Reinforced shipping container

Claim 1

A unitary rectangular blank foldable to form a reinforced receptacle, comprising a series of five successive hingedly connected vertical sections the second and fourth of which have the same width and the first and fifth of which have widths the sum of which is generally equal to that of said third section, whereby when said sections are folded to define a rectangular configuration, said first and fifth wall sections are contained in a common vertical plane with their free edges adjacent each other to define one wall of said receptacle, one opposed pair of walls of said receptacle being end walls having a width that is less than that of the other pair of walls; a plurality of top and bottom flaps hingedly connected with the horizontal upper and lower edges of each of said wall sections, respectively, the widths of said flaps corresponding with the widths of the walls to which they are connected, respectively, the height of said flaps being no greater than one half the width of said end walls, at least one of the top and bottom flaps connected with one of said end walls containing adjacent each vertical edge thereof a vertical slit defining a tab hingedly connected with the adjacent edge of the corresponding side top and bottom flaps, respectively; said end top and bottom flaps being foldable inwardly to horizontal positions between the upper and lower edges of said sidewalls, respectively, said side top and bottom flaps being foldable to horizontal positions overlapping said end top and bottom flaps, respectively, each of the tabs carried by said side flaps being foldable around the adjacent end wall edge to external reinforcing positions for rigid securement against the outer surface of the lower edge portion of the adjacent end wall, whereby each of the vertical corners of the receptacle consists of a unitary hinge line and the end walls of said receptacle are reinforced at their upper and lower edges by said glue tabs.