Utility tote container with unfastenable and refastenable side walls and end walls

In a tote container of the tapered nestable type folded from a generally planar blank of corrugated plastic sheet material to a generally upright tote container configuration defining an interior receptacle region, said tote container having a base panel, a pair of side wall panels hingedly connected to said base panel, a pair of end wall panels hingedly connected to said base panel, and a plurality of end foldover panels each hingedly connected to one of said pair of end wall panels and being pivotable into parallel abutting contact with an adjacent and confronting one of said pair of side wall panels or said pair of end wall panels or a combination thereof, the improvement comprising:

• a plurality of wall securing flaps, each of said plurality of wall securing flaps extending from and being hingedly connected to one of the end foldover panels, each said wall securing flap having a height and a leading edge, said pair of said wall panels defining a plurality of slots extending entirely therethrough and positioned so as to be aligned with said leading edge of a corresponding one of said plurality of wall securing flaps when said corresponding one of said plurality of wall securing flaps is pivoted into close confronting relation thereto, each of said plurality of slots having a height equal t or greater than said height of said corresponding one of said plurality of wall securing flaps such that said corresponding one of said plurality of wall securing flaps may be received through said one of said plurality of slots aligned therewith and pivoted into parallel abutting contact with a corresponding interior planar surface of an adjacent one of the pair of side wall panels;
• and
• a releasable fastener, said releasable fastener being connected to said interior planar surface of each of said plurality of wall securing flaps such that each of said wall securing flaps may be selectively and releasably fastened to said adjacent one of the pair of side wall panels to secure the pair of side wall panels and the pair of end wall panels of the tote container in the generally upright tote container configuration.

In a tote container of the tapered nestable type folded from a generally planar blank of corrugated plastic sheet material to a generally upright tote container configuration defining an interior receptacle region, said tote container having a base panel, a first pair of opposing wall panels hingedly connected to said base panel, and a second pair of opposing wall panels hingedly connected to said base panel, said first pair of opposing wall panels each having a top edge, the improvement comprising:

• a pair of handgrip openings, each of said pair of handgrip openings being formed by cutting through a section of one of the first pair of opposing wall panels to form a pair of handgrip flaps, each of said pair of handgrip flaps being hingedly connected to said one of the first pair of opposing wall panels, each of said pair of handgrip opening defining a top edge;
• and
• a pair of shoulders, said pair of shoulders being positioned proximate to the top edges of the first pair of opposing wall panels, each of said pair of shoulders including a first shoulder panel and a second shoulder panel, said first shoulder panel being hingedly connected to a one of the top edges of the first pair of opposing wall panels, said second should panel being hingedly connected to said first should panel, each of said second shoulder panels being folded into parallel abutting contact with a corresponding one of said first shoulder panels, each of said first shoulder panels being folded downwardly relative to a corresponding one of the first pair of opposing wall panels and each of the pair of handgrip flaps being folded upwardly relative to a corresponding one of the first pair of opposing wall panels such that each of said second shoulder panels are folded into parallel abutting contact with a corresponding one of said pair of handgrip flaps and the corresponding one of the first pair of opposing wall panels, with said first shoulder panels, said second shoulder panels, and said handgrip flaps being secured such that each of said pair of handgrip openings presents a widened support surface along said top edge thereof