The invention relates to a tamper evident locking mechanism for use on folding containers, preferably fabricated from a unitary paperboard stock, and providing re-latching functionality.
In the food packing industry, and particularly the freshly prepared food packaging industry, there is a continual need for improved packaging systems. Various types of freshly prepared food items present diverse requirements that may range from leak-resistance to temperature stability, or as addressed in present example, locking and safety concerns.
Food delivery is a growing segment of the current restaurant/bakery food preparation business model. This is evidenced not only by the promotions of the food preparation businesses, but also by the number of businesses entering the freshly prepared food delivery space including Uber Eats, Grub Hub, Doordash, Waitr, and others. The present estimates are that this segment of the prepared food business is now in excess of one billion dollars annually and the segment is growing rapidly. Food delivery is premised upon consumers' reliance both upon the restaurant, bakery, or other freshly prepared food outlet and also upon the delivery service. To this end, some food delivery systems utilize automated delivery robots with locking compartments that can only be accessed utilizing a code transmitted to the consumer. Alternatively, packaging may be sealed with various tapes and adhesives so that any opening of a food container is obvious by damaging the seal or packaging.
The use of locked compartment delivery robots, or even the additional steps and materials required to create a sealed package, incur additional time and cost in the food preparation and delivery process. Historically, paperboard food packaging has been offered for customer carryout from restaurants and other businesses purveying freshly prepared food, and this has provided an economical solution. When the end customer does not deal directly with the food preparer, additional concerns with food safety and tampering are introduced. Previously paperboard and similar foldable substrate packaging has not contained technology that demonstrates when tampering has occurred, while still permitting a latching mechanism to be reused.
Paperboard food packaging can provide a very economical packaging system for food preparation businesses. In light of the number of consumers that would order more frequently through food delivery services if they were assured their food was unchanged from leaving the restaurant or food preparation business, tamper evident packaging is a key business concern. Restaurants that can provide effective tamper-evident packaging will enjoy a competitive advantage. Freshly prepared food businesses will also achieve significant economies if the same packaging is effective for both is store sales and for deliveries. In addition, food delivery services face potential liability and harm to their businesses should food tampering occur. Allowing end users the ability to understand from rapid visual inspection whether food has been tampered with, can manage safety perceptions of food delivery and quality of service. Accordingly, there is a need for inexpensive tamper evident packaging suitable for use in food delivery services. It is also desirable that the packaging not be sealed in such a fashion that its utility is destroyed by opening and instead will still maintains its packaging functionality for further use if the entire food delivery is not immediately consumed.
Accordingly, the invention provides a latching mechanism that provides an obvious indication of tampering and that can be formed from a unitary folding blank. In one exemplary embodiment, the invention may be deployed on a paperboard clamshell container with leak-resistant gussets and may be reclosed and latched by an end user after opening. The invention may also be adapted to use on other folding containers, preferably made from a unitary blank and having a hingedly connected top section folding over a bottom tray section with perimeter walls.
Referring to
In the blank 10a of
The front panel 14 has a top crease 30 that allows movement of the latch leg panel 15 that carries latching tab 16. Latching tab 16 has crease lines 31a, 31b separating foldable first wing sections 17a, 17b. Secondary creases 32a, 32b foldably separate first wing sections 17a, 17b from second wing sections 18a, 18b. Cut lines 29 between latch leg panel 15 and wing sections 17,18 allow wing sections to only be attached at crease lines 31,32.
The crown of the clamshell is constructed in a similar fashion with rectangular top panel 20 separated from side panels 11a, 11b by side folds or crease lines 27a, 27c. Top panel 20 is separated from back panel 21a by crease line 27d and separated from front panel 13 by crease line 27b. Front panel 13 extends from crease line 27b to an opposite distal edge 13b. Crease lines 27b, 27d angle outward at about 10 degrees at their end portions to define the desired shape of triangular sections 22a-d. An added feature of top panel 20 is the release panel 24, which may also be referred to as a tear tab. Release panel 24 is defined by a fold line 36 where it is securely but foldably attached to rectangular top 20. At the opposite side of release panel 24 is cut line 37 that defines a slot 41 (shown in
Triangular panels 22a-22d are also used to form the crown with triangular sections 22b, 22d folded along crease lines 25b, 25d inward to be adhesively attached to side panel 11b, and triangular panels 22a, 22c folded inward along crease lines 25a, 25c to be attached to side panel 11a. The structure of the assembled clamshell blank 10b with triangular panels attached to sidewalls is shown in
It will also be understood that latch leg 15 is foldable along crease line 30 so that the attached central latch tab 16 can be moved toward and away from the rectangular top 20 as needed for latching. It can also be seen that the front wall 13 of crown portion of the clamshell fits so that its distal edge 13a is interior of the front wall 14 of the clamshell base. The result is a closed container with overlapping sidewalls 11, 12 and overlapping front walls 14, 13.
To operate the latching mechanism, the latch leg 15 is folded slightly away from the rectangular top panel 20 thereby providing space or clearance to assemble the latching tab. Latching tab consists of the insert tab 16 and one or more wings. In the illustrated embodiment of
Turning then in particular to the release panel 24 shown in
It can be seen from
The brute force method is to simply pull the front panel 14, and possibly latch leg 15 away from the crown portion. This action will tear the wings 17, 18 from the sides of insert tab 16, typically along crease lines 31a, 31b and depositing those paperboard wing elements into the food within the container. While this will accomplish the objective of demonstrating tampering with the clamshell container, it is also apparent that the latching mechanism is destroyed by this action and the food container will no longer remain latched. Accordingly, if the food container held a twelve slice cake and only four slices were consumed when the container was first opened, the end user is left with a less than optimal receptacle for the remaining eight slices of cake.
The second, and preferred, alternative for opening the latched food container is to utilize release panel 24 to expose the latch tab 16. To open the container in this fashion, the front of panel 24 (which may have a protruding lip) is lifted upward from the rectangular top 20. The release panel 24 will pivot from its rear edge along fold line 36 and tearing perforations 34, 35 defining the sides of the release panel 24. When the release panel 24 is folded upward to a nearly vertical position, the inserted latch tab 16 and its associated wing elements 17,18 can be accessed and removed through the larger rectangular opening that has been created. When this alternative is used, it is apparent that the packaging has been opened because the perforated sides 34, 35 of the release panel 24 have been torn. Even with perforated sides 34,35 being torn, however, the latching mechanism of latch tab 16 and its wing elements remains effective and the container can be reclosed by the consumer if, for instance, the food contents within are not completely consumed.
To provide optimal access to the latch tab 16, it is desirable that the length of perforations 34, 35 be slightly greater than the length of latch tab 16. This allows for a size of opening under the release tab 24 to permit latch tab 16 to be grasped and removed in a fashion that minimizes the likelihood of damaging the attachment of the wing elements 17,18.
A simplified latch construction is illustrated in
A wing configuration of
It can also be appreciated that a latching mechanism according to this invention, can be utilized in other container configurations such as box shown in
From these examples, it can be seen that the latch tab can be suitably mounted to the front of either a lower tray section or an upper top or crown section of a box. Latch tabs may also be mounted at the tops of side walls to engage with slots along the top side edges of top or crown sections. A single container may have more than one latch according to the invention, for instance, two latches spaced apart along a front of the container, or a latch on each of the left and right sides of the container. The release panel or tear tab should be located either at a top of the container or at the top of a front or side wall of the container, as if perforations for the tear tab were along a bottom or wall bottom, it would engender leakage from the container.
Numerous alterations of the structure and techniques herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
The present invention claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/651,873 filed Apr. 3, 2018.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
636806 | Johnstone | Nov 1899 | A |
838964 | Dobson et al. | Dec 1906 | A |
1108464 | Morey | Aug 1914 | A |
1277459 | Myers | Sep 1918 | A |
3018029 | Fellowes | Jan 1962 | A |
3037684 | Andrews | Jun 1962 | A |
3403839 | Farquhar | Oct 1968 | A |
3462066 | Farquhar | Aug 1969 | A |
3780934 | Gardner | Dec 1973 | A |
3949931 | Hall | Apr 1976 | A |
4063678 | Hall | Dec 1977 | A |
4516718 | Forbes, Jr. | May 1985 | A |
4763832 | Forbes, Jr. | Aug 1988 | A |
4830270 | Holmes | May 1989 | A |
4844330 | Roosa | Jul 1989 | A |
5039003 | Gordon | Aug 1991 | A |
5207374 | Lo Duca | May 1993 | A |
5467916 | Beales | Nov 1995 | A |
5507428 | Robinson, Jr. | Apr 1996 | A |
5520284 | Gray | May 1996 | A |
5803345 | Jones | Sep 1998 | A |
5878948 | Schultz | Mar 1999 | A |
6223979 | Correll | May 2001 | B1 |
6860421 | Lo Duca | Mar 2005 | B2 |
8142075 | Shaw | Mar 2012 | B2 |
8142076 | Shaw | Mar 2012 | B2 |
8408451 | Adam | Apr 2013 | B2 |
D744829 | Deering | Dec 2015 | S |
9573719 | Deering | Feb 2017 | B2 |
9928757 | Huffer | Mar 2018 | B2 |
10099812 | Shaw | Oct 2018 | B2 |
10138026 | Branyon | Nov 2018 | B2 |
10150600 | Huffer | Dec 2018 | B2 |
20060124708 | Lo Duca | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20080302808 | Maxwell | Dec 2008 | A1 |
20090072015 | Drew | Mar 2009 | A1 |
20140263600 | Valencia | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20160052222 | Kinney | Feb 2016 | A1 |
20160214760 | Takeuchi | Jul 2016 | A1 |
20170259953 | Bressan | Sep 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
19809466 | Sep 1999 | DE |
10046179 | May 2001 | DE |
10046179 | May 2001 | DE |
1348633 | Oct 2003 | EP |
2003061 | Dec 2008 | EP |
2805895 | Nov 2014 | EP |
3461756 | Apr 2019 | EP |
2198708 | Jun 1988 | GB |
2251600 | Jul 1992 | GB |
WO2015140704 | Sep 2015 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20190300232 A1 | Oct 2019 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62651873 | Apr 2018 | US |