Containers in the shipping industry have been utilized for many years. Such containers are typically constructed from a suitable container blank made from an appropriate substrate such as corrugated containerboard. As generally known in the art, the container blank includes panels, flaps, etc. hingedly connected to one another via score lines. The containerboard is then folded along these score lines and glued to form the final container product.
To create such score lines, mechanical contact methods have been developed, such as flatbed press machines and rotary die cutting machines. Such machines press a scoring edge into the substrate at fixed locations for forming the panels, flaps, etc. Non-contact methods have also been developed, such as laser cutting machines. In this method, laser energy is utilized to produce both the score lines and cut outs in the substrate for forming the panels, flaps, etc.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds