Packing tray having cell pockets with expandable sidewalls and floating base, and method of manufacture
View Patent ↗Packing tray for protecting fragile and perishable food items, such as pears, which allows fruit items of varying dimensions and weights to be held securely in each pocket, and which allows a plurality of stacked trays and fruit to be packaged in boxes (e.g., standard carton sizes). The tray is a plastic foam sheet having a top wall and a plurality of recessed cell pockets, each cell pocket having a relatively thinner cell sidewall with expandable (accordion-like) flutes, and a relatively thicker bottom wall also with expandable flutes. This construction allows the cell bottoms in adjacent pockets and in adjacent trays of the stack to move relative to one another to accommodate various sizes and weights of fruit while still protecting the fruit from damage.
1. A packing tray for packaging pears and other pear shaped fruit, the packing tray comprising:
a plastic foam sheet comprising a top wall and an array of recessed cell pockets extending from the top wall;
the top wall having a peripheral surface surrounding the array of cell pockets and defining a top reference plane TRP;
each cell pocket comprising a pear shaped recess having an elongated longitudinal axis LA parallel to the TRP and configured to be substantially aligned with a longitudinal axis of a pear or pear shaped fruit lying on its side in the recess, and a transverse axis A;
the pear shaped recess including an upper tapered cell portion configured to receive an upper tapered portion of a pear and a lower rounded cell portion configured to receive a larger diameter base of a pear lying on its side in the recess;
the tapered cell portion having a pair of opposing sidewalls that flare outwardly to join a rounded sidewall of the rounded cell portion, and the tapered cell portion having a bottom surface inclined with respect to the TRP and joining the flaring sidewall portions;
the rounded cell portion further including a bottom portion including a plurality of circumferential flutes surrounding a central depression, the sidewall of the rounded cell portion including a plurality of linear flutes disposed substantially transverse to the TRP;
wherein the sidewall flutes and circumferential flutes flex in response to the weight and dimensions of the fruit enabling the depression to move both parallel to and laterally with respect to the transverse axis A to accommodate different dimensions and weights of fruit disposed in each cell pocket.
2. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the top wall includes cell dividers between the pockets having divider surfaces in the TRP.
3. The packing tray of claim 2 , wherein the dividers include recessed surfaces below the TRP.
4. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the top wall includes a groove adjacent the upper tapered portion of each cell pocket shaped to receive a pear stem.
5. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the depression is a shallow recess.
6. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the depression has an oblong shape perpendicular to the transverse axis A, with the oblong depression having an elongated axis aligned with the elongated longitudinal axis L of the cell pocket.
7. The packing tray of claim 6 , wherein the oblong depression has a center point CP on the elongated axis that moves both parallel to the transverse axis A and laterally with respect to the transverse axis A in response to different dimensions and weights of fruit in the pocket.
8. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the cell pockets are arranged in longitudinal rows and columns.
9. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the sheet has a substantially rectangular perimeter and the cell pockets are arranged in a rectangular array of longitudinal rows and latitudinal columns.
10. The packing tray of claim 9 wherein the top wall includes a pair of opposing notched areas in the peripheral surface surrounding the array of cell pockets, the notched areas being disposed at either end of the longitudinal rows.
11. The packing tray of claim 10 , wherein the notched areas are disposed along the longitudinal centerline of the array.
12. The stack of packing trays and box of claim 10 , wherein the box comprises a rectangular shaped base having interior dimensions that exceed the rectangular dimensions of the perimeter of the tray, thus providing a gap between the perimeter of the tray and the interior surface of the box.
13. A stack of packing trays comprising at least two packing trays of claim 1 stacked one on top of the other with fruit disposed in the cell pockets and the second tray rotated 180° with respect to the first tray.
14. The stack of packing trays of claim 13 , disposed in a box for storage, shipment or display.
15. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the plastic foam material comprises one or more of polystyrene, polyester, polyolefin, polypropylene, poly(lactic acid), including homopolymers, co-polymers and mixtures thereof, and including virgin and reclaimed materials.
16. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the plastic material comprises polystyrene foam.
17. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein the rounded cell portion bottom is relatively thicker than the rounded cell portion sidewall.
18. The packing tray of claim 1 , wherein at least the depression is relatively thicker than the rounded cell portion sidewall.
19. The packing tray off claim 1 , wherein the top wall is substantially rectangular shaped and has a foldable hinge formed in each of two opposing corners of the rectangular shaped top wall.
20. The packing tray of claim 19 , wherein the hinge comprises a reduced thickness hinge line in the top wall and a peripheral hinge portion, wherein the peripheral hinge portion can be folded at the hinge line.
21. The packing tray of claim 20 , wherein the peripheral hinge portion can be folded back on itself to provide a folded portion for gripping.
22. A packing case comprising:
a stack of packing trays comprising at least two packing trays of claim 1 stacked one on top of the other with fruit disposed in the cell pockets and the second tray rotated 180° with respect to the first tray;
the trays accommodating variations in weight and dimensions of the fruit by deflection of the depression of the rounded cell portion.
23. A method of making the packing tray of claim 1 , including molding the sheet between matching mold surfaces to form the cell pockets.
24. A method of packing fruit comprising:
packing fruit in the cell pockets of the packing tray of claim 1 ;
packing a second tray of claim 1 with fruit wherein the second tray is rotated 180° with respect to the first tray;
allowing the varying weights and dimensions of the fruit in each pocket to displace the rounded cell portion;
wherein the displacement allows fruit of varying dimensions and weights to be packed in a standard case volume.