Boxes

• US 6,209,785 B1
• Filed: 07/29/1998
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Allied Balfour Limited
• Original Assignee: Allied Balfour Limited
• Inventors: Ben-Haim, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoap, Allan N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mai, Tri M.
• Application Number:
  US09/124,420
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• Field of Search: 229/223, 229/200, 229/210, 229/401, 229/224, 229/120.21, 229/234, 206/223, 206/541, 206/542
• US Class Current: 229/223
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 5/541 the lines of weakness being provided in one or more closure flaps
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 77/245 Utensils for removing the contents from the package, e.g. spoons, forks, spatulas B65D77/28 takes precedence

Abstract

A box (200) for solid and semi-solid food products is formed from a blank and has a body portion, a base portion and a lid portion, the lid portion having a tear-away strip for opening the sealed box. Side panels (22) of the body portion have overlapping end flaps (34, 38) which lie across the top of the body portion and have crease lines (46) running substantially parallel to the fold line which separates the flaps from their respective panels. The creased regions are pushed inwards towards their respective panels and the non-creased region of each flap lies substantially perpendicular to the side panels to form a suspended surface. This surface may support a spoon (S) or other item and is covered by the overlapping end flaps (54, 56) on the front and rear panels of the body portion; thereby allowing the item to be sold with the food product as a single unit but without contacting the food product.

Claims

1. A box suitable for a solid or semi-solid food product, made up from a cardstock blank to form a three dimensional rectangular section box comprising:

a body portion having a first side panel, a rear panel, a second side panel and a front panel;

a base portion formed from end flaps folded inwardly, one of said end flaps provided on each of said first side panel, rear panel, second side panel and front panel and secured by adhesive; and

a lid portion comprises of two overlapping flaps, a first of said two overlapping flaps extending from said first side panel and a second of said two overlapping flaps extending from said second side panel, said overlapping flaps connected to said side panel by fold lines, the overlapping flaps, when folded inwardly and toward one another, extending substantially fully across the length of said front panel and said rear panel, and a top flap extending from either said front panel or said rear panel and being securable to said rear panel or front panel of said body portion, said top flap being provided with a tear-away opening strip for providing access to the box, wherein each of said two overlapping flaps of said lid portion further comprise a creased portion having a plurality of parallel and spaced crease lines, said two overlapping flaps and said plurality of parallel and spaced crease lines, said two overlapping flaps and said plurality of parallel and spaced crease lines being configured such that when said overlapping flaps are folded inwardly, along any one of a pair of opposed crease lines, a suspended and supporting surface is formed extending substantially across the top of said body portion for supporting an article other than said food product beneath said top flap yet isolated from said food product contained in said box.

2. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the top panel is continuous with the rear panel of the body portion.

3. A box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the front panel of the body portion is provided with an end flap for securing to the side panel separate from the front panel in the assembled box.

4. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end flap of the rear panel is provided with a flange along its length which, in the assembled box, is bent and tucked against the front panel of the box.

5. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end flaps of the side panels for forming the base portion are dimensioned such that, in the assembled box, the flaps overlap one another.

6. A box as claimed in claim 5, wherein the end flap of the rear panel is folded inwards first, the end flaps of the side panels are folded thereover and the end flap of the front panel is folded over and secured to the end flaps of the side panels.

7. A box as claimed in claim 5, wherein at least one of the end flaps of the side panels is provided with an indented side to prevent the flap from being visible in the fully assembled box.

8. A box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the two overlapping flaps of the lid portion are continuous with respective to said side panels of the body portion, being separated therefrom by fold lines.

9. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fold lines are half-cut lines.

10. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein said crease lines are provided across approximately one third of the length of the flaps.

11. A box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the top flap comprise two sections, a first section for folding over the overlapping end flaps of the side panels and a second section for folding over the front panel and securing the lid to the body portion by means of an adhesive.

12. A box as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second section is provided with the tear-away strip for detaching the lid portion from the body portion to enable opening of the box.

13. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein the top flap comprises two sections, one section being continuous with the rear panel of the body portion and the second section being continuous with the front panel of the body portion, both being separated from their respective panels by fold lines.

14. A box as claimed in claim 13, wherein the sections are at least half the width of their respective panels.

15. A box as claimed in claim 13, wherein each section is provided with a line of complimentary spaced apart cut lines to form respectively male and female portions of a tear-away strip whereby, in the assembled box, the sections are folded over the overlapping end flaps of the side panels and secured to each other by means of an adhesive.

16. A box as claimed in claim 15, wherein a line of adhesive is provided between the outermost edge of one of the sections and the cut line thereof for securement to the corresponding part of the underlying section.