US2991089A - Shipping package - Google Patents

Description

July 1961 R. STUART ET AL 2,991,089

SHIPPING PACKAGE Filed June 18, 1956 te States Patent 2,991,089 SHIPPING PACKAGE Robert Stuart and Charles Rickert, Chicago, 11]. Filed June 18, 1956, 'Ser. No. 591,911 2 Claims. (Cl. 214-105) The present invention relates to shipping packages of the type adapted for packaging a large number of substantially identical, relatively heavy objects.

In the can making art, it is customary to package can covers in rolls each containing a fixed number of covers. One way of doing this is to stack a large number of can covers, say, two hundred and fifty, one on another, and place the stack in a bag, to constitute a roll. A large number of such rolls are then assembled into one pack age for shipment. One way of assembling them is to arrange them on a skid, in rows, one row upon the other, with alternate rows staggered to the extent of half the diameter of a roll so that each roll lies in the crotch formed by two subjacent rolls. In order to maintain a substantially rectangular assembly of rolls on the skids it is necessary to provide some means for holding the end rolls in place. It has heretofore been suggested to wind a paper tape continuously between successive rows. of rolls, the tape passing around the overhanging end roll of each row and continuing from row to row and thus binding the rolls into one continuous package, as shown in United States Patent No. 2,662,649. This entails the use of a certain quantity .of paper and acertain cumbersomeness in handling of every long sheet of paper during the assembly of. the package.

It is one of the objects of the presentinvention to pro vide a binding arrangement which is relied upon to bind only the end roll or rolls in the assembly. .80 long as those end rolls. are held in place the package necessarily remains intact. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, each overhanging end roll of the assembly is bound to the assembly by a strip of tape or the like, the two ends of which are anchored between adjacent rolls, so that the weight of the rolls above inhibit withdrawal of the tape and therefore holds the end roll in place.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a packaging arrangement wherein each of the overhanging end rolls is locked in place by its individual piece of tape and so arranged that only short pieces of tape are required, thus reducing the effort required in assembling the packages over what is required in handling one long piece of tape.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an assembly of rolls with a binding tape that binds them together, the binding tape being of such surface configuration as to provide spaces for the reception ,of part of the material of the adjacent or subjacent roll under the weight of the rolls above and thus interlock the tape with the rolls and inhibit the retraction of the tape from the rolls. One suitable binding material for this purpose is a tinplate skeleton, which is the waste product resulting from the manufacture of can ends. It consists of what remains from a strip of tinplate after the material to form the can ends has been stamped therefrom.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic front view of a shipping package constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view thereof;

Patented July 4, 1961 "ice FIG. 3 is an enlarged side .view of a fragmentary por.-.

tion of the package of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic front view. of' a modified form of package;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlargement of a portion of FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic front view of a portion of a alternate form of shipping package constructed in .accordance with the present invention.

In the accompanying specification like reference numerals designate like parts throughout.

Reference may now be had more particularly to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. A package 10 is made up of astack of articles 12 which, insofar as the principlesof the presentinvention are concerned, may be any of various kinds of articles. As a specific example, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 each article 12 is a cylindrical roll comprising a stack of can ends for use in closing open ended cans. The can ends are normally packaged in stacks each stack containing a certain number of can ends, say,- two hundred and fifty can ends, wrapped or bagged to form the cylindrical roll or article 12.

The package 10 is made up of rolls 12 which are disposed on a skid .or platform 14 of the kind that may be lifted by a lift truck whose lifting fork is inserted un-. der the skid. The rolls 12 on the skid are held in place by suitable separate binding strips 16. Each. binding strip 16 is of suitable material having the necessary flex ibility for interweaving with the stack of articles and of suflicient strength for the purpose. Heavy paper or other fibrous material is suitable for this. purpose. Another suitable material which is preferred is the skeleton residue of the sheets from which the can ends were stamped. This is one of the Waste materials of the can making in.- dustry.

In forming the package 10 of FIG. 1. the rolls 12 are arranged in staggered rows 18, the lowermost row being indicated at 18a and successive superposed royvs beingindicated at 18b through 18h. The bottom row 18a is of a suitable number of rolls, in this instance ten, indicated at 12a through 12 The articles in the row, and successive rows, are, of course, in abutting relationship, but the drawing shows them spaced to facilitate illustration, the drawing being in this respect diagrammatic. Separate binding strips 16 are used for holding the end rolls of the lowermost row 18a. Each binding strip is shown as encompassing the two endmost articles. The lower end portion 16a is first laid down and the two end articles 12a and 12b are placed thereon in proper position on the skid. The other end portion 16b of the strip 16 is looped over the two end articles and is laid down in face to face engagement or abutment with the end portion 16a. The third article is then placed over the end portions 16a and 16b and the additional articles or rolls are laid in place to form the lowermost row. The opposite end of the lowermost row is formed in the same manner as above described. The binding strip 16 is very thin. In the case of paper, it may be of the order of 0.006 inch. In the case of a skeleton residue of the strip from which the can ends were stamped it is of a thickness determined by the metal used. The rolls of the lowermost row of rolls rest on the skid 14.

The rolls of the successive rows 18 of FIG. 1 are in staggered relationship, each row containing the same number of rolls so that the rolls in the odd numbered rows are in vertical alignment and the rolls in the even numbered rows are in vertical alignment, those of the even numbered rows staggered with respect to those in the odd numbered rolls by a distance approximately half the diameter of a roll. This produces an overhang of the left hand end roll 12 in each of the even numbered rows and of the right hand end roll in each of the odd numbered rows after the first. Each of the intervening rolls in the rows above the bottom row rests in the crotch formed by the two subjacent rolls. In each row after the first, on the end of the row where there is an overhang, there is provided a binding strip 16 for holding the overhanging roll in place. This binding strip 16 is wrapped around the overhanging roll and the next adjacent roll so as to encompass the two end rolls, and the end portions of each strip are brought into face to face relationship and overlaid by the next roll of that row. The left hand end of each even numbered row and the right hand end of each successive odd numbered row is completed in the same way as were the two ends of the first row. This stacking arrangement is the same for all of the rows so that each row above the first is bound at only one end. The top row may also be bound only at the overhanging end or, if desired, it may be bound at both ends, as illustrated in FIG. 1. If desired, the binding element at the left hand of the lowermost end may be omitted, although in the interest of security it is preferably to include that bindmg.

While each strip 16 is shown as surrounding two rolls, it may be desirable to have it surround only one roll, or three or more rolls. Considering the specific arrangement illustrated, that is, two rolls surrounded, the strip in surrounding two such rolls renders them in effect a single package and prevents any tendency for that package to roll.

Preferably each binding strip 16 is quite short so that there is a saving of material and, what is by far more important, there is a substantial easing of the eifort required to place the strips 16 in position because each strip is short and easily handled. It may easily be put in place in assembling the respective rows of articles and one or more rolls may be placed over the free ends of each strip 16 to retain them in place. Progress of forming the stack 10 is then continued without concern for the binding strips until the next strip is to be put in place. There is no necessity for handling a very great length of strip material such as would be necessary where one continuous strip is used for the entire stack 10.

In FIG. 4 there is shown a modified arrangement wherein the articles or rolls in the first row are bound together as are the articles in each of the other odd numbered rows, the articles in even numbered rows being unbound at each end and each resting in the crotch formed by the two subjacent rolls, each being held in place merely by the weight of the superposed articles above them and by the additional fact that the immediate subjacent row is held against spreading. In this instance, the lowermost row 20 of rolls 12 is held by a wrapping or binding tape 16' on which the ends 16a and 16b are juxtaposed. The tape 16 is first laid on the skid 14, with the center of the tape approximately at the center of the skid and the two ends overhanging the end of the skid. The rolls 12 of the bottom are then placed on the skid, with the centers of the rolls overlying the tape 16', and then the two ends of the tape 16' are folded over the bottom row of articles 12 and with the end 1612 of the tape overlapping the end 16a. This overlapped arrangement is not indispensable inthat the length of tape may be made shorter so that the end 16a is short of the end 16b but overlies two, three or four of the rolls of the bottom row. The next row of rolls 20' is overlaid on the first row, overlying the tape; the second row of rolls contains one row less than the first row so that there is no overhang of a roll of the second row beyond the first row. Successive odd numbered rolls are each wrapped the same as the bottom row of rolls and successive even numbered rolls are entirely devoid of a binder or strip 16'. If the top row of rolls is an even-numbered row and therefore cnt in l o erhanging end roll, it may be entirely unwrapped, as illustrated in FIG. 4, or, if desired, it may be wrapped in the same manner as are the odd numbered rolls. Furthermore, in the case of the top row of rolls, if it is wrapped, whether it is an odd numbered row or an even numbered row, the end of the wrapping binder on the top of the top row may extend over the top two end rolls and then under the succeeding rolls in the top row in the same manner as in FIG. 1. An end view of the assembly of FIG. 4 would appear the same as in FIG. 2.

When the strip 16 is made shorter than that shown, the respective ends 16a and 16b may each terminate between the top of the row wrapped and its immediately next upper row or, if desired, the end 16a may be wrapped around two of the left hand rolls as in FIG. 1 and the end 16b may be wrapped around two of the right hand rolls as in FIG. 1 so that the two ends 16a and 16b are superposed on the top surface of the lower extent of the strip 16'.

In FIG. 6 there is shown a plan view of a skeleton sheet used as the binder 16 in FIG. 1 or the binder 16' in FIG. 4. This skeleton consists of the remains after a piece has been stamped to remove therefrom the material for forming can ends. In this instance, there is indicated at a sheet of tinplate, blackplate, template, or any skeleton residue of the material from which the can ends were stamped, or any other strip skeleton residue in the can making art. The tinplate skeleton here shown has a series of holes 4141 in one row and a similar series of holes 42-42 in an adjacent row, the holes being as close together as is possible consistent with good sheet metal stamping practice. Between perforations there are strands 44 which are quite thin and there is a thin strand 46 running lengthwise of the strip 40. The length of the strip in this instance is approximately six times the width of the strip. Because of the holes 41 that extend through i the strip 40, there is a tendency for the strip to interlock with the rolls between which it has been placed, thus increasing the force that might be required to pull the strip out from between the rolls. In addition, the thinness and flexibility and irregularity of the connecting strands 44 and 46 tend to inhibit sliding of one end of the strip where it is superimposed over the other end, thus further tending to lock the assembly together.

In FIG. 8 there is shown still another way of holding the package of FIG. 1 together. This arrangement is in effect a combination of the arrangements shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. In this instance, the rolls 12 are stacked in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4 so that the end rolls of each odd numbered row above the first overhang the end rolls of the subjacent rows. Each overhang roll may then be bound in the same manner as in FIG. 1, or as shown in FIG. 8, by having the binder 16", which may be the same binder as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, wrapped so that the lower end of each binding strip underlies a number of rolls 12 in that row, in this instance four, and the upper end of each binding strip overlies the same number of rolls, or a greater or lesser number of rolls. In other respects this package is the same as the package of FIGS. 1 or 4 and the rolls in the top row may be wrapped in the same manner as are the rolls in the top row of FIG. 1.

The skid 14 in effect constitutes an integral part of the package of the present invention.

The metal binding strip of FIGS. 6 and 7 when used to bind together a group of articles as in FIGS. 1, 4 or 8 has certain functional advantages over a paper strip, aside from the economy that results from the fact that the strip is a skeletal waste of the can making industry. The metal strip is sufiiciently thin so that it may be easily flexed manually to the shapes of FIGS. 1, 4 or 8 and yet it has sufiicient resistance to flexing to aid materially in holding the end overhanging roll in place because loosening of the end overhanging roll entails a sliding and a change in fiexure of the strip, and the strip resists such change in fiexure. Any attempt to pull a free end of the strip lengthwise from between the rolls 12 entails a change in flexure of the strip as each part thereof moves from a position overlying one roll to a position in the crotch between two adjacent rolls. The strip is therefore more tenaciously held between adjacent rows of articles. This is in addition to the fact that the strip, by reason of the comparatively large holes 42, tends to interlock with the articles thereabove and thereby further tends to resist retraction of the strip from the package.

While we have shown the strip in FIG. 6 as being of a comparatively short length, as required for the particular package of FIG. 1, a greater length being required for the package of BIG. 4, it is within the purview of the present invention to make the strip of very great length, much in excess of the individual lengths required for the package of FIG. 4, and to wind the strip between the rows of articles as illustrated in US. Patent No. 2,662,649 in lieu of the paper binding element there shown. When that is the case, a skeletal element 40 of great length is required. This skeletal element preferably is of the width indicated in FIG. 6, although it may be of a greater width if desired, up to a width equal to the length of the rolls as seen in FIG. 2.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes we have here shown and described a few preferred embodiments of our invention. It is, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise constructions here shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What we consider new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A package comprising a plurality of substantially similar wrapped cylindrical rolls of can tops or the like arranged in vertically superposed rows, on one side of the package the end roll of alternate rows of rolls overhanging the subjacent row, where there is a subjacent row of rolls, each remaining roll of the rows above the bottom row resting in the crotch between the two subjacent rolls, and flexible binding strip means looped around the respective overhanging end rolls, said binding strip means comprising metal skeleton strip material from which the can tops are stamped and thus having apertures of substantial size and approximating the diameter of the rolls, thereby tending to resist relative sliding of the skeleton strip means with respect to the rolls, said binding strip means having portions interwoven with articles inwardly of the package and disposed under and retained in position by the weight of articles thereabove and said band means interlocking with said wrapped packages at said holes.

2. -A package comprising a plurality of articles of substantial weight arranged in vertically superposed rows, and flexible metal binding strip means in the form of band means having holes therethrough of a length and width on the order of the transverse dimension of the stacked articles, said binding strip means being looped around at least one article at an end of at least each of alternate rows, in each end of the package, and having portions extending inwardly of the package beyond the end articles and disposed under and retained in position by the weight of articles thereabove, each of said package means having a wrapping, and said band means interlocking with said wrapped packages at said holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,474,963 Greenstein Nov. 20, 1923 1,993,216 Marshall Mar. 5, 1935 2,059,390 Pagel Nov. 3, 1936 2,662,649 Gill et al Dec. 15, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 684,094 'France Mar. 11, 1930

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