This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to European Patent Application No. 12198874.5, filed Dec. 21, 2012.
The present invention concerns a tray for carton packages used for containing and transporting liquids, beverages, foodstuffs and like, and more particularly concerns a tray for brick type carton packages.
Different types of liquid tight carton packages are commonly used in food industry mainly for packaging beverages or other liquid containing foodstuffs. Packages are made of board that is treated or coated with layers of polymer, metal foil or other barrier material. The barrier material or materials are used to provide sealing properties that are required in order to prevent travel of moisture, gases or any contaminating medium over the wall of the package. The material used for making the carton is chosen according to the requirements of the properties of the material that is packaged and the required resistance to permeability for substances outside the carton. For example, in food industry durability under moist environment, water tightness and good aromatic seal as well as good hygienic properties are needed.
The food industry is a typical user of carton packages. However, the package type is very flexible and can be used for many other types of products. The form of the packages may vary a lot and a good overview of different package types can be found from web pages of package manufacturers. One common type is a gable top package that has a wedge formed gable top. The top can be opened by tearing the folds of the top open or it may comprise a cork for disposing the contents of the package. Other common type is a brick container that has a rectangular cross section and flat bottom and top surfaces. The top may comprise a fold that can be lifted up from the surface and cut open on an edge or the package may comprise a screw cap or other openable closure for disposing the contents of the package. These packages are used typically for perishable beverages such as milk and juices or flowing foods such as soups and yogurt.
As the carton packages are made of rather soft material and they can't be pressurized as plastic bottles in order to obtain rigidity, their load bearing capacity and resistance to damage caused by tearing of point loads is limited. Therefore it is challenging to transport these packages stacked on each other on high stacks without providing further protective and load bearing structures. These, of course, increase costs and need of material and work both on packaging and unwrapping. One accessory that has been used for transporting and stacking gable top packages is a polystyrene or styrox™ divider plate that can be placed between package layers. The plate is formed to accommodate the packages and is usually disposable.
A purpose of the invention is to provide a tray for stacking and transporting carton packages, especially of packages of brick type.
A purpose of one embodiment of the invention is to provide a tray that can also accommodate packages that comprise a cork on the top surface.
One embodiment of the invention provides a tray that can accommodate two different types of brick packages.
According to other aspects and embodiments of the present invention, the invention provides a tray that limits the movement of the packages sideways in order to prevent a stack of carton layers collapsing under sideways loads and acceleration.
According to one further aspect of the invention, the tray can be used to protect the packages for damage.
According to further one aspect of the invention, the tray carries at least some of the vertical load of the stack.
According to one further embodiment of the invention, the tray carries at least a part of the sideways load directed to the stack.
A tray according to the invention may comprise a first quadrangular surface forming a flat support plateau for accommodating bottoms of carton packages and second quadrangular surface forming a flat support plateau for accommodating tops of carton packages, a first edge surrounding the first flat surface and extending away therefrom, a second edge surrounding the second flat surface and extending away therefrom and at least a first row of recesses formed in the second surface and a second row of recesses formed on the second surface, the second row of recesses being dissimilar to the first row of recesses.
According to one embodiment, at least one row of recesses comprises circular cavities.
According to one embodiment, the second surface comprises four rows of circular cavities and each row is arranged in a straight line and first two of the rows are arranged in a manner that the circular cavities are in the center of the tray on both sides of the longitudinal centerline of the tray and the other two rows are on both sides or the intersecting rows between said intersecting rows and the second edge.
According to one embodiment of the invention, at least one row of recesses is a straight groove running longitudinally over the second surface.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the second surface comprises five straight grooves.
According to one embodiment of the invention, one of the grooves is arranged on the centerline of the tray.
According to one embodiment of the invention, two of the grooves are arranged between rows of circular recesses and two of the grooves are arranged between a row of circular recesses and the second edge.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the tray comprises corner struts in each corner of the first quadrangular surface and the struts extend on both sides of the first edge that forms the corner.
According to one embodiment of the invention the corner struts are foldable over the first surface.
Several benefits are obtained by various embodiments of the invention.
The purpose of the invention is to provide a tray that enables stacking carton packages such a beverage packs on layers on top of each other. The carton packages are easily deformable because of rather soft material and because the contents of the pack is not pressurized as plastic bottles. Pressurizing strengthens the bottles against point loads and buckling but carton packages are easily damaged by such forces. Carton packaged can be damaged also by scratching. This is a serious problem on retail sales as the customers don't choose even slightly damaged packages and they remain unsold. This problem is greatest on products that have short shelf life. The tray provides enhanced protection for the packages during the transport and handling. The tray enables stacking several, even 5-8 layers of packs on top of each other and the trays keep that stack reliably together. One main problem in transporting carton package stacks is easy collapsing of the stack because of sideways forces and acceleration. The tray solves this problem by binding the packages together so that the buckling strength of the packages especially in corners and as a layer is increased. When corner struts are used, the struts absorb part of the sideways forces and loads and thus keep the packages unharmed. The sideways loads are mainly caused when the stack is moved and the movement is rapidly or abruptly stopped either by hitting an obstacle or careless handling of the stack. The tray and the corner struts protect the stack also when the stack is wrapped in plastic shrink wrap. If the tray is not used, the wrap easily presses the edges of the packages placed in the corners of the stack inwards and thus spoils these packages.
Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are intended solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims.
In the following, exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following description, the top side of the tray is the side on which the carton packages are loaded. The bottom side is the side that is placed on top of the carton packages.
A brick package is a package that has quadrangular cross section and flat bottom and top surfaces.
A slimpack is a brick package that has quadrangular cross section with two long sides and two shorter sides.
A squarepack is a brick package that has a square cross section.
The form and features are shown more closely in
One notable feature of the tray are foldable U-shaped end supports 12. The longitudinal frame part 13 of the support is pivotally connected to the edges 9 of the tray and runs along the shorter side of the tray 2. The frame part has protrusions 14 that are dimensioned to fit into similar recesses 15 on the inner wall of the edge 9. The extensions of the U form the corned struts 4 that protect the packages and support the superposed tray. The extensions have a L-shaped profile. When the tray is in use, the corner struts 4 are lifted up from the support plateau 8 by pivoting the end support until the corner struts 4 are in upright position. When the tray is empty, the end supports may be turned on the support plateau 8 and the tray can be stacked on top of each other for transport back to the producer or other user.
The underside of the tray comprises a surface, which forms a support plateau for the tops of the carton packages in a similar way as the top side has a plateau that forms support for bottoms of the carton packs. The surface is surrounded by an bottom edge 33 that surrounds the surface in a similar way as the upper edge 9 surrounds the support plateau 8 for the bottoms of the carton packs. The tray must accommodate different types of carton packages. As the tray is designed to be placed on top of the packages, the bottom surface of the tray must be designed so that it can be set on various kinds of tops of the packages. The design of the top of the packages may be entirely flat, in which case the support plateau for tops may be entirely flat. However, the carton packages may include different types of resealable closures such as screw caps or pop-up recaps. Screw caps extend rather high from the top surface of the carton, recaps are slimlined, but make a bulge on the top of the carton also. Few examples of different kind of resealable cartons can be seen in
The slimpacks are arranged on a specific array so that the screw caps 17 of the outmost slimpacks 1 on the outer rows on the longer sides of the tray are placed inwards away from the edge 9 of the tray. This provides extra protection for the caps 17 and the corners of the slimpacks 1 having the caps 17. The two middlemost rows are oriented in same direction as the their neighboring outer rows 19 so that he caps 17 are opposite to each other on both sides of the longitudinal centerline of the tray. As the srew caps 17 are in the corners of the slimpacks 1, the screw caps are offset on opposing rows about the half thickness of the slimpack 1. The bottom surface must accommodate the screw caps 17 when a tray is placed on to of the layer of slimpacks 1. For this purpose the bottom surface 18 has four rows 23-26 of circular recesses 22 formed in it. The outmost rows 23, 26 of the recesses are placed at a distance from the outer edge 9 of the tray that corresponds the distance of the screw cap 17 from the opposite outer edge of the slimpack 1 in direction of its width. The inner rows 2428 are placed on opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the tray. As can be seen from the
One further package type is shown in
The embodiments described above accommodate three common types of carton packages. It can be contemplated that the bottom surface of the tray is designed to accommodate other types of packages instead of those described. However, in order to be economically effective, the tray should preferably accommodate at least two different types of packages. The upper and bottom edges are essential for protecting and supporting the layers of packages. The heights of the edges are not critical as such, but should be kept in a reasonable minimum in order to diminish the dimensions of the tray in return transport and storage. However, the bottom edge surrounding the tops of the carton packages is typically lower than the upper edge, but both edges are needed to receive the crosswise forces and accelerations.
Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the method and device may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements which perform substantially the same results are within the scope of the invention. Substitutions of the elements from one described embodiment to another are also fully intended and contemplated. It is also to be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale but they are merely conceptual in nature. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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12198874.5 | Dec 2012 | EP | regional |