SK144299A3 - Plastic bottle crate having at least one handle - Google Patents

Abstract

Crate made of plastic, in particular a bottle crate, which is provided with at least one handle (9), characterised in that the surface of the part of the handle (9) where the hand is to be placed when picking up the crate is at least partially formed of a layer (7) made of a plastomer. <IMAGE>

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a crate made of plastic, in particular a crate for bottles which is provided with at least one handle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to crates provided with two gripping openings arranged in two rows

opposite walls in the longitudinal and / or transverse direction as well as crates provided with a handle in the middle.

In the first case, the part of the wall located above the gripping opening itself constitutes a handle.

In the latter case, the handle is usually in the form of a crossbar either elongated above the side walls or not elongated above these walls.

In all these known crates, the handle is made of the same plastic as the crate itself.

Plastic, usually polyethylene, is relatively smooth, so the grip of the handle is not so good.

In order to obtain a better grip on the handle, the lower part of the handle is provided with ribs or the like or with rounded finger recesses in some crates, but the grip improvement is nevertheless limited.

The invention is directed to a crate made of plastic with at least one handle which avoids the above and other disadvantages, with the handle allowing better grip and the crate being easier to carry.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the surface of the part of the handle which is intended to grip the hands when lifting the crate is at least partially formed from a layer made of a thermoset.

This thermoset may be an ethylene octene copolymer and more specifically a metallocene ethylene octene copolymer having a density of, for example, 880 to 915 kg / m ³ .

More preferably, the entire surface which is in contact with the hand is provided with such a layer made of thermosetting.

This layer may either overlap the handle or be embedded in the handle so that it does not protrude.

Said layer may be fixed to the gripping part of the handle as a separate part, for example it may be mechanically attached or glued, or it may be pressed on the gripping part of the handle by injection molding.

The layer is not only made of a different material than the entire crate, but can also be of a different color, so that the layer can, for example, be used as a distinguishing feature for the contents of the crate.

Overview of the figures in the drawing

In order to better explain the features of the invention, the following preferred embodiments of the crate according to the invention are described by way of example only, without creating any limitations with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a crate in perspective provided with handles according to the invention;

figure 2 shows a section through the plane Π-Π of figure 1;

figure 3 shows a view analogous to figure 1, but with reference to another embodiment of the crate and the handle according to the invention;

figure 4 shows a section along line IV-IV of figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows a bottle crate which, as usual, consists of a bottom 1, four f

vertical walls, namely two longitudinal 2 and two transverse 3 and from partitions 4 at the bottom 1, which divide the crate into bottle compartments.

The vertical walls 2 and 3 may be as single or double as shown in Figure 1 and may comprise reinforcing ribs or reinforcing columns 5.

A grip opening 6 is formed in each of the two transverse vertical walls 3 near the upper edge.

It is characteristic that the part of the wall 3 which is above this gripping opening 6 has a surface formed of a thermoset layer 7 and thus together with this thermoset layer 7 forms its own handle 9.

By thermoset is meant an alkaline thermoset that may be placed somewhere between a hard plastic such as polyethylene and flexible elastomers.

Their density is in particular between 880 and 915 kg / cm ³ and their melting point is in particular between 70 and 100 ° C.

Thermosets are soft to the touch and are therefore called soft-touch. They are flexible and durable and have a modulus of elasticity preferably between 20 and 150 MPa, are resistant to folding when folded, are easily pigmentable, and have high cold resistance.

They have a narrow molecular weight distribution and a narrow co-monomer distribution.

The thermoset of layer 7 preferably belongs to the same group of plastics as the material from which the crate itself is made.

A suitable plastic for the container is polyethylene, wherein a suitable thermoset is ethylene octene copolymer, more particularly a metallocene ethylene octene copolymer having a density of between 880 and 915 kg / cm ³ , which has obtained its particular properties using metallocene catalyst technology.

Such suitable plastic for layer 7 is plastic sold by the Dutch company DEXPLASTOMERS and DSM / EXXON CHEMICAL joint venture, under the trade name -exact-.

The part 8 of the wall 3, which is located above the gripping opening 6 and which forms the core of the handle itself, is covered with a layer of thermoset 7. This layer 7 completely surrounds the part 8 and is thus contained on the entire surface in contact with the hand when the handle 9 grip.

This part 8 can be made slightly smaller than usually in such crates, namely, so that the layer 7 is embedded in the wall 3 and therefore does not protrude. This portion 8 of relatively rigid or hard plastic is preferably made in one piece, as shown in Figure 2, in order to maintain its toughness.

The color of the layer 7 differs from that of the crate itself, so that it can be used to distinguish the contents of the crate or for purely aesthetic reasons.

The thermoset layer 7 can be molded by an injection molding machine onto the part 8. After the crate has been molded in the injection mold without the layer 7, the thermoset handle layers 7 are formed by a second molding in the injection mold.

According to another variant, these thermoset layers 7 can be separately pressed by an injection molding machine and subsequently fixed to the parts 8, for example by means of an adhesive or mechanically. In the latter case, each thermoset layer 7 may be provided with protrusions that may be clamped or fit into corresponding recesses in section 8.

According to a further embodiment of the crate, the handles 9 may be formed on the longitudinal side walls 2, or the crate may have such handles 9 in the transverse side walls 3 and also in the longitudinal walls 2.

Separately from or instead of handles 9 in the side walls 2 and / or 3, the crate may have a central stiffener handle 10 as in the embodiment shown in Figures 3 and 4.

In this embodiment, the portion of the handle 10 which coincides with the base of the U-profile reinforcement is entirely covered with a thermoset layer 7. The aforementioned portion has not been limited in the present example, such that the thermoset layer 7 is the layer on which the surface and the overlapping layer are applied, although it is of course also possible to embed the thermoset layer 7 in the relatively hard material of the handle 10.

In all these embodiments, the thermoset layer 7 provides a better grip and the crate is easier to carry.

Since the material of the crate itself and the thermoset itself is compatible, preferably polyethylene and polyethylene copolymer respectively, it is not necessary to separate these materials when recycling the crate.

The invention is not limited in any way to the embodiments described above and to the accompanying drawings; on the contrary, such a crate made of plastic can be produced in all kinds and variations while still falling within the scope of the invention as described in the following claims.

In the particular case, the layer 7 need not necessarily cover the entire part of the vertical wall located above the gripping opening 6, in the case of the handle 9, nor the lower part of the reinforcement in the case of the central handle version 10). Sufficiently, this layer 7 is formed at the gripping point when carrying the crate with the handles 9 or 10.

Claims (13)

PATENTOVÉNÁROKY Crate made of plastic, in particular a crate for bottles, which is provided with at least one handle (9, 10), characterized in that the surface of part of the handle (9, 10) at the point of contact with the hand when carrying the crate is at least partially formed of a layer (7) made of a thermoset. Crate according to claim 1, characterized in that the thermoset is an ethylene octene copolymer. Crate according to claim 2, characterized in that the thermoset is a metallocene ethylene octene. Container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoset has a density between 880 and 915 kg / m ³ . Container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the entire surface in contact with the hand is provided with such a layer (7) of thermosetting. Crate according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoset layer (7) is superimposed. Crate according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the thermoset layer (7) is embedded in the handle (9, 10) so that it does not protrude. Crate according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the layer of thermoset (7) is attached to its own handle (9, 10) as a separate part, for example mechanically bonded thereto or adhered thereto. Container according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the thermoset layer (7) is pressed directly onto the handle (9, 10) by injection molding. Crate according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoset layer (7) is of a different color compared to the rest of the crate. Crate according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoset layer (7) is made of the same kind of plastic as the crate itself, but the use of additives makes the plastic softer. Crate according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the handle (9) is formed from a portion located above the gripping opening (6) in the vertical side wall (2 or 3), and in that the thermoset layer ( 7) is placed on the surface of this part. Container according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a central handle (10) and in that the layer of thermoset (7) is located on the upper side of said handle (10).