This invention relates in general to folding cartons and, in particular, to a folding carton which is adapted to be used for containing and packaging smaller individually pre-packaged items within the container.
More specifically, but without restriction to the particular uses which are shown and described, this invention relates to a carton formed from an open-ended tube in which the closures thereof may be formed from an integral portion of the tube body. Portions of the packaged items contained within the carton may be observed through the carton to determine such things, for example, as size, color or "UPC" coding.
In the retail trade, it is quite common to merchandise such articles as pre-packaged hoisery, smoking tobacco, office supplies, dry goods, drug supplies and other sundry items in individual packages to be purchased by a retail customer. Such items are frequently purchased by a retailer from a wholesale distributor in smaller quantities than in large case lots containing a greater quantity of these items. Therefore, it has become desirable to provide an intermediate packing container or carton within such larger packing cases or shipping containers. Such intermediate packing containers or cartons are referred to in the trade as a "distributor pack" and contain a smaller quantity of the individually pre-packaged consumer or retail items.
Distributor packs used in this manner are especially useful for packing irregular shaped individual items. Such items, for example, as blister-packed tape dispensers are difficult to package as individual items in case lot quantities due to their irregular shape. Therefore, smaller quantites of such items are frequently packaged in a container, such as a distributor pack, which is used as an intermediate packer in a larger case to facilitate orderly packing and shipping of such items in case lot quantites. Such distributor pack cartons may also be utilized to conveniently pre-package smaller quantites of individually packaged items by, for example, size or color. In this manner less than case lot quantities of a particular size or color of an item may be economically packaged, or a case lot quantity containing a mixed assortment of items may be packed eliminating the necessity of case-lot purchases of each size or color.
In order to perform these functions, a distributor pack must provide an economical packaging medium for distribution of moderate quantities of individual pre-packaged items in order to minimize the additional packaging cost to the product manufacturer. In addition, such packaging must be sufficiently strong to provide adequate protection for the individual pre-packaged products contained therein, and to prevent loss or damage to the individual pre-packaged items or their package.
The present invention provides an economical distributor pack carton which does not require the addition of paperboard closure devices to close the bottom of the carton, or require the use of two-piece telescoping cartons as heretofore necessary. The distributor pack carton of the present invention has the bottom closure thereof formed from an integral portion of the carton body and protects individual packages within the carton against damage.
The carton body is formed as an open end tube which may be readily constructed using high speed gluing techniques since the tube is formed by single-line strip gluing along a single straight edge. In addition, the bottom closure of the open ended tube may be quickly and conveniently set up, to enable the distributor pack to be quickly filled with individual pre-packaged items at a minimum of time and expense. The open ended tube construction having the bottom closure formed from an integral portion of the tube body eliminates the necessity of complex packaging assembled about an array of individual consumer packaged goods, or expensive and complex operations requiring on-site gluing or the like.
In one embodiment of the invention, predetermined portions of the panels from which the open end tube carton is formed are removed to display a portion of the individual pre-packaged items to be contained within the pack. The provision of such openings in the distributor pack carton permits the ready determination of such things, for example, as size, quantity, color, price, date or "UPC" coding on the individual packages. In addition, providing these openings in the body of one carton allows two such distributor pack cartons to be nested together and formed from a single standard sheet of paperboard. Since standard sheets of paperboard are customarily formed in a square or rectangular configuration, individual carton blanks may be inter-nested or laid out on the standard sheet of paperboard in complementary form to provide maximum utilization of the paperboard in forming the carton blank. The formation of a top closure of one of the open ended tubes from the paperboard material removed to form the openings in the panels of the other complementary inter-nested carton blank permits the greatest efficiency and utilization of the paperboard stock from which these cartons are formed and substantially eliminates wasted paperboard.