GB2198708A

GB2198708A - Tamper evident carton

Info

Publication number: GB2198708A
Application number: GB08627580A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dennis Tierney
Original assignee: Taylowe Ltd
Current assignee: Taylowe Ltd
Priority date: 1986-11-19
Filing date: 1986-11-19
Publication date: 1988-06-22
Anticipated expiration: 2006-11-19
Also published as: GB2198708B; GB8627580D0

Abstract

A carton comprises a wall portion 13 and a closure portion 16, the wall portion 13 defining first and second spaced apart apertures 28, 29 and the closure portion 16 including a section 19 which passes through the first aperture 28. Retention means in the form of a wide retainer part 26 on the section 19 is provided which is co-operable with the first aperture 28, and further retention means is provided in the form of a catch 20 for co-operation with the second aperture 29. The carton also comprises means 24, e.g. perforations, to facilitate tearing of the section 19 to enable the closure portion 16 to be opened. <IMAGE>

Description

A CARTON The invention relates to a carton and is particularly concerned with a carton of a tamper evident kind.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a carton comprising a wall portion and a closure portion, one of said wall and closure portions defining first and second spaced apart apertures and the other portion including a section which passes through one of said first and second apertures, retention means co-operable with said one aperture to inhibit withdrawal of the section from said one aperture and means to facilitate tearing of the section to enable the closure portion to be opened, a further retention means being provided for co-operation with the other said aperture The location of the said section, which may include a tongue, in the said. one aperture and the provision of the retention means is intended to make opening of the closure portion virtually impossible without first tearing the section. Such tearing provides an indication of tampering.

The retention means may include a retainer at a free end of said section co-operable with said one aperture. The retainer may comprise a member having shoulders which extend from the section and provide a non-return action once the retainer has been pushed through the said one aperture.

The further retention means may include a second retainer provided on said section of the other of the wall and closure portions.

Preferably the second retainer comprises a catch which co-operates with an edge of the other aperture, e.g. in a non-return manner.

The catch may be pressed out of the said other portion.

The said one aperture may include a slit extending from an edge thereof which permits the first said retainer to pass through said one aperture into a retaining position. Preferably, said section extends through said first and second apertures at a shallow angle to the material in which the apertures are formed.

The first said retainer may project through said one aperture into the carton.

The second said retainer may project through said other aperture into said container.

The means to facilitate tearing may comprise a weakening line formed e.g., by a line o, perforations. The means to facilitate tearing is preferably between the first and second retainers so that the first retainer remains intact with the remainder of said one of the closure and wall portions after tearing.

Preferably said section is provided on the closure portion.

The second retainer may be associated with a fold line so that the closure portion can initially be held in position by firstly interengaging the second retainer and an edge of said other aperture so that the second retainer projects into the carton and secondly by folding the said section about the fold line and then inserting the first retainer completely through said one aperture so that the first retainer lies inside the carton.

The said section may include a tongue adjacent the first retainer having a width substantially equal to the width of said one aperture, said first retainer being wider than the tongue and defining at least one retaining edge extending outwardly from the tongue.

The two apertures are preferably parallel and the aforesaid slit may extend from an edge of the one aperture remote from the other aperture. Preferably, the aforesaid edge of the first retainer section lies level with the slit with the tongue extending through the one aperture to hold the closure portion closed. In that way, movement of the closure portion towards an open position will cause the tongue to move relative to the one aperture so that the said edge of the first retainer moves away from the slit towards the other aperture to inhibit withdrawal of the first retainer from said one aperture.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a blank for forming a carton according to any of the twelve immediately preceding paragraphs.

A carton in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming a carton in accordance with the invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a carton formed by erecting the blank of Fig. 1 prior to closing a lid, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the carton of Fig. 2 shown partly cut-away with the lid closed and retained in its closed position.

Fig. 4 is a cross section through part of a front panel of the carton in the Fig. 3 condition and drawn to a larger scale, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the Fig. 3 carton with the lid moved towards an open position.

In Fig. 1 the blank has a front panel 10 having a window 12, a rear panel 13, two side panels 14,15 and a lid 16. The rear panel 13 and the lid 16 constitute the aforesaid wall portion and closure portion respectively. The panels and lid are interconnected by fold lines to enable the carton to be erected.

The panels 10,13,14 and 15 carry bottom flaps 10a, 13a, -14a and 15a respectively which overlap in the erected carton to form a bottom of the carton, flap 10a being glued to flap 14a and flap 13a being glued to flap 15a when erected. Panel 13 carries an edge flap 17 which is glued to flap 14 in the erected carton as in Fig. 2. Panels 14 and 15 carry upper closure flaps 8 and 9 respectively.

The lid 16 comprises an upper panel 18 and a tapered section 19 (constituting the aforesaid "section" of the closure portion) the tapered section being connected to the panel 18 through a fold line 21. The section 19 is cut to form a press-out catch 20 which is foldable about a fold line 22 extending across the section 19 parallel with fold line 21, the latter being parallel with a fold line 23 through which the lid 16 is hingedly connected to the front panel 10. The section 19 is formed with a weakening line of perforations 24 and has a tongue 25 of width W which terminates at a retainer 2G of greater width than tiie tongue and having two retaining edges 27. The retainer 26 constitutes the aforesaid first retainer and the catch 20 constitutes the aforesaid second retainer.

The front panel 13 is formed with a first aperture 28 and a second aperture 29. The two apertures are parallel, the first 28 having upwardly converging ends 30 and the second 29 having its lower edge extended by means of slits 32. It will be noted from Fig.

1 that the catch 20 also has convergent ends 33 and as apparent from Fig. 3, the ends 33 converge downwardly when the section 19 overlaps the front panel 13. The shorter edges of the catch 20 and aperture 28 are of substantially equal length L. The ends 34 of second aperture 29 also converge upwardly and the shorter upper edge of the aperture 32 is substantially the same length as width W of the tongue 25.

The length of the extended lower edge of the aperture 29 is slightly greater than the maximum width of the retainer 26 by virtue of slits 32. The distance D between edges 27 and the fold line 22 is substantially equal to the distance between the upper edge of aperture 28 and the lower edge of aperture 29.

To close the lid 16, the catch 20 is first bent backwards out of the plane of section 19 by folding the section 19 about line 22. The catch 20 is then hooked beneath the upper edge of the aperture 28 so that the catch 20 projects into the carton as shown in Ff a . 4. The section 19 is then bent further about weakening line 24 to enable the retainer 26 to be inserted through the slits 32 of aperture 29 so that the retainer eventually lies completely behind the panel 13 inside the carton as in Fig. 4 with the tongue 25 extending through the aperture 29. The lid 16 is thereby securely connected to the panel 13. Any attempt to open the lid 16 is resisted by the catch 20, and attempts to withdraw the retainer 26 from aperture 29 by applying upward force to the area of section 19 between the fold line 22 and the retainer 26 will cause the tongue 25 to move upwardly through the aperture until the edges 27 of the retainer abut the inside surface of panel 13 adjacent each end of the upper edge of aperture 29. Such movement of the tongue will cause folding of section 19 about lines 22 and 24 as in broken lines in Fig. 4 but the retainer 26 is held captive within the carton. In order to open the lid, the section 19 must be torn along the perforations 24 as in Fig. 5 so as to leave the tongue 25 and retainer 26 in the Fig. 5 position, the catch 20 being withdrawn from aperture 28 to permit lifting of the lid. The torn perforations indicate clearly to a purchaser that the carton has already been opened.

The lid can subsequently be held closed either by tucking section 19 into the carton behind panel 13 or preferably by re-hooking the catch 20 into aperture 28.

If desired, the retainer 26 can be inserted through the slits 32 as describes without first hooking catch 20 beneath the upper edge or aperture 28. Tie lid 16 is then held closed by retainer 26 alone. However, once the perforations 24 have been torn and the lid opened, catch 20 can be used subsequently to hold the lid closed by co-operation with aperture 28. The term "aperture" as used herein embraces openings and recesses.

Claims

1. A carton comprising a wall portion and a closure portion, one of said wall and closure portions defining first and second spaced apart apertures and the other portion including a section which passes through one of said first and second apertures, retention means co-operable with said one aperture to inhibit withdrawal of the section from said one aperture and means to facilitate tearing of the section to enable the closure portion to be opened, a further retention means being provided for co-operation with the other said aperture.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retention means includes a retainer at a free end of said section co-operable with said one aperture.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 2 wherein the retainer comprises a member having shoulders which extend from the section and provide a non-return action once the retainer has been pushed through the said one aperature.

4. A carton as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the said one aperture includes a slit extending from an edge thereof which permits said retainer to pass through said one aperture into a retaining position.

5. A carton as claimed in claim 4, wherein the aforesaid slit extends from an edge of the one aperture remote from the other aperture.

6. A carton as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5, wherein said retainer may project through said one aperture into said container.

7. A carton as claimed in any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the said section includes a tongue adjacent the retainer having a width substantially equal to the width of said one aperture, said retainer being wider than the tongue and defining at least one retaining edge extending outwardly from the tongue.

8. A carton as claimed in claim 7, wherein, in the case where the said one aperture includes a slit the aforesaid edge of the retainer lies level with the slit with the tongue extending through the one aperture to hold the closure portion closed.

9. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the further retention means includes a second retainer provided on said section of the other of the wall and closure portions.

10. A carton as claimed in claim 9, wherein said second retainer may project through said other aperture into said container.

11. A carton as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the second retainer comprises a catch which co-operates with an edge of the other aperture.

12. A carton as claimed in claim 11, wherein the catch is pressed out of the said other portion.

13. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said section extends through said first and second apertures at a shallow angle to the-material in which the apertures are formed.

14. A carton as claimed in any of claims 9 to 13, wherein, in the case where first and second retainers are provided the means to facilitate tearing is between the first and second retainers so that the first retainer remains in contact with the remainder of said one of the closure and wall portions after tearing.

15. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim, where in the means to facilitate tearing comprises a weakening line.

16. A carton as claimed in claim 15, wherein the weakening line is formed by a line of perforations.

17. A carton as claimed in any preceding claims, wherein said section is provided on the closure portion.

18. A carton as claimed in any of claims 9 to 17, wherein, in the case where first and second retainers are provided the second retainer is associated with a fold line so that the closure portion can initially be held in position by firstly interengaging the second retainer and an edge of said other aperture so that the second retainer projects into the carton and secondly by folding the said section about the fold line and then inserting the first retainer completely through said one aperture so that the first retainer lies inside the carton.

19. A carton as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the two apertures are parallel.

20. A carton substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

21. A blank for forming a carton as claimed in any preceding claim.

22. A blank for a carton comprising a plurality of panels one of which in the erected carton forms a wall portion and another of which in the erected carton forms a closure portion, one of said wall and closure portions defining first and second spaced apart apertures and the other portion including a section which, after erection, passes through one of said first and second apertures, retention means co-operable with said one aperture to inhibit withdrawal of the section from said one aperture and means to facilitate tearing of the section to enable the closure portion to be opened, a further retention means being provided for co-operation with the other said aperture.

23. A carton blank substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.