U.S. patent application number 10/472225 was filed with the patent office on 2004-08-12 for insulating protection box useful for certain sensitive products.
Invention is credited to Hartung, Wilhelm.
Application Number | 20040154951 10/472225 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 20283510 |
Filed Date | 2004-08-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040154951 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hartung, Wilhelm |
August 12, 2004 |
Insulating protection box useful for certain sensitive products
Abstract
Insulating protection box, or a protection insert for certain
sensitive product, like shock sensitive products, temperatures
sensitive products and products inclined to explode, and made of a
relatively thick, flat base material plate (1) of mineral wool or
an equivalent material which at the exterior side thereof is
provided with a shape keeping material (2), like a hen wire net,
which is slightly pressed into the base material, which has
thereafter been cured, and which at the opposite side of the base
material is formed with corner recesses (6), and in which the box
is manufactured by folding up side pieces (9) against the bottom
(8) and the corner joints (6) are interconnected. At the exterior
side the box blank may have a surface covering exteriorly of the
shape keeping material (2), which surface covering may be a foil
(3) of aluminum or some suitable plastic material.
Inventors: |
Hartung, Wilhelm; (Goteborg,
SE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STITES & HARBISON PLLC
1199 NORTH FAIRFAX STREET
SUITE 900
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Family ID: |
20283510 |
Appl. No.: |
10/472225 |
Filed: |
January 16, 2004 |
PCT Filed: |
March 22, 2002 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/SE02/00580 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
206/521 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 81/3823 20130101;
B65D 81/3816 20130101; B65D 81/3858 20130101; B65D 81/3851
20130101; B65D 81/1275 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/521 |
International
Class: |
B65D 081/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 23, 2001 |
SE |
0101039-6 |
Claims
1. Insulating protection box, or a protection insert for a
packaging box to be used for certain sensitive product, like shock
sensitive products, temperatures sensitive products and products
inclined to explode, and made of a relatively thick base material
of mineral wool or another material having equivalent properties,
and in which the box is made starting with a flat plate (1) of
mineral wool or an equivalent material type, which at one side
thereof is formed with corner recesses (6), and in which the box is
manufactured by folding up the side pieces (9) against the bottom
(8) and the corner joints (6) are interconnected to form a closed
integral unit, characterized in that the insulating protection box
is exteriorly provided with a shape keeping material (2) having a
high tensile strength and which is preferably slightly pressed into
the base material, which has thereafter been cured (hardened).
2. Box according to claim 1, characterized in that the shape
keeping material is a metal net, for instance a hen wire net or a
chicken wire net (2), which is pressed a slight distance into the
base material (1), and which is secured therein in that the base
material, which contains certain resins, has been heat cured.
3. Box according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the base
material (1) at the exterior side of the box to be made, exteriorly
of the shape keeping material (2) is covered with a decorative,
liquid tight or gas tight covering (3) of a plastic material, an
aluminum foil or an equivalent material.
4. Box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in
that the corner recesses are formed as V-grooves (6) or some type
of labyrinth grooves (11; 12).
5. Box according to claim 4, characterized in that the corner
joints (6; 11; 12) of the box are secured by means of tape or
glue.
6. Box according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in
that the base material of the box, after having been pressed and
cured, has a thickness of between 20 and 100 mm.
7. A method of manufacturing an insulating protection box, or a
protection insert for a packaging box useful for certain sensitive
products, like shock sensitive products, temperature sensitive
products and products which are inclined to explode, and made of a
relatively thick base material of mineral wool or another material
having equivalent properties, characterized in that a box is made
from a flat blank (1) of a relatively thick base material like
mineral wool or a material having equivalent properties, in that
the blank (1), at the exterior side of the box to be made, is
formed with a shape keeping material (2), for instance a metal net,
in that the shape keeping material (2) is pressed a slight distance
into the base material (1), in that the base material with the
shape keeping (2) is pressed and is heat cured, and in that grooves
(4, 5) for the joints (6) between the different box parts (8-10)
are pressed into or cut out of the base material (1) to a depth
close to the shape keeping material (2), and that the different
parts (8-10) of the box are fold together thereby forming a
substantially sealed box.
8. A method according to claim 7, characterized in that a metal
net, for instance a hen wire net or a chicken wire net (2) is used
as a shape keeping material, and in that a decorative liquid and
gas tight material (3), like an aluminum foil or a suitable plastic
material is connected by tape or glue outside of the shape keeping
material (2), and whereby grooves (4, 5) for the joints (6) are
pressed into the base material using a screen (13) of a press
plats, at the same time as the shape keeping material (2) is
pressed into the opposite side of the base material, whereupon the
entire objects is pressed and is cured.
9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the
grooves (4, 5) for the joints between the different box parts
(8-10) are substantially V-shaped grooves (6) or some type of
labyrinth grooves (11; 12).
Description
[0001] The present invention generally relates to an insulating
protection box, or a protection insert for a packaging box useful
for certain sensitive products. By sensitive products is meant, in
this connection, especially shock sensitive products and products
which are inclined to explode. Especially many products included in
modern motor cars need very safe transport packages, for instance
car crash (safety) cushions, car safety belts, car safety side
cushions, side protection curtains and other products containing
certain types of explosives, thermostat systems which are sensitive
to too high or too low temperatures, crash sensors which are
sensitive to shocks, and many other types of products.
[0002] For transportation of such "sensitive products" there have
been developed form pressed, fully moulded or in any other way
manufactures boxes or packages, comprising a relatively thick fire
resistant insulating material, for instance form pressed mineral
wool. The manufacture of such products, which are pressed into box
shape, present substantial working environment problems. The
stuffing of the press tools with mineral wool give rise to loads of
shoulders and the neck of the operator, and at the same time the
mineral wool, which has not yet become cured, issues certain
annoying and to some degree unhealthy gases to which the operator
is subjected during the relatively long mineral wool stuffing time.
There has consequently been a constant ambition to provide quick
filling times involving as little need for manual stuffing as
possible.
[0003] Complete boxes, which, in spite of being perfect from
insulation technical viewpoints, are bulky during the
transportation to the deliverer (the packer) of the sensitive
products, and therefore attempts have been made to provide boxes
which can be transported in a less bulky shape.
[0004] The object of the invention therefore has been to solve the
problem of providing a packaging box, or a box insert for certain
sensitive products, which box is preferably made of a relatively
thick mineral wool material or another material having equivalent
properties, which material is shock damping, which has thermal
insulating properties both against heat and cold, and which is
capable of damping eventual accidental releasing of small explosive
charges.
[0005] According to the invention the box is made in the form of a
plate or board of a relatively thick material like mineral wool or
an equivalent material. The thickness of the plate is to be
considered in view of the demands on fire resistance, shock damping
etc. which are called for in each specific case. Generally there
are used plates having a thickness of between 20 and 100 mm. Such
plates can not be folded without becoming broken, and therefore the
plate has to be formed with grooves along which the bottom, the
sides and the lid can be folded to provide an integral closed box.
A problem in this connection is to keep the different parts of the
box in contact with each other while the box parts are being folded
together. Mineral wool has not sufficient tensile strength for
allowing a formation of "creasing lines", what is very well
possible with for instance corrugated cardboard. To this end the
side of the material plate intended to form the exterior side of
the ready box can be formed with a covering of a material having a
high tensile strength, for instance a textile material, a foil or a
suitable non-inflammable material, eventually combined with each
other, whereas the other side of the plate is formed with grooves
for making the folding possible. This can be achieved in that a
non-cured (hardened) plate is placed on a press plate having a
suitable profile, the intended surface covering material or
materials are placed on the mineral wool plate and the combined
base material is moved into a heating press, in which the mineral
wool becomes pressed and cured while grooves are pressed down into
the mineral wool material, and the surface covering material or
materials is/are pressed to stick to the other side of the mineral
wool plate. After the combined material has eventually been cut
clean the box is ready for being folded into box shape, but of
course it may alternatively be send to the user of the box in flat
condition.
[0006] The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing an
insulating protection box or an insert for an insulating protection
box, according to which method a box is made from a flat blank of a
relatively thick insulating material having fire proof, shock
damping, thermal insulating properties, and which has thereby
explosion preventive properties, which blank, at the exterior side
of the box to be made is formed with a shape binding/keeping
material, like a metal net or a synthetic resin type material,
whereupon grooves corresponding to the joints between the different
box parts are milled or cut up to a depth adjacent the shape
keeping material, and the different parts of the box are fold
together to form a substantially sealed box. For certain purposes
the box material with the shape keeping material, which may be a
metal net, a synthetic resin or a corresponding material can be
covered with a liquid and/or gas sealing material, like an aluminum
foil or a suitable synthetic resin.
[0007] In some cases an increased sealing of the joints at the
bottom, the top or the sides of the box is required, and in such
case the grooves may be formed to provide a type of labyrinth
sealing which makes it difficult for liquid, gas or air to
penetrate out of or into the box.
[0008] Now the invention is to be described more in detail with
reference to the accompanying drawings, which show some various
examples of an insulating protection box or an insulating box
insert according to the invention. Many further alternative
embodiments may, however, be presented within the scope of the
appended claims.
[0009] In the drawings
[0010] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a blank for a box having
bottom and sides, before the shape keeping material and eventually
a liquid- and gas-sealing material is applied at the exterior side
of the box to be formed.
[0011] FIG. 2 shows an intermediate method step in which grooves
have been milled up or cut up grooves in the material for the
corner joints to be formed.
[0012] FIG. 3 shows a partly ready made rectangular box whereby two
sides thereof have been fold up.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a blank for a box having bottom,
sides and top.
[0014] FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view showing a cross section through
a blank for a box formed with one possible example of labyrinth
corner joint parts, and
[0015] FIG. 6 shows a ready corner provided from the blank of FIG.
5.
[0016] FIGS. 7 and 8 show, like in FIGS. 5 and 6, a blank and a
corner, respectively, of an alternative type of labyrinth
joint.
[0017] FIG. 9 shows a press plate having a screen for providing
grooves in the mineral wool material.
[0018] The blank for a box shown in FIG. 1 can be made of a
relatively thick plate or board 1, for instance a plate of a
mineral wool material having a thickness of 20-100 mm. In the
illustrated case it is intended to form a parallel epipedical box,
but it is obvious that the box may alternatively have a polygonal
bottom section, or even that the box may have a curved or otherwise
formed bottom plane. In FIGS. 1-3 is shown a box part comprises
only a bottom and sides, but it is to be understood that also a lid
can be formed integral with the box blank. It is indicated in FIG.
1 that the exterior side of the box to be formed should be provided
with a shape keeping material 2, in the illustrated case sketched
as a hen net or a chicken wire net, but said shape keeping material
may be of any other material having form stiff properties, so that
is can keep the bottom, the side pieces and the lid together when
the box is fold together along given fold lines. It is also
indicated in FIG. 1 that the box material can be formed with a
surface layer 3 which can be a liquid or gas sealing material, for
instance a suitable plastic material or an aluminum foil.
[0019] The blank for the box can be made in that a plate of a
non-cured mineral wool material is placed, with one side thereof,
against a groove forming screen pattern provided in the press, as
indicated in FIG. 9. On the other surface there is placed a
material having a high tensile strength, and thereafter the plate
is pressed and cured. If found suitable a further protecting and/or
decorative surface layer may thereafter be attached to the exterior
surface of the box to be formed.
[0020] The blank of the box also can be made in that a flat blank
of a relatively thick insulating material having fire proof
(protecting) and shock dampening properties and which has thermal
insulating properties, and which thereby has explosion protecting
properties on one side of the blank, namely the exterior side of
the box to be manufactured is formed with a stiffening material
having strong tensile properties, like a metal wire net 2, or
another material like some type of synthetic resin net, whereupon
V-grooves 6 are milled or cut out at the opposite side of the blank
to a depth adjacent the surface covering material.
[0021] In FIG. 1 is indicated by dotted lines how corner joints 4
and 5 can be milled or cut out from the upper side of the plate or
board 1 down to a depth adjacent the shape keeping material 2. Said
corner joints can be formed as grooves, e.g. V-grooves 6 as
partially shown in FIG. 2, but the joints also can be formed as
some type of labyrinth sealing means, as shown in FIGS. 5-8.
[0022] After the box material has been formed with a shape keeping
bottom layer and has been pressed and cured, and may have been
formed with a combined bottom layer 2+3, and has been formed with
grooves or recesses 6 for corner joints, and after excess portions
of the material, like the cut out joint parts 6 and the corner
parts 7 have been removed, the blank is formed to a box, as
indicated in FIG. 3. Said FIG. 3 shows a box having a bottom 8 and
four side pieces 9, only two of side pieces 9 of which are shown
fold up against the bottom 8. The joints 6 may, upon need, be fixed
by means of tape or glue. It is obvious that the box is
substantially sealed.
[0023] In FIG. 4 is shown a blank for a box adapted to provide a
closed box having a bottom 8, side pieces 9 and a lid 10. Otherwise
the box blank is identical to the box blank shown in FIGS. 1-3.
[0024] FIG. 9 shows a way of manufacturing a box of the type shown
in FIG. 4. Thereby there is used a press plate which is suitably
profiled or is formed with a groove forming screen pattern, for
instance formed as a square pattern of V-shaped metal profiles 13
on top of which the mineral wool material is placed. On top of the
mineral wool material the shape keeping material having a high
tensile strength is placed, for instance the chicken wire net,
whereupon the entire apparatus with the combined material is moved
into a heating press in which the mineral wool is pressed and is
cured, whereby the metal profiles 13 form grooves 6 on one side
(the inner side) at the same time as the shape keeping material,
e.g. the chicken wire net, or the synthetic resin net, is pressed
into the mineral wool material on the exterior side of the box to
be manufactured. Thereafter an additional protecting and/or
decorative surface layer can be attached on top of the shape
keeping material.
[0025] For certain purposes it can be or value to foresee that the
corner joints are as liquid and gas sealed as possible, and to this
end the corner joints can be formed as a type of labyrinth joints,
as shown in a first example, out of many possible examples, in
FIGS. 5 and 6, and a second possible example as shown in FIGS. 7
and 8. The joint of FIGS. 5 and 6 is formed as a three-step angle
joint 11 whereby the joint surfaces are located at right angles to
each other. In FIGS. 7 and 8 is shown a corresponding labyrinth
sealing 12 which at the lower/outer part thereof is formed with a
bevelled groove joint followed by an angle joint.
[0026] Reference Numerals
[0027] 1 plate
[0028] 2 shape keeping material
[0029] 3 surface layer
[0030] 4 corner marking
[0031] 5 corner marking
[0032] 6 groove
[0033] 7 corner part
[0034] 8 bottom
[0035] 9 side pieces
[0036] 10 lid
[0037] 11 3-stage angle joint
[0038] 12 mitre and angle joint
[0039] 13 metal profiles, screen
* * * * *