EP0413245A1 - Vertically and horizontally useable bottle crate - Google Patents

Abstract

A vertically and horizontally usable bottle crate (1), in particular for wine bottles, has side walls (2) and a bottom (3) and a compartment structure (4) accommodating the bottles (6) with a plurality of insertion compartments (5), formed from the compartment structure (4) and, if appropriate, from the side walls (2), for the bottles (6), each insertion compartment (5) having compartment walls (6) which are provided with an opening (8) so that, when the bottle crate (1) is lying on one side wall (2), the bottle (6), inserted in the insertion compartment (5), partially enters the opening (8) with its bottom (17), as a result of which the bottle (6) is tilted and its longitudinal axis (9) assumes an angle ( alpha ) to the vertical plane of the bottle crate (1). During transport of the bottle crate (1), adjacent bottles (6) are prevented from knocking against one another by the fact that, when the bottle crate (1) is upright, the bottle (6) is at least partially surrounded by a centring device in the region of its bottom (17). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a bottle crate which can be used standing and lying, in particular for bottles closed with corks, with side walls, a bottom and a compartment which receives the bottles with a plurality of compartments for the bottles formed from the compartment and optionally from the side walls, each compartment having compartment walls, which are provided with an opening so that when the bottle crate is lying on a side wall, the one inserted into the adjustment compartment The bottle partially engages with the bottom of the opening, causing the bottle to tilt and its longitudinal axis to form an angle with the longitudinal axis of the adjustment compartment.

Bottles are generally sold lying down and packed in boxes or upright in bottle crates. With bottles packed in cartons, there is a risk that the bottles will be damaged when they are transported, since they are touching one another. In addition, the stacking height of such cartons is limited due to the pressure on the bottles in the lower cartons. Such problems do not occur with bottles placed in bottle crates, since they do not touch one another in closed storage compartments in the bottle crate and are not stressed when the bottle crates are stacked on top of one another. The stack height for bottle crates is essentially determined by the stability of the bottle crates.

In bottles packed in bottle crates, however, there is the disadvantage that, for example, in wine bottles the cork closing the bottle dries out, since the cork is not wetted by the contents of the bottle due to the upright packaging of the bottles. The storage life of bottles packaged in this way is therefore limited.

With a known bottle crate (DE-OS 22 16 575) an attempt is made to remedy the fact that the transport of the bottle crate takes place with the bottles stored in the standing position therein, and the bottle crate is tipped onto one of its side surfaces after the transport, so that the Bottles are also in a tipping position. In order to prevent the bottles from falling out, the compartment walls of the compartments of the compartment of the bottle crate have openings into which tilted bottle crate, the belly of the bottle partially enters, so that the bottle assumes a tilted position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the adjustment compartment. Characterized in that the bottle bottom is lowered by engaging in the opening of the compartment wall with respect to the bottle neck, the bottle is securely fixed in the bottle crate so that it cannot easily slide out of it. This has the advantage that due to the tilted position of the bottle, a cork located in the bottle neck is always moistened by the contents of the bottle, therefore does not dry out and the bottle is therefore always tightly sealed and can be stored for a long time. Another advantage is that in the case of several bottle crates lying on one of their side walls and arranged one above the other, each individual bottle arranged in the bottle crates can be accessed.

However, this known bottle crate has the disadvantage that it is in the transport position, i.e. in the vertical position, in which the bottles are stored in a standing arrangement in the bottle crate, the bottles can hit against each other due to the openings in the compartment walls. Since violent sideways movements of the bottle crate cannot be avoided when transporting the bottle crates, it cannot be ruled out with certainty that individual bottles slip within the adjustment compartment and pivot out of the adjustment compartment above the opening and bump into the bottle stored in the adjacent adjustment compartment. There is a risk that individual bottles will break.

Although the setting compartment has holding elements which are arranged on the compartment walls and act on the upper end of the bottle belly, these holding elements have the disadvantage that that they often damage the label when inserting the bottle and also narrow the insertion opening of the adjustment compartment.

The invention is therefore based on the object of developing a bottle crate of the type mentioned in such a way that the bottles are securely held in the setting compartment during transport of the bottle crate.

This object is achieved in that when the bottle crate is standing, the bottle is at least partially surrounded by a centering in the region of its bottom.

This bottle crate according to the invention, like the known bottle crate mentioned above, allows the bottles to tilt slightly in its lateral position in that it also has openings in the compartment walls of the compartments of the compartment, which are slightly penetrated by the bottle's belly. When the box is set up in its transport position, the bottles slide back from their position penetrating the opening and are now inside the adjustment compartment. In this position, the bottle base is at least partially encompassed by one or more centerings, so that the bottle base and thus the bottle is held firmly and securely in this position in the setting compartment. When the bottle crate is being transported, the bottle thus fixed can no longer swing out of the setting compartment, reach through the opening and bump into a bottle located in an adjacent setting compartment and damage it. If the crate is transferred from its transport position to a side position in which it rests on one of its side walls, the bottle slips out of the centering and falls slightly in the opening located below the bottle in the compartment wall, so that it now again assumes its position inclined to the longitudinal axis of the setting compartment and is thereby securely fixed in the setting compartment again.

The compartment wall itself is free of holding elements so that when the bottle is inserted there is no risk that the label will be torn. The centering is located in the area of the bottom of the setting compartment, i.e. below the label.

In an advantageous embodiment it is provided that the centering is formed by a part of the compartment wall of the insertion compartment which extends slightly above the bottom of the bottle crate. In this embodiment, the opening does not extend to the bottom of the setting compartment, but ends at a certain distance above it. This has the advantage that the web above the bottom, which forms the lower part of the compartment wall, rests against the bottom of the bottle, thereby securing the bottle against slipping out of the setting compartment. If high lateral forces act on the bottle crate during transport, the web prevents the bottles from slipping and hitting against one another, thereby preventing the bottles from breaking.

In another embodiment it is provided that at least one guide knobs for lateral contact on the bottle base is provided on the shelf of the setting compartment. This or these guide knobs can be present either alone or together with webs in the compartments that extend in the plane of the compartment wall and extend away from the floor. These guide knobs are designed so that they are obstacles to the bottle set in the setting compartment tie so that it cannot slip uncontrollably within the compartment or through the opening and strike bottles in adjacent compartments.

With bottle crates lying on a side wall, the bottles are originally still within the webs or are still encompassed by the guide knobs, so that the longitudinal axis of the bottle still coincides with the longitudinal axis of the adjustment compartment. The bottle is in an unstable position. If the bottle now slides in the direction of the opening of the setting compartment, the bottle bottom moves away from the bottom of the setting compartment, the bottle bottom emerging from the grip of the guide knobs or the webs and finally the bottle belly falling into the opening in the compartment wall below the bottle. In this process, the bottle tilts such that its longitudinal axis is inclined at an angle with respect to the central axis of the adjustment compartment and the bottle neck is located above the bottom of the bottle. This position represents a stable position for the bottle, which it does not leave without further force. The bottle cannot slide out of the bottle crate or out of its adjustment compartment. However, the inclination of the bottle is so flat that the cork in the bottle neck is wetted by the bottle contents.

In a preferred embodiment it is provided that the guide knobs have a contact surface for the bottle. This contact surface, which rests on the bottom edge of the bottle when the bottle crate is standing vertically and the bottle is placed in the setting compartment, causes an exact centering of the bottle so that it is centered within the setting compartment.

In order to achieve an easy and simple insertion of the bottle into the setting compartment and between the centering, it is provided that the guide knobs have an inclined surface facing the central axis and the bottom of the setting compartment. If the bottle is inserted into the setting compartment with a slight tilt, the bottle bottom will hit one of the inclined surfaces of the guide knobs before it hits the bottom of the setting compartment and will slide along the inclined surface when the bottle is pushed in further. The inclined surface centers the bottle base and guides it into a position that is central to the adjustment compartment. With a guide knobs designed in this way, the user of the bottle crate does not have to pay particular attention when filling the crate, that the bottles are inserted exactly vertically into the adjustment compartments, since the bottle base is automatically centered over the inclined surfaces of the guide knobs before it hits the shelf.

When viewed from above, the inclined surface advantageously merges into the contact surface. On the one hand, this enables the bottle base to be centered automatically when a bottle is pushed in, and also enables the bottle base to be held securely when the bottle is fully inserted into the setting compartment.

According to a preferred embodiment it is provided that the guide knobs are arranged in the corners of the setting compartment. They can be formed in one piece with the compartment walls, which on the one hand results in a stiffening of the compartment wall and on the other hand a stable design of the guide knobs. The guide knobs can also be designed as separate knobs, which protrude above the surface of the shelf, one more or less distance from the compartment walls. The centering can be adapted to different bottle diameters in a simple manner by means of a suitable design with a plurality of contact surfaces arranged offset with respect to one another, the guide knobs having an approximately step-shaped configuration.

The distance between the contact surfaces of two diametrically opposite guide knobs preferably corresponds to the diameter of the bottle. As a result, a tight fit of the bottle bottom or its outer circumference is achieved on the contact surfaces of the guide knobs, so that the lower part of the bottle is accommodated in the adjustment compartment without play.

In a preferred embodiment it is provided that the distance between the contact surfaces of two diametrically opposite guide knobs corresponds to the distance between two opposite compartment walls of the insertion compartment. With this configuration of the adjustment compartment, the bottle can e.g. be recorded with a certain, predetermined play, so that both the lower region of the bottle and the upper region at the upper end of the setting compartment are accommodated with the same play. A possible embodiment provides e.g. before that both the distance between two guide knobs and the distance between the compartment walls are equal to the diameter of the bottle. The compartment walls are still perpendicular to the box floor. Embodiments are also conceivable in which only the distance between the guide knobs corresponds to the diameter of the bottles and the compartment walls have play with the bottle wall, so that larger bottles can also be accommodated by the bottle crate.

• Figur 1 einen Querschnitt durch einen auf einer Seitenwand liegenden Flaschenkasten, wobei mit durchgezogener Linie geneigt angeordnete und mit gestrichelter Linie in den Einstellfächern zentriert angeordnete Flaschen wiedergegeben sind;
• Figur 2 eine Seitensicht auf einen Teil des auf einer Seiten­wand liegenden Flaschenkastens, wobei im oberen Ein­stellfach eine zentrierte Flasche und im unteren Einstellfach eine bezüglich des Einstellfachs geneigt angeordnete Flasche wiedergegeben ist; und
• Figur 3 eine perspektivische Darstellung eines aus einem Flaschenkasten ausgebrochenen Einstellfachs ohne eingesetzte Flasche.

Further advantages, details and features of the invention result from the following description, in which under Be With reference to the drawing, a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention is described in detail. The individual features can be implemented individually or in groups in one embodiment of the invention. The drawing shows:

• FIG. 1 shows a cross section through a bottle crate lying on a side wall, bottles with a solid line inclined and a dashed line centered in the adjustment compartments are shown;
• FIG. 2 shows a side view of a part of the bottle crate lying on a side wall, a centered bottle being shown in the upper adjustment compartment and a bottle inclined relative to the adjustment compartment in the lower adjustment compartment; and
• FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an adjustment compartment broken out of a bottle crate without a bottle inserted.

The bottle crate 1 according to the invention shown in the drawing is made in a known manner from an injection-molded plastic material and has side walls 2 and a bottom 3 which form a cuboidal crate. A compartment 4 is provided within the bottle crate 1 and consists of a plurality of adjustment compartments 5. The height of the compartment 4 is approximately half the height of the bottle crate 1, which has a height that it can accommodate bottles completely. The bottle crate 1 has, for example, external dimensions on the order of 200 x 300 mm. Other external dimensions are possible Lich and usually depending on the bottles to be transported. The bottles 6 are arranged in the compartments 4 in the compartments 5. To accommodate the bottles 6, the compartments 5 have compartment walls 7, however, with compartment compartments 5 located at the edge of the bottle case 1, one or two compartment walls 7 are formed by one or two side walls 2 of the bottle case 1. The distance from opposing compartment walls 7 or side walls 2 is in each case only slightly larger than the diameter of the aforementioned bottle 6. The compartment walls 7 and the side walls 2 have openings 8, the adjacent compartments 5 with each other or outside compartments 5 with the outside of the Connect the bottle crate 1 and allow access to the storage compartments 5. In the representation of the lower part of the bottle crate 1 shown in FIG. 1, which is cut open lengthwise, bottles 6 inserted into the adjustment compartments 5 are in a tilted position within the adjustment compartment 5, with the longitudinal axis 9 of the bottle 6 facing each other the longitudinal or central axis 10 of the adjustment compartment 5 is pivoted by an angle α. This angle α is in a range from 3 to 15 °, preferably 6 to 8 °. In this position, a part 11 of the bottle 6 passes through the opening 8 of the compartment wall 7 located below the bottle 6 and projects with this part 11 into the adjacent compartment 5 below its compartment 5. In the bottom row of bottles 6, the latter protrudes Part 11 not in an adjacent compartment 5 but out of the bottle crate 1. Contact of the part 11 of the bottles 6 with the bearing surface on which the bottle crate 1 rests is prevented by circumferential flanges 12 and 13 which are formed on the upper part 14 of the outer walls or on the bottom 3 of the bottle crate 1. These flanges 12 and 13 protrude beyond the side wall 2 of the Bottle crate 1 further than the part 11 of a bottle 6 penetrating the opening 8. Guide knobs 16 are provided on the inside 15 of the base 3, the function of which is described below. In addition, in addition to the tilted bottles 6, which are shown with solid lines, FIG. 1 also shows bottles 6 with dashed lines, the longitudinal axis of which are aligned with the central axis 10 of the adjustment compartment 5. These bottles 6 'are centered and aligned within the compartments 5 and are located between the guide knobs 16, which serve as centering for the bottom 17' of the bottles 6 '.

In the plan view of part of the bottle crate 1 shown in FIG. 2, an aligned, ie not tilted bottle 6 'is shown in the upper adjustment compartment 5, which is arranged centered within the adjustment compartment 5. As already mentioned above, this centering takes place by means of the guide knobs 16 which engage on the edge of the bottle base 17. In the setting compartment 5 shown below, the bottle 6 'is shown in a tilted position, in which the part 11 passes through the opening 8. This bottle 6 is compared to the overlying bottle 6 'slightly shifted in the direction of its bottle neck 18, so that the bottle bottom 17 comes from the grip of the guide knobs 16, as shown in Figure 1. It can also be seen in FIG. 2 that the flange 12 projects beyond the side wall 2 to such an extent that the part 11 of the bottle 6 is still inside the outer contour of the bottle crate 1. In addition, it can be seen that the distance between the compartment walls 7 to each other approximately corresponds to the diameter of the bottle 6 or 6 ', and the bottle b or 6' is accommodated in the setting compartment 5 with little play at best.

FIG. 3 essentially shows an adjustment compartment 5, on the basis of which the function of the individual parts will be explained in more detail below. The two side walls 2 form compartment walls 7 of the adjustment compartment 5 and have the flange 12 at their upper end 14 and the flange 13 at their lower end. The adjustment compartment 5 also has two further compartment walls 7, which are provided in the interior of the bottle crate 1. Each compartment wall 7, in which each side wall 2 is also to be regarded as a compartment wall 7, has an opening 8 which, in a first exemplary embodiment, extends from the bottom 3 of the bottle crate 1, which at the same time represents the bottom 3 of the adjustment compartment 5, to just below the Flange 12 extends. In another embodiment, a web 18 is provided at the lower end of the opening 8, which forms the lower end of the compartment wall 7. The openings 8 are essentially trapezoidal, with their wider end in the lower region of the compartment wall 7 and their narrower end at the upper end 14. The opening 8 can also have a parabolic or hyperbolic shape, the opening being directed downwards in the direction of the base 3. In the corners, the adjustment compartment 5 has the guide knobs 16, which allow a bottle 6 inserted vertically into the adjustment compartment 5 to be centered. The guide knobs 16 are fixed both on the bottom 3 and on the edges of the compartment walls 7 and have an inclined surface 19 which slopes towards the center of the adjustment compartment 5 and towards the bottom 3 thereof. The inclined surface 19 merges into a contact surface 29 which rests against the bottle base 17 when the bottle 6 is set. The sloping surface 19 has the task of centering a bottle 6, which is inserted into the adjustment compartment 5 but is slightly tilted, so that it can be received by the contact surfaces 19.

If a bottle crate 19 standing on its base 3 is tilted into a position as shown in FIG. 1, a centered bottle 6 inserted between the contact surfaces 20 of the guide knobs 16 slides over the contact surface 20 and the inclined surface 19 into a position. in which it is no longer centered by the guide knobs 16 and thus falls into a tilted position in which the part 11 of the bottle 6 passes through the opening 8. The bottom 17 of the bottle 6 is advantageously supported on the upper end 21 of the guide knob 16.

Instead of or in addition to the guide knobs 16, the webs 18 can be provided, which likewise center the lower end of the bottle 6 and, when the bottle case 1 lies horizontally, also release the bottom of the bottle 6 in that a slight displacement of the bottle 6 in the direction of its bottle neck 22, the bottle base 17 slides out of the gripping of the webs 18 and / or guide knobs 16 and then the bottle 6 with the part 11 can reach through the opening 8.

The bottle crate 1 according to the invention has the advantage that, on the one hand, when the bottle crate 1 is lying on a side wall 2, falling out of the bottles 6, 6 'is avoided, and, on the other hand, easy insertion of the bottles 6, 6' into the compartments 5 is possible without damaging the bottle labels and the bottle 6,6 'are centered within the adjustment compartments 5 in their vertical position by guide knobs 16 and / or webs 18 so that they cannot slip out of the adjustment compartment 5 during transport of the bottle crate 1 and can damage other bottles 6.

Claims (10)

1. Standing and lying usable bottle crate, in particular for bottles closed with corks, with side walls, a bottom and a compartment that receives the bottles with several compartments for the bottles formed from the compartments and, if appropriate, from the side walls, each compartment having compartment walls with are provided with an opening so that when the bottle crate is lying on a side wall, the bottom of the bottle inserted into the setting compartment partially engages in the opening, causing the bottle to tip and its longitudinal axis to form an angle (α) with the longitudinal axis of the setting compartment, characterized in that when the bottle crate (1) is standing, the bottle (6 ') is at least partially surrounded by a centering in the region of its bottom (17'). 2. Bottle crate according to claim 1, characterized in that the centering of a slightly above the bottom (3) of the bottle crate (1) extending part (web 18) of the compartment wall (7) of the adjustment compartment (5) is formed. 3. Bottle crate according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that on the shelf (3) of the setting compartment (5) at least one for lateral contact on the bottle bottom (17 ') certain guide knobs (16) is provided. 4. Bottle crate according to claim 3, characterized in that the guide knobs (16) has a contact surface (20) for the bottle (6,6 '). 5. Bottle crate according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the guide knobs (16) to the longitudinal axis (10) and to the bottom (3) of the adjustment compartment (5) facing inclined surface (19). 6. Bottle crate according to claim 5, characterized in that the inclined surface (19) seen from above merges into the contact surface (20). 7. Bottle crate according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the guide knobs (16) are provided in the corners of the adjustment compartment (5). 8. Bottle crate according to one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the distance between the contact surfaces (20) of two diametrically opposite guide knobs (16) corresponds to the diameter of the bottle (6,6 '). 9. Bottle crate according to one of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the distance between the contact surface (20) of two diametrically opposite guide knobs (16) the distance between two opposite compartment walls (7) of Adjusting compartment (5) corresponds, the compartment walls (7) extending perpendicular to the shelf (3). 10. Bottle crate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the centering is formed by at least one guide knobs (16) and a lower part (web 18) of a compartment wall (7).

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