EP1001902B1 - Plastics bottle - Google Patents

Plastics bottle Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1001902B1
EP1001902B1 EP98936563A EP98936563A EP1001902B1 EP 1001902 B1 EP1001902 B1 EP 1001902B1 EP 98936563 A EP98936563 A EP 98936563A EP 98936563 A EP98936563 A EP 98936563A EP 1001902 B1 EP1001902 B1 EP 1001902B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
foot
bottle
base
plastics bottle
feet
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP98936563A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1001902A1 (en
Inventor
David Wheelwright
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Crown Packaging UK Ltd
Crown Packaging Technology Inc
Original Assignee
CarnaudMetalbox PLC
Metal Box PLC
Crown Cork and Seal Technologies Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by CarnaudMetalbox PLC, Metal Box PLC, Crown Cork and Seal Technologies Corp filed Critical CarnaudMetalbox PLC
Publication of EP1001902A1 publication Critical patent/EP1001902A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1001902B1 publication Critical patent/EP1001902B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D1/00—Containers having bodies formed in one piece, e.g. by casting metallic material, by moulding plastics, by blowing vitreous material, by throwing ceramic material, by moulding pulped fibrous material, by deep-drawing operations performed on sheet material
    • B65D1/02—Bottles or similar containers with necks or like restricted apertures, designed for pouring contents
    • B65D1/0223—Bottles or similar containers with necks or like restricted apertures, designed for pouring contents characterised by shape
    • B65D1/0261—Bottom construction
    • B65D1/0284—Bottom construction having a discontinuous contact surface, e.g. discrete feet

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a plastics bottle for carbonated beverages which has a so-called "petaloid” or "footed” base.
  • the base was formed in a domed shape and a separate base cup was used to provide stability to the bottle.
  • the base design evolved into a so-called "champagne" base and the now popular petaloid base which typically has up to 7 feet separated by ribs.
  • footed bases must meet a number of criteria which in some situations may be at odds with each other. For example, it is essential to minimise stress concentrations so as avoid failure of the base which arises when stress cracks are initiated, particularly when the bottle is filled with a carbonated beverage.
  • the base must also be readily blow moulded and should be stable when filled, even when internal pressure changes due to temperature variations for example.
  • US-4785949 proposes a design which is said to limit stress levels by maximising the cross sectional areas of the ribs and avoiding sharp transitions between the ribs and feet. This design has a maximum of five feet separated by wide ribs.
  • US-5024340 (Alberghini/Sewell) is directed to the provision of a stable-based bottle having four or five feet separated from each other by hemispherical ribs. Inner walls of the bottle feet are made in three parts with a generally perpendicular central ring segment which can flatten with internal pressure, such as arises when the bottle is filled with carbonated beverage.
  • the present invention seeks to provide a container having a base which provides improved stability whilst still ensuring efficient and easy blow moulding of the container.
  • a plastics bottle for carbonated drinks including an integral base, the base comprising:
  • the base of the bottle of the present invention thus has relatively sharp angled valley side walls in comparison with known bottle base designs and proportionately wide feet. It should be appreciated that for assessment of stability the important part of the feet is the flat pad which will contact the surface on which a bottle will be standing.
  • the base of the present invention has been found to give excellent stability but also, surprisingly given the large foot pad size, the base is easily moulded and has good stress crack resistance.
  • the size of the foot pads will clearly vary according to the number of feet used for a specific base. In order to maintain ease of mouldability, however, it is preferred that the total length of the outer edges of the foot pads is less than 65% of the circumference of the outer edge of the standing surface.
  • the length of the outer edge of a foot pad should preferably be between 2 and 4.25 times the width of the narrowest part of a valley, at the base of the inverted U.
  • the valleys may be ideally positioned around a substantially hemispherical dome having a central region which comprises an externally convex region surrounded by an externally concave first annulus and an externally convex second annulus which tapers into a foot on one side and blends into the hemispherical valley on the opposite side.
  • a blow forming mould has a mould wall which is complementary in shape to the bottle to be formed so that the central convex region of a mould designed to form the bottle of the present invention will receive a preform gate.
  • the annuli increase initial stretching of the preform away from its centre, thus keeping the preform away from the mould for as long as possible and limiting stress concentrations in the centre of the final bottle base.
  • the bottle base includes five feet.
  • the angular extent of a foot pad i.e. the angle which the foot pads subtend at the longitudinal axis of the bottle, may be at least 25°.
  • the foot pad is blended into the side wall of the adjacent valley by a radius which, for a five footed base, may be at least 3 mm, but is preferably at least 5 mm.
  • An advantage of the present invention is that the excellent stability of the bottle makes it suitable for transporting on slat conveyors, standing on uneven surfaces, storage in domestic refrigerators or retail from chiller cabinets.
  • Refrigerators and chiller cabinets typically have shelves made from small gauge wires with a spacing of up to 15 mm on which bottles must stand without tilting.
  • Figure 1 shows a bottle 1 comprising a neck 2, cylindrical body having side wall 3 and base 5.
  • the neck and cylindrical side wall are typical of known PET bottles designed for carbonated soft drinks.
  • the novel base 5 of this invention is shown in more detail in figures 2 to 4.
  • a preferred embodiment of the invention which is particularly suitable for half litre bottles comprises five feet 10 having a "petaloid" configuration as can be clearly seen in figure 2.
  • the feet are equispaced around the base and are separated from each other by valleys 20.
  • the base of each foot 10 includes a flat pad 12 such that when the bottle is standing upright the five pads 12 will be in contact with a shelf or table. The five pads thus make up a standing or support surface for the bottle.
  • each pad 12 is arcuate in shape so each pad comprises a segment of the support surface.
  • the sum of the lengths l f of the outer arcuate edges 14 should always be at least 35% of the outer circumference of the standing surface. This is readily determined from the standing diameter D f as shown in figure 3.
  • the width of the pads themselves may not seem large when compared with the circumference of the standing surface, the side walls 22 of the valleys are sharply inclined, the angle ⁇ between the side walls being less than 25°. As a result, the foot pads 12 are much wider than the bases 24 of the inverted U shaped valleys.
  • the angle ⁇ is the angle for the profile of the base which results from a developed (i.e. opened out) section through IV-IV, i.e. the standing circumference of the bottle as shown in figure 3.
  • the value of ⁇ is maintained more or less constant radially inwards of the section shown in figure 4 but may open out as the valley blends into the bottle side wall 3 where stiffness is not so critical.
  • the width of foot pads 12 is determined by the length of their arcuate outer edges, i.e. l f .
  • the base 24 of each valley 20 is curved, by treating radius R v as a fillet radius, the width w v of the narrowest part of the valley can be determined.
  • the width of the foot pad w f is ideally between 2 and 4.25 times the valley width w v .
  • the foot pads 12 are blended into the valley side walls 22 by a radius R f which is selected to ensure ease of blowing in spite of the large foot size and narrow valleys.
  • Figure 3 shows the configuration at the centre of a five footed bottle base 5.
  • the section III-III passes through a hemispherical valley 20 and foot 10.
  • an externally convex protrusion 32 In the centre 30 of the base there is an externally convex protrusion 32, surrounded by concave and convex annuli 34 and 36 respectively.
  • This shape is selected so that the gate of a preform 4 (shown in dotted lines in figure 1) will not contact the mould until late in the blowing process. This ensures that stress concentrations at the gate region are kept to a minimum.
  • the concentric annuli 34, 36 serve to protect the gate region further.
  • the bottle shown in figure 1 to 4 has five feet which is suitable for bottles of half and one litre capacity.
  • the number of feet may be varied according to the bottle diameter and/or capacity.
  • a half litre capacity bottle could conceivably have only four feet, it may be necessary to increase the number of feet to, say, seven for larger bottles. It will be appreciated that the number of feet is therefore not essential to the present invention since it may need to be varied if the criteria which we have found to be critical for combining stability with ease of blowing and minimum stress concentrations are to be met.
  • the angular extent ⁇ of each foot pad will also change.
  • this angle ⁇ should be at least 25° for optimum stability.
  • the radius R f should be at least 3 mm, preferably at least 5 mm.
  • the standing diameter D s of the bottle of figures 1 to 4 is at least 70% of the bottle side wall diameter D b .
  • Figure 5 shows a fifth part of a prior art half litre bottle base having five feet. Comparable parameters with those shown in figure 4 have been given like references and differentiated by a dash.
  • a and E are the centres of adjacent feet.
  • the distance AE corresponds to the foot spacing F s ' - B and D are the radial edges of the flat pads so that AB and DE represent half the width of the pad outer edges.
  • C is the centre of the valley.
  • the prior art bottle design thus has the following parameters which can be compared with those of the bottle of example 1: Foot pad width I f ' 7.32 mm Valley angle ⁇ ' 58° Valley radius R v ' 2.28 mm Foot/valley radius R f ' 5.75 mm Standing diameter 50.2 mm Bottle diameter 68 mm Foot-foot spacing F s ' 31.55 mm
  • the total length of the outer edges of the foot pads for the prior art bottle is therefore 36.6 mm which is only 23.2% of the circumference of the standing surface (157.75 mm), significantly less than the 39% of example 1.
  • the values given for the bottle of comparative example 1 are typical of prior art five footed bases.
  • the angle ⁇ ' would typically be between 50° and 70° and the proportion of foot pad width to standing circumference would generally be between 20 and 25%.
  • the bottles of the present invention have been found to provide excellent stability in a wide range of environmental conditions. Furthermore, the bases exhibit fully acceptable stress crack resistance and blowability as required by manufacturers and fillers.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Ceramic Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Containers Having Bodies Formed In One Piece (AREA)
  • Processing And Handling Of Plastics And Other Materials For Molding In General (AREA)
  • Laminated Bodies (AREA)
  • Cosmetics (AREA)
  • Medicines That Contain Protein Lipid Enzymes And Other Medicines (AREA)
EP98936563A 1997-08-05 1998-07-31 Plastics bottle Expired - Lifetime EP1001902B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9716422 1997-08-05
GBGB9716422.2A GB9716422D0 (en) 1997-08-05 1997-08-05 Plastics bottle
PCT/GB1998/002296 WO1999007607A1 (en) 1997-08-05 1998-07-31 Plastics bottle

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1001902A1 EP1001902A1 (en) 2000-05-24
EP1001902B1 true EP1001902B1 (en) 2002-10-16

Family

ID=10816919

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP98936563A Expired - Lifetime EP1001902B1 (en) 1997-08-05 1998-07-31 Plastics bottle

Country Status (10)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1001902B1 (hu)
AT (1) ATE226167T1 (hu)
AU (1) AU8552598A (hu)
CA (1) CA2297033A1 (hu)
DE (1) DE69808775D1 (hu)
GB (1) GB9716422D0 (hu)
HU (1) HUP0003466A3 (hu)
PL (1) PL338512A1 (hu)
TR (1) TR200000285T2 (hu)
WO (1) WO1999007607A1 (hu)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2883792A1 (fr) * 2005-03-30 2006-10-06 Sidel Sas Fond de moule pour moule de fabrication de recipients thermoplastiques, et dispositif de moulage equipe d'au moins un moule equipe d'un tel fond
FR2892048B1 (fr) * 2005-10-17 2008-01-04 Sidel Sas Fond de moule pour moule de fabrication de recipients thermoplastiques, et dispositif de moulage equipe d'au moins un moule equipe d'un tel fond.
DE102013103777A1 (de) * 2013-04-15 2014-10-16 Krones Ag Kunststoffbehältnis
AU2015296030B9 (en) 2014-08-01 2020-01-30 The Coca-Cola Company Small carbonated beverage packaging with enhanced shelf life properties
DE102021125276A1 (de) * 2021-09-29 2023-03-30 Krones Aktiengesellschaft Kunststoffbehältnis mit stabilem Bodendesign

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2448480A1 (fr) * 1979-02-07 1980-09-05 Solvay Corps creux en matiere thermoplastique orientee
US4785949A (en) 1987-12-11 1988-11-22 Continental Pet Technologies, Inc. Base configuration for an internally pressurized container
US5024340A (en) * 1990-07-23 1991-06-18 Sewell Plastics, Inc. Wide stance footed bottle
JP3612775B2 (ja) * 1995-03-28 2005-01-19 東洋製罐株式会社 耐熱耐圧自立容器及びその製造方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
HUP0003466A3 (en) 2001-04-28
DE69808775D1 (de) 2002-11-21
EP1001902A1 (en) 2000-05-24
GB9716422D0 (en) 1997-10-08
ATE226167T1 (de) 2002-11-15
WO1999007607A1 (en) 1999-02-18
CA2297033A1 (en) 1999-02-18
AU8552598A (en) 1999-03-01
TR200000285T2 (tr) 2001-03-21
HUP0003466A2 (hu) 2001-02-28
PL338512A1 (en) 2000-11-06

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