PACKAGING ARTICLE FOR HOLDING MULTIPLE AND DISPLAYING
ARTICLES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a packaging case for holding multiple flat articles, and in particular, to a multi-slot packaging case for holding and displaying multiple discs, such as CDs, DVDs, and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Compact discs, DVDs, and the like are becoming a standard recording medium upon which commercially available computer software, audio and visual presentation are sold. Traditionally, these compact discs have been sold in a hard plastic package. While the hard plastic package has proven effective for protecting the compact discs, they add considerable expense to the cost of the disc. Additionally, the compact discs are heavy and bulky, making it awkward to package multiple compact discs. Moreover, although the cover of the hard plastic package is constructed of a transparent plastic, the labeling used in such packaging usually prevents the actual compact disc from being viewed until the packaging is opened. Therefore, there is a need for a lightweight, low cost package for transporting and displaying multiple discs in a manner that protects the disc from damage and is aesthetically pleasing to consumers. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a multi-slot packaging case for holding and displaying multiple discs, such as CDs, DVDs, and the like. The multi-slot packaging case folds in a manner that permits the CDs or DVDs to be viewed by users while multi- slot packaging case is on display in a retail store. The multi-slot packaging case resembles a pattern, such as "stair steps" by showing the CDs partially stack on one another.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention relates to a packaging case comprising a cover panel and a plurality of article-holding panels integrally attached to the cover panel to define a carrier. The cover panel and the plurality of article- holding panels foldably cooperate with one another to hold and to display articles. Each of the plurality of article-holding panels includes a slot to receive a flat article such as a CD or a DVD. A slipcase having an interior space is used to receive the carrier.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a packaging case for holding and displaying articles. The packaging case comprises a carrier and a slipcase having an interior space. The carrier is configured to be disposed in the interior space of the slipcase. The carrier includes a cover panel and a plurality of article-holding panels. The cover panel and the plurality of article-holding panel foldably cooperate with one
another to hold and to display a plurality of flat articles. The plurality of flat articles such as CDs or DVDs are partially stacked when the carrier is in a folded position. BRIEF DISCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A Ml understanding of the invention can be gained from the following description of the preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view a packaging case having a carrier and a slipcase adapted for use with flat articles in accordance to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the packaging case shown in Figure 1, illustrating the carrier disposed in the slipcase; Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank used to form the slipcase shown in Figure 1 ;
Figure 4 is a plan view of a blank used to form the carrier shown in Figure 1 ; and
Figure 5 is a plan view of the carrier shown in Fig. 1 , illustrating the carrier in an unfolded position;
Figures 6A-6D illustrate the manner in which the plurality of article-holding panels and the cover panel shown in Figure 5 are folded with one another in accordance to the present invention; and
Figure 7 is an enlarge view of a slit extended downwardly from a crease.
DETAIL DISCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.
Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a packaging case 10 having a carrier 12 and a slipcase 14 adapted for use with flat articles 16, such as CDs or DVDs in accordance with the present invention. The packaging case 10 is constructed from a foldable material, such as, for example, paperboard, linerboard, folding board, folding boxboard, and preferably from folding bristol. It is well within the scope of this invention to use any suitable material well known or later developed in the art such as, for example, plastic, thin sheet metal or the like. The carrier 12 is configured to fit within an interior space 18 of the slipcase 14. The carrier 12, when constructed, is generally rectangular in shape and is sized substantially the same as the slipcase 14. The carrier 12 includes a cover panel 20 to conceal a plurality of article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, 188 and 190 as best depicted in Figure 5. As will be described in greater detail, the plurality of article- holding panels 182, 184, 186, 188 and 190 foldably cooperate with one another to hold and to display the CDs 16. The carrier 12 includes a plurality of slots (not shown in
Fig.l) sized and configured to hold and to display CDs 16. Although the packaging case 10 is used for storing CDs, DVDs and other computer software discs, but one of ordinary skill in art would appreciate that the packaging case 10 may be used for variety of other consumer products such as sport cards, greeting cards, and credit cards. The carrier 12 also includes a plurality of generally V-shaped cut outs 24 (as best shown in Fig. 5) which are in register with one another to display the CDs 16. The packaging case 10 is
portable, easy to use, inexpensive, and effectively stores CDs, DVDs and other computer software discs.
The slipcase 14 includes a generally V-shaped cut out 26 which is in register with the plurality of generally V-shaped cut outs 24 when the carrier 12 is disposed in the interior space 18. A transparent window 28 (shown in Fig. 3) is glued over the V-shaped cut out 26 to protect the CDs 16. The transparent window 28 is generally made of transparent plastic material. A pair of cutaways 30 is formed in the slipcase 14 to facilitate easy removal of the carrier 12 from the interior space 18. The slipcase 14 is preferably made of a single sheet of foldable material that is cut, folded and assembled, as described in greater detail below. The packaging case 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes commonly available converting machines and techniques to fabricate the carrier 12 and the slipcase 14.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the packaging case shown in Figure 1, illustrating the carrier 12 inserted into the slipcase 14. As described above, the plurality of generally V-shaped cut outs 24 are in register the V-shaped cut out 26 so that the CDs 16 are visible through the transparent window 28. Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank used to form the slipcase shown in Figure 1.
The blank 40 includes two sections 42 and 44. The two sections 42 and 44 are defined by
a strip 46. The strip 46 is bounded by fold lines 41 and 43. Section 42 is defined by a segment 50 having three distal ends 48, 50, and 52. The segment 50, when constructed, forms the front side of the slipcase 14. The three distal ends 48, 51, and 52 are defined by
the respective fold lines 54, 56, and 58. The distal end 52 is first folded along a fold line 53 and then subsequently along the fold line 54 to define the side 15 of the slipcase 14 as depicted in Figs. 1 and 2. The distal end 48 is folded along the fold line 58 and then glued
down to the interior side of the slipcase 14. The distal end 51 is folded along the fold line 56 and glued with the distal end 62 so that the sections 42 and 44 form the interior space 18 of the slipcase 14.
Section 44 defines the back side 17 of the slipcase 14. The section 44 includes two distal ends defined by fold lines 66, 68. A portion of the distal end 52 is glued to the back side 17 when the front side 50 and the back side 17 of the slipcase 14 are facing with one another. Two generally diamond shaped cutouts 70 and 72 are formed in the respective sections 42 and 44 to facilitate the removing the carrier 12 from the slipcase 14 by a user.
Figure 4 is a plan view of a blank 80 used to construct the carrier 12 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The blank 80 is divided into five sections 82, 84, 86, 88, 90 by respective transverse fold lines 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 104, and 106. A longitudinal fold line 41 divides each of the sections 82, 84, 86, 88, and 90 into two respective segments 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122 and 124, 126. For example, section 82 is divided into segments 108 and 110 and section 84 is divided into segments 112 and 114. The other sections 86, 88, and 90 are divided into respective segments 116, 118; 120, 122; and 124, 126; accordingly. There are four strips 130, 132, 134, and 136 which are bounded by respective fold lines 92, 94; 96, 98; 100, 102; 104, and 106. For instance, the strip 130 is bounded by fold lines 92 and 94, the strip 132 is bounded by fold lines 96 and 98, the strip 134 is bounded by fold lines 100 and 102, and the strip 136 is bounded by fold lines 104 and 106. These strips 130, 132, 134, and 136 define the segments 110, 114, 118, 122, and 126. Similarly, the segments 108, 112, 116, 120, and 124 are separated by respective slots 138, 140, 142, and 144. The width of each
slot 138, 140, 142, and 144 is different from one another. Similarly, the width of each strip 130, 132, 134, and 136 is different from one another. The width of the each slot 138, 140, 142, and 144 are chosen to be slightly wider that the width of each strip 130, 132, 134, and 136 so that when the segments 108, 112, 116, 120, 124 and the segments 110, 114, 118, 122, and 126 are folded on one another, as shown in Fig. 5, the respective segments 108, 110; 112, 114; 116, 118; 120, 122; 124, 126 entirely aligned with one another. Each of the sections 82, 84, 86, and 90 includes a respective diamond-shaped cutout 140, 142, 144, and 146. When segments 108, 112, 116, 120, and 124 fold over the respective segments 110, 114, 118, 122, and 126, these diamond-shaped cutouts 140, 142, 144, and 146 form the V-shaped cut out 24 which are in register with one another as shown in Fig. 5. Similarly, each of the segments 110, 112, 118, and 120 includes a respective crease 146, 148, 150, and 152. When the segments 108, 112, 116, and 120 are folded over the respective segments 110, 114, 118, 122; the creases 146, 148, 150, and 152 are formed into the slots 154, 156, 158, and 160 as illustrated in Fig. 5 and Figs. 6A- 6C. Each of the creases 146, 148, 150, and 152 includes a respective cutout 162, 164, 166, and 168 which facilitates in placing a CD 16 into the slots 154, 156, 158, and 160. Each of the creases 146, 148, 150, and 152 also includes a respective pair of slits 170a, 170b, 172a, 172b, 174a, 174b, 176a, 176b.
Figure 5 is a plan view of the carrier 12 shown in Fig. 1, illustrating the carrier 12 007/003058
in an unfolded position. As described above in Fig. 4, when the segments 108, 112, 116, 120, 124 and the segments 110, 114, 118, 122, and 126 are folded on one another, they form the carrier 12. The carrier 12 includes four article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 and one cover panel 190. The article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 foldably cooperate with one another to hold and to display CDs 16. When the four article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 are in folded position, the cover panel 190 conceals the four article-holding panels. It is within the scope of the invention that one of ordinary skill in the art uses the carrier 12 without the cover panel 190. Alternatively, the cover panel 190 may include Velcro or other attachments to enclose the carrier 14 and commercialized accordingly without using the slipcase 14. Each of the disc or article- holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 hold at least one disc fitted in the respective slot 154, 156, 158, and 160. The creases 146, 148, 150, 152 and their respective cutout 162, 164, 166, and 168 are sized the same. The slots 154, 156, 158, and 160 are of the same length so as to removably receive a circumferential segment of the CDs 16. The pair of slits 170a, 170b, 172a, 172b, 174a, 174b, 176a, 176b is formed at each end of the creases to prevent the CDs 16 from tearing the article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 when the CDs 16 are disposed therein. In the folded position, the article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 are formed into a stack. This feature defines a preview window for simultaneously viewing a portion of each four CD 16 held in the article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188. By reason of the selective displacement of the slots which hold the CD 16, relative to the fold line 41 of the blank 40 (which becomes the bottom end of the stack when the article-holding panels are formed and folded over onto one another; the CDs 16 appear as a "stair steps". Alternatively, the carrier 14 may be designed to have two cover panel and a plurality of disc-holding panels which the cover panels and the plurality of disc-holding panels are attached with one another by a common spine resembling like a book.
Figures 6A-6D illustrate the manner in which the plurality of article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188 and the cover panel 190 shown in Figure 5 are folded with one another in accordance to the present invention, hi use, when the carrier 12 is an unfolded position, each of the CDs 16 or DVD or other circular discs are inserted into the individual slots 154, 156, 158, and 160 by slightly pulling up the respective cutout 162, 164, 166, and 168. Then, the article-holding panel 182 is folded over the panel 184 as illustrated in Fig. 6A. Next, both article-holding panels 182 and 184 are folded onto the article-holding panel 186 as illustrated in Fig. 6B. Then, the article-holding panels 182, 184, and 186 are folded over the article-holding panel 188. Finally, the cover panel 190 is folded over the article-holding panel 184 to conceal all the article-holding panels 182, 184, 186, and 188. The carrier 12 is inserted into the interior space 18 of the slipcase 14 so that carrier 12 is protected during shipping and handling of the product.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the invention, hi addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from its scope, therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.