Stackable container with air cell corner assembly and associated container blank

Abstract

A tray-type container includes a bottom wall, longitudinally-extending outer side walls, and laterally-extending end walls, the outer side walls and the end walls extending upwardly from the bottom wall to form an inner cavity. The container includes a corner assembly configured to increase the container stability. The corner assembly includes an arrangement of corner panels configured to form air cells that extend across the end of the container and serve to provide added stability to the container. The containers may be used singularly, or a plurality of tray-type containers may be unitized in several stacked configurations. Typically, the plurality of unitized containers are placed upon a shipping pallet or slip sheet, or placed within a shipping container to facilitate shipping by large carriers.

1 . A blank for a container comprising: 
 a single sheet of foldable material cut and scored to define    a bottom panel, said bottom panel having a side edge and an end edge;    a sidewall panel hingedly attached to said bottom panel along said side edge, said sidewall panel having a front edge,    a first corner panel hingedly attached to said side panel along said front edge;    a second corner panel hingedly attached to said first corner panel, opposite said side panel;    an third corner panel hingedly attached to said second corner panel, opposite said first corner panel;    a forth corner panel hingedly attached to said third corner panel, opposite said second corner panel,    an end panel hingedly attached to said bottom panel along said end edge;    and end panel flap hingedly attached to said end panel along a spaced apart hinge line, opposite said bottom panel,    wherein the first corner panel and the third corner panel are substantially equally sized.    
   
   
       2 . The blank of  claim 1  wherein the blank is formed from at least one of a paperboard, containerboard, cardboard, pasteboard, fiberboard, corrugated containerboard, corrugated paperboard, single wall corrugated containerboard, and multiwall corrugated containerboard.  
   
   
       3 . The blank of  claim 1  further comprising an inner sidewall panel hingedly attached to said outer sidewall panel, opposite said bottom panel.  
   
   
       4 . The blank of  claim 1  further comprising first a hinge flap notch formed in an outer edge of said first corner panel.  
   
   
       5 . The blank of  claim 1 , wherein said forth corner panel further comprises a locking tab slot.  
   
   
       6 . A container comprising: 
 a bottom panel, 
 a side panel extending upwardly from said bottom panel;  
 an end panel extending upwardly from said bottom panel to form, along with said side panel, an inner cavity;  
 a first corner panel adjacent the end panel;  
 a second corner panel positioned perpendicular to the first corner panel;  
 a third corner panel positioned parallel to the first corner panel, and spaced apart from the first corner panel by the second corner panel;  
 a forth corner panel extending connected with the third corner panel, the for the corner panel positioned parallel the side panel. and,  
 an end panel flap positioned adjacent the third corner panel.  
   
   
   
       7 . The container of  claim 6  wherein the container is formed from at least one of a paperboard, containerboard, cardboard, pasteboard, fiberboard, corrugated containerboard, corrugated paperboard, single wall corrugated containerboard, and multiwall corrugated containerboard.  
   
   
       8 . The container of  claim 6 , wherein said forth corner panel further comprises a locking tab slot.