WO2017039517A1

WO2017039517A1 - Cardboard package and blank

Info

Publication number: WO2017039517A1
Application number: PCT/SE2016/050804
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian Andersson
Original assignee: Ikea Supply Ag
Priority date: 2015-08-28
Filing date: 2016-08-26
Publication date: 2017-03-09

Abstract

The present invention concerns a cardboard package (1, 1a) and a blank (2, 2a) for forming the package (1, 1a). The package (1, 1a) has a lower part (31), an upper part (5, 5a), formed of one or more closure flaps, and four sides (3, 4, 3a, 4a). A handling flap (6, 6a) is formed on at least one of the sides (4, 4a). The handling flap (6, 6a) can be used both for pulling out and lifting of the package (1, 1a). Each handling flap (6, 6a) has two or three layers, which layers form a coherent unit.

Description

CARDBOARD PACKAGE AND BLANK

Technical Field

The present invention concerns a cardboard package and a blank for forming the package. Background

The package of the present invention is mainly developed for receiving relatively heavy furniture. As used in this description heavy furniture is furniture with a weight in excess of 25kg. However, a person skilled in the art realises that such a package can be used also for other types of goods than furniture.

In self-picking stores for furniture it is common that the consumers themselves pick-up furniture from storage racks or a pallet. In handling packages from storage racks it is often necessary to pull out the package a distance before it can be lifted. If the furniture contained in the package is relatively heavy, there is a risk that the package will be torn apart when pulled out. The present invention is developed in order to substantially reduce the risk of the package being torn apart.

In the prior art there are flaps having handles intended for lifting. However, said handles are made as a part of a side wall, which means that the risk of tearing the package part is high if pulling in said handles. Such handles work well for lifting as the force will be taken up by the side wall.

Summary

The package of the present invention has at least one handling flap. Often there are two handling flaps at opposite ends of the package. At least one handle is arranged at each handling flap. The at least one handling flap is to be adhered to the side of the package to begin with and is to be loosened when the package is to be drawn out. The handling flap is to adher loose enough to be loosened by hand from the side of the package.

The handling flap can be used both for pulling out the package and also for lifting the package.

In packages of this kind it is common to have stiffening parts placed inside the package. However, in the present invention such stiffening parts are not necessary as the handling flap will have a stiffening function. Furthermore, the furniture parts will normally also have stiffening functions as they normally are relatively compact. By arranging the handling flaps to cover large part of an adjacent side of the package, the strength at said adjacent side is increased. In one embodiment the handling flap cover at least 80% of the adjacent side of the package, in its folded down position when adhered to said adjacent side.

The handling flaps of the package of present invention also give an impact protection.

The package is made of corrugated cardboard, which is the normal material for packages of this kind. In the package of the invention the flutes of the corrugated cardboard are given a longitudinal direction, in contrast to the normal transversal direction of said flutes. The direction of the flutes coincides with the intended pulling direction of the package. By having the flutes in a longitudinal direction they enhance the ability to take up pulling forces applied on the handling flaps.

The upper part of the package is formed by one or two closure flaps. If two closure flaps are used they may be placed partly on top of each other or side by side. In one embodiment one closure flap is covering the whole upper part. Parts of the closure flaps are received in and forming parts of the handling flaps.

Each handling flap has two or three layers. The handling flap has normally two handles but in one embodiment it has only one handle placed centrally. The handles are intended for use when pulling out the package, and could also to be used in lifting of the package. Thus, the handles of the handling flaps could be used as handles for pulling as well as handles for lifting.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious to a person skilled in the art when reading the detailed description below.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be explained further below by way of example and with reference to the enclosed drawings. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one example of a package according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the package of Fig. 1 with handling flaps folded out of the package,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a blank for forming the package of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view schematically illustrating forming of a handling flap, Fig. 5 is an enlarged view schematically illustrating an alternative method of forming a handling flap,

Figs. 6a to 6g are perspecive views illustrating a number of folding steps for forming a package from a blank, and

Figs. 7a to 7d are perspective views illustrating a number of folding steps for forming an alternative package from a blank.

Detailed Description

In Fig. 1 one example of a package 1 according to the present invention is shown. The package is formed of a blank 2 as shown in Fig. 3.

In the shown embodiment the package 1 comprises a lower part 31, formed of a central part 8 of the blank 2, two opposite long sides 3, two opposite short sides or gables 4 and an upper part 5, formed of two closure flaps. The package 1 also comprises a handling flap 6 at each gable 4. Each handling flap 6 has two handles 7 in the shown embodiment. Even though the package 1 is shown having two long sides 3 and two short sides or gables 4, a person skilled in the art realises that all sides of the package could have the same length.

Each blank 2 has a central part 8, which central part 8 is to form the lower part 31 of the package 1, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. The central part 8 is rectangular and parts for forming the package are placed on all sides of the central part 8. On each of two opposite sides of the central part 8 there is a first side part 9, which first side part 9 is to form one of the long sides 3 of the formed package 1. On each of the other two opposite ends of the central part 1 there is an end part 10, which end part 10 is to form one of the gables 4 of the formed package 1. Outside each end part 10 there is a first part 12 to form the handling flaps 6 of the formed package 1. Outside each first side part 9 of the blank 2 there is a second side part 1 1, which second side part 11 is to form the closure flaps of the upper part 5 of the formed package 1 together with the second side part 11 on the opposite side of the blank 2. On two opposite sides of each second side part 11 there are second parts 14 to form the handling flaps 6 of the formed package 1. In the shown embodiment there is a third part 13 outside the first part 12 of the handling flaps 6 to form the handling flaps 6 of the formed package 1.

The long sides 3 of the package 1 are formed by folding along crease lines 16 between the central part 8 and the first side parts 9 of the blank 2. The gables 4 of the package 1 are formed by folding along crease lines 15 between the central part 8 and the end parts 10 of the blank 2. The upper part 5 of the package 1 is formed of two closure flaps placed side by side. The closure flaps are formed by folding along crease lines 19 between the first side parts 9 and the second side parts 11.

The first, second and third parts 12, 14, 13 forming the handling flaps 6 each have one or more through openings 25. In forming of the handling flaps 6 the through openings 25 of respective first, second and third parts 12, 14, 13 of the handling flaps 6 are placed in line to form the handles 7 of the handling flaps 6.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, the handling flaps 6 of the package 1 are formed by folding along crease lines 17 between the end parts 10 and the first parts

12 of the handling flaps 6, along crease lines 18 between the first parts 12 and third parts 13 of the handling flaps 6 and along crease lines 20 between the second side parts

11 of the blank 2 and the second parts 14 of the handling flaps 6. Said folding for forming the handling flaps 6 is done after folding of the first and second side parts 9, 11 and the end parts 10. In forming of the handling flaps 6 according to this embodiment the third parts 14 are placed between the first parts 12 and third parts 13 of the handling flaps 6, in such a way that the first, second and third parts 12, 14, 13 of the handling flaps 6 are in surface contact with each other. Thus, in this embodiment the handling flaps 6 have three layers.

In an alternative embodiment for the handling flaps 6 shown in Fig. 5, the third part 13 of each handling flap 6 is placed on top of the first part 12 of each handling flap 6 and the second part 14 of each handling flap 6 is placed on top of the third part 13 of each handling flap 6. Thus, the third part 13 is placed between the first and second parts

12, 14 of the handling flap 6. Also in this embodiment the handling flaps 6 have three layers.

In some embodiments each handling flap 6 has only two layers. Said two layers are formed by the first and second parts 12, 14 for forming the handling flaps 6 or by the first and third parts 12, 13 for forming the handling flaps 6.

The parts 12, 13, 14 forming the two or three layers of the handling flaps 6 are glued together to form a coherent unit. The handling flaps 6 may be loosely attached to respective gable 4 of the package 1. The handling flaps 6 should only adhere to the gables 4 hard enough to keep them at the gables 4 in an unaffected condition. However, the handling flaps 6 should easily come loose from the gables 4 when the handles 7 are gripped. Expressed differently, the handling flaps 6 are to adhere to the gables 4 loose enough to be loosened by hand. Thus, when the handles 7 are gripped the handling flaps 6 will come loose off the gables 4. Four further flaps 21 are provided, wherby each such further flap 21 is placed at opposite ends of each end part 10. Each further flap 21 is connected to the end part 10 by means of a crease line 24, which crease line 24 extend between the crease line 15 between the central part 8 and the end part 10 and the crease line 17 between the end part 10 and the first part 12 of the handling flap 6. Each further flap 21 has a first recess 22 at the crease line 17 between the end part 10 and the first part 12 of the handling flap 6. Each further flap 21 has a second recess 23 at an opposite corner of the further flap 21. Thus, each first recess 22 is placed in each area where the further flap 21 is placed adjacent the first part 12 for forming a handling flap 6 and the end part 10. Each second recess 23 is placed in each area where the further flap 21 is placed adjacent the first side part 9, the second part 14 for forming the handling flap 6 and the second side part 11. The first and second recesses 22, 23 have rounded forms to give a strengthening effect. One such second recess 23 is shown in enlarged view inside the circle in Fig. 3.

The flute direction of the cardboard used for forming the package 1 is parallel with the crease lines 16 between the central part 8 of the blank and the first side parts 9. Thereby, the flute direction will be parallel with the long sides 3 and perpendicular to the gables 4 of the formed package 1. The flute direction is indicated with the arrow 26 in Fig. 3.

The blank 2 is mainly intended for use in machine lines where the package 1 is formed around the goods to be contained in the package 1. In Figs. 6a-7d forming of two alternative packages 1, la is shown without any goods received, for illustrative purposes.

In a first step the goods is placed on the central part 8 of the blank 2. The further flaps 21 are then folded upwards along the crease lines 24 between the further flaps 24 and the end part 10, as indicated in Fig. 6b. The end parts 10 are then folded upwards along the crease lines 15 between the end parts 10 and the central part 8, whereby the end parts 10 are at right angles to the central part 8 of the blank 2. The first and third parts 12, 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are still not folded in relation to the end parts 10, as indicated in Fig. 6c. As also indicated in Fig. 6c glue 29 is placed on the further flaps 21.

In the next step the first and third parts 12, 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are folded outwards along the crease lines 17 between the first parts 12 and the end parts 10 and then the first side parts 9 are folded upwards along the crease lines 16 between the first side parts 9 and the central part 8. As indicated in Fig. 6d. In this position the further flaps 21 adhere to the first side parts 9 by means of the glue 29 previously placed on the further flaps 21.

In the next step the second side parts 11 are folded inwards along the crease lines 19 between the first and second side parts 9, 11, as indicated in Fig. 6e, whereby the second side parts 11 are at right angles to the first side parts 9 and the end parts 10. In the shown embodiment the second side parts 11 are placed side by side, forming the closure flaps 5 of the formed package 1. In the position shown in Fig. 6e the second parts 14 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are placed on top of the first parts 12 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed.

In the next step the third parts 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are folded inwards along the crease lines 18 between the first and third parts 12, 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed, as indicated in Fig. 6f. The first, second and third parts 12, 14, 13 of the handling flaps 6 are glued together to form a coherent unit. As further indicated in Fig. 6f spots of glue 30 are placed at the lower outer corners of the gables 4.

In the final stage the handling flaps 6 formed in the previous step are folded downwards along the crease lines 17 between the end parts 10 and the first part 12 of the formed handling flaps 6 as shown in Fig. 6g. The handling flaps 6 will therby adhere to the gables 4 by means of the spots of glue 30 at the lower outer corners of the gables 4. As stated above the handling flaps 6 adhere lose enough to be loosened by hand from the gables 4. Often a tape is placed over the area where the closure flaps of the package 1 are placed edge to edge, to securely close the package. The tape is placed partly on each closure flap along the edges placed adjacent each other and bridging a possible gap between said edges of the closure flaps. The tape may also go down on the handling flaps 6.

In other embodiments the closure flaps 5 are placed partly overlapping, in which case the closure flaps normally are adhered to each other at the overlapping area.

As stated above the flute direction 26, as indicated in Fig. 6g, is the same as the pulling direction when pulling at one handling flap 6, encreasing the strength of the package 1 in said direction compared to flute directions not coinciding with the pulling direction.

In the package 1 formed as shown in Figs. 6a to 6g the first, second and third parts 12, 14, 13 of the handling flaps 6 are placed in the order as shown in Fig. 4, with the second part 14 placed between the first and third parts 12, 13. If the handling flaps 6 are to have the form as shown in Fig. 5, with the third part 13 placed between the first and third parts 12, 14, the order of folding will be changed. The first steps will be the same, but starting from the position as shown in Fig. 6d, the third parts 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are first folded inwards along the crease lines 18 between the first and thirdd parts 12, 13 of the handling flaps 8 to be formed. Then the first and third parts 12, 13 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are folded downwards along the crease lines 17 between the first parts 12 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed and the end parts 10. In the next step the second side parts 11 are folded inwards along the crease lines 19 between the first and second side parts 9, 11. Then the second parts 14 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed are folded downwards along the crease lines 20 between the second parts 14 of the handling flaps 6 to be formed and the second side parts 11. Irrespectively of in which order the different parts of the handling flaps 6 are placed, said parts are glued together, whereby each handling flap 6 will form a coherent unit.

In Figs. 7a to 7d the forming of an alternative package la is shown. The main difference between this alternative package la and the package 1 shown in Figs 6a to 6g is that the upper part of the alternative package la in Figs. 7a to 7d is formed by one single second side part 11a, instead of two second side parts 11 placed side by side when forming the upper part of the package 1.

In the forming of the alternative package la of Figs. 7a to 7d further flaps 21a are folded upwards along crease lines 24a between the further flaps 21a and end parts 10a. The end parts 10a are then folded upwards along crease lines 15a between the end parts 10a and a central part 8a of the blank, whereby the end parts 10a are at right angles to the central part 8 of the blank 2. It is also possible to first fold the end parts 10a upwards and then the further flaps 21a inwards. First and third parts 12a, 13a of handling flaps 6a to be formed are then folded outwards along crease lines 17a between the end parts 10a and the first parts 12a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed. At this stage the first and third parts 12a, 13a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed are still not folded in relation to each other. The form of the package after these first steps is shown in Fig. 7a. In some embodiments there is no third part 13a for forming the handling flap 6a.

In the next step first side parts 9a are folded along crease lines 16a between the central part 8 and the first side parts 9a, as indicated in Fig. 7b, whereby the first side parts 9a are at right angles to the central part 8a of the blank 2a. In the same way as for the previously described package la the further flaps 21a are glued to the first side parts 9a. Then the second side part 1 la is folded downwards along a crease line 19a between the second side part 11a and the adjacent first side part 9a, as indicated in Fig. 7b, whereby the second side part 1 la is at right angles to the first side parts 9a and the end parts 10a. An outer part 27 outside the second side part 1 la is then folded downwards along a crease line 28 between the outer part 27 and the second side part 11a, whereby the outer part 27 will abut the outside of the side of the package la formed by one of the first side parts 9a. The outer part 27 is glued to the adjacent first side part 9a. The third parts 14a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed are placed at opposite ends of the second side part 11a, whereby said third parts 14a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed will be placed on top of the first parts 12a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed when the second side part 11a has been folded down.

In the next step the third parts 13a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed are folded inwards along crease lines 18a between the first and third parts 12a, 13a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed. The third parts 13a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed are thereby placed on top of the second parts 14a of the handling flaps 6a to be formed, as indicated in Fig. 7c. The first, second and third parts 12a, 14a, 13a of each handling flap 6a are glued together to form a coherent unit.

In the same way as for the previously described package 1, the first, second and third parts 12a, 14a, 13a of the handling flaps 6a of the alternative package la have through openings 25a for forming handles of the handling flaps 6a.

In the last step the formed handling flaps 6a are folded downwards

simultaneously along the crease lines 17a between the first part 12a of the handling flaps 6a and the end parts 10a and along the crease lines 20a between the second side part 11a and the second parts 14a of the handling flaps 6a. Said crease lines 17a, 20a are placed on top of each other. In the same way as for the previously described package 1, the handling flaps 6a are glued loose enough to the gables of the alternative package la to be loosened by hand.

In each formed handling flap 6a of the alternative package la of Figs. 7a to 7d, the second part 14a of the handling flap 6a is placed between the first and third parts 12a, 13a of the handling flap 6a. This corresponds with Fig. 4 of the previously described package 1. In the same way as described for the previously described package 1, in each formed handling flap 6a the third part 13a of the handling flap 6a can instead be placed between the first and second parts 12a, 14a of the handling flap 6a, in a way corresponding with Fig. 5 of the peviously described package 1. Each handling flap 6a will have two or three layers. If the handling flaps 6a are to have only two layers, said layers will be formed by the first parts 12a of the handling flaps to be formed together with either the second parts 14a of the handling flaps to be formed or the third parts 13a of the handling flaps to be formed.

The blank 2a for forming the alternative package la may have recesses at opposite corners of the further flaps 21a, corresponding with the first and second recesses 22, 23 of the blank 1 for the previously described package 1.

By having the handling flaps 6, 6a covering at least 80% of the area of the side, which they are fixed to, the strength of the package 1, la is increased.

Claims

I . A package (1, la) having a lower part (31), an upper part (5, 5a), formed of one or more closure flaps, and four sides (3, 4, 3a, 4a), characterized in that a handling flap (6, 6a) is formed on at least one of the sides (4, 4a).

2. The package (1, la) of claim 1, wherein a handling flap (6, 6a) is formed on two opposite sides (4, 4a),

3. The package (1, la) of claim 1 or 2, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) has at least two layers.

4. The package (1, la) of claim 1 or 2, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) has three layers.

5. The package (1, la) of claim 3 or 4, wherein the layers of each handling flap (6, 6a) are glued together to form a coherent unit.

6. The package (1, la) of any of the previous claims, wherein the four sides are two long sides (3, 3a) and two gables (4, 4a), wherein the at least one side receiving the handling flap (6, 6a) is a gable (4, 4a) and wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) is arranged foldable along the upper edge of the gable (4, 4a).

7. The package (1, la) of claim 6, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) adheres to the gable (4, 4a) loose enough to be loosened by hand and be folded outwards from said upper edge of the gable (4, 4a).

8. The package (1, la) of claim 7, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) adhere to the gable (4, 4a) by means of glue.

9. The package (1, la) of any of the previous claims, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) has one or more handles (7, 7a).

10. The package (1, la) of any of the claims 1-8, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) has two handles (7, 7a).

I I . The package (1, la) of any of the claims 6-10, wherein each handling flap (6, 6a) covers at least 80% of the gable (4, 4a) to which it is loosely fixed.

12. The package (1, la) of claim 6, wherein the package (1, la) is formed of corrugated cardboard, whereby the direction (26) of the flutes of the corrugated cardboard is perpendicular to the gables (4, 4a) and parallel with the long sides (3, 3a) of the formed package (1, la).

13. The package (1, la) of any of the claims 6-12, wherein the long sides (3, 3a) adhere to further flaps (21, 21a) by means of glue, which further flaps (21, 21a) are arranged foldable along adjacent edges of adjacent gables (4, 4a).

14. A blank (2, 2a) for a package (1, la) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the blank (2, 2a) has a central rectangular part (8, 8a), with two end parts (10, 10a) on two opposing sides of the central part (8, 8a), and two first side parts (9, 9a) on opposite sides of the central part (8, 8a) and wherein crease lines (16, 16a, 15, 15a) are placed between the central part (8, 8a) and the first side parts (9, 9a) and the end parts (10, 10a), respectively, characterized in that a first part (12, 12a) to form a handling flap is placed on the side of each end part (10, 10a) opposite the central part (8, 8a), and a second side part (11, 1 la) is placed on the side of at least one of the first side parts (9, 9a), wherein crease lines (19, 19a) are placed between said at least one of the first side parts (9, 9a) and the second side part (11, 11a), wherein one or more parts (13, 13a, 14, 14a) to form a handling flap are placed at opposite ends of each second side part (11, 11a) and/or on the side of each first part (12, 12a) to form a handling flap opposite the end part (10, 10a).

15. The blank (2, 2a) of claim 14, wherein a second part (14, 14a) to form a handling flap is placed at opposite ends of each second side part (11, 11a), wherein there is a crease line (20, 20a) between the second side part (11, 11a) and each second part (14, 14a) to form a handling flap and wherein said second parts (14, 14a) are to be received on the first parts (12, 12a) to form the handling flaps of the package (1).

16. The blank (2) of claim 14 or 15, wherein a second side part (11) is placed on the side of each first side part (9).

17. The blank (2a) of claim 14 or 15, wherein a second side part (11a) is placed on the side of only one of the first side parts (9a), wherein an outer part (27) is placed on the side of the second side part (11a) opposite the first side part (9a) and wherein there is a crease line (28) between the outer part (27) and the second side piece (11a).

18. The blank (2, 2a) of any of the claims 14-17, wherein a third part (13, 13a) to form a handling flap is placed on the side of each first part (12, 12a) to form a handling flap opposite the end part (10, 10a) and wherein there is a crease line (18, 18a) between said first and third parts (12, 12a, 13, 13a) to form a handling flap.

19. The blank (2, 2a) of claim 18, wherein each third part (13, 13a) to form a handling flap is to be received on a first part (12, 12a) to form a handling flap.

20. The blank (2, 2a) of claim 18, wherein each second and third part (13, 13a, 14, 14a) to form a handling flap is to be received on each first part (12, 12a) to form a handling flap, with either said second part (14, 14a) or said third part (13, 13a) adjacent said first part (12, 12a)

21. The blank (2, 2a) of any of the claims 18 to 20, wherein each of the first, second and third parts (12„ 12a, 14, 14a, 13, 13a) to form handling flaps have at least one through opening (25, 25) to form handles of each handling flap.

22. The blank (2, 2a) of any of the claims 14-21, wherein further flaps (21, 21a) are placed on opposite sides of the end parts (10, 10a) and wherein there is a crease line (24, 24a) between each further flap (21, 21a) and the adjacent end part (10, 10a).

23. The blank (2, 2a) of claim 22, wherein there is a recess (22) in each area where the further flap (21, 21a) is placed adjacent one of the first parts (12, 12a) for forming a handling flap and one of the end parts (10, 10a).

24. The blank (2, 2a) of claim 22 or 23, wherein there is a recess (23) in each area where the further flap (21, 21a) is placed adjacent one of the first side parts (9), the second part (14) for forming a handling flap and one of the second side parts (11), if a second side part is present at said each area.