US2890791A - Sheet dispensing carton - Google Patents

Description

June 16, 1959 A, N 2,890,791

SHEET DISPENSING CARTON Filed Jan. 9, 1958 IN VEN TOR.

FeEoEe/cK 4. WENZEL United States Patent SHEET DISPENSING CARTON Frederick A. Wenzel, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Cornell Paperboard Products Co., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application January 9, 1958, Serial No. 707,887

Claims. (Cl. 206-57) This invention relates to a sheet dispensing carton.

Certain dispensing cartons for successively delivered paper sheets currently on the market are provided with top opening slots through which the sheets are dispensed, the dispensing of one sheet carrying therewith a portion of the next sheet which projects through the slot in a partially dispensed position where it is accessible to be grasped by the user in the next dispensing operation. Such cartons are conventionally provided for paper handkerchiefs, facial tissue, meat wrapping parchment sheets, etc.

Where the carton is relatively deep and the sheet content thereof has been almost entirely dispensed, the unsupported weight of the partially dispensed sheets may tend to pull them by gravity back through the slot and into relatively inaccessible position within the carton.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel sheet lock which will interengage with partially dispensed sheets to hold such sheets against falling by gravity away from the slot and into inaccessible position within the carton. For this purpose I provide sheet locking flaps at opposite sides of the slot which mutually converge in overlapping relation to engage the partially dispensed sheet therebetween. One of such flaps functions as a slot closure prior to opening the carton. The other flap is desirably laminated to the carton top and prior to opening the carton laps the closure flap. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the lapping flap is beneath the closure flap and is slightly shorter than the length of the dispensing slot so that it may ultimately project upwardly therethrough.

In the blank from which the carton is made the panel in which the dispensing slot and its closure are formed and the panel on which the lapping flap is formed are at opposite ends of a series of hingedly connected panels adapted to be folded to form the carton.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will appear from the following disclosure in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the blank from which the carton is folded.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the blank of Figure 1 in the course of folding it into a carton.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the completed carton and showing the dispensing slot flaps in erected position.

Figure 4 is a cross section through a carton embodying the invention and diagrammatically illustrating the sheet interlocking function of the dispensing slot flaps.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross section showing the dispensing slot flaps prior to opening the carton.

Figure 6 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 5, but showing the dispensing slot flaps after the carton has been opened.

The sheet dispenser of the present invention comprises in the blank 8 shown in Fig. 1 panels 10, 11, 12 and 13 serially and hingedly connected on crease lines 9. In the erected carton, panel 13 comprises a top wall, panels 12 and 10 form side walls and panel 11 forms a bottom wall. The respective panels are also provided with end flaps indicated collectively by reference character 14. These may be folded in, as illustrated in the drawings, to complete end closures for the carton.

Top panel 13 is creased along the line 15 and is cut along the parallel line 16 and also along the transverse end lines 17 to define a closure flap 18 for dispensing slot 19. The cut lines 16, 17 may optionally be provided with breakable fiber connections 22 to temporarily hold the flap 18 in closed position pending opening the carton.

Side panel 10 which is at the opposite end of the series of interconnected panels from top panel 13 is provided with a flap 23 which in the assembled carton underlies the marginal portion 24 of the top 13 between cut line 16 and the free edge of panel 13.

The flap 23 is provided with a crease line 25 on which extension flap 36 is hinged. The extension flap 26 is somewhat narrower than dispenser slot closure flap 18 and in the assembled position of the carton partially underlies flap 18, as illustrated in Figure 5. The extension flap 26 is just slightly shorter than slot 19 so that when the carton is opened, as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6, it may be drawn by the users fingers upwardly through the opening 19 to converge toward the flap 18.

When the respective flaps 18, 26 are erected as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6, they function as a sheet lock to hold the partially dispensed sheets 27 against falling by gravity away from the slot 19 and into the carton, this being diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 4. Accordingly, even though most of the box contents has been dispensed, and accordingly oifers no support for the partially dispensed sheets, the flaps 18, 26 will interlock with the partially dispensed sheets to hold them against dropping by gravity into the carton. The free edge of flap 26 tends to press the sheets 27 against the under surface of the closure flap 18. Both flaps 18 and 26 tend to be biased toward interlocking engagement with the sheets by the inherent resilience of their hinged connections on crease lines 15 and 25 to the panels 13, 23.

To open the carton the fiber connections 22 are broken with the thumbnail or the like, and the closure flap 18 is erected. Inasmuch as the lapping flap 26 is narrower than the closure flap 18, there is now a gap between the free edge of flap 26 and the crease line 15 on which the closure flap 18 is hinged to the top panel 13, thus to allow the users fingers into the carton and beneath the lapping flap 26 to permit the user to swing the flap 26 upwardly through the slot 19 and to its position shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6 in which it cooperates with the flap 18 as aforestated.

The plies 23, 24 of the carton top are preferably laminated by gluing, the flap 26, however, remaining unglued to permit separation therefrom of slot closure flap 18.

The sheets 27 desirably comprise parallel webs with staggered lines of perforations to facilitate dividing the webs into discrete sheets after they have been withdrawn through the slot.

I claim:

1. A dispensing carton having a top opening dispensing slot for sheet contents tending to fall by gravity away from said slot and toward an inaccessible position within the carton, and a sheet lock comprising overlapping carton flaps respectively hinged to the carton top at opposite sides of the slot and respectively projecting toward interengagement with a sheet projecting through the slot to hold the sheet against gravity withdrawal through said slot, said carton top comprising laminated upper and lower plies, one of said flaps being hinged to the upper ply and the other flap being hinged to the lower ply, said other flap being shorter than the slot whereby to project upwardly therethrough.

2. A dispensing carton comprising a top having a dispensing slot and a slot closure hinged to the top at one side of the slot, a bottom and side walls, one of said side walls having a flap underlying the carton top and having a marginal flap portion beneath the slot in the carton top, said marginal flap portion being hinged to said flap for upward projection through said slot.

3. The device of claim 2 in which said marginal flap portion is shorter than the slot to clear the ends thereof.

4. A blank for a sheet dispensing carton of the character described and comprising a series of hingedly connected panels adapted to be folded to form a carton, one of the end panels of said series being provided with a dispensing slot spaced from the free edge of said panel and the other end panel of the series being provided with a flap adapted to lap the marginal portion of said one end panel between its free edge and the slot and having a marginal flap portion hinged thereto and adapted to be folded on said hinge to project through said slot.

5. The device of claim 4 in which said one end panel has a slot closure hinged to said panel at the side of the slot opposite its free edge, said closure forming with said marginal flap portion a lock for sheets partially dispensed through said slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,519,261 Lorrance Aug. 15, 1950 2,598,050 Guyer May 27, 1952 2,802,567 Covel Aug. 13, 1957

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