Child-proof paper or cardboard container

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001]The present invention relates to containers, particularly to household product containers.

[0002]The invention was specifically developed for its application to containers for laundry and dishwasher detergent capsules.

[0003]Although reference is made herein to this specific field of use, it is understood that the invention is not limited to detergent capsule containers.

PRIOR ART

[0004]Laundry and dishwasher detergent capsules are water-soluble pouches containing highly concentrated laundry detergents, fabric softeners and other laundry products. Detergent capsules are becoming increasingly popular due to their ease of use for consumers and positive sustainability impact as they provide precise dosing per load, reducing waste of liquid and powder detergents.

[0005]Accidental exposure of children to laundry or dishwasher capsules raises significant concerns because the elaborate, multicolored design of such capsules makes them resemble candy, creating a risk that children might mistake them as such.

[0006]In light of the dangers posed by children ingesting capsules, packaging manufacturers have committed to developing child-proof containers, whose introduction has reduced the incidence of accidental ingestion of potentially hazardous substances by children under 5 years old.

[0007]Given the increasing use of this type of packaging, it has become necessary to define its characteristics and testing methods to provide adequate guarantees and avoid confusion in this highly important sector for child safety.

[0008]To address this need, UNI published Standard UNI EN ISO 8317:2005 “Child-resistant packaging—Requirements and test procedures for reclosable packaging”. This standard establishes the characteristics that reclosable packages must have before being marketed (particularly for solvents, household hygiene products, strongly acidic or alkaline preparations, gardening substances, etc.).

[0009]Child-proof containers, when tested according to standards, must provide a satisfactory degree of resistance to opening by children while simultaneously ensuring sufficient accessibility for adults.

[0010]Testing procedures should therefore be conducted in two phases: a child test and an adult test. The child test is conducted under supervision in a familiar environment: a group of no more than 200 children aged between 42 and 51 months is formed. Children should be selected to represent as faithfully as possible the diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the overall population, not just the test area. Each pair of children is given a number of packages to open using any means they wish. They have 10 minutes: if they cannot open or access the product contents in the first five minutes of testing, they must observe a single demonstration of package opening by an adult; they then have another five minutes to attempt opening the package.

[0014]Most detergent capsule containers currently on the market are made of plastic materials, as containers need to incorporate elastic snap-engagement formations and locking elements required to meet child-proof requirements.

[0015]To limit the use of plastic packaging, it would be desirable to manufacture child-proof containers from paper or cardboard. However, it is very difficult to produce reclosable paper or cardboard containers that meet child-proof standard requirements.

[0016]EP-A-3778411 describes a consumer product comprising a container having a container body closed by a lid with side walls disposed outside corresponding outer walls of the container body.

[0017]EP-A-4071073 by the same applicant describes a child-proof paper or cardboard container comprising a container body having an opening and a lid removably applied to the opening, wherein the container body comprises a bottom wall, a pair of front walls and a pair of side walls, each side wall comprising an outer layer with a through hole and an inner layer with a through window facing the outer layer's through hole, wherein the movable lid comprises a top wall and a pair of sides each having an engagement tab on its outer surface, wherein in a closed configuration the lid's side engagement tabs engage respective through windows of the container body's side walls and retain the lid on the container body. A user can release the lid from the container body by inserting a finger into each through hole and pressing inward on the engagement tabs.

[0018]The solution described in EP-A-4071073 has proven effective in passing the tests required by child-proof container standards.

[0019]However, there remains a need to further improve the difficulty children have in opening containers.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0020]The object of the present invention is to provide an eco-sustainable container with further improved child-resistant opening features.

[0021]According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a container according to claim 1.

[0022]According to another aspect, the invention relates to a paper or cardboard blank for manufacturing child-proof containers according to claim 9.

[0023]According to another aspect, the invention relates to a consumer product according to claim 10 comprising a child-proof paper or cardboard container containing at least one water-soluble single-dose article.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024]The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, provided by way of non-limiting example only, wherein:

[0025]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a container according to the present invention in a partially open and partially sectioned configuration,

[0026]FIGS. 2 and 3 are partially sectioned perspective views of the container of FIG. 1,

[0027]FIGS. 4 and 5 are partial sections along lines IV-IV and V-V of FIGS. 2 and 3,

[0028]FIG. 6 is a partial section illustrating a variant of FIG. 4, and

[0029]FIG. 7 is a plan view of a paper or cardboard blank used for manufacturing the container of FIG. 1.

[0030]It will be appreciated that the accompanying drawings are schematic and that different figures may not be shown to the same scale. Furthermore, in various figures, some elements may not be shown to better display other elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031]FIG. 1 illustrates a consumer product comprising a paper or cardboard container 10 containing a plurality of water-soluble single-dose articles 80.

[0032]With reference to FIGS. 1-3, the paper or cardboard container 10 comprises a container body 12 and a lid 14. The container body 12 has an opening 16 and the lid 14 is removably applied to the opening 16 and movable between a closed configuration and an open configuration.

[0033]The container body 12 comprises a bottom wall 18 opposite the opening 16, a front wall 20, a rear wall 21, and two side walls 22. The front wall 20 and rear wall 21 may be parallel to each other and orthogonal to the bottom wall 18. The two side walls 22 may be parallel to each other and orthogonal to the bottom wall 18 and to the front and rear walls 20, 21. The front wall 20, the rear wall 21 and the side walls 22 have respective upper edges defining the opening 16.

[0034]In possible embodiments, the container body 12 could have a trapezoidal cross-section, in the broadest sense a scalene trapezoid shape. In this case, at least one of the side walls 22 of the container body 12 may be inclined relative to the bottom wall 18 at an angle less than 90°.

[0035]The lid 14 comprises a top wall 42 and a pair of sides 44. The sides 44 may be parallel to each other and orthogonal to the top wall 42. When at least one of the side walls 22 of the container body 12 is inclined relative to the bottom wall 18, at least one of the sides 44 of the lid 14 is inclined relative to the top wall 42 at an angle equal to the inclination angle of the respective side wall 22.

[0036]The lid 14 may comprise a front side 46. The front side 46 may be orthogonal to the sides 44 and may be orthogonal or inclined relative to the top wall 42. The front side 46 may have folded lateral portions 49 that may be fixed, for example by glue, to respective sides 44.

[0037]The lid 14 may be hinged to the container body 12 along a hinge line 52 extending along an upper side of the rear wall 21 of the container body 12.

[0038]With reference to FIG. 7, the lid 14 and container body 12 are made from a single flat paper or cardboard blank 120 by folding the blank 120 along fold lines indicated in FIG. 7 with dash-dot lines. The container 10 is entirely made of paper or cardboard and can be recycled as paper waste without needing to remove any plastic parts.

[0039]With reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 7, each of the side walls 22 comprises an outer layer 24 having a through hole 28 and an inner layer 26 having a through window 30 facing the through hole 28 of the outer layer 24.

[0040]The inner layer 26 of each of the side walls 22 may be formed by a distal portion of the respective side wall 22 folded around a fold line passing through the upper edge of the side wall 22.

[0041]Still with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 7, each of the sides 44 of the lid 14 has an engagement tab 48 folded onto a respective outer surface. The engagement tabs 48 may be fixed, for example by glue, to the respective outer surfaces of the sides 44 of the lid 14 or may be free, i.e. not fixed to the respective outer surfaces of the sides 44.

[0042]In the closed configuration of the container 10, the engagement tabs 48 of the sides 44 of the lid 14 engage respective through windows 30 of the side walls 22 of the container body 12 and keep the lid 14 closed on the container body 12.

[0043]With reference to FIGS. 1-7, at least one side wall 22 has an intermediate layer 62 that may be formed by a portion folded relative to the front wall 20.

[0044]The intermediate layer 62 is disposed between the inner layer 26 and the outer layer 24 and has a through opening 64 facing the through hole 28 of the outer layer 24.

[0045]At least one side wall 22 has a slider 66 movable in the through opening 64 of the intermediate layer 62 and guided between the inner layer 26 and the outer layer 24. The through opening 64 may be closed along three sides as shown in the figures. In possible embodiments the through opening 64 may be closed along four sides or along two sides, parallel or orthogonal to each other.

[0046]The slider 66 is movable between a locking position where the slider 66 faces the through hole 28 of the outer layer 24 and prevents the user from accessing the respective engagement tab 48, and an unlocking position where the slider 66 is moved away from the through hole 28 of the outer layer 24 and allows the user to disengage the respective engagement tab 48 by inserting a finger into the respective through hole 28 and pressing inward on the respective engagement tab 48. FIGS. 2 and 4 show the slider 66 in the locking position and FIGS. 3 and 5 show the slider 66 in the unlocking position.

[0047]In the embodiment shown in the figures, the slider 66 is movable along a straight direction parallel to the bottom wall 18. In possible embodiments the slider 66 may be movable along a straight direction orthogonal to the bottom wall 18.

[0048]With reference to FIGS. 1 and 7, the slider 66 may have a hole 68 facing a through slot 70 formed in the outer layer 24 of the side wall 22. A user may engage the hole 68 with a fingertip and move the slider 66 between the locking position and the unlocking position, and vice versa.

[0049]In the blank 120 of FIG. 7, the slider 66 is separated from the edges of the opening 64 by a through cut. The cut formed between the facing edges of the opening 64 and the slider 66 may be interrupted in at least one break point, configured to break the first time the slider 66 is moved from the initial position.

[0050]The initial position of the slider 66 in the blank 120 may be the locking position, so that in the configuration where the container 10 is placed on sale the slider 66 prevents disengagement of the engagement tab 48 and opening of the lid 14. Alternatively, the initial position of the slider 66 in the blank 120 may be the unlocking position, so that in the configuration where the container 10 is placed on sale the slider 66 does not prevent disengagement of the engagement tab 48 and opening of the lid 14.

[0051]In a possible embodiment, each of the side walls 22 comprises a respective intermediate layer 62 and a respective slider 66, so that when both sliders 66 are in their respective unlocking positions a user can release the lid 14 from the container body 12 by inserting a finger into each of the through holes 28 and pressing inward on the engagement tabs 48.

[0052]To open the lid 14, a user must first move the slider 66 or both sliders 66 to the unlocking position. Only after moving the slider 66 or both sliders 66 to the unlocking position can the user release the lid 14 from the container body 12 by inserting a finger into each of the through holes 28 and pressing inward on the engagement tabs 48.

[0053]After disengaging the lid 14 from the container body 12, the user can lift the lid 14 by pivoting it about the hinge axis 52 and can access the contents of the container 10.

[0054]The operations required to open the lid 14 are sufficiently complex to ensure that the paper or cardboard container 10 is child-proof.

[0055]With reference to FIG. 6, in a possible embodiment the inner layer 26 of at least one of the side walls of the container body 22 may have a folded flap 50 orthogonal to the inner layer 26 and extending along a lower edge of the through window 30. The folded flap 50 prevents the lid 14 from being pushed into the container body 12 beyond the position where the engagement tabs 48 are engaged in the respective through windows 30.

[0056]With reference to FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 7, in a possible embodiment the front wall 20 of the container body 12 may have a distal folded portion 90 having a base flap 92 folded against an inner surface of the front wall 20 and a stiffening flap 94 disposed at a lower end of the base flap 92 and folded inward into the container.

[0057]The stiffening flap 94 may be orthogonal to the front wall 20.

[0058]In possible embodiments, the stiffening flap 94 may extend across the entire width of the front wall 20 and may have two tabs 96 fixed, for example by glue, to the inner layers 26 of the respective side walls. In possible embodiments the stiffening flap 94 may comprise at least two spaced-apart sections.

[0059]The stiffening flap 94 makes the front wall 20 more rigid and makes it more difficult to bend the upper edge of the front wall inward or outward of the container.

[0060]The increased rigidity of the front wall 20 achieved by the stiffening flap 94 considerably improves child-resistant opening safety, especially in the case of large containers having a front wall with a large width.

[0061]The stiffening flap 94 prevents contact with the products contained inside the container 10 in case children manage to insert their fingers between the upper edge of the front wall 20 and the front side 46 of the lid 14 when the container 10 is in the closed configuration.

[0062]In the closed configuration of the container, the front side 46 of the lid 14 may rest against the stiffening flap 94. In this way, the stiffening flap 94 prevents the lid 14 from being pushed into the container body 12 beyond the position where the engagement tabs 48 are engaged in the respective through windows 30.

[0063]In possible embodiments the stiffening flap 94 may have a turned-up edge facing upward, so that the stiffening flap 94 has substantially a U-shaped cross-section. The turned-up edge further increases the rigidity of the stiffening flap 94 and further reduces the risk of contact with the products contained inside the container 10 in case children manage to insert their fingers between the upper edge of the front wall and the front side 46 of the lid 14.

[0064]Naturally, while maintaining the principle of the invention, construction details and embodiments may vary widely from what has been described and illustrated, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

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