The present invention relates generally to containers. In particular, the present invention relates to displayable shipping containers having a door for controlling access to contents within the containers.
In shipping and displaying products, particularly in a retail setting, it is desirable to have a container which is easy to pack, sturdy and fully enclosed for protection of contents during storage and shipping, and also suitable for display at a retail site. For example, it is beneficial to have a container which allows a customer at a retail site to easily reach into the container and remove products for purchase. Of course, the access opening through which a consumer can access the products must also be closed during shipment and storage to prevent spilling of the product out of the container. This has resulted in the development of a variety of containers which are configured to be convertible from a shipping configuration to a display configuration, which permits the converted container to be placed directly upon a shelf, or floor display, without having to remove the individual product items from the container. One approach is to provide the container with removable portions that, when removed, create apertures through which customers may then help themselves to the products within the converted container. An alternative approach is to provide the container with a door that can be opened to provide access to the products within the container.
Such convertible containers represent a challenge in that they must be readily convertible into a form presentable to customers, while at the same time maintaining certain shipping performance characteristics, suitable for the shipment of non-self-supporting or even fragile products. Prior attempts at providing a displayable shipping container may suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, prior displayable shipping containers often are lacking in the necessary shipping performance characteristics. Other displayable shipping containers are labor intensive to assemble or require expensive customization of automated equipment for assembly. And still other containers require excessive materials (e.g., doors formed from two panels such that the door has the thickness of two panels) or, in some cases, extraneous components (e.g., a tie or a wrap) to secure the container.
According to aspects of the present disclosure, a displayable shipping container includes a bottom, a top, a front panel, a first side, a back panel, and a second side bridging the top and the bottom. The container further includes a door defined by a perforation extending across the front panel between the first side and the second side. The container further includes a door defined by a perforation extending across the front panel between the first side and the second side. The door is hingedly coupled to the bottom so as to be moveable between an open position and a closed position. The door includes a fold line dividing the door into a main portion and an support portion, which is configured to provide stiffening during movement of the door from the closed position to the open position. The container also includes a first door-side portion and a second door-side portion located on opposite sides of the door. The first door-side portion and the second door-side portion extend inwardly from front panel towards the back panel. The first door-side portion and the second door-side portion are configured to engage an interior surface of the front panel to stop movement of the door in the open position. The first side and the second side are formed from a plurality of side flaps. The first door-side portion and the second door-side portion are crushed on an exterior surface, and a flap forming the first side and a flap forming the second side are crushed on an interior surface so as to facilitate smooth opening of the door.
According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, a blank for a container includes a front panel, a first end panel extending from the front panel, a back panel extending from the first end panel, a second end panel extending from the back panel, a plurality first side flaps, a plurality of second side flaps, and a door. Each of the plurality of first side flaps extend from a respective one of the front panel, the first end panel, the back panel, and the second end panel. Each of the plurality of second side flaps extend from the respective one of the front panel, the first end panel, the back panel, and the second end panel. The door includes a door-front portion formed in the front panel, a first door-side portion formed in the first side flap extending from the front panel and a second door-side portion formed in the second side flap extending from the front panel. The first door-side portion and the second door-side portion include a first crushed zone on an interior surface of the blank. The first side flap extending from the front panel and the second side flap extending from the front panel each include a second crushed zone on an exterior surface of the blank.
The above summary is not intended to represent each embodiment or every aspect of the present invention. Additional features and benefits of the present invention are apparent from the detailed description and figures set forth below.
Other advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, a specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The blank 10 further includes a plurality of side flaps 22a-22h hingedly connected to the front panel 12, the bottom panel 14, the back panel 16, and the top panel 18. More particularly, a first major side flap 22a and a second major side flap 22b are connected to opposing sides of the front panel 12, a first minor side flap 22c and a second minor side flap 22d are connected to opposing sides of the bottom panel 14, a third major side flap 22e and a fourth major side flap 22f are connected to opposing sides of the back panel 16, and a third minor side flap 22g and a fourth minor side flap 22h are connected to opposing sides of the top panel 18, respectively, by fold lines.
The front panel 12 includes a door-front portion 24. The door-front portion 24 is defined by a plurality of perforation lines 26 and a plurality of fold lines 28a-28c. The perforation lines 26 are configured to permit the door-front portion 24 to be separable from the remainder of the front panel 12. The door-front portion 24 is connected to the bottom panel 14 at the fold line 28a, which connects the front panel 12 and the bottom panel 14. As such, the door-front portion 24 is configured to be hingedly moveable about the fold line 28a, as described in further detail below.
The door-front portion 24 includes a fold line 34 extending in a direction from the first major side panel 22a to the second major side panel 22b. The fold line 34 divides the door-front portion 24 into a main portion 24a and a support portion 24b. The door-front portion 24 further includes a slit 36.
The door-front portion 24 is further connected to a first door-side portion 30a of the first major side flap 22a by the fold line 28b and the second door-side portion 30b of the second major side flap 22b by the fold line 28c. The first major side flap 22a and the second major side flap 22b each include a crush zone 32 respectively separated from the first door-side portion 30a and the second door-side portion 30b by an aperture. The interior surface of the first major side flap 22a and the second major side flap 22b are crushed in the crush zones 32. The first door-side portion 30a and the second door-side portion 30b are each crushed in a crush zone 33 on an exterior surface thereof. The advantages associated with these crushed zones 32, 33 are described in greater detail below. Additionally, the first door-side portion 30a and the second door-side portion 30b each include a stop member 38, as described further below.
The blank 10 further includes a tear-away portion 40 defined by a plurality of perforation lines 42. In the illustrated embodiment, the tear-away portion 40 is formed in the bottom panel 14, the back panel 16, and the top panel 18. The tear-away portion 40 includes a hook-catch portion 44 configured to allow the assembled container to be suspended from a hook for display (see
The assembly of the blank 10 to form the displayable shipping container 100 (see
Advantageously, the assembly of the container 100 can be achieved with assistance of a case erector that requires no special customization. Indeed, standard case erector equipment is configured to erect containers by attaching an attachment flap to a main panel, then folding in minor side flaps, and then folding in each major side flap. It is believed that prior containers having a door cannot achieve this advantage. Rather, it is believed that prior containers require special or customized equipment to fold additional side flaps or more than four panels in order to erect a container having a bin door. As a result, the container 100 of the present disclosure can be more efficiently manufactured at a reduced cost. It should be understood, however, that according to alternative aspects, the container 100 can be manually erected, in whole or in part, without the assistance of a case erector machine. Additionally, it should be understood that, according to additional and/or alternative aspects, the attachment flap 20 can be pre-glued to the top panel 18 prior to the blank 10 being placed into the case erector equipment.
After shipping the container 100 to a retail site, the container 100 can be converted from the shipping configuration (
In particular, to open the door 50, the perforation line 26 is broken and the door 50 is rotated about the fold line 28a to move the door 50 from the closed position to the open position. Advantageously, the support portion 24b of the door 50 can be utilized to facilitate the opening of the door 50. By applying pressure to the support portion 24b, the support portion 24b can be separated from the front panel 12 along the perforation line 26. The support portion 24b can then be pulled outwardly to detach the main portion 24a of the door from the front panel 12. The fold line 34 separating the main portion 24a from the support portion 24b assists in providing a variety of angles for the outward pulling of the support portion 24b, which minimizes the stress placed on the door 50 as it is opened.
Additionally and/or alternatively, the slit 36 can be utilized to facilitate the opening of the door 50. By applying pressure to the main portion 24a of the door-front panel 24, a user can access the interior surface of the support portion 24b. An outward force can then be applied to the interior surface of the support portion 24b to break the perforation line 26 and detach the door 50 from the front panel 12. With the perforation line 26 broken, the door 50 can then be freely moved to the open door position as shown in
While the slit 36 is provided in the illustrated container 100 to facilitate the opening of the door 50, it is contemplated that according to alternative aspects the slit 36 can be omitted or another feature can be provided to facilitate the opening of the door 50 (e.g., an aperture). However, providing the slit 36 instead of an aperture advantageously allows the container 100 to be more fully closed in the shipping configuration and, thus, better protects products within the container 100 during shipping.
Additionally, while the illustrated container 100 includes a door 50 having a main portion 24a and a support portion 24b, it is contemplated that according to alternative aspects the present disclosure, the door 50 can omit the support portion 24b. However, the support portion 24b can be advantageous because, as described above, the support portion 24b provides a stiffened surface against which a force can be applied to facilitate the opening of the door 50. This stiffened surface provided by the support portion 24b substantially inhibits unintended and undesirable ripping or tearing of the door-front panel 24 when attempting to open the door 50.
As shown in
The container 100 includes a number of features configured to inhibit unintended egress of product from within the container 100. For example, the door-side portions 30a, 30b can be configured to limit the outward extension of the door 50 and also provide a side barrier to retain product. In the shipping configuration, the first door-side portion 30a is located between the first minor side flap 22c and the third major side flap 22e, and the second door-side portion 30b is located between the second minor side flap 22d and the fourth major side flap 22f. This mitigates the problem of product within the container 100 interfering with the movement of the door-side portions 30a, 30b as the door 50 is moved from the closed position to the open position. To illustrate,
The container 100 is configured such that, in the shipping configuration, the first door-side portion 30a and the second door-side portion 30b are substantially coplanar with the first major side flap 22a and the second major side flap 22b, respectively. Advantageously, by configuring the container 100 in this way, the sides of the container 100 can have a minimal number of flaps (i.e., the sides of the container 100 can be only three flaps thick) while providing the space for protecting movement of the door-side portions 30a, 30b (i.e., the space between the minor flaps 22c, 22d and the major flaps 22e, 22f). This is possible because the door-side portions 30a, 30b are crushed on the exterior surface thereof in the crush zones 33 and the respective major side flaps 22a, 22b are crushed on the interior surface thereof in the crush zones 32, as described above with respect to
As described above with respect to
According to some aspects, the container 100 in the first display configuration optionally can be hung on a hook 56 that engages the hook-catch portion 44 as shown in
Notably, the container 100 can achieve the above described functionalities of the first display configuration with only four main panels 12, 14, 16, 18. That is, unlike other containers that require a fifth panel to form a door (e.g., the door may be two panels thick), the container 100 can be achieved with only four main panels 12, 14, 16, 18 such that the door 50 has the thickness of only a single panel (i.e., the panel 12). Additionally, as described above, the container 100 of the present disclosure can achieve a protected space for the door-side portions 30a, 30b such that the sides of the container 100 have a thickness of only three flaps (e.g., the flaps 22b, 22d, 22f for the protected space in which the second door-side portion 30b moves). As a result, the container 100 of the present disclosure can be manufactured from less material, mitigating waste, and achieving considerable efficiencies and cost savings.
In addition or the alternative to the first display configuration of the container 100 illustrated in
Additionally, as shown in
The containers of the embodiments described herein are typically manufactured using corrugated paperboard, preferably with the corrugations running in a vertical direction for increased strength. As non-limiting examples, the container 100 is manufactured from C-flute, EB-flute, E-flute, F-flute, N-flute, or B-flute corrugated paperboard. It is to be understood that the principles of this invention could be applied to containers made of other materials, such as non-corrugated paperboards, cardboard, corrugated fiberboard, non-corrugated fiberboard, solid-fiber board, polymeric materials, and other foldable materials.
While the containers of the embodiments described above include glue or adhesive for attaching various panels and flaps of the containers, it is contemplated that any other suitable method of joining or attaching panels and flaps may be utilized such as, for example, staples, tapes, a system of corresponding slits and tabs, combinations thereof, and/or the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, while the door 50 is illustrated and described as being hingedly connected to the bottom panel 16, it should be understood that the door 50 can be hinged about a fold line on the front panel 12 spaced away from the bottom panel 16. Additionally, for example, while the container 100 illustrated and described herein is configured to be converted to the first display configuration and the second display configuration, it should be understood that the container 100 can alternatively be configured to convert to only one of the first display configuration or the second display configuration. Each of the embodiments and obvious variations thereof is contemplated as falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/863,070, filed on Aug. 7, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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