CONTAINER WITH DISPLAY FUNCTION

Abstract

The present invention provides a packaging container for bulk solids, the container comprising a container body and a container lid. The container body includes wall portions that define a container opening. The lid comprises an upper outer lid surface which includes a slanted lid surface. The upper outer lid surface and the slanted lid surface each having a projected surface in the plane of the container opening. The projected surface of the slanted lid surface constitutes from 40% to 100%, 50% to 90%, or 60% to 80% of the projected surface of the upper outer lid surface. The slanted lid surface is slanted such that when the lid is in a closed position at the container opening, a front end edge of the slanted lid surface is located lower in the height direction of the container than a rear end edge of the slanted lid surface.

Claims

1. A packaging container for bulk solids, said packaging container comprising: a container body formed by a container wall comprising a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, and two side wall portions, said container wall extending from a container bottom to a container opening in a height direction of said container and having a height as measured from said container bottom to said container opening, said container body having an opening edge at said container opening, said opening and said opening edge extending in a plane which is perpendicular to said height direction of said container; and a lid for closing said container opening, said lid having a front lid edge which is adapted to be positioned at a front edge portion of said container opening and a rear lid edge which is adapted to be positioned at a rear edge portion of said container opening, two side lid edges which are adapted to be positioned at corresponding side edge portions of said container opening and an upper outer lid surface being delimited by said lid edges, wherein said upper outer lid surface comprises a slanted lid surface, said upper outer lid surface and said slanted lid surface each having a projected surface in said plane of said opening of said slanted lid surface constituting from 40% to 100% of said projected surface of said upper outer lid surface, such as from 50% to 90% of said projected surface of said upper outer lid surface, or from 60% to 80% of said projected surface of said upper outer lid surface, said slanted lid surface being slanted such that when said lid is in a closed position at said container opening, a front end edge of said slanted lid surface is located lower in said height direction of said container than a rear end edge of said slanted lid surface, and wherein said container comprises mating stacking members for allowing two or more of said packaging container to be arranged in a stacked configuration, said mating stacking members being arranged at said container bottom and at said container opening.

2. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said mating stacking members at said container opening comprise a continuous or discontinuous ledge which surrounds said slanted lid surface and corresponding stacking members at the bottom of said packaging container comprise a bottom edge extending downward in said height direction from a container bottom plate, a height of said bottom edge being adapted to a maximum height of said slanted lid surface above said peripheral ledge whereby any portion of said slanted lid surface which protrudes upwards in said height direction from said peripheral ledge can be accommodated in a space created between said downwardly extending bottom edge and said container bottom plate.

3. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said slanted lid surface is a planar surface.

4. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said slanted lid surface is arranged at a slant angle to said plane of said opening of from 2° to 25°, such as from 3° to 20°, from 4° to 15° or from 5° to 10°.

5. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said lid is wedge-shaped and has an inner lid surface which is parallel to said plane of said opening edge.

6. The packaging container according to claim 5, wherein said lid comprises an outer lid part and an inner lid part, said outer lid surface and said slanted lid surface being provided in said outer lid part.

7. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said front wall is outwardly curved and said container body has a generally D-shaped cross-section.

8. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said container is a paperboard container.

9. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said container is a gastight container and comprises an inner peelable or openable sealing membrane forming a cross-sectional seal between an interior compartment in the container body and the container opening.

10. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein an edge rim is applied to said opening edge of said container body.

11. The packaging container according to claim 10, wherein said lid is arranged to engage with said edge rim to form a closure on said container.

12. The packaging container according to claim 10, wherein said lid is attached by a hinge to said edge rim.

13. The packaging container according to claim 12, wherein said lid comprises a lid part and said edge rim comprises a rim part, said lid part and said rim part being connected by said hinge, wherein said lid part is a profiled part comprising said upper outer surface of said lid and said slanted lid surface said lid part and said rim part forming parts of a lid component.

14. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said container is a container for pulverulent or granulated food-stuff.

15. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein said container is a container for tobacco.

16. A lid component for the packaging container according to any one of the claim 1, said lid component comprising a lid part and a rim part which are connected by a hinge, wherein said lid part is a profiled part comprising said upper outer surface of said lid and said slanted lid surface and wherein said rim part is adapted for attachment to said container body, and is sized and configured to fit around said opening edge of said container body.

17. The lid component according to claim 16, wherein said lid component is stackable and comprises a continuous or discontinuous peripheral ledge surrounding said slanted lid surface on a first outer side of said lid component which peripheral ledge is arranged to cooperate with one or more stacking members at the opposite inner side of said lid component.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] The present invention will be further explained hereinafter by means of non-limiting examples and with reference to the appended drawings wherein:

[0040] FIG. 1 shows a packaging container according to the invention,

[0041] FIG. 2a-2b show a cross-section of the packaging container in FIG. 1 taken along the line II-II,

[0042] FIG. 3a-3c show examples of container body shapes,

[0043] FIG. 4 shows a view of the lid of the packaging container in FIGS. 1 and 2 as seen in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the container opening,

[0044] FIG. 5 shows a side view of a wedge-shaped lid,

[0045] FIG. 6 shows a lid for a packaging container according to the invention,

[0046] FIG. 7 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a variant of the lid in FIG. 6,

[0047] FIG. 8 shows the packaging container in FIGS. 1 and 2a-b with the lid in an open configuration; and

[0048] FIG. 9 shows a lid component comprising a lid portion and a rim portion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] It is to be understood that the drawings are schematic and that individual components, such as layers of material are not necessarily drawn to scale. The packaging container, lids and lid component shown in the figures are provided as examples only and should not be considered limiting to the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is determined solely by the appended claims.

[0050] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a generally cuboid packaging container 1 for pourable or scoopable bulk solids. The particular shape of the container 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 should not be considered limiting to the invention. The packaging container may preferably be a paperboard container, as defined herein.

[0051] The packaging container 1 comprises a container body 2 formed by a container wall including a front wall portion 3, a rear wall portion 4 and two side wall portions 5,6. The container wall portions 3, 4, 5, 6 extend from a container bottom 7 to a container opening 8 in a height direction H of the packaging container 1 and are of equal height h as measured from the container bottom 7 to the container opening 8. A bottom plate 9 is positioned at the bottom 7 of the packaging container 1. The container body may be a paperboard container body, as set out herein. The bottom plate 9 may be made from paperboard, metal, plastic, or from any suitable combination of such materials as known in the art. A bottom edge extends downward in the height direction from the bottom plate 9 whereby a downwardly open space is created between the bottom plate 9 and the bottom edge 10. The bottom edge 10 may be a rolled edge as shown in FIG. 2, or may be provided by a simple, non-rolled join between the bottom plate 9 and the container body 2. Furthermore, the bottom plate may be integrally formed with the container body by folding of an end portion of the container body material.

[0052] The container body 2 has an opening edge 11 at the container opening 8. The opening 8 and the opening edge 11 extend in a plane which is perpendicular to the height direction H of the packaging container 1. The opening edge 11 extends around the opening 8 and is formed by upper end edge portions of the container wall portions 3, 4, 5, 6 and includes a front opening edge portion 13, a rear opening edge portion 14 and two side opening edge portions 15, 16 as indicated in FIG. 3.

[0053] The packaging container 1 comprises a lid 20 for closing the container opening 8. The lid has a front lid edge 21 which is adapted to be positioned at the front opening edge 13 of the container opening 8 and a rear lid edge 22 which is adapted to be positioned at the rear opening edge 14 of the container opening 8, two side lid edges 23,24 being adapted to be positioned at the corresponding side opening edges 15,16 of the container opening 8 and an upper outer lid surface 25 being delimited by the lid edges 21,22,23,24. The upper outer lid surface 25 comprises a slanted lid surface 26. The upper outer lid surface 25 and the slanted lid surface 26 each has a projected surface 25p, 26p in the plane of the opening 8, as illustrated in FIG. 4. The projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25 includes the projected surface 26p of the slanted lid surface 26p and the projected surface 26p of the slanted lid surface 26 constitutes 40%-100% of the projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25, such as from 50% to 90% of the projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25. It may be preferred that the projected surface 26p of the slanted lid surface 26 constitutes a major portion of the projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25 such as from 60% to 80% of the projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25 or 65% to 75% of the projected surface 25p of the upper outer lid surface 25. The slanted lid surface 26 is slanted such that when the lid 20 is in a closed position at the container opening 8, the front end edge 27 of the slanted lid surface 26 is located below the rear end edge 28 of the slanted lid surface 26 in the height direction H of the packaging container 1.

[0054] The packaging container 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be stacked on another such packaging container 1 by resting the rolled bottom edge 10 on the portions of the upper outer surface 25 forming a ledge 19 surrounding the slanted lid surface 26, the rolled bottom edge 10 and the ledge 19 thus forming mating stacking members. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the portion of the lid 20 on which the slanted lid surface 26 is found forms a protrusion from the plane in which the ledge 19 is arranged, which plane may be considered to be a base plane for the lid 20. When one packaging container 1 is stacked upon another identical packaging container, the protruding slanted portion of the lid 20 is fully accommodated in the space defined by the bottom plate 9 and the downwardly extending bottom edge 10. Accordingly, the packaging containers can be safely stacked on top of each other in a stable and horizontal arrangement, despite the profiled, slanted shape of the lids 20.

[0055] The lid 20 is connected to the container body 2 with a hinge 30 arranged at the rear lid edge 22 of the lid. The hinge permits the lid 20 to be moved between the closed position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2a an open position as shown in FIGS. 8 and 2b. As set out herein, a hinged connection between the container body and the lid is optional to the invention. Accordingly, the lid may alternatively be made without a hinge as a separate and completely removable part of the packaging container 1. The hinge may be a live hinge or a two-part hinge, as disclosed herein.

[0056] The container body 1 has an interior compartment 31 which is shown in FIG. 2a to contain packaged bulk material 32. The interior compartment 31 in FIG. 2a is sealed with a fully or partly removable protective membrane 33 which is applied over the packaged goods and which is sealed to the walls 3-6 of the container body 2. In order to gain a first access to the packaged goods, a user needs to swing back the lid 20 to the open position and expose the packaged goods 32 by fully or partly removing the protective membrane 33. The protective membrane may be arranged to be peeled away from the walls of the container body 2 or may be arranged with means for breaking the membrane so that it can be at least partly removed from the opening. The protective membrane 33 is an optional feature of the disclosed packaging container 1 and may be omitted.

[0057] Once the protective membrane 33 has been removed, it is sufficient to open the lid 20 in order to gain access to the bulk goods in the interior compartment 31.

[0058] When the packaging container 1 is open, a desired quantity of the packaged goods 32 may be removed from the packaging container 1 through the opening 8 either by hand, by using a scoop or a spoon, or by pouring.

[0059] In order to keep the lid 20 in the closed position during the time between dispensing occasions, the packaging container 1 may be provided with a locking arrangement 34. The locking arrangement 34 may comprise mating locking elements 34a, 34b, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The locking elements may be arranged on the lid 20 and on the container body 2 or, as shown in FIGS. 2, 8 and 9, on the lid 20 and on a rim 35 which is attached to the container body at the opening edge 11.

[0060] As is shown in FIGS. 3a-3c, the container body of the packaging containers according to the invention may have any useful shape as long as it has a front wall portion, a rear wall portion and two side wall portions. FIG. 3a shows a container body 2a having a generally D-shaped footprint with an outwardly curved front wall portion 3a, curved corners, planar side wall portions 5a, 6a and a planar rear wall portion 4a. This is the same shape as the shape of the container body 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0061] The container body 2b in FIG. 3b has curved corners and planar side wall portions 5b, 6b as well as a planar front wall portion 3b and a planar rear wall portion 4b.

[0062] The container body 2c in FIG. 3c has curved corners, curved front and rear wall portions 3c, 4c and planar side wall portions 5c, 6c.

[0063] FIG. 5 shows a side view of a wedge-shaped lid 520 according to the invention and illustrates how the slant angle α is measured as the angle between the slanted lid surface 526 on the upper outer lid surface 525 and a plane P which is parallel to the plane of the container opening over which the lid 520 is to be fitted, which is also a plane perpendicular to the height direction H of a packaging container as disclosed herein.

[0064] The lid in FIG. 5 is shown schematically without any optional components, such as a connection/hinge at the rear end 522 of the lid or a locking arrangement/locking element at the front end 521 of the lid 520.

[0065] FIGS. 6 and 7 show further embodiments of a lid according to the invention. In FIG. 6, the portion of the lid 620 on which the slanted lid surface 626 is arranged is shown to be surrounded by a groove and a ledge 619. Again, the slant angle α is measured as the angle between the slanted lid surface 626 on the upper outer lid surface 625 and a plane P which is parallel to the plane of the container opening over which the lid is to be fitted, which is also a plane perpendicular to the height direction H of a packaging container as disclosed herein.

[0066] FIG. 7 shows schematically a variation of the FIG. 6 lid, wherein the slanted lid surface 726 is partly sunken below the plane of the surrounding ledge 719.

[0067] The lids in FIGS. 6 and 7 are shown schematically without an optional connection/hinge at the rear end 622, 722 of the lid but with a locking arrangement/locking element 634, 734 at the front end 621, 721 of the lid 620, 720.

[0068] FIG. 8 shows the packaging container 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 with the lid 20 in an open position, revealing the inner lid surface 29 and the interior compartment 31. The packaging container 1 in FIG. 8 is shown without an inner sealing membrane or packaged contents.

[0069] The inner lid surface 29 is shown to be planar and when the lid 20 is in the closed position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inner lid surface 29 is arranged parallel to the plane of the container opening 8. The lid 20 as shown in FIG. 8 is formed from an outer lid part 20a and an inner lid part 20b. The outer lid part 20a is a profiled part with a three-dimensional shape providing the upper outer surface 25 of the lid as well as the slanted lid surface 26. As is seen in FIG. 9, the outer lid part 20a has an inner surface 41 comprising a pattern of reinforcing ridges 42. The inner lid part 20b is shown to be a planar disk.

[0070] The two lid parts 20a, 20b are mechanically attached to each other by the inner lid part 20b being snapped into a groove extending along the edge of the outer lid part 20a, on the inner surface thereof. The inner lid part 20b may be formed from any suitable material, such as paperboard, plastic, laminated paperboard, etc.

[0071] FIG. 9 shows a lid component 50 comprising an outer lid part 20a comprising an outer lid surface including a slanted surface, and a rim part 35a which are connected by a hinge 30. The hinge 30 may be a live hinge or a two-part hinge, as disclosed herein. The rim part 35a is adapted for attachment to the container body, and is sized and configured to fit around the opening edge 11 of the container body 2. The rim part 35a may be directly attached to the container body 2, or may be attached via an intermediate attachment rim arranged on the container body 2.

[0072] FIG. 9 also illustrates the locking arrangement 34 in FIG. 1 comprising a first locking element 34a at the front edge 21 of the outer lid part 20a and a second mating locking element 34b on the front edge 43 of the rim part 35a.

[0073] A lid for the packaging container as disclosed herein, upper and lower reinforcement rims, lid components, etc. may be formed from thermo-formable or moldable plastic materials, e.g. by injection molding. Injection molding is particularly suitable for producing plastic components having a three-dimensional structure, such as the lid component 50 shown in FIG. 9.

[0074] It should be understood that the lid construction shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is optional to the packaging container of the claimed invention. In particular, a lid for the packaging containers as disclosed herein may be made without an inner reinforcing framework, may be made as a single part, may be integrally formed with a plastic rim and a hinge, as shown in FIG. 9 or may be formed as a separate part which may be provide with a hinge element for creating a hinged connection to a container body or to a separate rim attached to a container body.

[0075] It is also to be understood that the shape of the lid may be different from that shown in the figures as long as the lid has the required outer slanted surface. As set out herein, the lid will generally have a contour which is adapted to the contour of the container opening, so as to create a good fit between the lid and the container opening. Moreover, the slanted surface may have a contour which is different from the contour of the lid. By way of example, the slanted surface may be oval, square, rectangular, etc. Furthermore, the slanted surface may be offset from a central position on the upper outer surface of the lid. The slanted surface may protrude from a base surface, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 8 or may be partly sunken below a base surface, as shown in FIG. 7.