US 6,557,749 B1Granted

Sheet material container erectable from precursor with auto-forming end closure

AssigneeGeorgia-Pacific Corporation

InventorWalter S. Gill

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Abstract

Exhibiting favorable attributes of both a regular slotted container (“RSC”) and an automatic bottom container, a sheet material container is quickly and easily erectable from a knocked-down-flat (“KDF”) container precursor. The precursor collapses to a uniform two-layer KDF condition which permits stable, even stacking of multiple precursors for bulk shipping and storage of the same. The precursor is formed from a blank including a plurality of wall panels hingedly attached to each other along fold lines to form a closed loop of wall panels, and a plurality of end flap panels hingedly attached along fold lines to ends of the respective wall panels. A pair of adjacent end flap panels lie in face-to-face relation with each other in the KDF condition. One of the adjacent pairs of panels has a diagonal fold line defining a corner attachment region that attaches to the other end flap panel. As the closed loop of wall panels is erected from the KDF condition to form a rectangular tubular shape, the diagonal fold line and associated attachment of end flap panels cause the end flap panels to pivot inwardly to automatically form an end closure (e.g., bottom) surface of the container.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A sheet material container precursor, comprising:

a plurality of wall panels of sheet material which are hingedly connected to each other along respective fold lines to form a closed loop of wall panels that may be collapsed to a two layer knocked-down-flat condition and erected to form a rectangular tubular shape;
and
a plurality of end flap panels of sheet material, each being hingedly attached to and depending from an end of a respective one of said plurality of wall panels;
wherein:
a pair of adjacent ones of said end flap panels, which lie in face-to-face relation in said two layer knocked-down-flat condition, and which extend orthogonally to each other in said rectangular tubular shape, have inside surfaces attached to each other to thereby form a corner attachment;
one of said pair of end flap panels comprises a diagonal fold line adjacent said corner attachment;
when the closed loop of wall panels is erected from said two layer knocked-down-flat condition to form said rectangular tubular shape, said corner attachment causes:
(1) said one end flap panel to pivot inwardly about its hinged attachment to a respective wall panel;
(2) a first corner region of said one end flap panel to fold back upon an outside surface of said one end flap panel, about said diagonal fold line;
and (3) the other of said pair of end flap panels to pivot inwardly about its hinged attachment to a respective wall panel;
whereby, said pair of end flap panels are moved toward respective end closure forming positions in which said pair of end flap panels partially overlap with each other and extend inwardly with respect to said wall panels.

8 more elements

A blank of sheet material for forming a collapsible container, comprising:

a plurality of wall panels of sheet material which are hingedly connected to each other along respective fold lines, end ones of said plurality of wall panels being connectible to each other to form a closed loop of wall panels that may be collapsed to a two-layer knocked-down-flat condition and erected to form a rectangular tubular shape;
and
a plurality of end flap panels of sheet material, each being hingedly attached to and depending from an end of a respective one of said plurality of wall panels;
wherein:
a pair of adjacent ones of said plurality of end flap panels are foldable onto each other about one of said respective fold lines hingedly connecting a corresponding pair of said plurality of wall panels, such that respective corner forming side and end edges of said pair of end flap panels extend along one another;
one of said pair of end flap panels comprises a diagonal fold line which extends from the side edge of said one end flap panel to the end edge of said one end flap panel, said diagonal fold line defining a first corner region which, when said pair of end flap panels are folded onto each other, substantially overlies a corresponding region of the other of said pair of end flap panels;
and
a second corner region of said one end flap panel, opposite said first corner region, is cut-away from a third one of said plurality of end flap panels such that, when said pair of end flap panels are folded onto each other, a portion of the other of said pair of end flap panels, extending between said one end flap panel and said third end flap panel, remains uncovered by said one end flap panel.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.