Collapsible and conformable container

• US 5,014,907 A
• Filed: 05/31/1990
• Issued: 05/14/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Omega Engineering Incorporated (Spectris PLC)
• Original Assignee: Omega Engineering Incorporated (Spectris PLC)
• Inventors: Hollander, Milton B., Rivera, Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): Elkins, Gary E.
• Application Number:
  US07/530,623
• Time in Patent Office: 348 Days
• Field of Search: 229/101, 229/40, 229/117.01, 206/424
• US Class Current: 229/117.01
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 5/02 by folding or erecting a single blank to form a tubular body with or without subsequent folding operations, or the addition of separate elements, to close the ends of the body B65D5/36 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 5/3614 to form a tubular body, at least one of the ends of the body remaining connected

Abstract

A collapsible box-like container of the type constructed to fold flat for storage and shipping, is provided with a reverse integral hinge portion which is positioned to lie in abutting parallel relation with a second integral hinge on the opposite side of a third integral hinge portion when the container is folded flat; the reverse hinge and the second hinge may be displaced simultaneously in nested relationship to define an exterior angle at the reverse hinge which is substantially congruent with the interior angle formed at said second hinge. This construction permits the effective width of the flattened container to be reduced for shipment by folding into a right angle shape so that it conforms to the exterior configuration of another object such as a book or a separate, rigid box, for example.

Claims

1. A collapsible container comprising:

a plurality of side wall sections coupled together by a plurality of integrally formed hinge portions disposed in parallel spaced apart relationship, each hinge portion being positioned at a juncture between two adjacent side wall sections;

said plurality of side wall sections together surrounding an interior space which may be varied in shape by varying the interior angles formed by the two adjacent wall sections on each side of each hinge portion;

one of said hinge portions being specifically constructed to permit displacement to form an interior angle greater than one hundred eighty degrees; and

the remaining ones of said hinge portions being constructed to resist displacement into interior angles greater than one hundred eighty degrees;

said one of said hinge portions and a selected second one of said hinge portions being equally spaced on opposite sides of a selected third one of said hinge portions such that when the interior angle of said selected third hinge portion is reduced to substantially zero degrees, said one hinge portion and said selected second hinge portion will lie in substantially abutting, parallel relationship, and said one hinge portion may be displaced simultaneously with said second hinge portion to form an exterior angle at said one hinge which is substantially equal to the interior angle at said second hinge portion.

2. A collapsible and conformable container in accordance with claim 1, further including an end flap member integrally hinged to at least one of said side wall members along an edge thereof at an angle to said parallel spaced apart edges thereof.

3. A collapsible and conformable container formed of substantially stiff, flat stock, comprising:

four side wall members coupled together by four integral hinge portions formed along the parallel spaced-apart edges of said side wall members to define an enclosure having a cross section in the shape of a parallelepiped;

said container being collapsible into a generally flattened condition in which two of said hinge portions define interior angles of substantially zero degrees and the remaining two hinges define substantially straight angles of one hundred-eighty degrees, and said parallelepiped shape is reduced to a substantially straight line;

a reverse hinge portion formed in one of said side wall members intermediate the parallel, spaced-apart edges thereof and in parallel relation therewith;

said reverse hinge being positioned to lie in parallel abutting alignment with one of said integral hinges when said container is collapsed into generally flattened condition;

said reverse hinge and the said aligned one of said integral hinges being bendable concurrently when said container is in said generally flattened condition, such that the substantially straight line shape of said parallelepiped may be formed into a right angle.

4. A collapsible and conformable container in accordance with claim 3, further including an end flap member integrally hinged to at least one of said side wall members along an edge thereof at an angle to said parallel spaced apart edges thereof.