Field of The Invention

[0001] The present invention generally finds application in the field of packaging and particularly relates to an multifunctional stackable container for display and transport of fruit and vegetable products.

Background art

[0002] Containers made of a light-weight material, such as wood, plastic or cardboard, that can be stacked to reduce the space on pallets, trucks and stands in stores, markets and supermarkets have been long known in the field of packaging and transport of food products, namely fruits and vegetables.

[0003] Typically, in order to ensure hygiene and facilitate weighing, small- and medium-size fruit and vegetable products, such as strawberries, apricots, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, zucchini, etc., are collected by dealers and manufacturers in trays, preferably made of a transparent plastic material, after being washed and cleaned.

[0004] As used herein, the term "container" and derivatives thereof shall be intended to designate a container for collecting fruit and vegetable products directly or in trays of smaller dimensions; the term "tray" and derivatives thereof shall be intended to designate an open container or tray, generally made of a plastic or paper material, that can collect and separate a given number of loose fruit and vegetable products. Alternatively it may also designate a support having adjacent cells, and made of this paper or plastic, for containing products such as kiwis, apples, pears, persimmons, apricots.

[0005] Food products are known to be highly perishable and susceptible to rotting and generating molds in a short time, especially when they are stored in moist and poorly ventilated environments. Therefore the need is felt to conceive and provide a system for display and transport of products that will ensure continuous ventilation and no heat insulation both in containers and in trays.

[0006] Stacked containers often cause the trays to contact each other, thereby blocking air circulation and condensation removal above the products. [0007] A further need that is felt in this field is to allow customers to see the food products even when they are arranged in trays that are in turn contained in stacked containers. Stacked containers often prevent three-dimensional visibility of the products, or prevent or at least hinder product inspection from every side and to the bottom, to check whether the lowermost products are under the same conditions as those “displayed” on top, i.e. are intact, or whether they are rotten or molded and should be discarded.

[0008] As used herein, the term "three-dimensional visibility" is intended to designate the possibility to see fruit and vegetable products from every side and at every level.

[0009] In an attempt to improve and reduce the costs of containers for collection and transport of fruit and vegetable products, stackable containers made of plastic, wood or cardboard have been conceived and developed, as disclosed, for example in GB993401 , GB2185964, GB21 88036, GB2313830, US5390847.

[0010] While these prior art containers afford improvements as compared with prior art articles, they still can ensure neither ventilation and air circulation nor visibility of the products on display.

Technical Problem

[0011] In the light of the prior art, the technical problem addressed by the present invention is to maintain freshness and three-dimensional visibility of the fruit and vegetable products displayed in the containers.

Disclosure of the invention

[0012] A general object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned product by providing a multifunctional stackable container that is efficient and cost-effective.

[0013] A particular object is to provide a stackable container which facilitates ventilation and air circulation in the trays containing the fruit and vegetable products even if they are accommodated in traditional containers.

[0014] A further object is to provide a container that affords three- dimensional vision of the products collected in the trays.

[0015] Yet another object is to provide light-weight containers, which nevertheless withstand high loads during stacking.

[0016] These and other objects, as better explained hereafter, are fulfilled by a multifunctional stackable container as defined in claim 1 , which comprises a unitary structure composed of a substantially flat base and a plurality of feet extending from the base, wherein the base has a central zone and a raised peripheral rim for containing a plurality of transparent trays for the products on display, the base having a plurality of openings for facilitating air circulation in the toward the trays and the feet face downwards and have a predetermined height with lower ends that can removably fit into appropriate seats of an underlying container.

[0017] With to this configuration, when several containers are stacked, their main walls are suitably spaced apart from each other and from the trays housed therein to accomplish two tasks, i.e. both optimized product ventilation and full visibility and inspectability of the products from every side.

[0018] Advantageous embodiments of the invention are obtained in accordance with the dependent claims.

Brief Description of The Drawings

[0019] Further features and advantages of the invention will be more apparent from the detailed description of a preferred, non-exclusive embodiment of a multifunctional stackable container, which is described as a non-limiting example with the help of the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an axonometric view of an assembled container of the invention; FIG. 2 is an axonometric view of two containers as shown in FIG. 1 in stacked relationship;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a die-cut base material sheet having fold lines to obtain the assembled container of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is an axonometric view of a first portion of the container of FIG. 1 ; FIG. 5 is an axonometric view of a second portion of the container of FIG.

1 ;

FIG. 6 is an axonometric view of the container of FIG. 1 , with a first tray arrangement;

FIG. 7 is an axonometric view of the container of FIG. 1 , with a second tray arrangement;

FIG. 8 is an axonometric view of the container of FIG. 1 with a third tray arrangement, with trays simultaneously having multiple different shapes and sizes.

Detailed description of an embodiment

[0020] Particularly referring to the above figures, there is shown a multifunctional stackable container of the invention, generally designated by numeral 1 , for display and transport of fruit and vegetable products, not shown.

[0021] The container 1 comprises a unitary structure 2 composed of a substantially flat support base 3 with a plurality of substantially squat column like feet 4 extending therefrom.

[0022] In the illustrated embodiment, the support base 3 has a substantially rectangular plan shape defining a longitudinal axis L parallel to a long side 3a and a transverse axis T parallel to the short side 3b. Nevertheless, a different plan shape, e.g. a square or polygonal shape may be also provided, without departure from the scope of the invention.

[0023] The base 3 has a central portion 5 and a peripheral folded and raised rim 6, which is adapted to hold a plurality of transparent trays V, designed to contain the products on display. Figs. 6 and 7 show containers with trays of different sizes thereupon, but of one size on the same container, whereas FIG. 8 show containers that holds trays of different sizes.

[0024] According to the invention, the base 3 has a plurality of through openings 7 in its central portion, which are much wider than in prior art containers, and are adapted to facilitate air recirculation and renewal to create a microclimate that can keep the products in the trays V fresh and mold-free, and avoid early rotting.

[0025] Conveniently, the openings 7 are arranged in side by side arrangement, thereby creating a central area 5 of the base with a peripheral frame 5a and longitudinal 5b and transverse 5c ribs, for supporting the trays V.

[0026] Furthermore, these openings 7 are wide enough to allow the consumer to check the presence of deteriorated or waste products that may be found on the bottom of the trays V and would not be otherwise visible.

[0027] Conveniently, the feet 4 face downwards and act as supports for the container 1 on a horizontal surface. The feet 4 have a predetermined height h and have, at their lower ends, appropriate appendages 8 which can be removably coupled with the peripheral rim 6 of an underlying container, as clearly shown in FIG. 2.

[0028] The height h of the feet 4 is suitably selected for a gap or space 9 to be formed between each container 1 and the one underlying it, to prevent the base 3 to rest upon the trays V. Furthermore, the feet 4 are of such a size as to form respective side openings 14a, 14b in the side walls 13, 14, with the rim of the underlying container. These side openings 14a, 14b are suitably sized to afford optimized air recirculation above the trays V, in addition to improving the three-dimensional visibility of the products.

[0029] For this purpose, containers of different heights h will be conveniently provided, according to the sizes of the trays V, in view of always providing a space 9 having an adequate height.

[0030] In terms of construction, the unitary structure 2 is composed of a unitary flat sheet 10 of a rigid or semirigid base material, having a substantially constant thickness s, which will be suitably die cut along the outer profile 1 1 and pre-folded along lines 12, as shown in FIG. 3.

[0031] Preferably, the base material may be corrugated cardboard, for example single-, double- or tri-wall corrugated cardboard, for example having a thickness s of about 5 mm. Alternatively, the base material may be selected from corrugated or honeycomb-core plastic panels, or any type of rigid or semirigid panel having the above discussed characteristics.

[0032] As is known in the art, the sheet 10 will be pre-punched or die cut along its outer profile 1 1 by punching blades, and will undergo rolling or partial cutting at the pre-fold lines 12.

[0033] The die-cut and pre-folded cardboards or sheets 10 will be kept in a flat position, and later undergo folding and gluing of the folded parts to form longitudinal side walls 13 and transverse side walls 14, the raised rim 6 and the feet 4 being substantially perpendicular to the base 3. [0034] Particularly, the raised rim 6 will be obtained by providing longitudinal and transverse end strips 15, 16 respectively, which are joined to their respective side walls 13, 14 and have pre-fold lines 17, 18 along their extent.

[0035] Concerning the feet 4, they consist of a first series of longitudinal rectangular panels 19, 19a, 19b, 19c which extend from the longitudinal wall 13 and of a second series of transverse rectangular panels 20, 20a, 20b, 20c which extend from the transverse wall 14 and are folded upon themselves and mutually glued to create packs whose total thickness is equal to a multiple of the thickness s of the base material, to increase the buckling resistance of said feet upon stacking of multiple containers.

[0036] In the illustrated configuration, the total thickness of the packs that form the feet 4 is 6 times the thickness of the base material, i.e. about 30 mm.

[0037] Furthermore, the first panel 20a of the second series has a flap 21 that is folded through 90 ° and glued to the longitudinal portion of the rim 6 to impart greater stiffness thereto.

[0038] Once the longitudinal panels 19, 19a, 19b, 19c and the transverse panels 20, 20a, 20b, 20c have been folded and glued together, they will form substantially L-shaped feet 4 with high moment of inertia and buckling resistance, to allow stacking of a considerable number of containers, up to 2 m height or more, without the risk of failure or collapse of the stack.

[0039] Finally, the rectangular panels 19a, 19b, 19c of the first series and the panel 20 of the second series have a greater length p than the others and project downwards to form the appendage 8 designed to removably fit into the rim 6 of the base 3.

[0040] It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the container of the invention fulfills the intended objects, and particularly facilitates ventilation and air circulation for the trays containing the fruit and vegetable products, as well as three-dimensional visibility of the products collected in the trays, while imparting considerable resistance to high loads during stacking.

[0041] The container of the invention is susceptible to a number of changes and variants, within the inventive concept disclosed in the appended claims. All the details thereof may be replaced by other technically equivalent parts, and the materials may vary depending on different needs, without departure from the scope of the invention.

[0042] While the container has been described with particular reference to the accompanying figures, the numerals referred to in the disclosure and claims are only used for the sake of a better intelligibility of the invention and shall not be intended to limit the claimed scope in any manner.

Industrial Applicability

[0043] The present invention may find application in industry, because the container can be produced on an industrial scale, mainly in packaging plants.