U.S. patent number 3,655,113 [Application Number 05/047,241] was granted by the patent office on 1972-04-11 for corner protector.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Carroll Packaging, Incorporated. Invention is credited to Hazen J. Carroll.
United States Patent |
3,655,113 |
Carroll |
April 11, 1972 |
CORNER PROTECTOR
Abstract
A corner protector for packing assemblies comprising an
injection molded, monolithic plastic sheet formed into an article
receiving pocket, three spaced walls and three carton-engaging
border walls. The protector is a shell of single sheet thickness
but is rigidified when loaded.
Inventors: |
Carroll; Hazen J. (Farmington,
MI) |
Assignee: |
Carroll Packaging, Incorporated
(Detroit, MI)
|
Family
ID: |
21947852 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/047,241 |
Filed: |
June 18, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
206/586; 217/52;
206/453 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
81/056 (20130101); B65D 2581/053 (20130101); B65D
2581/055 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65D
81/05 (20060101); B65d 005/56 () |
Field of
Search: |
;229/14C,DIG.1
;206/46FC |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wood, Jr.; M. Henson
Assistant Examiner: Mar; Michael Y.
Claims
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A corner protector to be disposed between an article and the
corner of a container for the article comprising: a monolithic
single sheet thickness shell having three flat and linearly
contiguous perimeter walls adapted to lie against the trihedral
walls of a carton corner, three integrally molded flat and linearly
contiguous spacer walls each of which lies perpendicular to a pair
of perimeter walls, and a shaped pocket for receiving the article
to be protected said pocket being integrally molded with,
contiguous with, and bounded by said spacer walls, said perimeter
walls extending beyond said spacer walls.
2. The corner protector defined in claim 1 wherein the pocket is
made up of a trihedral arrangement of interior walls which are
parallel with respective perimeter walls.
3. A corner protector defined in claim 1 wherein the walls are
formed of polyethylene.
4. The corner protector defined in claim 1 wherein the pocket
includes at least one nonflat pocket wall.
5. The corner protector defined in claim 4 wherein the pocket
includes a uniformly curved pocket wall and a flat quadrant-shaped
wall.
6. The corner protector defined in claim 4 wherein the material
from which the walls are fabricated is polyethylene.
Description
This invention relates to packing apparatus and particularly to
corner protectors.
A corner protector is a packing device which is placed between an
article and the interior corner of a shipping container such as a
cardboard carton to protect the edge or corner of the article
against damage. Corner protectors of various types are known to be
fabricated from trihedral arrangements of several thicknesses of
corrugated cardboard, foamed plastic trihedrons, molded rubber
blocks with trihedral pockets, cylindrical posts with and without
article receiving slots and many other arrangements of
materials.
The general problem with such prior art devices is that when in the
useable condition, the devices are somewhat bulky and although
light are not in themselves easily handled or shipped prior to
actual use. One answer to this problem is to fabricate the corner
protector from cardboard or some other relatively flat, foldable
material in such a fashion as to permit the material to be folded
in a predetermined way immediately prior to use. This facilitates
shipping and handling but obviously requires an assembly step just
prior to the use of the corner protector for its intended
purpose.
The present invention provides a corner protector which is light,
yet strong, nestable for high-density preuse or post-use handling
in the ready to use condition and, thus, requires no assembly step
between handling and use. Moreover, the subject invention provides
a corner protector which is a shell of single sheet thickness, yet
having high structural rigidity when in use and which provides
supported article protection by spacing the article away from all
three of the mutually intersecting carton walls which make up the
various corners thereof.
In general, this is accomplished by forming a corner protector from
a monolithic sheet of polymeric material to define three, flat, and
linearly contiguous perimeter walls which lie against the three
trihedral walls of a carton corner, three flat and linearly
contiguous spacer walls each of which lies perpendicular to a pair
of perimeter walls, and a shaped recess or pocket for receiving the
article to be protected. This pocket, which may be trihedral,
semicylindrical, or otherwise shaped to the article, is spaced away
from all three of the trihedral walls and, thus, is spaced away
from the carton corner thereby to suspend and cushion an article
within a carton from all of the walls of the carton. Since the
subject corner protector is monolithic in structure and of a single
sheet thickness, it may be interfittingly nested with similar
structures. Moreover, in use the arrangement of walls is such that
the load imposed by the article actually rigidifies the
structure.
The subject device is readily vacuum drawn or injection molded or
otherwise fabricated from a monolithic sheet of relatively flexible
polymeric or "plastic" material, such as polyethylene. Such
material is light, inexpensive, durable, waterproof, and has a
substantially less abrasive surface characteristic than paper or
foamed polystyrene and, thus, is less likely to mar the articles in
contact therewith.
The various features and advantages of the subject invention will
be best understood from a reading of the following specification
which sets forth in detail to specific embodiments of the
invention. These embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying
drawings of which:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment,
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment looking
along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the first embodiment,
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the invention,
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a corner protector 10 is shown to
be formed of a single sheet thickness of injection molded
polyethylene to form a monolithic structure wherein all surfaces
and walls as hereinafter specified are interjoined and integrated,
rather than folded or bonded. Corner protector 10 includes flat,
L-shaped perimeter walls 12, 14, and 16 which lie in three mutually
perpendicular planes. The L-shaped perimeter walls 12, 14, and 16
are linearly contiguous, i.e., joined end to end, and do not form a
mutually intersecting trihedral assembly, commonly known as a
corner. However, the walls 12, 14, and 16 are parallel to and,
thus, susceptible of lying against the three trihedral walls which
form the interior corner of a shipping carton or the like. The
cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 best illustrates the shell-like or
single-sheet thickness character of the corner protector 10.
Corner protector 10 further includes linearly contiguous spacer
walls 18, 20, and 22 which are L-shaped and lie in mutually
perpendicular planes. Spacer wall 18 lies in a plane which is
mutually perpendicular to the plane of perimeter walls 12 and 14;
spacer wall 20 lies in a plane which is mutually perpendicular to
the planes of perimeter walls 14 and 16; spacer wall 22 lies in a
plane which is mutually perpendicular to perimeter walls 16 and
12.
The spacer walls 18, 20, and 22 define the boundaries of an
interior trihedral pocket made up of the trihedral arrangement of
walls 24, 26, and 28. Wall 24 is parallel to perimeter wall 12,
wall 26 is parallel to perimeter wall 14, and wall 28 is parallel
to perimeter wall 16.
In the specific embodiment, the sheet thickness of the monolithic
corner protector 10 may be on the order of one thirty-second of an
inch and the perimeter walls 12, 14, and 16 may be 3 inches on a
side. The pocket walls 12, 26, and 28 are approximately
one-and-one-half inches squares, thus, to provide a 1-inch spacing
between the deepest corner of the pocket made up by walls 24, 26
and 28 and the geometrically corresponding corner of the carton
within which the corner protector 10 is placed. This is in
conformance with Rule 41 of the Uniform Freight Classification for
Motor and Rail Freight. This is given strictly by way of example
and it is obvious that the corner protector 10 may be made in
various other sizes.
In use, it is assumed that the corner protectors 10 are to be used
to secure a generally square or rectangular object within a
generally square or rectangular shipping carton. As a variation on
this it is, of course, possible to place the article within a first
container and then suspend that container within an outer container
by means of the corner protectors 10. In either event the packing
assembly is carried out by placing a corner protector, such as 10,
in each of the four bottom corners of the carton such that the
pocket opens to the interior of the carton. In this orientation,
the perimeter walls 12, 14, and 16 lie against the three mutually
intersecting walls of the carton which make up a corner. The
article to be supported is then placed within the container such
that an exterior corner of the article fits into the interior
corner of the pocket of each of the corner protectors 10. With the
article bearing against the pocket walls 24, 26, and 28 the corner
protector 10 is urged firmly into the corner of the carton, thus,
rigidifying the entire structure. The assembly packing process is
completed by placing four corner protectors about the upper four
corners of the article and closing and sealing the lid of the
carton to complete the suspension of the article therein.
It is clear that the pocket which receives the article within the
corner protector 10 need not be trihedral in character but may be
shaped otherwise so as to conform to the geometry of the article.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show a corner protector 30 which is similar to corner
protector 10 of FIGS. 1 through 3 except that the pocket is
semicylindrical in configuration, thus, to receive a cylindrical or
rounded corner object.
Referring specifically to FIGS. 3 and 4, the corner protector 30 is
shown to be made by injection molding a polymeric material such as
polyethylene into a monolithic single sheet thickness having three
linearly contiguous and flat L-shaped perimeter walls 32. 34, and
36. These perimeter walls lie in mutually perpendicularly
intersecting planes such as the trihedral planes of a carton
corner. Corner protector 30 further includes three linearly
contiguous spacer walls 38, 40, and 42 of which walls 40 and 42 are
L-shaped and wall 38 is quasi L-shaped, i.e., with an arcuate
interior border. The pocket of corner protector 30 is formed by a
uniform radius arcuate surface 44 which interconnects all three of
the spacer walls 38, 40, and 42 and which follows the arcuate
interior border of spacer wall 38. The pocket is completed by a
quandrant-shaped floor 46 which is contiguous with arcuate wall 44
and spacer walls 40 and 42.
A corner protector 30 at FIGS. 4 and 5 is used in precisely the
same manner as corner protector 10 of FIGS. 1 through 3 except that
the article which is received by corner protectors 30 is more
likely to be cylindrical rather than square or rectangular in
geometry.
Although FIG. 4 and 5 shows the pocket to be semicylindrical in
character and having a uniformly arching wall 44 it is clear that
wall 44 may be nonuniformly curved or otherwise shaped to conform
to the corner of the supported article.
It is to be understood that the two embodiments which are described
in detail herein are illustrative of the invention and are not to
be construed in a limiting sense.
* * * * *