Carton having tear strips for cans

Claim 2

A carton for holding a plurality of cans of uniform size and shape, comprising: a paperboard container in the for of a rectangular parallelepiped having a top wall, a bottom wall, and two sidewalls, and constituting a single continuous strip of material with its ends fixedly secured together; said container being open at both of its ends to define rectangular end margins; the widths of the top and bottom walls being predetermined to provide a very tight fit with the cans to be carried by the container; each longitudinal corner edge being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slits to permit slight bulging by the can ends; those slits nearest to the end margins weakening the corner edges and tending to initiate tears to the end margins resulting in premature release of the contents; and a length of reinforcing strand extending around each corner edge adjacent and parallel to the end margin to prevent extension of the corner slit to the end margin; the paperboard material comprising a laminate of an outer label strip and an inner backing strip; and said lengths of reinforcing strand being adhesively bonded between and to both strips to prevent slippage in response to tension forces applied thereto.

Claim 3

A carton for holding a plurality of cans of uniform size and shape, comprising: a paperboard container in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a top wall, a bottom wall, and two sidewalls, and constituting a single continuous strip of material with its ends fixedly secured together; said container being open at both of its ends to define rectangular end margins; the widths of the top and bottom walls being predetermined to provide a very tight fit with the cans to be carried by the container; each longitudinal corner edge being provided with a plurality of longitudinal sliTs to permit slight bulging by the can ends; those slits nearest to the end margins weakening the corner edges and tending to initiate tears to the end margins resulting in premature release of the contents; and a length of reinforcing strand extending around each corner edge adjacent and parallel to the end margin to prevent extension of the corner slit to the end margin; the lengths of corner-reinforcing strand extending entirely around the container parallel and adjacent to its respective end margin; and a tear strip in a sidewall of the carton intermediate the upper and lower corner edges and generally parallel thereto; said tear strip comprising a series of spaced slits adjacent to an end margin piercing through the reinforcing strand to facilitate completion of the tear strip action and intentional release of the contents.

Claim 4

A carton for holding a plurality of cans of uniform size and shape, comprising: a paperboard container in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a top wall, a bottom wall, and two sidewalls, and constituting a single continuous strip of material with its ends fixedly secured together; said container being open at both of its ends to define rectangular end margins; the widths of the top and bottom walls being predetermined to provide a very tight fit with the cans to be carried by the container; each longitudinal corner edge being provided with a plurality of longitudinal sliTs to permit slight bulging by the can ends; those slits nearest to the end margins weakening the corner edges and tending to initiate tears to the end margins resulting in premature release of the contents; and a length of reinforcing strand extending around each corner edge adjacent and parallel to the end margin to prevent extension of the corner slit to the end margin; the lengths of corner-reinforcing strand extending entirely around the container parallel and adjacent to its respective end margin; and a tear strip in a sidewall of the carton intermediate the upper and lower corner edges and generally parallel thereto; said tear strip comprising a series of spaced slits adjacent to an end margin piercing through the reinforcing strand to facilitate completion of the tear strip action and intentional release of the contents.

Claim 5

A carton as claimed in claim 2, said tear strip extending inwardly from an end margin only a distance generally corresponding to the diameter of a can to provide for the release only of the contents adjacent to the end margin.

Claim 6

A carton for holding a plurality of cans of uniform size and shape, comprising: a paperboard container in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a top wall, a bottom wall, and two sidewalls, and constituting a single continuous strip of material with its ends fixedly secured together; said container being open at both of its ends to define rectangular end margins; the widths of the top and bottom walls being predetermined to provide a very tight fit with the cans to be carried by the container; each longitudinal corner edge being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slits to permit slight bulging by the can ends; those slits nearest to the end margins weakening the corner edges and tending to initiate tears to the end margins resulting in premature release of the contents; and a length of reinforcing strand extending around each corner edge adjacent and parallel to the end margin to prevent extension of the corner slit to the end margin; the lengths of corner-reinforcing strand at each end margin being portions of a continuous reinforcing strand extending entirely around the container parallel and adjacent to its respective end margin; and additional intermediate reinforcing strands extending around the container parallel to the end-margin-reinforcing strands; each intermediate strand lying in a plane generally corresponding to the plane of division between adjacent cans along the length of the container to provide separate retention for each lateral row of cans.

Claim 7

A carton for holding a plurality of cans of uniform size and shape, comprising: a paperboard container in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a top wall, a bottom wall, and two sidewalls, and constituting a single continuous strip of material with its ends fixedly secured together; said container being open at both of its ends to define rectangular end margins; the widths of the top and bottom walls being predetermined to provide a very tight fit with the cans to be carried by the container; each longitudinal corner edge being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slits to permit slight bulging by the can ends; those slits nearest to the end margins weakening the corner edges and tending to initiate tears to the end margins resulting in premature release of the contents; and a length of reinforcing strand extending around each corner edge adjacent and parallel to the end margin to prevent extension of the corner slit to the end margin; the lengths of corner-reinforcing strand at each end margin being portions of a continuous reinforcing strand extending entirely around the container parallel and adjacent to its respective end margin; and additional intermediate reinforcing strands extending around the container parallel to the end-margin-reinforcing strands; each intermediate strand lying in a plane generally corresponding to the plane of division between adjacent cans along the length of the container to provide separate retention for each lateral row of cans.

Claim 8

A carton as claimed in claim 4; and a tear strip in a sidewall of the carton intermediate the upper and lower corner edges and generally parallel thereto; said tear strip comprising a series of spaced slits piercing through the thickness of the laminate; the slits adjacent to an end margin piercing through the adjacent reinforcing strand to facilitate completion of the tear strip action and intentional release of the contents adjacent to said end margin.

Claim 9

A carton as claimed in claim 5; said tear strip extending inwardly from an end margin a distance slightly short of the nearest intermediate reinforcing strand to provide for the release only of the contents adjacent to the end margin.

Claim 10

A carton as claimed in claim 6; and a second tear strip similar to the first tear strip extending inwardly from the second end margin a distance slightly short of the nearest intermediate reinforcing strand to provide for the release only of the contents adjacent to the second end margin.

Claim 11

A carton as claimed in claim 7; and a third tear strip located between the first and second tear strips and similar thereto; the slits of said third tear strip piercing through at least one of the intermediate reinforcing strands to facilitate the tear strip action and the release of the contents of the intermediate portion of the container.