Flexible Crate Height Adjustment via Scored Wall Folding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for adjusting the height of cardboard boxes or crates with variable volumes are burdensome, often requiring fastening materials that are difficult to recycle and result in increased transportation costs due to excess volume, and involve complex machinery or hazardous cutting processes.
Innovation Solution
A method and machine that score and fold the side walls of the box to reduce its height to match the height of the contents, using horizontal and oblique creases to collapse the walls onto the stack, eliminating the need for external fastening materials and reducing waste, by employing a mandrel and rollers to create creases and a die to fold the walls horizontally.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional fastening materials (thermo-shrinkable plastic, polystyrene particles, inflatable pockets) are used to fill unused space in boxes, then the objects are secured inside the box, but the transportation volume increases and recycling becomes difficult and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The box structure itself serves the dual function of containing objects and securing them through its foldable side walls that can be collapsed onto the contents. The side walls are designed to be folded back over the stack of objects, eliminating the need for separate fastening materials and reducing transportation volume to match the actual contents volume.
2Volume of moving object
If cutting tools are used to remove the top section of boxes to reduce height, then the box volume is reduced to usable volume, but dangerous cutting tools and complex automated machinery are required
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of removing material from the box to reduce volume, the invention folds the existing side walls back onto the contents. This inverted approach reduces volume by reconfiguring the box structure rather than removing parts, avoiding the need for cutting tools and complex automated machinery.
3Reliability
If fastening materials are used to secure objects in boxes with variable volumes, then objects are held secure, but waste collection and recycling become complex and costly operations
Solution Approach 1:
The box structure is made entirely from the same corrugated fiberboard material throughout. The side walls that are folded back to secure objects are made from the same material as the box itself, creating a homogeneous structure that simplifies waste collection and recycling operations compared to composite structures with multiple materials.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a method for adjusting height of a crate or box made of flexible material, having a base and at least four side walls by folding. After the base has been placed in a generally horizontal, a horizontal crease is produced on each side wall, parallel to the base and at a height substantially equal to a top of a stack of objects. At least one oblique crease is produced in each corner of the crate, with one end located at the intersection between two horizontal creases and the other end located on an upper ridge of one side wall. The upper part of each side wall is folded towards the center of the crate, at an angle substantially equal to 90°. The various flaps are folded on one another, being separated by oblique creases, bringing the upper part of side walls in a substantially horizontal plane.