouse clubs and manufacturers have a long felt need for external packaging that is sufficiently strong to protect the internal plastic packaging, yet that permits easy handling and display of the packaged products on the store floor.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there exists a need for a packaging assembly that overcomes the drawbacks of prior packaging assemblies, as described above, and that includes a display stand and a product display pack supported within the display stand. wherein the display stand is sufficiently strong to protect the product display pack, yet permits easy handling and attractive display of the packaged product. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages.
The present invention provides a display pack for shipping and displaying a product, the display pack comprising a hollow shell and first and second product supports disposed within the hollow shell. The first product support is disposed in a lower portion of the hollow shell, and the second product support is disposed in an upper portion of the hollow shelf, such that the first and second product supports are spaced apart from each other to define a product region between them. Additionally, the first and second product supports each define a product support recess that is sized and configured to conformably receive one end of a product disposed within the product region such that the entire hollow shell is spaced apart from the product. At least a portion of the hollow shell is transparent.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hollow shell has a cylindrical or polygonal cross-section, and the first and second product supports preferably have the shape of a frustum. According to additional embodiments, the hollow shell and the first and second product supports are transparent. The first and second product supports may also be tinted. Additionally, the display pack may farther include an adhesive material for adhering the first and second supports to the hollow shell. The display pack may also include end caps, which cap the upper and lower ends of the hollow shell.
According to some embodiments of the invention, the hollow shell may further include a main body portion defining a cylindrical or polygonal shape, and closure flaps that close off the upper and lower ends of the main body portion of the hollow shell. The upper closure flap is connected to the main body portion by an upper fold line that is located at an upper end of the main body portion of the hollow shell, and the lower closure flap is connected to the main body portion by a lower fold line that is located at a lower end of the main body portion of the hollow shell. The upper closure flap can be folded at the upper fold line to close off the upper end of the hollow shell, arid the lower closure flap can be folded at the lower fold line to close off the lower end of the hollow shell.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a packaging assembly for shipping and displaying a plurality of products, the packaging assembly comprising a display stand and a plurality of display packs, each display pack configured to hold at least one of the plurality of products. The display stand includes a support panel having a plurality of apertures, wherein each aperture is configured to receive at least one of the display packs, a base panel disposed below the first panel, and at least one spacing panel, wherein the spacing panel is configured to space the support panel in a prescribed position above the base panel. In addition, the lower portion of each of the display packs is configured to be inserted in any one of the plurality of apertures formed in the support panel such that each so-inserted display pack rests on the base panel, and a majority of the display pack is visible above the first panel.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a multi-layer stack of packaging assemblies for shipping and displaying a plurality of products, the stack comprising a first layer of packaging assemblies and a second layer of packaging assemblies located on top of the first layer of packaging assemblies, wherein each packaging assembly comprises a display stand and a plurality of display packs, each display pack configured to hold at least one of the plurality of products.
Other features and advantages of the present invention should become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings, in which:
With reference now to the exemplary drawings, and particularly to
The display stand 20 preferably comprises a base panel 23 and a support panel 21. The support panel 21 is preferably has a rectangular shape with four edges. The edges of the support panel 21 are preferably folded down to form four spacing panels 24, which are configured to space the support panel 21 in a prescribed position above the base panel 23. The support panel 21 further includes a plurality of apertures 22, which are evenly spaced across the support panel 21 and configured to receive at least one of the display packs 30. Shore particularly, the apertures 22 are preferably made slightly larger than the base dimension of the display packs 30, allowing the lower portion of the display packs 30 to fit through the apertures 22 to rest on the base panel 23 below. However, the apertures 22 should be formed with sufficient manufacturing tolerance to allow customers to easily remove the display pack 30 from the display stand 20. Additionally, the display stand 20 should be strong enough to support a significant amount of weight placed on top of the packaging assembly 10 in the form of additional stacked packaging assemblies. In this regard, the display stand 20 preferably is made of corrugated cardboard to provide adequate strength for stacking layers of packaging assemblies 10 on top of one another.
With reference now to
The hollow shell 31 preferably has a substantially cylindrical or polygonal cross-section, and it preferably is formed of a transparent plastic material, which is wrapped or folded the hollow shell 31 is formed from a single sheet of plastic material, which is wrapped or folded to form a hollow cylindrical shell 31 (
With reference again to
With reference now to
With particular reference now to
With reference now to
According to some embodiments of the invention, the display pack 30 may further comprise adhesive material (not shown) for adhering the product supports 32, 33 to the hollow shell 31. The adhesive material may also be used to adhere the end caps 34a, 34b to the hollow shell 31.
The preferred embodiment of the display stand 20, described above, allows for a neat and attractive arrangement of display packs 30, and prevents the display packs 30 from moving laterally across the base panel 23 during shipping and display. Although a preferred embodiment of the display stand 20 has been described, one of skill in the art will appreciate various alternative embodiments that fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the display stand 20 might only include the base panel 23. According to this embodiment, the display packs might be positioned on the base panel 23 so that they are contiguous with each other. As such the display packs 30 themselves would provide lateral support during shipping and display. Alternatively, the base panel 23 might include a plurality of recesses (not shown), configured to receive the lower portion of the display packs 30, to provide a neat and attractive arrangement of display packs 30, and to prevent the display packs 30 from moving laterally across the base panel 23 during shipping and display.
Other alternative embodiments should be apparent. For example, the display stand 20 might include the base panel 20 and the support panel 21, as in the preferred embodiment. However, rather than folding the edges of the support panel 21 to form a spacing panel 24, one or more separate spacing panels might be used to position the support panel 21 in a prescribed position above the base panel 20. Alternatively, the spacing panel 24 might be eliminated altogether, so that the support panel 21 is mounted directly on the base panel 23. In addition, although the apertures 22 are shown as circular in
In an alternative embodiment of the display pack 30, the product supports 32, 33 might be formed so as to eliminate the need for separate end caps. For example, rather than having the preferred shape of a frustum, the product supports might be substantially flat, with at least one product support projection (not shown) that is sized and configured to conformably receive a product within the product region such that the entire hollow shell is spaced apart from the product. According to this embodiment, the product support projections are preferably made to have any shape complementary to the shape of the upper and lower ends of the packaged product.
With reference again to
According to the invention, the display pack 30 described herein acts as a theft deterrent because the display pack 20 makes the overall product package too large to easily conceal, for example underneath an article of clothing. Additionally, the display stand 20 gives the packaging assembly 10 added strength to avoid being crushed during shipping and handling, especially when layers, or tiers, of packaging assemblies 10 are stacked on top of one another, as described below. Unlike conventional blister packs that require a slotted display stand for proper support, the packaging assembly 10 of the invention is self-supporting and may be employed to transport and display much larger products 40.
A second layer 12 of assembled packaging assemblies 10 may be stacked on top of a first layer 11 of assembled packaging assemblies 10 to form a multi-layer stack of packaging assemblies 10. More particularly, the bottom (not shown) of the base panel 23 of the second layer 12 of assembled packaging assemblies 10 may be configured to rest on the tops of the display packs 30 of the first layer 11 of assembled packaging assemblies 10. Accordingly, the plurality of hollow shells 31, and the products 40 themselves, may at least partially support the weight of any overlaying layers, or tiers, of packaging assemblies 10. This support optionally allows the display stand 20 to be formed of panels 21, 23 that are thinner, and thus less costly, than would be required if the overlaying tiers were to be supported by the display stand 20. In addition, the cargo space necessary for shipping the packaging assemblies 10 is significantly reduced when the packaging assemblies 10 are stacked in this manner. The multi-layer stack of packaging assemblies 10 may be wrapped in shrink-wrap (not shown) or otherwise contained during shipment. After shipment, the stack is then unwrapped such that the packaging assemblies 10 may be displayed for sale on the store floor.
As described in detail above, the present invention provides a display pack 30 for shipping and displaying a product 40, the display pack 30 comprising a hollow shell 31 and first and second product supports 32, 33 disposed within the hollow shell 31. The first product support 32 is disposed in a lower portion of the hollow shell 31, and the second product support 33 is disposed in an upper portion of the hollow shell 31, such that the first and second product supports 32, 33 are spaced apart from each other to define a product region between them. Additionally, the first and second product supports 32, 33 each define a product support recess 38 that is sized and configured to conformably receive one end of a product 40 disposed within the product region such that the entire hollow shell 31 is spaced apart from the product 40. At least a portion of the hollow shell 31 is transparent. The display pack 30 protects the packaged product 40 from damage during shipping and display, and preferably allows customers to view the packaged product 40 from all angles.
The present invention has been described above in terms of presently preferred embodiments so that an understanding of the present invention can be conveyed. However, there are other embodiments not specifically described herein for which the present invention is applicable. Therefore, the present invention should not to be seen as limited to the forms shown, which is to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
