GB2435460A

GB2435460A - A collar handle for a bottle

Info

Publication number: GB2435460A
Application number: GB0703640A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Timothy James Llewellyn
Original assignee: Packaging Innovation Ltd
Current assignee: Packaging Innovation Ltd
Priority date: 2006-02-24
Filing date: 2007-02-26
Publication date: 2007-08-29
Also published as: GB0703640D0; GB0603696D0

Abstract

According to the present invention there is provided a handle arrangement 1 for a bottle 2. The handle arrangement comprising a collar 5 for engaging around the neck of the bottle 2 and a handle portion 6 which can be inclined downwards relative to the plane of the neck portion, and the handle can be retained in this position. The handle portion 6 is, preferably, retained in position via protrusion on the side of the collar 5. Most preferably the handle portion 6 has a space which may receive branding/ advertising material.

Description

13989:SF A Handle Arrangement The present invention relates to a handle

arrangement for a container, in particular a bottle and more particularly to a polythene terephthalate (PET) bottle.

Plastic bottles, particularly those constructed of PET, and other similar containers can be difficult to handle because, when the seal (lid) is removed from the container, pressure is released from the container permitting the thin walls of the container to collapse, especially in the case of larger bottles or containers. When these are full the walls of the container are often not thick enough to reliably support the weight of the full container, for example when the contents are poured from the container.

To address the above problem, it is known to attach plastic handles to the neck of the containers or bottles. These handles comprise a planar collar and handle portion with the collar located on the neck of the bottle or container, with the handle extending outwardly to the side of the container. When packaged in a case the handle does not require the overall dimensions of the case to be increased and maintains the ability for cases to be stacked on one another with the bottles in a upright position.

When a bottle is unpacked from a case, the handle portion may be picked up causing the handle to flex relative to the collar affixed to the neck of the bottle. Thus, the bottle may be carried in an upright position by the handle now positioned above the bottle.

The handle also performs another important function in that it permits the bottle or container to be supported by the handle while the contents of the bottle are poured, by 13989:SF gently raising the lower portion of the bottle such as to cause the bottle to tip and spill its contents.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved handle arrangement of the above described type.

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a handle arrangement for a bottle or similar container having a neck through which the contents of the container can be dispensed, the handle arrangement comprising a collar for engaging around the neck of the container and a handle having an elongate grip portion and two limbs extending from the region of each respective distal end of the elongate grip portion to the collar, to define an aperture through which fingers may be inserted when holding the grip portion of the handle, the collar and handle being moulded as a single piece with the limbs being joined to the collar at a region which acts as a hinge, permitting the handle to rotate relative to the collar, wherein the grip portion of the handle has branding thereon such that the branding is displayed to any potential purchaser or user of the container.

A handle in accordance with the present invention provides a convenient way of providing branding to a user, the branding being on the handle clearly identifying the product to a user as he focuses on the grip portion of the handle as he reaches out to pick up the container by the grip portion. Additionally, branding may be particularly aesthetically pleasing if it is moulded into the material of the handle.

l3989:SF Preferably, the collar lies in a first plane and the handle is arranged such that it can lie on a second plane inclined relative to the first plane, wherein the collar has a proximal side and a distal side corresponding to the two sides of the first plane and means for engaging with the neck of the container and retaining the collar on the neck of the container when pushed over the neck of the container, with the neck entering the collar from the proximal side, wherein the handle extends to the proximal side of the collar such as to lie towards a side of the container.

With the handle extending closely adjacent to the side of the bottle, the grip portion can be shaped so as to cooperate with the bottle to provide a particularly aesthetically pleasing effect, the handle appearing as an integral "quality" feature of the bottle or container, providing a stylised label for the container or bottle in a manner similar to the label on a decanter. Preferably, the grip portion is curved substantially in a plane perpendicular to the second plane such that the ends of the grip portion curve towards to the surface of the container.

In one embodiment, the handle may be moulded integrally with the collar in a substantially planar form, with the handle arrangement further comprising retaining means which, when the handle is rotated towards the proximal side of the collar, retain the handle in a position lying in the second plane inclined to the first plane. By moulding the handle arrangement in a substantially planar form, in addition to simplifying the moulding process this also provides a particularly compact arrangement for transporting a number of handle arrangements prior to the handle being assembled on containers, possibly in a bottling plant. When the handle arrangements have been assembled on the containers, the handle 13989:SF can simply be pushed downwards where it is retained by the retaining means in the desired position adjacent to the surface of the bottle. When a customer or user picks up the bottle by the handle, the handle will then be released by the retaining means as it rotates towards the distal side of the collar.

In an alternative embodiment the handle arrangement may be moulded such that the collar lies in the first plane and the handle lies on the second plane inclined relative to the first plane when the handle is in a natural non-stressed state. Such a handle arrangement will automatically adopt the desired position when it is placed on a container and in addition the asymmetric shape of such a handle arrangement is particularly beneficial for use in an assembly process where such handle arrangements are placed onto bottles or containers. This asymmetric shape of the handle arrangements permits them to be mechanically sorted to correctly orientate them prior to assembly. This permits handle arrangements emerging from the moulding process to be placed randomly in a box, or skip, for transportation to a bottling plant, avoiding the need for each handle assembly to be placed on a mandrel and the mandrels carefully transported and regularly loaded onto an assembly machine.

Preferably, the aperture, defined by the grip portion the two limbs and the collar. is dimensioned such that a collar of an identical handle arrangement cannot pass through the said aperture without distorting the limbs or grip portion. This is particularly advantageous where the handle arrangements are to be mechanically sorted, for it prevents entanglement of the handles which could eventually clog the sorting mechanism. It may be particularly advantageous if the two limbs are bowed inwardly towards each other, which will assist in 13989:SF preventing entanglement. Alternatively, or in addition to, a protrusion may extend into or across the aperture to prevent entanglement.

The handle arrangement is preferably moulded from plastics material and may have a pre-weakened section at the region which acts as a hinge.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a container arrangement comprising a handle arrangement in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, wherein the handle arrangement is arranged so that when secured by the collar to the neck of the container, the grip portion can be retained in a position biased towards a surface of the container. In this way, the handle will appear to form part of the container design rather than as a necessary, but awkward looking addition to the container.

Several embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 illustrates a handle and container arrangements in accordance with an aspect of the present invention; Figure 2 illustrates the container arrangement of Figure 1 with the handle raised as when in use; Figures 3 to 5 illustrate a first type of handle arrangement; Figures 6 to 8 illustrate the steps of assembling a handle arrangement in accordance with the an aspect of the present invention onto a container to provide a container arrangement in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention; Figure 9 illustrates how handle arrangements may become entangled; h 13989:SF Figure 10 illustrates a modified handle arrangement to that illustrated in Figures 3 to 8; Figure 11 illustrates a container arrangement employing the handle arrangement of Figure 10; Figure 12 illustrates a further modified handle arrangement to that of Figure 1; and Figure 13 illustrates a container arrangement employing the handle arrangement of Figure 12.

Referring to Figure 1, there is illustrated handle arrangement 1 on a container in the form of a bottle 2. The handle has a grip portion 3 on which branding 4 is applied.

Figure 2 illustrates the handle arrangement of Figure 1 in use whereby the grip portion 3 is raised in order to lift and support the bottle 2.

Figures 3 to 5 illustrate the handle arrangement I of Figures 1 and 2 in more detail.

The handle arrangement I comprises a collar portion 5 and a handle portion 6, the handle portion comprising limbs 7 and 8 which a grip portion 3 bridges to define an aperture 9, through which aperture the user may insert his fingers to lift the handle 6.

Additionally, the handle arrangement I comprises tabs 10 within the collar 5 for securing the collar to a container.

The handle arrangement is moulded as a single item from a plastics material such as polypropylene, with the limbs 7 and 8 of the handle 6 being joined to the collar 5 in regions 1 3989:SF 12, which regions are relatively weak, and indeed can be deliberately weakened by being moulded of relatively thin plastics material. This permits the handle 6 to rotate about axis 13 relative to the collar 5.

On each side of the collar 5 there are moulded two protrusions 14 and 15, most clearly seen in Figure 4. In use, normally when the handle arrangement has been applied to a container, the handle 6 is depressed towards the container, as shown in Figures 4 and 6, whereby the material in the regions 12, joining the limbs 6 and 8 to the collar 5, is stressed such that the handle 6 rotates and lies in a second plane inclined to the first plane in which the collar 5 lies. As the handle 6 is depressed and rotated relative to the collar 5, tail portions 17 (only one of which is shown) are forced over first protrusions 15 before coming into contact with second protrusions 14 which prevents further depression and rotation of the handle 6. The tail portions 17 thus "click" over the protrusions 15 with the protrusions 14 and 15 then retaining the handle 6 in the position illustrated in Figure 5.

Referring now to Figures 6 and 7, the handle arrangement previously described with reference to Figures 3 to 5 is shown being assembled on the bottle 2 of Figure 1. The handle arrangement (Figure 6) is arranged with its proximal side 18 towards a neck 19 of the bottle 2 and is pressed (Figure 7) onto the neck 19 of the bottle such that the tabs 10, illustrated in Figure 4, engage with the annular ridge 20 of the bottle 2, locking the collar and handle in engagement with the bottle 2. Force is then applied in a downward direction to the grip portion 3 of the handle rotating the handle in the direction of arrow 21 until it adopts the position shown in Figures 1 and 8. There the handle 6 is retained in position by the protrusions 14, 15 and tail portions 17 of limbs 7 and 8.

13989:SF As shown most clearly in Figures 1 and 3, the grip portion 3 bridging the limbs 7 and 8, in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane in which the limbs 7 and 8 extend, substantially lies adjacent to the surface of the bottle. The grip portion 4 is flattened so that it has an extensive area on which the branding 4 is display and this will normally be projected slightly upwards, the direction from which it would be normally viewed particularly if placed on a heavy bottle or container, as these are normally stood on the floor or lower shelves of a retail outlet.

Figure 9 schematically illustrates how handle arrangements may become entangled by the collar of one passing through the aperture of another. The alternative handle arrangement illustrated in Figures 10 and ii prevent this possibility by having limbs 7a and 8a which bow inwardly towards each other reducing the size of the aperture 9 (defined by the grip portion of the handle 3, the limbs 7a and 8a and the collar 5). The aperture 9 is too small to permit the collar 2 of an identical handle arrangement to pass through it without distorting the limbs 7a and 8a or grip 3, thus preventing pairs of handle becoming entangled.

In the arrangement depicted in Figures 10 and 11, the collar 5 lies in a first plane with the handle 6 lying in a second plane inclined to the first plane. The handle arrangement is moulded in this asymmetric form and this is the natural unstressed state of the handle. In this embodiment, it is not necessary for the handle arrangement to employ the retaining means such as the protrusions 14 and 15 of Figures 3 to 5, for the handle is naturally in the desired position and thus may be simply mounted on a container in a similar 13989:SF manner to that described with reference to Figures 6 and 7. However, the handle arrangement of Figures 10 and 11 may have a pre-weakened area 22 where the limbs 7a and 8a join the collar 5 assisting this region to act as a hinge when the handle 6 is lifted to carry the bottle 2, as illustrated in Figure 2.

Figures 12 and 13 again show similar views to those of Figures 10 and 11, but in this embodiment, a protrusion 23 extends between the limbs 7 and 8 to define two apertures 9a and 9b, each too small to permit a collar 5 of an identical handle arrangement to pass therethrough. The handle arrangements depicted in Figures 10 to 13 prevent entanglement of pairs of handle arrangements as may occur with the handle arrangements depicted in Figure 9.

The asymmetric handle arrangements illustrated in Figures 10 to 13 permit mechanical sorting of the handle arrangements. The advantage of this is that the handle arrangements as illustrated in Figure 3, because of their planar form normally have to be transported on mandrels so that they can be fed to appropriate assembly equipment for assembly onto bottles or containers. This is necessary because if such handle arrangements become randomly orientated, then it is difficult to mechanically sort them into the particular orientation necessary, prior to assembly onto the bottle or container. However, the asymmetric arrangements illustrated in Figures 10 to 13 can be mechanically sorted in a vibratory bowl sorter. This permits these types of handles to be moulded and then stored or transported in boxes or skips prior to sorting and assembly on bottles.

Various aspects and embodiments of the present invention have been described above by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures. However, any number of modifications and variations will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, which fall within the scope of the appended claims. Particularly, the invention has been described with reference to a handle arrangement for a bottle, but such a handle arrangement may equally be applied to any similar container having a neck through which contents are discharged.

The skilled man will appreciate that the branding "Robinsons" included in the figures is included merely by way of example. The grip portion may comprise any form of branding, and in some embodiments may have no branding.

Claims

S

CLAIMS

1. A handle arrangement for a bottle or similar container having a neck through which the contents of the container can be dispensed, the handle arrangement comprising a collar for engaging around the neck of the container and a handle having an elongate grip portion and two limbs extending from the region of each respective distal end of the elongate grip portion to the collar, to define an aperture through which fingers may be inserted when holding the grip portion of the handle, the limbs being joined to the collar at a region which acts as a hinge, permitting the handle to rotate relative to the collar, wherein the collar lies in a first plane and the handle is arranged such that it can lie on a second plane inclined relative to the first plane, wherein the handle arrangement further comprises retaining means to retain the handle in a position in the second plane.

2. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the collar and handle are moulded as a single piece.

3. A handle arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the handle is moulded integrally with the collar in a substantially planar form.

4. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the collar has a proximal side and a distal side corresponding to the two sides of the first plane and means for engaging with the neck of the container and retaining the collar on the neck of the container when pushed over the neck of the container, with the neck entering the collar from the proximal side, wherein the handle is arranged to extend to the proximal side of the collar such as to lie towards a side of the container in the second plane.

5. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 4 wherein the retaining means are arranged to retain the handle such that in use the handle lies towards a side of the container.

6. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 4, wherein the handle can be released from the retaining means by rotating it toward the distal side of the collar.

7. A handle arrangement according to any preceding claim wherein the retaining means are configured as one or more protrusions on the side of the collar.

8. A handle arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the retaining means are configured as two moulded protrusions on each side of the collar.

9. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the grip portion is curved substantially in a plane perpendicular to the second plane such that the ends of the grip portion curve towards the surface of the container.

10. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the aperture defined by the grip portion, the two limbs and the collar is dimensioned such that a collar of an identical handle arrangement cannot pass through said aperture without distorting the limbs or grip portion.

11. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the two limbs are bowed inwardly towards each other.

12. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a protrusion extending into an aperture defined by the grip portion, the two limbs and the collar such that a collar of an identical handle arrangement cannot pass through said aperture.

13. A handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim, moulded from plastics material.

14. A handle arrangement according to any preceding claim wherein the grip portion includes space for branding.

15. A handle arrangement according to any preceding claim wherein the grip portion has branding thereon.

16. A handle arrangement for a bottle or similar container having a neck through which the contents of the container can be dispensed, the handle arrangement comprising a collar for engaging around the neck of the container and a handle having an elongate grip portion and two limbs extending from the region of each respective distal end of the elongate grip portion to the collar, to define an aperture through which fingers may be inserted when holding the grip portion of the handle, the collar and handle being moulded as a single piece with the limbs being joined to the collar at a region which acts as a hinge, permitting the handle to rotate relative to the collar, wherein the grip portion of the handle has space for branding thereon.

17. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 16 wherein the grip portion of the handle has branding thereon such that the branding is displayed to any potential purchaser or user of the container.

18. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 16 or 17 wherein the collar lies in a first plane and the handle is arranged such that it can lie on a second plane inclined relative to the first plane and wherein the collar has a proximal side and a distal side corresponding to the two sides of the first plane and means for engaging with the neck of the container and retaining the collar on the neck of the container when pushed over the neck of the container, with the neck entering the collar from the proximal side, wherein the handle extends to the proximal side of the collar such as to lie towards a side of the container.

19. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 18, wherein the grip portion is curved substantially in a plane perpendicular to the second plane such that the ends of the grip portion curve towards the surface of the container.

20. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 18 or 19, wherein the handle is moulded integrally with the collar in a substantially planar form, the handle arrangement further comprising retaining means which when the handle is rotated towards the proximal side of the collar retains the handle in a position lying in the second plane inclined to the first plane.

21. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 20, wherein the handle can be released from the retaining means by rotating it toward the distal side of the collar.

22. A handle arrangement as claimed in claim 16, 17, 18 or 19, wherein the handle arrangement is moulded such that the collar lies in the first plane and the handle lies on the second plane inclined relative to the first plane when the handle is in a natural non-stressed state.

23. A handle arrangement as claimed in any of claims 16 to 22, wherein the aperture defined by the grip portion, the two limbs and the collar is dimensioned such that a collar of an identical handle arrangement cannot pass through said aperture without distorting the limbs or grip portion.

24. A handle arrangement as claimed in any of claims 16 to 22 wherein the two limbs are bowed inwardly towards each other.

25. A handle arrangement as claimed in any pf claims 15 to 24, further comprising a protrusion extending into am aperture defined by the grip portion, the two limbs and the collar such that a collar of an identical handle arrangement cannot pass through said aperture.

26. A handle arrangement as claimed in any of claims 16 to 25, moulded from plastics material.

27. A container arrangement comprising a handle arrangement as claimed in any preceding claim and a container, wherein the handle arrangement is arranged so that when secured by the collar to a neck of the container, the grip portion is biased towards a surface of the container.

28. A container arrangement as claimed in claim 27, wherein said surface is a conical surface extending outwardly from the neck of the container.

29. A container arrangement as claimed in claim 27 or 28, in the form of a bottle.

30. A container arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 28 or 29, wherein the container is formed of polyethylene terephthalate.

31. A handle arrangement for a container substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and/or as illustrated in one or more of the accompanying figures.