Envelopes – wrappers – and paperboard boxes – Paperboard box – With closure for an access opening
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-19
2002-08-06
Elkins, Gary E. (Department: 3727)
Envelopes, wrappers, and paperboard boxes
Paperboard box
With closure for an access opening
C229S125420
Reexamination Certificate
active
06427908
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Many materials, notably fluids such as milk or fruit juices, liquid detergents or fabric softeners and mineral or vegetable oils, and powders such as detergent powders (for convenience collectively denoted hereinafter as fluids), are put up in sealed containers for transport and storage prior to use, when the container is opened and the contents discharged. Many forms of containers are used for this purpose, but one form is a thin walled carton made from a thin card or plastic sheet material and having a generally squared or rectangular cross-section and a cuboid or brick-like overall shape. The contents of such a container are typically fed to the container through an open top end of the container, the other end being having been closed by folding over the basal portion of the side walls to form a boxed end to the container. When the desired amount of material has been fed to the container, the open top of the container is closed by forming transversely directed V folds in the upper portions of two opposed side walls, with the apexes of the Vs directed inwardly towards one another. This has the effect of bringing the top portions of the other two side walls of the container together to form a tented top to the container having a ridge lying along the line of indentation of the V folds. The ridge is then heat sealed or otherwise processed so as to secure together the opposed faces of the upper portions of the V folded and other side walls in a single linear transverse strip seal closure to the container, at least the major portion of the closure being located within the overall cross-sectional plan area of the container.
The sealed ridge is often then folded down about a transverse fold line extending across approximately the midpoint of one of the side walls of the tented top, so as to form a flat boxed end to the container. In some forms of such a closure, a tape, which can be wire-reinforced, is included in the line of the ridge, for example during folding over of the ridge material. This tape extends beyond the ends of the ridge to provide extensions which can be bent over to secure the folded down ridge in position by engaging the free ends of the tape under the lip formed along the edge of the boxed end where the V folded portion of the container wall is indented. Alternatively, the free ends of the extensions can be adhered or otherwise secured to the side walls of the container once the ridge has been folded down, to form a boxed end to the container.
For convenience, the following terms will have the following means herein:
boxed end openable containers are containers of the above described general type;
ridge seal will be used to denote the transverse linear seal between the opposed faces of the top end portions of the indented and non-indented side walls of the container;
ridge will be used to denote the exposed top edge of the ridge seal or the edges of the wall material which have been brought together prior to forming the ridge seal;
ridge structure will be used to denote the structure formed by bringing together the top end portions of the side walls of the container and which have been or are to be secured together by heat sealing, welding, adhesion or other means between opposing faces at the interfaces between those opposing faces to form the ridge seal;
gabled end will be used to denote the structure formed at the top end of the container by indenting the upper portions of two opposed side walls of the container to form the V folds in the ridge structure;
tented end will be used to denote the end of the container with the ridge in the raised position either before or after forming the ridge seal;
gabled side walls will be used to denote the upper portions, usually three triangular portions, of the two opposed side walls of the open end of the container which have been indented by forming a V or other axial fold in the upper portion of the side wall so that the wall is collapsed laterally inwardly to form the gabled end to the container;
gable end triangles will be used to denote the triangular shaped walls forming the exposed surfaces within the gabled end of the container;
tent side walls will be used to denote the two opposed side walls of the container which extend between the gabled side walls of the gabled end of the container;
wet wall will be used to denote an internal surface of the container which is to be in contact with the contents of the container, including the upper portions of such walls which are to be incorporated into the ridge structure;
dry wall will be used herein to denote an external surface of the container which is not in contact with the contents of the container, including the upper portions of such walls which are to be incorporated into the ridge structure.
To open such a boxed end openable container, the seal in the gabled end at the interface between the opposing dry wall surfaces of the V fold at one end of the linear ridge seal is separated. This forms a pair of wings in the gabled end so that the plan view configuration from above of the ridge seal to the container adopts a Y shaped configuration in place of a single line seal. The top edges of the wings forming the head of the Y remain sealed together so that the container is still sealed when the ridge seal adopts this configuration. The wings are then bent backward to lie in line with each other, ie. so that the plan view configuration from above of the ridge seal adopts a T shaped configuration with the wings forming the head of the T. The free ends of the wings are then pressed inwardly towards the centre line of the upright of the T to apply a separating force to the seal at the intersection of the head and the upright of the T. This is intended to cause the seal between the opposed faces of the wet walls at the top of the container to separate at this intersection and to form an opening through which the contents of the container can be discharged. In some cases it may be desired to bend the wings beyond the in-line configuration to form a Y plan shape having an inverted head (the inverted Y configuration), so as to enhance the separating force applied to the seal at the intersection upon the application of pressure to the free ends of the wings.
However, separation of the seal at the intersection is often incomplete and/or the wings collapse so that the user cannot continue to apply the separating force to the seal. It is therefore usually necessary for the user to insert a finger tip, knife point or other implement into the initial opening formed at the intersection to assist full separation of the seal to be achieved and the opening then extended to form a spout outlet to the container.
In many cases the initial separation of the seal between the wet walls at the intersection of the head and upright of the T is insufficient to form an aperture into which the user can insert a finger tip. It is then necessary for the user to pinch the dry wall material in the region of the intersection and to try to pull the wall outwardly to cause separation of the seal at the intersection. Such separation of the seal may occur abruptly, causing spillage of the contents of the container, and the need for such additional operations to separate the ridge seal is inconvenient.
Notwithstanding these problems in forming the opening to the container, which are particularly acute for the aged or infirm and for children, boxed end openable containers provide a simple and effective container for the storage and transport of a wide range of fluids and remain widely used.
Many attempts have been made to resolve the difficulties in opening such containers by incorporating string pulls or the like into the linear seal at the gabled end of the container, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos 4,883,222, 4,821,950 and 4,874,126, European Application No. 0 695 264A and British Patent Application No 2,010,212A. However, in all cases one or more additional components have to be incorporated into the ridge structure. This introduces problems in accurate positioning of this compon
Laker Jonathan Paul
Laker Kirk Anthony
Bracewell & Patterson LLP
Easycarton Limited
Elkins Gary E.
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