Package For Elongat Elements

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a package for sewing machine needles and similar elongated elements or parts wherein the package includes a generally channel-shaped cross-sectional container which may be readily extruded in continuous lengths and chopped to size, and a cooperating cover. The container includes a face having a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves formed therein for receiving elongated elements and the cover is slidably positioned in opposed grooves formed in sidewalls of the container with the underside of the cover being provided with a resilient material for compressively engaging elongated elements seated in the grooves.

Description

This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in parts packages and more particularly to a parts package wherein a limited number of parts may be readily shipped and retained for individual dispensing.

This invention particularly relates to the packaging of elongated, rather thin, parts or elements which are either precision made, have a high quality finish which is to be protected, or both. Examples of such parts or elements are precision rollers for bearings, hypodermic needles, pivot pins for precision mechanisms such as clocks and like equipment, needles for sewing and knitting machines, and precision small diameter shafts. Since the principles of packaging all of these different types of parts or elements are the same, the specific usage of the package to be set forth here will be restricted to needles for sewing machines.

It is first pointed out that although this invention particularly relates to a package which may be utilized in the distribution of needles for home use, it has particular application for industrial uses.

It will be readily apparent that industrial needles are used in large quantities. Factories usually have many sewing machines of each type and need either hundreds or thousands of needles of each kind. More than one type of needle is needed for each type of machine. There are literally thousands of types of industrial sewing machine needles due to the possible combination of blade sizes, point styles, shank lengths, blade lengths, types of plate or finish, variations of spots, and other features. An industrial sewing installation must stock many types of needles to cover all of its operations. These needles must be issued to the machine operators in such a manner that enough needles are given out, but not so many that the operator accumulates quantities and leftovers. These leftovers represent lost money and the serious cause of damage to material through the use of the wrong needles. It is desirable to hand out needles in small lots, usually 10.

The traditional method of packaging sewing machine needles for many years was in slide type boxes of paper covered cardboard. These contained one hundred needles and these units were usually packaged in larger boxes of the same material to make groups of 500 or 1,000. From this it can be seen that the smallest number of needles in a container which would carry the identification matter is 100. Also, there is no container in which to issue a lesser number of needles. Picking out a few needles to hand to an operator leaves the quantity issued, and the quantity remaining in doubt. The operator is likely to lose some of the needles before getting a chance to use them up, or worse, get them mixed up with other leftovers. Small paper envelopes are sometimes used for smaller quantities, but these are poor packages and expensive to fill. In accordance with this invention, it is proposed to package sewing machine needles in subpacks of 10 needles. Such a package holds each needle in a generally V-shaped slot with the top of the slot being closed by a cover snapped in place or slid in from one end. Between the cover and the base of the container and attached to the underside of the cover is a piece of plastic foam or adhesive which frictionally engages the needles to hold them in their respective slots.

One of the principal features of the invention is the utilization of the V-shaped slot to receive the parts being packaged. For example, a single V-shaped slot may accommodate wire diameters from 0.015 inch to 0.080 inch.

Another feature of this invention is that the V-shaped slot provides for only two-line contacts between the container base and each part. Since the parts being packaged are normally of polished steel construction and the container is plastic with a low coefficient of friction with steel, the result is that the needles freely slip in the V-shaped slot or groove.

A further advantage is that the cover, due to the provision of the frictional material on the underside thereof, when moved relative to the container, will move the packaged parts therewith so as to project the parts for readily grasping and individual removal.

A still further and important feature of the parts package is that the parts may be readily positioned within the container and the cover snapped into place so that the packaging of the parts within the package may be inexpensively accomplished.

Yet another feature of the invention is the side walls of the container being provided with bevelled edges so as to facilitate the cover to be snapped into place and the same sloping or bevelled edges to be utilized in the nesting of packages.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the components of the needle package without needles.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the needle package of FIG. 1 with needles retained in position therein.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2 and shows specifically the relationship of the package to a needle.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3 and shows further the manner in which needles are retained within the package, there also being shown the internested relationship between two needle packages.

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view showing the manner in which the cover is applied to the container after needles have been placed therein.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view showing a modified form of generally V-slot or groove configuration.

Although the container and package of this invention is particularly adaptable to various types of special parts including precision rollers for bearings, hypodermic needles, pivot pins, needles for sewing and knitting machines, precision small diameter shafts, etc., for simplicity purposes only, the specific description of the container and package of this invention will be restricted to the packaging of needles, although the recitation of needles as the packaged article, is in no way intended to be restrictive.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is illustrated in FIG. 2 an assembled needle package formed in accordance with this invention, the assembled needle package being generally identified by the numeral 10. The needle package 10 includes a container, which is generally identified by the numeral 11, and a cover, which is generally identified by the numeral 12. Needles 13 are positioned within the container 11 and retained therein by the cover 12.

The container 11 is of a generally channel-shaped cross section and includes a bottom wall or base 14 and a pair of upstanding sidewalls 15. The base 14 has formed in the upper surface thereof a plurality of longitudinally extending, generally V-shaped slots or grooves for receiving shanks 17 of the needles 13. It is to be understood that the number of the slots or grooves 16 may vary, although in accordance with the general premises of this invention, it is preferred that there be sufficient slots 16 to receive ten needles. It will also be readily apparent that the length of the container 11 must be such so as to fully encase the needles.

As is clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the side walls 15 are provided with opposed grooves 18 in their inner surfaces, the grooves being spaced above the base 14. In addition, the upper inner portions of the sidewalls 15 are sloped as at 20 to form cam surfaces. Furthermore, the longitudinal bottom corners of the container 11 are bevelled as at 21 (FIG. 5).

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing that the container 11 may be formed from a continuously extruded strip cut to the desired length. It is preferred for economy purposes that the container 11 be formed of an inexpensive plastic material having sufficient resiliency so as to permit a momentary spreading apart of the sidewalls 15 to facilitate the positioning of the cover 12 in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The cover 12 is preferably of a two-piece construction and includes a flat strip 22 which is also preferably formed of plastic so as to be relatively inexpensive. Bonded to the underside of the strip 22 is a compressible friction material 23, such as polyurethane foam or like material.

It is to be noted from FIG. 2 that the longitudinal dimension of the cover 12 is only a small portion of the longitudinal length of the container 11 and that the cover 12 is intended to engage the blades 24 only of the needles 13, although the cover could equally as well engage the shanks 17.

It will be readily apparent to one familiar with the packaging of needles that in order to fill the container 11, it is merely necessary to flow needles thereinto and then to rapidly spread them with one's finger. If 10 needles are dropped into the container 11, these 10 needles may be readily spread into their associated grooves or slots 16. Thereafter, the package may be readily closed by placing the cover 12 in the position shown in FIG. 5 with one end thereof in one of the associated grooves 18, and thereafter pressing down on the other end so as to spread apart the sidewalls 15 and permit the other end of the cover 12 to snap into the second groove 18.

It will be readily apparent from FIG. 2 that the needles 13 may be positioned at random within the container 11. Such a condition is permissible providing that the container 11 is of a sufficient length. If it is desired to align the needles within the container 11, it is merely necessary to hold the left end of the container 11 (FIG. 2) against an abutment surface and move the cover 12 to the left. This will bring the butt ends of all the needles against the abutment surface in alignment. Thereafter, the cover 12 may be moved to the right at which time it will carry all of the needles evenly therewith so as to permit perfect alignment of the needles within the package.

Referring now to FIG. 4 in particular, it will be seen that the resilient material 23 engages the blades 24 of the needles and is compressed thereby. As a result, the strip 22 is resiliently urged upwardly so that the upper surface thereof is in frictional pressurized contact with the upper surfaces of the grooves 18 formed in the sidewalls 15. Thus, the cover 12 is frictionally retained in place within the container 11 and the cover 12, in turn, frictionally retains the needles 13 in place.

It will be readily apparent that the needles 13 have line engagement with the base or bottom wall 14 of the container 11. As a result, the needles 13 are free to slide longitudinally in their respective slots or grooves 16. When it is desired to remove one or more of the needles 13 from the package 10, it is merely necessary to apply pressure on the cover 12 to urge the cover 12 towards the base 14 which results in releasing the cover 12 from its frictional engagement with the sidewalls 15.

After the cover 12 has been depressed, it is free to slide longitudinally within the container 11 and to move the needles 13 therewith. By moving the cover 12 and the needles 13 to the left, as viewed in FIG. 2, the shanks 17 of the needles may be exposed and the desired needle or needles gripped and drawn out of the container 11 without disturbing the other needles. Thereafter, the cover 12 and the remaining needles 13 may again be moved to the right back within the confines of the package 10.

Although the generally V-shaped grooves or slots 16 are illustrated as being of a full V cross section, as is shown in FIG. 6, the grooves or slots 16 need not be of a full V configuration in that only sufficient clearance is required to provide for two-line contact only between a needle shank 17 and the base or bottom wall 14 of the container 11.

It has been previously described that the lower longitudinal corners of the container 11 are bevelled as at 21. This bevel, together with the sloping upper surfaces of the sidewalls 15 combine to define a nestable relationship between two of the containers 11. Thus, a plurality of the needles packages 10 may be readily stacked in the manner shown in FIG. 4.

At this time it is pointed out that certain needles, particularly those for home use, have flats on their shanks. It has been found that such needles may be readily packaged within the package 10 in the same manner as that described above.

Although the invention has been limited in the illustration and description thereof to the packaging of needles, it is to be understood that other elongated, small diameter specialty parts may be packaged in a like manner so as to both protect the packaged part during shipment and handling and to facilitate the individual dispensing thereof. It is also readily apparent that the specific construction of the container is such that it is not restricted to the packaging of any specific number of articles and accordingly, may be varied to meet the particular packaging requirements of the article being packaged. It is further to be understood that minor variations may be made in the package construction without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claims

We claim:

1. A package forming unit for small diameter elongated parts comprising:

a container including a channel-shaped body having a bottom and sidewalls with beveled edges on the longitudinal sides of said bottom, longitudinal slots in the upper surface of said bottom for positioning parts therein in side by side relationship and for longitudinal sliding movement, said sidewalls projecting above the beveled edges and above said slots and having inwardly downwardly inclined surfaces and parallel opposed longitudinal grooves positioned between said inclined surfaces and said bottom, said downwardly inwardly inclined surfaces each having a planar parallel relationship to the bevel on the corresponding edge of said bottom, and a cover member slidably frictionally engaged in said grooves having a lesser longitudinal dimension than the container body, and a resilient layer on the undersurface of said cover extending over said slots and into said grooves, adapted to be compressed upon engagement with parts in said slots and being sufficiently compressible to permit the disengagement of said cover from said container and to permit freedom of movement of said cover with parts carried by said container.