GB2186858A - Lifting device for groups of containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A lifting device for a group of containers held together by a web of plastics material engaging the top edges thereof comprises a flat sheet material blank having a single tongue 20 adapted to be pushed through a lifting aperture 26 in the plastic web. The tongue has hinged flaps 22 on the underside and those flaps are folded back onto the tongue before insertion into the aperture and spring back after said insertion to catch under the web enabling the group of containers to be lifted by the lifting device. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Lifting device for groups of containers This invention relates to devices for use in connection with the lifting of groups of containers which are held together by means of holding devices. A particular holding device is in fact a web of plastics material provided with apertures, and in which apertures the containers are frictionally and resiliently held.

Such particular holding device has been almost universally adopted for holding together cans for beverages such as beer, which are generally cylindrical, and are closed by means of a ring pull closure lid. The described holding device is known by the name "HICONE" (registered trade mark).

The HICONE holding device is essentially a sheet of plastics material which is provided with the apertures, and which is forced over the can ends to hold the containers frictionally and resiliently. The sheet material is subsequently cut so as to provide individual holding devices which retain cans in groups of four arranged in a square array, the cans being held together so that the wall regions of adjacent cans are close together.

A holding device for holding four cans as described is provided with a central aperture, which is somewhat diamond shaped, this being provided to save plastics material and also to provide an insertion hole for a finger or thumb to enable the group of containers to be lifted and transported.

A group of cans held together by such a holding device can be lifted by hand either by gripping portions of the device with the fingers, or by lifting one can of the group, so that all are lifted. Such holding devices will be referred to herein as HICONE holding devices.

Also there are other holding devices, which are scarcely used, comprising plastics moulded clips which clip the containers together, and also have said control apertures, and the invention can be used with such devices.

Frequently there are so-called special offers regarding cans of beer whereby the purchaser is offered four cans for the price of three, and there has arisen a need therefore to provide a means which will enable the offer to be displayed, without of necessity altering the printing on the cans themselves.

The present invention aims at providing such a means, but it is also designed to provide an additional function, which is that of enabling the group of containers to be lifted.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a lifting device of cut and creased sheet material, such device being adapted to fit into an aperture of a holding device such as a HICONE holding device holding a group of containers together said lifting device providing on the one hand a handle and also a display area whereby printing may be carried thereby for the purposes, for example, of indicating a special offer, the device comprising a single tongue having catching flap means hinged to the opposite sides thereof for fold ing onto the same or opposite faces of the tongue so that the tongue and the so folded back catching flap means can be inserted through an aperture in the holding device, but only to a predetermined and limited extent as dictated by the remainder of the device until the flap means spring back to engage under the holding device to provide a means for lifting the group of containers.

Release of the holding flaps enables them to spring outwards to a position whereby they will catch the underside of the holding device enabling the lifting device according to the invention to provide a means enabling the group of containers to be lifted, through the intermediary of the holding device.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a group of containers held together by a holding device of the type herein described; Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the group of containers shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken on the line ll-ll in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank of a lifting device according to the present invention; Figure 4 shows a lifting device according to Fig. 3 when erected and ready to be inserted into the holding device which holds the containers together; Figure 5 shows a perspective elevation of a HICONE holding device; Figure 6 is a part sectional plan to show how the flaps engage the cans and lie under the holding device.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the blank of Fig. 3, when erected to a second configuration; and Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional plan, similar to Fig. 6, showing how the flaps of the device of Fig. 3, when erected as shown in Fig. 7, engage under the holding device.

Referring to the drawings, in Fig. 1 there is shown four beer cans 10 arranged in a square array and having their top ends held together by means of a HICONE holding device comprising a plastics material sheet 12 (see Fig.

5) having apertures 13 therein, and in which apertures the containers are held, the plastic material being stressed so as to grip the tops of the containers resiliently, and being of sufficient strength to perform the holding function, and also to enable the group of containers to be lifted, by lifting one container with the hand, or by lifting the containers by gripping the holder.

The device according to the present invention is for use in conjunction with the holder shown in Fig. 1, and the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3 comprises a blank 14 of cut and creased material, for example cardboard or sheet plastic, which can be arranged co-operatively with the holder in order to enable the group of four containers to be lifted by means of the lifting device.

In the example illustrated in Fig. 3, the blank is of cardboard material, and comprises a trapezium shaped portion 18, from which extends a central tongue 20, and to each side of the tongue is a hinged lifting flap 22. In order to fold the blank shown in Fig. 3, to make it suitable for engagement with the container holder, the lifting flaps are folded along fold lines 24 in opposite directions, through 180 degrees and onto the tongue 20. The thus folded flaps 22 and the associated tongue 20 are pushed through the central, generally diamond shaped aperture 26 (Figs. 4 and 5) in the holder, and then the held flaps 22 are released.The flaps 22 subsequently spring outwardly by virtue of the resilience of the material from which the blank is made, thereby to catch under the holder 12 but only so far (less than 90 ) until the flaps 22 rest against the cans 10 and lie at an acute angle to the remainder of the tongue (as shown in Fig. 6), so that when the blank is lifted by means of the trapezium shaped portion 18, the said tongues 22 engage the underside of the holder and the holder and the held containers can be lifted as a unit for transportation. The flaps 22 are of such size so as to spring back to engage the cans as shown in Fig. 6 so that they cannot spring back by more than 90".

The trapezium shaped portion 18 may be provided with a finger aperture 19 as shown, and the trapezium shaped portion may also carry printed material indicating special offers or other advertising information.

Instead of the aperture for the fingers, the trapezium shaped portion may be cut away as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 in order to provide a generally T-shaped panel defining a long tongue 20 so that when the device according to the invention is inserted in the aperture 26 in the holder, it is pushed downwards so that the tongue will lie centrally within the group of containers with the top section of the carrier lying between the top edges of the containers and projecting only slightly above same. This arrangement is of particular advantage when, as is usually the case, the containers are shrinked wrapped in dozens.

As regards the arrangement shown in Fig.

3, if this is employed with containers which are shrink wrapped, then the trapezium shaped portion may require to be folded down onto a pair of adjacent container top ends, about the fold line 27.

In actual practice, the holding devices 12 are applied to groups of containers on a continuous basis, there being a large sheet of plastics material in which the holders are formed, the sheet being suitably punched and creased and the sheet, whilst in stretched condition, is applied onto the container ends as they move on a conveyor. The sheet is subsequently cut to define the individual holding devices, holding groups of four containers, and the lifting devices according to the invention may be applied to the plastics sheet material of the holders before or after severing of the sheet material, and indeed before the sheet material is applied to the containers.

The lifting devices may be applied manually, or by suitably adapted machinery.

As an alternative method of forming the carrier for insertion in aperture 26, the flaps 22 are folded by 180 onto the same side of the tongue 20, as shown in Fig. 7 and the tongue with folded flaps is inserted through the aperture 26 as described hereinbefore. The tongues 22 spring back, by less than 180"C until they come to rest on the containers 10, under the holding device 12 and at an acute angle to the remainder of the tongue as shown clearly in Fig. 8.

It is to be noted that the fold lines 24 shown in Fig. 3 are convergent in a downwards direction in Fig. 3 so that when the flaps 22 are folded, the upper edges thereof will incline upwardly towards the trapezium shaped portion 18. This means that the upward inclined edges will lock more positively under the holding device when the carrier is inserted as described hereinbefore.

Additionally, the device shown in the drawings is for use in connection with a package of four containers held together by a holding device, but the invention can be applied to carriers for use with packages made up of six or more containers so held, in which latter case two or more tongues will be provided in the carrier, each with a pair of flaps as described herein.

Claims (4)

1. A lifting device of cut and creased sheet material, such device being adapted to fit into an aperture of a holding device such as a HICONE holding device holding a group of containers together said lifting device providing on the one hand a handle and also a display area whereby printing may be carried thereby for the purposes, for example, of indicating a special offer, the device comprising a single tongue having catching flap means hinged to the opposite sides thereof for fold ing onto the same or opposite faces of the tongue so that the tongue and the so folded back catching flap means can be inserted through an aperture in the holding device, but only to a predetermined and limited extent as dictated by the remainder of the device until the flap means spring back to engage under the holding device to provide a means for lift ing the group of containers.

2. A lifting device according to Claim 1 wherein the hinge lines connecting the flap means to the tongue are convergent in a direction away from the handle.

3. A lifting device according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the handle is a T-shaped member having the flap tongue at the end of the leg of the T-shape.

4. A lifting device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.