CARTON AND THE CARTON BLANK

The invention relates to a carton for accommodating one or more articles, for example bottles, which carton is provided with a handle structure to assist a user in carrying the carton and articles. The invention also provides a blank for forming such a carton.

Background of the Invention

It is known to provide handles on cartons to aid carrying such cartons. For example, in GB 2,234,495 there comprises a handle structure applied to a "fully enclosed" carton. The handle is formed from a strip struck from one of the panels and is bowed in a central region and is stabilised by an aperture in an upper flap overlying the top panel.

This handle arrangement cannot be applied to a "wraparound" style of carton, as the carton is formed around a plurality of articles during the loading process in a packaging machine.

GB-A-1 240 549 and US-A-4 582 199 both disclose cartons in which handle portions are provided in their top wall panels defined by apertures in the top wall. There is no disclosure or suggestion of providing reinforcement in the form of a reinforcing strip in either of these prior documents although such is disclosed in US-A-3 794 239.

However, in the present invention the reinforcing strips are extended into the side walls but not into the bottom panel of the carton. The nature of the reinforcing strip thus provided is beneficial because it provides an interrupted reinforcing strip which is applied between the handle apertures of each top handle, so that a minimum amount of reinforcing material is required to achieve a maximum reinforcing effect. This is particularly useful in the

wraparound carton of the present invention; during production of the blanks, the reinforcing strip can readily be cut and applied in a line running through the centre of the carton.

A wraparound style of carton typically comprises a top panel, opposed side panels and a base structure which is formed from the opposed end panels of a carton blank. Thus, the carton will possess a single ply top panel

It is known to provide one or more apertures in a top panel of a wraparound carton, to allow a user to grip such a carton. However, such cartons are typically made to accommodate relatively few items, say, for example, six bottles.

A problem associated with the prior art is how to retain the integrity of such handles which are subject to significant strains when being used on a carton for carrying many more multiple articles.

The present invention and its preferred embodiments seek to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of the prior art.

Summary of the Invention

One aspect of the invention provides a carton for packaging a plurality of articles, for example bottles, comprises a top, opposed side walls and a base, wherein the top wall is a multi-ply panels arrangement comprising a pair of openings which between them define a handle portion to allow a user to lift and carry the carton and wherein the multi-ply panels of the top wall are each provided with a reinforcing strip which are in overlapping relationship to reinforce the multi-ply part of the handle portion, characterized in that each reinforcing strip is

secured to the handle portion of a top wall panel and extends into and is further secured to that adjacent side wall, but stops short of reinforcing the panel which provides the base of the carton.

Preferably, the or each reinforcing strip is attached to the surface of the carton that provides the inner surface of the multi-ply panels.

According to a feature of this aspect of the invention, the carton may further comprise a slit in planar alignment with the or each reinforcing strip, which slit extends between a side wall and the base, thereby to distribute the stresses across a larger area of the carton when lifted and carried. Preferably, a second slit extends between the opposing side wall and base.

Another aspect of the invention provides a blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles, for example bottles, comprising a plurality of panels hinged together,, said panels comprising in series, an outer top wall panel, a first side wall panel, a base panel, a second side wall panel and an inner top wall panel, the inner and outer top wall panels each comprise a pair of openings adapted to be aligned in use to define a handle portion to allow a user to lift and carry the carton, wherein the handle portion is provided with reinforcing strips such that each top wall panel in the region of the handle portion is reinforced by a reinforcing strip, characterized in that the reinforcing strip is secured to the inner top wall panel intermediate the openings and extends into and is further secured to the adjacent side wall panel, but stops short of reinforcing the panels which provide the base of the carton.

According to a feature of this aspect of the invention, the carton may comprise a slit in planar alignment with the or each reinforcing strip, which slit extends across the hinged connection connecting the second side wall panel and the base. Preferably, a second slit is provided

which extends across the hinged connection connecting the first side wall panel and the base.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming a carton according to a first embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a carton formed in a set-up and loaded condition formed from a blank shown in FIGURE 1.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to the drawings there is shown a carton blank for forming a carton.

The blank and carton are formed from paper board or other foldable sheet material, for example plastics or the like, in which there has been added cut and fold lines. The cartons are used to hold one or more articles, for example bottles and to dispense such a product. Whilst in the illustrated embodiment, a unitary blank is used to make a single carton, it is envisaged that two or more blanks may be employed, for example to provide the handle means, described in more detail below.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 , there is shown a blank 10 comprising a plurality of panels for forming a carton with a handle arrangement. In the first embodiment the blank 10 comprises in series an outer top wall panel 12, a first side wall panel 14, a panel 16, a second side wall panel 18, and an inner top wall panel 20 hingedly connected one to the next in series along fold lines 22, 24, 26 and 28 respectively.

In one class of embodiments the side wall panels 14 and 18 are formed into a two-part structure with the provision of a fold line 29 and 32 respectively, positioned intermediate the upper and lower ends of the side wall panels. In some embodiments, there further comprises an access structure to gain access to articles retained within the carton. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1 , the access structure comprises a tear strip formed from frangible fold lines 34 and 35 and a tab 36 formed in the first and second side wall panels 14 and 18.

The articles may be supported in the cartons by one or more apertures 46 and 48 formed in the side walls and lower base structures, as is well-known in the art. In this embodiment the base structure also comprises a series of apertures 50 for receiving and retaining support posts in a crate, to retain the carton in a crate.

Turning to the handle structure, there comprises a pair of flaps 38 for forming hand openings struck from outer top wall panel and hingedly connected thereto along fold lines 39, thereby defining a first handle portion 54 intermediate the flaps 38. A second handle portion 56 is formed in the inner top wall panel 20 by a second pair of inner flaps 40 struck from inner top wall panel. The flaps 40 provide a second pair of openings, in use, and are hingedly connected to the inner top wall panel along fold lines 41. Preferably the inner flaps 40 are

provided with a plurality of score lines (not shown), to allow the flaps 40 to flex around the articles contained in the carton.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 1 , there further comprises a first reinforcing strip 42 applied to the handle portion 54 by glue or other suitable securing means. The strip 42 extends into and is secured to side panel 14. Similarly, there comprises a second reinforcing strip 44 applied to the second handle portion 54 and extends into the second side wall panel and is secured thereto by glue or other suitable means known in the art.

In one class of embodiments, there further comprises a slit 52 applied across the fold line 24 and, preferably, fold line 26 and base wall panel 16. In use, the aperture is used to distribute stress concentration which passes through to the base panel from the handle across a larger area of the carton.

In order to construct the carton, reference is made to the carton illustrated in the FIGURE 2 of the drawings. The folding and gluing operations can be performed in one or more straight line machines, so that the carton does not require to be rotated or inverted to complete its construction. The following process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing requirements.

Referring to Figure 2, the carton is constructed by wrapping the blank 10 around an array of articles that are placed on the base wall panel 16, by known methods. The side wall panels 14 and 16 are folded out of alignment with the base wall panel 16 and the articles located in the apertures 46 and 48. In the illustrated embodiment, 12 bottles are packaged in a 2x6 arrangement. The multi-ply top wall is constructed, by folding the inner top wall panel 20 inwardly along fold line 28, and folding outer top wall panel 12 inwardly along fold line 22 to

overlie the inner top wall panel to be secured thereto by glue or other suitable securing means.

The flaps 38 and 40 are aligned to define a multi-ply handle portion 54/56. The reinforcing strips 42 and 44 are aligned to support and reinforce the handle portion 54/56, thereby to improve the integrity of the handle.

In use, the flaps 38 and 40 are folded inwardly to provide openings for a users hand or fingers to enable the carton to be carried.

It is envisaged that the shape of the handle structure is not limited to that described above and can be altered according to particular size and shape of the carton to be manufactured.

The present invention and its preferred embodiment relate to an arrangement for providing a handle structure in a wrap around carton. However, it is anticipated that the invention can be applied to a wide variety of cartons and is not limited to those of the wrap around type herein before described and can be used for numerous applications. It will be recognised that as used herein directional references such as "top", "base", "side", "inner", and "outer" do not limit the respective panels to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another. Any reference to a hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only: indeed it is envisaged that the hinged connection can be formed from one or more of the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line without departing from the scope of invention.