GB2276867A

GB2276867A - Packaging for packs of foodstuff

Info

Publication number: GB2276867A
Application number: GB9326120A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Clifford Robert Coker
Original assignee: Bowater Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: SCA Packaging Britain Ltd
Priority date: 1993-01-22
Filing date: 1993-12-22
Publication date: 1994-10-12
Also published as: GB9326120D0

Description

PACKAGING FOR PACKS OF FOODSTUFF AND PACKAGING METHOD This invention relates to packaging for packets of foodstuff, such as potato crisps, cereals and the like, and to a method of packaging such products. The invention is suitable for use with the trays the subject of our U. K. Patent Application No. 9224911.9 but has been especially developed for use with automatic tray forming and gluing machinery, automatic collating machinery, and automatic lidding machinery.

Packets of foodstuff are often sold from high sided trays which have low front walls so that the packets are easily visible and accessible to shoppers when the trays are stored on a shelf at a point of sale. These trays are usually converted from enclosed containers which are used for storage and transport of the packets, and it is important that the trays stack well on a shelf at the point of sale.

It is also distinctly advantageous if the trays can be erected from blanks on automatic tray erecting and gluing machinery, can then be filled on an automatic collating filler, and can then have a cover fitted to them by a further machine or machines. Furthermore, it is desirable that the thus formed packaging can easily be converted for point of sale use in supermarkets and other sales outlets, i. e. converted into a display and dispensing tray at a point of sale by removal of the cover. Normally, advertising or product identifying material is printed on the outer face of the front wall and this material must become visible when the cover is removed.

The present invention seeks to provide packaging and a method of packaging which satisfies the above requirements, yet still provides a strong box for transit purposes.

According to the present invention, we provide a method of packaging packets of foodstuff or the like comprising forming a tray for the packets from a first blank, the tray having a rectangular base, a pair of side walls upstanding from opposite sides of the base, a rear end wall and a front end wall upstanding respectively from opposite ends of the base, and a full height stacking pillar in each corner of the tray, filling the formed tray with the packets, placing a further blank over the top of the packets with a top panel thereof resting on the tops of the stacking pillars, folding down front, rear and side wall panels of the further blank and attaching them to their adjacent blank wall panels so as to provide a cover with side, front and rear walls for the tray, with at least the front wall of the cover overlying the front wall of the tray, and then securing the cover to the tray While the tray could be of one of the hand erected types disclosed in our U. K. Patent Specification No. 2264484 it is preferably of a glued variety and likewise, the cover is of the glued variety.

Preferably, the tray is formed at least semiautomatically on a tray forming machine, the formed tray is then filled with the packets, by hand or by a filling and collating machine, whereupon a lidding machine then places the further blank on the filled tray and forms the further blank into the cover, and the formed cover is then attached to the tray by a bottom taping machine, which places lengths of tape around the front and rear bottom corners of the package formed by the filled tray and cover.

Preferably, the tray is formed by folding in appropriate flaps or panels of the first blank to provide the four stacking pillars, and adhering them to their respective side wall panels with hot melt or other adhesive, either before or after the side wall panels have been folded up to lie normal to the base panel, whereupon the end wall panels are folded up, and side edge regions thereof are then adhesively secured to portions of the stacking pillars, and/or wrap around straps extending from either the end wall

panels or side wall panels are wrapped around the corners, and adhesively secured to the side wall panels or end wall panels.

Preferably, the formed tray is then moved to a filling station, where it is filled with packets, e. g. by the filling and collating machine, the filled tray then being advanced to a lidding station where a separate lidding machine applies the cover.

Preferably, the lidding machine places the further blank for the cover over the filled tray, with respective corners of the top panel of the further blank resting on the upper end faces of the stacking pillars, the front and rear wall panels are then folded downwardly to close off any open ends of the tray and preferably completely to overlie the front and rear walls of the tray and the two side wall panels are then folded down to overlie at least upper portions of the side wall panels of the tray, thus preventing them from bowing outwards, whereupon flaps on the ends of the side wall panels are adhesively secured either to an inner or an outer face of portions of the respective folded down front and rear wall panels of the further blank, thus providing an enveloping cover with front, rear and side walls to enclose the packets in the tray.

Preferably, the covered tray is then advanced to a taping station, where a bottom taping machine places strips of tape on the package to connect the lower edges of the front and rear walls of the cover to the base of the tray.

Also according to the present invention, we provide packaging for packets of foodstuff comprising a tray having a rectangular base, high side walls, a rear wall, a front wall, and four stacking pillars, one extending from each corner of the base to or adjacent to the top of the side walls, means to connect the pillars to the side walls, further means to connect the side walls to the front and rear walls, and a cover for the tray, the cover having a rectangular top panel sized to fit over the tray with its respective corner portions overlying the tops of the tray pillars, front and rear walls depending from respective ends

of the top panel and overlying the front and rear walls of the tray, side walls depending from respective sides of the top panel and overlying at least upper regions of the tray side walls to prevent the upper regions from bowing outwards, means to connect the cover side walls to the cover front and rear walls respectively, and tape to connect the cover to the tray.

Preferably, so that both tray and cover can be machine erected, there are full length glue flaps provided on the tray pillars by means of which the pillars are adhesively connected to the inner face of the tray side walls, and side portions of each tray end wall are directly connected with adhesive to end face portions of the pillars, and likewise glue flaps are provided on the ends of the cover side walls which are adhesively connected to inner face or outer face portions of the cover end walls. Alternatively, straps could be provided which are foldably connected to side edge regions of the front and rear walls of the cover respectively, which are folded through 90 and then adhesively secured to the outer faces of the respective side walls of the cover.

The invention also extends to blanks for forming the tray and cover as described above.

Two embodiments of the invention are now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :- FIGURE 1 is a plan view of first embodiment of a blank for a cover for a tray; FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing one end of the blank of Figure 1 formed into a cover, which has been secured in position on a first embodiment of a tray; FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of blank for forming into a tray cover; FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a second embodiment of blank for forming into a tray, and FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view showing a tray formed from the blank shown in Figure 4 having a cover being formed thereon from the blank shown in Figure 3.

In the drawings, fold lines are represented by broken lines, and cuts by full lines.

Referring to Figure 1, the blank has a top panel 1, a pair of end wall panels 3,4 foldably connected to the ends of the top panel 1 along spaced parallel fold lines 5, 6 respectively, and a pair of side wall panels 7,8 foldably connected to the sides of the panel 1 along a pair of spaced parallel fold lines 9,10 respectively extending at right angles to the fold lines 5,6.

At each end of each side wall panel 7,8 a locking flap 11,12 is foldably connected to the panel 7,8 about respective fold lines 13,14 formed as an extension of the fold lines 5,6. Each locking flap 11,12 has a locking tab 15 foldably connected to it about a fold line 17 extending parallel to fold line 13,14 and wing flaps 19 are foldably connected to each side of the tabs 15 about fold lines 21 extending at right angles to the fold lines 17. These tabs 15 and wing flaps 19 provide locking means for holding the side and end wall panels in an erected state, and co-operate with locking means in the end walls 3,4 provided by spaced apertures 23 formed therein.

The above described blank is designed for forming a cover for a tray for packets of potato crisps or other food stuff such as that disclosed in of our U. K. Patent Specification No. 2264484.

In Figure 2, one end of a tray (which would normally be stacked full of packets of foodstuff) is shown in outline with a partially erected cover mounted thereon. When it is desired to fit the cover to the tray, the top panel 1 of the cover is placed over the top of the tray by an operator (or a machine) and the remote end wall panel 3 (not shown in Figure 2) is folded about its fold line 5 to overlie the end of the tray, whereupon the two side wall panels 7 and 8 are folded downwardly about their respective fold lines 9,10 so that the locking flaps 11 extend outwardly beyond the end of the folded down end wall 3. These two locking flaps 11 are then folded inwardly through 900 so that the tabs 15 overlie the respective apertures 23 in the end wall panel 3.

Pressure is then applied to these tabs 15 to push them through the apertures 23, thus causing the wing flaps 19 to reverse fold about their fold lines 21 and then spring back again after the tabs 15 have passed through the apertures 23 so as to hold the locking flap against the outside of the end wall panel 3.

In Figure 2 the end wall panel 3, which is invisible, has been folded down and is held in position as described above, but the visible end wall panel 4 and associated locking flaps 12 are shown in two different stages of their erection from the blank of Figure 1 into a finished cover.

It will be appreciated, however, that the end wall panel 4 is held in its final position by the locking flaps 12 by folding the flaps 12 over the panel 4 and interlocking in the manner described in the previous paragraph by folding in the respective flaps and pushing the tabs through the apertures 23.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the cover is assembled from its blank while at the same time it is held in position on top of a filled tray. Hence a person responsible for filling the tray can also fit the cover with the minimum of effort. Alternatively, the tray and/or cover could be machine assembled. The cover is easily assembled by machine, by folding down the end and side wall panels and then folding-in the four locking flaps and flicking the locking tabs into position through the apertures in the end wall panels, and serves not only to prevent the contents of the tray from falling out but also strengthens the tray. It can be seen from Figure 2 that the tray side walls project upwardly well beyond the end walls and are thus prone to bowing outwardly, but because the cover embraces their upper edges, and is formed around the top of the tray, such bowing is prevented, thus providing a strong package. Because the side walls of the cover only bear against upper regions of the outside of the side walls of the tray, matter printed on the side walls for identifying the contents of the tray is not masked.

Furthermore, it is possible to assemble the lid with the

above described quick assembly method because it does not matter that the locking tabs 15 and their associated wing flaps 19 project inwardly from the inner face of the end walls of the lid since both end walls of the tray are cut away and there is no tray material to get in the way of the tabs and wing flaps.

Referring now to Figure 3, parts similar to those of the blank of Figure 1 have the same reference numerals, and perform the same function. However, this blank is designed for gluing and machine erection, although it could be hand glued and erected. To connect the side wall panels 7 and 8 to the end wall panels 3 and 4 respectively, glue flaps 30 are provided, which are glued to either the inner face or outer face of portions of the front and rear wall panels 3, 4. In Figures 3 and 4, glue is schematically illustrated by cross-hatched areas. The glue could, however, be applied instead to the appropriate areas of the panels 3 and 4. As an alternative to providing the glue flaps on the ends of the side walls 7, 8, as shown, these may be provided on side regions of the front and rear walls 3,4, and after the cover has been placed on the top of the pillars of the filled tray, and the side walls have been folded down to overlie the side walls of the tray, the end walls are folded down and the glue flaps are then adhered to end regions of the outer face of the cover side walls.

Referring now to Figure 4, the tray blank shown therein has a rectangular base panel 31 approximately equal in size to the top panel 1 of the cover, and two side wall panels 33 foldably connected to sides of the panel 31 about respective ones of parallel spaced fold lines 35,37. Likewise a low front wall panel 39 is foldably connected to a front edge of base panel 31 and a higher rear wall panel 43 is foldably connected to the base panel 31 about a fold line 45 parallel to the fold line 41. At each side of the front wall panel 39, upstanding shoulders 47 are provided.

Stacking pillars P (see Figure 5) are attached to each end of each side wall panel 33. Accordingly, at each end of each side wall panel 33 an end pillar panel 49 is foldably

connected to panel 33 about a fold line 51 normal to fold line 37, and a diagonal pillar panel 53 is foldably connected to panel 49 about a further fold line 55 parallel to fold line 51. A pillar glue flap 57 is foldably connected to the panel 53 about a further fold line 59 parallel to fold lines 51 and 55.

The blank of Figure 4 could easily be hand erected, but has been designed for machine erection. To erect the blank into a tray, the corner stacking pillar panels are folded into generally triangular stacking pillars, generally in known manner by folding panel 49 through 900 about fold line 51, folding diagonal panel 53 through approximately 1200 about fold line 55, and by reverse folding glue flap 57 through approximately 300, and adhesively securing the glue flap 57 to an internal face portion of its respective side wall panel, e. g. with a hot melt or other adhesive which is pre-applied to flap 57. The pillars may be formed before or after the side wall panels are folded upwardly through 90 so as to upstand from the base panel 31. Once these operations have been completed, the four panels 49 will be in line with the respective ends of the eventual tray base. To complete the erection of the blank into a tray, the front wall panel 39 is folded upwards about fold line 41 connecting it to the base panel 31, and the inner faces of the side portions thereof, including the shoulders 47, are adhesively secured to lower face portions of panels 49, again using hot melt or other adhesive which has been applied to the inner faces of the said side portions. In a similar manner, the rear wall panel 43 is folded upwardly about the fold line 45 connecting it to base panel 31, and its side regions are adhesively secured to the lower face portions of respective ones of pillar panels 49. All this can be performed by a machine.

Once the tray is formed, it is filled with packets of foodstuff, e. g. breakfast cereal, which again is preferably done with a collating and filling machine, e. g. at a separate filling station removed from the tray erecting station.

The filled tray is then preferably advanced to a lidding station, where one of the covers described herein is erected over and around the tray and its contents. While this can be done manually, it is preferably done with a lidding machine, using the blank of Figure 3.

This is achieved by placing the top panel 1 on the filled tray, with corner portions thereof resting of the tops of pillars P. The two end wall panels 3,4 are then folded downwards about the respective fold lines 5,6 so as to overlie the front and rear walls of the tray, whereupon the side walls are formed by folding down paensl 7 and 8 about respective fold lines 9,10. The glue flaps 30 are then folded upwards/inwards through 90 about the respective fold lines 13,14, and are adhesively secured to external face portions of the front and end wall panels 3,4.

It will, of course, be appreciated that the side walls could be folded into position before the front and rear walls, in which case the fold-in glue flaps would normally be secured to inner face portions of the front and rear wall panels 3,4 (although this is not essential). The sequence would depend upon the design of the lidding machine. As previously mentioned, in this case the glue flaps could be attached to panels 3 and 4 instead of 7 and 8, and folded around the cover corners to overlie the end regions of the side walls.

Traditional covers or lids for open top trays have depending side and end walls of the same depth, but because the side walls of the covers of this invention are relatively shallow, there is a considerable saving of board material over traditional lids. It is even envisaged that the end walls 3,4 of the covers need not be full length so as completely to overlie the tray end walls. It is, however, important that they overlap with upper regions thereof, and close off the open ends of the tray. Furthermore, there is no need for the covers to be preassembled and they can be stored lay-flat in blank form until they are used.

Once the covers have been applied to the filled trays

and erected thereon they are held in position by means of tape applied at each end, i. e. a length of adhesive tape is placed around the junction between the bottom of the end walls and the base of the tray, using a bottom taping machine.

The covers are applied to filled trays by a wraparound action, i. e. they are placed on top of the filled tray, and then erected around the tray. This means that if the top portions of the side walls of the tray are bowing outwards somewhat, due to pressure from the contents, the folding down of the side wall panels 7,8 about their respective fold lines 9,10, will push the tray side walls back into position, thus providing a fully squared up container. This is far more difficult to achieve with a pre-formed lid.

If desired, the cover rear wall panel 3, which overlies the rear end wall of the tray, may be shortened somewhat so as not completely to overlie the end wall of the tray, thus making a further saving in board material. This rear wall can then be held in position either with a length of self-adhesive tape or, alternatively, the end wall may be split into three sections by two parallel cuts extending inwardly of the end wall from its bottom edge. It is also envisaged that a similar arrangement could be provided on the front cover wall, thus allowing outer portions of each end wall of the cover to be tucked within the end walls of the tray and the central portions to extend outwardly thereof for taping in position, all largely as described in our co-pending U. K. Patent Application No. 9210449.6.

It will be appreciated that after the covers have been applied to the trays and taped in position, a strong storage box is provided which can be stored and subsequently delivered to a supermarket or other outlet. When the supermarket wishes to dispense the contents of the box, the cover is removed merely by cutting through the two pieces of tape and can be disposed of or recycled. The tray with its lower front end wall foremost is then placed on a shelf so that customers can see the contents thereof and remove them

from the tray as required.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention. For example, different corner constructions of tray and cover can be provided, e. g. if greater strength is required, wrap around straps may be provided. It is also envisaged that different pillar constructions could be provided. Furthermore, combinations of the first and second embodiments of tray and cover, or features therefrom, could be used.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A method of packaging packets of foodstuff or the like @ comprising forming a tray for the packets from a first blank, the tray having a rectangular base, a pair of side walls upstanding from opposite sides of the base, a rear end wall and a front end wall upstanding respectively from opposite ends of the base, and a full height stacking pillar in each corner of the tray, filling the formed tray with the packets, placing a further blank over the top of the packets with a top panel thereof resting on the tops of the stacking pillars, folding down front, rear and side wall panels of the further blank and attaching them to their adjacent blank wall panels so as to provide a cover with side, front and rear walls for the tray, with at least the front wall of the cover overlying the front wall of the tray, and then securing the cover to the tray
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the tray is formed at least semi-automatically on a tray forming machine, the formed tray is then filled with the packets, by hand or by a filling and collating machine, whereupon a lidding machine then places the further blank on the filled tray and forms the further blank into the cover, and the formed cover is then attached to the tray by a bottom taping machine, which places lengths of tape around the front and rear bottom corners of the package formed by the filled tray and cover.
3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tray @ is formed by folding in appropriate flaps or panels of the first blank to provide the four stacking pillars, and adhering them to their respective side wall panels with hot melt or other adhesive, either before or after the side wall panels have been folded up to lie normal to the base panel, whereupon the end wall panels are folded up, and side edge regions thereof are then adhesively secured to portions of the stacking pillars, and/or wrap around straps extending

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from either the end wall panels or side wall panels are wrapped around the corners, and adhesively secured to the side wall panels or end wall panels.
4. A method according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the formed tray is then moved to a filling station, where it is filled with packets, the filled tray then being advanced to a lidding station where a separate lidding machine applies the cover.
5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the lidding machine places the further blank for the cover over the filled tray, with respective corners of the top panel of the further blank resting on the upper end faces of the stacking pillars, the front and rear wall panels are then folded downwardly to close off any open ends of the tray and the two side wall panels are then folded down to overlie at least upper portions of the side wall panels of the tray, thus preventing them from bowing outwards, whereupon flaps on the ends of the side wall panels are adhesively secured either to an inner or an outer face of portions of the respective folded down front and rear wall panels of the further blank, thus providing an enveloping cover with front, rear and side walls to enclose the packets in the tray.
6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the covered tray is then advanced to a taping station, where a bottom taping machine places strips of tape on the package to connect the lower edges of the front and rear walls of the cover to the base of the tray.
7. A method of packaging packets of foodstuffs or the like, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
8. Packaging for packets of foodstuff comprising a tray having a rectangular base, high side walls, a rear wall, a

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front wall, and four stacking pillars, one extending from each corner of the base to or adjacent to the top of the side walls, means to connect the pillars to the side walls, further means to connect the side walls to the front and rear walls, and a cover for the tray, the cover having a rectangular top panel sized to fit over the tray with its respective corner portions overlying the tops of the tray pillars, front and rear walls depending from respective ends of the top panel and overlying the front and rear walls of the tray, side walls depending from respective sides of the top panel and overlying at least upper regions of the tray side walls to prevent the upper regions from bowing outwards, means to connect the cover side walls to the cover front and rear walls respectively, and tape to connect the cover to the tray.
9. Packaging according to claim 8, wherein full length glue flaps are provided on the tray pillars by means of which the pillars are adhesively connected to the inner face of the tray side walls, and wherein side portions of each tray end wall are directly connected with adhesive to end face portions of the pillars.
10. Packaging according to claim 8 or 9, wherein glue flaps are provided on the ends of the cover side walls which are adhesively connected to inner face or outer face portions of the cover end walls.
11. Packaging according to claim 8 or 9, wherein straps are provided which are foldably connected to side edge regions of the front and rear walls of the cover respectively, which are folded through 900 and then adhesively secured to the outer faces of the respective side walls of the cover.
12. Packaging for packets of foodstuffs or the like, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.