REDUCIBLE, RECLOSABLE CARTON

• US 3,690,544 A
• Filed: 05/05/1971
• Issued: 09/12/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: James River-Norwalk Incorporated (KOCH Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: George Leroy Meyers
• Inventors: Meyers, George Leroy
• Primary Examiner(s): Leclair, Joseph R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garbe, Stephen P.
• Application Number:
  US05/140,503
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• Field of Search: 229/51TS,51TC,51SC,44R,44CB
• US Class Current: 229/101.2
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 5/5425 and defining after rupture a lid hinged to the upper edge of the container body
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 77/062 Flexible containers disposed within polygonal containers formed by folding a carton blank

Abstract

A reducible, reclosable carton blank which includes a tear-out portion extending across the top section of the front and side panels. After removal of this portion, the carton is reclosable at substantially reduced height, the top section of the rear panel now forming the new top wall and the original top wall now extending downward in overlapping relation to the front wall. The particular conformation of the tear-out portion results in a pair of male locking studs at the top wall front corners, which co-act with a pair of double, parallel slits running across the score lines between the front panel and two side panels. The slits form a push-in-step type of female locking slot.

Claims

1. In a blank, suitably cut and scored, capable of being erected into a reducible, reclosable carton, comprising a front panel, an inner and an outer side panel each hingedly connected to said front panel, a rear panel hingedly connected to the inner side panel, a glue flap hingedly connected to the exterior edge portion of said rear panel capable of underlying and adhering to the exterior edge portion of the outer side panel, a top and a bottom end flap hingedly connected to said rear panel, a top and a bottom end flap hingedly connected to said front panel, said top end flaps being of width sufficient, when the carton is erected, to at least partially overlap each other, and said bottom end flaps being of width sufficient, when the carton is erected, to at least partially overlap each other, and two pairs of top and bottom dust flaps, each of said pairs hingedly connected to each of said side panels, the improvement comprising:

a tear-out portion extending across the front and side panels defined by tear line courses, the first course beginning at the exterior edge portion of the outer side panel below the top of said outer side panel a distance about equal to the width of one of said side panels and continuing in a direction parallel to the juncture of the side panels and dust flaps across said outer side panel, said front panel and said inner side panel to the juncture of said inner side panel with said rear panel, the second course continuing substantially upwardly therefrom along said inner side panel to a point located near a left front juncture of said inner side panel, the top dust flap connected thereto, said front panel, and the top end flap connected thereto, but spaced from a first score line dividing said inner side panel and said front panel, the third course continuing therefrom along said inner side panel to a point along said first score line but spaced below said left front juncture, the fourth course continuing therefrom along said front panel to a point located near said left front juncture but spaced from said first score line and from a second line dividing the front panel and the top end flap connected thereto, the fifth course continuing therefrom along said front panel to a point located on said second dividing line but spaced from said left front juncture, the sixth course continuing therefrom along said second dividing line and terminating at said exterior edge portion of said outer side panel in a manner such that said tear-out portion is symmetrical about a line bisecting the front panel and the pair of end flaps connected thereto, whereby a pair of male locking studs may be formed across the front and side panels upon erection of the carton and removal of the tear-out portion; and

push-in-step locking means formed by a pair of double, parallel slits located across each of the score lines dividing the front panel from said side panels, capable of receiving the male locking studs when the carton is erected and the tear-out portion is removed, said slits being positioned below said second dividing line a distance about equal to twice the width of one of the side panels.

2. The combination of claim 1 further including a pull tab connected to the tear-out panel at the exterior edge portion of said outer sidE panel.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein the second course continues for a short distance along the score line dividing the rear panel from the inner side panel, and then proceeds in a direction parallel to the first course of tear-out portion.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the third and fourth courses are along the same line, said line being parallel to the first course.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the fifth course angles toward the outer side panel.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein the tear lines comprise a herring bone zipper strip.

7. An erected, completed carton made from the blank of claim 6.

8. An erected, completed carton made from the blank of claim 1.