Patent Application
20130306718
The invention generally pertains to packaging, shipping and displaying products in containers and, more particularly, to a container and method of making the same, wherein the container is configured to store various items for transport but can be conveniently and easily cut open to expose the items and even transform the container into a display for the items.
In connection with shipping products from a manufacturer to a retail establishment, it is known to package various products in a container, seal the container, and ship the container for delivery to a designated retail establishment. Although various materials could be used in making the containers, the most common material employed is corrugated cardboard or paperboard. In general, the paperboard is provided in the form of a blank which can be conveniently stored in a flat configuration but easily erected through a simple folding operation to establish an open-ended container which can be filled and sealed, typically in an automated process. These containers are not only lightweight and quite strong, but the paperboard is advantageously recyclable.
In some situations, the containers are shipped directly from the manufacturer to various retail establishments while, in other cases, the manufactured products are first shipped in the containers to a designated distributorship which then redirects the containers to the appropriate store. In either situation, it was not uncommon to display the products at the store in containers of this type. That is, many stores wish to minimize the time and cost associated with removing the individual products from the containers and placing the products directly on display shelves. Instead, the container is simply placed in an accessible location for consumers with the products being exposed to enable the consumers to select a desired product directly from the container. To expose the products, the paperboard containers are generally cut to remove a substantial portion of the container body, thereby exposing the product and enhancing the overall visual effect for the purchaser.
In the past, it was not uncommon for a store employee to be provided with a box cutter for the purpose of converting a shipping container to a display container. However, when cutting open the container, care must be taken to avoid also cutting into the packaged product. In any case, for various reasons, the industry has moved away from providing this type of instrument to employees. As simply tearing the boxes open leads to an unsightly result, it has been proposed to incorporate score lines directly into the containers. Typically, the score lines are created by forming side walls of a container with a series of aligned perforations such that, when portions of the sides are manually pulled apart, the container will tend to tear along the perforations, thereby establishing a more aesthetic result. Unfortunately, this type of arrangement still has a propensity for unintended tears and the score lines tend to undesirably weaken the overall structural integrity of the container. The structural integrity can prove quite important, particular depending on the type of packaged products and the manner in which the containers are moved. For instance, if the products are liquids packaged in glass containers, the overall container can be rather heavy and, if the containers are loaded/unloaded utilizing clamp or similar-type work trucks, the containers can easily fail.
In light of these and other drawbacks, it is actually now quite common for packaged products to be shipped to a distributor, which is relatively close to the final product destination, in a shipping container. At the distributor, the shipping container is opened, either manually or through an automated process, and the contents of the container are transferred to another container which can also double as a display designed for placement either on the floor or a shelf of a store. For example, this type of delivery process is widely used in the food industry. For instance, it is known to pack and seal various cartons or boxes of cereal in a paperboard container, ship the container to a distributor, cut the container along four sides to expose the cartons of cereal in an automated operation, manually separate the container portions, transfer the cartons of cereal to a display container and then deliver the cartons of cereal in the display container to a designated grocery store. Even though both the shipping and display containers can be recycled and the result is quite convenient for the store owners, the overall process is quite labor intensive and costly. In addition to these drawbacks, it has been found that the automated cutting operation cannot be reliably practiced with certain products. More specifically, cartons of cereal, particularly those located at the corners of the shipping containers, are sometimes sliced during the cutting operation, resulting in product which can no longer be sold. Certainly, material and labor savings can be realized by reducing the need for separate shipping and display containers. However, to benefit from this savings, a reliable system must be in place to assure that shipping containers can be reliably converted to aesthetically pleasing display containers or cases, particularly without damaging the packaged products.
The invention is directed to pre-forming a container, adapted to be cut in order to expose products stored therein, with corner slits having a primary slit portion extending around a respective corner of the container, as well as secondary slit portions which extend at a non-linear angle to the primary slit portion. Between the corner slits, the container can be provided with cut lines to act as a guide for a cutting instrument used to separate the container into top and bottom sections, with the bottom section establishing a display container or case. With the inclusion of the corner slits, the cutting instrument need not make any cuts through the corners. In addition, cuts made between the corner slits need not be perfectly aligned between respective primary slit portions due to the existence of the secondary slit portions. Instead, the relatively angled secondary slit portions advantageously provide for a range of permissible cuts.
The invention can be employed in packaging and displaying a wide range of products. In addition, by simply repositioning the relative locations of the various corner slits, display containers of various configurations can be readily established. In any case, additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
Again, the structure described above in forming container 2 is known and would be readily understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, at this point, it should be realized that container 2 can be formed in various other ways, such as providing a blank having a solid bottom panel with various panels and flaps which fold and secure to each other to establish other panel portions of the container. Furthermore, the flaps, when folded, can meet or touch each other, or a gap can be established between them. In general, it should just be understood that the invention can be employed with any known configuration of shipping container of this type. In any case, at this point, it is merely important to recognize that, once erected, container 2 can be used to store and transport various articles as will be discussed more fully below.
Regardless of the exact construction for container 2, there will be established a series of corners which, in the embodiment depicted, are established by fold lines 21-24. In accordance with the invention, each of these corners is configured to extend vertically, while being provided with a pre-formed corner slit 58-61. As illustrated in each of
As indicated above, it is quite common to utilize containers for use in shipping packaged products to a desired destination. In addition, it is desirable to open the containers in order to provide access to those products. Finally, in certain situations, it can be desirable to open the container in a manner which will enable at least a portion of the container to be retained and used for display purposes. In accordance with the invention, corner slits 58-61 are specifically arranged about container 2 and configured to enhance the accurate and clean cutting of container 2. To this end, it should be noted that the embodiment of these figures provides corner slits 58 and 59 at positions spaced slightly above, such as in the order of a couple inches, bottom panel 12, while corner slits 60 and 61 are provided slightly below top panel 14. Certainly, the exact distance from bottom panel 12 and top panel 14 for corner slits 58-61 can be varied without departing from the invention. In any case, it is between the various corner slits 58-61 that container 2 is designed to be cut. To illustrate this point, container 2 is shown to include various cut lines 77-80 as best shown in
At this point, it should be recognized that cut lines 77-80 are provided to assist or guide the user in converting container 2 to a display container, while also aiding the reader in fully understanding the invention. Cut lines 77-80 can be established on container 2 by providing markings, such as dotted lines or the like. However, cut lines 77-80 are not required in accordance with the invention, but can be provided to illustrate a guideline for cutting container 2 between respective second and third slit portions 69 and 70 along each of front panel 5, side panels 7 and 8, and back panel 9. Once cuts are made along lines 77-80, due to the inclusion of pre-formed corner slits 58-61, container 2 will be divided into an upper panel portion 83 and a lower panel portion 84 which are generally indicated in
Reference will now be mainly made to
In accordance with the invention, the various cuts to be made can be done manually or through an automated arrangement.
At this point, it should be recognized that cutter arm assembly 124 is not considered part of the present invention and is merely provided for the sake of completeness. Therefore, the particular construction and operation of cutter arm assembly 124 can greatly vary. In any case, with this arrangement, cutter arm assembly 124 can be maneuvered to cut between corner slits 58-61 and along cut lines 77-80, while not having to cut through fold lines 21-24 in order to transform container 2 from the condition shown in
As indicated above, the particular location of corner slits 58-61 can vary in accordance with the invention. For instance,
Based on the above, it should be readily apparent that the construction of the container in accordance with the invention enables the container to be readily cut, whether manually or through an automated cutting apparatus, without the need to cut through corner portions or follow precise cutting lines. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a packaging container can be readily converted to a display container. However, the invention can also be employed in connection with just exposing products packaged in a container. Although described with reference to certain embodiments of the invention, it should be readily understood that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, as referenced above, the location of the corner slits could be readily varied to establish a wide range of display container configurations. In addition, as indicated above, the secondary slits need not be perpendicular to the primary slits but could be angled in other fashions. In fact, it should be recognized that the various secondary slit portions associated with the corner slits can intersect the primary slit portions at a wide range of acute or obtuse angles so long as the secondary slit portions are spaced from the corners and not aligned with the primary slit portions. Also, the extent of the second slit portions can greatly vary in accordance with the invention and, in fact, need not extend both above and below the primary slit portions. The slits or cuts can actually be established by die cuts wherein a portion of material is removed at the ends of the primary slits, with the removed material establishing a void in a geometric shape, such as a circle, square, triangle or the like. Furthermore, it should again be noted that the inclusion of cut lines is optional. In accordance with the illustrated embodiments, the cut lines are just markings, although perforations or the like could be employed if structural integrity of the container was not an issue. Also, the corrugations of the container can be vertical or horizontal depending upon the need for more top-to-bottom or side-by-side strength respectively. Although cartons of cereal are packaged in the embodiment disclosed, the invention can be used with a wide range of shipped articles, including all sorts of food and non-food products. Certainly, it should be recognized that the number of sides of the container incorporating the invention can greatly vary and any reference to front, back, side or the like in referring to the panels is merely for reference purposes such that these terms equally just refer to side panels of the container in connection with the description and claims. Finally, the invention has been described in connection with cutting the container into upper and lower container sections, while it should be understood that further cuts could also be made, such as cutting a container to establish a top section or cap, a middle body tube section, and a bottom section or cap. Whether cut into two or more sections, the top and bottom sections could be similarly configured, which actually results in connection with the embodiments discussed in detail above, so that each container can be cut to result in multiple display containers for storing products. In connection with making the cuts, the containers could be printed with product information which is strategically placed relative to the cut lines such that display or other information is not removed and discarded upon creating the display containers. If the cuts are made to established multiple display containers from a single container, duplicate information can be provided in different locations, even upside down in predetermined spots, to assure legibility when the resulting display containers are utilized. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.
