HK1015748B - Improvements in or relating to packs for articles of merchandise - Google Patents

Description

Improvements in and relating to packets for packaging articles

The present invention relates to a packet for packaging a variety of goods, such as "snack" food products, including hamburgers, fish, chicken and french fries, or other food items, including candy, bakery products or gifts.

FR- A-1,339852 discloses A package comprising A continuous strip of rigid packaging material, such as cardboard, which is wrapped around A bag or sachet. The strip is divided by a fold line into two side panels which are separated by a fold line in the bottom rectangle. The bottom rectangles being folded against each other by a fold line so that the strip can be flattened and the bag being sandwiched between the panels for stacking and storage

GB-a-2087357 discloses a collapsible container which can be used to hold food items such as french fries. The container includes front and rear walls which are hinged at their mutually adjacent edges to a foldable container base by an arcuate hinge line. The front and rear walls are connected at their side edges by further arcuate hinge lines to the side walls serving as panels which are secured in an overlapping manner. The arcuate hinge lines of the bottom and side walls and the central fold lines of these walls associated therewith cooperate to hold the carton open and allow it to stand upright.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a capsule for holding food or other items in which the base of the capsule is securely held in an expanded condition.

The invention provides a pack for packaging food or other goods, said pack comprising a paper or film bag and a carton for supporting the lower portion of the bag, the carton having a base with a medial fold and walls hingedly connected to the base along a further fold so that the carton and bag can be folded flat and the bag opened when it is erected, said walls of said lower portion of the bag being secured to the walls of the carton so that when the carton is opened by erecting the folded base into a V-shape, the bottom of the bag is also opened and, as the V-shape progressively widens, the bag is tensioned by the walls moving away from each other, the walls moving away from each other until the base of the carton moves "over centre" and inverts so that the lower portion of the bag is securely erected, one or more articles to be packaged therein may be accommodated with the end of the base in a protruding V-shape and the further fold line between the two walls and the bottom of the carton is convexly curved such that when the bottom of the carton is inverted it is turned inwardly over its centre line "line to obtain a concavely curved profile and the side walls of the carton are bowed or convexly curved. The base of the carton is thus spread against the bottom of the bag and the bag is tensioned and opened.

Typically the sides of the bag may be glued to the walls of the carton.

More specifically, the sides of the bag may be adhered to the walls of the carton with an adhesive.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the carton may comprise side and end walls and a bottom wall which connects the side walls like a bridge but which is not connected to the end walls.

Specific embodiments of the invention will next be described, with reference to each of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a stack of a paper blank and a paperboard blank for making a hamburger or other article;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a finished folded flat packet;

figure 3 is a perspective view of the capsule expanded to contain an article to be packaged;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an article placed in the capsule and the capsule partially closed;

figure 5 is a perspective view of the capsule fully closed;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a blank for a paper bag for holding goods, the lower portion of the paper bag blank being supported by a cardboard box;

figure 7 is a perspective view of a finished capsule shaped as shown in figure 6, collapsed and ready to be expanded.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the capsule opened and ready to hold a product;

figure 9 is a schematic view of a blank of a further shape of the capsule; and

figures 10 to 13 show the gradual opening of the capsule from flat to fully expanded and when it is loaded with articles.

Referring now to figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a rectangular sheet of gift wrapping paper 10 having laminated thereto a blank 11 of material for making an open-topped carton, the blank being positioned symmetrically on the sheet on either side of a centre line 12 along which the sheet is to be folded in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The paperboard blank includes a bottom wall 13 having a pre-creased centerline 14, the centerline 14 being collinear with the centerline 12 of the sheet 10. The side wall 15 is connected to the outer edge of the bottom wall along a curved, pre-creased line 16. Each side wall 15 has a wall end 17 and a pre-creased line 18 between the wall end and its respective side wall. The wall end 17 on one of the side walls 15 has an elongate adhesive backing 19 for adhering to the wall end of the side wall.

The sheet 10 is cut along a dashed line 20, the dashed line 20 including recesses 21 cut into both sides of the sheet and a strip of adhesive 22 applied to the edges of the recesses and to the adhesive backing 19 at the end of the carton. Alternatively, the sheets may be formed from a heat sealable sheet material such that they are adhered to one another when heat and pressure are applied thereto along the adhesive strip and other indicia areas.

The sheet 10 is folded along the centre line 12 already indicated above to glue or heat seal the edges of each recess on either side of the centre line to one another and to glue or heat seal the liner 19 on the end of one of the side walls 15 to the end of the other side wall to form a folded blank as shown in figure 2. The ends 23 of the paper sheet are separated to open the blank as shown in figure 3. The folded carton blank of material within the folded sheet of paper may then be opened by separating the side walls 15 and pressing the centre of the folded base B upwardly towards the side walls. The portion of the blank forming base B has a length greater than the length of end wall 17 so that base 13 forms a V-shape between the two side walls when the end walls are straightened between the two side walls. The V-shaped base can then be pressed "over-center" between the side walls to form an inverted V-shape, thereby distracting the side walls. The blank thus forms an open-topped carton within the sheet 10, ready for use to hold a commodity, such as a hamburger or other article.

After the article is placed in the carton, the ends of the paper sheet 23, are folded together as shown in figure 4 to close the top of the carton and folded under the bottom of the carton as shown in figure 5 to complete the carton packaging operation. It should be mentioned that the top edge of the side wall 15 is curved or curved so that the top of the packet has a curved profile, while the curved fold line 16 between the bottom edge of the side wall and the base of the carton forms the curved bottom of the carton.

The paper sheets and the inner paperboard box laminated together form a collapsible pouch which can be provided in a flat configuration and effectively become a semi-rigid container for holding items for sale. When used to hold food items such as hamburgers, the capsule becomes a convenient means for holding the hamburger while it is being eaten.

Referring now to fig. 6, there is shown a blank, generally designated 30, for forming a packet for holding food or merchandise. In this case, the specific purpose of the bag is to contain the food while eating "french fries" or other snack foods such as fried potato chips, nuts, popcorn, etc.

The blank comprises two wall members 31 which are joined together at fold lines 32 and cut to give the side edges 33 and top edge 34 a profile to give the bag the desired shape. Very close to the fold line 32 the walls diverge at a large angle at 35 to a point 36 to form the bottom wall of the bag and after the point 36 they diverge at a small angle to define the side walls of the bag. The walls of the bag are heat sealed or otherwise glued to one another along the strips indicated at 37 to form the bag, while the top edge 34 is not attached, thereby providing an opening into the bag through which food or other goods can be placed into the bag.

A carton, generally indicated at 40, is secured to the blank on the side serving as the outer surface of the bag. The blank comprises a base 41 which extends across the entire blank and has a medium fold line 42, said fold line 42 being coincident with the top fold line 32 of the blank. The bordered walls 43 are connected to the base along further fold lines 44, said fold lines 44 being upwardly convex and curved, as shown in fig. 6, the purpose of which will be described later. The edge wall 43 is secured to the edge of the bag by heat sealing or adhesive.

Figure 7 shows the finished bag/carton construction in which the side edges of the bag are glued to each other as described above and are generally flat prior to the contents.

The top or opening of the bag is opened to receive an article and the lower portion is opened by opening the carton as shown in figure 8 as follows. The sides 31 of the bag may be unfolded by inserting a filling device, such as a french-fry scoop, or by pulling the top edge of the carton down the sides and pushing the base 42 up. Or the top can be opened by inserting a finger into the top of the bag. The top of the carton is now generally V-shaped. The V-shape is gradually widened by pressing the fold line 32 between the two side walls of the carton, which causes the bottom of the bag between the two side walls to be stretched until it "crosses its centre line" and turns inwards. Because the two fold lines 44 at the corners of the carton and the two side walls are bent in opposite directions, the bottom of the carton is inverted to form a concave profile. The carton is thus self-supporting and maintains the bottom of the bag open for ready storage of "french fries" or other food or other goods.

Figure 9 shows a slightly different type of bag in which the edges of the side walls of the bag are convexly curved at their base nearest the fold line so that the base of the bag is substantially circular. Above the convexly curved edge, the side walls flare upwardly and outwardly as shown at 45 and terminate in a broad top flap 46. The edges of the side walls are secured to each other along a band line 47 indicated at 47 by heat sealing or adhesive.

Turning now to fig. 10 to 13, fig. 10 to 13 illustrate the opening direction of the bag and the filling of the bag with product.

The bag is particularly suitable for holding food items such as hamburgers. The hamburger is placed in the lower portion of the bag supported by the carton, and the top flap of the bag is then folded over the hamburger to form a flap that is folded down and tucked into the space between the bottom of the bag and the carton base, thereby holding the bag closed so that the hamburger or other food item enclosed within the bag is protected.

It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, a triangular gusset (gusset) may be provided on each side of the bag to provide a larger opening when desired. The top edge of the bag may be provided with a closure means such as a self-adhesive strip, a heat-sealing means or the top edge may simply be folded together to close the top of the bag, thereby providing a tamper-evident closure for the filling. Furthermore, the crease lines of the carton may be perforated, which makes it easier to make the crease lines in advance in order to facilitate opening of the carton.

Claims (7)

1. A packet for packaging food or other goods, comprising a paper or film bag (30) and a carton (40), the carton (40) supporting the lower part of the bag and having a base (41) with a medium fold (32) and walls (43), said walls (43) being hingedly connected to the base along further fold lines (44) so that the carton and bag can be folded flat and unfolded to open the bag, said walls of the lower part of said bag being secured to said walls of the carton so that when the carton is unfolded by unfolding the folded base into a V-shape, the bottom of the bag can be opened and, as the V-shape gradually widens, the bottom of the bag is tensioned as the two walls separate until the base of the carton moves "over centre line" and inverts, so that the lower portion of the bag is firmly stretched to accommodate one or more articles to be packaged therein, characterized in that: the end of the base (41) is in the form of a protruding V-shape and the further fold (44) between the two walls and the bottom of the carton is convexly curved so that when the bottom of the carton is inverted it is inverted "over its centre line" to achieve an inwardly concave curved profile and the side walls of the carton are bowed or convexly curved so that the base of the carton is stretched against the bottom of the bag and the bag is also tensioned and opened.

2. The capsule according to claim 1, characterized in that: the sides (31) of the bag are glued to the walls (43) of the carton.

3. The capsule according to claim 2, characterized in that: the sides (31) of the bag are adhesively bonded to the walls (43) of the carton.

4. A capsule according to any preceding claim, wherein: the carton comprises side walls (15), end walls (17), and a bottom wall (13, 14) which is connected to the side walls like a bridge but is not connected to the end walls.

5. A pack as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the end walls (17) of the carton are shorter than the side walls (15) of the carton so that when the carton is erected the bottom walls (13, 14) of the carton form a V-shape which can be pressed and snapped inwards with the end walls being straight to receive an article in the container.

6. A pack as in claims 1 to 3 and 5, wherein the carton (11) is located within the bag (10).

7. A pack as in claim 1, wherein the bag (30) is located within the carton (40) and the side edges (31) of the bag (30) are secured to the inside surfaces of the side walls (43) of the carton.