Carton with integral reinforced carrying handle

Claim 1

A carton comprising: opposed front and back walls joined by opposed side walls; a bottom and top wall between said front and back walls, said top wall including at least two overlapping flaps, one of said flaps being hingedly connected to said front wall and the other of said flaps being hingedly connected to said back wall; a handle element cut in each of said flaps, each of said handle elements including: outer edges formed by spaced lines cut in each of said flaps extending inwardly from a top edge thereof; a score line hinge extending towards each other from an end of each of said outer edges generally parallel to the top edge of the flap; and a a central portion cut from the flap between said score line hinges, defining a lower edge on said handle element generally parallel to the top edge of said flap; whereby one of said handle elements can be bent substantially 180° about its score line hinges when said flaps are overlapped, and the other of said handle elements complementally seated thereon; said complementally seated surfaces of said handle elements being secured together to form an integral handle on said top wall pivotable about said score line hinges from a substantially flap position on said top wall to a substantially upright position relative thereto so that said carton may be supported by said handle; and additional handle element integral with one of said handle elements cut in one of said flaps, said additional handle element being secured by a hinge score line to a top edge of said one handle element, said additional handle element having outer dimensions which are the mirror image of said one handle element: whereby after said handle elements are secured together to form an integral handle, said additional handle element can be bent substantially 180° about the score line hinge securing it to said one handle element into overlapping relation with said integral handle to reinforce the same; said additional handle element including: a central portion cut from the interior thereof to define a lower edge on said additional handle element generally parallel to the score line hinge securing it to said one handle element; a second score line hinge between said lower edge and said score line hinge securing said additional handle to said one handle element to define a tab on said additional handle element; said central portion of each of said handle elements being substantially rectangular in plan and cut along three edges, the intact edge of said central portion being between said score line hinges; said central portion of each handle element being overlapped and secured together; whereby after all of said handle elements are placed in overlapping relation, said tab can be rotated 180° to secure said additional handle element to said other handle elements; said carton further including: a strip of reinforcing tape adhered to each of said flaps parallel to and just below the score line hinges of each handle element, said tape extending across the entire width of the flaps.