Longitudinal Stabilizer Tab For Basket-style Carriers

Abstract

An improved multicell basket-style carrier having at least one longitudinal stabilizer tab formed between the riser panels of the carrier. The stabilizer tab rigidly fastens the riser panels together preventing longitudinal movement of one of the riser panels whenever the carrier is formed and the bottom wall panel is locked in the open position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to an improved multiple article carrier and more particularly to an improved carrier having a new and novel longitudinal stabilizer tab formed therein.

Multiple article carriers of the type on which this improvement applies are shown in the U. S. Pat. No. 3,568,880, issued Mar. 9, 1971 to Glen Ray Harrelson and comprise a plurality of side wall, end wall and bottom wall panels which are hingedly attached to each other and to a pair of riser panels having partition panels formed therein. When the carrier shown in the subject patent is erected there is formed a multiple article carrier having a plurality of cells which provide protection for the articles carried within the cells. In the carrier of the type shown by the patent in general and in particular as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the patent, the bottom wall panel 1 is locked in place by means of the bottom wall panel support tabs 32 which are formed in the bottom of the riser panel 11' and 13.

With the advent of the 8-cell multiple article carrier as shown in the patent and as a result of the trend in packaging towards larger and larger bottles it has been found that the bottom wall panel 1 may tend to inadvertently unlock from the bottom wall panel support tabs 32. The cause of this unlocking was found to result from longitudinal movement that occurred in the riser panel 11' whenever the bottles were placed within the multiple article carrier in general and in particular in the end cells nearest to the riser panel 11'. A deeper undercutting of the bottom wall panel support tabs 32 was not possible since this attempted solution caused problems in the machinability of the carton in general and in particular the locking of the bottom wall panel 1 within the bottom wall panel support tabs 32 during the folding operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the problems inherent with the prior art device herein described, there has been provided by the subject application a improved multicell basket-style carrier which has formed therein between the riser panels at least one longitudinal stabilizer tab which prevents longitudinal movement of one riser panel in respect to the other whenever the carrier is formed and the bottom wall panel is locked in place with articles contained within the cells of the carrier.

Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide an improved basket-style carrier which has formed between the riser panels therein a longitudinal stabilizer tab providing stabilization against longitudinal movement of the riser panels.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved multicell basket-style carrier which has improved supporting characteristics for the objects contained within the cells of the carrier.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved multicell basket-style carrier which has imProved locking features of the bottom wall panel with the locking features being formed from the existing carrier paper stock without increasing the cost of the carrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the carrier described herein showing the longitudinal stabilizer tab formed between the riser panels of the carrier;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the production blank of the carrier shown in FIG. 1 showing the carrier opened flat prior to the start of the folding operations which are performed to transfer the blank of FIG. 2 into the completed carrier;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views oF the blank shown in FIG. 2 showing the intermediate stages in a succession of folding operations performed to transfer the blank into the completed carrier;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the collapsed carrier after it has been folded but before it has been completely erected into the finished carrier;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the carrier shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view of a modification of the carrier showing the improved longitudinal stabilizer tab being formed from one of the partition panels of the carrier; and

FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of the modification shown in FIG. 7 showing the modified longitudinal stabilizer tab erected in position between the two riser panels.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings in general and in particular to FIG. 1 of the drawings there is shown a multicell basket-style carrier of the type described, shown generally by the numeral 10 which comprises a first side wall panel 12 and a second side wall panel 14 which are hingedly attached to a pair of end wall panels 16 and 18.

The carrier 10 also has formed on the bottom portion thereof a bottom wall panel 20 which is locked in place as will be described more fully hereinafter. Formed on the upper portion of the carrier 10 is a handle section 22 whose formation is fully covered in the beforementioned U. S. Pat. No. 3,568,880.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawing there is shown the production blank of the carrier 10 and the relationship of the various panels before described that are used to form the erected carrier. The first side wall panel 12 is hingedly attached to the bottom wall panel 20 by means of the scoreline 24. The end wall panels 16 and 18 are hingedly attached to the first side wall panel 12 and the second side wall panel 14 by means of the scoreline 26 and 28. Formed on the opposite sides of the first side wall panel 12 and the second side wall panel 14 are a second pair of end wall panels 30 and 32 which are hingedly attached to the side wall panels by means of the scorelines 34 and 36.

The end walls 16 and 18 have formed thereon a first pair of riser panels 38 and 40 which are hingedly attached to the end wall panels 16 and 18 by means of the scorelines 42 and 44 and are hingedly attached to each other by means of the scoreline 46. Formed in the central portion of the first riser panels 38 and 40 are a plurality of partition panels 48, 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58 which are hingedly attached to the first riser panels 38 and 40 by means of the scorelines 60, 62, 64, 66, 68 and 70. The partition panels are hinged about their respective scorelines and are removed from the first riser panels 38 and 40 by means of the diecuts 72, 74, 76, 78, 80 and 82.

The first pair of riser panels 38 and 40 have formed in the central portion thereof an interior handle section which is formed by well-known means out of handle opening 84 and the handle tab 86. The carrier also has formed therein, by well-known means, the handle section 22 which comprises a pair of exterior handle tabs 88 and 90 which are hingedly attached to a pair of second riser panels 90 and 92 which are in turn hingedly attached to the end wall panels 30 and 32 by the scoreline 94. The bottom wall panel 20 has formed in the central portion therein a pair of notches 96 and 98 with a scoreline 100 being formed there between. The second side wall panel 14 has formed on one side thereof a bottom glue flap 102 which is hingedly attached thereto by means of the scoreline 104.

The production blank shown in FIG. 2 can be erected into the carrier shown in FIG. 1 through a gluing and folding sequence as shown in FIGS. 3-5 of the drawings. In referring to these drawings, it should be noted that those portions of the blank which are coated with glue or other adhesive during erection of the carrier are shown as being stippled.

Before describing the following sequence of the carrier, there will now be described the new and improved longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 and how it is formed in the production blank prior to the production blank being erected into the carrier 10. Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings it will be seen that the stabilizer tab 106 is formed between the first riser panel 38 and the second riser panel 92 and may be rigidly attached to the first riser panel 38 by means of glue or some other well-known adhesive thereby preventing longitudinal movement of the second riser panel 92 in the direction of the arrow 108. The longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 may be formed partially from a portion of the end panel 30 and partially from a portion of the second riser panel 92 by means of the diecut 110 and is hingedly attached to the second riser panel 92 by means of the scoreline 112. In a modified form of the invention shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 may be formed from the partition panel 48 by means of the diecut 114 and is hingedly attached to the first riser panel 38 by means of the scoreline 116. When the stabilizer tab 106 is formed in this manner it is glued to the second riser panel 92 as shown in FIG. 8 of the drawings during the folding operation of the carrier.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-5 of the drawings there is shown the folding sequence and the manner in which the carrier 10 is folded and the manner in which the new and novel longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 is positioned and glued to the first riser panel 38. As can be seen in FIG. 2 of the drawing, in erecting the carrier of the present invention, glue is first applied to the handle tabs 88 and 89 and to the partition panels 48, 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58. In addition glue is applied between the scoreline 112 and the edge 118 of the second riser panel 92.

Thereafter the first pair of riser panels 38 and 40 are folded about the scorelines 26 and 28 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. Thereafter the stabilizer tab 106 is folded to the position shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing. Glue is then applied, as shown in the stippled areas of FIG. 3, and the handle tab 86 is folded into the position shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. At the same time or in a separate operation, the second riser panels 90 and 92 are folded about the scoreline 94 to juxtaposition with end wall 30 and the end wall 32 thereby gluing the riser panels 90 and 92 to the end walls 30 and 32 and also gluing the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 to the first riser panel 38 as shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

The next operation in the folding sequence requires the folding of the first riser panel 40 and the second side wall panel 14 to the first riser panel 38 by folding the respective parts about scoreline 46. When the carton is thusly folded about scoreline 46 it is formed into a collapsed state as shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings whereupon it is transformed into the erected carrier 10 by pulling the side walls 12 and 14 away from each other thereby conforming the collapsed carrier into the erected carrier 10 shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing. In this position the partition panels are glued in place and the new and novel longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 is formed between the riser panels 38 and 92.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawing there is shown a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 1 showing the erected carrier in position with the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 glued to the first riser panel 38. When the side walls 12 and 14 are pulled away from each other to erect the carrier, the bottom wall panel 20, which is now glued to the bottom glue flap 102, is locked into place on the bottom panel support tabs 120 and 122 by exerting a force on the bottom wall panel 20 at the scoreline 100. This force allows the notches 96 and 98 to engage the bottom wall panel support tabs 120 and 122. It can readily be seen by referring to FIG. 6 that whenever the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 is glued in place the second riser panel 92 will be restrained from longitudinal movement in the direction of arrow 108 whenever a plurality of bottles or other similar objects are placed in the carrier between the partitions. As a result the bottom wall panel 20 will remain rigidly locked in the bottom wall panel support tabs 120 and 122 to provide greater structural rigidity to the carrier and a more positive bottom lock of the bottom wall panel.

When the longitudinal stabilizer tab is formed as shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-6 it has been found advantageous to provide an opening 124 partially in the end wall 32 and partially in the second riser panel 90, of a similar size and placement as a portion of the opening formed by the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 whenever it is turned out of the end wall 30. It has also been found advantageous to conform the size of the opening 124 and the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 with the portion 126 and 128 of the partition panels 58 and 52 so that whenever the carton is erected and the end formed by the end wall panels 16 and 18 will be similar to the end formed by the end wall panels 30 and 32. As a result the advertising printed on these end wall panels may be similar on both ends resulting in considerable savings to the purchaser of the carton.

While in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through FIGS. 6 the longitudinal stabilizer tab 106 is formed out of the end wall 30 it is within the spirit and scope of the invention that a second stabilizer tab may be formed out of the end wall 32 in place of the opening 124 thereby providing added longitudinal stabilizing to the carton. When the stabilizer tab 106 is formed in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawing it is within the spirit and scope of the invention that there may also be formed a second stabilizer tab out of the partition panel 54 in a manner similar to the stabilizer tab formed out of the partition panel 48 resulting in the same additional stability to the carton. It has been found that the length 130 of the stabilizer tab 106 may be varied depending upon the degree of stability that is required in the second riser panel 92 with a preferred length being approximately 17/8 inches whenever the longitudinal stablizer tab 106 is formed approximately midway in the end wall 30.

From the above it can be seen that there has been provided by the subject invention a new and improved multicell basket-style carrier which has an improved locked bottom wall panel resulting from the new and novel longitudinal stabilizer tab formed between the riser panels of the carton. From a reading of the foregoing specification and a study of the attached drawings, it is apparent that many changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims and the invention is not to be limited to the exact manner shown and described as the preferred embodiments have been given by way of illustration only.

Claims

Having described by invention, I claim:

1. In a multicell basket-style carrier of the type comprising a bottom wall panel, a first side wall panel, hingedly connected to the bottom wall panel, a second side wall panel, end wall panel hingedly connected to each of the side wall panels, a first pair of riser panels hingedly connected to a portion of the end wall panels, a plurality of lateral partition panels hingedly connected to the first riser panel and handle panels hingedly connected to a second pair of riser panels, the improvement comprising:

a. at least one longitudinal stabilizer tab being formed between at least one of the second riser panels and one of the first riser panels to rigidly fasten said panels together and to prevent longitudinal movement of the second riser panel whenever the carrier is formed and the bottom wall panel is locked in the open position;

b. said longitudinal stabilizer tab being formed partially from a portion of one of the end wall panels and partially from a portion of one of the adjacent second riser panels; and said longitudinal stabilizer tab being formed in the central portion of the end wall panel and the adjacent second riser panel.

2. The improvement as defined in claim 1 further comprising said longitudinal stabilizer tab being formed partially from a portion of two of the end wall panels and partially from a portion of two of the adjacent second riser panels.