Windowed mid-lock carton with positive closure latch

Abstract

A one-piece molded egg carton of the type having a tray-like bottom section with two parallel rows of downwardly dished egg receiving pockets, two articulated trough-shaped cover sections integrally hinged to the opposite sides of the bottom section for closing up and over the rows of pockets filled with eggs to provide a substantially uninterrupted flat upper cover surface for displaying advertising information and/or content information. The two cover sections are locked in the closed position by male locking projections which positively engage female locking ledges provided by apertures in the bottom section between the rows of egg pockets. A series of window openings are provided on each side of the carton for viewing the contents of all the egg pockets without opening the carton. The single positive locking projection on each cover section is offset from the longitudinal center of the carton, but the windows periodically interrupt the hinged connections between the bottom section and the cover sections to reduce the natural tendency of the cover sections to be urged out of their closed positions, thus insuring that the upper cover surface for displaying advertising and content information is maintained flat and substantially uninterrupted.