The system described herein relates to a container for packaging any desired goods. Such containers are usually cuboidal, but can also have a round or polygonal contour. Goods packaged therein are for example foodstuffs such as chocolates, electronic articles such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, or shoes.
Such packaging containers having a lower part and an upper part, or lid, engaging around the lower part are known. Packaging containers consisting of cardboard or corrugated board, which have nub-like protrusions on their top side, are also known.
The documents U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,426 A, DE 43 34 530 A1 and DE 20 2014 105 771 U1 show various containers with protrusions on the top side and recesses on the underside.
The system described herein is based on designing a packaging container made of cardboard, corrugated board, pressboard, fiber molding compound or the like having protrusions on the top side and recesses on the underside such that it is able to be produced in a convenient and environmentally friendly manner. In one embodiment, the packaging container should be able to serve as a component of a display rack.
Described herein is a packaging container having a top side, an underside extending parallel thereto, and at least one side wall extending from the top side to the underside. The top side is formed by the cover wall of the container and the underside is formed by the base of the container. The side wall extends between the peripheries of the cover wall and base wall. In the case of a round container, the side wall is cylindrically curved and extends between a circular cover wall and a circular base. In the case of a cuboidal container, the side wall consists of four wall portions that adjoin one another at right angles. In some embodiments, the top side is provided with at least one protrusion and the underside is provided with at least one recess into which a protrusion arranged on the top side of a second identically shaped packaging container is able to be plugged. However, it is also possible for the protrusions to be arranged on the underside and the recesses on the top side. It is also possible to arrange one or more protrusions on the underside with complementary recesses on the underside and one or more protrusions on the underside with complementary recesses on the top side. The protrusions and recesses should be arranged such that the protrusions of the first container project into recesses of the second container in the case of two identically shaped containers stacked one on top of the other. In some embodiments, the protrusions are arranged on a side of the container such that they form stable bearing surfaces so that the container can be placed stably on the protrusions. Holes have been punched in the top side and in the underside, wherein the protrusions and the recesses have been applied to inserts which have been inserted into the packaging container. The inserts can consist of plastic. The inserts can also consist of a biodegradable fiber material. In particular, molded pulp made of pulp fibers is suitable for producing the inserts. The material is visually very appealing but at the same time cost-effective and environmentally friendly because it is able to be produced from recycled waste paper. Using molded-pulp technology, inserts of variable shapes can be produced. Alternatively, the inserts can also be deep-drawn from paper material or cardboard material in any desired colors. The inserts can fulfill further functions in addition to forming the recesses and protrusions. Thus, the inserts can have, on the side remote from the top side and underside, respectively, of the container, receptacles for products to be received in the container. In other words, the inserts can have tray-like regions or depressions, the shape of which matches the contour of the products to be received. The products to be received are placed in these tray-like depressions of the inserts such that they cannot move within the container during transport. The inserts can be fastened to the top side and the underside. However, they can also be introduced into a packaging container comprising, or consisting of, an upper part and a lower part and be enclosed with slight play by the upper part and the lower part of the packaging container such that, in this way, they are fixed with regard to the top side and underside of the packaging container.
In this way, the packaging container can be stacked optimally and in a manner secured against shifting. The protrusion on the cover wall of the lower packaging container projects into the complementary recess in the base of the upper packaging container and secures the latter against slipping. The protrusion can in this case have any desired shape and form, for example, symbols such as letters and numbers, and logos or representations of the packaged products. It improves the visual appearance of the container and at the same time serves as a transport lock.
In practice, the packaging container can be cuboidal. In particular in the case of a cuboidal embodiment of the packaging container, the latter can also serve as a component of a display rack. For this purpose, at least one side wall of the packaging container can be entirely or largely able to be folded open. This container has the advantage that the goods can be viewed after the side wall has been opened.
The side wall that is able to be folded open can be connected to the remaining part of the side wall or to the adjoining walls of the container via a perforation or via an adhesive strip.
A drawer can be arranged on the underside of the packaging container, said drawer being able to be extended with the side wall open.
Furthermore, in the case of a cuboidal container, that part of the side wall that is able to be folded open can be connected to the remaining part of the side wall via a perforation extending in the vicinity of and parallel to the upper horizontal side edge and in the vicinity of and parallel to the two vertical side edges. In the case of round packaging containers or packaging containers with other shapes, the perforations can accordingly be arranged such that the region that is able to be folded open exposes a large part of the area of the container that is visible in plan view.
The perforation can be formed by a tear-off perforation strip formed by two parallel perforation lines. A weakening line can have been embossed in the vicinity of and parallel to the lower side edge, the window cut out by the perforation being able to be turned down along said weakening line.
A cuboidal packaging container can be provided on its top side with four, six or eight conical, i.e. frustoconical protrusions and on its underside with the same number of, namely four, six or eight, receiving recesses of complementary shape. The protrusions and receiving recesses can in practice be distributed in pairs along the length of the container, i.e. pairs of protrusions or receiving recesses arranged alongside one another are each arranged at defined spacings in the longitudinal direction of the container. In this case, the spacing between the two protrusions or recesses of a pair can correspond to the spacing of successive pairs. In this way, not only can containers be arranged in a flush manner on one another, they can also be arranged in a manner offset by a half, a third or a quarter of the container length or at 90° with respect to one another, wherein the protrusions of the lower containers project into the receiving recesses of the upper containers. In this way, a display rack for the products received in the containers can be assembled from the containers. The rack is very stable and can be used to display and compare shoes, toys or other goods.
In practice, the two inserts can be constituent parts of a cardboard blank which has the following portions that are connected together via bending lines:
The cardboard blank is bent through 90 degrees at each bending line, wherein all of the bending lines extend parallel to one another. This results in a cuboid, the top side of which is formed by one of the cover-wall portions and the underside of which is formed by the second cover-wall portion. In practice, the first cover-wall portion with the recess can be the lower insert of the container. The second cover-wall portion with the protrusion then forms the upper insert of the container. After being bent along the bending lines, the cardboard blank forms a cuboidal packaging element. The cuboidal packaging element can be inserted into a box-like receiving carton with the hole, the contour of which in plan view corresponds in shape and position to the contour of the recess in the first, lower cover-wall portion. A lid with a hole, the contour of which corresponds in shape and position to the contour of the protrusion on the second, upper cover-wall portion, can close the box-like receiving carton.
In some embodiments, in the case of a cardboard blank bent to form a cuboidal packaging element, the protrusions on the second cover-wall portion are located at the same position as the recesses in the first cover-wall portion when two containers with such cuboidal packaging elements are stacked, such that protrusion and recess engage in one another in a form-fitting manner. Of course, the shape of the recess and protrusion likewise correspond to one another. If a plurality of protrusions are provided on the second cover-wall portion and a plurality of recesses are provided in the first cover-wall portion, in each case one recess of the first cover-wall portion corresponds in shape and position to a protrusion of the second cover-wall portion.
The receptacles for the products can have any desired configurations. In most cases, they are receiving recesses into which the products to be received are able to be inserted and in which the products to be received are fixed. However, other fastening structures are suitable for fastening products to be received in the receiving portion of the cardboard blank.
In the case of two-part packaging having a lower part and an upper part, a window can have been punched out of the longitudinal side of the lower part, said longitudinal side coming to rest against the longitudinal wall of the upper part, said window corresponding, after the upper part has been put on, to that part of the side wall that is able to be folded open. In this way, two-part packaging can also be provided with a display window.
In another embodiment, in which the recesses and protrusions are not necessarily conical, the at least one protrusion and the at least one recess can in practice have complementary shapes and be applied at mutually corresponding positions such that the underside of a second identically shaped packaging container is able to be placed in a flush manner on the top side of a packaging container, wherein the protrusion on the top side projects into the recess of complementary shape on the underside. These types of packaging can be stacked with a substantially identical space requirement to conventional types of packaging, but are secured against slipping in the transverse direction.
In practice, the at least one protrusion on the top side can have the shape of a symbol, in particular a number or a letter. For example, the protrusion can represent a company logo or the letters of a company name. Furthermore, in practice, the at least one protrusion can have the shape of a product received in the container. Combinations are also possible, for example a protrusion in the shape of a product, a protrusion in the shape of the company logo and optionally several protrusions in the shape of the letters of the company name. For each protrusion on the top side of the packaging container, a receiving recess of complementary shape can be provided on the underside of the packaging container.
In practice, the protrusions can project at least about 2 mm from the surface of the top side, wherein the recesses are correspondingly at least about 2 mm deep. In this way, effective securing against slipping is formed.
In the following description, exemplary embodiments of the packaging container according to embodiments of the system described herein are described in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which:
The packaging container 1 according to
Six conical protrusions 3 are integrally formed in the top side 2 and six receiving recesses 4 are integrally formed in the underside. With this packaging container 1, a stable rack can be built—as shown in
The packaging container according to
As
The conical protrusions 3, the receiving recesses 4 and the perforation 11 and a folding line 14 for that part of the side wall 6 that is able to be folded open can have been embossed or punched into the paperboard or cardboard blank 26. Depending on the deformability of the walls, comprising, or consisting of, cardboard, paperboard, pressboard, hot-pressed fiber material provided with binders, or the like, of the packaging container 1, the protrusions 3 and the recesses 4 could have been embossed into the top side 2 and into the base 5 of the packaging container 1 by the cold pressing or hot pressing method.
As described above, the recesses 123-129 and the protrusions 113-119 are formed by inserts. The insert 122 with recesses 123-129 can be seen on the inner side of the base 105 of the box-like receiving carton 104 in
Here again, the lower part of the container with a recess formed in a complementary manner to the protrusion 303 has not been illustrated. However, it is clearly apparent that when the containers are placed one another, wherein the recess in the underside surrounds the protrusion 303 with little play, lateral slipping of the identically shaped containers stacked one on the other is prevented.
The inserts 223, 323 can have a further technical function. On the side remote from the top side and underside, respectively, of the packaging container, the inserts can have receptacles for the products to be received in the container. The receptacles can be formed by simple webs that project out of the inserts. The receptacles can also be formed in a more complex manner, however, and have a surface complementary to the surface of the received product when the inserts are made into any desired shapes for example using molded-pulp methods.
Such inserts made of different materials, in particular including cardboard or fiber material, are known from the prior art. In the context of the packaging described herein, the receiving portion is connected, as a constituent part of a cardboard blank, to the inserts. For this purpose, the receiving portion 402 is connected to a first side-wall portion 411 via a first bending line 410. Via a second bending line 412, the first side-wall portion is adjoined by a first cover-wall portion 413, in the middle of which a recess 420 in the form of a pear which has been bitten into is formed. The first cover-wall portion 413 merges via a third bending line 414 into the second side-wall portion 415. The second side-wall portion 415 is adjoined by a fourth bending line 416 and a second cover-wall portion 417. The second cover-wall portion 417 has the protrusion 423, which has a shape complementary to the recess 420.
In some embodiments, all of the bending lines extend parallel to one another, and, at all of the bending lines, the mutually adjoining wall portions are bent through 90 degrees with respect to one another, such that bending along all of the bending lines produces the cuboidal packaging element 419 that can be seen in
The packaging element 419 is cuboidal and can consequently be inserted into a box-like receiving carton 422, the lower wall of which has a hole 421 that matches the recess 420, the contour of said hole 421 corresponding to the contour of the recess 420 and said hole 421 having the same position as the recess 420 in bottom view. The packaging element 417 inserted into the receiving carton 422 can be seen in
In practice, the cardboard blank can be formed from molded pulp. Molded pulp is an environmentally friendly material made of pulp fibers which can be obtained from renewable and biodegradable raw materials and also from waste paper. Usually, packaging inserts, but also beer mats and egg boxes, are manufactured from molded pulp. Molded pulp is particularly suitable for manufacturing complex shapes from pulp fibers in a cost-effective manner.
The features of the system described herein which are disclosed in the present description, in the drawings and in the claims can be essential both individually and in any desired combinations for the realization of the system described herein in its various embodiments. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments. It can be varied within the scope of the claims and taking the knowledge of a competent person skilled in the art into account.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
202014105771.4 | Nov 2014 | DE | national |
202015100997.6 | Mar 2015 | DE | national |
202015103273.0 | Jun 2015 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2015/077037 | 11/19/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2016/083222 | 6/2/2016 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3194426 | Brown | Jul 1965 | A |
5611426 | Warfield | Mar 1997 | A |
6431436 | Evers | Aug 2002 | B1 |
8317024 | Persi | Nov 2012 | B1 |
20050109827 | Martin | May 2005 | A1 |
20100006467 | Joseph et al. | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20110174655 | Gonn | Jul 2011 | A1 |
20130146498 | Chen | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20130334234 | Vernon et al. | Dec 2013 | A1 |
20140027337 | Marchetti et al. | Jan 2014 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2673636 | Jan 2005 | CN |
201140824 | Oct 2008 | CN |
201406139 | Feb 2010 | CN |
102470973 | May 2012 | CN |
202337457 | Jul 2012 | CN |
87 09 277.8 | Oct 1988 | DE |
43 34 530 | Apr 1995 | DE |
198 08 013 | Sep 1999 | DE |
101 02 239 | Apr 2002 | DE |
20 2010 010 168 | Nov 2010 | DE |
20 2014 105 771 | Feb 2015 | DE |
2 455 302 | Sep 2013 | EP |
2 147 883 | May 1985 | GB |
WO 2013114060 | Aug 2013 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20170305596 A1 | Oct 2017 | US |