This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-243444 (filing date: Dec. 20, 2017), the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a packaging box and a packaging method.
There is known a packaging box having a structure in which accessories can be packaged together with a product (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-274527). In the packaging box described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-274527, slit portions are formed in a set of inner flaps which are provided in the box and which open like double doors to tuck and fix a user manual being an accessory.
Although the structure of the slit portions in the packaging box described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-274527 allows a thin user manual to be tucked, the tucking is difficult when the user manual is thick. Moreover, user manuals vary in thickness or the number of documents to be packaged, depending on the specifications of products and countries to which to deliver the products, so that user manuals generally vary in entire thickness (height). The box described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-274527 cannot hold the user manuals varying in thickness as described above and there is room for improvement.
The same applies to the case where the accessory is not a booklet but a flat separate packaging box.
An object of the present invention is to provide a packaging box and a packaging method which can preferably hold an accessory regardless of its thickness.
A packaging box according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a shelf portion which partitions an interior of the packaging box into an upper space and a lower space, an inner flap which is located above the shelf portion as an inner lid and which is bendable to a closed position where the inner flap faces the shelf portion while extending parallel thereto, and a hold-down piece which is disposed at a position facing the inner flap at the closed position in the shelf portion and which has a first bent portion bendable to protrude outward in a middle portion of the hold-down piece, the hold-down piece formed by cutting and raising the shelf portion to be capable of standing in a tilted state where a distal end side thereof extends toward a first side portion.
A packaging method according to the second aspect of the present invention uses the packaging box according to the first aspect. The packaging method includes causing the hold-down piece to stand in the tilted state where a distal end portion of the hold-down piece is located above a lower surface of the inner flap at the closed position while bending the first bent portion to make it protrude outward. An object to be packaged is placed on the shelf portion such that the object to be packaged comes into contact or is capable of coming into contact with a tilted portion of the hold-down piece on a base side of the first bent portion, and the inner flap is brought to the closed position and caused to bias the hold-down piece downward so as to cause the packaging box to hold the object to be packaged between the tilted portion and each of the shelf portion and the first side portion.
A packaging method according to the third aspect of the present invention uses a packaging box comprising a shelf portion which partitions an interior of the packaging box into an upper space and a lower space, an inner flap which is located above the shelf portion as an inner lid and which is bendable to a closed position where the inner flap faces the shelf portion while extending parallel thereto, and a hold-down piece which is disposed at a position facing the inner flap at the closed position in the shelf portion and which the hold-down piece formed by cutting and raising the shelf portion to be capable of standing in a tilted state where a distal end side thereof extends toward a first side portion. The hold-down piece is caused to stand in the tilted state where a distal end portion of the hold-down piece is located above a lower surface of the inner flap at the closed position. An object to be packaged on the shelf portion is placed such that the object to be packaged comes into contact or is capable of coming into contact with a tilted portion on a base side of the hold-down piece, and bringing the inner flap to the closed position and causing the inner flap to bias the hold-down piece downward to cause the packaging box to hold the object to be packaged between the tilted portion and each of the shelf portion and the first side portion.
A packaging box and a packaging method according to the aspects of the present invention can preferably hold an accessory regardless of its thickness.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
Description will be hereinbelow provided for embodiments of the present invention by referring to the drawings. It should be noted that the same or similar parts and components throughout the drawings will be denoted by the same or similar reference signs, and that descriptions for such parts and components will be omitted or simplified. In addition, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and therefore different from the actual ones.
A packaging box according to an embodiment of the present invention is described by using a box 51 of Example 1 and a box 51B of Example 2.
As illustrated in
A shelf wall portion 3a partitioning the inside of the box 51 into upper and lower portions is formed to be connected to an upper portion of the front face portion 1a. In the shelf wall portion 3a, the direction of the arrow FL is the flute direction.
In the used state, the shelf wall portion 3a includes a reference plane portion 3a1 which extends rearward from the front face portion 1a side at a position where the height from a lower surface of the bottom portion 1e is a reference height Ha, a step portion 3a2 which is connected to a rear portion of the reference plane portion 3a1 and extends downward to a predetermined depth, a shelf portion 3a3 which horizontally extends rearward from a lower end of the step portion 3a2, and an abutting portion 3a4 which extends upward from a rear end of the shelf portion 3a3. The dimensions of the shelf wall portion 3a are set such that the abutting portion 3a4 slightly pushes an inner surface of the rear face portion 1c rearward.
A space inside the box 51 is divided into upper and lower portions by the shelf portion 3a3. A packaging material Pa in which a product is packaged is housed in a lower space Va being a space on the lower portion. The product is for example, a video camera. The position of the shelf wall portion 3a in an up-down direction is determined by bringing the shelf wall portion 3a into contact with an upper portion of the packaging material Pa. Specifically, the height position of an upper surface of the shelf portion 3a3 in the shelf wall portion 3a is determined to be a position below the reference height Ha by a height Hb. An accessory 61 which is a packaged object is housed in an upper space Vb which is a space in the upper portion. The accessory 61 is, for example, a booklet such as a user manual, a connection cable, a power adaptor, or the like.
As illustrated in
The left inner flap 2d and the right inner flap 2b are bent to be set to the horizontal positions and then the lid 2c is bent (arrow DR3) to cause an engagement portion 2c1 to engage with a lid engagement portion 1a1 formed in an upper portion of the front face portion 1a. By this engagement, the lid 2c is maintained in a closed state. As an engagement structure between the engagement portion 2c1 and the lid engagement portion 1a1, it is possible to use a well-known structure in a general corrugated box such as a type with a tuck in flap.
In
The hold-down piece portion 7 includes left, right, and rear cuts 7d, 7c, 7b which are formed in the shelf portion 3a3 in a square U-shape and a hold-down piece 7e which is separated from the shelf portion 3a3 at the cuts 7d, 7c, 7b and which has a front portion connected to the shelf portion 3a3 as a connection portion 7a. The cuts 7d and 7b extend in the front-rear direction and the cut 7c extends in the left-right direction. Specifically, a portion of the hold-down piece 7e beyond the connection portion 7a can be made to stand relative to the shelf portion 3a3.
Slits 7a1 are partially formed in the connection portion 7a. This can facilitate bending of the connection portion 7a by the finger or the like and cause the hold-down piece 7e to stand in a tilted state. Moreover, forming the slits 7a1 can reduce the stiffness of the connection portion 7a to such a level that, although the hold-down piece 7e can keep standing at a certain tilt angle by itself after being bent to stand in the tilted state, the tilt angle of the hold-down piece 7e can be easily changed by applying external force.
A bent portion 7e1 which has low bend stiffness and can be easily bent is formed in a center portion of the hold-down piece 7e in the front-rear direction by being pressed down halfway or the like. When the hold-down piece 7e is to be made to stand in the tilted state, the hold-down piece 7e is preferably slightly bent to protrude outward at the bent portion 7e1.
A portion of the hold-down piece 7e from the connection portion 7a to the bent portion 7e1 is referred to as a base portion 7e2 and a portion from the bent portion 7e1 to a distal end is referred to as a distal end portion 7e3. The hold-down piece 7e is made to stand in the tilted state in advance before being used, that is before the accessory is housed with the right inner flap 2b being open. An angle θa which is the tilt angle is set to be smaller than 90°. In this tilted standing position, the bent portion 7e1 protrudes outward, that is protrudes upward, the distal end portion 7e3 is tilted to extend upward toward the distal end, and the height position of the distal end 7e3a is above the reference height Ha. Moreover, the hold-down piece 7e stands with the distal end side thereof tilted toward the rear face portion 1c of the box 51.
The hold-down piece portion 7 is provided to house the accessory (for example, booklet 61) between the hold-down piece 7e and the abutting portion 3a4 of the shelf wall portion 3a. Specifically, the hold-down piece portion 7 is formed to hold the booklet 61 between the base portion 7e2 of the hold-down piece 7e and the abutting portion 3a4 in the front-rear direction and hold the booklet 61 between the base portion 7e2 of the hold-down piece 7e and the shelf portion 3a3 in the up-down direction.
When the booklet 61 is to be housed, as illustrated in
In this case, since at least the distal end 7e3a of the distal end portion 7e3 in the hold-down piece 7e is above the reference height Ha, the hold-down piece 7e is pressed downward by the right inner flap 2b and is tilted (arrow DR4) toward the shelf portion 3a3.
The booklet 61 is thereby held between the hold-down piece 7e and the abutting portion 3a4 on the shelf portion 3a3.
Any booklet 61 is similarly held regardless of its thickness as long as the upper front corner portion 61a comes into contact with the base portion 7e2 of the hold-down piece 7e as described above.
It is apparent from the aforementioned structure that the accessory is not limited to the booklet 61. In the box 51, the hold-down piece portion 7 can hold any accessory in the upper space Vb as long as the accessory has a substantially-box shape.
As described above in detail, in the box 51 of Example 1, closing the right inner flap 2b presses the hold-down piece 7e downward and the tilted base portion 7e2 of the hold-down piece 7e biases the upper front corner portion 61a of the accessory (for example, booklet 61) obliquely downward. Accordingly, the box 51 can hold the booklet 61 by holding it between the hold-down piece 7e and the abutting portion 3a4 and between the hold-down piece 7e and the shelf portion 3a3. The box 51 can thereby preferably hold the booklet 61 between the hold-down piece portion 7 and each of the shelf portion 3a3 and the abutting portion 3a4 regardless of the thickness of the booklet 61 as long as the upper front corner portion 61a comes into contact with the base portion 7e2.
Example 2 is a box 51B in which the hold-down piece portion 7 of the box 51 is replaced by a hold-down piece portion 7B. Specifically, the box 51B is different from the box 51 only in a hold-down piece 7Be of the hold-down piece portion 7B.
Before being used, as illustrated by chain lines of
In box 51B, the upper front corner portion 61a of the booklet 61 does not necessarily come into contact with the base portion 7Be2. Accordingly, various booklets 61 can be held even when the booklets 61 vary in the length in the front-rear direction, although the booklets 61 may slightly move in the front-rear direction. Moreover, for example, when the box 51B is tilted downward toward the front side, as illustrated in
It is apparent from the aforementioned structure that the accessory is not limited to the booklet 61. In the box 51B, an accessory of any shape can be held in the upper space Vb as long as the distal end portion 7Be3 of the hold-down piece portion 7B can press the accessory downward.
As described above in detail, in the box 51B of Example 2, closing the right inner flap 2b presses downward the bent portion 7Be1 protruding upward and the distal end portion 7Be3 presses downward the upper surface 61b of the accessory 61. Accordingly, the box 51B can hold the booklet 61 by holding it between the hold-down piece 7Be and the shelf portion 3a3.
The examples described above in detail are not limited to the aforementioned configurations and may be modified examples modified within a scope not departing from the spirit of the present invention.
The hold-down piece 7e, 7Be in Examples 1, 2 may be modified to hold-down pieces 71e, 71Be which include supporting pieces 71f, 71Bf as bent portions protruding further from the distal ends 7e3a, 7Be3a of the hold-down pieces 71e, 71Be. These hold-down pieces 71e, 71Be are described with reference to
Moreover, the boxes 51, 51B may be boxes 511, 511B which are modified examples including, in addition to the hold-down piece portions 7, 7B, lateral hold-down piece portions 8, 8B configured to restrict the position of the booklet 61 in the left-right direction with the right face portion 1b.
As illustrated in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017243444 | Dec 2017 | JP | national |