Receptacles – Closures – Transparent
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-16
2001-02-13
Castellano, Stephen (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Closures
Transparent
C220S602000, C220S592250
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186354
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a wedge box of an alveolar material formed from at lest two elements such as a container and a lid.
The invention also concerns a mould and a process for production of such a box.
Wedge boxes of alveolar material such as expanded polystyrene (PSE) are opaque. There are also boxes (
FIG. 1
) formed from a container
1
holding a lid
2
of transparent material. This lid
2
is produced by injection moulding or thermomoulding. It is a thin sheet, possibly of the same type as the alveolar material. In the case of a container
1
of expanded polystyrene, the lid
2
may be made of compact polystyrene. The lid
2
has a rim in the form of a peripheral groove to house the rim
11
of container
1
. But this lid
2
of very small thickness does not perform the same functions as the alveolar material of container
1
. It neither protects the top of the box from impact or crushing nor provides thermal insulation. Also on a logistical level, two processing technologies and hence two suppliers are required, which involves two control and supply lines.
The lid is generally placed as show in FIG.
1
. To make a box with a hinger lid such as the box in
FIG. 2
, the transparent lid
2
′ must be attached to container
1
′ via a hinge
3
′ produced in a separate operation from that of production of container
1
′ and lid
2
′.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks and propose the creation of a box, in particular a wedge box, of alveolar material which permits viewing of the contents of the box without the box being complex to produce or entailing any increase in cost for production or materials.
To this end the invention concerns a wedge box of alveolar material of the type described above, characterized in that at least one of the two elements comprises a transparent piece which is integrated into the alveolar material of the element, forming a window to allow viewing of the box contents.
In general one of the elements, i.e. the lid, comprises one or more transparent pieces forming one or more windows. These windows may have a rectangular, square, round or more generally geometric contour. The window may also have a decorative contour such as for example a row of transparent letters or figures or logos.
The transparent piece forms one part with the mass of the alveolar material; it is therefore inviolable and any attempts to open the window can only be destructive, leaving clearly visible traces.
The second element of the box is a container, i.e. an element with a certain depth in which are placed either the products to be packed or an element in the shape of a plate on which is placed or fixed the product or products to be packed.
Although in the most general case the transparent piece is a flat surface, for boxes of rectangular shape of specific content, the window which generally occupies the top of the box can also be applied to on or more sides to give a more accurate view of the box contents. This can also meet commercial and/or aesthetic requirements.
The transparent piece forming the window or windows can have partial or complete islands of the same alveolar material as the remainder of the element as a function of the shape required for the window. These islands can be parts filling certain letters such as A, O, B etc. In the case where the box must have good insulation characteristics, it is also possible for the transparent piece to be made from several thicknesses or layers separated by an air interval. These different layers are preferably attached to each other so they can be handled as one piece for positioning in the mould.
The box is preferably made of expanded polystyrene and the transparent piece of transparent compact polystyrene.
The term “transparent” used in the present description comprises the various degrees of transparency between the more or less translucid state up to perfect transparency.
The invention also concerns a mould for production of a box or box element as defined above, where the box consists of several parts and is characterized in that each of its parts has a zone of extra thickness in relation to the other surfaces of the mould forming the moulding cavity, where the zones of two parts of the mould of greater thickness are similar and correspond to the surface area required for the window, and when the mould is closed these two zones are separated by a space allowing gripping of the transparent piece to be integrated into the box element.
It may be interesting to apply relief elements (slight relief) to the zoned of extra thickness to allow traces or impressions on the transparent piece during moulding.
According to another advantageous characteristic, the mould has several similar zones of extra thickness, leaving between them spaces forming a moulding cavity to hold the alveolar material and produce several windows occupied by one or more transparent pieces common to several windows. Finally, the invention also concerns a production process for a wedge box, this process being characterized in that an expansion mould is used in which is placed and fixes a transparent piece which is intended to form the window of the box element, then the alveolar material is introduced into the cavity of the mould and expanded.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2172864 (1939-09-01), Calva et al.
patent: 3524564 (1970-08-01), Schurman
patent: 3667648 (1972-06-01), Koziol
patent: 4220134 (1980-09-01), Snyder
patent: 4422560 (1983-12-01), Solomon
patent: 5711449 (1998-01-01), Arn
patent: 5860550 (1999-01-01), Miller et al.
patent: 6029842 (2000-02-01), Sheffler et al.
patent: 512985 (1952-08-01), None
patent: 491341 (1955-10-01), None
Baker & Daniels
Castellano Stephen
Knauf
LandOfFree
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