Shipping container and blank therefor

A substantially rectangular blank of foldable sheet material for use in forming a complete shipping container comprising a front panel;

• a first side panel disposed on one side of said front panel and foldably connected thereto;
• a second side panel of substantially the same configuration disposed on the opposite side of said front panel and foldably connected thereto, the foldline connections between said front panel and said side panels being in spaced substantially parallel relation;
• a back panel separated from said front panel by said second side panel and foldably connected to the latter, each side panel having a short section disposed adjacent to said front panel and foldably connected thereto and a contiguous tall section, the tall section of said second side panel being adjacent said back panel and foldably connected thereto;
• a pair of first top closure flaps foldably connected to corresponding edges of the short sections of said side panels;
• a pair of second top closure flaps foldably connected to corresponding edges of the tall sections of said side panels, the first and second top closure flaps connected to a side panel being separated from one another by a first elongated open end slot extending from the blank periphery to the folding connection between said first top closure flap and said short section, said slot being disposed substantially perpendicular to said folding connection;
• a third top closure flap foldably connected to said back panel and separated by a second elongated open end slot from the second top closure flap connected to the tall section of the second side panel;
• and a fourth top closure flap foldably connected to an edge of said front panel, said fourth top closure flap being disposed intermediate said first top closure flaps and separated therefrom by elongated slits, each slit extending from the blank periphery to the folding connection between the first top closure flap and the short section of the side panel, said fourth top closure flap including foldably connected first and second sections, said first section being disposed adjacent to said front panel and said second section being foldably connected to said first section and separated from said front panel by said first section, the folding connections between the second top closure flaps and said side panel tall sections being in spaced parallel relation with respect to the folding connection between the first and second sections of said fourth top closure flap;
• the second section of said fourth top closure flap being provided with a pair of foldable laterally extending ears, each ear extending into an adjacent first top closure flap and being separated therefrom by an offset portion of the slit separating the first top closure flap from the fourth top closure flap.