Promotional carton

Abstract

A promotional article for insertion into a carton containing beverage bottles or cans. The article comprises a premium attached to a tray-like member which is provided with means to engage and be borne by one, but preferably more, of the bottles or cans to accurately position the premium within the carton without distorting any wall thereof. The invention also provides a promotional package comprising the article and beverage-filled bottles or cans in a carton and a method of producing same.

What we claim is:  
     
         1 ) A promotional package comprising a carton having a complement of beverage-filled primary containers and a premium, said premium being attached to a support member which is located over, retained and borne by one or more of said primary containers at a position in said carton which does not significantly distort any wall of said carton.  
     
     
         2 ) A package according to  claim 1  which has a top wall overlying and adjacent to extremities of said primary containers.  
     
     
         3 ) A package according to  claim 1  wherein said carton comprises serially; top, rear, bottom and front interconnected walls, means connecting said top wall to said front wall to form a tubular sleeve, opposing pairs of panels connected by hinge lines to the free edges of respective top, rear, bottom, and front walls and extending substantially the length thereof, each panel folded to overlie its opposing panel to overlie and be secured thereto to form an end wall at each end of said sleeve.  
     
     
         4 ) A package according to  claim 1  wherein said carton has at least one wall comprised of shrink-wrapped plastic material.  
     
     
         5 ) A package according to  claim 1  wherein all walls of said carton are comprised of shrink-wrapped plastic material.  
     
     
         6 ) A package according to  claim 1  wherein said support member is provided with one or more depressions or protuberances adapted to engage and be restrained by one or more upper extremities of one or more of said primary container.  
     
     
         7 ) A package according to  claim 1  wherein said support member is provided with one or more apertures each being adapted to allow passage there through of the upper portion of said primary containers which bear said support member.  
     
     
         8 ) A package comprising: a carton having top, rear, bottom and front interconnected walls, means connecting said top to said front wall to form a sleeve, each of said walls having a flap foldably connected to each end thereof to provide a series of said flaps at each end of said carton, each of said series of flaps being foldable to form an end wall, said carton containing a complement of at least six beverage-filled and sealed primary containers and a support member carrying a premium, which support member is located over and is restrained and borne by at least four of said primary containers in such a manner that none of said carton walls is significantly distorted.  
     
     
         9 ) A package according to  claim 6  wherein said support member is generally planer and is borne by six primary containers.  
     
     
         10 ) A package according to  claim 7  wherein said support member has six depressions, each adapted to receive and engage an upper extremity of a primary container and be retained thereby.  
     
     
         11 ) A promotional article for delivering a premium to a consumer purchasing a plurality of beverage-filled primary containers in a carton, said article comprising a support member to which said premium is attached, said support member being adapted to be located over and retained by at least one primary container in said carton without distorting any wall of said carton.  
     
     
         12 ) An article according to  claim 9  wherein said support member is a tray provided with one or more depressions or protuberances adapted to receive, be retained and supported by an uppermost extremity of at least two of said primary containers.  
     
     
         13 ) A process for preparing a promotional beverage package containing a plurality of product containers and a premium, said process comprising: 
 affixing a premium to a support member which member is adapted to be carried by one or more beverage-containing primary containers;    agglomerating a random stream of primary containers to form a group to be inserted into a carton which forms part of said package;    placing said support onto at least one primary container in said group;    inserting said group and associated supplied into a carton; and    sealing said carton