Receptacles – Sectional – Knockdown
Reexamination Certificate
1997-01-27
2003-11-18
Young, Lee (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Sectional
Knockdown
C220S006000, C220S062000, C220S626000, C220S691000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06648159
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to collapsible, reusable enclosures, in particular to general purpose shipping boxes formed of extruded polymeric materials.
2. Description of Related Art
For better understanding of the present invention, it would be expedient to review the general purpose shipping box industry.
General
Businesses, both nationally and internationally, require an increasing number of boxes in which to store and ship goods. Currently, the box market is dominated by basically standardized general purpose shipping boxes made from corrugated paperboard. The appearance of many standardized boxes is often customized in terms of color and lettering.
In order to grasp the size of the shipping box market, in 1994, according to Fiber Box Association's 1994 Annual Report, US paperboard mills shipped 28 million tons of boxboard (see pg. 1 of the aforementioned Annual Report of the Fiber Box Association), worth over $18.5 billion dollars (see pg. 3), most of it for domestic use. (Boxboard is defined as “paperboard components from which . . . paperboard [is] manufactured”, see pg. 16 in the Annual Report). In 1994, 77.3% of the shipping boxes made of the aforementioned boxboard were used for shipping non-durable goods (see pg. 6 in the Annual Report). According to our market research, in the US alone 20 to 40 billion corrugated paperboard boxes are made annually and after only one use discarded.
The term shipping box means a rigid, rectangular container which is used for shipping and often also for storing various products; a shipping box may be with or without a lid. However, when referring to the boxes described in various sources, e.g., patent specifications, we at least once apply the terms by which they are called in the source material, such as containers, crates or cartons. The term general purpose shipping box does not have a well-established definition. It is understood that it should be of a standard dimension and/or capacity prescribed by Federal law or other competent authority; the freight shipping requirements of such boxes are specified in Rule 41 of the Uniform Classification of the National Motor Freight Classification. In this writing, the term general purpose shipping box is used to indicate that the design of such box is not product-specific in: its shape; the way it is assembled from its layout(s) before loading; the way it has to be loaded; and the way it has to be disassembled after it is emptied. Design of a general purpose shipping box should be suitable for loading it in a free-standing position with loose or granular material of reasonable size particles, such as apples, loose candy, or nuts and bolts, or bags of fine-particle substances, or wrapped or not wrapped items of consumer goods.
These boxes are shipped to customers as unfolded, often partially assembled flat layouts, and assembled into three-dimensional boxes wherever the packaging takes place. The assembly is performed by folding pre-creased layouts so that a flap attached to one panel folds over the flaps of another panel, and then locking the foldups into their places.
Smaller packagers usually use foldable corrugated paperboard boxes that have special locking elements, usually in the form of notched tabs, which mate with corresponding slots cut through the layout of the box. Larger-scale packing operations assemble their crates on special assembling (erection) machines which erect and then fasten boxes by more permanent means, such as by glue or staples.
There are some plastic boxes on the market, both collapsible and of permanent shape, but all the plastic boxes, sometimes called containers, are aimed at special niches. Because of their current high cost, boxes made from polymeric materials can compete with the corrugated paperboard shipping boxes only in these specialty markets where wet-strength, multiple use or some other specific requirement becomes an overwhelming issue.
In the context of the present invention the term collapsible is defined for all container-type enclosures as being constructed in such a manner that, when empty, such a three-dimensional enclosure can be collapsed or disassembled to about {fraction (1/10)} or less of its erected size.
Corrugated Paperboard Shipping Boxes
The term corrugated refers to a packaging material consisting of a central member (medium) which has been fluted on a corrugator and to which one or two flat sheets of paperboard have been glued. The term “corrugated” is also used for polymer sheets which mimic loosely the design of corrugated paperboard. Corrugated polymer sheets will be discussed in the section on the current art of making polymer boxes from such sheets. The term paperboard is the term used by the packaging industry for paper which is thicker than 12 points (0.012″).
There are a number of inherent problems arising from the use of corrugated paperboard boxes. The actual strength and environmental resistance of paperboard is determined by the ties between its fibers. These ties are not molecular (chemical) type, as they are in polymers. The ties between fibers in paper, formed by drying a layout of colander-squeezed pulp, are weak even under the most favorable of circumstances. The ties deteriorate completely when the moisture content in this absorbent material rises above the saturation value. Rodents are known to make holes in paperboard boxes. For comparison, most of the polymers used in the packaging and appliance industries have much higher resistance to stress and environmental hazards, such as too much or too little moisture; unlike paperboard, these polymers can be submerged in water with little change in their performance.
In order to increase the resistance of paperboard boxes to moisture in these applications when the product itself is associated with moisture, e.g., lettuce, meat or even frozen fish, or when the boxes with the product will be submitted to the elements, e.g., in military applications, the paperboard for such boxes is previously waxed or treated with chemicals. That adds 50% or more to the price of such wet-strength paperboard boxes, and increase their weight.
There is another shortcoming of paperboard boxes: the porous structure of paperboard lowers its hygienic qualities, as bacteria or other contaminants can easily be absorbed. It is possible to restrict penetration of contaminants into paper by creating a barrier layout. However, this is not only quite expensive, but it also alters the recycling or disposal of such boxes.
Once these 28 million tons of paperboard boxes annually are used, they are discarded and destined either for a landfill or for recycling. In either case this presents US society with considerable environmental and recycling problems. Recycling of paper products is not a cheap or simple process. It involves going again through the making of pulp, which also involves neutralization of hazardous byproducts, mixing recycled pulp with fresh, and the making of paper. Only then can one produce a recycled corrugated sheet. Recycling of polymers used in consumer goods (with the exception of those polymers which were used in batteries or in some other hazardous application) is extremely simple by comparison: the three major steps of recycling plastics are: simple grinding, mixing the grinds with additional new components to replenish their quality; and getting the mix ready for new production via melting, e.g., in an extrusion.
Also, the process of making paperboard uses a great amount of toxic chemicals that need to be recaptured from the technological waste stream and neutralized. The environmental clean-up operations weight heavily on the overall cost of paperboard boxes.
An additional factor in the use of paperboard is the uncertainly surrounding the paper industry, especially regarding the availability of wood pulp to meet the fluctuating needs for paperboard. It takes many years and a large investment to build a papermill, and sometimes even longer to get permission to build one in a given area; but it takes only one dec
Kalman Oskar
Prutkin Vladimir
Eloshway Niki M.
Young Lee
Zborovsky Irya
LandOfFree
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