MXPA97005882A - Stackable box for bottles of little profundi - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a shallow stackable box for retaining and transporting bottles, comprising opposite side walls and opposite end walls forming an end frame having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis, a box bottom disposed substantially within This exterior frame, where the improvements include: side walls that include a low wall portion and a series of spaced poles projecting upwards, four corner posts that define the four corners of this box, a series of spaced columns that they project upwards, generally arranged within this outer frame, which define, in combination with this bottom of the box, the side walls and the end walls, a series of retaining cavities of the bottles, in which the columns and the posts are extend above the low wall portions and below the upper surface of the retained bottles and; end walls each comprising a structure of an integrally molded handle having interior and exterior surfaces suspended between an upper portion of the adjacent corner posts, a generally open area defined below these interior and exterior surfaces of this structure. handle and between this inner surface of the handle structure and a first of these columns, so that the handle structure can grip freely and substantially around all periphery of the handle.

Description

STACKING BOX FOR LOW DEPENDING BOTTLES REFERENCE WITH RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of part of the pending application of the United States serial number 08 / 384,331 filed on February 1, 1995.

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to stackable boxes for shallow bottles that are used to contain and transport bottles. More particularly, the present invention relates to boxes for beverage bottles that combine shallowness with high stability for storing bottles, complete visibility of the label for display purposes, an easy-grip handle structure, and a cross-padlock feature to secure a series of stacks of empty boxes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Plastic bottles are widely used as soft drink containers and other beverages in their retail sale. One type of plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), has become particularly popular because of its transparency, light weight and low cost.

In addition to being flexible, the walls of PET bottles are resistant to stress and, therefore, can safely contain the pressure of a carbonated beverage. Likewise, conventional PET bottles can surprisingly withstand high compression loads, as long as the load is oriented substantially along a symmetrical axis of the bottle. A single PET bottle can support the weight of many full-sized bottles filled with beverage, if the bottle is standing on a flat, horizontal surface and the weight of the other bottles is applied to the peak of a single bottle and is substantially directed vertical along a symmetrical axis. However, if a compressive load is applied to a conventional PET beverage bottle, in another direction different from the symmetrical axis of the bottle, it tends to deform. This tendency to curl conventional PET bottles when subjected to compressive off-axis loads is particularly pronounced in larger capacity bottles, such as two-liter bottles that are widely used for the sale of soft drinks. Soft drink bottles are usually packed in boxes or other containers, with several bottles per box, for shipping or storage of retail sellers. The term "box", "huacal" or F4b0"drawer" is used interchangeably herein to include all boxes, crates, crates and similar containers having a bottom and side wall structure. The boxes of bottles are usually stacked on top of each other. In storage warehouses, columns of boxes are usually stacked in the cargo trays that can be lifted and moved by trucks with forklifts. The stacks of boxes in the cargo trays must, therefore, be particularly stable in order to remain upright in the face of the inherent thrust that is imparted to them when moved. A technique for interconnecting stacks of empty boxes. so-called "cross-stacking" is generally used to improve the stability of empty crates in the cargo hold of the hold. Cross stacking generally includes stacking rectangular boxes for bottles until a layer structure is constructed, in which each layer is oriented parallel to the others and where the adjacent layers are oriented at right angles to one another. Thus, as the adjacent layers are perpendicular, each box in the cross-piled layer rests on at least two boxes in the bottom layer. As a result, the boxes of the cross-piled layer tend to hold together the boxes on which they rest. Therefore, the layers of cross-stacking stabilize the stacked structure. Due to the tendency of conventional PET bottles for drinks to bend under off-axis loads, the attempts to stack boxes of these bottles give rise to serious problems. The bottles can be tilted away from the vertical alignment when stacked, if the conventional compartment boxes have low side walls used to hold the bottles. The inclined bottles in the low boxes of a pile can tilt and give of themselves, causing the fall of the pile. Although the deformation does not happen, the tendency of the bottles to lean in conventional boxes with low walls causes problems. The inclination proposes an undesirable low limit on the number of floors in the stack, because the inclination of the bottles in a box can cause the next upper box to tilt in the stack. This causes instability if too many floors are included in the stack. Before these problems were solved packing the bottles for drinks in boxes of corrugated cardboard that had high walls, frequently of the stop of the bottles. Two-liter PET bottles filled with soda were often packed in closed corrugated boxes for storage or shipping. But, even though the high sides of these paper cartons reduce the incline incidence and provide additional support when the boxes are stacked, they are very expensive. The cost of cardboard boxes can not usually be distributed in a number of repeated uses because corrugated boxes are usually not corrugated enough to be reused and are therefore usually discarded by the retail vendor. A solution to the problem of the cardboard boxes of great depth are the plastic boxes of great depth; that is, plastic boxes that have side walls of approximately the same height as the bottles. In the deep plastic boxes, the side walls are the surfaces that support the load. However, deep plastic boxes have many disadvantages. They are expensive to manufacture and it is also very expensive to ship and store when they are empty because they require a large amount of space, in addition the deep boxes completely surround the bottles and prevent the display of them. To solve these problems, shallow plastic boxes have been used. A shallow box is one in which the side walls are of less height than the height of the stored bottles, and in which the bottles bear the weight of the additional boxes that are stacked on top. But this has two disadvantages. For example, some shallow boxes require an additional structure to hold the bottles and ensure the total stability of the bottles, even though the depth of the box is more than 25% of the height of the bottles. Several reusable plastic baskets are known in the art. A reusable bottle basket is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,055,542 to Russo. The basket of bottles can be made of plastic and is assembled in two pieces: a handle and a basket body that has six cavities for soft drink bottles. To stack the bottle baskets when they are empty, the handles must be removed, this is very inconvenient and takes a long time. The basket for bottles of the "542 is also very limited in regard to the stacking of loaded baskets.It can not be stacked in a conventional cross-stacking structure, because, as illustrated here, the space between the bottles in the baskets is different in the parallel and perpendicular directions of the handle of the basket US Patent No. 2,970,715 belonging to Kappel is one of the first embodiments of baskets for transporting shallow bottles made of molded plastic. elevated surface area within an individual compartment The bottom of the box is formed with breaks to receive the bottle caps when stacked boxes are stacked vertically, however, Kappel does not indicate the size of the conveyor box with respect to the bottles that will be transported In United States Patent No. 3,812,996 belonging to Bunnell, s e exposes a reusable plastic box for transporting beer bottles. The box is designed with a series of compartments for bottles that have flat bottom walls. the boxes are designed to be stacked crosswise; the eetán boxes are dimensioned so that the distance from the center to the center between the adjacent bottles inside a box is the same as the distance from the center to the center between the bottles in the adjacent boxes that abut them. Thus, the vertical axes of the bottles in the adjacent layers are collinear. Although a series of loaded transport boxes are designed to be stacked vertically with the weight of the upper boxes supported by the bottles in the lower boxes, the bottom surface of the bottom wall of the box is flat. Therefore, there is no structure to ensure proper alignment or centering of a box within an upper or lower box. U.S. Patent No. 3,247,996 belonging to Garcia exhibits a plastic container for milk bottles. The container is lower than the bottles that extend above the upper surface of the container walls. In Garcia's patent, the bottles, rather than the walls of the container, are those that support the load. Indented circular portions may be formed in the bottom wall to receive the bottle caps when the containers are stacked vertically. Like many baskets for bottles of prior art, Garcia's container has sides of reduced height to those of a standard box of great depth; In addition, it can be used with a variety of bottles. However, the box is not a shallow box and is more expensive than shallow boxes. Nor does it have the capabilities of displaying shallow boxes. A more recent attempt to solve the problem of providing reusable PET boxes for cross-stackable shallow bottles is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,344,530 owned by deLarosiere. The patent "530 has many The problem is that of Garcia and it exposes a box for PET plastic bottles that can be stacked crosswise and has very little depth as shown in the figures. This shallowness is stated as being approximately one sixth of the height of the PET bottles, or approximately 2 inches. However, in practice, this depth is insufficient because the high degree of lateral instability does not prevent the bottles from tilting. It is also required that the cavities that receive the bottles have an elevated ring in the seat of the bottle, which fits inside the inner notch formed in the base of many bottles, to ensure the stability of the bottles. This does not allow PET bottles to rotate inside the cavities for the bottles for display purposes. Also, it does not allow one-piece bottles (ie, petaloid bottles that do not have a notch in the base) to be properly retained. United States patents jointly assigned numbers 4,899,874 and 4,978,002, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, disclose a shallow bottle box for two liter bottles, which can be stacked crosswise when empty if the stacked boxes above cross way are properly placed. Also, in E'460 the modality presented the substantially flat top surface of the cavities that house the bottles allows to retain petaloid bottles in one piece and bottles with notches in the base. The low height of the side walls of the box and the columns above the walls of the box also allow the display of the labels of the bottles for the consumer. However, due to the shallowness and the substantially flat upper surface in the cavity housing the bottles, a smooth adjustment between the cavity of the bottle and the bottle is usually required, and therefore, there is a limit in the range of diameters of the bottles that can be held in a stable stack. The trend in the bottling industry today is to make two-liter bottles as cheaply as possible. This means reducing the amount of plastic in the bottle, but still maintaining sufficient strength in the bottles to support fully loaded boxes stacked on top of them. To accomplish this task, the most recent two-liter bottles are made to have smaller diameters and are slightly higher than their predecessors. The result is a light two-liter bottle that has a slender overall profile than two-liter bottles previous However, light bottles, due to their slender profile and higher height, do not E O behave ideally within the cavities of the shallow boxes for two liter bottles discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other problems of the prior art are solved by the shallow stackable box of the present invention. The shallow stackable box for holding and transporting bottles has opposite side walls and opposite end walls forming an outer shell having the bottom of a box disposed substantially within the outer shell. The side walls include a low wall portion and a series of spaced poles projecting upward, four posts at the corners defining the four corners of the box. A series of spaced columns projecting upward generally arranged within the outer frame defining, in combination with the bottom of the box with the side walls and with the end walls, a series of cavities for housing the bottles. The columns and posts extend above the low wall portions and below the lid surface of the retained bottles. The end walls include, each one, a E'4b0 molded handle structure integrally suspended between an upper portion of the posts of the adjacent corners to thereby define an open wall end below the structure of the handle. The integrally molded handle area allows easy handling of the box and relieves undue tiredness of the user's hands and wrists as well as the risk of wrist injuries such as bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. The handle area allows you to lift the box without the person's palm looking up, for example when the box is on the floor and also move it with the person's palm looking down when the box is stacked above the height of a person's head. As a result of the placement of the handle area, the distance between cavities and between the cavities of the ends of the adjacent boxes is no longer equal to the distance between cavities within the boxes. Therefore, to achieve a stable condition when loaded, a rest and guiding structure at the bottom of the box includes a molding formation having a longitudinal center line that is separate from the centerline of the cavities that house the frames. bottles Several additional advantages and features of the novelty characterizing the invention are set forth in greater detail in the claims below.

E'460 But, to better understand the invention and its advantages, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and to the descriptive matter that illustrates and describes the preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a top perspective view of a shallow stackable box according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof; Figure 3 is a bottom-up perspective view thereof; Figure 4 is a bottom top plan view thereof; Figure 5 is a side elevational view thereof; Figure 6 is an elevation front view thereof, - Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 of Figure 4; Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of Figure 4; Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 of Figure 4; E'4b0 Figure 10 is a schematic illustration of the cross-securing capability of the empty box in one configuration; Figure 11 is a schematic illustration of the cross-assurance capability of the empty box in another configuration; Figure 12 is a schematic illustration of the cross-assurance capability of the empty box in yet another configuration; Figure 13 illustrates the box when it is being moved with the palm of the user's hand looking down; Figure 14 illustrates the box when it is being moved with the palm of the user's hand facing upwards; and Figure 15 is a perspective view of the box stacked as a column on identical lower boxes when empty, with the handle of the lower boxes separated to reveal the accommodation relationship of the boxes. Figure 16 is a top-down plan view of the shallow stackable box according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 17 A-B is a schematic illustration E'4b0 of the location of the bottle caps when they are stacked in the boxes of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES As shown in Figures 1-9, the shallow stackable bottle box 10 has two basic elements: a floor structure 20 and a wall structure 11. The wall structure 11 includes four side walls 12, 14, 16, 18. the side walls 12, 16 are relatively long and extend the entire length of the box 10, while the side walls or end walls 14, 18 are relatively short and extend to the width of the box 10. The box 10 is rectangular and, therefore, symmetrical around both central lines that cut in half the surface of the floor. The depth or height of the side walls 12, 14, 16, 16 is relatively low compared to the height of the bottles housed therein. The proportion of the length of the long walls 12, 16 with respect to the length of the short end walls 14, 18 is substantially equal to the proportion of the number of bottles that the box contains in the longitudinal direction with the number of bottles that The box contains the width. For example, a box of 8 bottles is approximately twice as long as what E'460 is wide and loads bottles in a ratio of 4x2. This relationship of width with length will be discussed later. As best illustrated in Figure 2, the box 10 also includes a structure on the floor or portion of the bottom 20 adhered to the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18 to form the exterior frame of the box 10. Preferably, the Box 10 is made of plastic and is molded integrally in a single component. The bottom portion 20 has an upper surface 22 and a lower surface 24. The upper surface 22 is substantially planar to accommodate a series of bottles, including one-piece petaloid bottles and two-piece cup base bottles. The lower surface 24 is formed of a series of closure acceptance areas 25 defined by generally concave portions of concentric circles 26, each having a central retention opening 28 disposed therein. The number of closure acceptance areas corresponds to the number of bottles for which the box is designed to house. The function of the concave portions of concentric circles 26 and of the central retaining openings 28 will be described in detail below. In addition, the periphery of the bottom portion ends with a conical edge 35 for ease of handling allowing the F '0 trolleys easily slide under the box. The side walls 12, 16 each include a lower wall portion 56 and a series of posts 58. It will be understood in the present invention that "post" denotes a hollow column extending upwardly. In addition to the posts of the side wall 58, a corner post 58a is disposed at each corner of the box 10. The posts 58, 58a are integrally formed with a low wall portion 56 and a floor structure 20. The posts 58 , 58a are preferably hollow and generally extend upwardly from and beyond the upper edge of the inner lower wall portion 62. The posts 58, 58a are also integrated with the outer low wall portion 60. The low wall portion The interior 60 and the exterior low wall portion 62 are combined to provide a double-walled construction to the box 10, so that they are respectively contiguous with the inner and outer surfaces of the side posts and the corners. This construction ensures that the box 10 has sufficient strength and rigidity for a variety of driving situations. A series of vertical walls 29 and columns 30 are disposed within the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18. To make the present invention clearer, "columns" designates a column or hollow post that is E'4b0 extends upwards into the interior area of the box and "post" refers to the same around the periphery of the box. In a preferred embodiment, the vertical walls 29 extend toward the upper surface of the bottom portion 20. The lateraled edges of the vertical walls 29 abut the posts 58 and the columns 30 and help secure the interior surfaces of the posts 58. and from the columns 30 to the bottom portion 20. The vertical walls 29, the columns 30 and the posts 58, 58a when combined with the upper surface 22 of the bottom portion 20 and the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18, define a series of retention cavities 32. The columns 30 and the poetese 58, 58a extend above the bottom portion 20 at a distance approximately equal to 40 percent of the height of the bottles to be contained. in the box 10. For example, when the boxes are molded to contain the slender two-liter light bottles, the columns 30 and the posts 58, 58a define a box that is approximately 5.25 inches high. The columns 30 and the poets 58, 58a extend upward approximately three inches above the low wall portions 56 of the side walls 12, 16. This increases the effective height of the box while maintaining high visibility of the bottle and a low manufacturing cost. Also, as E'460 the columns and the highest posts increase the lateral stability of the bottle inside the retention cavity 32, a great variation in the diameters of the bottles is obtained because no longer a soft adjustment is necessary, as in the cases of prior art. The posts 58 are disposed along the walls 12, 16 and the columns 30 are disposed away from the walls, in the center within the bottom portion 20. The posts 58a arranged at the corners between the two adjacent walls have a curved surface 34. The posts 58 disposed on the side walls 12, 16 have two curved surfaces 34 and a flat surface 36 dispose between eetos. The two curved surfaces 34 help to define two retaining cavities of separate and adjacent bottles 32. The flat surface 36 is disposed between these two retaining cavities. The columns 30 that are disposed centrally within the portion of the bottle 20 are octagonal in shape, these columns 30 have alternating curved surfaces 34 and four alternating flat surfaces 36. The four curved surfaces 34 define portions of four retention cavities of bottles 32 and the four flat surfaces 34 define portions that separate these cavities. Four curved surfaces 34 in four separate columns 30 or post 58 form the four corners of the interior of the cavity E bO bottle retainer 32. The exterior of the bottle retaining cavities is formed by the corner posts 58a, the side posts 58, and the columns 30 is defined only by three corners as there are no side posts on the end walls 14, 18; the reasons are discussed later. As shown in Figure 1, the column 39 and the poles 58 dislodges along a center line 40 along the length of the box 10 (along the transverse axis of the box 10) include the breaks 42, 44, respectively , which extend down to a height that is substantially equal to the height of the vertical walls 29. The columns 30 are arranged along a central line 46 of the width of the box (along the longitudinal axis of the box 10) They also include breaks 48 which extend down to a height substantially equal to the height of the vertical walls 29. In addition, the columns 30 and 55 are disposed along an axis parallel to the center line 40, along the transverse axis of the box include breaks 52, 54 respectively. As discussed below, these breaks are to receive moldings of an identical top box and provide flexibility in the stacking of identical boxes. The upper surface 22 of the bottom portion E4b0 20 within the retaining cavities 32 is substantially flat, this allows the retention of the bottles regardless of the configuration of the bottom of the bottles. Also, this allows the petaloid bottles to be rotated inside the retainer cavities to facilitate the display of the product. The shallow characteristic of the box 10 as well as the windows or depressions 38 cut in the side walls 12, 16 further enhance the display of the product labels in a retail store. In cases of prior art, the distances between the centers between the adjacent bottle retainer cavidadee is generally the same. Therefore, the symmetrical and conical shape of the circular portions align the bottle caps with the central retainer ings, regardless of whether the boxes were stacked in columns or stacked crosswise. However, in the present invention the location of the portions of the handle 63 interferes with the equality of the distances between the centers of the adjacent retaining cavidadee in the adjacent boxes with the side walls contacting. With reference to Figure 17A, lower cases 10 and an identical top box are stacked crosswise 10. The position of the bottles 9 and bottle caps E'4b0 9a is shown with large and small circles, respectively. As illustrated, the caps of the bottles 9a of the cross-stacked box do not align with the caps of the bottles of the box below. Figure 17B illustrates the four possible positions of the bottle caps 9a in a cross-stacked top box. Therefore, taking into consideration the non-equidistant extreme cavities, the present invention utilizes a closure acceptance area to accommodate all possible positions of the bottle caps when a series of identical boxes are stacked or cross-stacked. As outlined in Figure 17B, the acceptance closure 25 is remote from the longitudinal center line of the bottles and may be circular, rectangular or preferably clover-shaped. The areas of acceptance of closure of the lower surface 24, which are clearly shown in Figure 3 for the first embodiment of the present invention allows to stack vertically boxes filled with bottles for transport, storage and display purposes. The circular concave portions 26 are formed away from the centerline of the bottles retained by moldings or projections defining the circular concave shape. These moldings also form a central retention aperture 28. Referring E'4 0 also to Figure 4, the central retaining opening 28 is of the size to receive the bottle cap of a bottle that is disposed in a lower case 10. The bottle cap engages in the central opening of the bottle. adjacent retention 28 so that the central retaining aperture 28 retains the cap of the bottle in position against the lower surface 24. The concave concave circular portion 26 helps the cap of the bottle to abut in the central retention aperture 28 When an upper box 10 is placed in the lower loaded box 10, the bottle caps will often not precisely align with the central retention openings 28. However, the bottle tops will contact the remote circular concave portion 26. and, by their concave shape, they will be guided into the interior of the central retention openings 28. Thus, even though the distances between centers between the adjacent bottle retaining cavities If they are not substantially equal between the adjacent boxes, the use of concentric circles remote in concave portion 26 allows the boxes to be stacked in a column or stacked crosswise in a stable load tray. Both the circular closure acceptance area illustrated in Figure 4 and the square closure acceptance area shown schematically in the E'4ß0 Figure 17B substantially restrict end-to-end movement of bottles in boxes stacked in the direction of arrow "A". Movement towards the sides in the direction of arrow "B" is not restricted to the same degree due to the large distance between the bottle cap and the first contact point of the closure acceptance area. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figure 16, a clover-shaped closure acceptance area 25 'is used to ensure that there is contact around the entire perimeter of the closure acceptance area. The closure acceptance area 25 'substantially restrains the end-to-end movement as well as the sideways movement of the bottles in the stacked boxes. The bottom portion 20 also includes a series of moldings 70 corresponding in position to the recesses 42, 44, 48, 52, 54 within the columns 30 and the posts 58 and extending upwardly from the bottom surface 24 of the bottom. of the breaks. As shown in Figure 15, the correspondence between the moldings and the breaks of the columns and posts allows the box 10 to be housed one above the other in a column. This is also achieved by having posts 58, 58a and columns 30 that are angled towards the inside of the box. This means that E'4b0 the posts 58, 58a and the columns 30 are tapered so that the cross-sections in the covers are smaller than their cross sections near the bottom wall portion. The posts 58, 58a also slide slightly inward from the height of the lower portions of the wall 56 to increase the coupling of the empty boxes. The addition of molding 56 to the bottom portion 20 reduces the size of the openings between the adjacent circular concave portions 26. That is, the openings formed between the adjacent molding are smaller in size than the closures of the bottles to be retained. , which for bottles of two liters is generally less than 28-30 mm. The closures on most PET bottles on the market have an outer diameter of approximately 28mm or 38mm. Therefore, when an upper box 10 is placed on a loaded lower box 10, the bottle caps are less likely to be trapped within these smaller openings when a lower box is being de-soldered through the bottle caps. in the box below. The end walls 14, 18 are formed by the portions of the handle 64 to facilitate loading the box 10. Preferably for 2 liter boxes, the top surfaces of the handle portions 64 are E 0 at the same height of the posts of the corners 58a, which are of the same height as the posts 58 and the columns 30. The handles 64 extend integrally from the corner posts 58a, and comprise substantially horizontal handle bars 66 integrals with handle holders 68 that extend angularly inward from the corner posts. The handle supports 68 of each handle 64 deviate from the handle bar 66, so that the handle has a generally trapezoidal configuration, and the handle bar defining the short side of a trapezoid and the supports define the diverging legs. As shown in Figure 14, the portions of the handle 64 can be used to lift the box 10 in the usual manner, grasping the upper end with the palm of the hand facing downward and the fingers pulling upward and toward the inside of the body. box. However, this way of lifting the box hurts the wrists when the delivery staff is lifting a box over the head. Therefore, the present invention also makes it possible to grip portions of the handle 64 with the palm facing downward and the fingers curling downwardly around the handle bar 66 as shown in Figure 13. No vertical poles or walls are present in the legs. extreme walls 14, 18 in the area immediately inside the b0 handle bar 66 to ensure that there is adequate space to insert fingers and thread them around this handle. As shown more clearly in Figures 1 and 3, the end wall member extending upward 72 terminates below the height of the vertical walls 29 so as not to interfere with the performance of the handle but to still restrict movement. of the bottles loaded. In another embodiment of the invention, the handle portions 64 may also have recesses for the fingers along the upper and / or lower edge to further assist in the loading of the box 10. In addition, the handle portions 64 or a Alternate configuration of the handle can be provided on the side walls 12 and 16 in addition to the side walls 14 and 18 so that the grip structure is disposed on each of the sides of the box. Referring to Figures 10-12, another feature of the present invention is illustrated schematically. When columns of empty boxes are loaded in a loading tray, the stacked columns tend to separate. To avoid this, the boxes of the present invention can be inverted on top of the loading of boxes in the tray to cross-secure the columns. Figures 10 through 12 are illustrative of various arrangements that can be used. However, these are simple examples and other arrangements can be used depending E'460 of the size of the load to be lifted in the tray. Numerous features, advantages and embodiments of the invention can be described in detail in the foregoing description with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this disclosure is illustrative only and the invention is not limited to the modalities illustrated with precision. A person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

P4b0

Claims (16)

1. CLAIMS: 1. A shallow stackable box for retaining and transporting bottles, comprising side walls opposite and opposite end walls forming an end frame having a longitudinal axis and a traneversal axis; a box bottom substantially within this outer frame, wherein the improvements comprise: side walls that include a low wall portion and a series of raised posts projecting upward, four corner posts defining the four corners of this box; a series of spaced columns projecting upward, generally arranged within this outer shell, which define, in combination with this bottom of the box, the side walls and end walls, a series of cavidadee retenedorae bottles, where the columns and the posts extend above the low wall portions and below the upper surface of the retained bottles and, the end walls comprising each, a structure of an integrally molded handle having inner and outer surfaces suspended between an upper portion of the adjacent corner posts, a generally open area that is defined below eetae E b0 interior and exterior surfaces of this handle structure and between this interior surface of the handle structure and a first of these columns, so that the structure of the handle can grip freely and substantially around the entire periphery thereof.
2. 2. A stackable box according to claim 1, wherein the structure of the handle and the corner posts are at the same height.
3. A stackable box according to claim 1, wherein the poles and columns define a box height and the area below the handle structure extends a distance greater than half the box height.
4. A stackable box according to claim 1, wherein the handle structure further includes handle support portions and a handle bar extending therebetween, these handle support portions extend inwardly from the corner posts to support the handle bar on a top surface of the posts and tapering outward from the handle bar to the bottom of the box.
5. 5. A shallow stackable box for retaining and transporting bottles, comprising: a series of outer side walls that form an outer shell having shallow depth, wherein the outer shell will be rectangular and have a length greater than the width and has the length-to-width ratio of this outer shell and that is substantially equal to the proportion of the number of bottles the box can contain in a longitudinal direction with the number of bottles the box can hold in a widthwise direction, at least two of the outer side walls include a low side wall portion and a series of spaced side members extending above an upper surface of the low side wall portion, at least two of the outer side walls include a mango structure; a portion of the bottom adhered to the side walls; a series of spaced central members, generally disposed within these side walls, which define, together with the bottom portion and the outer side walls, a series of retention cavities of bottles with at least one central member per cavity, at least some of the central members have a portion of the same that extends above an upper surface of these low sidewall portions and below the surface of the top of the lower walls. E'4b0 bottles retained; and this bottom portion includes: an upper surface that is substantially planar through the retention cavities of the bottles; and means of rest and guidance to rest the portion of the bottom in the closure of the bottles in which the box is stacked and to guide the coaxial closures with a central line of the retention cavities of the bottle, present means of casting and guiding which include a molding formation having a central line remote from the retaining cavities of the bottles to guide the closing of the bottles to the center of the bottle retaining cavities where this box is empty, the spaced members of the box are secured to each other with an upper box when these boxes are stacked, and when an underlying box is loaded, the closures of the bottles arranged in the underlying box meet with the means of rest and guidance of the portion of the box. background when you are stacked eetán from bottom to top.
6. 6. A stackable box according to claim 5, wherein the molding formation comprises a series of arched circular moldings.
7. 7. A stackable box according to claim 5. wherein the molding formation comprises a series of concentric circular molding.
8. 8. A stackable box according to claim 5, wherein said molding formation comprises a trefoil shape.
9. 9. A stackable box according to claim 8. wherein a trefoil shape corresponds to the shape of four overlapping bottle tops.
10. A stackable box according to claim 5, wherein at least two of these side walls include a handle structure, which makes it possible to grip an upper edge thereof and to pull the box with the user's palm facing upwards.
11. 11. A stackable box according to claim 1, wherein the end walls and the bottom of the box are not structurally connected.
12. 12. A shallow stackable box for retaining and transporting bottles comprising: a series of outer side walls forming an outer shell having shallow depth, this outer shell is rectangular in shape and has a length greater than the width and has a ratio between length and width of this frame which is substantially equal to the proportion of number of bottles that this box contains in a longitudinal direction to the number of E 4 b 0 bottles that the box contains in a widthwise direction, at least two of these outer side walls include a low side wall portion and a series of spaced side members that extend above the top surface of the body. side wall portion down; a bottom portion adhered to the side walls; a series of spaced central members generally disposed within the side walls defining, together with the bottom portion and the outer side walls, a series of retention cavities of bottles with at least one central member per cavity, at least some of the central members have a portion thereof extending above the surface of the lid of these low sidewall portions and below the surface of the retained bottle tops; and this bottom portion includes: a top surface that is euberantially flat through the retention cavities of the bottles; and means of rest and guidance to rest the portion of the bottom in the closure of the bottles in which the box is stacked and to guide the coaxial closures with P 0 a central line of the retention cavities of the bottle, these rest and guide means include a molding formation having a central line remote from the retention cavities of the bottles; when the box is empty, the spaced members of the box are secured to each other with an upper box when the boxes are stacked, and when an underlying box is loaded, the closures of the bottles arranged in the underlying box encounter the means of rest and guiding the bottom portion when these boxes are stacked from bottom to top, - wherein this molding formation comprises a trefoil shape.
13. 13. A stackable box according to claim 12, wherein a trefoil shape corresponds to the shape of four overlapping bottle tops.
14. 14. A shallow stackable box for retaining and transporting bottles comprising opposite side walls and opposite end walls forming an outer shell having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis; a box fund disposed substantially disposed within this outer frame; wherein the improvements comprise: the bottom of the box including opposite sides and first and second opposite ends; P460 wherein these opposite sides of the bottom of the box connect to the bottom of the box with the side walls; and wherein the first and second opposite ends of the bottom of the box are spaced a predetermined distance from the end walls so that there is no structural connection between them.
15. 15. A stackable box according to claim 14 wherein the end walls each comprise a molded handle structure suspended between an upper portion of the members of the adjacent corners.
16. 16. In a shallow stackable box for holding and transporting bottles comprising opposite side walls and opposite end walls forming an outer shell having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis; a box fund disposed substantially within the outer frame; where the improvements include: this outer frame includes four corner members that define four corners of the box; this box fund includes a series of areas that support the bottles; the end walls each comprise a molded handle structure having interior and exterior surfaces suspended between a portion P460 upper of the adjacent corner members, a generally open area that is defined below the interior and exterior surfaces of this handle structure and between the interior surface of the handle structure and at least one of the areas that support the bottles so that the handle structure can freely grip around the entire periphery thereof. P460