EP0488094A1

EP0488094A1 - Packing case for panelable electrical appliances

Info

Publication number: EP0488094A1
Application number: EP91120021A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Giuseppe Schena
Original assignee: Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA
Current assignee: Whirlpool EMEA SpA
Priority date: 1990-11-30
Filing date: 1991-11-25
Publication date: 1992-06-03
Also published as: IT9067946A1; IT1241321B; IT9067946A0

Abstract

The present invention relates to a packing case (1) for panelable electrical appliances, comprising a parallelpiped shaped external container with a square or rectangular base, a supporting base (2) for the appliance and protective angular sections (5a,5b,5c,5d). The principle characteristic of the invention is constituted by the fact that on at least one face of the parallelpiped shaped external container means are provided that consent internal access with the aim of panelling the door of the appliance without having to remove the packing case.

Description

The present invention relates to a packing case for panelable electrical appliances, comprising a parallelpiped shaped external container with a square or rectangular base, a supporting base for the appliance and protective angular sections. It is known that electrical appliances destined for transport and for storage are furnished with a packing case.
Generally the packing case is constituted of a wooden supportive base screwed to the base of the appliance, a cardboard external container open at one of its extremities and placed over the appliance, four angular sections and two hoops or straps for keeping the base and the external container connected.
There are also other types of packing cases known in which the supportive base for the electrical appliance is realised in expanded polystyrene, made up of several pieces or a single stamped portion, fixed to a sheet of cardboard and held in place to the external container with hoops or straps.
In other cases the supportive base is fixed, stapled or simply placed on a sheet of cardboard furnished with protruding wings, which are glued to the vertical walls of the external container without an inferior extremity, thus eliminating the use of hoops or straps.
Furthermore in other cases the external container is also furnished with wings on its inferior section that when folded internally and glued between themselves form the base of the packing case and serve as a support for the supportive base of the appliance.
Even in the above case there is no longer the need of hoops or straps to hold the components in place.
It is also known that built-in electrical appliances are manufactured in such away that it is possible to panel the door with a decorative panel that fits in with the surroundings in which the appliance is to be used; this is usually the case with dishwashers.
Usually the decorative panel is click fixed to the door of the appliance using already existing means. This operation is generally carried out in small quantities, within furniture warehouses which receive the electrical appliances from the manufacturer in their packing cases.
So as to be able to carry out this operation it is necessary to unpack the appliance, apply the decorative panel, then re-pack the appliance for delivery to the customer. This creates the need of stacking and storing the packing cases removed from the appliances to be modified, and in doing so occupies space that is not always available. Moreover it is not always possible to remove the packing case without damaging it, for instance the hoops or straps removed may not be re-usable creating the need for new ones, in the case of the base being glued to the external container damage is caused to one or the other that may hinder the operation of re-packing or even cause the necessity for substituting the external container or the base, leading to increased costs.
Whereas for the packing case with the wings of its inferior base glued between themselves, after having opened the superior wings, in order to avoid ripping the covering the problem arises of extracting the appliance from its packing case raising it above the level of the superior base of the container. It is not possible to carry out this operation by hand, due to the weight and encumbrance of the appliance, it is therefore necessary the use of an appropriate apparatus, adaptable to any type of electrical appliance, the likes of which lead to notable costs and investments.
Another problem is that the unpacked product, during the panelling operation and various movements, can easily be damaged with obvious substitution needed of the damaged parts or in the case of irreparable damage the loss of the product with further increases in costs.
The aim of the present invention is that of indicating a packing case for a built-in electrical appliance allowing for eventual panelling without presenting the inconveniences of the type known.
In allowing such aims the present invention has as its object a packing case for panelable electrical appliances, comprising a parallelpiped shaped external container with a square or rectangular base, a supporting base for the appliance and protective angular sections, characterised by the fact that at least on one face of the parallelpiped shaped external container, means are provided that consent internal access with the aim of panelling the door of the appliance without having to remove the packing case. Further aims and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description and annexed drawings, supplied as a non-limiting example in which:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a built-in electrical appliance packed according to the invention:
Figure 2 represents an enlarged perspective view of a built-in electrical appliance packed according to the invention;
Figure 3 represents in perspective an angular section according to a variant of the invention.

In the figures, representing a packing case for a built-in electrical appliance according to the details of the present invention, the reference number 1 refers to an external container of a square or rectangular sectioned packing case, opened at one of its extremities and furnished with superior foldable wings; reference number 2 indicates a supportive base of the electrical appliance, glued to a tray shaped sheet of cardboard 3.
Said sheet of cardboard is supplied with wings 4 that when folded upwardly form a tray of a dimension to house the external container, to which they are glued.
With the reference numbers 5a-5b-5c and 5d a plurality of angular sections in expanded polystyrene are indicated that are inserted between the corners of the appliance and the walls of the external container.
On the anterior angular sections, indicated with the reference numbers 5a and 5b, an opening 6 obtained, in such a form as to leave free a space necessary for applying the decorative panel.
Reference number 7 refers to a stamp like perforation in the form of a "C", on the wall of the container that covers the door of the appliance.
Said perforation is of the dimension, width and height, the same or larger than the door of the appliance to be paneled.
With the reference number 8 a creasing is indicated, the concave part of which facing the inside of the container, closing the "C" of the perforation.
The characteristics of the packing case become clear from the present description and annexed drawings.
The panelling of the appliance is carried out in the following manner.
The cardboard of the external container is cut with an appropriate tool along the perforation 7, in doing so an entrance flap is obtained that can be opened outwardly using the creasing as a hinge.
In this way the door of the electrical appliance remains exposed enabling the application of the decorative panel.
Alter the decorative panel has been applied the opening, that has been opened in the external container, is closed by rotating the entrance flap, obtained by cutting along the perforation, in the opposite sense and held in position with the use of adhesive tape applied to the overall length of the cut perforation or by using a covering made of a thermo-retractable material that contains the whole packing case.
So as to avoid, while placing in position the entrance flap opened in the external container, after the panelling operation has been carried out, that said entrance flap be pushed inside the external container thus causing problems in applying the adhesive tape, the anterior angular sections 5a and 5b are of such a dimension that their extremities serve as a blocking device for the flap.
From the executed description the advantages of the packing case, object of the present invention also become clear.
In particular they are represented by the fact that the application of the decorative panel is carried out without necessitating the unpacking of the appliance, thus eliminating the need of space for storing the packing cases which can be used for creating a small production line improving both the method and time needed to carry out the work. Time and costs of the operation are also reduced.
The risk of damaging the appliance are practically reduced to zero, as all manoeuvres are carried out with the appliance contained in its packing case.
It is clear that numerous variants may be supplied to the packing case, object of the present invention, one of which could be arranging the perforation in such a way as to produce an opening flap that opens from right to left, upwardly or vice versa.
Or the perforation may be introduced to two or more faces of the external container so as an established position for the container during the phase of packing, on the premises of the manufacture, is no longer necessary, also for having the possibility of carrying out further operations on the electrical appliance other than the addition of the decorative panel (for instance allowing access to the electrical means so as to ascertain the working order of the appliance).
A further variant could be that represented in figure 3.
So as to avoid the need of having angular sections different between themselves or special in the case of built-in appliances, with consequent storage problems, or in avoiding having the corners of the packing case not sufficiently protected, said angular sections can be realised as represented in the figure.
The "L" shaped angular section incorporates two cuts 9 and a groove 10 thus forming a portion 11 of the angular section, that in the case of built-in appliances is removed by breaking the union 12 with the angular section.
A simple operation to carry out as the material used in the realisation of the angular sections is expanded polystyrene.
In this way an opening 6 is realised necessary for having access to the door of the appliance so as to carry out the application of the decorative panel.
Furthermore, the portions removed from the two anterior angular sections, can be used as a blocking device when applying the adhesive tape to the entrance flap after having applied the panel, inserting horizontally, in the upper and lower sections between the two angular sections.
It is clear that numerous variants are possible by the skilled man, to the packing case described as an example, without however departing from the novelty principles inherent in the invention.

Claims

Packing case for panelable electrical appliances, comprising a parallelpiped shaped external container with a square or rectangular base, a supporting base for the appliance and protective angular sections, characterised by the fact that on at least one face of the parallelpiped shaped external container, means (7, 8) are provided that consent internal access with the aim of panelling the door of the appliance without having to remove the packing case.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that said means consist of a perforation (7) and a creasing (8) on at least one wall of the external container.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the perforation (7) and the creasing (8) are positioned on the external wall of the covering that covers the door to be paneled.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the perforation (7) and the creasing (8) are positioned on more external walls of the covering enabling other operations on the appliance apart from the panelling.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the perforation (7) is fundamentally in the form of a "C".
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 5, characterised by the fact that the mouth of the perforated "C" (7) can be arranged to either the right or to the left or to the top or to the bottom.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that said perforation (7) is of dimensions being the same as or larger than the door to be paneled.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the perforation (7) is fundamentally of the type found in stamps.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the creasing (8) has hinge characteristics for the entrance flap obtained by cutting along the perforation (7).
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that the angular sections (5a, 5b) are shaped so as not to interfere with the application of the decorative panel.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that the angular sections (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) are identical.
Packing case for panelable electrical appliances according to claim 11, characterised by the fact that the angular sections have a removable section (11).