Carton having gusseted side flaps

Claim 2

In a seal-end type carton having front and back panels and alternating side panels forming a tubular body of rectangular cross section and an adhesively sealed top closure formed by a front flap, a back flap, and two gusset side flaps, each of said flaps being joined to the correspondingly identified panel and articulated thereto, the gusset side flaps articulated also to said back flap and free of attachment to the front flap, one gusset side flap at each end thereof, each gusset side flap being traversed by a hinge line at about 45* to the side flap articulation lines and passing through their juncture, each gusset side flap thereby being divided into two parts, an improvement comprising: each gusset side flap being folded inwardly and one said part being superposed over the other part, the adjacent faces of said parts being bonded together by adhesive means to establish a siftproof seal therebetween, said back flap immediately overlying said inwardly folded side flaps, and said front flap overlying said back flap and adhesively united thereto.

Claim 3

The carton of claim 1 having an easy-open reclosable feature which comprises: a corner portion of said front flap, defined by a diagonal score line extending from a distal corner thereof to a point on the line of articulation separating the front flap from the front panel, said last-mentioned line of articulation comprising a line of weakening along the portion thereof adjoining said corner portion, a corner portion of said back flap being formed by a diagonal score line extending across said back flap, the diagonal score line on the back flap underlying and being in direct alignment with the diagonal score line on said front flap, whereby a pair of generally coextensive, superposed, congruent triangular-shaped corner portions of the back and front flap result, a tab being attached to the gusset side flap directly underlying said corner portions along a tab articulation line at the distal edge of the gusset side flap part which is articulated from the side panel, said tab articulation line comprising a line of Weakening, and said tab being folded along said tab articulation line so as to lie on the top of the gusset side flap part to which it is attached, whereby said tab lies between said parts of the gusset side flap and extends outwardly beyond the adjacent side panel to form a gripping tab, so that a pull on the gripping tab will sever the corner portion of said front flap from the front panel along the line of weakening therebetween, sever the gripping tab from the gusset side flap along the line of weakening therebetween, and fold the superposed corner portions along their diagonal score lines to form an opening in the end of the carton.

Claim 4

The carton of claim 2 wherein each said hinge line comprises a cut which extends for about one-half the length of the hinge line, said cut originating at a location adjacent the intersection of the lines of articulation of the gusset side flap, said cut allowing the superposed parts of each gusset side flap to fold substantially flat against each other.

Claim 5

The carton of claim 1 wherein each said hinge line comprises a cut which extends for about one-half the length of the hinge line, said cut originating at a location adjacent the intersection of the lines of articulation of the gusset side flap, said cut allowing the superposed parts of each gusset side flap to fold substantially flat against each other.