Patent Application
20230144082
The present invention provides an article for storage and package, particularly a storage box that is easy to be disassembled into plate-like structures.
A common storage box normally includes a bottom face and four lateral faces extending upward from the edges of the bottom face to form a 3D structure. If a special picture is to be formed on a storage box, a picture-forming process, such as a printing process, a transfer-printing process or a spray process, should be performed beforehand on the bottom face or four lateral faces, which are materials used to build the storage box. Then, an assembly process is used to engage and secure the bottom face and four lateral faces to form a storage box having an accommodating space. In other words, if the fabrication of a storage box involves a picture-forming process, the picture-forming process must be completed before the assembly process. If the assembly process is performed to form a 3D-structured storage box in advance, it will be inconvenient to perform a picture-forming process on the storage box. Further, it is also inconvenient to store or transport the storage boxes.
In the conventional mass-production process of storage boxes, the manufacturer is less likely to mass produce storage boxes beforehand and then respectively form different pictures on the storage boxes. After receiving the requirement of a customer, the manufacturer normally performs the picture-forming process firstly; after pictures have been formed on the bottom face or four lateral faces, the manufacturer then starts the assembly process of the bottom face and four lateral faces. Therefore, the conventional technology is more suitable to mass produce products having fixed pictures or solid-shade products free of any picture. The conventional technology limits the throughput to the volumes of the existing orders and affects the regulation of the production capacity. Besides, the finished storage boxes occupy a lot of space, inconvenient to store or transport.
Nowadays, many daily necessities require customization. For example, a consumer may provide his beloved photos or pictures to order special-style storage boxes. The original manufacturer producing the storage boxes is unlikely to fabricate the pictures on the few customized storage boxes. The customization manufacturer will dismantle the storage boxes, which have been assembled well, into plates and then perform the picture-forming process. After the customized pictures are completed, the plates are assembled to the original structures of the storage boxes. Therefore, the conventional mass-production technology is unfavorable to the sale and popularization of customized storage boxes.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a storage box, whose structure favors mass production and picture formation, has advantages of reducing volume for storage and transportation, and facilitates picture customization. In order to achieve the abovementioned objective, the storage box of the present invention comprises a first rectangular plate body, which includes two first long sides and two first short sides, wherein one of the two first long sides and the two first short sides form a first joint member; a second rectangular plate body, which includes two second long sides and two second short sides, wherein the two second long sides and one of the two second short sides form a second joint member, and wherein the total length of the second joint member is equal to the total length of the first joint member; and a joint module, which includes a first joint element and a second joint element, wherein the first joint element is disposed on the first joint member, and wherein the second joint element is disposed on the second joint member, and wherein the first joint member and the second joint member are joined through the connection of the first joint element and the second joint element to make the first rectangular plate body and the second rectangular plate body form an accommodating space after being joined.
In one embodiment, the first rectangular plate body has two first bendable areas, which are parallel to the two first short sides; the two first bendable areas divide the first rectangular plate body into a first box face area, a second box face area and a third box face area in sequence; the two first bendable areas enable the first box face area, the second box face area and the third box face area to be bent into be a U-shaped 3D body; the second rectangular plate body has a second bendable area, which is parallel to the two second short sides; the second bendable area divides the second rectangular plate body into a fourth box face area and a fifth box face area; the second bendable area enables the fourth box face area and the fifth box face area to be bent into an L-shaped 3D body.
In one embodiment, the first box face area, the second box face area, the third box face area, the fourth box face area and the fifth box face area are square shape.
In one embodiment, first enhancing boards are disposed inside the first rectangular plate body and respectively corresponding to the first box face area, the second box face area, and the third box face area; second enhancing boards are disposed inside the second rectangular plate body and respectively corresponding to the fourth box face area and the fifth box face area.
In one embodiment, a pattern layer is formed on the surface of the first rectangular plate body.
In one embodiment, a pattern layer is formed on a surface of the second rectangular plate body.
In one embodiment, the joint module is a zipper; the first joint element is a first zipper strip; the second joint element is a second zipper strip.
In comparison with the conventional technologies, the embodiments of the present invention enable mass-production of storage boxes, wherein while the storage boxes of the present invention are in transportation or sale, the joint module does not undertake joining but let the first rectangular plate body and the second rectangular plate body be separated, whereby the first rectangular plate bodies and the second rectangular plate bodies can be separately stacked and stored conveniently. While the storage box is to be used, the joint module is used to engage the first rectangular plate body and the second rectangular plate body. While unfolded, the first rectangular plate body or the second rectangular plate body is in the form of a strip-like planar body, whereby a picture-forming process can be performed on the first rectangular plate body or the second rectangular plate body easily. Therefore, one of the advantages of the storage box of the present invention is that customized pictures can be printed, sprayed or sewed on the surfaces of the storage box. Thus, the manufacturers may mass produce storage boxes free of pictures beforehand and sell the storage boxes to customers. If the customer desires to have customized pictures on the surfaces of the storage boxes, the picture-forming process may be directly performed on the storage boxes easily. Further, different pictures may be respectively formed on two sides of the first rectangular plate body or the second rectangular plate body. The user may overturn the first rectangular plate body or the second rectangular plate body and then use the joint module to engage the first rectangular plate body and the second rectangular plate body, whereby a different picture may be presented on the exterior of the storage box. Because pictures can be easily formed on the storage box provided by the present invention, the storage box provided by the present invention is very suitable for the process of forming customized pictures. For example, the user may transform the pictures of beloved pets, relatives, friends or paintings into the pattern layers and attach the pattern layers to the storage boxes of the present invention. In the prior arts, because components must be fabricated into 3D-structured conventional storage boxes via assembling, many fabrication processes of the conventional storage boxes rely on manpower. If the design of the present invention, which divides a storage box into a first rectangular plate body and a second rectangular plate body, is adopted, the storage boxes may be mass produced automatically or semi-automatically. Hence, storage boxes can be fabricated faster.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a semi-finished product of the second rectangular plate body of the storage box, whereby the second rectangular plate body may be delivered in form of the semi-finished product to enable the down industries or retailers to print, spray, or sew customized pictures by themselves. In order to achieve the abovementioned objective, the semi-finished product of the second rectangular plate body of the storage box comprises a first outer layer and a second outer layer. The shapes of the first outer layer and the second outer layer are matched with and stacked on each other. The edge of the first outer layer is sewn to the second outer layer with an opening reserved.
In one embodiment, the edge of the first outer layer is folded toward the second outer layer to form a first folded member; the edge of the second outer layer is folded toward the first outer layer to form a second folded member. The first folded member and the second folded member are positions for sewing.
The embodiments of the present invention will be demonstrated with examples and drawings below.
Referring to
The first rectangular plate body 10 includes two first long sides 11 and two first short sides 12, wherein both the two first short sides 12 and one of the two first long sides 11 form a first joint member 1.
The second rectangular plate body 20 includes two second long sides 21 and two second short sides 22, wherein the two second long sides 21 and one of the two second short sides 22 form a second joint member 2, and the total length of the second joint member 2 is equal to the total length of the first joint member 1.
In the embodiment, the joint module 30 is exemplified by a zipper; the first joint element 31 is exemplified by a first zipper strip; the second joint element 32 is exemplified by a second zipper strip; a zipper head 33 is disposed on the first joint element 31 or the second joint element 32 and used to close or open a zippered state of the first joint element 31 and the second joint element 32. In the embodiment, the zipper head 33 is disposed on the first joint element 31. The first joint element 31 is disposed on the first joint member 1, which is formed by one first long side 11 and two first short side 12. The second joint element 32 is disposed on the second joint member 2, which is formed by two second long side 21 and one second short side 22. Then, the first joint member 1 and the second joint member 2 are joined by the first joint element 31 and the second joint element 32 to form an accommodating space. In the embodiment, the joint module 30 is exemplified by a zipper, which is convenient to use and easy to operate. In some embodiments, the joint module 30 may be replaced by a detachable component such as a hook-and-loop fastener.
The first rectangular plate body 10 has two first bendable areas 13, which are parallel to two first short sides 12. Two first bendable areas 13 divide the first rectangular plate body 10 into a first box face area 14, a second box face area 15 and a third box face area 16 in sequence, whereby the first rectangular plate body 10 may be bent to form a U-shaped 3D body.
The second rectangular plate body 20 has a second bendable area 23, which is parallel to the second short sides 22. The second bendable area 23 divides the second rectangular plate body 20 into a fourth box face area 24 and a fifth box face area 25, whereby the second rectangular plate body 20 may be bent to form an L-shaped 3D body.
The first box face area 14, the second box face area 15, the third box face area 16, the fourth box face area 24 and the fifth box face area 25 are square-shaped. In application, first enhancing boards 17 are disposed inside the first rectangular plate body 10 and respectively corresponding to the first box face area 14, the second box face area 15, and the third box face area 16; second enhancing boards 26 are disposed inside the second rectangular plate body 20 and respectively corresponding to the fourth box face area 24 and the fifth box face area 25. In practice, a soft material or a fabric material may be adopted to form the first rectangular plate body 10 and the second rectangular plate body 20; a material having higher supporting ability, such as a thick cardboard or a plastic board, may be adopted to form the first enhancing boards 17 and the second enhancing boards 26, whereby the first enhancing boards 17 and the second enhancing boards 26 can provide higher structure-supporting force to the storage box 100.
Refer to
Besides, the picture-forming processes may be performed on both sides of the first rectangular plate body 10 or the second rectangular plate body 20 (not shown in the drawings). The user may overturn the first rectangular plate body 10 or the second rectangular plate body 20 and use the joint module to perform joining, whereby different pictures may be presented on the exterior. Alternatively, the original first rectangular plate body 10 or second rectangular plate body 20 may be replaced with the first rectangular plate body 10 or second rectangular plate body 20, which has a different picture, to change the picture presented on the storage box 100.
Refer to
While printing, spraying or sewing is to be performed on the semi-finished product 20a, the operator splits the unsewn regions of the first outer layer 201 and the second outer layer 202 through the opening 203, whereby the first outer layer 201 or the second outer layer 202 can be singly placed into an automatic or semi-automatic machine for printing (including but not limited to sublimation transfer printing), spraying or sewing. After printing, spraying or sewing of the first outer layer 201 or the second outer layer 202 has been completed, the pocket-like semi-finished product 20a is turned inside out to expose the first folded member 2011 and the second folded member 2021 for sewing. After the sewing of the first folded member 2011 and the second folded member 2021 is completed, the pocket-like semi-finished product 20a is turned outside in to conceal the first folded member 2011 and the second folded member 2021. Then, two second enhancing boards 26 are placed into the pocket-like semi-finished product 20a. Thus, the portions of the second rectangular plate body 20, which are corresponding to the fourth box face area 24 and the fifth box face area 25, accommodate the second enhancing boards 26 thereinside. After the placement of two second enhancing boards 26 is finished, the opening 203 is completely closed by sewing. Then, the second joint element 32 is sewn to the second rectangular plate body 20. Thus, the first rectangular plate body 10 and the second rectangular plate body 20 can be joined together by the joint module 30.
The abovementioned embodiments are only to exemplify the present invention but not to limit the scope of the present invention. Any simple substitution or equivalent variation according to the specification and claims of the present invention is to be also included by the scope of the present invention.
