CN1082009C - Full enclosed wrap-around carton box - Google Patents

Abstract

A blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles comprising a series of hingeably interconnected top, first side, bottom and second side panels (12, 14, 16, 18, 20) for forming an open-ended sleeve capable of receiving said articles, the top and bottom panels (12, 18, 20) being similarly non-rectangularly shaped substantially to correlate with the cross-sectional shape of the array of articles in a plan parallel to said top and bottom panels (12, 18, 20), wherein a gusset (38) comprising two hingeably connected gusset panels (58, 60) connects the first side panel (14) and top or bottom panel (12, 18, 20) which gusset (38) is adapted to facilitate movement of the first side panel (14) to correlate with the associated shape of a stowed array of articles during the formation of the carton (10).

Description

blank carton

Background of the invention

This invention relates to cartons for packaging many articles, such as beverage cans or bottles, and more particularly to fully enclosed cartons for packaging multiple layers of articles, and also to cartons for packaging non-rectangular arrangements of articles.

Chaussadas in US Patent No. 4,747,485 discloses a known carton having an octagonally shaped bottom and top panel. The carton comprises a plurality of individual panels closing the sides and ends of the carton, the individual panels being hingedly connected to each of the eight edges of the top and bottom panels. Most of these panels depend only to a location substantially midway between the associated top or bottom panel and the opposing bottom or top panel and thus overlap an associated panel depending from the opposing top or bottom panel. To close the carton shown in US Patent No. 4,747,485 therefore requires a relatively complex method of folding the panels.

Summary of the invention

The present invention seeks to avoid, or at least alleviate, various problems associated with prior art cartons. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles comprising a series of hingedly interconnected top panels, first side panels, bottom panels and second side panels, the panels A paper tube used to form an open bottom in which the above-mentioned articles can be received, with top and bottom panels of similar non-rectangular shape corresponding generally to the cross-sectional shape of the arrangement of articles in a plane parallel to the top or bottom panel, containing two The gussets of the hingedly connected gussets connect the first side panel and the top or bottom panel, the gussets facilitating the movement of the side panels to easily correspond to the relative shape of the filled article arrangement during carton formation.

The carton blank preferably includes two gussets between the first side panel and the top or bottom panel, the gussets cooperating with the associated end portions of the first side panel for movement during carton forming. Two gussets connect the two side panels to the top panel and two gussets connect the two side panels to the bottom panel.

The side panels may comprise a series of hingedly connected sections which can be separated by bendable sections which provide rounded corners in the complete carton.

One of the gussets may include a tab protruding therefrom to facilitate pleating the gusset in the carton during its formation. One of the gussets may also contain such things as pleating the gusset in the carton for ease of processing. One of the gussets may also contain means such as a lip which operatively abuts the end of the carton to help hold the associated side panel in the carton in its formed position. The protruding tab preferably comprises the aforementioned connecting edge.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles comprising a series of hingeably interconnected main panels for forming an open-ended carton capable of receiving said articles, both The two opposed main panels are substantially similar non-rectangular shapes corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the arrangement of articles parallel to the plane of the two opposed main panels, wherein the two additional main panels include a plurality of folding regions adapted to be folded in at least three different planes to conform to the shape of the relative opposed main panels; wherein a gusset comprising two hingedly connected gussets connects the adjacent folded region to the gap between one of the two opposed main panels First motherboard.

The gusset can contain an associated aperture which facilitates the folding of the gusset, and the gusset can contain means for closing the aperture when the carton is formed. Other aspects of the invention relate to cartons and forming cartons.

Brief description of the drawings

By way of example only, embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. in:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a carton blank used to form a carton according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 2 to 6 give different views of the blank shown in Figure 1 during the formation of the carton shown in Figures 7 and 8 .

7 and 8 are perspective views of a formed carton according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 is a plan view of a blank used to form a carton according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

10 to 14 are perspective views of a carton according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 15 is a plan view of a blank used to form a carton according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

16 to 21 are various perspective views of a carton according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 22 is a plan view of a blank used to form a fourth embodiment of a carton according to the present invention.

23 to 28 show diagrams of different steps in the process of forming a carton from the blank shown in FIG. 22 .

Figure 29 is a perspective view of a carton formed from the blank shown in Figure 22, and

Figure 30 is a schematic illustration of the method of filling and closing the carton shown in Figure 29.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

A first embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 in which a carton blank 11 is used to form the carton 10 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 . The carton is designed to hold non-rectangular arrays of items, such as arrays containing rows of 2, 3, and 2 items, that have a substantially hexagonal cross-section in the horizontal plane. However, since eg tin cans and bottles are generally cylindrical or at least have curved surfaces in the case of bottles, the hexagonal arrangement of these items has curved corners. In order to pack such an arrangement tightly, the carton 10 has bendable side panel portions. The carton 10 can hold single-tier or double-tiered items, although multi-tiered items can be easily adjusted by adapting the length of its side panels to the height of the desired number of tiers.

As shown in Figure 1, blank 11 comprises a base panel 12 which hingeably connects end tabs 22,24 and side panels 14,16 by fold lines 56a, 56b and gussets 40a, 40b, 40c and 40d. Side panels 14 and 16 comprise a series of side panel sections 42a and 42b, 46a and 46b, 50a and 50b, and 54a and 54b, respectively. The side panel sections are separated from adjacent side panel sections by flexible flat panel sections 44a and 44b, 48a and 48b and 52a and 52b. The flexible side panel portions include a series of crease lines that allow a certain amount of flex in each flexible panel portion so that the side panels 14 and 16 can be folded in an arcuate fashion along the packaged item and thus be fully closed. The side of the cardboard box. The carton therefore has a cross-section in the horizontal plane which is polygonal, in this case hexagonal with bent or rounded corners.

Side panels 14 and 16 are hingedly connected to first and second top panels 18 and 20, respectively. Top panels 18 and 20 are hingedly connected to side panels 14 and 16, respectively, by gussets 38a, 38b, 38c and 38d and fold lines 64a and 64b. The top panels are lap-jointed and can be held together with adhesive or interacting locking mechanisms such as tabs and holes. Top panel 18 includes end tabs 26b that are hingedly attached thereto along fold lines 25c and 25d, respectively. and 28b. Slits 33c and 33d are placed on the fold line between first top panel 18 and each end tab 26b and 28b, but in other embodiments only one or no such feature is provided. These slit features 33c and 33d bend the fold lines between the side tabs and the first top panel when the handle 30 is used as described later, the handle 30 is disposed on the second top panel 20 and contains a fold joint therein. Narrow plate of finger tabs 32. The second top panel 20 is foldably connected to the end tabs 26a and 28a along fold lines 25a and 25b respectively, and, in this example, the end of the handle narrow panel extends into the end tabs 26a and 28a along the side cutouts 33a and 33b. . The second top panel 20 also includes a handle reinforcement panel 36 which in this example is hingedly connected to the narrow panel of the handle 30 along a fold line 34 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , each gusset 38 a , 38 b , 38 c and 38 d can comprise an outermost panel 58 hingeably connected to an innermost panel 60 . Cutouts 62 enable separation of part of the panel 58 from the panel 60 and associated top panel 18 or 20 . The cutout 62 thus effectively defines a protrusion 59 from the outermost gusset 58, which protrusion 59 or folding means can be used to fold the gusset into the carton, thus facilitating the folding of the sides of the carton. The lower gussets 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and 40 d can be formed similarly to the gussets 38 , but here each comprise two symmetrical panels which are hingedly connected to each other along a fold line 41 .

The method of folding the blank 11 to form the complete carton 10 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 can be seen from FIGS. 2 to 6 . The first top panel 18 can be folded first about the fold line 64b so that it overlaps the side panels 14 . The stiffener can then be folded around the fold line 34 below the handle narrow panel 30 thus providing a two layer handle, reinforcing the handle. The side panels 16 and the second top panel 20 are then folded about the hinge line 56a into the shape shown in FIG. 3 . The first and second top panels can then be connected to each other, for example by bonding at the overlapping portions or using cooperating locking mechanisms (not shown), such as locking tabs and apertures. Of course other sheets can be used as overlapping sheets in order to be able to form a cylindrical shell.

To allow part of the hinge or fold lines 25a, 25b, 25c and 25d between the top panel and the end tabs 26a, 28a, 26b and 28b to move, the edges of the handle at the cutouts or slits 33a and 33b are then substantially aligned with the slits. 33c and 33d are aligned at the first top panel 18 which allows the handle narrow panel 30 to flex upwardly in use by allowing inward movement of the portion of the handle narrow panel abutting the end of the carton. To facilitate this movement, a pair of transverse creases or fold lines 35c and 35d may be provided on the first top panel 18 such as shown in FIG. 2 . In this example, when the handle 30 is in use, the fold lines 35c, 35d and the associated portion of the fold lines 25c, 25d extending across the deflectable portion assist in deflecting it inwardly. The deflectable portion extends between the end tab and the top plate.

The folded blank can then be opened to form a carton of the configuration shown in FIG. After placing the item, the end tabs 22 and 24 can be folded upwards and the end tabs 26a, 26b, 28a and 28b can be folded down. The side panels 14 and 16 can then be folded around the article to close the ends of the carton. For example, the gussets 38a, 38b, 38c and 38d can be folded into position beneath the associated top panel 18 or 20 by inwardly compressing one or more panels 58 and/or 60 of the associated gusset 38 . The ends of the side panels 14 and 16 are caused to close around the ends of the carton 10 by folding the gussets 38a to 38d inwardly. Similarly, by folding inwardly the gussets 40a to 40d of the carton 10, the lower portions of the side panels 14 and 16 can be rotated to close the ends of the carton.

As shown in Figure 7, the relative endmost portions of the side panels 14 and 16 are then in overlapping relation to each other. To maintain the closed shape of the carton, the endmost portions 54a and 54b are coupled to each other, for example by adhesive or by cooperating locking mechanisms such as locking tabs and apertures. One or both of the distal-most portions 54a and 54b can also be attached to one or both of the end tabs 26a and/or 26b or the end tab 22 . Various overlapping portions can then be attached together. Similarly the opposite ends of the carton can be held in a closed position to form a fully closed carton 10 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 .

As will be apparent, the carton 10 is designed to completely and tightly enclose a row of articles by having flexible side panels that tightly surround the articles. With appropriately shaped top and bottom panels that reflect the non-rectangular shape of the stored rows, the carton is made aesthetically pleasing. Of course, other non-rectangular arrangements such as triangular, rhombus, parallelogram and hexagonal arrangements can be used.

A second embodiment of a carton 110 according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 9 to 14 . In this embodiment, substantially the same features as those shown in the first embodiment are marked with the same two numerals preceded by one, so that the first top panel 118 is hingedly connected to the side panels 114, which 114 can be hingedly connected to the bottom plate 112 , the bottom plate 112 is connected to the second side plate 116 , and the second side plate 116 can be hingedly connected to the second top plate 120 . In this example, the handle slots 133 are substantially similar to those in the previous embodiments. However, fold line 135c can be positioned to define a removable portion 131c adjacent fold lines 125c and 125d between top panel 118 and end panels 126b and 128b, respectively. On the other hand, those lines marked 135c can be cut so that these lines provide holes 131c at the fold lines between the first top panel 118 and the end panels 126b and 128b.

In side panels 114 and 116, the central bendable portion of the first embodiment is replaced by central panel sections 148a and 148b, and the other side panel sections can be hingedly connected simply with a fold line. In this embodiment, the side panels are also adapted to wrap around the sides of a row of articles to completely enclose the sides thereof. However, the bottom panel 112 and carton top panel formed by the side panels 118 and 120 do not contain rounded corners but are each irregular octagonal. In this example, combinations of items of 1, 2, 2 and 1 item per row are to be placed in the or each layer. The blank 111 shown is suitable for holding an arrangement of two layers such as tinplate cans.

The side panels are hingedly connected to the associated top panel by gussets 138, each of which can include, for example, a main panel 158, which is hingedly connected to the associated side panel 114 or 116, and a secondary panel 160, which can Hingedly connected to the main star brace 158 and the associated top plate 118 or 120 . Breakaway cuts 162 can be used to separate a portion of the panel 158 from the panel 160 and associated top panel 118 or 120 . The cutout 162 then effectively defines the protrusion 159 which can be used to fold the gusset 138 into position between the associated top panel 118 or 120 and the contents of the carton 110 interior. In other words, the shape of the gussets is designed to assist in the folding of the side panels during the closing of the article after filling, and the edges 157 are also provided here on each gusset 158, in the formed carton with End panels 126 and 128 cooperate to maintain the shape formed by the side panels.

Side panels 114 and 116 here comprise tearable portions 170a and 170b, respectively, which can be partially attached to the carton blank at least along tearable lines 174 and by fold lines 153 and 156 or 164 as shown in FIG. superior. The tearable portion 170 can include mechanisms, such as finger holes 172, to assist in removing the portion from the carton. The finger hole can be partially closed with a hinged web until it is used.

The carton 110 can be formed by folding the blank 111 in a manner substantially similar to that described with reference to the first embodiment, so that the top panel 118 can be folded around the fold line 164b, the side panels 116 and the top panel 120 can be folded around the fold line 156a, and the top panel at The overlapping portions thereof are attached to each other. The carton shell can then be formed and filled prior to folding the side panels 114 and 116 and closing the ends by folding the end panels 122, 124, 126a, 128a, 126b and 128b about their associated fold lines.

Advantageously, the openable portion 170 allows the item A to be removed from the carton 110 without tearing the entire carton, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 . Openable and closable portion 170b can be opened by breaking tearable line 174 and opening panel 170b around fold line 153b. Additionally, tear line 161c can be provided on gusset 138c between gusset panels 158c and 160c (see FIG. 9) to allow openable panel 170b to be fully opened.

As shown in FIG. 12, the carton 110 is capable of packaging two layers of articles, which can be separated by a divider panel 176, for example. For access to the underlying items, a second openable or removable portion 170a may be provided. To open the openable portion 170a, the portion 170a is folded about the hinge line 143a when the tearable fold line 141b between the portion 174 and the panels of the gusset 140b is broken or torn (see FIG. 9). Of course, the gussets can be designed so that the openable panels can be fully opened without the just described second tearable mechanism such as wire 161c or 141b.

Furthermore, in this example, the gusset 138 is folded under the associated upper panel by folding the gussets 158 and 160 relative to each other about fold line 161 so that the two parts superimpose the underside of the top panel. The main gusset 158 can then be positioned adjacent to the fold line 125 between the end panels 126a, 126b, 128a or 128b at the edge 157 to provide rigidity at the fold line between the side panels and up to the edge of the handle narrow panel, also providing The role of maintaining the shape of the side panels.

A third embodiment of a carton according to the invention will now be described with respect to the blank and carton shown in FIGS. 15 to 20 . In this example of the invention, features similar to those of the first two embodiments are indicated by the same last two digits, prefixed by the number 2. The first top panel 218 is then hingedly connected to the bottom panel 212 and the second top panel 220, and the side panels 214 and 216 are generally similar to those described above except that the openable (and/or movable) portion 270 has a different shape. described in Figure 9. In this example, the tearable line 274 extends generally around three sides of the rectangular plate forming the tearable portion 270 . Openable portions 270a and 270b are hingedly connected to the fourth side along fold lines 239b and 237c, respectively. In this example, each of these fold lines connects openable portions 270a and 270b to associated gussets, namely 240b and 238c, respectively. A finger hole 272 can be provided and this can be covered by the foldable web 271 .

Openable portion 270b is foldable about fold line 237c in the complete carton as shown in FIG. 17 . This portion 270b can be removed by tearing along fold line 261c as shown in FIG. Similarly, the lower openable portion 270a is openable by folding about fold line 239b, and this portion 270a can also be completely removed by tearing, for example, along fold line 241b.

In this example, carton 210 is adapted to contain two layers of items, where each layer includes items in 1, 2, 2 and 1 arrays. Of course, different numbers of rows for different numbers of items can be packaged, and actually different numbers of layers can be placed by suitably adjusting the blanks described herein.

As shown in Figures 22 to 30, a blank 311 and a fourth embodiment of a carton 310 are thus formed. The formed carton 310 shown in Figure 29 has a generally hexagonal cross-section in the horizontal plane and is designed to accommodate single layers of articles such as bottles arranged in rows of 3, 4, 4 and 3 articles.

Blank 311 comprises a top panel 320 which is hingedly connected along fold line 364a to side panels 316 which likewise are hingedly connected to bottom panel 312 having a hexagonal shape. The bottom panel 312 is connected to the second side panel 314 along a fold line 356a. In this embodiment, instead of providing overlapping top plates to form the blank into a cylindrical, barrel-shaped structure, tabs 315 are provided. In this embodiment, the tabs 315, which are hingedly connected to the top panel 320 along the fold line 364b, can be attached to the upper portion of the side panels 314, such as by bonding or by employing a cooperating locking mechanism such as a locking tab and a small hole.

Blank 311 includes a handle 330 with finger tabs 332 and a handle reinforcing narrow panel 336 at top panel 320 where they are hingedly connected to end panels 326 and 328 which are hingedly connected to top panel 320 . Additionally, separate fold lines can be formed on the top panel 320 to provide a strain relief mechanism 380 when using the handle. In this embodiment, an openable mechanism 370 is provided on the top plate 320 .

The openable mechanism 370 abuts the aperture defined by the handle tab 332 . The finger tabs form part of the handle 330 and have transverse tearable lines similar to the lines 274 and 174 described in the second and third embodiments. When the tabs 315 and side panels 314 are attached, four gussets 338 are provided between the top panel 320 and the effective side panels of the carton. The gussets 338 are identical in this example and with reference to the gussets 338a it can be seen that they comprise a main plate 358a which is hingedly connected to the side plate 316 . The main board 358a is hingedly connected to a secondary board 360a which is in turn hingedly connected to the top board 320 . Main star gusset 358a includes a raised tab 359a which can be used to close the carton and retain the associated side wall curvature, for example due to the synergy between edge 357a of tab 359a and end panel 328 . This synergy is more apparent with reference to the figures that follow. The gusset 358 can also be positioned between the associated, ie, corner-most, top of an item, such as a bottle cap, and the top panel 320 . Although small holes 363 are formed immediately adjacent to the gussets, this can help prevent any small holes from forming in the top of the carton.

Side walls 316 and 314 are symmetrical and contain a main center panel with central fold lines 358a and 358b, respectively, which allow both side panels to be folded substantially in half. This has the advantage of enabling the partially formed carton shown in FIG. 25 to be packed flat, ready to be erected into a tubular structure ready to be filled as shown in FIG. 26 . Central fold lines 385a and 385b extend into side panel portions 346a, 350a, 346b and 350b. In addition, a gusset 386 is provided immediately adjacent to each fold line 385 on the lateral portion of the side panel. These gussets 386 facilitate better packaging of the sides and ends of the loaded items and facilitate the formation of an inclined upper portion of the side panel. See Figures 27 to 29. To this end, end fold lines 323a and 323b are also provided on the lower end panels 324 and 322, respectively. In order to form the sloped upper part, it is obvious that the top plate 320 should be a smaller octagon than the bottom plate 312 . Additionally, as with the other embodiments, gussets 340 can be installed between the bottom panel 312 and the side panels.

To form carton 310, reinforcing strip 336 is folded about fold line 334 into the position shown in FIG. Thus, the aperture 382 in the narrow strip 336 is aligned with the fold lines 325a and 325b, thereby minimizing the restriction of folding the upper end panels 328 and 326 about the fold lines 325a and 325b when closing the end of the filled carton. . Next, the top panel 320 and upper portion side panels 326 are folded about fold line 385a into the position shown in FIG. 24 . The upper portion of side panel 314 is then folded about fold line 385b so that it is immediately adjacent to tab 315 and can be attached thereto, for example by adhesive, to form the flat structure shown in FIG. 25 . The blanks 311 can be conveniently stored and transported in a flat arrangement to a packaging machine ready to be loaded into a suitable hopper, such as the hopper H illustrated in FIG. 30 .

To load the carton, the structure shown in FIG. 25 is first expanded into the tubular structure shown in FIG. 26 . This is also shown in the upstream part of the packaging process of FIG. 30 . Here it is evident that the carton moves downstream in the direction of flow indicated by arrow F. In this schematic, it can be seen that in step A, the loaded items are separated at the open end of each carton into two rows of the desired shape, containing the innermost row of four items and the adjoining outermost row of three. items. The outer row is moved slightly relative to the inner row so that the rows of items fit together to form a tighter packing structure, that is, one item in the outer row is next to two items in the inner row. At the stage indicated in part B of Figure 30, after being packed into the carton, the closeness of the two inner rows is not the case. The innermost rows of four adjacent items are adjacent to each other so that only one item is adjacent in the innermost adjacent row, however, it is of course possible to provide different configurations of the adjacent items in the carton for cartons of different sizes or shapes .

After the carton 320 is loaded, the gussets 338 and 340 are pleated inwardly in the region c of the flow path shown in FIG. 30 , as indicated by circle G in FIG. 30 . The main gusset 358c is pleated inwardly to a position below the top panel 320 . Also shown as circle H in FIG. 30, gusset 340a is pleated upwards. The pleating action of the gussets causes the side panels to bend into a partially closed configuration as shown in FIG. 27 . The farthest portions of the side panels 350a and 350b can then wrap even further around the end of the carton, as shown in area D of Figure 30, which can cause further curvature of the side panels 314 and 316, which thus conform to the side profile of the adjacent article. Conforms to and reflects the shapes of the three sides of the octagonal bottom plate 312 and the top plate 320 . In addition, the upper portions of side panels 314 and 316 are beveled or sloped so as to conform to the shoulder profile of bottles stored in the carton.

As shown in Figure 28, the upper and lower end panels 322, 324, 328 and 326 can then be folded onto the top or lower panels about the associated fold lines. Associated upper and lower end plates such as plates 328 and 322 are enabled to be attached to each other, for example by gluing. Alternatively, cooperating locking mechanisms such as locking tabs and apertures may be provided. End plates can also be attached to end plates 346a, 346b, 350a and 350b. For example, if an adhesive such as glue is used, the completed carton shown in Figure 29 can be pressed in area E of Figure 30 to ensure that the panels remain closed.

Claims (14)

1. A blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles, said blank comprising a series of hingedly interconnected top panels, first side panels, bottom panels and second side panels (320, 316, 312, 314), said plates are used to form a bottom open cylinder capable of receiving said items, said top and bottom plates (320, 312) being of similar non-rectangular shape so that The cross-sectional shape of said array of items on the plane of ) corresponds to said non-rectangular shape, each of said side panels (316, 314) comprising a plurality of panel sections comprising a pair of opposing end panels sections (346a, 350a; 346b, 350b) and at least one intermediate panel section (385a, 385b), said panel sections of each of said side panels are foldably interconnected by a folding region, each of said side panels (316 , 314) are adapted to be folded so that the end panel portions and the intermediate panel portions are arranged in at least three different planes conforming to the shape of the associated top and/or bottom panels, characterized in that: The blank also includes a pair of first gussets (340a, 340b; 340c, 340d) of each of the side panels (316, 314) and a pair of second gussets ( 338a, 338b), each of said first and second gussets (340a-340d, 338a, 338b) comprises two hingedly connected gussets (358a, 360a), and said pair of first Braces (340a-340d, 338a, 338b) connect one of said plate portions (385a, 385b) of said side plates (316, 314) to said top or bottom plate (320, 312). 2. The carton blank of claim 1, wherein said one panel portion comprises an intermediate panel portion of said at least one intermediate panel portion (385a, 385b). 3. The carton blank of claim 1, wherein said pair of first gussets (340a, 340b, 340c, 340d) connect each of said side panels (316, 314) to The bottom panel (312) and the pair of second gussets (338a, 338b) connect the side panels (316) to the top panel (320). 4. The carton blank of claim 1, wherein each of said fold regions comprises at least one fold line. 5. The carton blank of claim 3, wherein one of said gussets (358a, 360b) of each of said second gussets (338a, 338b) comprises a tab (362a) protruding from said gusset to facilitate pleating of said second gusset (338a, 338b) into said carton during formation of said carton. Inside the carton. 6. The carton blank of claim 1, wherein a gusset of said gussets (358a, 360a) includes an end operatively abutting said carton ( 328) abutment means (357a) to help hold the associated side panel in its formed position in the carton, said abutment means comprising an edge (357a) of a tab (359a). 7. The carton blank of claim 1, wherein each of said second gussets (338a, 338b) has an associated aperture (363a), said aperture facilitating said first The folding of two gussets (338a, 338b), each of said second gussets comprising closing means (362a) for closing said apertures (363a) after said carton is formed. 8. A blank for forming a carton for packaging a plurality of articles, said blank comprising a series of hingedly interconnected top panels, first side panels, bottom panels and second side panels (20, 16, 12, 14), said plates are used to form a bottom open cylinder capable of receiving said articles, said top and bottom plates (20, 12) being of similar non-rectangular shape so that The cross-sectional shape of said array of items on the plane of ) corresponds to said non-rectangular shape, each of said side panels (16, 14) comprising a plurality of panel sections comprising a pair of opposing end panels sections (42a, 54a; 42b, 54b) and at least one intermediate panel section (46a, 50a; 46b, 50b), said panel sections (42a, 46a, 50a, 54a) of each of said side panels (16, 14) ; 42b, 46b, 50b, 54b) are foldably interconnected by folding regions (44a, 48a, 52a; 44b, 48b. 52b), each of said side panels (16, 14) being adapted to be folded so that the The end plate portions and the intermediate plate portions (42a, 46a, 50a, 54a; 42b, 46b, 50b, 54b) are arranged in at least three different planes corresponding to the shape of the associated top and/or bottom plates. Conform to, it is characterized in that: described blank also comprises the pair of first gusset (40a, 40b, 40c, 40d) of each side plate (16, 14) and the pair of first side plate (316) a pair of second gussets (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d), each of said first and second gussets (40a-40d, 38a-38d) comprising two hingedly connected gusset plates, and the Said pair of first gussets (40a, 40b, 40c, 40d) connect an immediately adjacent panel portion (46a, 50a; 46b, 50b) of each of said side panels (16, 14) to said top or bottom panel (20 , 12) on. 9. A carton blank according to claim 8, characterized in that said pair of first gussets (40a, 40b, 40c, 40d) connect each of said side panels (16, 14) to said bottom panel (12), and said pair of second gussets (38a, 38b) connect said first side panel (16) to said top panel (20). 10. A carton blank according to claim 8, characterized in that each of said fold regions (44a, 48a, 52a; 44b, 48b, 52b) comprises at least one fold line. 11. A carton blank according to claim 8, characterized in that each of said fold regions (44a, 48a, 52a; 44b, 48b, 52b) comprises at least three fold lines. 12. A carton blank according to claim 11, characterized in that the folded regions (44a, 48a, 52a; 44b, 48b, 52b) are bendable sections to provide Rounded corners. 13. The carton blank of claim 9, wherein one of said gussets of each of said second gussets (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d) comprises a a tab (59a) protruding from the gusset to facilitate pleating of the second gusset (338a, 38b, 38c, 38d) into the inside the cardboard box. 14. A carton blank according to claim 8, characterized in that each of said second gussets (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d) has an associated aperture which facilitates said gussets (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d), and each of said second gussets (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d) is included to close said aperture (363a) after said carton is formed. ) of the closing device (59a).

Images