US2760716A - Carrying carton - Google Patents

Description

1956 L. P. WEINER 2,760,716

CARRYING CARTON Filed June 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lam 15 I I/Z m z" Aug. 28, 1956 1.. P. WEINER 2,760,716

CARRYING CARTQN Filed June 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 QJMMV LEI/V15 M 1274:

United States CAR Ap ic i J 8 1952, v tria filo- 2 .44

-5 Claims. (Cl. 229-52 his n nti rela s to r re b a a o o t tim d si e t h ld a la t smal um of ca of ,canned goods as, for instance, a half dozencansof beer and has as its purpose to ,provide a carton of this type equipped with a convenient carrying handle which may be lifted from ,a retracted inoperative position .m which it does not interfere with stacking of cartons upon one another, to an operative position abovethe top of :the cartonwhere it may be comfortably grasped. This invention is, therefore, concerned generally with the type of carton shown in Patents Nos. 1,949,986, issued March s, 1934, to E]. Whalley; 2,0 2,451, issued December 1, :1936, to W. F. Forster, and more particularly with cartons like that of the Harold E. Rue ,-Patent No. 2,284,989,issued June 2,1942.

I in cartons of this {type heretofore ,availablgthe lifting force was transmitted from the handle to the top wall of the carton generally at small localized areas, and since the top walliof the carton was formed by folding down flaps hinged to the side and end walls, the problem of preventing the cover from being .pulled open had to be met. Another disadvantage of carrying cartons of the .past is that in order for the handle not to preclude stack- ,ing ,of one cartonon the other, it wasdepressible fully .within the carton, and when .sodepressed Was not easily lr ithdr awn and .because vof .its .being practically hidden from .viewpften waspot found bythe user.

- With an appreciatiorrof these andother disadvantages .ofcarrying cartons now onthe market, this invention has .asbne of its objects :to provideahandleggguipped carrycarton especially adapted to the carrying of a few cans of beer, in which thecans stand verticallyandthe .top .wallpf thecarton isone continuous panel connected .by continuous :side .walls to the bottom of the carton so ha t n force ap e t th tap .walld e no t n ,to pullthe carton open.

' Another objechof this inventionis to provideahandle qu pp d ca ryin C to pe ial y adapted to th car y- .ing of a few cans of beer, in whichthe ends ofthehandle have relatively large areas of contact with the top of the it. tws ha heli naf c i d ributed ve asubstantialportionof thetop wall.

Another object of this inventionis to provide a carrying carton of the character described equipped with a handle .i ruiedg r pe bqa d u in wh it ehandl i d r .flat'wise above the carton top and in plain view so that cannot be missed andis easily lifted from its inoperative liar position in whichit doesnot interfere with stacking of arters n a th Qt e to its y ap s iqnr Isentinae c m a lehende ip- Another object of this invention resides inthe provision .o n ve means e e nforcin th se sig s .9 th t '-..-ra 1.e -.t s atio in W c -th e s t a n o cur during the carrying of the carton by its handle.

S t ill another object of this invention is to provide a carton of the characterdescribed'wherein the handle is entirely separate from-the carton-blank-but maybe easily and quickly-assembledtherewith by automaticanachrnery,

.part of the carton and contents invention differs from the and which upon assembly with the carton blank in nowise interferes with the formation of the carton and the packaging of its contents therein.

In this connection it is another-object of this invention to provide a carrying carton of the character described which may be wrapped about its contents byautpmatic machinery to thus assure tighter packaging.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and nore particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the hereindisclosed invention may be made ascorne within the scope of the claims. i

The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and iin which: i Q 7 Figure l is a perspective view of a handy carrying carton constructed in accordance with this invention and iilusti ating its handle lifted to its operative carrying positron, a portion of the carton being broken away to illustrate the disposition of its contents therein; I

F gure 2 is a perspective view of the handle per so;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of one endportion of the c rt n;

Figure 4 is a cross sectioanl ,view taken through Figure 3 on the plane of the line 4-4 but illustrating only and on an enlarged scale; Figure 5 is a detail sectional view, on an enlarged scale, through Figure 3 on the plane of the line 5+5 rilustrating particularly the manner in which the-e nd -portions of the handle coact with the carton contents and the adjacent end walls of the carton to limit the movement of the ends of the handle toward one another; I i V Figure 6 is an enlarged detail sectional view through a portion of the carton top wall said view being taken on the planes of the line 6-6 in Figure 3; and i Figure 7 is a .plan ,view of the carton blank.

Referring now particularly tothe accompanying drawings in which like .numeralsindicate like parts throughout the several views, it will be seen that the cantonof this conventional carton .in that its top wall 8 instead of being formed by a plurality of flaps folded down oneupon theptherand gluedltogeth er, consists of one continuous panel of the carton blank.

This panel, as best seen in Figure 7, ,is of the same size and shape as the panel 9 which forms the bottom of the carton, andof the same length as side wall forming panels 1t and ill. The panel-'llhas a glue 'flap i2 which is adhered to the bottom panel 9 during fdrm ation of the carton. The ends of the carton are formed by down and upturned similar flaps 13 on the top and bottom panels overlying and adhered to smaller inturned flaps 14 on the side wallpanels 10 and 11. The shaded areas in Figure 7 depict the gluing areas.

While it is, of course, possible to form or set up the carton before its contents areplace d :thereim-it is more advantageous inmany instances to fo rrn the, carton by wrapping the carton blank about .the contents and then secure the glue joints. This is especially so in the packaging of canned beerwhich is, of course, done on automatic or semiautomatic,rnachines a n d YQlfyl i ipidly.

With this manner of packaging it is also possible to so proportion the carton as to have it 'fit the contents very snugly. In the case of canned beer the cans -15,

usually a half dozen, are-arranged vertically-with-their ends snugly engaged by the top and bottom walls of the carton and with the sideand-end wallsofrthecarton in close juxtaposition to and preferably gripping the adjacent sides of the cans.

To enable the carton to be conveniently handled and carried, a handle 16 is provided. This handle, when not in use, lies flat against the top wall 8 but may be quickly and easily lifted to permit inserting the hand between the handle and the top wall of the carton. In its inoperative, non-carrying or retracted position, the handle obviously does not interfere with stacking of cartons one on the other.

As best shown in Figure 2 the handle is formed of paperboard and has an elongated grip 17 connecting enlarged rectangular end portions 18. These end portions have substantial area and project laterally a considerable distance beyond the opposite side edges of the grip 17 to define abrupt shoulders 19 at the ends of the grip. Score lines 20 extend transversely across the enlarged end portions 18, parallel to the shoulders 19 to enable the extreme end portions of the enlargements to be bent down as flaps 21.

Preferably the side edges of the handle grip 17 are curved inwardly as shown to make the handle more comfortable.

To enable assembly of the handle with the carton, the top wall 8 of the carton has a pair of opposite spaced apart transverse slits 22 connected at substantially their midpoints by a long longitudinal slit 23. These slits together with longitudinally extending score lines 24 define two side-by-side elongated flaps 25 which may be displaced out of the plane of the top wall panel 8. The transverse slits 22 are preferably arcuate and convexly face each other as shown to thus produce a pair of end flaps 26 which, like the flaps 25, may be displaced out of the plane of the top panel 8.

The assembly of the handle with the carton blank is effected by an operation known in the art as plowing and which results in passing the handle grip 17 through the slits 22 and 23 and disposing the grip portion 17 over the longitudinal flaps 25 while leaving the enlarged end portions 18 beneath or under those portions of the top panel 8 adjacent to but outwardly of the slits 22.

The distance between the score lines 20 across the end portions of the handle is approximately the same as the full length of the top panel 8 so that when the handle is plowed in and lies flat against the top panel 8, the score lines 29 are substantially in line with the score lines 13 which define the end flaps 13 from the top panel 8. Hence, the flaps 21 on the ends of the handle may be folded down alongside the adjacent cans as the end flaps 13 are brought down into place.

Though as indicated hereinbefore, in the formation of the carton its walls snugly contact the adjacent surfaces of the cans there is sufiicient resiliency in the carton walls and sufiicient clearance between the carton walls and the cans to enable the grip portion 17 of the handle to be lifted or bowed out of flat engagement with the top 8 to allow the fingers of the hand to be inserted under the grip. Such bowing of the handle, of course, entails a slight movement of the ends of the handle toward one another, and to enable such movement the distance between the shoulders 19 at the opposite ends of the handle is slightly greater than the maximum distance between the transverse slits 22.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the confinement of the down-turned flaps 21 on the ends of the handle between the end Walls of the carton and the sides of the adjacent cans together with the sharpness of the bend which joins the flaps 21 to the rest of the handle arrests the movement of the bandle ends toward one another before the shoulders 19 engage the ends of the transverse slits 22. If such engagement were permitted, the strain resulting from lifting force applied upon the handle would produce a shearing action upon the top wall panel at the ends of the transverse slits. Obviously such shearing action would be objectionable.

The strain resulting from the application of lifting force on the handle is distributed over relatively large areas of the top wall panel 8 by virtue of the fact that the enlarged end portions 18 of the handle have substantial area and directly underlie the adjacent portions of the top wall panel. Thus, upon the application of lifting force on the handle the portions of the top wall panel overlying the handle enlargements 18 are pulled upwardly away from the tops of the cans therebeneath as best shown in Figure 5. This distributes the strain over a large area of the top wall panel and avoids to a large degree any concentration of lifting stress such as that which was inevitable in carrying cartons of the past as represented by the aforesaid patent to Rue.

It was found, however, that even with this improvement there is some concentration of stress in the top wall panel 8 in the regions lying generally between the ends of the transverse splits 22 and the adjacent sides and corners of the carton, with the maximum strain occurring in zones extending substantially along the lines A-B in Figure 3. The transverse splits 22, of course, greatly weaken the top wall and from experience it was found that if a tear occurred it started from the ends of these transverse slits 22 and ran out toward the side walls or the corners of the carton along the lines A-B. To guard against failure in these regions the top wall panel is reinforced by separating, and in a sense isolating, the transverse slits 22 from the areas of stress concentration by bands or lines 27-48 along which the board has been compacted to greater density.

The reinforcing bands 27 extend as chords across the ends of the arcuate slits 22 while the bands 28 continue around the ends of the slits as angularly disposed extensions of the bands 27. The specific angle of the extensions 28 is not critical as long as they lie generally crosswise to the lines AB.

The reinforcing bands 2728 are a species of scoring but, as shown in Figure 6, distinguish from the scoring which defines bend lines in that they are formed by indenting one face of the board with a male scoring member acting against a flat unbroken surface. This compresses and compacts the board and greatly increases its resistance to tearing, especially in a line transverse to the band or line of reinforcement.

The reinforcing bands or lines 27 also define hinge lines about which the end flaps 26 may swing in conformity with the handle as it is bowed upwardly by the application of a lifting force thereon. I

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention provides a handy carrying carton especially well adapted for use in packaging canned beer, that it provides a carton which is more comfortably carried and is better suited to production methods of packaging and shipping than cartons of this type heretofore available, and that it has the very important advantageof being far less subject to having the handle pull out due to failure of its anchorage.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a carrying carton of the character described: an apertured top wall, and a pair of opposite end wall members joined to and depending from two parallel but remote edges of the top wall; an elongated handle member having a grip portion projecting upwardly through the apertured portion of the top wall; and a pair of handle anchors joined to the ends of said grip portion internally of the carton and each comprising horizontal and vertical flanges hinged together along a line coincident with the junction between the top wall and one of said end wall members, one flange of each anchor substantially flatwise underlying and engaging the top wall adjacent to its junction with one end wall member, and the other flange of each anchor substantially flatwise underlying and engaging the adjacent end wall member adjacent to its junction with the top wall and being disposed substantially edgewise with respect to the top wall, whereby said handle anchors are substantially nested in the corners defined by the junctions of the top and said end wall members.

2. In a carrying carton of the character described: a top wall and two upright walls joined to remote edges of the top wall, said top wall having an elongated opening therein extending lengthwise between the junctions of said top and upright walls but terminatinga distance short of said junctions; and a handle for the carton formed of sheet material and having a grip portion exposed above said top wall and wider end portions of substantial area disposed inside the carton, the grip portion of the handle projecting upwardly through said elongated opening, and each of said wider end portions of the handle comprising a substantially horizontal flap portion integrally joined to the grip portion and flatwise underlying that portion of the top wall which extends beyond the adjacent end of said elongated opening, and a substantially vertical flap portion hingedly joined to the horizontal flap portion and flatwise underlying the adjacent upright wall of the carton, said angularly disposed flap portions having their hinged joints coincident with said junctions of the top and upright walls whereby said flap portions are nested in the corners defined by the junctions of the top and upright walls.

3. In a carrying carton of the character described: two remote upright walls, and a top wall joined to the upper edges of said upright walls, said top wall having an elongated slit therein extending lengthwise between the junctions of said top and upright walls and terminating in shorter slits extending crosswise of the elongated slit and near but spaced from said junctions; and a handle for the carton formed of sheet material and having a grip portion exposed above said top wall and wider end portions of substantial area disposed inside the carton, said wider end portions defining abrupt opposing shoulders at the ends of the grip portion spaced apart a distance greater than the length of said elongated slit but less than the distance between said junctions of the top and upright walls measured along said elongated slit, the grip portion of the handle projecting upwardly through said short slits and overlying the flaps defined by said elongated slit, and each of said wider end portions of the handle comprising a substantially horizontal flap portion integrally joined to the grip portion and flatwise underlying that portion of the top wall which extends beyond the adjacent end of said elongated slit, and a substantially vertical flap portion hingedly joined to the horizontal flap portion and flatwise underlying the adjacent upright wall of the carton, said angularly disposed flap portions having their hinged joints coincident with said junctions of the top and upright walls whereby said flap portions are nested in the corners defined by the junctions of the top and upright walls.

4. A package comprising a rectangular assembly of rigid containers held in tight assembled relation by an enclosing carton, said carton including a top wall and end wall members extending one from each end of said top wall and folded downwardly over the adjacent end face of the assembly, said top wall being provided with a longitudinally extending opening, the ends of said opening being spaced from the adjacent edge of the top wall, a handle member including a flat strap member having enlarged head members at each end thereof, said strap member having a width not greater than the width of said opening and coinciding therewith, said head members being positioned between said top wall and the contents of the carton at the ends of said opening and having their end portions folded downwardly over the adjacent end edge of the container assembly in substantial coincidence with the fold of the adjacent end wall member and extending downwardly between the latter and the end of the container assembly.

5. A carton blank and handle assembly formed of cardboard and adapted to be folded around a rectangular assembly of rigid containers to form a package, said blank comprising top, side wall and bottom forming sections hinged together by score lines, end closure flaps extending one from each end of said sections and hinged thereto by score lines, said top section being provided with a cut extending longitudinally thereof and terminating at each end in a transversely extending out forming a longitudinally extending opening and providing at least one wing member normally closing said opening and a handle member including a flat strap member having an enlarged head member at each end, positioned against the inner face of said top section with said strap member positioned beneath said wing member and exposed to the outer face of said top section through said opening, said enlarged head members extending over the score lines between the top section and the adjacent end closure flaps and being provided with transverse score lines coinciding with the score lines between the top section and the adjacent end closure flaps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,158,715 Potter Nov. 2, 1915 1,971,197 Ottinger Aug. 21, 1934 2,021,559 Lengsfield Nov. 19, 1935 2,233,799 Seifer et al. Mar. 4, 1941 2,290,971 King July 28, 1942 2,365,887 Lind Dec. 26, 1944 2,517,080 Buhrmaster Aug. 1, 1950 2,645,407 Bergstein July 14, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 585,721 Germany Oct. 7, 1933 586,400 Great Britain Mar. 18, 1947

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