CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 99216482, filed on Aug. 26, 2010. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The disclosure is related to a paper box, and in particular to an adjustable paper box.

2. Description of Related Art

Along with the boom of the liquid crystal panel industry, there are more and more requirements on packages for liquid crystal panels. Nowadays, liquid crystal panel manufacturers typically package liquid crystal panels with bags first, and then place the packed liquid crystal panels into paper boxes, so as to facilitate shipping to customers such as liquid crystal display manufacturers or retailers.

However, conventional paper boxes have fixed dimensions, so that liquid crystal panels of different dimensions need to be placed in paper boxes of different dimensions correspondingly. Therefore, paper boxes of different dimensions need to be prepared in advance, thereby causing difficulties in paper box management. Moreover, a larger space is required to stock paper boxes of different dimensions, thereby causing difficulties in utilization of factory space.

Furthermore, liquid crystal panels are frequently replaced. When liquid crystal panels of particular dimensions are no longer manufactured, if there are many corresponding paper boxes remaining, these paper boxes cannot be readily used for other liquid crystal panels of other dimensions, so that paper boxes are wasted and production costs are increased.

In addition, as the notion of â€œgreen productsâ€ becomes more widespread, reduction of carbon dioxide emissions should be taken into consideration as much as possible when manufacturing products. Since paper boxes that cannot be used already lead to a certain amount of carbon dioxide during their production, the manufacturing and transportation processes described above cannot effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the above, the disclosure provides an adjustable paper box which is suitable for containing an object. The adjustable paper box includes a box body, an adjustable component, and a fixing component. The box body has a first direction, a second direction, and a third direction which are perpendicular to each other. The adjustable component is disposed on the box body and along at least one of the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction. The fixing component is fixed inside the box body and crosses over the adjustable component, so as to determine a length of the adjustable component.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the adjustable component includes retractable corrugated paper which is capable of extending and contracting, so as to adjust dimensions of the box body.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a length of the adjustable component may be 10-60 millimeters (mm).

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the fixing component includes a first fastener, a second fastener, and at least one socketing element. The first fastener includes at least one first socket, is fixed inside the box body, and crosses over the adjustable component. The second fastener includes at least one second socket opposite the first socket, is fixed inside the box body, and crosses over the adjustable component. The socketing element is inserted into the first socket and the second socket, so as to determine the length of the adjustable component.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the adjustable paper box further includes a plurality of separation components disposed inside the box body and forming a plurality of housing spaces for containing the object.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the separation components are disposed at two opposite sides inside the box body.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the adjustable paper box further includes at least one connection component which is inserted into an end of the separation components and near an inside wall of the box body.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the adjustable paper box further includes a plurality of buffer components, disposed on the separation components and contacting the object.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the adjustable component is disposed along the second direction of the box body. Along the first direction, a dimension of the box body is 340 mm; along the second direction, a dimension of the box body is 176-230 mm; and along the third direction, a dimension of the box body is 170 mm.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the first direction is a length direction of the box body, the second direction is a width direction of the box body, and a third direction is a height direction of the box body.

Therefore in the disclosure, by disposing the adjustable component on the box body, the length, width, and height of the box body are able to be adjusted, so as to obtain a paper box of desired dimensions to contain objects of specific sizes. In addition, by using the fixing component to fix the adjustable paper box whose length, width, and height are adjusted, an adjustable paper box with a stable structure is obtained. The adjustable paper box of the disclosure is capable of being used for liquid crystal panels of different sizes, so that paper box management processes are simplified, the use of paper boxes is reduced, manufacturing costs are lowered, thereby reaching the goal of reducing carbon emissions.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic inside view of the adjustable paper box in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of separation components according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic internal side view showing the separation components disposed inside a box body.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views respectively showing an adjustable component prior to and after extension along a second direction.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of another adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of still another adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic inside view of the adjustable paper box in FIG. 1. Please refer to both FIGS. 1 and 2, the adjustable paper box 100 is suitable for containing an object 200, which may be of any type. In the following, a liquid crystal panel is used as an example. However, the adjustable paper box 100 is not limited to be used for containing a liquid crystal panel.

The adjustable paper box includes a box body 110, an adjustable component 120, and a fixing component 130. The box body 110 has a first direction D1, a second direction D2, and a third direction D3 which are perpendicular to each other. A material of the box body 110 may be corrugated paper or another suitable material. In addition, the first direction D1 may be a length direction of the box body 110, the second direction D2 may be a width direction of the box body 110, and a third direction D3 may be a height direction of the box body 110.

The adjustable component 120 is disposed on the box body 110 and along at least one of the first direction D1, the second direction D2, and the third direction D3. According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the adjustable component 120 is only disposed along the second direction D2 (the width direction) of the box body 110, meaning that the box body 110 may only be adjusted in size along the width direction.

Dimensions of the box body 110 along each of the above directions may be: along the first direction D1, a dimension of the box body 110 is 340 mm; along the second direction D2, a dimension of the box body 110 is 176-230 mm; and along the third direction D3, a dimension of the box body 110 is 170 mm. However, according to design requirements, the adjustable component 120 may be disposed along any one, any two, or all of the first direction D1, the second direction D2, and the third direction D3, so as to adjust the length, width, and height of the box body 110 (as subsequently shown in FIGS. 6 and 7).

According to an embodiment, the adjustable component 120 is retractable corrugated paper which is capable of extending and contracting, so as to adjust the dimensions of the box body 110. The retractable corrugated paper has a multiple-fold structure, so as to be extended or contracted to change a length of the retractable corrugated paper. A length of the adjustable component 120 may be 10-60 mm. In addition, the adjustable component 120 may have another suitable material instead of corrugated paper. The adjustable component 120 may be disposed on the box body 110 by way of replacing a portion of the box body 110. For example, an adhesive (or another suitable bonding method) may be used to attach two ends of the adjustable component 120 to the box body 110.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the fixing component 130 is fixed inside the box body 110 and crosses over the adjustable component 120, so as to determine the length of the adjustable component 120. The fixing component 130 may be implemented in a plurality of methods. For example, according to an embodiment, the fixing component 130 may include: a first fastener 132, a second fastener 134, and at least one socketing element 136. The first fastener 132 includes at least one first socket 132a, is fixed inside the box body 110, and crosses over the adjustable component 120. The second fastener 134 includes at least one second socket 134a opposite the first socket 132a, is fixed inside the box body 110, and crosses over the adjustable component 120. The socketing element 136 is inserted into the first socket 132a and the second socket 134a, so as to determine the length of the adjustable component 120.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of separation components according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 4 is a schematic inside view showing the separation components disposed inside a box body. Please refer to both FIGS. 3 and 4. The adjustable paper box 100 may further includes a plurality of separation components 140 disposed inside the box body 110 and forming a plurality of housing spaces S for containing the object 200. As shown in FIG. 4, the separation components 140 are disposed at two opposite sides in the box body 110, so as to stably wedge against two ends of a liquid crystal panel. A material of the separation component 140 may be corrugated paper or another suitable material. It should be noted that in FIG. 4, at the side the fixing component 130 is disposed, the separation components 140 are spaced away from the fixing component 130 by a suitable distance.

Still referring to both FIGS. 3 and 4, the adjustable paper box 100 may further include at least one connection component 150 which is inserted into an end of the separation components 140 and near an inside wall of the box body 110. Therefore, the plurality of separation components 140 form an integral unit, so as to be placed in the box body 110 more easily. The connection component 150 is, for example, a strip-shaped element which may be inserted into grooves (not shown) in the plurality of separation components 140, so as to connect the plurality of separation components 140.

In addition, the adjustable paper box 100 may further include a plurality of buffer components 160 disposed on the separation components 140. The buffer components 160 may contact the object 200. A material of the buffer components 160 may be resin foam or another suitable material. By using the buffer components 160, external shock is absorbed, so as to prevent damage to a plurality of objects 200 due to impact in between.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views respectively showing the adjustable component prior to and after extension along the second direction. Please refer to both FIGS. 5A and 5B, the length of the adjustable component 120 prior to extension is L1, and the length after extension is L2. In conjunction with FIG. 1, along the second direction D2 (the width direction), the dimensions of the box body 110 may be adjusted within a predetermined range (176-230 mm), so as to contain objects 200 of different sizes.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of another adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Please refer to FIG. 6, an adjustable paper box 102 is similar to the adjustable paper box 100 in FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals represent the same elements. The adjustable paper box 102 in FIG. 6 has adjustable components 120 along the first direction D1 (the length direction) and the second direction (the width direction), meaning that the length and width of the box body 110 are both adjustable, and that the fixing component 130 disposed inside the box body 110 is used for fixation.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of still another adjustable paper box according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Please refer to FIG. 7, an adjustable paper box 104 is similar to the adjustable paper box 100 in FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals represent the same elements. The adjustable paper box 104 in FIG. 7 has an adjustable component 120 along the third direction (the height direction), meaning that the height of the box body 110 is adjustable, and that the fixing component 130 disposed inside the box body 110 is used for fixation.

In light of the above, the adjustable paper box of the disclosure has at least the following advantages:

By disposing the adjustable component on the box body, the length, width, and height of the box body are adjustable, so that a paper box with desired dimensions is obtained. In addition, by using the fixing component to fix the adjustable paper box whose length, width, and height are adjusted, an adjustable paper box with a stable structure is obtained. The adjustable paper box is used for liquid crystal panels of different sizes, so that paper box management processes are simplified, the use of paper boxes is reduced, manufacturing costs are lowered, thereby reaching the goal of reducing carbon emissions.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.