DE29906286U1 - Detection aid for full and empty bottles in the beverage deposit box as a base that engages in the box - Google Patents

Description

Identification aid for full and empty bottles in the beverage deposit crate as a base that reaches into the crate from below

Frank Lamberty Wiesbaden, 5 April 1999

Description ·· ·· *··* · ··* ··*

Detection aid for full and empty bottles in beverage deposit crates

Drinks deposit crates of conventional design (water crates GDB Deutscher Brunnen/Cola/Lemon deposit crates) allow you to look inside the bottles in order to determine whether they are still full or already empty.

However, if the bottled beverage is a non-colored beverage, such as mineral water or lemonade, the full or empty state of a white or green glass bottle can usually only be checked by lifting the bottle by hand; this does not apply to crown cap deposit bottles (beer/catering beverages) instead of the otherwise widely used screw cap. With crown cap deposit bottles, the empty deposit bottle can be immediately distinguished from the full one because the cap is no longer there, whereas screw cap bottles (mineral water/lemonade) are subject to the habit of being returned to the deposit box with the cap screwed on when empty. Screw cap bottles therefore pose a particular difficulty in distinguishing between full and empty.

Furthermore, beverage deposit crates in households are often stored at floor level in poor lighting conditions, such as in the basement or pantry, which means that the viewer's point of view initially only allows a steep view into the crate from above. The problem of recognizing full and empty bottles, already explained, is thus further exacerbated.

The invention specified in claim 1 is based on the problem of creating a base that engages from below into the openly constructed box, onto which the deposit box, filled with bottles, is placed in order to make empty bottles distinguishable from full bottles by means of an optical positional height difference.

This problem is solved with the features listed in claim 1.

The invention makes it possible to immediately distinguish empty from full bottles even from a distance without manual control and regardless of light and position, by raising the empty bottle by about 4 cm using the base that engages in the box and the full bottle maintains its level at the level of the box bottom (Fig.).

Furthermore, the invention replaces the use of conventional deposit box stands, as the deposit box and its base can be placed at floor level to save space, but cannot dirty or damage the floor (Fig.7)

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In order to ensure that several* •drink deposit crate cans can be stacked when using the deposit crate base, its design allows it, together with the deposit crate sitting on it, to be placed on another deposit crate of the same design (Fig.4)

An advantageous embodiment of the invention is specified in claim 2:

The further development according to claim 2 enables the attachment of manufacturer-specific plastic screw caps with the manufacturer's logo printed on them and an immediate visual assignment of the invention (Fig.2 T and Fig.6)

A further advantageous embodiment of the invention is specified in claim 3:

The further development according to protection claim 3 not only enables the use of the detection aid in the GDB water deposit crate, the base element of which per bottle corresponds to Fig.10 (K GDB), but also ensures that the cylinder Z2 engages in cross-shaped base structures of the beverage deposit crates of non-GDB-affiliated manufacturers (K rental crate).

An embodiment of the invention is explained with reference to the figures Fig.1-7. They show:

Fig.l the detection aid below a drinks deposit crate with full bottles. All cylinders are pressed downwards.

Fig.2 the detection aid in the unused state with the cylinders and the locking attachment T protruding

Fig.3 the possible cylinder positions:

Pl: recessed position in the construction when the full bottle is sitting on it. The spring F gives way under the weight of the full bottle, is compressed and is located within the milling of the cylinder.

P2: cylinder emerging from the structure due to insufficient weight load; position when the empty bottle is seated. The cylinder is limited by the projection V after an exit length of approx. 4 cm. The compression spring F does not react to the empty bottle weight. The inner element U guides Z upwards in a cylindrical manner.

Fig.4 The detection aid under a GDB water crate visibly pushes four empty bottles upwards. Furthermore, the possible integration of the base between two beverage deposit crates is illustrated by the element S (see Fig.2), which can be inserted from above into an identical crate.

Fig. 5 the »height difference of the middle bottle« as shown by the detection aid

Fig. 6 the original plastic screw caps that can be fitted according to claim 2 from the manufacturer (see Fig.2 T)

Fig. 7 the detection aid is located under the GDB water tank and visibly pushes four empty bottles upwards; Fig. 8 gives a view into the tank below without bottles.

Fig.9 the cross-shaped recessed cylinder construction Z2, which, in contrast to Z, not only fits into the GDB-P deposit boxes, but also into the bottoms of conventional deposit boxes.

Fig.10 the base construction of the GDB water deposit box per bottle (K GDB). The cylinder Z coming from below can penetrate here without any problem. This type of box is characterized above all by the designation "GDB German fountain" cast into the material in the upper third of the box side, which is visible from the outside.

Fig.11 the base construction of a GDB-like drinks deposit crate with a cross-shaped bottle grid (K rental crate). This type of crate is characterized above all by the designation "rental crate" cast into the material in the upper third of the crate side, which is visible from the outside. Here only the cylinder Z2 (Fig.9) can penetrate from below in order to reach the bottle. Z2 therefore also works in the base of the GDB crate, but does not allow implementation according to protection claim 2.

Claims (2)

Protection claims ·· *.· '..* &iacgr; ..*..* Protection claim 1: Identification aid for full and empty bottles in the drinks deposit crate as a base that reaches into the crate from below (Fig.l) characterized, that a spring-loaded cylinder Z (Fig.2) is located under each bottle within the base adapted to the box when the bottle is full, its position does not change further due to the full weight (Fig.3 Pl) when the bottle is empty, it is visibly pushed upwards due to its correspondingly lighter weight (Fig.3 P2) and thus makes full bottles visually distinguishable from empty ones. (Fig. 4 and 5) The identification aid refers to a crate size intended for it. As there are different crate sizes (6, 12, 24, etc.), different designs of the identification aid are required. The design drawings show an identification aid with 12 integrated cylinders for a conventional DGB water and lemonade crate with 12 bottles content. Protection claim 2: Detection aid for full and empty bottles according to protection claim 1 characterized, that a manufacturer-specific plastic deposit bottle cap can be attached to each cylinder (Fig. 2 T and Fig.6). Protection claim 3: Detection aid for full and empty bottles according to protection claim 1 characterized, that each cylinder has a shape (Z2) which, in the part emerging from the surrounding structure, leaves the X and Y axes in a cross-shaped gap approximately 4 mm wide (9). -A