Reclosable Carton

Abstract

A container having a base portion including a bottom wall and a plurality of sidewalls foldably joined to the side edges of the bottom wall is provided with a cover portion which includes a top panel and a closure panel secured to an edge of the top panel. The closure panel when closed is affixed to one of the sidewalls of the base portion of the container along the edge of the closure panel remote from the top panel and a tear strip which is longitudinally disposed in the closure panel is provided for opening the carton in conventional fashion. A reclosing tab is formed in the upper portion of the closure panel and cooperates with holding tabs disposed along the side edges of a reclosing notch formed in the adjacent side wall of the base portion of the container. The lower edge of the reclosing tab substantially coincides with the upper edge of the tear strip.

Description

According to the invention a reclosable carton having a closure panel with longitudinal tear strip is provided in the upper portion thereof with a reclosing tab which is arranged to engage a holding notch formed along the upper edge of the adjacent face contacting sidewall of the base portion of the container to afford easy reclosure. For facilitating locking the carton in the reclosed condition, the side edges of the holding notch are configured to define a pair of inwardly extending holding tabs for engaging the inner surface of the reclosing tab to aid in holding the container cover closed. The lower edge of the reclosing tab preferably coincides with the upper edge of the tear strip.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container which embodies the invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of the blank from which the container of FIG. 1 is formed; FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the carton such as is shown in FIG. 1 and which shows the closure panel disposed outside the front wall of the base portion of the container with the tear strip removed and which shows the reclosing tab in reclosing position and disposed outside the holding tabs defining the side edges of a holding notch formed in the carton front wall; and in which FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to a part of FIG. 3 but which shows the container in reclosed condition as viewed from the inside of the front wall.

In the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the bottom wall of the base portion of the container. Sidewalls 2, 3, 4 and 5 are foldably joined respectively to the edges of bottom wall 1 along fold lines 6, 7, 8 and 9 respectively.

For the purpose of forming the corners of the container, flaps 10, 11, 12 and 13 are foldably joined respectively to end edges 14, 15, 16 and 17 of sidewalls 5 and 3. Flaps 10-13 are provided with locking tabs 17a, 18, 19 and 20 respectively. These locking tabs 17a, 18-20 are inserted into the irregularly configured adjacent slits 21-24 respectively formed in sidewall panels 2 and 4 to form the base portion of the container.

Corner sealing flaps 25-28 are foldably joined to the end edges 29-32 of the sidewalls 2 and 4 and function in known manner to aid in forming a secure corner for the base portion of the container. For example, corner flap 25 ordinarily occupies a position of flat face contacting relation with the inner surface of the end portion of sidewall 5. The remaining corner sealing flaps are similarly disposed.

The base portion of the container is provided with a cover portion comprising top panel 33 which is foldably joined to sidewall 5 along fold line 34. The opposite edge 35 of the top panel 33 is foldably joined to closure panel 36 in which a conventional tear strip 37 is formed and defined by a pair of weakened severance lines designated generally by the numerals 38 and 39.

The closure panel 36 is affixed to sidewall 3 by any suitable means such as by an application of glue indicated by stippling in FIG. 2 or by suitable heat responsive plastic sealing material.

As is apparent for example from FIG. 3, removal of tear strip 37 results in an appearance as indicated in FIG. 3 wherein the upper portion 40 of closure panel 36 is detached from sidewall 3 whereas the lower portion remote from fold line 35 and indicated by the numeral 41 remains affixed to sidewall 3 after the tear strip 37 is removed.

According to this invention, reclosing tab 42 is formed in the upper portion 40 of closure panel 36 and the side edges thereof are defined by a pair of longitudinally spaced downwardly converging slits 43 and 44 which separate the tab 42 from the adjacent gripping portions of closure panel 36. The lower edge of tab 42 coincides with the weakened severance line 39 and is defined by a horizontal slit 45 which interconnects the lower ends of slits 43 and 44.

For cooperating with the reclosing tab 42, a holding notch 46 is formed in the upper edge portion of sidewall 3. This holding notch 46 is defined at its ends by a pair of inwardly protruding horizontally spaced holding tabs 47 and 48. Tab 47 is defined by a pair of inwardly converging edges 47a and 47b while tab 48 is defined by a pair of inwardly converging edges 48a and 48b. A pair of downwardly diverging slits 49 and 50 are formed in sidewall 3 and are disposed in substantial alignment with the lower side portions of holding notch 46 and of holding tabs 47 and 48 respectively.

After the container is initially opened and a portion of the contents used, it ordinarily is desirable to reclose the container. Thus with the tear strip 37 removed, the upper portion 40 of closure panel 36 is disposed in flat face contacting relationship with and outside the side wall 3. The reclosing operation requires that the reclosing tab 42 be disposed outside the holding tabs 47 and 48 as shown for example in FIGS. 3 and 4. When the container is fully reclosed, the slit 43 is disposed in angular gripping relation with slit 49 and slit 44 is similarly disposed in slit 50. The "fight" of the material and the frictional relationship of the engaged slits serve to aid in holding the cover closed. Of course the cutaway holding notch 46 facilitates the guiding of the reclosing tab 42 into the locking position as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The reclosing and holding tabs as shown in the drawings appear in the front wall and in the front closure panel of the base and cover portions of the container. Of course the holding notch and tabs could be formed in the end walls such as 2 and 4 and a reclosing tab could be formed in end closure panels foldably joined to the ends of top wall panel 33 and the term "sidewall" contemplates either of the walls such as 2, 3 or 4. Of course the reclosing feature may be used on the closure panels of end loaded tubular style containers and on the overlapping end flaps of such containers and when so applied the term "sidewall" in the claims denotes the inner end flaps.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

Claims

We claim:

1. A container comprising a base portion having a bottom wall and a plurality of sidewalls, a cover portion having a top wall and a closure panel secured to an edge of said top wall and arranged to engage one sidewall of the container in substantially flat face contacting relation when said cover portion is closed, a tear strip formed in said closure panel and disposed in longitudinal relation therein, means securing the edge of said closure panel remote from said top wall to said one sidewall of the container, a reclosing tab formed in said closure panel in the upper portion thereof and intermediate said tear strip and said edge of said top wall to which said closure panel is secured, the lower edge of said reclosing tab substantially coinciding with the upper edge of said tear strip and the side edges of said reclosing tab being defined by downwardly converging slits separating said tab from adjacent gripping portions of said closure panel, a holding notch having opposed side edges formed in said one sidewall of the carton and arranged to receive said reclosing tab upon reclosure of said cover portion, and a pair of holding tabs formed on said edges of said holding notch for engaging the inside surface of said reclosing tab so as to hold the container cover closed, the gripping portions of said upper portions of said closure panel which are disposed on opposite sides of said reclosing tab being disposed on opposite sides of said one wall from said reclosing tab upon reclosure of the container.

2. A container according to claim 1 wherein the lower portions of the side edges of said holding notch converge upwardly and wherein downwardly diverging slits are formed in said one sidewall and are disposed in substantial alignment with said lower portions of the side edges of said holding notch respectively.

3. A container according to claim 1 wherein the side portions of said reclosing tab are disposed within said downwardly diverging slits when said cover is in reclosed position.