초록 ▼

A product vulnerable to damage during shipping, such as an automobile windshield glass, for example, is mounted on a support pad and fixed onto the pad by wrapping a stretch wrapping film around the combination of the pad and glass. The borders of the pad extend beyond the borders of the glass so th

A product vulnerable to damage during shipping, such as an automobile windshield glass, for example, is mounted on a support pad and fixed onto the pad by wrapping a stretch wrapping film around the combination of the pad and glass. The borders of the pad extend beyond the borders of the glass so the package containing the glass can be stood on edge, but the edge of the glass is spaced away from the surface on which the package is stood. Thus the glass, secured to the pad, is suspended away from that surface. Multiple packages can be packed into a shipping container and the loaded container can be lifted and transported by a lift truck with lifting forks received in passageways formed in the container by notches in the bottom edges of the support pads. The pads and containers are made of die-cut corrugated fiberboard material although other material might also be used in the practice of the invention.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A cargo shipping apparatus, comprising: a container having a bottom tray and a top lid, the tray having a rectangular bottom surface and upstanding parallel sidewalls and upstanding parallel end walls; said top lid having a rectangular top and parallel sidewalls and parallel

What is claimed is: 1. A cargo shipping apparatus, comprising: a container having a bottom tray and a top lid, the tray having a rectangular bottom surface and upstanding parallel sidewalls and upstanding parallel end walls; said top lid having a rectangular top and parallel sidewalls and parallel end walls projecting downward from the top; a plurality of packages, each package in the plurality of packages comprising: a support having a front face and a rear face, and having a perimeter including top and bottom edges and left and right side edges; said support having at least one lower notch in the bottom edge and at least one upper notch in the top edge; a curved glass panel suspended on the front face of said support within the perimeter of said support, said curved glass panel having a concave back surface; stretch wrapping film received in said notches; and said wrapping film stretched between said notches, around at least a portion of the support, around at least a portion of said curved glass panel, securing said curved glass panel to the front face of said support and imparting a planar curve to said support that substantially conforms to the periphery of the concave back surface; wherein the bottom edges are supported by the bottom surface of the tray and the left and right side edges are proximate to the end walls of the tray and wherein the plurality of packages are nested in an “X” configuration wherein half of the packages are oriented in one direction and the other half in the other direction. 2. The package of claim 1 and wherein: said support has at least three lower notches and at least three upper notches. 3. The package of claim 1 and wherein: the support has ledges formed of the material of said support and projecting in a direction from the rear face toward the front face near the bottom edge of the support, and the ledges support said curved glass panel. 4. The package of claim 3 and wherein: said support is made of corrugated fiberboard and said ledges are tabs formed from cuts in the bottom edge of the support and bent in a direction from the rear face of the support toward the front face of the support. 5. The package of claim 4 and wherein: said curved glass panel has maximum x-axis, y-axis and z-axis dimensions, each of the maximum x-axis and y-axis dimensions being greater than the maximum z-axis dimension. 6. The package of claim 4 and wherein: said curved glass panel is a window for a vehicle. 7. The package of claim 1 and wherein: substantially the entire periphery of said curved glass panel is attached to said support. 8. The package of claim 1 and wherein: the periphery of said curved glass panel is located proximate to said at least one lower notch and the periphery of said curved glass panel is located proximate to said at least one upper notch. 9. The package of claim 1 and wherein: said support has two lower notches, each of the lower notches being of appropriate size to accommodate lifting forks of a fork lift truck. 10. The package of claim 1 and wherein: said support is made of corrugated fiberboard oriented with the flutes running substantially perpendicular to said top edge and said bottom edge. 11. The package of claim 1 and wherein: said wrapping film contacts a majority of the width of said curved glass panel. 12. The package of claim 1 and wherein: said wrapping film is a continuous wrap. 13. The package of claim 1, wherein said wrapping film is wrapped from top to bottom across a majority of the width of the curved glass panel. 14. The package of claim 13, wherein said wrapping film covers the whole width of the curved glass panel. 15. The package of claim 1, wherein said wrapping film covers the entire perimeter of the curved glass panel. 16. The package of claim 1, wherein said support is made of a corrugated fiberboard oriented with flutes running substantially parallel to the axis of curvature of said planar curve. 17. The package of claim 16, wherein said flutes run substantially perpendicular to said top and bottom edges, and the majority of the length of said top and bottom edges are substantially free of scoring or creasing. 18. A cargo shipping apparatus comprising: a container having a bottom tray and a top lid, the tray having a rectangular bottom surface and upstanding parallel sidewalls and upstanding parallel end walls; the lid having a rectangular top and parallel sidewalls and parallel end walls projecting downward from the top; at least a pair of holes in each of the sidewalls of the tray at the bottom surface of the tray; a plurality of product containing packages received in the tray, each package comprising a product suspended by wrapping film on a support having a bottom edge supported by the bottom surface of the tray and having left and right side edges proximate the end walls of the tray; the packages having notches in the bottom edges aligned with said holes in the sidewalls of the tray and forming passageways in the container for accommodating lifting forks of a fork lift truck to lift the container loaded with the packages in the container and transport the loaded container from one location to another. 19. The apparatus of claim 18 and wherein: the lid is received on the tray and secured to it. 20. The apparatus of claim 19 and further comprising: banding securing the lid to the tray, the banding extending through said passageways and under said product containing packages in the tray and up portions of the sidewalls of the tray and the lid and across the top of the lid to secure the lid to the tray and packages in the tray. 21. The apparatus of claim 19 and further comprising: channels received in said passageways between the sidewalls of the tray. 22. The apparatus of claim 21 and wherein: said channels are downwardly opening. 23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein: said support having a first face and a second face and having a top edge; said support having at least one lower recess in the bottom edge and at least one upper recess in the top edge; wherein the product comprises a curved glass panel suspended on the first face of said support, said curved glass panel having a concave back surface; wherein the wrapping film is received in said recesses; wherein said wrapping film is stretched between said recesses, around at least a portion of the second face of said support, and around at least a portion of the curved glass panel residing on the first face of said support, said wrapping film holding said curved glass panel against said support and said wrapping film imparting a planar curve to said support that substantially conforms to the periphery of the concave back surface. 24. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support has at least two lower recesses; said support is made of a generally rectangular blank of corrugated fiberboard having a front face sheet and a rear face sheet and a corrugated inner sheet, said support has a first plurality of cuts in the bottom edge and forming bottom tabs, the tabs are bent in a direction from the second face toward the first face thereby producing said at least two lower recesses in the bottom edge, the recesses being in the form of notches in the bottom edge with the tabs providing support ledges for the curved glass panel to be packaged; and said wrapping film is engaged with said tabs as said film is stretched around said support and tabs. 25. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support is a material sheet resistant to bending about axes parallel to a line containing said bottom edge. 26. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support has forwardly projecting extensions at said side edges thereby providing forwardly projecting panels for resistance of said support to bending about axes parallel to a line containing said bottom edge. 27. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support is made of material which is resistant to bending about axes parallel to a line containing said bottom edge and which is resistant to bending about axes perpendicular to said line containing said bottom edge. 28. The package of claim 23 and further comprising: at least one side recess in each of said side edges; and said wrapping film is received in said side recesses. 29. The packaging of claim 23 and wherein: said wrapping film is a plastic film. 30. The package of claim 23 and wherein the curved glass panel has a perimeter, and the support has a perimeter, and the film suspends the curved glass panel so that the perimeter of the curved glass panel is within the perimeter of the support. 31. The package of claim 30 and wherein: said support has at least three lower recesses and at least two upper recesses. 32. The package of claim 30 and wherein: said curved glass panel is a window for a vehicle. 33. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support has at least two lower recesses in the bottom edge. 34. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support is made of a generally rectangular blank of corrugated fiberboard having a front face sheet and a rear face sheet and a corrugated inner sheet. 35. The package of claim 23 and wherein: substantially the entire periphery of said curved glass panel is attached to said support. 36. The package of claim 23 and wherein: the periphery of said curved glass panel is located proximate to said at least one lower recess and the periphery of said curved glass panel is located proximate to said at least one upper recess. 37. The package of claim 18 and wherein: the plurality of product containing packages are nested in an “X” configuration wherein half of the packages are oriented in one direction and the other half in the other direction. 38. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support has two lower recesses in the bottom edge, each of said lower recesses being sized and positioned to accommodate lifting forks of a fork lift truck. 39. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said support is made of corrugated fiberboard oriented with the flutes running substantially perpendicular to said top and bottom edges. 40. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said wrapping film contacts a majority of the width of said curved glass panel. 41. The package of claim 23 and wherein: said wrapping film is a continuous wrap. 42. The package of claim 23, wherein said wrapping film is wrapped from top to bottom across a majority of the width of the curved glass panel. 43. The package of claim 42, wherein said wrapping film covers the whole width of the curved glass panel. 44. The package of claim 23, wherein said wrapping film covers the entire perimeter of the curved glass panel. 45. The package of claim 23, wherein said support is made of a corrugated fiberboard oriented with flutes running substantially parallel to the axis of curvature of said planar curve. 46. The package of claim 45, wherein said flutes run substantially perpendicular to said top and bottom edges, and the majority of the length of said top and bottom edges are substantially free of scoring or creasing.