Fruit packing seasons are generally very short as all the fruit in a particular area or on a particular farm ripens at about the same time. It must then be picked and packed over a period which could be measured in days but would normally be a few weeks.
What this means in practice is that a packhouse must have a very large number of boxes available to it during the packing season. In a major fruit growing area the number of boxes needed runs into the millions. Obviously, empty but erected boxes require a large amount of storage space and it is not possible to start a packing season with all the boxes that are going to be needed pre-erected and in store. Consequently the boxes are erected during the packing season and immediately thereafter packed. Any delay in the supply of boxes has disastrous results on the ability of the packer to get the fruit to market in prime condition.
Because of these difficulties it has been understood for a long time by those skilled in the art that a machine erectable box would have substantial advantages over the currently used boxes which are hand erected and such boxes have been proposed in the past. However, the boxes of which applicant is aware are complex and costly. The erecting machines are also complex and costly and also tend to be unreliable when operated, in packhouse conditions, by relatively unskilled workers. If such a machine breaks down on a remote farm, and the repair team only arrives after a considerable delay, then valuable packing time is lost.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds