Universal two-cell storage box

Abstract

A universal shoe box has plural faces formed of a common continuous material with each face having a preferential fold disposed between adjacent faces which enable the quick assembly and disassembly of the shoe box. The shoe box includes a display window to enable quick and efficient visual identification of the contents of the shoe box on an image / photograph depicted on a card which may be disposed within the window. Two embodiments of the shoe box are presented, one primarily suited for residential / after market usage and one primary suitable for retail storage usage.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This patent application is a Continuation-In-Part Application of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 485,685 filed on Jun. 16, 2009, the entire contents of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH / DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not ApplicableBACKGROUND[0003]The present invention relates generally to a universal shoe box.[0004]When a customer in a shoe store requests a pair of shoes to try on, a sales person typically goes to a room filled with shoe inventory stored in boxes that may identify a particular shoe by style no., model no., size, color, and / or other information describing the contents of the box. Often, the numbers and / or letters printed on a box to describe its contents are small and difficult to read. As a result, the sales person looking for a pair of shoes requested by a customer may end up spending an inordinate amount of time looking for the specific box that c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The shoe box is innovative in that the preferential folds enable the quick assembly and disassembly of the shoe box into a flat configuration that may be readily stored and may save space when the shoe box is not being used. The preferential folds enable the shoe box to be readily foldable and reversible. For example, the shoe box may be shaded with a different color on each side. Depending on the tastes of the user, the shoe box may be assembled or folded out in “reverse”, thereby revealing the second color in place of the first color. Similarly, the user may elect to have certain printed material found only on the interior of the shoe box. Alternatively, with the “reversal” of the shoe box, the printed material may be exposed on the exterior of the shoe box. The preferential folds may be further configured to enable the shoe box to be universally adapted to shoes of different types and sizes. The shoe box may also be adapted for the storage of articles of clothing and other miscellaneous items The access aperture on the front face of the shoe box enables ready access to and / or retrieval of a single shoe box, either by hand or through the use of a tool. The first display window enables quick and efficient visual identification of the contents of the shoe box based on the image depicted on the product card. The non-removable top face and bottom face have no lid that may be dropped or dislodged, thereby improving the stackability and underlying support provided by the shoe box.

[0025]The claimed invention further includes a universal storage box for the convenient storage of contents therein and the stacking of multiple storage boxes one on top of the other. The top face of the storage box is uniquely strengthened by a first tuck panel and a second tuck panel that extend downward along longitudinal axes into the storage box and are disposable on an interior surface of the bottom face of the storage box. This feature uniquely provides “crush” support to the top face of the storage box with a plurality of storage boxes that may be further stacked on top of the storage box. The tuck panels may also serve as built-in dividers in the storage box that may uniquely separate or divide the contents of the storage box. The storage box is also innovative in that the front face may be pivotally opened and closed, thereby providing ready access to the interior and contents of the storage box. Similarly, the rear face of the storage box may be readily opened or closed for ease of access to the contents. The storage box is also innovative in that its non-removable and interconnected faces formed of a common contiguous material have preferential folds that may enable the quick assembly and disassembly of the storage box for ease of storage in a space-saving manner.

Problems solved by technology

US2006 / 0054674 A1 as discussed above has a removable lid that may be dislodged, thereby impairing the stackability and support of shoe boxes placed thereon.

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