Collapsible container
AssigneeAce Paper Products Co.
InventorStanley S. Bolton, Sr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible container made of a four-sided enclosure having two opposite panels foldable at their center and foldable relative to the two other opposite panels such that the enclosure may be collapsed by folding inwardly the two foldable panels. One unfoldable panel is hingedly attached to a tray in which the bottom of the erected enclosure is disposed and the collapsed enclosure is capable of laying flat in the tray after pivoting around the hinged structure attaching the non-foldable panel to the tray. A lid or cap is also provided for capping the enclosure when in an erected configuration ready to be filled with articles and for covering the tray containing the collapsed container enclosure. Preferably, the tray is mounted on the top of a pallet.
Claims20
A collapsible container comprising an enclosure made of four interconnected wall panels of cardboard-like material, two opposite ones of said wall panels being unscored wall panels and the two remaining opposite ones of said wall panels being scored with a billow score line disposed substantially at the center of each of said two remaining opposite wall panels parallel to each corner formed between each of said two remaining opposite wall panels and the two opposite ones of said unscored wall panels, a tray having a bottom panel and four side panels of predetermined height, said tray being so dimensioned that said enclosure may be placed in said tray, a scored sheet of pliable material having a pair of longitudinally disposed spaced apart score lines extending from one end to another end of said sheet each a predetermined distance from and parallel to an edge of said sheet, said score lines defining a first marginal portion, a central portion and a second marginal portion each foldable relative to an adjoining portion, means permanently attaching one of said marginal portions to the bottom of one of the opposite unscored wall panels of said enclosure, means permanently attaching the other of said lateral portions to the bottom panel of said tray proximate a side panel thereof, wherein each billow score line allows each of the scored wall panels to be inwardly foldable between the unscored wall panels for collapsing said enclosure to a predetermined thickness, and said scored sheet enables the resulting collapsed enclosure to pivot about the longitudinally disposed score line between the marginal portion of said scored sheet permanently attached to the bottom panel of said tray and said central portion of said scored sheet for folding said collapsed enclosure within said tray and to pivot about the longitudinally disposed score line between the marginal portion of said scored sheet permanently attached to the bottom of said one of the unscored wall panels and said central portion of said scored sheet, said central portion having a width larger than the thickness of the collapsed enclosure and narrower than the height of the side panels of said tray
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.