System for packaging an article

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for packaging an article to be shipped, wherein: the system comprises a. a primary container which is designed to accommodate the article, and b. a secondary container which is designed to accommodate the primary container when the latter has accommodated the article; the primary container comprises a primary main body having a primary opening, and a first primary adhesive element by means of which the primary opening can be sealed; the secondary container comprises a secondary main body having a secondary opening, and a first secondary adhesive element by means of which the secondary opening can be sealed; and at least one transparent part of the primary main body is made of paper having an opacity of at most 75%.

Description

[0001] System for packing an object

[0002] The invention relates to a system for packaging an object to be shipped, wherein the system comprises a primary container which is configured to receive the object, and a secondary container which is configured to receive the primary container once it has received the object, wherein the primary container comprises a primary base body with a primary opening and a first primary adhesive element by means of which the primary opening can be closed, and wherein the secondary container comprises a secondary base body with a secondary opening and a first secondary adhesive element by means of which the secondary opening can be closed.

[0003] Today, many everyday items such as shoes, clothing, books, food, and linens such as tablecloths and bed linen are ordered online from retailers and then shipped to the customer. In addition, many products and semi-finished products are shipped from manufacturers to warehouses, intermediaries, retailers, or customers. To keep shipping costs low, it is advantageous to be able to transport as many of these items as possible at the same time, packaged for shipping. The means of transport used to package the items in this way is almost irrelevant. The goal in recent years has been to find packaging that is as well-adapted as possible to the shape and volume of the item being shipped, in order to transport as little air as possible.Therefore, systems for packaging an object to be shipped are known from the prior art. These systems, particularly for the goods mentioned above, but not limited to them, do not rely on boxes and cartons as transport packaging, but rather on flexible elements such as film packaging, as well as bags and pouches made of various materials, for example, film, plastic, or paper. Depending on the object, this packaging must withstand different mechanical stresses, which are defined on the one hand by the material, shape, and weight of the respective object, and on the other hand by the external stresses occurring during transport. Therefore, a system is known from the prior art that packages the object in a primary container and then in a secondary container.

[0004] The secondary container is made of kraft paper, for example, and is designed to withstand the mechanical stresses that occur during transport of the packaged item. Such stresses arise, for example, during reloading, where the packaged item may be thrown and land hard or be exposed to weather conditions such as rain or snow. The secondary container forms the outer packaging, which must withstand these influences and simultaneously contains information about the recipient of the packaged item. Since such kraft papers are generally difficult to print on, address labels are used instead.

[0005] Within the secondary container, in generic systems, is the primary container, which is usually made of film to ensure sufficient transparency and moisture protection. The recipient of the packaged item, who opens the secondary container and removes the primary container, should receive a visual impression of the item while still feeling protected and thus as good as new. A disadvantage is that this packaging is not or only insufficiently recyclable, as the material mix used prevents such recycling or only allows it with great effort. Furthermore, the manufacturing costs of such a system are high due to the different materials.Furthermore, a primary container made of film cannot usually be resealed, which would be particularly advantageous for the purchase of products by the end consumer mentioned above, since if the consumer does not like the product, they should return it to the retailer or manufacturer in the same packaging if possible.

[0006] The invention is based on the object of eliminating or at least mitigating these disadvantages of the prior art.

[0007] The invention solves the stated problem by a system for packaging an object to be shipped according to the preamble of claim 1, which is characterized in that at least one transparent part of the primary base body is made of a paper with an opacity of at most 75%.

[0008] Opacity generally refers to the opposite of transparent, i.e. a lack of transparency, which can also be described as a lack of transmission of light. In the context of the present invention, opacity is defined as 1 minus transmission. For paper with an opacity of 75%, 25% of the scattered light will pass through the paper, while 75% of the light will be blocked by the paper and cannot penetrate through it. With an opacity of 25%, correspondingly only a quarter of the incident light will not be able to penetrate the paper. In the present invention, opacity always refers to the visible light perceivable by the human eye. Accordingly, a clean window pane has an opacity of almost 0% and a transparency of almost 100%.Accordingly, a cardboard or kraft paper for a carton or a secondary container has an opacity of almost 100% and a transparency of almost 0%. According to the invention, at least part of the primary base body, namely the so-called transparent part, is made of a paper with an opacity of at most 75%. This incomplete opacity and the resulting partial transparency are sufficient for the user to be able to obtain a view, albeit unclear and possibly blurred, of the object contained in the primary container after the user has opened the secondary container and removed the primary container with the object contained therein from the secondary container.

[0009] The transparent part of the primary base body is preferably not made of wax paper and, in a particularly preferred embodiment, does not contain any wax paper. Preferably, the transparent part of the primary base body is not made of glassine paper and, in a particularly preferred embodiment, does not contain any glassine paper. Preferably, the paper of the transparent part of the primary base body, preferably of the entire primary base body, is recyclable. This is carried out according to the methodology of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). This method is called "CEPI Recyclability Laboratory Test Method Version 2 - Standard Mill."

[0010] Preferably, the transparent part is the entire primary base body. Alternatively, the transparent part is formed as a genuine part of the primary base body, for example, as a window. If the transparent part of the primary base body is not the entire primary base body, the remainder of the primary base body has a higher opacity, which is, for example, at least 90%, preferably at least 95%, particularly preferably 100%. This remainder of the primary base body is preferably also made of paper.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the transparent part of the primary base body is made of a paper with an opacity of at most 65%, preferably at most 55%, particularly preferably at most 45%. The lower the opacity, the less light is prevented from penetrating the respective paper and the better the transparency of the paper in this transparent part and, accordingly, the view of an object located in the primary container.

[0012] The primary container is preferably designed to be flexible. This allows it to be adapted to the geometric shape of the packaged product. The primary container is preferably designed to be foldable and / or bendable. This allows the volume of the primary container to be reduced, which is particularly advantageous if the packaged object is small compared to the primary container in its unfolded and unfolded state. In this case, folding and / or bending the primary container reduces the amount of air that is enclosed in the primary container in addition to the packaged product and thus must be transported.

[0013] Preferably, the secondary container is made of paper with an opacity of at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, particularly preferably at least 95%, and most preferably 100%. This ensures that third parties, such as postmen, shipping employees, or others, cannot see inside the secondary container and thus determine which product is being packaged and transported within the system. The privacy of end customers, in particular those receiving delivery of items they ordered online, for example, can thus be preserved.

[0014] The secondary container is preferably designed to be flexible. This allows it to be adapted to the geometric shape of the packaged product. The secondary container is preferably designed to be foldable and / or bendable. This allows the volume of the secondary container to be reduced, which is particularly advantageous if the packaged object is small compared to the secondary container in its unbent and unfolded state, since in this case, folding and / or bending the secondary container can reduce the amount of air that is enclosed in the secondary container in addition to the packaged product and thus has to be transported. The primary adhesive element is preferably designed such that it can be arranged at any point on the outer side wall of the primary container.The adhesive of the primary adhesive element is therefore selected in such a way that it adheres to every point on the outer side wall, i.e. the outside of the primary container.

[0015] Preferably, the secondary adhesive element is designed so that it can be arranged at any point on the outer side wall of the secondary container. The adhesive of the secondary adhesive element is thus selected such that it adheres to any point on the outer side wall, i.e., the outside of the secondary container.

[0016] In both cases, this ensures that the opening of the respective container can be closed by the respective adhesive element, even when bent and / or folded. The respective adhesive element is preferably located on the longer side of the respective container opening.

[0017] The primary container preferably has a second primary adhesive element, by which the primary opening can be closed. It also has a primary tear-open element, by which the primary opening can be opened if it has been closed with the first primary adhesive element, and by which the primary opening cannot be opened if it has been closed with the second primary adhesive element. The primary tear-open element is preferably located between the two primary adhesive elements.

[0018] This design makes it possible to reuse the primary container without providing additional adhesive elements or closures for the primary container. After the object has been placed in the primary container, it is closed with the first primary adhesive element. The first primary adhesive element is preferably arranged on a tab of one of the side walls of the primary container, which tab is folded over to close the primary opening, so that the first primary adhesive element can be arranged on an outer side wall of the primary base body. The primary adhesive element is preferably designed to be activatable, so that it only exerts its adhesive effect when this is desired and when it has been previously activated. This can occur, for example, by removing a protective strip from the primary adhesive element, by requesting the primary adhesive element, or by exerting pressure on the primary adhesive element.

[0019] If the object is to be removed from the primary container, the primary opening is reopened, for example, by removing or tearing open the primary adhesive element. The object is now freely accessible. If, for example, the object is to be returned, in this preferred embodiment it is reinserted into the primary container, whose primary opening is now closed with the second primary adhesive element.

[0020] In a preferred embodiment, the second secondary container has a second secondary adhesive element, by which the secondary opening can be closed. It also has a secondary tear-off element, by which the secondary opening can be opened if it has been closed with the first secondary adhesive element, and by which the secondary opening cannot be opened if it has been closed with the second secondary adhesive element. The functionality corresponds to the functionality described for the primary base body.

[0021] Preferably, the transparent part forms a window surrounded by a surrounding paper with an opacity of at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, particularly preferably at least 95%, most preferably 100%. In a preferred embodiment, the first primary adhesive element and / or the second primary adhesive element cooperate with the surrounding paper to close the primary opening.

[0022] Preferably, at least one of the papers used has a plastic coating that makes up no more than 5 percent by weight, preferably no more than 3 percent by weight, of the total weight of the system. Papers with a sufficiently low opacity are known in principle from the prior art and can be produced, for example, as described in AT 525436 B1. The invention also achieves the stated object by means of a primary container for a system of the type described here.

Claims

Patent claims 1. A system for packaging an object to be shipped, the system comprising a. a primary container configured to receive the object, and b. a secondary container configured to receive the primary container once it has received the object, the primary container comprising a primary base body with a primary opening and a first primary adhesive element by means of which the primary opening can be closed, and the secondary container comprising a secondary base body with a secondary opening and a first secondary adhesive element by means of which the secondary opening can be closed, characterized in that at least one transparent part of the primary base body is made of a paper with an opacity of at most 75%.

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the transparent part of the primary base body is made of a paper with an opacity of at most 65%, preferably at most 55%, particularly preferably at most 45%.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the secondary base body is made of a paper with an opacity of at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, particularly preferably at least 95%, most preferably 100%.

4. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the primary container has a second primary adhesive element by which the primary opening can be closed, and a primary tear-off element by which the primary opening can be opened when it has been closed with the first primary adhesive element, and by which the primary opening cannot be opened when it has been closed by the second primary adhesive element.

5. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secondary container has a second secondary adhesive element by which the secondary opening can be closed, and a secondary tear-off element by which the secondary opening can be opened when it has been closed with the first secondary adhesive element, and by which the secondary opening cannot be opened when it has been closed by the second secondary adhesive element.

6. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transparent part forms a window which is surrounded by a surrounding paper with an opacity of at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, particularly preferably at least 95%, most preferably 100%.

7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that the first primary adhesive element and / or the second primary adhesive element cooperates with the surrounding paper to close the primary opening.

8. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the papers used has a plastic coating which makes up to a maximum of 5% by weight, preferably a maximum of 3% by weight of the total weight of the system.

9. Primary container for a system according to any one of the preceding claims.