Cardboard Blank

Abstract

A wraparound cover sleeve for cuplike packages with rim flanges and lids has a base panel with at least one aperture for receiving a cup with its rim flange engaging the base panel about the aperture, a second cup being superimposed on the first cup and held in place by up-folding sidewall panels having cup-engaging formations.

Description

The invention relates to a cardboard blank for packing and transporting a number of packages in the form of cups of the kind having an outbent flange at the top, the lid of the cup having a corresponding flange.

Cardboard blanks of the said kind are known, being designed for holding a number of cups, for example four, two being placed on top of the remaining two, the blank being assembled to form a cover which is open at both ends and has cuts or punched tongues, or both, serving to fix the cups in the cover.

The object of the invention is to provide a blank of the said kind, for which the consumption of cardboard in forming a cover for a given number of the cups is substantially reduced as compared to the known blanks referred to above.

With this object in view, a cardboard blank according to the invention is divided by parallel score lines into a central panel and two side panels with attached flaps, the central panel having two or more openings of a shape and size corresponding to the cross section of the cups just below the outbent flange, cuts being made in the side panels in alignment with the openings in the central panel to form tongues the base of each of which is one of the score lines between the side panel and the flap attached thereto, and is of a length substantially equal to the width of the lids of the cups, whereas the side panels are so wide that the height of a triangle, the base of which is equal to the width of the central panel, and the sides of which are equal to the width of the side panels, is substantially equal to the height of the cups to be packed. This results in the cover having to enclose substantially only one of the two cups placed one upon the other, instead of enclosing both as in the known cover. Thus, the consumption of cardboard is reduced to about one half.

A preferred embodiment of the cardboard blank of the invention is characterized in that the tongues in the side panels are each of a shape and size corresponding to that of half of the lid of one of the cups, and that slots cut away in the side panels at the tips of the tongues are so shaped that the slot edges contact the sidewalls of cups enclosed in the folded blank.

Thus, also the cups in the upper layer are firmly fixed in the package.

In the following, an embodiment of the blank of the invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cardboard blank;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cover for four cups; made from said blank; and

FIG. 3 is an end view of the cover of FIG. 2.

The cardboard blank shown in plan view in FIG. 1 is divided by means of score lines 5, 6, 7, and 8, into a central panel 9 and two side panels 10 and 11 with attached flaps 12 and 13.

In the central panel, two openings 14 are cut, and in alignment with these are tongues 15 punched out of the side panels 10 and 11, said tongues having their base line in the score lines 5 and 8. Finally, a slot 16 has been cut away at the tips of each of the tongues 15, the object of which will be further explained hereinafter.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the use of the cardboard blank as a cover and package for four cups 18, for example cups for salad or cheese spread. The cups 18 are in this case shaped somewhat as truncated pyramids, but could also be of truncated cone shape provided that the cutaway parts 14, tongues 15 and slots 16 are of a corresponding shape. The cups 18 each have an outbent flange 9, and are closed by a flat lid which may have a central depression fitting into the top of the cup.

In use two cups 18 are first inserted in the openings 14, the shape and size of which correspond to the cross section of the cups just below the outbent flange 19. Thus, the cups project through the bottom of the package, the cup flanges 19 resting upon the central panel 9.

The two further cups 18 are placed on the lids of the first-inserted cups, and the side panels 10 and 11 are folded upward to form a triangular cover together with the central panel 9, the flaps 12 and 13 being brought into contact with one another. At the same time, the tongues 15 are bent upward perpendicular to the flaps 12 and 13 to rest upon and cover the lids of the cups in the top layer, whereas the edges of the cutaway slots 16 each contact part of the body of a cup to fix its position so that it cannot be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the cover.

The cutouts which result from forming the tongues 15 are of a width corresponding to the width of the tops of the cups, so that the latter are engaged frictionally in the cutouts and the triangular configuration of the cover is maintained without any necessity of gluing or otherwise uniting the flaps 12 and 13. If desired, however, the adjoining sides of said flaps may carry a layer of a pressure-sensitive adhesive, so that they can be united by a pressure, or they may be united otherwise, as for example by a clip or by means of adhesive tape. It will be seen that the side panels 10 and 11 are of such width that they form with the base panel 9 a cover having the cross section of a triangle which is equal in height to the height of the cups to be packed.

Cutouts 17 are provided in the flaps 12 and 13 to form a handle for the completed package.

The cardboard blank may also be of greater length so as to accommodate three or more of the openings 14, enabling the packing of six, eight or more of the cups 18.

Claims

I claim:

1. A cover sleeve folded from a cardboard blank and holding at least one pair of superimposed packages in the form of cups with external rim flanges and lids, said blank having two spaced parallel score lines which divide it into a central base panel between two folded-up sidewall panels, said central base panel having at least one opening receiving a first one of said pair of cups with the rim flange engaging the base panel about said opening, the second cup being superimposed upon the first cup, and cup-engaging cutout formations of width corresponding to the width of said second cup from one rim flange edge to the other in said folded-up sidewall panels for locating and holding said second cup in place.

2. A cover sleeve according to claim 1, wherein the cup-engaging formations in the sidewall panels comprise respective cutout tongues in alignment with the opening in the base panel and hingeable out of the planes of the sidewall panels about score lines parallel with the first-mentioned score lines, the widths of the tongues being substantially equal to the width of the second cup from one rim flange edge to the other, so that cutouts in the sidewall panels which result from forming the tongues are of width corresponding to the width of the cup from one rim flange edge to the other and receive and retain the cup.

3. A cover sleeve according to claim 2, wherein the tongues rest upon and cover the top of the second cup.

4. A cover sleeve according to claim 3, wherein the sidewall panels are of such width that they form with the base panel a cover having the cross section of a triangle which is equal in height to the height of the second cup enclosed by the cover.

5. A cover according to claim 4, wherein the tongues are each of size and shape corresponding to half that of the top of the second cup.

6. A cover according to claim 3, wherein the blank has a slot cut away in each of its sidewall panels at the tip of the tongue, said slot being so shaped that its edge contacts the walls of the second cup when the sidewall panels are folded up, and fixes the position of the second cup in the longitudinal direction of the cover.

7. A cover according to claim 6, and including flaps serving as handle parts at respective upper edges of the sidewall panels.