Patent Application
20120261291
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates to packaging and methods relating to packaging, for shipping, storage, or otherwise, for providing strength, stability, and accessibility to multipack shipping units.
It is often desirable to load multiple individual use containers into a pack for shipment. It is also desirable to stack the packs of multiple individual use containers for space efficiency in storage and transport either amongst themselves or mixed with other packs. During shipment, it is known that cargo, such as packs of multiple individual use containers, experience lateral as well as vertical movement. These lateral and vertical movements create forces that may cause instability of the stacked packs and, for example, lead to tipping of the stacked packs causing damage to the individual use containers and thus making them unmarketable or causing a reduction in value.
Packagers, carriers, or manufacturers may employ the use of additional support structures within the pack to prevent lateral forces from tipping individual items, such as containers, packs of multiple containers or other shippable goods during shipment. These support structures within the pack help to ensure that the containers or other such shippable goods reach their destinations intact or otherwise remain undamaged when shipped in a stacked position. For example, such additional support structures have taken the form of additional cardboard layers inserted or folded between or among the containers or other shippable goods. Such layers are designed to reinforce or provide additional support to the packaging of the containers or other shippable goods, thereby allowing them to better withstand horizontal or vertical loads experienced during shipping or otherwise. In addition, other materials such as “bubble wrap” or “foam” may be inserted between or among the containers or other shippable goods to decrease the movement or impact between or among the containers during transit or otherwise. However, while such additional support structures can decrease damage or destruction experienced during shipping, such structures add an additional process in the manufacture of the goods, and add expense to the overall cost to ship or otherwise store the containers or shippable goods.
It is often economical for the individual use containers to support at least part of this stacking load, consisting of vertical and/or lateral forces, when arranged in packs that are stacked on top of one another. One example of an individual use container has an off-center top surface, with respect to the container's base. Often it is most economical to configure the individual use containers facing the same direction in the pack when using mechanical means to load the containers into the pack. This process simplifies loading the containers into the packs and avoids turning individual use containers in multiple directions. If loaded manually, this process avoids configuring the individual use containers in the packs in random orientation.
However, when individual use containers having an off-centered top surface carry the load of packs and/or cargo stacked above and are configured to face the same direction or are randomly oriented in the pack for shipment, the collective off-center top surfaces do not provide a balanced top load support surface configuration for packs or other cargo stacked on top of a given layer of individual use containers or across the outside dimensions of the stacked packs. These stacked pack and cargo configurations cause or increase the moment arm, or torque, on the vertically and/or laterally loaded top surfaces of some of the individual use containers. This increases damage risk to those higher loaded containers from disproportionate vertical or lateral forces during shipment of the packs.
In some instances individual use containers are displayed and sold from the pack in which they are shipped. The pack in some instances has vertical side walls approximately as tall as the containers. If individual use containers having off-center top surfaces or necks are configured in the same, or random, orientation in a pack having vertical side walls approximately as tall as the use container, it is difficult for a consumer to locate and grasp the individual use container from the pack. This is due to the container's handle(s) or other gripping surfaces, for example, being located against the vertical side walls of the pack.
Accordingly, the present disclosure seeks to overcome these limitations and drawbacks, and to provide new features not heretofore available. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes a stackable packaging unit that provides increased stability when placed in a stacked configuration that includes a pack having a length and a width and a plurality of individual use containers. Each container has a base having a base center axis extending therethrough, a body and an offset top load support surface having an offset center axis extending therethrough. The base center axis and the offset center axis are spaced apart and extend substantially parallel to each other. The containers adjacent to an outside periphery of the pack that are along one of the length and width of the pack are positioned in the pack such that the offset top load support surfaces of these containers are adjacent to an outside periphery of the pack. In this position, the offset center axis is in closer proximity to the outside periphery than the base center axis. This configuration provides increased stability of the stackable packing unit when placed in a stacked configuration.
In another aspect, each individual use container of the stackable packaging unit further includes a gripping feature, the gripping feature of the containers adjacent to the outside periphery of the pack along the respective one of the length and width is positioned away from the outside periphery of the pack when the container is placed in the pack. In a further aspect, each container includes a neck that includes the offset top load support surface. In a further aspect, a plurality of the stackable packaging units are stacked with respect to one another.
In a still further aspect, the pack comprises a shrink film for holding the containers together. In yet another aspect, the pack comprises a bottom wall and side walls, the side walls formed at and extending from a perimeter of the bottom wall. The individual use containers are positioned on the bottom wall of the pack. The containers are also positioned adjacent to the outside periphery of the pack along the respective one of the length and width and configured such that the offset top load support surfaces are adjacent to at least one side wall of the pack thereby positioning the offset center axis in closer proximity to the side wall than the base center axis. This configuration provides increased stability of the stackable packing unit when placed in a stacked configuration. In one aspect, the side walls of the stackable packaging unit may extend to about the same position as the offset top load support surfaces of the individual use containers. At least one of the side walls may include an opening therethrough. In a further aspect, the side walls of the stackable packaging unit extend to a position substantially below the offset center top load support surfaces of the individual use containers.
In another embodiment, a multipack assembly includes a first pack having a length and a width and a plurality of individual use containers positioned in the first pack. Each container includes a base having a base center axis extending therethrough, a body and an offset top load support surface having an offset center axis extending therethrough. The base center axis and the offset center axis are spaced apart and extend substantially parallel to each other. The multipack assembly further includes a second pack having a length and a width and a plurality of the individual use containers positioned in the second pack, which is stacked on top of the first pack. The containers adjacent to an outside periphery of a respective pack are positioned in each respective pack along one of the length and width such that the offset top load support surfaces of these containers are adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack. This configuration positions the offset center axis in closer proximity to the outside periphery of the pack than the base center axis, which provides increased stability when the second pack is stacked on top of the first pack.
In a further aspect, each individual use container of the multipack assembly has a gripping feature, the gripping feature of the containers adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack along the respective one of the length and width are positioned away from the outside periphery of the respective pack of the multipack assembly when the container is placed in the respective pack. In another aspect, each container includes a neck that includes the offset top load support surface. In yet another aspect, the first and/or second pack includes shrink wrap film for holding the containers together in the pack.
In one aspect, the first pack and/or the second pack has a bottom wall and side walls formed at and extending from a perimeter of the bottom wall. The first pack and/or the second pack each include a plurality of the individual use containers positioned on the bottom wall of each respective pack. The individual use containers are configured such that the offset top load support surfaces of the containers adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack along the respective one of the length and width are adjacent to at least one side wall of the first pack and/or second pack thereby positioning the offset center axis in closer proximity to the side wall than the base center axis. In yet another aspect, the side walls of the first pack and/or second pack extend to about the same position as the offset top load support surface of the individual use containers in the multipack assembly. At least one side wall of the first and/or second pack may include an opening formed therethrough. In another aspect, the side walls of the first pack and/or second pack extend to a position substantially below the offset center top load support surfaces of the individual use containers.
In a further embodiment, the present disclosure includes a method of providing a stable stacked multipack assembly. The method provides providing a first pack having a length and a width that includes a plurality of individual use containers positioned in the first pack. Each container includes a base having a base center axis extending therethrough and an offset center load support surface having an offset center axis extending therethrough. The base center axis and the offset center axis are spaced apart and extend substantially parallel to each other. The method further includes providing a second pack having a length and a width that includes a plurality of the individual use containers positioned in the second pack. The method also includes orienting the containers in the first pack and second pack such that the offset top load surfaces of the containers adjacent to an outside periphery of each respective pack along one of the length and width are adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack. The method orients the offset center axis of these containers in closer proximity to the outside periphery of each respective pack than the base center axis for providing increased stability when placed in a stacked configuration. The method further includes stacking the second pack on top of the first pack.
In another aspect of the present method, each individual use container includes a gripping feature, and the method includes the step of positioning the gripping feature of the containers adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack along the respective one of the length and width away from the outside periphery of a respective pack when placing the container in the respective pack. A further aspect of the stacking method includes each container having a neck that includes the offset top load support surface.
In one aspect, at least one of the first pack and second pack includes bottom wall and side walls, the side walls formed at and extending from a perimeter of the bottom wall. The step of orienting includes positioning each individual use container on the bottom wall of at least one of the first pack and second pack such that the offset top load support surfaces of the containers adjacent to the outside periphery of each respective pack along the respective one of the length and width are adjacent to at least one side wall of the respective packs thereby positioning the offset center axis in closer proximity to the side wall than the base center axis. The side walls of the first pack and the second pack, respectively, may extend to about the same position as the offset center top load support surfaces of the individual use containers and at least one of the side walls of the first pack and second pack may also include an opening therethrough. The side walls of each the first pack and the second pack, respectively, may also extend to a position below the offset center top load support surfaces of the individual use containers.
To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to only the embodiments illustrated.
Referring now to the Figures, and specifically to
As shown in
The container 10 further includes a gripping feature 18, for example a handle, that projects from the container body 16 and connects to the neck 14, allowing an individual to grasp the container 10. As discussed above, in other examples (not shown) the gripping feature may extend from the container body 16 such that a top support surface may be formed by the gripping feature in addition to or as an alternative to the top support surface 22. The top support surface formed by the gripping feature may function in the same or similar way as the top support surface 22 shown in
In one embodiment shown in
As shown in
In another example, layer sheets or tier sheets may be placed between each layer of stacked packaging units. For example, a layer sheet is placed on top of a packaging unit residing at the bottom prior to a second packaging unit being placed on top of the bottom packaging unit. The layer sheets may be of suitable dimension and configuration to cover the bottom packaging unit. Preferably, the layer sheets are relatively thin and cover an area as large or larger than the top of the stackable packaging unit. The layer sheets compensate for misalignment of the stacked layers of packaging units and prevent layers of packaging units on top from having the tendency to move away from the center of the pallet, for example, and falling. The layer sheets provide an added stability to the vertically oriented multipack assembly.
In comparison to other conventional arrangements, for example, in which offset necks of all the containers are oriented in the same direction in a package, the presently disclosed configuration provides a more stable configuration when a plurality of packaging units are stacked one on top of the other. In the conventional arrangement having offset top surfaces arranged in the same direction, the effective surface area formed by the tops of the containers is reduced, causing the tops and thus entire body of the containers further from the center of the package to experience increased torque as the weight of the objects stacked above (e.g., a further stacked package) increases and lateral forces applied during shipping and storage act upon the stacked packaging units. That is, as the weight of an object stacked above increases and lateral forces are applied to the stacked units, the vertical and lateral forces are distributed over a smaller area causing an uneven and thus unbalanced load distribution across the packaging unit. This leads to a greater tendency for higher stacked packs to deform and fail and thus tip over. As a result, the containers in a conventional package would be less stable and deform more when receiving lateral forces, which may result in damage or destruction of the containers during shipment.
In contrast, one preferred example of the presently disclosed configuration of containers 10 in packs 52 increases the support and stability of the packs when stacked. In this exemplary configuration, each container 10 is oriented with the top support surfaces 22 adjacent to the side walls 54 to position the support surfaces 22 to maximize the area between the surfaces. As shown in
An additional advantage of the present disclosure is also shown in
The stackable packaging units 50 may take the form of various configurations, for example, instead of housing four individual use containers, the stackable packaging units may house any number of containers. For example, as shown in
The stackable packaging units 50 may be stacked together or otherwise positioned with respect to one another for shipping or storage purposes. Such an arrangement is referred to as a “multipack assembly.”
A method of providing the multipack assemblies 70 shown in
Several alternative embodiments and examples have been described and illustrated herein. A person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the features of the individual embodiments, and the possible combinations and variations of the components. A person of ordinary skill in the art would further appreciate that any of the embodiments could be provided in any combination with the other embodiments disclosed herein. Further, the term “plurality” as used herein indicates any number greater than one, either disjunctively or conjunctively, as necessary, up to an infinite number. Additionally, the term “having” as used herein in both the disclosure and claims, is utilized in an open-ended manner.
It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein. Accordingly, while the specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying Claims.
