Product storage box

Abstract

To provide a product storage box that can be easily flattened when disposing of the lower part of the box body having a cubic shape. 【Solution means】By pressing the side weak part 23 from the outside with a finger, the lower part 10c-2 of the side surface part is pushed into the box body, and further by pushing the bottom surface part from the inside to the outside with the finger, the outer bottom surface part 15 and the inner bottom surface pieces 17, 19 on both sides attached thereto tend to move downward. The inner bottom surface piece 17 on the side surface part side where the side weak part is provided is already in a state where the side weak part is divided, and the resistance to downward movement (rotation of the bottom surface part) has disappeared. The bottom surface weak part 25 exists in the part of the inner bottom surface piece 19 extending from the other side surface part that is not the sticking regions X, Y, and it easily separates at that part. The bottom surface part can be rotationally opened by a simple pushing operation from the inside, and the lower part of the box body can be folded flat without any resistance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a product storage box, particularly a product storage box having a cubic shape capable of storing an object inside.

Background Art

[0002] A box for storing products is an important member that protects the products during the process of product circulation and conveys various information to customers through the design and display content of the box. Such a product storage box generally has a substantially cubic shape having an upper surface portion, a bottom surface portion, and four side surface portions, and various methods are adopted for the opening operation of the box when taking out the product.

[0003] For example, in the case of a box of a size that can be held with one hand relatively easily, a perforation line is provided at an upper position to facilitate opening, and the box wall is divided along the line, and a simple hinge-type opening method is known in which the remaining portion is used as a hinge to enable the opening operation. Such boxes typically include, for example, paper storage boxes for relatively expensive health drinks.

[0004] After opening such a product storage box and taking out and using a product such as a health drink stored therein from the upper part of the box, the user discards the box. Generally, in order to reduce the volume of garbage as much as possible, such boxes are crushed into a shape close to flat and discarded in a garbage can or the like.

[0005] Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration for facilitating folding during disposal and the opening operation of the lid with respect to a "packaging box". The lid is opened by rotating a single lid surface. To facilitate its opening operation, a push-cut breaking line (45), a slit-breaking line (43), and an easily bendable line (33) are provided on three surfaces of the side plate (12), the inner lid plate (30), and the outer lid plate (40), respectively. That is, when the push-cut breaking line (45) is pushed and cut from the outside, and further when the slit-breaking line (43) is broken for the opening operation, the inner lid plate (30) bends at the easily bendable line (33), making the opening operation by the rotation of the lid plate smoother.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] The product storage box is usually not used again to store the product after the product is taken out, but is discarded. As described above, generally, when discarding the box body, it is desirable to fold it as small as possible regardless of its size for the purpose of suppressing the amount of garbage. Therefore, after taking out the product, the product purchaser usually folds the box by hand or crushes it and discards it.

[0008] In Patent Document 1, a break line for facilitating cutting and a line for facilitating bending are formed on the plate surface constituting the box, but they are formed across three surfaces, which complicates the manufacturing process. Further, as described in paragraph "0037" thereof, basically, the lid plate (30) and the outer lid plate (40) are adhered and rotate together when opened. Also, it is described that "the inner lid plate (30) may or may not be adhered to the left and right side plate folding pieces (13a), (14a)", but it is also described that "adhering it further improves the strength of the packaging box and enables storage of heavy items". And, as described that "when not adhered, it can be opened with less force.", when adhered to obtain strength, when performing the opening operation of the lid plate, it must be performed while peeling off the adhered state with the left and right side plate folding pieces (13a), (14a), and it cannot be said that the opening operation is smooth.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a product storage box having a cubic shape, which can easily perform the crushing operation and folding operation of the box after the product is taken out.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, the product storage box according to claim 1 is a box having a cubic shape with an object storage space inside and having an upper surface portion, a bottom surface portion, and four side surface portions, in the formed state, the bottom surface portion includes an outer bottom surface piece extending from one of the side surface portions and constituting the outermost side of the bottom surface portion, and inner bottom surface pieces extending from the two adjacent side surface portions of the one side surface portion and received inside the outer bottom surface piece, at the lower part of any one of the side surface portions where the inner bottom surface piece extends, a linear side surface weakening portion protruding upward from the lowermost regions on both sides in the width direction of the side surface portion toward the center in the width direction is provided, on the inner bottom surface piece extending from the other side surface portion, a linear bottom surface weakening portion extending over the entire length in the width direction is provided, The outer bottom piece and the two inner bottom pieces are adhered to each other, and the adhesion region is set in a region where the bottom weak portion is not formed.

[0011] In this invention, the "weak portion" means a portion where the shape holding force is weakened so as to be easily divided by a pressing force, and is realized by, for example, making cutting lines at predetermined intervals in a so-called perforated shape or forming it thinner than other portions.

[0012] According to the configuration of the present invention, after taking out the product from the product storage box, in order to fold the lower part of the box body, first, the side weak portion can be pushed into the box body from the outside by pressing it with a finger. In that state, the finger is close to the inner surface of the bottom portion inside the box. Then, by further pushing the bottom portion from the inside to the outside with the finger, the outer bottom portion and the inner bottom pieces on both sides adhered thereto tend to move downward. At this time, the inner bottom piece on the side surface portion provided with the side weak portion is already in a state where the side weak portion is separated, and the resistance to downward movement (rotation of the bottom portion) has disappeared.

[0013] Also, the inner bottom piece extending from the other side surface portion is kept connected to the other side surface portion and is adhered to the outer bottom piece, so it acts to prevent the downward rotation operation of the bottom portion. However, a bottom weak portion exists in a portion of this inner bottom piece that is not the adhesion region, and it easily separates at that portion. That is, the outer bottom piece and the two inner bottom pieces adhered thereto are easily rotated by the pushing operation from the inside without the adhesion state becoming a resistance, with the base end (end portion on the side surface portion side) of the outer bottom piece as the axis of rotation. As a result, the bottom of the box body is opened, and the lower part of the box body can be folded flat without any resistance.

[0014] The invention according to claim 2 is the product storage box according to claim 1, The linear side weak portion is formed so as to extend obliquely upward by a predetermined length from near the lowermost points on both sides in the width direction at the lower part of the one side surface portion toward the center in the width direction, further extend steeply upward at a predetermined position, and be connected by an arc-shaped line at the uppermost part.

[0015] According to this configuration, the pressing force applied by the first finger that opens the bottom of the box body is applied to the uppermost arc-shaped portion. The pressing force is concentrated on the arc portion, and the cutting operation is smoothly started with a smaller force. Then, the cutting spreads to both sides at the diagonally extending weak portion, and the lower part of one side surface is easily opened.

[0016] The invention according to claim 3 is the product storage box according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface weak portion is characterized in that it is bent at an intermediate position in the extending direction. Thereby, in the situation of opening the bottom surface portion, when the side surface weak portion is broken through by a finger that has entered the box body and the bottom surface portion is further pushed downward, the line of the bottom surface weak portion is bent, so that the pressing force is concentrated around the bending point and the separation of the weak portion becomes easier. That is, it can be cut with a smaller pressing force.

[0017] The invention according to claim 4 is the product storage box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the weak portion is configured as a perforated line with cutting lines at predetermined intervals.

[0018] Thereby, the weak portion can be easily formed by the conventional perforation making technique.

Effect of the Invention

[0019] According to the product storage box of the present invention, when the product storage box is discarded, the bottom surface portion of the box body can be smoothly opened with a relatively weak force, and the portion can be more easily folded flat. Further, in the bottom configuration of the present invention, even if the bottom is formed by being adhered, it can be opened without releasing the adhered state, so that the smoothness of opening and folding is achieved without reducing the strength of the bottom of the box body.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

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Figure 8

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0021] Hereinafter, embodiments of the product storage box of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a paper box for a health drink will be described as an example. The product storage box 10 shown in the developed view of FIG. 1 is for storing a bottle of a health drink inside, and in the formed state, it is a box body having a cubic shape with an upper surface portion, a bottom surface portion, and four side surface portions.

[0022] FIG. 2 shows the state of the product storage box 10 according to the embodiment before opening. As shown in the figure, there are an upper surface portion, a side surface portion 10c, and a bottom surface portion 10d that are in the shade.

[0023] The configuration of the bottom part 10d in this formed state will be described based on the development view of FIG. 1. The bottom part 10d is composed of three elements stacked on top of each other. The outermost one is the outer bottom surface piece 15 that continuously extends from one side surface part 10c-1. And the inner bottom surface piece 17 that continuously extends from the side surface part 10c-2 and the inner bottom surface piece 19 that continuously extends from the side surface part 10c-4 are housed on the inner surface of the outer bottom surface piece 15 and are adhered to each other by an adhesive at the parts of the adhesion regions X and Y. Note that a plurality of straight cut lines are provided in the adhesion regions X and Y as shown in the figure to ensure the certainty of adhesion.

[0024] In this way, the bottom surface part 10d is composed of the outer bottom surface piece 15, the inner bottom surface piece 17 and the inner bottom surface piece 19 that are housed inside and adhered to it. Note that an insertion piece 21 is provided at the tip of the outer bottom surface piece 15, and this insertion piece 21 is inserted inside the edge of the side surface part 10c-3 during the formation of the box body.

[0025] Next, one of the characteristic configurations in the present invention is the side surface weak part 23 that is linearly provided at the lower part of the side surface part 10c-2 located adjacent to the side surface part 10c-1 where the outer bottom surface piece 15 is formed. It is provided so as to protrude upward from both positions in the width direction of the lowermost region of the side surface part 10c-2 toward the center in the width direction. In this embodiment, its linear shape extends upward with a predetermined inclination on a straight line from both sides in the width direction, rises steeply at an intermediate position, and is connected in a convex arc shape at the central part.

[0026] And another characteristic configuration is the bottom surface weak part 25 provided on the inner bottom surface piece 19 that continuously extends from the side surface part 10c-4. As can be understood from the development view of FIG. 1, this bottom surface weak part 25 is formed by extending in the width direction of the inner bottom surface piece 19 and is bent at an intermediate position. Further, what is more characteristic is that the bottom surface weak part 25 is provided at a place that does not overlap with the above-mentioned adhesion regions X and Y. In this embodiment, each of the above-mentioned weak parts is formed by putting a cut line on a perforation.

[0027] Next, the opening operation of the bottom portion 10d having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 3 shows the first operation of the opening operation, which is an operation of pushing the inside of the side weak portion 23 provided at the lower portion of the side surface portion 10c-2 in the direction of the arrow with a finger. Since the line shape of the side weak portion 23 has a central portion protruding in an arc shape, by applying a finger to that portion, the pressing force can be concentrated and easily broken. The lower region 10c-2a of the divided side surface portion falls inward.

[0028] FIG. 4 further shows a state in which the bottom surface portion 10d is pushed down and rotated downward a little to be opened.

[0029] At this time, the lower region 10c-2a below the side weak portion 23 is separated from the side surface portion 10c-2, and the inner bottom surface piece 17 that is continuous with it has already lost its continuity with the side surface portion 10c-2. The lower region 10c-2a of the side surface portion and the outer bottom surface piece 15 can both be easily rotated downward. This rotation operation is performed with the boundary portion between the outer bottom surface piece 15 and the side surface portion 10c-2 side as a hinge portion.

[0030] And, the inner bottom surface piece 19 extending from the side surface portion 10c-4 still maintains a state of being connected to the side surface portion 10c-4, and further, the inner bottom surface piece 19 is adhered to the outer bottom surface piece 15 or the inner bottom surface piece 17 at the portion of the adhesion region Y (which one it is adhered to is not important as it depends on the overlapping method of the inner bottom surface pieces 19 and 17). Therefore, the inner bottom surface piece 19 resists the downward pushing of the bottom surface portion 10d.

[0031] However, a bottom weak portion 25 is linearly formed on the inner bottom surface piece 19 at a location deviated from the adhesion region Y. In the present embodiment, it is bent outward toward the outside of the box at an intermediate position in the extending direction. This is to facilitate the breaking of the bottom weak portion 25 by pushing down when the tip of the finger pushed into the box is located near this bent portion. Also, due to this bending, it is easy to secure the adhesion region.

[0032] When the bottom surface portion 10d is pushed with a finger from the inside, due to the presence of this bottom surface weak portion 25, the inner bottom surface piece 19 is easily divided at that portion.

[0033] FIG. 5 shows the inner surface in the state of the completely opened bottom portion 10d. As shown in the drawing, in this embodiment, the inner bottom surface piece 17 is adhered to the inner surface of the outer bottom surface piece 15 in the adhesion region X, and the inner bottom surface piece 19 is adhered in the adhesion region Y thereon. It is understood that the stacking order of the inner bottom surface pieces 19 and 17 may be either first.

[0034] From this illustrated released state, it is understood that in the process of the bottom surface portion 10d rotating, the bottom surface weak portion 25 is gradually divided and the inner bottom surface piece 19 is separated. Thus, in this embodiment, the bottom surface portion 10d is smoothly opened by a rotating operation and can be easily flattened and folded by being crushed because it becomes the state as shown in FIG. 5.

[0035] FIG. 6 shows the state in which the product storage box 10 according to this embodiment is folded. As shown in the drawing, the lower part of the product storage box 10 is in a substantially flat state. Next, the configuration and folding operation of the upper part of the product storage box 10 according to this embodiment will be described.

[0036] As shown in the developed view of FIG. 1, on the upper part of the box body, a front sewing line 14 is formed on the front surface portion 10b, and a side sewing line 16 is formed on the side surface portion 10c. Further, an additional weak portion 12 is formed. This additional weak portion 12 only needs to be a line with a thickness thinner than other portions as long as this portion is easily bendable, and may also be a line cut in a sewing line shape at this portion. Also, the formation angle of the additional weak portion 12 is at a position of 45 degrees with respect to the upper surface portion 10a and the front surface portion 10b, and extends to approximately the central position of the side sewing line 16. Note that side sewing lines 16 are also formed at positions facing each other on the side surface portions on the side not shown (please refer to FIG. 1).

[0037] In this embodiment, the side sewing line 16 is characterized in that, unlike the conventional straight line, it has a curved shape with a downward convex extension shape. Further, the additional weakening portion 12 has thin portions of the same length formed in dotted lines. The side sewing line 16 has a zipper-type sewing cut line 16a (at three locations) in the substantially central region, and the line at the position closer to the front portion 10b is a normal cut line 16b (at one location), and this cut line 16b is continuous with the front sewing line 14.

[0038] Furthermore, the line at the position closer to the back portion 10d is also a normal cut line 16c (at one location). This cut line 16c closer to the back portion 10d extends in the direction of the uppermost position of the side portion 10c and stops in front of the corner portion at the upper end, but the cut line 16c may be provided up to the corner portion at the upper end.

[0039] As described above, 16a in the central region of the side sewing line 16 is a zipper-type sewing cut line in which a short cut line is inserted obliquely at one end of a normal substantially straight cut line, making it slightly more difficult to cut than a normal substantially straight cut line and enhancing the shape retention force of that portion.

[0040] FIG. 7 shows a state where the opening of the upper part of the product storage box 10 has started. As shown in the figure, both the front sewing line 14 and the side sewing line 16 are cut and separated, and the upper part 18 of the box body is rotated and opened with the upper position of the back portion 10d as a hinge portion.

[0041] When the upper part 18 of the box body is pushed and the front sewing line 14 and further the side sewing line 16 are cut and rotated, the portion of the additional weakening portion 12 is easily bent. Therefore, when the front portion 10b is strongly pushed in, that portion bends outward, making the pushing-up operation of the upper part 18 of the box body easier.

[0042] FIG. 8 shows a state where the portion of the additional weak part 12 is bent outward. Since the additional weak part 12 extends at an intermediate position (45-degree inclination) between the upper surface part 10a and the front surface part 10b as described above, it is easily bent by the pressing force and bends into a well-balanced shape.

[0043] And after taking out the accommodated product, when disposing of it, it is desirable to crush the box as flat as possible to reduce the volume of the garbage. By bending the portion of the additional weak part 12 outward, it can be easily crushed flat.

[0044] When the upper part of the box body is folded as described above, as shown in FIG. 6, the whole is folded flat together with the lower part of the box body.

[0045] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, the line shape of the side weak part 23 in this embodiment is not limited to a shape with an arc in the center, and may be a triangular shape or a trapezoidal shape as long as it is a shape that can be easily divided by the pressing force. Also, the line shape of the bottom weak part 25 is not limited to the bent shape shown in the figure, and may be a curved shape or a shape bent in the opposite direction. Further, although the side perforation line 16 is shown as an example with a downward convex curve, it may also have an upward convex curve. In addition, various weak parts in this embodiment can be formed by cutting lines on various types of perforations. In particular, since the additional weak part 12 does not need to be cut and only needs to be easily bent, it is sufficient if a weaker part is formed on the line than other parts.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0046] 10 Box body for product 10a Upper surface part 10c1~10c-4 Side surface parts 12 Additional weak part 14 Front perforation line 16 Side perforation line 17, 19 Inner bottom pieces 18 Upper part of the box body 20 Lower part of the box body 23 Side vulnerable part 25 Bottom vulnerable part X, Y attachment areas

Claims

1. A box capable of storing an object therein, the box having a cubic shape with a top surface, a bottom surface and four side surfaces, The bottom surface portion in a molded state is composed of an outer bottom surface piece extending from one of the side surfaces and constituting the outermost part of the bottom surface portion, and inner bottom surface pieces extending from both adjacent side surfaces of the one side surface portion and being stored inside the outer bottom surface piece, A linear side fragile portion is provided on a lower portion of one of the side portions extending from the inner bottom piece, the linear side fragile portion extending upward from the lowermost region on both sides of the side portion in the width direction toward the center in the width direction, The inner bottom piece extending from the other side surface portion is provided with a linear bottom weakened portion extending in the entire width direction, This product storage box is characterized in that the outer bottom piece and the two inner bottom pieces are attached in a molded state, and the attachment area is set in an area where the bottom weak portion is not formed.

2. The product storage box described in claim 1, characterized in that the linear side weakened portion extends diagonally upward for a predetermined length from near the lowest points on both sides of the lower part of one of the side portions in the width direction toward the center in the width direction, then extends further steeply upward at a predetermined position, and is connected at the top by an arc-shaped line.

3. 3. The product storage box according to claim 1, wherein the bottom weakened portion is bent midway in the extending direction.

4. 4. The product storage box according to claim 1, wherein the fragile portions are configured as perforations having cutting lines at predetermined intervals.

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