CRATE IN THE FORM OF A FLAP-ADHESIVELY-BONDED BOX COMPOSED OF CARDBOARD

Abstract

A crate is described in the form of a flap-adhesively-bonded box composed of cardboard having a bottom (1) and a shell (2) protruding from the bottom (1), which forms reinforced upper longitudinal edge sections by way of edge flaps (8) folded inward between the shell corners. To provide advantageous design conditions, it is proposed that the shell (2) have, at least on one side of the shell corners, attachment flaps (10, 11, 26), which are each bent inward according to crease lines (12, 13, 27), which are outwardly offset in relation to the edge (14) of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections, by 90° and are adhesively bonded to the opposite side of the shell corner, and the bottom (1) be provided in the region of the shell corners with recesses (17) adapted to the outline shape of a catch attachment (15) formed by the attachment flaps (10, 11, 26).

Claims

1. A crate in the form of a flap-adhesively-bonded box composed of cardboard having a bottom (1) and a shell (2) protruding from the bottom (1), which forms reinforced upper longitudinal edge sections by way of edge flaps (8) folded inward between the shell corners, wherein the shell (2) has, at least on one side of the shell corners, attachment flaps (10, 11, 26), which are each bent inward according to crease lines (12, 13, 27), which are outwardly offset in relation to the edge (14) of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections, by 90° and are adhesively bonded to the opposite side of the shell corner, and the bottom (1) is provided in the region of the shell corners with recesses (17) adapted to the outline shape of a catch attachment (15) formed by the attachment flaps (10, 11, 26).

2. The crate according to claim 1, wherein the shell (2) has, on both sides of the shell corners, attachment flaps (10, 11), which are bent inward by 90° about crease lines (12, 13) which are each offset outward in relation to the edge (14) of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections, and are adhesively bonded to one another.

3. The crate according to claim 2, wherein the crease lines (12, 13) of the attachment flaps (10, 11), which are bent inward by 90°, are each offset in relation to one another.

4. The crate according to claim 2, wherein attachment flaps (10, 11), which have a square basic shape, are folded along a diagonal.

5. The crate according to claim 4, wherein one of the two attachment flaps (10, 11), which are adhesively bonded to one another, is folded about the folded other attachment flap (11, 10).

6. The crate according to claim 1, wherein the attachment flaps (26) provided on one side of the shell corners have an adhesive flap (28) on the side facing toward the other side of the shell corners.

7. The crate according to claim 6, wherein the adhesive flap (28) of the attachment flaps (26) overlaps the outer side of the shell corner.

8. The crate according to claim 1, wherein the shell (2) is accommodated in the region of the bottom recesses (17) in a depth corresponding to the protrusion of the catch attachments (15) formed by the attachment flaps (10, 11, 26) beyond the edge (14) of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections.

9. The crate according to claim 1, wherein the reinforced longitudinal edge sections formed by the inwardly folded edge flaps (8) are bent back toward the shell (2) about two crease lines (9, 21) while forming a bottom-parallel support surface (20).

10. The crate according to claim 9, wherein the inwardly folded edge flaps (8) between the two crease lines (9, 21) for forming the support surface (20) have an additional crease line (22).

11. The crate according to claim 9, wherein the two crease lines (9, 21) for forming a bottom-parallel support surface (20) are arranged at distance from one another corresponding to twice the thickness of the edge flaps (8) and have a double flap thickness due to an edge section (23) folded inward toward the shell (2).

12. The crate according to claim 1, wherein the shell (2) forms a blank (3) separate from the bottom (1).

13. The crate according to claim 12, wherein the bottom (1) has adhesive flaps (18) extending up to the edge flaps (8) of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections of the shell blank (3).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0015] The subject matter of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the drawing. In the figures:

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a crate according to the invention composed of cardboard in a schematic side view,

[0017] FIG. 2 shows the shell blank for a crate according to FIG. 1 in a smaller scale,

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a bottom blank for a crate according to FIG. 1,

[0019] FIG. 4 shows a blank which jointly forms the bottom and the shell of a crate according to the invention,

[0020] FIG. 5 shows a partially cutaway top view of a corner of a crate according to the invention in a larger scale,

[0021] FIG. 6 shows a section along line VI-VI in FIG. 5,

[0022] FIG. 7 shows a section through a design variant corresponding to line VII-VII of FIG. 1 in an enlarged scale,

[0023] FIG. 8 shows a further design variant for a reinforced longitudinal edge section in an illustration corresponding to FIG. 7,

[0024] FIG. 9 shows the blank for a further design variant of a crate according to the invention,

[0025] FIG. 10 shows a frontal view of a crate according to the blank according to FIG. 9 in an enlarged scale,

[0026] FIG. 11 shows the crate according to FIG. 10 in a top view in the region of a circumferential wall, and

[0027] FIG. 12 shows a section along line XII-XII of FIG. 11 in an enlarged scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0028] The crate according to the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 3 is formed by a flap-adhesively-bonded box composed of cardboard, which, in its basic shape, has a rectangular bottom 1 and a shell 2 protruding from the bottom. The bottom 1 and the shell 2 are formed by separate blanks, wherein the shell blank 3 and the bottom blank 4 are preferably manufactured from different cardboard materials. The shell blank 3 could thus consist of a corrugated cardboard and the bottom blank 4 could be manufactured from a solid cardboard, which is not in any way required, however.

[0029] As can be inferred from FIG. 2, the shell blank 3 has four circumferential walls 6 and 7, which are separated from one another by crease lines 5 and are opposite to one another in pairs in the finished carton. The circumferential walls 6 and 7 are provided with edge flaps 8 between the shell corners, which are defined by the crease lines 5, the edge flaps being folded inward about folding lines 9 to form reinforced upper longitudinal edge sections.

[0030] On both sides of the shell corners, the shell blank 3 forms attachment flaps 10, 11, which, to manufacture the crate, are bent in by 90° about crease lines 12, 13 and adhesively bonded to one another, to form in each case a catch attachment 15 protruding beyond the edge 14 formed by the inwardly folded edge flaps 8, as can be inferred in particular from FIGS. 1 and 6. For this purpose, the crease lines 12 and 13 of the attachment flaps 10 and 11 are offset in relation to the edge 14 defined by the crease lines 9 and in relation to one another. To reinforce these catch attachments 15, the attachment flaps 10 and 11, which essentially have a square basic shape, can be folded along a diagonal, so that a triangular catch attachment 15 results in the top view according to FIG. 5. On the opposing bottom side of the shell corners, the circumferential walls 6 and 7 are recessed corresponding to the protrusion of the catch attachments 15 resulting due to the attachment flaps 10, 11, which are adhesively bonded to one another. These recesses are identified with 16.

[0031] The associated bottom blank 4 has, in the regions of the shell corners, recesses 17, adapted to the outline shape of the attachment flaps 10, 11, which are adhesively bonded to one another, adhesive flaps 18 being provided between these recesses. The width of these adhesive flaps 18 is selected so that in the finished crate, they extend up to the edge flaps 8 of the reinforced longitudinal edge sections of the shell blank 3, so that the circumferential walls 6 and 7 of the crate are formed double-walled over the entire height in the loadbearing region.

[0032] To manufacture a crate from the shell blank 3 and the bottom blank 4, the shell is folded about the crease lines 5 and closed with the aid of an adhesive flap 19 on the circumference around the bottom 1, which is adhesively bonded with the aid of its adhesive flaps 18 on the inner side of the circumferential walls 6 and 7. In the region of the shell corners, the attachment flaps 10 are folded about the diagonals thereof with adhesive bonding and bent inward about the crease lines 12 by 90°, before the attachment flaps 11 provided on the opposite side of the respective shell corner are bent in about the crease line 13 thereof and bent along a diagonal about the folded attachment flaps 10, as can be inferred in particular from FIG. 6, In the corner regions, the catch attachments 15 protruding above the edge 14 of the circumferential walls 6 and 7 are thus formed, which engage in a formfitting manner in the recesses 17 of the bottom 1 when a structurally equivalent crate is placed thereon. The recesses 16 in the bottom region of the circumferential walls release the space required for this purpose. It is therefore shown that a formfitting anchoring of the individual crates in a stack of crates is achieved by the catch attachments 15 engaging in the bottom recesses 17. The dissipation of the loads onto the respective lower crates takes place via the circumferential walls 6 and 7, on the upper edge 14 of which each of the upper crates is supported, as indicated by dot-dash lines in FIG. 1.

[0033] As a result of the upper longitudinal edge sections reinforced by the inwardly folded edge flaps 8, higher loads can also be absorbed and dissipated without risk via the circumferential walls 6 and 7 of the crates. To ensure a secure support of the respective upper crates on the lower crates, even if the circumferential walls 6, 7 are bent out by the accommodated contents, the inwardly folded edge flaps 8 can form a widened support surface 20 according to FIG. 7, in that the edge flaps 8 are folded via two crease lines 9 and 21, so that a web forming the edge 14 results as a support surface 20 for the crates between these two crease lines 9 and 21. Such a crate placed thereon is indicated by dot-dash lines in FIG. 7.

[0034] It can be seen that the circumferential wall 7 with the adjoining bottom 1 is supported on the support surface 20 of the edge web, while the catch attachment 15 can engage unobstructed in the bottom recess 17 as a result of the clearance achieved by the shell recess 16.

[0035] For automatic folding and adhesive bonding of the edge flaps 8, it is advantageous if the support surface 20 is folded so that the edge flap 8 is also applied over its entire area to the respective circumferential wall 6, 7 in the region of the support surface 20. This is achieved when the support surface 20 is folded about an additional crease line 22 so that the two sections of the support surface 20, which are separated from one another by the additional crease line 22, are applied between the crease line 9 and one another. In this case, the support surface 20 is first folded apart about the crease line 9 into the bottom-parallel working position in the event of a corresponding load.

[0036] To achieve good support of the support surface 20, according to FIG. 8, the two crease lines 9 and 21, between which the support surface 20 results, can also have a minimum distance from one another corresponding to twice the thickness of the edge flaps 8, so that an edge section 23, which extends the edge flaps 8, can be folded inward about a folding line 24, to obtain a triple cardboard layer in the region of the reinforced longitudinal edge section.

[0037] Although the production of a crate according to the invention from blanks 3, 4 which are separate from one another for the shell 2 and the bottom 1 is accompanied by manufacturing advantages, the invention is not restricted to such an embodiment, of course. The crate could also be manufactured from a blank 25 shown in FIG. 4, which forms both the bottom 1 and also the circumferential walls 6 and 7. The formation of the catch attachments 15 from the attachment flaps 10, 11, which are opposing via the shell corners, and which are bent inward about crease lines 12, 13 by 90° and adhesively bonded to one another, remains the same, so that the formfitting latching of the crates stacked one on top of another with the aid of the catch attachments 15 engaging in the corresponding bottom recesses 17 is advantageously utilized.

[0038] According to the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 8 to 11, the catch attachments 15 are formed by attachment flaps 26 of the circumferential walls 6, which are provided only on one side of the shell corners. The attachment flaps 26, which are bent inward about a crease line 27 by 90°, are provided with adhesive flaps 28 in the region facing toward the opposite side of the shell corners. When the box is set up, the circumferential walls 7 overlap the inwardly bent connection flaps 29 of the circumferential walls 6. The arrangement is made in this case so that the circumferential walls 7 have recesses 30 at least on an end face of the box in the region of the adhesive flaps 28, so that the adhesive flaps 28 can be adhesively bonded on the outer side of the connection flaps 29 and do not protrude in relation to the circumferential walls 7, as can be inferred from FIGS. 10 to 12. The connection flaps 29 therefore form a part of the circumferential walls 7. Using the attachment flaps 26, which are formed on one of the two circumferential walls 6, 7, which meet in a shell corner, and are connected via the adhesive flap 28 to the other circumferential wall 7, catch attachments 15 protruding beyond the edge 14 of the circumferential walls 6, 7 are therefore again formed, which engage in a formfitting manner in corresponding recesses 17 in the bottom 1 of structurally equivalent crates placed thereon.