FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a containing box for packaging of products, especially food products, and particularly fresh, frozen, semi-processed and processed alimentary food products, and the like, and flowers.

It is an object of the present invention also the manufacturing process of said containing box.

PRIOR ART

Are known in the art containers for the storage, and/or display, and/or shipping of food products, such as vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, seafood, agricultural products, including flowers, and similar.

The conventional containers already known on the market belong substantially to three main categories: containers made of cardboard, containers made of corrugated boards mainly of polypropylene or PVC, and containers made of injected plastic, whether foldable or solid.

Each of the known solutions is affected by several drawbacks.

In fact, for example, the containers made of cardboard can adsorb humidity and transfer such humidity to the products. The cardboard can also adsorb tastes and smells from the products and, therefore, it is not possible to reuse the same container several times.

Moreover the cardboard for food:

a) has to be treated with fungicide;

b) it is not stackable but only superimposable;

c) the content it is not visible;

d) reduce the speed of cooling of the content;

e) reduce the aeration of the content;

f) in case of contact with water or with a serious humidity has deformation problems.

The commonly used containers made of PVC or polypropylene or plastic in general have not all the inconvenient of the cardboard one but, in comparison with the present invention, are more heavy, and therefore are more expensive both with reference to the manufacturing process (cost of raw material and energy) product and transport.

Moreover the conventional non foldable containers made of plastic materials take a lot of space during the storage and the transportation with a consequent increase of the cost of energy and space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the aim of the present invention to provide a containing box, and a method of producing such a box, for the storage and/or shipping of products, in particular for food products such as meat, agricultural products like fruits and/or vegetables including flowers, which is very lightweight, durable, stackable, washable, odourless, airy, with a perfect visibility of the content and able to provide a great level of protection during transportation and/or storage of the contained products.

Within this aim, it is an object off the present invention to provide a containing box for the storage and/or shipping of products which is extremely hygienic.

Additionally, it is a further aim of the present invention to provide a containing box for the storage and/or shipping of products which is highly eco-friendly, all the components of the container being 100% newly recyclable, thus prevent further demand of virgin plastic.

Within the scope of these aims, it is an object of the present invention to provide a containing box which is economically advantageous.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a containing box which ensure a great level of ventilation of the products if compared with the existing products. Not least, another object of the present invention is to provide a containing box which assure an excellent protection of the products contained therein and, at the same time, allows an effective application of shock cooling and freezing in a very short time.

These aims and these objects, and others that will be more clear after the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, are achieved by a containing box for the storage and/or shipping of products, according to the scope of protection of the attached claims. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further characteristics and advantages of this invention will become clear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment that is merely illustrative and not limitative and is shown in the figures that are attached hereto, in which:

- figurel shows a prospective view of the container according to the present invention in an assembled condition;

- figure 2 shows a prospective view of a detail of the frame of the container according to the present invention in a partially disassembled configuration;

- figure 3 shows other parts of the frame of the container (legs) according to the present invention in a disassembled configuration;

- figure 4 shows a front view of a detail of the frame of figure 2 partially assembled with the parts of figure 3;

- figure 5 shows a side view of the detail of figure 4;

- figure 6 shows two containers according to the present invention one stacked on the other;

- figures from 7 to 12 disclose the manufacturing process of a part of the container according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated in the mentioned figures, the containing box 100 according to the present invention comprises a rigid frame, indicated with the reference number 10, and a bag indicated with 20. More in details, with reference to figures 1 to 5 the containing box 100 according to the present invention comprises an assemblage rigid frame structure 10 which comprises a main structure 11 with a closed profile to which a plurality of leg elements 12 are removably connected.

More in details, the main structure 11 is in the shape of a closed planar structure, preferably a polygonal structure, more preferably a quadrangular structure such as a square or rectangular structure, and the leg elements 12 are in number of four, one for each corner of said structure 11.

With particular reference to figures 4 and 5, the main structure 11 comprises two parallel long sides 11a, 11 b and two parallel short sides 11 c, 11d, thus forming a rectangular structure. The rigid frame structure 10 of the containing box 100 of the present invention is therefore constituted by a rigid main structure 11 and by a plurality of foot elements 12 to be assembled to the said main structure 11 before the use.

As said above, in the embodiment disclosed by the attached figures the frame structure 10 is made of a rigid frame 11 and four legs 12, where said four legs and the frame are produced by two separate injection operations. The height of the legs depends on the needs and use and are automatically inserted into the frame by a simple machine at the end-users facilities (packaging houses etc.) together with the foldable bag 20.

Once the feet are inserted into the frame they create at the top of the frame itself four corner pins in the upper part, indicated with the reference numbers 12'. Thanks to this feature, stacking the loaded containing boxes at the moment of palletizing, these pins 12' enter into the bottom aperture of the legs 12 of the upper box thus enabling the safe stacking of up to 240 cm in height to ensure stability even under poor transport conditions. The situation is shown in figure 6.

With reference to figure 1 , the containing box according to the present invention further comprises a foldable bag 20.

The foldable bag 20 is made of a single sheet of plastic mesh or film of similar recyclable materials, the sheet being folded according to the manufacturing process which is also part of the present invention.

The bag 20 resulting from the manufacturing process is closed in the four corners of the polygonal structure 11 of the frame 10, and it wraps completely said polygonal structure 11 thus ensuring in this way the perfect lodging of the contained goods no matter if they are loaded manually or by automated loading machinery.

The foldable bag 20 is therefore a non-rigid and suspended component.

Thanks to the fact, in particular, that the bag is suspended on the rigid frame 10, any kind of loaded products can be securely contained in the container and protected against bumps and blows.

The bag is manufactured according to the various models of the frame 10. The bag is closed in the four corners of the frame, and it wraps it completely ensuring in this way the perfect lodging of the contained goods no matter if they are loaded manually or by automated loading machinery. The bag, the non-rigid and suspended component of the containing box according to the present invention, contains securely any kind of loaded products protecting it perfectly against bumps and blows.

With reference to figures from 7 to 12, the bag 20 is realized by folding a single sheet of plastic mesh or film.

Figure 7 shown the sheet, the dashed lines indicating the folding lines. By means of inwardly folding the corners of the sheet as shown in figure 8, the foldable bag 20 is formed. As shown in figure 9, sealing elements 22, such as sealing films, can be provided in order to close the folded ends of the bag 20.

Additionally, further sealing plastic films 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d can be provided on the upper edge of the four sides of the bag 20, as shown in figure 10, thus forming a substantially foldable structure 24 adapted to be connected to said frame 10. More in detail, the foldable structure 24 has a substantially box-like shape, protruding toward the outside with respect to the upper edges of the bag 20 so that it can be positioned on said man structure 11 of the frame 10.

As shown in figure 12, the box-like shaped foldable structure 24 is advantageously provided with fixing corner holes 25, one hole at each corner.

Each one of said holes is adapted to receive the upper end of one corner of said polygonal main structure 11 , thus fixing in a stable and suspended position the foldable bag 20 with respect to the frame 10.

In alternative embodiment of the present invention, the foldable bag 20 is directly connected to the frame 10, without the necessity of providing the upper edge of the bag with the foldable structure 24. In order to achieve the necessary mechanical strength of the upper edge of the bag, the same is folded in a specific way in order to have a double layer of sheet in the upper edge region of the bag. The foldable bag 20 is preferably made of plastic, a material that does not absorb or transmit liquid, humidity, odours or germs of any kind. It is a one-way packaging system, but it may also be employed as a multi-use packaging depending on the needs of the client.

At the moment of loading with any product, the containing box according to the present invention, being completely recyclable, and therefore extremely clean and hygienic.

Depending on the type product to be packed, the foldable bag 20 can be realized starting from a single sheet of different materials or different structures: made of net or mesh, micro-perforated plastic film, classic plastic film or transparent plastic, and similar structures, whatever provides the most ideal conditions for the transport or storage of products.

The concept ensures maximum ventilation and excellent protection of the products contained and allows the application of all kind of cooling and freezing in a very reduced time.

Additionally, it has been found that the containing box according to present invention is resistant to high and low temperatures in the range of +45 °C to -25 ^° C. The container can also be washed with its content without any difficulty (from the field to the end-user). This was not possible, for example, with the containers made of cardboard known in the art.

The content of each containing box is perfectly visible and can so easily be controlled. Using containing boxes made of net or transparent film the visual impact is particularly striking and any type of containing box can be personalized according to customer's marketing needs etc, by placing logos, images or marks, for example, on the external surfaces of said box-like shaped foldable structure 24. It has therefore been shown that the containing box according to the present invention achieves the purpose and the objects proposed.

In fact, in addition to the already cited advantages, the containing box according to the present invention is very environmentally friendly, being made exclusively already recycled material for the frame 10 of the containing box. All components of containing box will be after use 100% newly recyclable, thus preventing further demand for virgin plastic.

The containing box according to the present invention are manufactured with the same type of material, such as polypropylene in order to facilitate at maximum the recycling procedure: in this way the complete containing box with all its elements can be shredded and pelletizing after use allowing the immediate conversion of the material directly into a new cycle of production.

Given the characteristics of composition and material and long life expectation of the rigid part of the product, the containing box according to the present invention is a one-way packaging par excellence, but the frame 10 including the feet 12 could be reused lots of times by changing just the bag 20 and using them for example in closed circuits of distribution chains of supermarkets or other retailers. The one-way use greatly facilitates the logistics and considering the market value of the different types of recycled plastic materials it is very easy to sell the used container boxes to local recyclers companies anywhere in the world, because all the elements that make up the containing box are made of the same material, so that no separation process of its components is necessary.

Very important is also the advantageous economic aspect of the containing box according to the present invention: using only already recycled material the containing box according to the present invention costs less than any other packaging system presently introduced on the market and, due also to the significantly reduced weight of the containing box according to the present invention a reduced need of plastic material is reached, and finally a further price reduction.

With the containing box according to the present invention, big savings will be made for various reasons: up to 50% less raw material is needed for the production process, which is faster and costs less, and the production capacity of each injection mould is much higher than that of manufacturing traditional plastic boxes with the use of Injection moulding machines with reduced press tonnage. It has therefore been demonstrated that the containing box according to the present invention is cheaper than the classical boxes made of corrugated cardboard or plastic material without considering the steadily and fast growing prices of carton and virgin plastic raw material. But further savings and advantages are guaranteed: the drastically reduced weight of the packaging creates a lot more transportation capacity for goods, less losses and waste due to the protection of the contained products, the hygienic quality of the containing box, high value of the material of the used boxes and much more.

Thanks to the fact that a big variety of types of containing boxes, with a big choice of sizes in accordance with the standards and regulations in North America and Europe, can be provided, the containing box according to the present invention it is not just a new type of box, but it provide a complete logistical packaging system. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that various modifications can be conceived and reduced to practice without departing from the scope of the invention.

Therefore, the scope of the claims is not limited to the illustrations or the preferred embodiments shown in the description as an example, but rather the claims include all the patentable novelties deriving from this invention, including all the equivalent embodiments for a person skilled in the art.