Envelopes – wrappers – and paperboard boxes – Paperboard box – Having means to facilitate opening the box by severing box...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-05
2001-04-03
Elkins, Gary E. (Department: 3727)
Envelopes, wrappers, and paperboard boxes
Paperboard box
Having means to facilitate opening the box by severing box...
C229S120380, C229S240000, C229S242000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209786
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to containers which may be used for shipping a plurality of products and optionally converted to an open container suitable to display the products for individual use. Further, the invention relates to containers having a flap gap and a tear out section, removal of which enables both display and removal of articles contained therein. Further, the invention relates to carton blanks for containers of this type.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Containers such as cardboard cartons are generally used to package and ship a plurality of individually wrapped or packaged articles such as consumer products. It would be convenient and desirable for these containers to have a readily openable or removable panel that would allow access to the contents of a container. There is also a need in the packaging art to economize the cost of such containers by using in their construction the smallest amount of materials possible, consistent with the volume and strength required for the container.
One type of container known in the art is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,042 issued Aug. 7, 1992 to Ferreri et al. Ferreri et al. disclose a shipping and display carton having panel top flaps divided into two sections. The panel top flaps meet in the center of the top of the package, thus forgoing any opportunity any economize with respect to the amount of the material used to form the carton. Furthermore, Ferreri et al. require requires a separate operation to cut out a notch in the top flaps for access to the contents of their carton.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,872 issued Aug. 19, 1997 to Leftwich et al., which patent is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a shipping/display container. This shipping/display container has a tray portion and a removable cover portion. Again, the cover portion entirely encloses the contents of the container and does not provide for any economization in the cost of its materials. Further, Leftwich et al. also require a separate operation to add the cover and then to add the lines of weakness to the cover on their carton.
Yet another type of carton is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,126 issued Aug. 12, 1975 to Palmer , which patent is incorporated herein by reference. Palmer discloses a carton having a panel formed with a pair of lines of weakness extending at a 45° inclination between fold lines. However, Palmer fails to teach multi-panel access to the contents of his display carton and further, again, fails to teach a way to minimize the amount of materials used in making the carton. A similar example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,021 issued Apr. 30, 1991 to Coltrane et al. Coltrane et al. disclose a carton having lines of separation at the corners defining one side panel. Again, Coltrane et al. fail to disclose lines of weakness which provide for multi-panel access to the carton and fail to economize o n materials as is known in the art.
Material economization has been separately practiced in the container or carton art through the use of flap gaps. A flap gap is the space left between opposite flaps on a common panel, which flaps are folded towards each other. The distal ends of the oppositely folded flaps do not meet, allowing a space in which the contents of the container can be seen between the distal ends of the flaps. Such a space between the distal ends of the flaps is known as a flap gap. Such flap gap economization has been practiced on the commercially successful BOUNTY™ paper towel shipping containers. However, such containers have not allowed for specific and predetermined access to the container contents by consumers or by personnel who remove the container contents for stocking at the point of purchase.
Given the foregoing, there exists a continuing need in the art to provide a shipping container which allows for easy and convenient multi-panel access, optionally multi-panel access at the juncture of adjacent panels, as well as economization of materials. Further, it would be desirable to have multi-panel access which has the flexibility to allow access to anywhere from two to five panels of a generally parallelepipedly shaped container. Such a need is satisfied by the containers and carton blanks of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a container or a carton for shipping, display, and subsequent removal of a plurality of articles. The container includes a first surface, generally the top of the container, having two oppositely extending flaps folded towards each other. Each of these flaps has a proximal end and a distal end. The distal ends of the flaps are oppositely disposed and form a flap gap between them. The container further includes a line of weakness having two ends. Each end of the line of weakness is juxtaposed with at least one of the distal ends of the flaps. The line of weakness extends from the distal ends of the flaps to intercept at least one panel of the container which is adjacent to one of the flaps. A segment of the container can be torn away along the line of weakness to expose the plurality of articles therein and to permit removal of the articles from the container. The present invention also provides carton blanks from which the containers herein can be formed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1925102 (1933-09-01), Levkoff
patent: 2747788 (1956-05-01), Tilly
patent: 2816699 (1957-12-01), Nute
patent: 3228582 (1966-01-01), Osberg
patent: 3447735 (1969-06-01), Whitney
patent: 3756502 (1973-09-01), Swanson et al.
patent: 5464149 (1995-11-01), Fowler et al.
patent: 5505371 (1996-04-01), O'Neill
patent: 5918801 (1999-07-01), Milio
patent: 5957294 (1999-09-01), Kanter
patent: 2162063 (1973-07-01), None
Butscha Mark R.
Fenton James T.
Yelton Donald W.
Elkins Gary E.
Kolodesh Michael S.
Patel Ken K.
The Procter & Gamble & Company
Weirich David M.
LandOfFree
Readily openable shipping and display container does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Readily openable shipping and display container, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Readily openable shipping and display container will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2519222