US2690254A - Lamp bulb package - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 28, 1954 R. T. WHITE LAMP BULB PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 22. '1949 FIG'. 2

BY M -lymww Sept. 28, 1954 R. T. WHITE 2,690,254

LAMP BULB PACKAGE Filed sept. 22. 1949 2 sheets-sheet 2 hun \ylm y] s A\\ ,I I ,\\l

INVENTOR. EAK 7.' vWl/ E v und @1/ufl@ Patented Sept. 28, 1954 if., EHC

LAMP BULB PACKAGE Ray T. White, Rocky River, Ohio, assignor to The Hankins Container Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 22, 1949, Serial No. 117,104

(Cl. G-65) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to packages or containers of the type used for protectively encasing fragile articles and more particularlyto packages or containers adapted to receive a plurality of conventional electric lamp bulbs in nested relation to each other.

My present invention contemplates a wrapper or package of corrugated paper of the general type described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 19,507, filed on April '7, 1948, now Patent No. 2,654,472, dated October 6, 1953, and which is formed into the shape of a tube of suflicient internal dimensions snugly to receive the particular lamp bulbs to be packaged. Cross-reference is accordingly hereby made to said corresponding application, By providing my present package with imperforate side Walls and an additional partition wall to divide the tube internally, I have found that the lamp bulbs may be nested together within the tube without danger of breakage thereof. .l have found further, that additional safety in so packaging lamp bulbs may be attained by providing the partition wall with dimensions substantially the same as the internal dimensions of the tube so as positively to prevent any deleterious contacts between the bulbs.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a lamp bulb package that may be fabricated economically and which will effectively house and contain a plurality of lamp bulbs without danger of bulb breakage. Other objects of my invention are: the provision of a lamp bulb package that occupies a minimum of space by permitting the bulbs to be received therein in nested or overlapped relation thereby effecting substantial savings in required shipping and storage space; the provision of a lamp bulb package which has an internally disposed partition Wall for protectively separating lamp bulbs inserted therein and Which insures that the pack- .aged bulbs Will not damage each other when subjected to jolts such as may be incurred during shipping or while the package is being carried by the ultimate user; and the provision of a lamp bulb package that is small and easy to handle and therefore a convenient and attractive means in which to market lamp bulbs.

These and other objects of my invention Will appear from the following description of a preferred form thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of the corrugated' paper lblank from which my package is formed, only a portion of the corrugations being shown to simplify the drawing;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a package or Wrapper made from the blank shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical cross sectional view of my assembled package taken substantially on line 3 3 of Figure 4, a pair of bulbs being shown in the package;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical cross sectional vieW of my improved package taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Figure 3, the bulbs being removed;

Figure 5 is similar to Figure 4 with the section taken substantially on the line 5 5 of Figure 3, the bulbs being removed; and

Figure 6 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing a pair of my two-bulb packages disposed within an outside cover to form a convenient four-fbulb package.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Figure 1, reference character I designates generally the blank of single-faced corrugated paper or board from which my lamp bulb package is formed. These blanks I may be cut from large sheets or long strips of suitable corrugated material which, as shown, is made up of a backing sheet =wa1l 2 (see Figure 3) and a corrugated Wall 3 having a series of corrugations 4 formed therein. The blank I is provided with a plurality of score or fold lines 6 and E' extending transversely of and preferably perpendicularly to the corrugations l thereon and formed by scoring or flattening the corrugations of the corrugated wall portion 3. These fold lines t, for simplicity of illustration, are indicated by dotted lines in the portion of Figure 1 from Which the corrugations have been omitted. In the preferred form of my package, the blank I is provided with three substantially parallel and uniformly spaced fold lines 6 and a fourth parallel and uniformly spaced but shorter fold line 6. These fold lines divide the blank into four substantially identical panels l, 8, 9 and lo and a partition wall or panel II. The free edge of end panel i is indicated at I5 in Figures 1 and 2.

Partition wall I i is partially severed from adjacent panel iil as indicated by the slot I2 which has been cut on an extension of the fold line 6 between panel Iii and Wall Ii. The slot I2 partially separates partition wall II from the rest of the blank so that said partition wall has a free portion I3, dened by the length of slot I2 and which may be fiexed out of the plane of the blank, and an anchored portion Ill which is integral with the rest of the blank and attached to panel It along fold line 6. The length of slot I2, and consequently the length of free portion I3 of partition Wall II, is important in determining the size and shape of the bulb receiving compartments Il and I8 of my assembled package as will be described more fully later.

The above described blank I may be readily converted into a bulb package or container of the form shown in Figure 2 by folding adjacent panels 8, 9 and IIJ on their common fold lines with the corrugations 4 on the inside and so that each panel is perpendicular to the other and becomes an outer Wall of the package. Thus, as viewed in Figure 2, panel l becomes the outer top wall, panel 8 the left side wall, panel 9 the bottom wall, and panel IQ the right side wall of the package. It will be understood, however, that the above named relative positions of the walls are merely descriptive of the box in the position illustrated in Figure 2.

Prior to folding the respective panels to form a box as shown in Figure 2, partition wall II is folded upwardly, as viewed in Figure 1, onfold line 6 and perpendicularly to panel IB. As the panels 1, t, 9 and Ill are folded inwardly and as panel 'I is brought around to form the top outer wall of the box it is made to overlap the partition wall I I so that the corrugations Il of panel I are adjacent the backing wall portion 2 of partition wall II. Thereafter the free edge I5 of top wall 'I is secured to the outer side wall Ill by tape It or other suitable adhesive means. The outer walls l, 8, 9 and It of my package are imperforate and, being folded upon each other at substantially right angles, are mutually self-supporting and sufficiently rigid to retain the form of an elongated open-ended box having a substantially square cross section.

When the package has been folded and edge I5 secured as described above, the partition wall II is adjacent the top wall l of the package and the free portion I3 of partition wall II may be flexed, inwardly while the anchored portion I4 will remain substantially parallel and adjacent to the top wall 'I. The free portion I3 of the partition wall II, when positioned as seen in Figures 2 and 3, divides the interior of the package into compartments I'I and I8 which are adapted protectively and snugly to receive lamp bulbs I9 and 2t, respectively.

` The length of slot I2 and consequently the length of free portion I3 of partition wall II preferably should be greater than one-half of the length of the adjacent panel It. The reason for this will be seen by noting, see Figure 3, that the bulbs I9 and 2t are positioned within the package in overlapped or nested relation in order to occupy as little space as possible within the package and it is advantageous for the partition wall I I completely to prevent any contact between the bulbs. The maximum length of slot I2 is limited only by the requirement for sufcient length of fold line 6 so that the anchored portion III of partition wall II will fbe adequately attached to side wall Iii. I have found that a satisfactory length for slot I2 is approximately three-quarters of the length of partition wall I! although I do not wish to be limited to this length of slot.

As the corrugations Ii run transveresly thereof, the free portion I3 of partition wall II is sufficiently iiexible so that the bulbs I9 and 2B may be inserted through the ends of the package with their threaded ends facing inwardly (as shown in Figure 3) until the enlarged ends of the bulbs are completely within the tubular package. Since the internal dimensions of the package are such as to snugly receive the enlarged endsA of the particular size of bulb intended to be disposed therewithin, bulbs I9 and 20 are frictionally retained within compartments I'I and I8 and are partially locked therein by the engagement of the threaded ends of bulbs I9 and 2B with the corrugated inner surfaces of outer walls 'I and 9. As is seen in Figure 3,'the` corrugations on the inner side of the free end portion of partition wall II are meshed with the adjacent corrugations on the inner side of the wall 9. This intermeshing is effective in preventing longitudinal movement of the partition wall II in the assembled package and thus assists in making a strong andrigid unit.

As mentioned albove, partition wall I I has substantially the same width dimension as the panels 1, 8, 9 and Ill and because of this dimensional relation'the free portion I3 of partition wall II extends substantially entirely across the interior of the assembled package or tube 'and divides it into the two compartments Il and I8. Therefore, when the bulbs vI9 and 20 are disposed within the package as shown in Figure 3, said bulbs are completely and protectively separated from each other. In this manner I have insured that the packaged lamp bulbs cannot bey damaged by deleterious contact with each other.

When the partition wall I I is in position diagonally across the tube to separate the interior of the package into two sections or compartments as seen in Figure 3, it also serves to stiffen and prevent collapse or distortion of the outer walls of the square tubularpackage. In the packageshown in Figures 4 and 5 there is a slight clearance between the side edges of partition wall II and the inner surfaces of the adjacent outer walls 8 and Iii. By providing this small clearance the free end I3 of partition wall II will tend todrop downwardly under the influence of gravity when the package is oriented as shown in Figures 2 to 5. This assists in entering the threaded end of bulb 20 into its proper position in the package. It will ibe understood, however, that in some instances the free end portion I3 of partition wall II may be: madev of such width as frictionally to engage the inner surfaces of the adjacent side walls t and It in which case the partition wall may be moved into position to receive the bulb 20 either manually or by suitable mechanism and prior to insertion of the bulbs in the package.

In Figure 6 I have shown a pair of my improved lamp bulb packages disposed within. an open-sided corrugated box 2l which has end walls 22 and 23, a top wall 24, and a bottom wall 25. The outer protective box 2 Ie has a lengthwise Vinternal dimension sufficient snugly to receive my improvedlamp bulb packages. End walls 22 and 23 of thev box 2i close the openy ends of the lamp Ibulb packages and therefore protect the exposed portions of the lamp bulbs I9 and 20. The drawer-like disposition of my :lamp bulb packages within protectivev box A2I insures that every portion of the lamp bulb isV adequately shielded and protected and also affords a neat, compact and attractive multiple Abulb package unit from which one double bulb package can be removed while. the other remains inthey outer box.

Although I have described the 4illustrated embodiment of my inventionwith some degree of particularity, it will be understood that modications and .variations'can be made in my. improved 'package without "departing 'from the spirit of my invention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited in any manner other than by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A one piece lamp bulb package comprising a plurality of single faced corrugated outer walls disposed with their corrugated surfaces inward and defining an open-ended tube, a pair of lamp bulbs disposed therein in nested relation with their base ends overlapping each other and with the longitudinal axis of one bulb intersecting the longitudinal axis of said tube within and adjacent one end of the tube and the longitudinal axis of the other bulb intersecting the longitudinal axis of said tube Within and adjacent the opposite end of the tube, said tube having a substantially square transverse cross-section, the length of said tube being less than twice the length of one of said bulbsby substantially the amount of overlap of the base ends of the bulbs, and an integral imperforate ilexible single faced corrugated partition wall having substantially the same dimensions as each of said outer Walls and being attached for a portion of its length at one end of the tube to the longitudinal edge of one of said outer walls, and unattached for the balance of its length, the corrugations on said outer Walls and on said partition wall extending transversely of said tube, the attached portion of said partition Wall ibeing juxtaposed to another of said outer Walls and the unattached portion thereof extending from said outer wall between the nested overlapped parts of said bulbs to the Wall opposite said another wall, the corrugations at the free end of the unattached portion of said partition wall meshing with the corrugations on the inner surface of said opposite Wall.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 557,371 Ferguson Mar, 31, 1896 1,670,498 Einson May 22, 1928 1,737,950 Scotland Dec. 3, 1929 1,740,550 Michelin Dec. 24, 1929 1,976,403 Kasser Oct. 9, 1934 2,097,757 Deike Nov. 2, 1937 2,130,445 Bemiss Sept. 20, 1938 2,197,510 Ringler Apr. 16, 1940 2,225,133 Silver Dec. 17, 1940 2,537,151 Mires Jan. 9, 1951 2,569,733 Ringler Oct. 2, 1951 2,611,531 Conkle Sept. 23, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Nu nber Country Date 241,097 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1925 609,848 France May 22, 1926 544,958 Great Britain May 5, 1942

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