METHOD FOR PRODUCING A CARDBOARD BOX

Abstract

A method for producing a cardboard box comprising a rigid window made of a transparent material extending over at least two adjacent faces of the box includes the following steps: supplying a continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, the width of which corresponds to the deployed width of the window; forming in the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic a succession of longitudinal cuts distributed longitudinally with a spacing corresponding to the width of the window and laterally according to the widths of the adjacent faces.

Claims

1.-12. (canceled)

13. A method for producing a cardboard box comprising a rigid window made of a transparent material extending over at least two adjacent faces of the box, the method comprising: supplying a continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, a width of the rigid transparent plastic corresponding to a width of the window; forming a succession of longitudinal cuts in the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, the succession of longitudinal cuts distributed longitudinally with a spacing corresponding to the width of the window and laterally according to widths of the at least two adjacent faces; forming at least one longitudinal groove line on the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, the at least one longitudinal groove line passing through a median longitudinal axis of the longitudinal cuts; cutting the width of rigid transparent plastic to individualize windows according to a cross-sectional line passing through a middle of a row of longitudinal cuts; and applying one or more of the individualized windows onto cardboard blanks comprising at least two faces with a groove line therebetween, with adhesive on each of the one or more individualized windows being in contact with an associated cardboard blank, the at least one longitudinal groove line on the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic being aligned with the groove line between the at least two faces of the associated cardboard blank.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein forming the longitudinal cuts is carried out using an abrasive disc.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising heating areas of the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising forming the cuts of the succession of longitudinal cuts in the heated areas.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising forming the at least one longitudinal groove line in a heated area of the heated areas.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising extracting dust and chips from the areas of the cuts of the succession of longitudinal cuts.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the cuts of the succession of longitudinal cuts have a length between 20 millimeters and 35 millimeters and a width of less than 3 millimeters.

20. A system for manufacturing a cardboard box having a rigid window made of a transparent material extending over at least two adjacent faces of the box, the system comprising: a suction belt for moving a continuous width of rigid transparent plastic; a station for forming, in the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, a succession of longitudinal cuts distributed longitudinally with a spacing corresponding to a width of the window and laterally according to widths of the adjacent faces; a station for forming grooves on the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic; a station for transversely cutting the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic along a transverse cutting line passing through the middle of a row of longitudinal cuts; and a station for applying one or more windows onto cardboard blanks comprising at least two faces with a groove line therebetween, with adhesive on the windows being in contact with an associated cardboard blank, a groove on the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic being aligned with the groove line between the at least two faces of the associated cardboard blank.

21. The system of 20, wherein the station for forming longitudinal cuts comprises abrasive discs.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a depth-adjustable carriage for alternately forming the longitudinal cuts and the grooves on the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, the carriage being controlled by a programmable controller for synchronization with movement of the continuous width of rigid transparent plastic, as a function of a length of the windows.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the station for forming the succession of longitudinal cuts in the width of rigid transparent plastic is configured to form the longitudinal cuts to have a length between 20 millimeters and 35 millimeters, with the cuts being distributed longitudinally with a spacing corresponding to the width of the window and laterally according to the widths of the adjacent faces.

24. A cardboard box comprising a rigid window made of a transparent material extending over at least two adjacent faces of the box, the window having at least one groove extended on each opposing side by a cut, wherein the cuts are distributed longitudinally with a spacing corresponding to a width of the window and laterally according to widths of the adjacent faces.

25. The cardboard box of claim 24, wherein the cut has two parallel edges arranged on either side of the center axis of the corresponding groove and, wherein a length of each cut is between 1 and 1.1 times a width of a peripheral gluing strip.

26. The cardboard box of claim 24, wherein each cut has a length between 20 millimeters and 35 millimeters and a width of less than 3 millimeters.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] The method disclosed herein will be best understood when reading the following description thereof, which relates to a non-restrictive exemplary embodiment, while referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0040] FIG. 1 shows an unfolded view of a cardboard according to one embodiment of the disclosure;

[0041] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of area A according to one embodiment of the disclosure; and

[0042] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a piece of equipment according to the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] The box according to this disclosure consists of a cardboard blank 100 on which a transparent plastic window 50 is glued.

[0044] The cardboard blank 100 is cut and grooved to have four lateral faces 10, 20, 30, 40 extended by upper tabs 11, 21, 31, 41 and lower tabs 12, 22, 32, 42 forming the upper and lower bottoms when the box is shaped. A side flap 13 makes it possible for the side faces to be closed by gluing.

[0045] On this cut cardboard blank 100 is glued a PVC or PET window, covering the main face 20 with a central area 52 and partially covering the lateral faces 10, 30 with lateral areas 51 and 53, respectively.

[0046] The plastic sheet window 50 is cold or hot grooved with grooves 54 and 55, facilitating the folding of the relatively rigid plastic window 50 when the assembly is shaped after gluing the plastic window 50 to the cardboard blank 100.

[0047] The window 50 has, at the ends of each groove 54, 55, a rectangular cut 57 extending from the peripheral edge of the window to the edge of the cut formed in the cardboard blank 100. The height of this cut 57 is slightly higher than the width of the gluing surfaces 15, 25 where the plastic sheet window 50 is superimposed on the cardboard blank 100. Typically, the height of the cut 57 is between 1 and 1.1 times the width of this overlapping area 15, 25, the width of which is typically about 12 millimeters. The width of the cut 57 is about 1.5 millimeters for a thin window, typically 3 millimeters.

[0048] The equipment for manufacturing such boxes includes a vacuum conveyor belt 205 driving the continuous width of transparent plastic 200 from an unwinder 201. The width of the continuous width of transparent plastic 200 corresponds to the width of the window 50.

[0049] A first station, cutting station 210, includes means for forming the cut alignments, by consecutive transverse series. These cuts have a height twice that of the final cut of a window 50, e.g., from 20 mm to 40 mm.

[0050] These cuts can be formed by abrasive discs rotating at high speed, such as above 50,000 rpm. They can also be formed by water jet cutting, laser cutting or use any other means.

[0051] This workstation operates synchronously with the scrolling of the width of transparent plastic 200 to produce a line of cuts 57 at regular intervals corresponding to the width of the window 50.

[0052] The abrasive disc is mounted on a depth-adjustable carriage to successively cut and groove the PVC window, and is synchronized with the feed movement of the coil, depending on the length of the window.

[0053] The feed rate of the width is controlled by a servomotor controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) to determine the spacing between each one.

[0054] The next station, grooving station 220, performs hot or cold grooving to continuously form the grooves 54, 55 on the continuous width of transparent plastic 200. These lines pass through the longitudinal cuts made at cutting station 210.

[0055] The cutting and grooving may be carried out in one and the same station.

[0056] The so cut and grooved width of transparent plastic 200 then passes through a station 230 making a transverse cut to individualize the windows. These cuts pass through the middle of the longitudinal cut alignments.

[0057] It should be noted that the grooving station 220 can be located upstream or downstream of the cutting station 210.

[0058] Next, a receiver station 240 stacks the prepared windows and a destacker picks them up one by one to move them onto a cardboard blank to perform the gluing.

[0059] The features of the various embodiments described herein are not mutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations and permutations, even if such combinations or permutations are not expressly described herein, without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In fact, variations, modifications, and other implementations of what is described herein will occur to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosure. As such, the invention is not to be defined only by the preceding illustrative description, but only by the claims which follow, and legal equivalents thereof.