Generally known from prior art is a box pack carrier, designed for packing and carrying unit boxes, made of a carrying wrap. An example of such a carrier is the cardboard wrap, designed for packing sets of cartons filled with juice, and adapted for carrying with one hand, using the grip openings. The wrap is formed from a single cardboard blank, in which two symmetrically disposed openings are cut out in the middle part of the blank, wherein the ends of the blank are fastened at the bottom, typically with an adhesive. Additionally, a label with bar code, which provides the kind of the contents of the packing and its price, is attached to the packing.

A disadvantage of this kind of packing is its limited usefulness with regard to heavier and bulkier cartons. The cardboard wraps used for the packing of beverage cartons of one-litre capacity can be easily damaged, as their grips do not withstand the weight and break easily. In consequence, a reasonable use of these wraps seems to be good rather for promotional sale of sets of carton-packed beverages only.

Another disadvantage of this packing is the technique of forming the set of cartons that are arranged in two adjacent rows, which is incompatible with the filling process, wherein the cartons are moving on a packaging line in a single row.

Moreover, a disadvantage of this packing is that this is not recommended for packing cartons of such a design in which the seams of a sealed carton run across the middle of its base and side walls. Cartons of this kind, under pressure exerted on their side walls, easily undergo deformation as a result of stress in the carrier being used.

Additionally, the lengthways arrangement of cartons in the box pack carrier has the inconvenience that the cartons front walls become hidden, although they are typically the most attractive carton walls to the viewer and contain important information on both the product contained and its manufacturer. Exposure of carton side walls, typically of little commercial interest, in the carton carrier, clearly lowers its market attractiveness.

Known from the disclosure of Polish Patent Application PCT/PL97/00012 by the same applicant is a packing carrier which, although designed for packing and carrying bottles, can also be used for unit packages of another kind, including bags and boxes. The packing carrier, preferably made of cardboard or pasteboard, is formed from two symmetrical carrying parts with central walls superimposed so as to form a central portion of the carrier, wherein both central walls have their openings aligned and connected by a lock to form a grip, and each of the central walls comprises at least one partly cut-out ring with an internal opening, each of said rings is provided with frontal wing, wherein each of the carrying parts comprises, in addition to the central wall, a bottom wall and an external wall which all together form the external portion of the carrier, said portion is attached to the frontal wing of the ring and, by means of the ring, fastens the central part with the external portion of each of the carrying parts of the carrier. Additionally, during assembling of the carrier, a girding polypropylene strap is inserted into the appropriate, symmetrically disposed, openings in the external walls of each of the carrying parts.

A disadvantage of the pack carrier of this kind is that it can be used for non- standard boxes in the form of a cylinder or polyhedron only, which drastically limits usefulness of this design for box packaging where the common form is a cuboid.

The purpose of this invention is to permit packing and carrying at least several boxes, especially cuboid boxes with contents, placed in a comfortable common packing provided with a safe grip. Another purpose of the invention is to permit storing the carriers in layers and stacks, while the product markings and manufacturer's logo, which are shown on the front wall of the box or carton, would be exposed.

The purpose has been achieved by devising a box pack carrier, preferably formed from a single cardboard or pasteboard blank, comprising two carrying parts with central walls, put together to form the central part of the carrier, wherein two central walls are superimposed so as to have their openings aligned, fastened with a lock to form a grip, wherein each of the central walls is connected to the bottom wall which is connected to the external wall, wherein each of the carrying parts terminates with a cover wall which, when the carrier is assembled, is placed in the openings of the carrying parts.

Preferably, the cover wall of each of the carrying parts is extended with a flap.

Preferably, the cover wall of each of the carrying parts is fastened with a sticker, wherein the sticker is attached in the openings of said carrying parts, wherein a grip is provided, each of said carrying parts has a tab to strengthen said grip.

According to the invention, the carrying parts that make up the carrier are connected to each other along two foldlines.

Preferably, the foldlines are situated on the symmetry axis of the two carrying parts which make up the carrier, wherein a sum of the length of these foldlines is approximately equal to the height of the external wall. Preferably, the two foldlines situated on the symmetry axis of both carrying parts are additionally scored to facilitate assembling.

Preferably, the height of the external walls is approximately equal to the height of the box accommodated in the carrier, wherein the width of the bottom wall approximately equals the length of the greater side of the base of the box accommodated in the packing, whereas the length of the bottom wall is approximately a multiple of the length of the smaller side of the base of the box.

A major advantage of the box pack carrier made according to the invention as described above is its active internal construction, which represents a double tightening loop, which permits to achieve a desirable distribution of the forces of gravity in the carrier carried by the grip, and causes the paper sticker attached onto the cover walls in the opening of the grip to hold the carrying parts together strong enough, and to support a weight ranging from several to ten or so kilograms of the carrier load.

The packing and fastening of the box pack carriers according to the invention is fast and easy, either on the automatic packaging line or with manual forming of the box pack carriers where no equipment or special tools are required.

Another advantage of the box pack carrier according to the invention is also that the boxes can be packed by wrapping their sides around with carrier external walls and exposing their front surfaces. As a result, no extra marking of the box pack carrier is required, which substantially reduces the costs of its production and efficiently eliminates the transparent plastic films generally employed for this purpose.

The box pack carrier blank made of cardboard or pasteboard, whether unprinted or printed with a permanent product information only, can be easily supplemented with current information printed on a sticker which at the same time fastens the whole of the box pack carrier.

The subject of the invention is illustrated in three embodiments in the drawing. Shown in Fig. 1, spread on surface, are two carrying parts connected with each other along the foldline which runs perpendicular to the side edges of said carrying parts. Fig. 2 presents the box pack carrier according to the invention, formed from two carrying parts fastened with a sticker, in a perspective view. Fig. 3 depicts, spread on surface, the two carrying parts connected along their symmetry axis, which runs along the side edges of the carrying parts.

The box pack carrier, preferably made of cardboard or pasteboard, is made of two carrying parts 1. Each of said carrying parts has a lock 2 designed to fasten both central walls 3 and to form a grip 4. Each of said central walls 3 is provided with an opening 5, said each of the central walls 3 is connected to the bottom wall 7 said bottom wall 7 is connected to the external wall 9, said external wall is connected to the cover wall 60 that extends with a flap 61. All the walls and extensions of the carrying parts are connected with foldlines (Fig. 1).

The distance from the bottom wall 7 to the edge of opening 5 provided in the central wall 3 approximately equals the height of the box packed in the box pack carrier, said height approximately equals the height of the external wall 9. The width of the bottom wall 7 of the box pack carrier approximately equals the length of the greater side of the base of this box, whereas length of bottom wall 7 approximately equals a multiple of the smaller side of the base of the box accommodated in the carrier.

The central walls 3 and flaps 61 of each of the carrying parts 1 are superimposed to form the central portion of the carrier, away from which are the external portions, formed by bottom walls 7 external walls 9 and cover walls 60 and said external portions of the carrier thus formed are fastened with a sticker 62 which is glued onto the both cover walls and placed in the openings (5) of the central portion of the carrier, wherein each of the two carrying parts 1 have a tab 63 which strengthens the grip 4 (Fig. 2) The two carrying parts 1 are connected with each other along two foldlines 64 and 65. situated on the symmetry axis of said carrying parts 1. To facilitate the folding operation, foldlines 64 and 65 are scored on the blank.

The foldline 64 connects the central walls 3 of two contiguous carrying parts 1 at a length of a,whereas the foldline 65 connects the flaps 61 of said carrying parts 1 over a length of b. A sum of a + b of the lengths of foldlines 64 and 65 approximately equals the height ofthe external wall 9 ofthe box pack carrier (Fig. 3).

The box pack carrier in the embodiment of the invention presented in Fig. 1 is formed as follows: both the carrying parts 1 with the central walls 3 are folded along the folding axis of these carrying parts 1, by bringing said two central walls 3 together and aligning their openings 5, then fastening said central walls 3 with a lock 2 to form a grip 4. The central portion thus formed is then vertically placed on a flat surface, and on both sides of said central portion on bottom walls 7, boxes are disposed and their sides wrapped around with the external walls 9 closed from the top with cover walls 60 by inserting them in the openings 5. while the ends of the cover walls are fastened.

The box pack carrier according to the embodiment presented in Fig. 2, is formed in another way, namely: the set of boxes to be packed are separated into two rows of identical length by placing them successively on each of the two separate carrying parts 1 along the bottom wall 7. Each of the resulting blocks of boxes is wrapped from one side with the external wall 9 cover wall 60 and the flap 61, and from the other side, with the central wall 3, by pressing home the flap 61 and cover 60 against the block of boxes being packed. Subsequently, two wrapped-up blocks of boxes are set by putting them together by their central walls 3 and by fastening cover walls 60 with each other with a sticker 62 attached onto surfaces of said cover walls 60 in the openings 5 . Finally, the central walls 3 are fastened with the lock 2 to form grip4.

A box pack carrier according the embodiment presented in Fig. 3 is formed in the most advantageous manner by making use of all the possibilities offered by one cardboard blank of two carrying parts 1 connected to each other along the symmetry axis along two foldlines 64 and 65. Thus the set of boxes to be packed are lined up in a long row on the bottom wall 7 of the contiguous carrying parts 1. The resultant block of packed boxes is wrapped around from one side with the external wall 9 cover wall 60 and the flap 61, and from the other side, by the central wall 3 by pressing said flap 61 and said cover 60 against the block of boxes being packed. The single-row packing thus achieved is folded up in half, along the foldlines 64 and 65 until the central walls 3 of both carrying parts 1 come into contact, and subsequently the cover walls 60 are fastened with a sticker 63.

A rigid and stable construction of the box pack carrier according to the invention is achieved owing to the connection of the two carrying parts 1 along the foldlines 64 and 65 in the central portion of the carrier, by fastening said cover walls 60 of the external portions with a sticker 62 finally by interlocking the lock 2 of the grip 4.

By lifting the box pack carrier by the grip 4 the carrying parts 1 of the box pack carrier loaded with its contents, adhere tightly from all sides to the two separate and analogous blocks of boxes, thereby forming a double tightening loop, which efficiently prevents boxes from falling out from the carrier through the open side walls.

The box pack carrier, especially for boxes with contents, can be easily arranged in rows, layers and stacks. In the case of box pack carrier made from higher-rigidity cardboard, the grip of the lower-lying layer is made to enter between the carrying parts 1 in the central portion of the box pack carrier of the upper layer arranged on the cover walls 60 of the lower-layer carriers.

In the case of cartons, preferably of softer stock and higher strength, during stacking and layering of the carriers the grip becomes bent down under the weight of the upper layer, said grip becomes seated between the cover wall 60 of the lower- layer carriers and the bottom walls 7 of the upper-layer carriers.

Either manner of setting up of the box pack carriers permit to fill up quickly the space of the palettes and transport carriers, while the construction of the carrier made according to the disclosure herein permits the carrier to be widely used in mass production, distribution, and high-volume sales, of all kinds of boxes as well as of beverage cartons.