US2444143A - Paper bottle construction - Google Patents

Description

Patented June 29, 1948 PAPER BQ'ITLE CONSTRUCTION Frank D. Palmer, Ghicago, IlL, assignor to Frank D. Palmer, Inc, a corporation of Illinois Application February 8, 1946, Serial'No. 646,435 9 Claims. (01. 93-368) This invention relates to an improvement in paper bottle construction and although susceptible of other use, it has particular reference to the construction of paper milk bottles.

Paper milk bottles have already been quite widely adopted in the dairy industry but in the main, they have been adopted only by the larger milk companies who are well able financially to procure the necessary paper bottle making equipment, and who have the facilities for installing and operating such equipment together with sterilizing equipment, usually in the form of paramning machinery and special filling machinery adapted for the filling of paper bottles. There are many smaller dairies who find it impracticable because of financial considerations to adopt paper bottles for their relatively small distribution of bottled milk.

The present invention has forits object the provision of a paper milk bottle of exceptionally simple form but which is nevertheless adequately leak-proof, of good appearance, and capable of being set up either by the dairy company or by a package forming concern without the addition of special costly package forming equipment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawing (one sheet) wherein there is illustrated a paper milk bottle embodying a selected form of the invention.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan of the blank employed in forming' the paper bottle herein shown;

" Figs-2 and 3 are perspectives of the bottom end structure showing successive steps in the closing of said end of the container;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section throughthe container on the plane representedby the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig.5 is, in part, a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4, and in part, a side elevation in which there isillustrated a device which may be employedin the operation of closing the bottle.

Each of these figures, 2 to 5 inclusive, represents the container in an inverted position, i. e., with the bottom end up.

' The improved paper bottle herein shown is formed from a, blank of the character illustrated in Fig. 1. The blank is suitably creased to form body panels I, 2, 3 and 4 and a gluing flap 5 which, in. the process of forming the blank into a carton, is overlapped on thefree marginal edge portion oi the flap I and adhesively or otherwise secured thereto so as to form the blank into a rectangular tube.

One end of the tube is closed by means of short flaps 6 and '1 formed integrally with the wall panels 2 and 4 and, flaps 8 and 9 respectively formed integrally with. the walls I and 3. The flaps 6 and I are first folded inwardly, then the flap 9 and thereafterthe flap 8. The flap 9 is equipped with cut scoring indicated at Ill and H to form removable sections l2 and l3.

The flap 8. is equipped with out scoring Hi which cooperates with a hinge formed "by a crease l5 to form a hinged ear Hi which will overlie. the removable portion ll of the flap 9. The flap 3 is also provided with "scoring H which is extendedinto a flap extension l8 where theends of the score lines are joined by a composite line of severance formed by centrally disposed slitting indicated at [9 and scoring indicated at Ell-29. The ends of the score lines I! in the flap 8 are joined by acrease formed hinge line 2L The car 22 surrounded by the lines l'l.l'l, Ell-2e, Hand 2! will overlie the removable element iii of theflap 9; A

The side margins of the flap 9 are adhesively united to the inturned flaps 6 and I and the flap 8 is adhesively united to the underlyin flap 9 except that the ears 6 and 22 are saved against adhesive attachment of any area of the flap 9 outside of the removable elements l2 and I3. Theear i6 is adhesively attached to the element i2 and the ear 22 is adhesively attached to the element I3. r

In the production of a carton embodying this form, of end closure, the car it and removable element l3 will initially be displaced as a unit about the hinge line IE to provide a filling opening indicated at 23 in Fig. 4. The ear Z2 and the element l 3 will remain in their normal closed condition and the car 22 will not be displaced from the flap 8 and its extension 18 until in the hands of the consumer, who will be the first one to open the ear 22 and element I 3. This end construction may be considered the top end and it is substantiallyin accordance with the structure shown in my co-pending application Ser. No. 632,251, filed December 1, 1945. The fiap eX- tension [8, as best shown in Fig. 4, overlies the adjacent end portion of the wall 3 and is adhesively attached thereto except that no portion of the 'ear '22 is adhered to the wall 3.

The bottom end of the container is closed by means of a pair of flaps 24 and 25 which extend from the wall panels i and 3 respectively, and a pair of flaps 2 B and 21 which extend from the wall panels 2 and 4 respectively. The fiaps24 to 21 inclusive, like the flaps 6 to 8 inclusive, are hingedly connected to the respective wall panels by means of creasing in the usual manner.

The flaps 24 and 25 are of such length that they each extend acros substantially one-half the corresponding dimension of the end area of the container body and the flaps '26 and 21 are each of substantially full size, that is to say, of such size that they each cover substantially the entire end area of the container body. The flaps 24 and 25 are first folded inwardly, then either the flap 26 or the fiap 21 followed by the remaining one of these two.

To insure leak-proofness in the bottom of the container around the corners formed by folding the flaps 24 to 21 inwardly as already explained, a suitable paper strip 28 is provided, said strip extending continuously from the edge 29 of the carton blank to the edge 30 thereof and being arranged to overlap approximately equal portions of the blank on opposite sides of the fold lines which join the flaps 24 to 2! inclusive, to the respective wall panels. It is not essential that the strip 28 extend equally to both sides of the fold lines joining the said flaps to the wall panels and it may be so arranged as to extend farther to one side of said fold lines than to the other. However, the arrangement shown is satisfactory.

The strip 28 is adhesively secured to the wall panels and flaps so that when the said flaps are folded to closure forming position the corresponding portions of the strip 28 are also folded. The initial position is illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the flaps 24 to 21 inclusive, are shown in an upwardly extending relation to the ends of the respective wall panels from which they extend and the corner sealing strip is shown approaching the fold lines on which the respective flaps are foldable. The first step in closing the container is to fold the flaps 24 and 25 inwardly as shown in Fig. 3. This is, of course, accompanied by corresponding folding of the underlying portions of the strip 28, corner portions thereof being folded over as indicated at 3l-3l on the portions carried by the flaps 26 and 21. The flaps 26 and 21 are next folded inwardly, the flap 2'! being shown first folded over, the flaps 24 and 25 and the flap 26 over the flap 21, although this order in respect of the flaps 26 and 21 may be reversed. The provision of the strip 28 serves to provide a substantially continuous band in the bottom corner of the paper bottle with consequent reduction of the possibilities of leakage developing in said corners.

By paraffining the bottle either by spraying or by immersion in a bath ofmolten parafiin, preferably by the latter method, all voids between any parts of the bottom structure will be filled with parafiin so that leakage is more effectively prevented.

Containers such as here described are usually formed about a solid mandrel against which the end closure flaps are pressed while effecting adhesive inter-attachment of the flaps forming the end closure. However, with the described construction it is practicable to close the end closure flaps against compressed air delivered into the container through the filling opening 23 by means of an air nozzle 32 which is connected to a suitable source of compressed air. The ' fiaps 24 and 25 may, of course, be initially folded inwardly without regard to any support therefor but adhesive attachment of the flaps 26 and 2'! to each other and to the underlying flaps 24 and require some support for the flaps 24 and 25 so that pressure may be exerted on the outermost flap 26 to effect intimate adhesive bonding of these flaps.

The sealing strip 23 is not essential in the described construction or in the described method of closing the container end against the support provided by the air cushion in the container. However, by the provision of the sealing strip, leakage of compressed air from within the container is resisted to such an extent that an adequate air cushion can more easily be built up in the container to support, or in effect, to press the flaps 24 and 25 outwardly against the over folded flaps 21 and 26. The flaps 21 and 26 may be manually or mechanically held in the desired folded condition as, for example, by means of a shoe represented at 33, which may be a normally stationary member under which the formed containers are propelled in the process of closing the bottom end of the container. The shoe may be hollow and provided with inlet and outlet openings to permit circulation of a tempering or cooling medium through theshoe for controlling or expediting the setting of the enough to compensate for such leakage. Also, it

should be understood that it is preferable that only suflicient air pressure to adequately support the inner flaps be employed.

Various changes in the described arrangement may be made without departing from the invention as described.

I claim:

1. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body having flaps at one end adapted to be folded intomutually overlying relation to close such container, which consists in delivering compressed air into the container, folding the flaps successively inwardly into closure forming position against the air cushion within the container, and effecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces of said flaps.

2. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body having flaps at one end adapted to be folded into mutually overlying relation to close such container, which consists in providing the container with a sealing strip overlying portions of the container body and closure flaps on opposite sides of the fold lines about which the flaps are foldable into closure 7 forming position, delivering compressed airinto the container and maintaining such air delivery to compensate for air escaping from the container to thereby maintain an air cushion within the container, folding thefiaps successively inwardly into closure forming position against the air cushion within the container, and effecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces of said flaps, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape of compressed air into the areas of adhesive inter-attachment to thereby insure efiective bonding of said flaps together in closure forming position.

3. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular floody having flaps at one end adapted to be folded into mutually overlying relation to close such container, which consists in providing the container with a sealing strip overlying portions of the container body and closure flaps on opposite sides of the fold lines about which the flaps are folda'b le into closure forming position, delivering compressed air into the container, folding the flaps successively inwardly into closure forming position against the air cushion within the container, and effecting adhesive inter-attachment of the mutually engaging surfaces of said flaps, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape of compressed air into the areas of adhesive inter-attachment to thereby insure effective bonding of said flaps together in closure forming position.

4. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutually overlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure forming position on said other end of the body, which consists in delivering compressed air into the body of the container through said filling opening, and then folding said flaps into closure forming position and holding the outermost of said flaps in said position while the air pressure within the container presses said flaps into intimate interengagement.

5. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided vwith adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutually overlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure forming position on said other end of the body, which consists in providing the container with a sealing strip on its inside and overlying portions of the 010- sure flaps and tubular body on opposite sides of the fold lines on which said flaps are foldable into closure forming position, delivering compressed air into the body of the container through said filling opening, and then folding said flaps into closure forming position and holding the outermost of said flaps in said position while the air pressure within the container presses said flaps into intimate inter-engagement, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape of compressed air into the zones of inter-engagement between said flaps.

6. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutually overlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure forming position on said other end'of the body, which consists in delivering compressed air into the loody of the container through said filling opening, then folding said flaps into closure forming position and holding the outer-most of said flaps in said position while the air pressure within the container presses said flaps into intimate interengagement, and coating the container inside and out with water proofing material.

7. The method of closing a container embodying a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided with adhesive bearing flaps adapted to be folded into mutualy overlapping, adhesively interconnected relation in closure forming position on said other end of the body, which consists in providing the container with a sea-ling strip on its inside and overlying portions of the closure flaps and tubular body on opposite sides of the fold lines on which said flaps are foldable into closure forming position, delivering compressed air into the body of the container through said filling opening, then folding said flaps into closure forming position and holding the outermost of said flaps in said position while the air pressure within the container presses said flaps into intimate inter-engagement, said sealing strip serving to prevent the escape of compressed air into the zones of inter-engagement between said flaps, and coating the container inside and out with water proofing material.

8. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided with adhesive-bearing flaps adapted to be folded into closure-forming position on said other end of the body, which consists in folding said flaps into closure-forming position, holding the outermost of said flaps in said position, and delivering compressed air into the body of the container through said filling opening so as to cause said compressed air to press said fiaps into intimate, adhesively secured interengagement.

9. The method of closing a container comprising a tubular body having one end closed and provided with a filling opening and its other end provided with adhesive-hearing flaps adapted to toe folded into closure-forming position on said other end of the body, which consists in providing the container with a sealing strip on its inside and in overlying relation to portions of the closure flaps and tubular body on opposite sides of the fold lines on which said flaps are foldable into closure-forming position, folding said flaps and the overlying portions of said sealing strip into closure-forming position, holding the outermost of said flaps in said position, and delivering compressed air into the body of said container through said filling opening so as to cause said compressed air to press said flaps into intimate, adhesively secure interengagement, said sealing strip serving to resist passage of compressed air into the zones of interengagement between said flaps.

FRANK D. PALMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,634,073 Labombarde June 28, 1927 2,074,357 Bergstein Mar. 23, 1937 2,419,991 Dunning May 6, 1947

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