DE2329076A1 - BOTTLE CARRIER - Google Patents

Description

PATENT LAWYERS

dr. ing. H. NEGENDANK · dijtL.-aNG. H. HAUCK Dn'i ..- pnYS. W. SCHMITZ

DIPL.-ING. E. GRAALFS · dipiwng. W. WEHNERT 2329076

HAMBURG- MUNICH

ZTTSTELLTJNQSANSCHRIrT: HAMBURG 36 · NKUKR WALL 41 TEL. 8β 74 28 AND 8β 41 ld Illinois Tool Works Inc. telegr. nbqedapatent hambuhg

MUNICH 15 MOZARTSTR. 23

8501 West Higgins Road _IEL , _588M8 .

_,. __ _. , r ~ r- * j. l -. ~. TELEGH. NEOBDAFATBNT MUNICH

Chicago. Illinois 6063I / USA

Hamburg. _June 5

Bottle carrier

The invention is primarily directed to support structures for relatively large beverage bottles, such as. B. those of about one liter, especially on beverage bottles with enlarged cap or crown sections and widening towards the bottom or diverging neck portions below the cap portions. The invention is further directed to carriers in which the Bottles are supported by their neck portions and are suspended from the carrier. There are already supports made of cardboard been used to pack a group of such beverage bottles together or otherwise hang them; were here generally secure gripping devices made of cardboard are required, which had to be torn or otherwise destroyed to remove the bottles from the carrier, with the result that the Carriers could not be used to carry empty bottles when they should or had to be returned to the warehouse. It are also various cast or otherwise shaped forked

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shaped clamps have become known to hold a group of bottles to be worn hanging. While such carriers are reusable, they are generally expensive and hold the bottles not stuck against a rotational movement in the carrier. Furthermore, the reusable carriers generally have separate ones Handling devices attached to the carrier to carry the heavy weight of liter bottles to facilitate. However, these separate handling devices add to the overall cost of such carriers.

The carrier according to the invention consists of a simple and economic carrier that can be used and reused to store returnable or non-returnable bottles to carry, and is intended for use with several bottles arranged in a row. The carrier holds the bottles securely against a rotational movement in the carrier. The carrier is made of an elastic deformable Plastic sheet material such as B. High density polyethylene. The carrier blank has various openings and Flaps on that work together with four fold lines to fold the blank and in a bottle carrier shape for several in to be able to lock bottles arranged in a row. The assembled beam is generally in the form of a prism with triangular faces and sufficient length to span the row of bottles. The carrier is placed on the bottle

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row applied by sliding it over the tops of the bottles pushes down. When the carrier is initially pushed forward down over the bottles, the base of the carrier engages in which openings of considerable size are formed, the widening or diverging neck portions of the bottles substantially below the cap sections. As the carrier is pushed down over the bottles, the crown of the Carrier, in which there are openings with opposite edges sloping upwards and inwards, over the enlarged ones Cap sections of the bottles guided to lock below the cap sections. When locking the apex openings below the extensions of the cap sections the opposite side walls of the carrier become outward bent and due to the elasticity of the material the longitudinal sides of the apex openings upwards pressed so that they lock firmly to the underside of the extensions given by the cap sections and the Edge edges of the openings in the bottom of the bottle carrier on the circumference of the flared neck portions of the bottles be pressed down to secure the bottles against a rotational movement in their axial parallel alignment hold and thus enable a safe and comfortable transport of the resulting pack.

The resulting pack is carried by an improved handling device, which is a molded part of the elastic

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Plastic sheet material is formed and so a separate Eliminates the need for a handle.

The packaging can be easily removed from the bottles simply by removing the tabs from their locking openings pulls out. The vertex of the carrier then opens into axially aligned, overlapping openings that significantly are larger than the enlarged cap sections of the bottles, and the opened carrier is then only held by the Bottles lifted off.

The carrier according to the invention can also be easily reassembled for carrying bottles, for example for carrying back of empty bottles to storage by overlapping the side sections of the carrier and the tabs by hand to snap into their locking holes. The carrier is then simply over the bottles pushed down as previously described to turn the carrier and bottles onto a pack together to lock with a molded handle extending upward for easy portability.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved and reusable carrier for several beverage bottles with enlarged cap sections and downward dier-

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yawing neck portions that are easily assembled in a locking position for application to the bottles Distance from the bottles can be easily unlocked, and in its locked position in which it is on the bottles is applied, these bottles are held securely in a row for transport by hand by means of an upwardly protruding handle the carrier is grasped and the bottles hang from him.

Further features and advantages of the invention are evident from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals within the various representations denote the same elements or components. Show it:

1 shows a plan view of an embodiment of a carrier blank, which is constructed according to the principles of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a side view of a package that includes the carrier of Fig. 1 in the assembled state and when in place shows three bottles in a row,

Fig. 3 is a partial end view of the structure shown in Fig. 2 taken substantially along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

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4 shows a plan view of another embodiment of the carrier blank designed according to the invention,

Fig. 5 is a side view of a pack to show the carrier of Fig. 4 in the assembled state when in place on three bottles in a row, and

6 is a partial end view of the structure shown in FIG. 2 taken generally along line 6-6 of FIG.

The carrier blank 10 shown in Fig. 1 is made of plastic sheet material stamped or otherwise formed from this material of uniform thickness. In the practical implementation of the Invention it has been found that a suitable material is high density polyethylene of 0.04 thickness. Polyethylene high Density has the right elasticity and deformability to allow the carrier 10 to fold and interlock in the assembled state To permit condition so that it effectively interlocks with a number of beverage bottles of substantial weight, as well as easy disassembly and removal from the bottles, easy reassembly to repeat Use and formation of an upwardly projecting one-piece molded handle for ease of carrying to allow.

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The carrier blank 10 is held at a distance from one another with four parallel fold lines 12, 14, 16 and 18 provided. The fold lines 12, 14, 16 and 18 divide the carrier blank 10 into five Fields 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28. A molded handle 21 is formed as part of the field 20. The handle 21 is flexible with a Lip 23 is provided which is bent downwards so that the handle is more easily grasped by the hand when carrying heavy loads can be. The field 20 contains a longitudinal edge of the carrier which is adjacent to the field 22 in the fold line 12. The outer longitudinal edge of the field 20 is provided with three molded tabs 30 which extend in the plane of the field 20 from there to the outside. Each tab 30 has opposing tabs 32 that extend longitudinally of the panel 20. Although the approaches 32 are shown substantially semicircular on tabs 30, other shapes for tabs 30 are also included in the invention. For example, the tabs 30 can be generally in the shape of an arrow.

The panel 20 also contains the major portions of the number of openings 34. In the present embodiment, there are three such openings 34 present a carrier embodiment for three bottles to form, but it is also within the scope of the invention to have a greater or lesser number of openings for accordingly to provide different numbers of bottles. The openings

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34 intersect the fold line 12 making it a discontinuous line. Parts of the openings 34, namely approximately a quarter of their width in the transverse direction of the fields 20 and 22, extend into the field 22. The openings 34 are generally square in shape and the length of one side is greater than the largest diameter of the cap portion of the bottle which is to be mated with that opening.

The field 28 is essentially a mirror image of the field 20, but without the tabs 30. The field 28 contains a longitudinal edge of the carrier blank 10 and is adjacent to the field 26 on the fold line 18. The fields 28 and 26 are provided with openings 36, which are formed in these fields in the same way as the openings 34 in the fields 20 and 22. The field 28 has preferably a narrower width than field 20 in the absence of any of the tabs 30, to be precise by approximately the thickness of the blank 10.

The field 26 is also narrower than the field 22, namely by about the thickness of the blank 10. This width arrangement of the fields 20, 22, 26 and 28 ensures the correct relative placement of panel 20 over panel 26 so that fold line 12 is at The apex of the formed prism is as shown in FIG.

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The field 22 adjoins the field 24 along the fold line 14. The field 26 adjoins the field 24 along the fold line 16. The field 24 is provided with three circular openings 38, which are kept at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction of the field 24 and essentially with the openings in the transverse direction 34 and 36 are aligned. The openings 38 touch the fold lines 14 and 16. The openings 38 have a smaller diameter than the bottle they are matched with should, at a point a distance substantially equal to the perpendicular projected width of field 22 axially lies below the underside of the enlarged cap section.

The panel 26 is provided with three tab locking openings 44. The tab locking openings 44 are spaced longitudinally of the panel 26 and transversely arranged essentially in alignment with the tabs 30. The locking openings 44 have a width in the longitudinal direction of the field 26 substantially equal to the width of the tabs 30 without the approaches 32.

When assembling the carrier, the panels 22 and 26 are in the same Folded upward direction from panel 24 so that panel 24 forms the base of the carrier. Fields 20 and 28 become then folded towards one another along these fold lines 12 and 18, the fold lines 12 and 18 then brought together in an overlapping manner, so

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232907 ^

that the side line 12 is above the fold line 18 and the fields 22 and 26 form the side walls of the beam with the general prism shape with triangular faces. Approaches 32 the tabs 30 are then advanced or through the tab locking openings 44 snapped into place so that panels 20 and 28 generally differ from that indicated by fold lines 12 and 18 vertices formed downwardly and generally parallel and against the side walls of the one formed by panels 22 and 26 Extend the carrier. In the assembled state of the carrier are through the opposite longitudinal sides 34a and 36a of the openings 34 and 36 are openings of a size which are considerably smaller in the transverse direction of the carrier are than the maximum diameter of the flared cap portions of the bottles that will be matched with them should.

In the assembled state of the carrier described above, it is only necessary to carry the carrier over the bottles whom he is to be brought together to push forward. Such bottles are shown at 46 in FIGS. the enlarged cap portions of the flanges 46 are indicated at 48. The downward diverging sections of the bottles 46 are indicated at 50. At the initial thrust of the carrier down over the three in a row Bottles 46 encompassed the inner circumference of the openings 38 in the Base plate of the carrier the widening or diverging

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Shark sections of the bottles 46 firmly on the circumference. Another advancement of the carrier down through one on Force applied to the vertex of the wearer leads to a sagging of the rare edge 34a of each opening 33 and the Rare edge 36a of each opening 36 over the enlarged cap sections 46 and to a lock immediately below. The rare margins 34a and 36a are, as shown in Flg. 2 and 3 can be seen, slightly deformed. The compliance of the material in the described arrangement results in the Rare edges 34a and 36a of the openings 34 and 36 directly be pressed firmly against the bottle necks below the enlarged cap portions 48.

When the partially overlapped openings 34 and 36 below the enlarged cap portion 48 are locked as described, then the rare walls of the carrier are bent longitudinally outward, as in FIG. 3 ffeelgt. This bending the side walls of the carrier results in an extremely stable and essentially rigid package. The elasticity of the Side walls press the vertex of the carrier and the openings formed therein into a firm locking engagement the bottle necks 46 below the cap portions 48 and also presses on the bottom portion of the carrier with respect to the bottles 46 down to the bottles 46 with parallel

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to hold each other extending longitudinal axes and against a rotary movement.

The carrier can easily be removed from the bottles by the consumer Remove 46 by pulling down on the central portion of tabs 30 on the side wall of the bracket to cover the lugs 32 to pull the tabs 30 out of the tab locking openings 44 or to snap them out. When the lobes 30 out the openings 44 are pulled out, then the fields 20 and 28 can be moved relative to each other to the extent of the Openings 34 to align essentially axially with the circumference of the openings 36, and the carrier then only needs to use the Bottles 46 to be lifted off.

If the carrier is to be used again, it is only necessary to arrange the panel 20 in an overlapping manner over the panel 26 and to snap the tabs 30 into the openings 44. When the carrier is again in the assembled state, it then only needs to be pushed down over the bottles 46, as already described, in order to form the carrier pack described again. This is best seen in Fig. 3 can be seen, the flexible tip 23 of the handle 21 is outward curved to provide a relatively wide surface area for hand contact when the wearer is with the hand therein

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existing bottles is carried. This lip 23 is rotatable in any direction, so that it is both to the left as may also extend to the right as shown in the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an optionally possible arrangement of a carrier blank, which is designated generally by the reference symbol 100. The carrier blank 100 may also be made from 0.04 inch thick polyethylene or any other suitable material as desired getting produced. The carrier blank 100 is folded and locked in the assembled state, similar to the carrier blank 10 of FIG. 1, so that an upwardly projecting integrally formed Handle is formed to facilitate carrying.

The carrier blank 100 is provided with four parallel fold lines 112, 114, 116 and 118 which are kept at a distance from one another. The fold lines 112, 114, 116 and 118 divide the carrier blank 100 into five panels 120, 122, 124, 126 and 128. With the panel 120, a molded handle 121 is formed in one piece. The handle 121 has a flexible lip 125 that can be bent down to facilitate hand carrying of heavy loads.

Panel 120 includes a longitudinal edge of the backing that is adjacent to panel 122 at fold line 112. The outer longitudinal edge the field 120 is provided with three molded tabs 130,

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which extend from there in the plane of the field 120 to the outside. Each tab 130 has opposing tabs 132 which extend in the longitudinal direction of the field 120. Although the tabs 132 on the tabs 130 are shown as being substantially semicircular, the invention encompasses others as well Blow-drying for these lugs 130. For example, the tabs 130 can be generally arrow-shaped.

The panel 120 also contains the major portions of a number of openings 134. In the present embodiment, there are three openings 134 are provided to form a carrier for three bottles, but it is also within the scope of the invention to have one to provide a larger or smaller number of openings for a correspondingly different number of bottles. The openings 134 intersect fold line 112 making it discontinuous. The opening 154 is longer than the opening 34 in FIG. 1 and is approximately one third of its length in field 122 and with two thirds in the field 120. The openings 134 are substantially rectangular and the length of one side is greater as the largest diameter of the cap portion of the bottle with which it is to be mated.

The field 126 is narrower than the field 122, namely by about Thickness of the blank 100 This width arrangement of the fields 120, 122, 126 and 128 ensure proper relative placement

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of panel 120 above panel 126 so that fold line 112 As can be seen from FIG. 6, the apex of the prism formed is located.

The field 122 is adjacent to the field 124 along the fold line 114. The panel 126 is adjacent to the panel 124 along the fold line 116. The field 124 is provided with three circular openings 138, which are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the field 124 bits apart and are substantially aligned with openings 134 and notches 136 in the transverse direction. The openings 138 touch the fold lines 114 and 116. The openings 138 have one smaller in diameter than the bottle to be assembled with them at a point which is substantially a distance equal to the perpendicular projected width of field 122 axially lies below the underside of the enlarged cap section.

The panel 126 is provided with three tab locking openings 144. The tab locking openings 144 are longitudinally spaced on the panel 126 and are substantially aligned transversely with the tabs 130.

When assembling the carrier, fields 122 and 126 are shown in

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folded up in the same direction away from panel 124 so that panel 124 forms the base of the carrier. Panels 120 and 128 are then folded toward one another on fold lines 112 and 118, respectively, and lines 112 and 118 overlap one another so that fold line 112 overlies fold line 118 and panels 122 and 126 form the side walls of the carrier generally in the shape of a Form prisms with triangular faces. The tabs 132 of the tabs 130 are then advanced or snapped into the locking openings 144 so that the panels 120 and 128 extend generally downwardly from the apex formed by the fold lines 112 and 118 and generally parallel against the side walls of the through the panels 122 and 126 of the formed beam extend. In the assembled state of the carrier, the opposite longitudinal sides 134a and 136a of the openings 134 and the notches 136 form openings of a size which, in the transverse direction of the carrier, are substantially smaller than the largest diameter of the enlarged cap sections} of the one to be brought together with jknm Bottles.

The construction of the carrier blank 100 is similar to that of the carrier blank 10, except that the openings 36 are now designed as recesses or notches I36. Each-

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yet the cooperation between the edges is 134a and 136a the same as the edges 34a and 36a of Figure 1. Another The difference between the embodiment of FIG. 4 is that double folding line of the handle 121. In this case, there are two folding sections 123 and 125 to form a U-shaped one To form a handle, as best shown in FIG.

While only two particular embodiments of the invention are shown should be noted that further modifications and changes can be made without using to depart from the spirit and scope of the novel construction disclosed and claimed herein.

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Claims (10)

Claims M. j bottle carrier with an enlarged cap portion at its open end, characterized by a Carrier blank with an arcuate section running across its center, which has several openings at a predetermined distance from each other for receiving and engaging part of the neck of the bottles below their open ends, with opposite edges on opposite sides of the arch section with cutouts at specified intervals are provided from each other, which are larger than the widened cap sections and, when the edges are arranged in overlap with one another, cooperate to form openings which gripping and holding the bottle necks immediately below the enlarged cap sections, as well as means for releasable retention of the overlapped edges with respect to each other and an upwardly protruding, molded handle with see a gripping section above the cap sections of the FIa *. 2. Carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the cutouts are substantially in the end fields of the carrier blank openings are formed. - 19 -409821/0293 3. Carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the cutouts are formed in one end field of the carrier blank and openings are formed in the other end field of the carrier blank Notches are. 4. A carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the upwardly extending molded handle has a flexible transverse tab portion for gripping by the hand to distribute the weight of the wearer over a relatively large area of the hand carrying the wearer. 5. carrier according to Anspsch 1, characterized in that the after molded handle protruding above includes a flexible quclaufenden portion which is in a flexible upward protruding part to form a substantially U-shaped portion for gripping by the hand and the Granted the wearer over a relatively wide area of the den Porters meeting hand to distribute. 6. Carrier for a number of bottles arranged in a row, characterized in that this carrier is formed from a sheet of elastic, deformable plastic material, in which there are four parallel-spaced fold lines to form five panels, where - 20 - the third field is arranged in the center of the carrier and the second and fourth fields adjoin the central field on opposite longitudinal edges of the latter, the first Field is adjacent to the second field and moves away from it contains extending handle that when folding the plastic material to form the carrier an upright position occupies, the third ^ section contains several Vlachenumfassungsöffnungen, which in a row in the longitudinal direction of the third section are arranged, and the carrier can be folded into a prism shape with triangular end faces, in which the third field forms the base plate of the prism and the second and fourth panels represent the side walls of the primate, while the fifth panel is below the second panel and folding the first panel over the fourth panel, whereby the fold line between the first and second panels forms the vertex of the prism and the fold line between the fourth and the fifth field immediately below the Vertex of the prism is that further provided a second number of openings in the first and the second field which are arranged in a row in the longitudinal direction of the first and second sections and the fold line between intersect the first and second sections, and a number of cutouts in the fourth and fifth sections is formed in a row in the longitudinal direction of the third - 21 -409821/0293 and the fourth section are arranged and intersect the fold line between the third and fourth sections, wherein second size this / number of openings and the number of cutouts larger as the enlarged cap portions of the bottles to be assembled with the carrier, the second number openings overlaps the number of cutouts to create openings in the apex of the prism over corresponding openings in the To form base plate field, which are dimensioned smaller in the transverse direction of the fields than the diameter of the expanded Cap portions of the bottles to be brought together with them, that further between the first and the fourth field facilities are provided around the outer edge of the first box releasably attachable to the fourth panel and the openings in the baseplate panel are sized so that they are above the neck portions and received below the enlarged cap portions of the bottles to be assembled with the carrier can be pushed forward, whereby the carrier pushed forward over a number of bottles to be brought together with the carrier can be so that the openings in the base plate field the neck portions of the bottles below the enlarged Capture cap sections of the same on the circumference and the openings are deformed and the sections of the bottles directly grasp elastically below the enlarged cap sections and so the handle of the enlarged cap section let the bottles protrude upwards. - 22 409821/0293 7. Carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that the cut out Sections are openings formed substantially in the end panels of the carrier blank. 8. Carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that the cut out Sections formed in an end field of the carrier blank openings and in the anferen end field of the carrier blank formed notches are. 9. A carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that the one-piece molded upwardly protruding handle has a flexible transverse flap section for gripping by the hand of a user to distribute the weight of the wearer over a relatively large area of the hand carrying the wearer. 10. A carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that the one-piece molded upwardly extending handle includes a pliable transverse section that turns into a pliable upwardly protruding section leads into a substantially U-shaped handle section for distributing the weights of the wearer over a relatively wide area of the hand carrying it. 409821/0293