DE9213593U1 - Packaging system for goods packed in cuboid portion packs - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a packaging system of the type underlying the preamble of claim 1.

The packaged goods are mainly foodstuffs such as cheese, butter, confectionery and the like, and the quantity of the portion pack depends on the amount required for consumption and is in the order of several to a few tens of grams. The portion packs are individually wrapped in paper or foil and form neatly defined small cuboids that can be easily assembled into an essentially closed block with several horizontal layers.

In the known packaging systems of the type underlying the preamble of claim 1, the packaging container consists of a box made of cardboard or corrugated cardboard that is open at the top and whose lid can be opened. The box encloses the block of portion packs without any play, so that it is particularly difficult at the beginning of a layer to remove a portion pack because the closed nature of the block or layer means that it is not possible to attack the side surfaces of the portion packs.

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The invention is based on the object of facilitating and promoting the removal of the portion packs from the packaging container.

This object is solved by the invention set out in claim 1.

By at least partially separating the front wall of the receiving part from the side walls, the receiving part is no longer designed as a box that is closed all around. Instead, by folding down the front wall and the side walls along their weakening line, the individual layers of the portion packs can be released to such an extent that they can be easily grasped with the fingers and removed. The weakening line is intended to encourage buckling along the weakening line when stress is applied perpendicular to the relevant surface. The design can vary and partly depends on the material. In general, it will be a crease line. However, a perforation line also serves the purpose.

By designing the lid with triangular side walls, only as much material is used as is necessary to securely close the packaging container, without unnecessary duplication of material.

When reference is made to "top", "bottom", "front" or "back" in relation to the invention, this refers to the situation in which the packaging container is standing on a horizontal surface in front of the viewer, the folding axis is located at the end of the packaging container facing away from the viewer and runs transversely to the viewer, and the opening or access side of the packaging container is facing the viewer.

An important embodiment of the invention is the subject of claim 2. The receiving part therefore always retains a kind of retaining edge on its front wall,

which prevents the contents of portion packs from accidentally slipping out. The height limitation of the shelf means that the portion packs of the bottom layer located at the front corners can be grasped on two sides, so that the bottom layer can also be "broken open".

In contrast to the weakening line, the dividing line is intended to enable the front wall of the receiving part to be easily torn off along the dividing line when the packaging container is opened and partially emptied. Perforation lines are primarily considered as dividing lines. In the sense of the invention, not every weakening line is a dividing line, but every dividing line is also a weakening line at the same time.

The design according to claim 3 provides the front wall, which is not connected to the side walls of the receiving part on its vertical side edges, with a removable stabilization, which on the one hand benefits the stability of the overall packaging when the packaging container is closed and on the other hand allows the front wall to be folded down a little when the packaging container is opened in order to facilitate access but still prevent the contents from falling out, until finally the front wall is completely bent by pulling out the tabs and finally severed along the dividing line.

The feature of claim 4 serves, similar to the part of the front wall located below the dividing line, to facilitate the attack on the portion packs of the uppermost layer when the front wall has not yet been removed.

The closure means of claim 5 can be provided, for example, by adhesive or insertion tabs provided in the blank.

If according to claim 6 the block of portion packs

has the same number of individual portion packs behind, next to and on top of each other, the shape of the packaging container is geometrically similar to that of the individual portion pack, so that the shape of the individual portion pack can be recognized from the packaging container. This can be important from a sales psychology perspective.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the portion packs are cubic, i.e. they represent the special case of a cuboid with all equal sides (claim 7).

An important further development of the invention is the two-stage design according to claim 8, in which several packaging containers are in turn assigned an outer packaging container provided with the same technical features with regard to the design of the receiving part and the lid.

This two-stage design can be completed according to claim 9 by selecting the number and arrangement of the packaging containers housed in the repackaging container in the same way as the number and arrangement of the individual portion packs in the individual packaging container. This also makes the geometric shape of the individual portion packs recognizable in the repackaging container.

In the example of the cheese packaging, the portion pack is intended to contain a single cube of cheese, which can be consumed in one bite. The packaging container contains a larger quantity, for example twenty-seven such portion packs, and can be set up for home consumption or at parties so that everyone can take their cheese cubes as they need them. The overpack container is intended to hold a commercial quantity of these packaging containers and is set up or hung on the wall of a freezer in a retail store, for example.

so that the buyer can take out the required quantity of packaging containers.

The preferred material of the packaging container according to claim 10 and optionally the outer packaging container is cardboard or thin corrugated cardboard because these materials are cheap, light, easy to print on and easy to recycle.

The invention also extends to the feature set out in claim 11 that the packaging container and, if applicable, the outer packaging container are each formed from a single blank, which of course significantly simplifies production.

Such a blank may have the features set out in claim 12.

When forming a retaining edge on the front wall of the receiving part, the features set out in claim 13 can be added.

The tab forming the closure means can be designed in the manner set out in claim 14.

The insertion tabs can be provided in the manner set out in claim 15.

Claim 16 represents a modification in which the slanted border of the side walls of the lid has no open edges, but the additional area is folded around this edge so that it, which forms the visible side when the lid is open, is neatly closed without the need for additional material.

An embodiment of the invention is shown schematically in the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a packaging container or overpackaging container in the closed state;

Fig. 2 shows the repackaging container and a removed packaging container in the open state;

Fig. 3 shows the blank from which the packaging container and/or the outer packaging container can be manufactured.

The external shape of the outer packaging container 200 shown in Fig. 1 and the individual packaging containers 100 contained therein (Fig. 2) is the same in terms of its shape features. Only its size and, if applicable, the printing or other external design are different. Insofar as the outer packaging container 200 and the packaging container 100 have functionally identical parts, the reference numbers are the same.

The packaging container 100 and the outer packaging container 200 each comprise a receiving part 10 and a lid 50, which are connected to one another around a folding axis 2 located at the rear upper edge of the receiving part 10.

In the embodiment shown, the packaging container 100 and the outer packaging container are cubic, i.e. the length, width and height are the same. The cubic shape is repeated three times. It is first present in the individual portion packs 1 (Fig. 2), which can be provided, for example, by cheese cubes with an edge length of 20 mm wrapped in paper or foil. In the embodiment shown, three such portion packs 1 are arranged one behind, next to and on top of the other, so that a block 3 of twenty-seven portion packs 1 is formed, which, due to the regular arrangement of the individual portion packs 1, in turn represents a cube to which the packaging container 100 is adapted, which therefore represents the second cube.

Of the packaging container 100, which when closed has the shape shown in Fig. 1, three are arranged one behind the other, next to the other and on top of the other in the outer packaging container 200 according to Fig. 2, which

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The corresponding block 13 is tightly enclosed and accordingly has a cubic shape.

The receiving part 10 has a base 4 with a square outline, a square rear wall 5 and square side walls 6 and 7. The upper edge 9 of the front wall 8 ends, however, at a distance 11 below the upper edges of the other sides 5, 6, 7, which is smaller than the side length of a portion pack 1 or a packaging container 100, so that the uppermost layer is partially exposed at the front in the manner shown in Fig. 2 and can be grasped, but cannot slip out.

The vertical edges 12 and 13 formed by the walls 6 and 8 or 7 and 8 are unconnected in the upper region 14 up to a lower limit point 41, namely down to a dividing line 15 which is provided at a height 16 above the lower limit of the front wall 8 and along which the front wall 8 can be torn off when the packaging container 100 or the outer packaging container 200 is partially emptied. The distance 16 corresponds to part of the side length of the portion pack 1 or the packaging container 100, so that after the upper part of the front wall has been removed along the dividing line 15, the portion packs or packaging containers 100 of the lowest layer can be grasped in their upper region and easily removed.

The side walls 6,7 of the receiving part 10 have diagonal weakening lines 17, which run from the folding axis 2 diagonally forwards and downwards to the intersection of the vertical edges 12,13 with the dividing line 15 and along which the front upper triangle 18 separated thereby can be angled or bent outwards in the manner of dog-ears as shown in Fig. 2 in order to also allow access to the contents from the side. In the case of the

In the packaging container 200 of Fig. 2, only the triangle 18 is angled on the left side. In the packaging container 100, both triangles 18 are angled.

In the case of the repackaging container 200, right-angled insertion tabs 19 are indicated on the front wall 8, which are inserted between the block 13 of the packaging container 100 and the side walls 6 and 7, but are not glued there. If the upper part of the front wall 8 is thus pivoted forwards around the dividing line 15, the insertion tabs 19 can move out upwards between the block 13 and the side walls 6, 7 and can be removed along the dividing line when the upper part of the front wall 8 is torn off. The insertion tabs 19 do not necessarily have to be present; in the case of the smaller packaging container 100, they are omitted as shown in Fig. 2.

The lid 50 has an upper side 20 corresponding to the square outline and a front wall 21 which is at a right angle to it and covers the front wall 8 down to the bottom when closed. The side walls 22, 23 of the lid 50 are designed as isosceles right-angled triangles, the front limit of which, the hypotenuse 24 forming the lid 50, extends from the hinge axis 2 to the front lower edge 25 of the front wall 8 and, in the closed state shown in Fig. 1, covers the weakening line 17 of the side walls 6, 7 of the receiving part 10. To secure the closed position, a closure tab 26 can be provided on the lower edge of the front wall 21, which is glued to the base 4 or inserted into a slot in the front lower edge 25 of the receiving part 10.

Both the packaging container 100 and the overpackaging container 200 can be made from a single blank, which is shown in Fig. 3

Solid lines indicate cutting lines, dashed lines indicate weakening lines, dotted lines indicate dividing lines and dash-dotted lines indicate optional details.

The cut 300 of Fig. 3 comprises five rectangles Rl, R2, R3, R4, R5 lying one behind the other in a row, which correspond to the walls 21, 20, 5, 4, 8 and of which the first four Rl,..., R4 are designed as squares because the embodiment is a cubic system, while the rectangle R5 forming the front wall 8 is actually such a rectangle because the front wall 8 is cut off along the line 9.

The rectangles R1 and R2, the rectangles R3 and R4 and the rectangles R4 and R5 are connected to one another by weakening lines 27,28,29, the rectangles R2 and R3 by a line 30 forming the folding axis 2, which, if the cover 50 is to be tearable, is a dividing line, otherwise a weakening line.

The rectangles Rl,...,R5 are limited on the sides by continuous weakening lines 31,32. The formation outside the two weakening lines 31,32 is symmetrical to them, so that only one side needs to be described.

The rectangle Rl is adjoined on the outside by a right-angled triangle Dl of equal length, in which one leg of the right angle is located on the weakening line 32 and the other leg of equal length 33 is aligned with the weakening line 27 and ends on the outside on a boundary line 34 parallel to the weakening line 32, on which all other boundaries also lie. The boundary line 34 is located outside the weakening line 32 at a distance corresponding to one side of a square.

The rectangle R2 is adjoined by a right-angled triangle D2, one of whose legs is

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th angle again on the weakening line 32 and whose triangle side 35 forming the other leg of the right angle is adjacent to the triangle side 33, but is separated from it by a cut.

As indicated by the dot-dash line 36, the triangle D2 can be supplemented by adding another identical triangle D3 to form a further square rectangle RW, which then has a diagonal weakening line 37 and, by folding around the edge 24 of the triangle D1, enables a closed formation of this edge, which forms the visible side, when the lid 50 is opened as shown in Fig. 2.

The rectangle R3 is adjoined on the outside by a side rectangle RS of the same size, which forms the side wall 7 and has the diagonal weakening line 17 starting from the weakening line 32 at the level of its intersection with the dividing line 30, which on the outside at the level of the boundary line 34 does not go into the corner, but ends at a distance 16 in front of it. At the boundaries running in the width direction, the side rectangle RS is separated from the neighboring fields by a cut.

On the outside of the square rectangle R4 there is a right-angled triangle D4, which is arranged and formed in the same way as the triangle D2.

In the area of the rectangle R5 adjacent to the weakening line 29, which extends to the dividing line 15 and has a width 16, adhesive tabs 40 are provided, which are placed between the triangle D4 and the rectangle RS when the packaging container 100 or the outer packaging container 200 is set up from the blank 300 and are glued there. In the lower area of the rectangle R5 according to Fig. 3, the optional insertion tabs 19 can be provided, which are not glued.

By simple folding and gluing processes,

A packaging container 100 or an outer packaging container 200 can be produced from the blank 300, it being understood that in practical implementation the material thickness is taken into account by small dimensional allowances in one direction or the other.

Claims (16)

1. Packaging system for goods packaged in cuboid portion packs (1), in particular foodstuffs, with a cuboid packaging container (100), with a cuboid-shaped receiving part (10) open at the top, which is designed in length, width and height to receive a block (3,13) of several portion packs (1) arranged regularly behind, next to and on top of one another, and with a lid (50) which can be opened about a folding axis (2) located on an upper edge of the receiving part (10) running in the width direction, characterized, that the side walls (6,7) of the receiving part (10) perpendicular to the folding axis (2) are separated from the front wall (8) remote from the folding axis (10) at the common edges (12,13) at least over an upper part (14) of the height, that the side walls (6,7) have a diagonal weakening line (17) running from the folding axis (2) to the lower end of the separation (14), that the cover (50) in the closed state overlaps the open top and the front wall (8) of the receiving part (10) and that the lid (50) has side walls (22, 23) in the shape of right-angled triangles, which overlap the side walls (6, 7) of the receiving part (10) on the outside and whose boundary (24) forming the hypotenuse runs from the folding axis (2) to the lower front edge (25) of the receiving part (10) when the lid is closed. 2. Packaging system according to claim 1, characterized in that the separation (14) of the side walls (6, 7) and the front wall (8) of the receiving part (10) does not extend to the bottom (4) thereof, but ends in a boundary point (41) having a part of the height of a portion pack (1) or a packaging container (100) and the front wall (8) has a dividing line (15) connecting the boundary points (41, 41) on both sides. 3. Packaging system according to claim 2, characterized in that the part of the front wall (8) located above the dividing line (15) has lateral, angled, unglued insertion tabs (19) engaging between the block (3, 43) of the portion packs (1) or the packaging container (100) and the side wall (6, 7) there. 4. Packaging system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the part of the front wall (8) located above the dividing line (15) ends below the top of the block (3,43) by an amount (11) which is less than the height of a portion pack (1) or a packaging container (100). 5. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that on the front lower Releasable closure means (26) are provided on the edge of the lid (50) which interact with the front lower region of the receiving part (10). 6. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that an equal number of portion packs (1) or packaging containers (100) are arranged one behind, next to and on top of the other. 7. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the portion packs (1) are cubic. 8. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the packaging containers (100) are assigned an overpackaging container (200) which is designed identically with regard to the shape features and is designed to accommodate several packaging containers (100). 9. Packaging system according to claim 8, characterized in that the repackaging container (200) is designed to accommodate the same number of similarly arranged packaging containers (100) as the individual packaging container (100) contains portion packs (1). 10. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the packaging container (100) or the outer packaging container (200) consists of cardboard or thin corrugated cardboard. 11. Packaging system according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the packaging container (100) and optionally the outer packaging container (200) are each formed from a single blank (300). - 4 — 12. Packaging system according to claim 11, characterized in that the blank (300) has the following features: a) aligned one behind the other in the longitudinal direction, of the same width and provided with weakening lines (27,28,30) on the boundary lines running in the width direction aa) a first rectangle (Rl) corresponding to the front wall (21) of the cover (50), ab) a second rectangle (R2) corresponding to the top side (20) of the cover (50), ac) a third rectangle (R3) corresponding to the rear wall (5) of the receiving part (10), ad) a fourth rectangle (R4) corresponding to the bottom (4) of the receiving part (10), ae) a fifth rectangle (R5) corresponding to the front wall (8) of the receiving part (10), which has a dividing line parallel to the weakening line (29) adjacent to the fourth rectangle (R4); ^v b) on both sides of the rectangles (Rl,...R4) symmetrically connected via weakening lines (31,32) ba) on the first rectangle (Rl) a right-angled triangle (Dl), in which one leg of the right angle corresponds to the lateral side of the rectangle and the other leg (33) in the extension of the weakening line (27) between the first and second rectangle (Rl,R2) and has a length corresponding to the length of the cover (50), bb) on the second rectangle (R2) a right-angled triangle (D2) in which one leg of the right angle of the lateral side of the rectangle and whose other leg (35) is located in the extension of the weakening line (27) between the first and second rectangles (Rl, R2), has a length corresponding to the length of the cover (50) and is separated from the corresponding leg (33) of the first triangle (Dl), bc) on the third rectangle (R3) a side rectangle (RS) of equal length, the width of which corresponds to the height of the receiving part (10) and which has a diagonal weakening line (17) which starts from the weakening line (30) between the second and the third rectangle (R2, R3), bd) on the fourth rectangle (R4) a right-angled triangle (D4), in which one leg of the right angle corresponds to the lateral side of the rectangle and the other leg runs in the extension of the weakening line (28) between the third and fourth rectangles (R3, R4), one of the height of the receiving part (10) has a corresponding length and is separated from the adjacent boundary (39) of the side rectangle (RS). 13. Packaging system according to claim 12, characterized in that the dividing line (15) in the fifth rectangle (R5) runs at a distance (16) from the weakening line (29) between the fourth and fifth rectangles (R4, R5) which is less than the height of a portion pack (1) or a packaging container (100), that in the area of the fifth rectangle (R5) corresponding to the distance (16) lateral adhesive tabs (40) are provided and that the diagonal weakening line (17) of the side rectangle (RS) ends on the outside at the same distance (16) from the rectangle side (39) corresponding to the weakening line (28) between the third and fourth rectangles (R3, R4). 14. Packaging system according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that a closure tab (26) connected via a weakening line is provided on the outside of the first rectangle (Rl) running in the width direction. 15. Packaging system according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that on the lateral rectangular sides of the fifth rectangle (R5) in the area located outside the adhesive tabs (40) there are provided insertion tabs (19) connected by weakening lines. 16. Packaging system according to one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that the triangle (D2) of the second rectangle (R2) is supplemented to form a further rectangle (RW), a weakening line (37) is provided on the hypotenuse of the triangle (D2) and the further rectangle (RW) is separated from the side rectangle (RS).