Two component double thickness shipping containers

Abstract

A shipping container of tubular form for shipping pipes and tubes of great length, being made of two blanks secured together. A first blank has five side-by-side panels each hinged to the adjacent panel(s) and a second blank of equal length has three side-by-side panels similarly hinged. The middle panels only are adhered together and in erected condition, each of the four walls of the container has the thickness of two panels. A method for making a shipping container includes producing multi-ply paperboard in indefinite lengths, cutting it into blanks of two different widths, cutting four V-notches in the wider blank and two V-notches in the narrower blank to produce a five panel and a three-panel blank, and then securing the middle panels together with the notches parallel and opening in the same direction.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to shipping containers, and to a method of making a composite blank from which a shipping container may be erected.

Shipping containers or cartons are now widely used for the shipping of goods from one place to another, as froma manufacturer to a distributor or consumer, or from one manufacturer to another. Currently, containers made of corrugated paperboard are widely used, and over the years containers of heavier construction have been introduced, supplanting containers made of other materials. In particular, containers made of multi-ply corrugated paperboard have supplanted in a number of instances containers made of wood.

One product which is still being predominantly shipped in wooden containers is tubes or rods of relatively great length, such as 20 feet or 24 feet in length. Such tubes and rods are in many instances very expensive, and therefore must be protected against damage during shipment and storage. These products may be fragile, or they may be of extremely heavy construction, with lesser fragility. In either case, the shipping container must have characteristics which will protect the fragile rod and tube products, and also enable the heavier rod and tube products to be transported and handled as necessary, without the products themselves breaking open the containers in which they are shipped.

The prior art has failed to provide containers of suitable construction and characteristics for such tubular products. One suggestion has been to use a plurality of lengths of U-shaped channel members, made of hard board or particle board, the channel members being arranged in end-to-end, abutting relationship, and the channel members being covered by another series of inverted, U-shaped channel members, with the abutting ends of the covering channel members being in staggered relationship to the abutting ends of the first mentioned U-shaped members. Another suggestion is the provision of two or more channels in side-by-side relationship, each made of U-shaped members of hard board or particle board, and placed in side-by-side arrangement. Each of the U-shaped channel members is made up of three panels hingedly connected together, and a flat cover member extends over the several adjacent U-shaped panels; U-shaped channels are abutted together, end-to-end, with the abutting joints in staggered relationship. With these constructions, relatively expensive hard board or particle board is required, and it is known that material of this type is seldom longer than 16 feet. Hence, the construction is expensive where lengths greater than 16 feet are required.

In addition to the above, various suggestions have been made in the prior art for shipping containers having walls of multiple thicknesses. In one prior art container a blank for a regular slotted carton was provided, and there was adhered to it a liner blank which comprised four panels, each of which was secured by adhesive to a corresponding panel of the blank of the regular slotted carton. A special rupturable attachment region was provided in the liner blank, so that when the box or container was set up, these regions automatically ruptured. This construction, therefore, required very special construction of blanks in order to provide the double thickness of the container walls.

Yet another suggestion in the prior art provided a multi-ply container which comprised a half slotted carton blank which had applied or laminated to it two sets of L-shaped pads, the resulting container having walls of triple thickness, but a feature of the container was that at each of the corners, there was only provided a double thickness of the material, in order to enable the container to be formed as a tube by the manufacturer, and then shipped flat.

Another suggestion in the prior art for a heavy duty container provided two blanks each made up of five panels or partial panels. In some instances, there were provided three full panels and two partial panels, or four full panels and one partial panel. When erected, the panels were all adhered to each other to thereby provide a tubular container having double thickness in three walls, and with the fourth wall having double thickness for most of its length, but having triple thickness for a portion of its length.

Yet another disclosure in the prior art provides a multi-ply container made from three separate four-panel blanks which are adhesively attached to one another. Two of the blanks are provided with blind slots, instead of fold lines, between panels, to thereby reduce the material at a corner, in order to permit folding for shipping in flattened condition, such blank thereby requiring special configuration at the corner, where stresses are apt to be concentrated, and where, therefore, the carton would appear to be weakest.

Among the objects of the present invention are the provision of a container which is of strong construction, and may be made of great, almost indeterminate length, in order to accommodate rods, tubes and similar products of great length.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a container made of conventional corrugated paperboard material, comprising two blanks of such material secured together, and capable of being shipped in flat condition.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a container for shipping material of great length which can be readily erected by the user without special equipment, other than conventional equipment, such as steel banding devices, which are conventionally found in the shipping room of a manufacturer.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tubular container having the walls thereof of double thickness of material, and without any deficiency in the construction of the corners which would reduce the strength thereof.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a container which is made up of blanks which may be readily constructed on conventional or readily obtainable equipment found in corrugated container producing plants.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for making containers of corrugated paperboard material, which containers will be strong and of indefinite length, and which method is economical and does not require a substantial amount of non-conventional equipment.

Other objects will be readily understood from a detailed consideration of the following description, drawings, and claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a shipping container of so-called tubular form, which may be of great, indefinite length. The shipping container is made up of two blanks which are secured together, a first blank having five panels in side-by-side relationship, the panels being hingedly connected together along linearly extending, parallel hinge lines. A second blank is preferably of the same length as the first blank, but has three side-by-side panels which are similarly hinged. In the first blank, of five panels, an end panel and an adjacent panel are narrower than the other end panel and the other adjacent panel, respectively. Each blank is of relatively thick corrugated paperboard material, and the panels are routed at their adjacent edges, so as to form V-notches between adjacent panels when the blanks are flat, before the erection of the container. The middle panels of the two blanks are adhered together, the other panels not being adhered. All of the V-notches of the two blanks are parallel, and open or face in the same direction. The composite blank, made up of the two adhered blanks, is shipped, usually in flat condition, and the user then erects the container by folding upwardly the two end panels of the first blank so that they are perpendicular to the middle panel. Then the panels adjacent the end panels are folded up, so that they are substantially outwardly of, coextensive with and adjacent the end panels of the first blank. The end panels of the first blank are then placed in overlapping relationship to each other, so that they are substantially adjacent and coextensive, and are parallel to the middle panels. The rods or tubes may be placed in the container either by inserting them through the top of the shipping container before the end panels of the five panel blank are placed in their final position, or afterwards, by being inserted into the open ends of the shipping container. Thereafter, end closure plates or plugs are positioned in or on the container and secured in position, as by nailing.

The method of making a shipping container includes the step of producing multi-ply corrugated paperboard, such as triple wall, seven-component paper board of known construction, on standard paperboard machinery, known as a combiner, thereby producing such paperboard in indeterminate lengths. The paperboard is cut to the desired length, and also to the desired width, to provide two blanks of substantially the same length, but of differing width. The wider blank is passed through a machine which cuts four spaced, parallel V-notches therein, the notches extending almost but not quite through the paperboard material, passing through perhaps four to six of the paper components where the paperboard material is of seven components. The narrower width blank is provided with two V-shaped parallel notches, to thereby provide a blank with three hingedly connected panels. The middle panels of the two blanks, only, are then adhered to each other, with all of the V-notches parallel and facing in the same direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a composite blank in accordance with the present invention, shown broken away.

FIG. 2 is an end view of a container made from the composite blank of FIG. 1, and with tubular or rod-like products therein.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of making a container in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like or corresponding reference numerals are used to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in FIG. 1 a perspective view of a composite blank 10, which may be of any desired length, and which is shown broken away. For example, the composite blank 10 may be in the range of twenty feet to twenty-four feet, or even longer. The composite blank 10 is shown made of two blanks or triple wall corrugated paperboard, a commercially available product made by conventional corrugator-combiner equipment, and including three corrugated paper mediums interposed and adhesively secured to four paper liner sheets.

Forming a part of the composite blank 10 is a first blank 12 which is made up of five hingedly joined panels in series. Thus, the first blank 12 comprises a first pair of spaced panels 14 and 16, which are end panels, inwardly of which are a second pair of spaced panels 18 and 20, which are adjacent to the end panels 14 and 16, respectively, and which are hingedly connected to them. These adjacent or intermediate panels 18 and 20 have between them a panel 22, which is the middle or mid-panel of the five panel first blank 12.

Provided between each two adjacent panels is a V-notch, there being four such V-notches designated 24, 26, 28 and 30. Each of these V-notches has side walls defined by the boundaries of the adjacent panels, and each of the V-notches extends through, in the preferred embodiment, five or six of the paper layers forming a part of the first blank 12. That is, the V-notches leave intact the lower liner sheet of the triple wall board forming the first blank 12, and may also leave intact the lowermost corrugated medium. The V-notches 24, 26, 28 and 30 thereby provide an absence of material in order to enable each panel to assume a position at right angles to the panel or panels adjacent to it, the remaining material of the corrugated board at the several V-notches providing a linearly extending hinge, and as is apparent, all of the hinges are parallel to each other.

The panels making up the blank 12 are not all of the same width, width being measured from, example, the left margin of panel 14 to the mid-point of the V-notch 24, the width of panel 16 being similarly defined, measured to the mid-point of the V-notch 30. The width of panels 18, 20 and 22 are measured between the mid-points of the V-notches which bound them. In a typical shipping container, the width of the various panels of the blank 12 are as follows:

Panel 14 6 and 5/8 inches Panel 18 6 and 1/2 inches Panel 22 7 and 1/8 inches Panel 20 7 and 1/8 inches Panel 16 7 inches

The second component of the composite blank 10 is a blank 32, which is made up of the same triple wall board material as the first blank 12, and is narrower than the blank 12, having only three panels. Thus there are provided a pair of spaced end panels 34 and 36, and a middle panel 38, in the same side-by-side relationship as the panels of the first blank 12, there being a 90.degree. V-notch 40 separating the panels 34 and 38, and a similar 90.degree. V-notch 42 separating the panels 38 and 36. These V-notches, similarly to those of the blank 12, enable the panels 34 and 36 to be moved into positions in planes perpendicular to the middle panel 38, on longitudinally extending parallel hinge lines lying at the bottoms of the V-notches 40 and 42.

In the typical container provided with the blank 12 having the above noted dimensions, the dimensions of the panels of the blank 32 are as follows:

Panel 34 5 and 3/8inches Panel 38 6 inches Panel 36 5 and 3/8inches

The first blank 12 and the second blank 32 are secured together by suitable means 44, this being specifically a layer of adhesive between the upper surface of middle panel 22 of first blank 12 and the lower surface of middle panel 38 of the second blank 32. All of the V-notches of the blanks 12 and 32 are parallel with each other, and all of the V-notches open or face in the same direction. A plane perpendicular to the planes containing the blanks 12 and 32 would pass through the center lines of the middle panels 22 and 38, so that these middle panels are centered laterally to each other. Further, the two blanks 12 and 32 are of the same length, and are co-terminal at their ends, in the preferred embodiment, so that there is double thickness of the panels 22 and 38 in their overlying co-extensive relationship throughout their lengths.

The composite blank 10 may be shipped in the condition shown to a user, such as a producer of tubes or rods, who will be enabled to erect a container from the composite blank 10. Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown the container, in which the middle or interior panels 22 and 38 are shown at the bottom of the container, in overlying relationship. Due to the thickness of the triple wall corrugated board, which may be approximately 3/8 inches, the hinge line at the edges of the middle or interior panel 38 are laterally inwardly of the hinge lines at the edges of the middle or interior panel 22. Further, the spaced panels 34 and 36 of the second blank 32 may be seen to be in perpendicular relationship to the panel 38, and the second pair of panels 18 and 20 of the first blank 12 may be seen to be perpendicular to the middle or interior panel 22. The first pair of end panels 14 and 16 of the first blank 12 are in adjacent, substantially co-extensive overlapping relationship, being parallel to the bottom or interior panels 22 and 38 of the blanks 12 and 32, and perpendicular to the panels of the second pair of panels, 18 and 20. The under surface of end panel 14 substantially rests upon the ends of the first, end pair, of panels 34 and 36 of the second blank 32. The under surface of the end panel 16 is in substantially co-extensive surface engagement with the upper surface of the end panel 14. Thus, the container shown in FIG. 2 is structurally sound, having essentially four walls and each of double thickness of the corrugated paperboard. As above noted, this is preferably triple wall corrugated board, but not necessarily so. The panels providing the double thickness walls, including top, bottom and sides, are in substantially co-extensive engagement with each other, due to the dimensioning disclosed in the exemplary embodiment of the shipping container erected from the two component composite blank 10. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the dimensions are given with the precision generally prevalent in the art, it being understood that in the paperboard industry, greater preciseness is not commercially feasible.

There is shown in the shipping container erected from the composite blank 10, in FIG. 2, as well as in FIG. 3, linearly extending products generally designated P, which may be pipes, tubes or rods of considerable length, such as twenty to twenty-four feet. These products may be fragile, or of great weight, and in either case, the disclosed shipping container will protect them, and enable them to be shipped and handled with safety and without damage.

These products P may be placed in the container by lowering them into it before the end panels 14 and 16 are folded to the positions shown in FIG. 2, or alternatively, the container may be erected in the tubular form shown in FIG. 2, and the products P inserted linearly.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the two component composite blank 10 is shown with the products P extending linearly within the tubular form of the container. The products P are somewhat shorter than the container, and the ends of the container are closed, in known manner, by end walls in the form of plugs 52 and 54, which may be of wood, corrugated paperboard or other products. Such an end plug or end wall is shown in a tubular container in, for example, Geisler U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,465, issued Apr. 11,1967. Such end plugs or end walls 52, 54 may be secured in position by suitable means, such as nails driven generally perpendicularly to the axis of the container, penetrating through the double wall thickness thereof and into the end walls or end plugs 52, 54. While FIG. 3 discloses the end plugs 52, 54 at the ends of the container, they may be inwardly of the ends thereof, where the products P have a somewhat lesser length than shown in FIG. 3. Thus, the plugs or end walls 52, 54 may be a suitable distance within the ends of the container such as 3 inches, 6 inches, etc. This enables the utilization of relatively standard size containers, even where there is some variation in the length of the specific products P to be incorporated therein.

The container is maintained in closed condition in any suitable manner, such as by conventional steel band straps S, applied to the completed and filled container by conventional strapping equipment.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown in diagrammatic form a method for making a container such as is shown in FIGS. 1-3. A corrugator combiner 60 of known construction is provided, this machine combining a plurality of paper webs, such as the seven paper webs shown, into triple wall or seven-layer corrugated paperboard 62. The corrugator combiner 60 corrugates three of the mediums, applies adhesive to the tips of the corrugations, engages the three corrugated mediums with and between the four liner sheets, and then combines the seven elements under heat and pressure, to produce the paperboard 62. The paperboard 62 is discharged from the corrugator combiner 60 in an indefinite length, such machines conventionally running at high speeds for hours or even days at a time without stopping. The corrugated board 62 is then led to a cutter 64 which cuts the board into suitable lengths, such as 20 feet or 24 feet. Also, since the corrugated paperboard 62 is of relatively great width, which may be approximately eight feet or nine feet, the cut lengths of the paperboard 62 are further cut longitudinally, so as to provide blanks of the desired width. Specifically, there are produced blanks of two different widths, and of substantially the same length. The wider blank is processed in a V-notching machine 66, wherein four spaced, parallel V-notches are routed or cut partially through the said blank of greater width in order to provide a component having five panels, each hingedly connected to the panel or panels adjacent to it. The five panel component produced from the V-notching machine 66 is indicated at 68, and as will be understood, this is the first blank 12 shown in FIG. 1.

The panel of narrower width is also passed through the V-notching machine which similarly cuts two spaced parallel V-notches partly therethrough to provide a component of three panels, designated 70, which will be understood to be the second blank 32 shown in FIG. 1. Next, adhesive is applied to the upper surface of the five-component panel 68 (12) and specifically to only the upper surface of the middle of the five panels. Thereafter, the three-component panel 70 (32) is placed on the five component panel 68 (12) in the manner hereinabove described in relation to FIG. 1, so that the two components are thereby laminated to provide the two-component composite blank made up of the components 68 (12) and 70 (32), shown specifically in FIG. 1.

There has been provided a shipping container construction particularly suitable for the shipment of pipes, tubular articles and rods of substantial length, such as 20 feet to 24 feet, which shipping container may be produced on conventional or easily obtainable equipment, and without involving any unusual techniques or manufacturing methods. The shipping container herein provided is extremely strong, providing for double wall thickness of the four walls thereof. The herein disclosed shipping container may be manufactured and shipped as a blank in flat condition, and then readily erected and filled by the user of the container. The user is not required to have any unusual equipment, and may rely upon such simple completion equipment as nailing equipment and steel strapping equipment, both conventional.

The herein disclosed method provides for the manufacture of such a container by the use of relatively standard equipment, and without involving unusual or complicated techniques, the method being extremely simple and economical, and providing containers of suitable length and of great strength.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A shipping container made of two blanks of material comprising:

a. a first blank comprising a first pair of spaced panels, a second pair of spaced panels each inwardly of a panel of said first pair and hingedly connected thereto by linearly extending hinge means, and an interior panel between and hingedly connected by linearly extending hinge means to said panels of said second pair of panels, said hinge means being parallel,

b. a second blank comprising a pair of spaced panels and an interior panel between and hingedly connected thereto by linearly extending parallel hinge means,

c. means securing the interior panel of said second blank in overlying relationship to the interior panel of said first blank with the hinge means of said second blank parallel to and laterally inwardly of the hinge means and said first blank interior panel,

d. said spaced panels of said second blank being inwardly of and substantially coextensive with said second pair of panels of said first blank, and

e. said first pair of panels of said first blank being in adjacent substantially coextensive overlapping relationship, parallel to said interior panels and perpendicular to said panels of said second pair.

2. The shipping container of claim 1, wherein said blanks are each made of multi-ply corrugated paperboard.

3. The shipping container of claim 2, wherein the edge of each said panel hingedly connected to another panel is beveled to permit placement of contiguous panels substantially perpendicular to each other.

4. The shipping container of claim 1, wherein the edge of each said panel hingedly connected to another panel is beveled to permit placement of contiguous panels substantially perpendicular to each other.

5. The shipping container of claim 1, and further comprising means for closing the ends thereof.

6. The shipping container of claim 1, wherein a first panel of the first pair of said first blanks is narrower than the other panel of said first pair.

7. The shipping container of claim 6, wherein the panel of said second pair hingedly connected to the said first panel of the first pair is narrower than the other panel of said second pair.

8. The shipping container of claim 1, wherein said first pair of panels of said first blank are end panels.

9. The shipping container of claim 8, wherein said pair of panels of said second blank are end panels.

10. The shipping container of claim 1, wherein said pair of panels of said second blank are end panels.

11. The shipping container of claim 1, said first and second blanks being rectangular when unfolded and of substantially the same length.