US2625286A - Bottle with light shield - Google Patents

Description

M. R. FIELDS BOTTLE WITH LIGHT SHIELD Jan. 13, 1953 Filed Feb. 1, 19 50 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Jan. 13, 1 953 BOTTLE iii/1TH LIGHT SHIELD lVIack R.'Fields, Libertyville, -Ill.; assignor to Ab- -bott Laboratories, North Chicago, 111., aicorpm ration of Illinois Application February 1, 1950, Serial No'. 141,706

( c1. ars -12 1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to packaging and includes among its objects and advantages a package including an improved shield of a type particularly useful in packing and shipping light labile solutions for intravenous administration.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the shield, laid flat, prior to assembly with the bottle;

Figure 2 is anedge diagram of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a conventional liter bottle with the shield applied ready for shipment;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the assembly of Figure 3 partly broken away to show the bottle in section and the shield in diagram; and

Figure 5 is a reduced scale diagram indicating the edge contour assumed by'th'e shield when it is opened up preparatory to assembling it with a bottle.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, the shield, indicated as a whole by reference character I0, is a paper tube creased along 28 longitudinal lines as by folding the initially smooth paper along the lines l2 and I4 and then crimping the resultant flat assembly between dies to form the corrugations indicated in Figures 1 and 2. This crimping is not done hard enough to result in a completed folded structure, but the unstressed condition of the blank is with the successive flats at about 90 to each other, as indicated in Figure 2. Corner pieces are also cut out, as indicated at I 6 and [8 in Figure 1, to leave diametrically opposite slots, also indicated in Figure 3. These slots receive the bosses 20 on a supporting band 22. The bosses 20 receive the inturned ends 24 of a semi-circular wire bail 26 by means of which the liter bottle may be suspended upside down when dispensing the contents thereof.

To assemble the shield on the bottle it is expanded from the fiat condition of Figures 1 and 2 approximately to the round configuration diagrammed in Figure 5, as by slipping one hand inside it. It is then pushed down over the top of the liter bottle 28, which bottle includes a barrel portion 30 of maximum diameter and a tapered portion 32 ending in a conventional neck at 34. After the shield is pushed down to the position of Figure 3, the upper portion of it will still occupy a relatively large space indicated by the dotted lines at 36 in Figure 3. The operator now grasps the upper portion and squeezes it in to the configuration shown in full lines in Figure 3. It is immaterial whether he rotates the bottle at the time in an attempt to make all the folds fold under in the same direction. Avery satisfactory package for the purpose is obtained if the folds turn over sideways at random. The collapsed upper end of the shield is then secured, as by a strip 38 of Scotch tape or paper coated with adhesive, which strip is wrapped around the neck portion one full revolution and enough more to adhere to itself and make a complete band.

Upon reference to Figures 4 and 5 it will be noted that in the assembled uni-t there are 15 folds 40 that protrude and are biased inwardly in the sense that they push inwardly on both adjacent flats and only 13 outwardly biased folds 42. This is because the folds l2 and 14, which are diametrically opposite in the final assembly, are both biased inwardly, while the subsequent crimping along 13 lines generates equal numbers of inwardly and outwardly biased folds in alternating sequence. Accordingly, in assembled condition, there isa fiat 44 lying adjacent the inwardly biased fold 14, which flat has an inwardly biased fold along both of its edges. The fiat diametrically opposite fiat 44 is indicated at 4,6 and has orposaeiy biased folds along its edges, but thejadijacent-fiat 48 on the other side of the fold 12 has" inwardly biased folds along both edges. Except for the flats 44 and 98, the remaining fiat's ar'e' in alternating sequence. Therefore, around most of the circle, except near the slots 16 and 18, the inwardly biased folds 40 are folded to the configuration indicated in Figure 1. 'In'th'is condition the resilience of the paper moves each-fold 40 just a little out of'contact with the body of the bottle, with the adjacent fi-ats lying at a toggle angle such that the slight tendency of the folds 40 to fold up again to some such shape as Figure 5 is multiplied by a ratio of 5 or 10 and generates a peripheral tension that causes the shield to grip the barrel 3D with substantial friction. In practice it is not diflicult to proportion the parts so that the axial force necessary to push the shield onto the bottle is such that it can be done by hand with reasonable care by pushing downward on the upper portion of the shield without causing the shield to buckle under the force applied. At the same time the shield is used on bottles which are likely to vary perhaps as much as A; of an inch in outside barrel diameter. It is possible to proportion the parts so that the toggle seams 40 leave enough room for expansion of the shield to take care of such a variation without being pulled so straight that the shield cannot be pushed in place, or folding up so far 3 that the tension does not give sufficient friction to hold the shield firmly.

The shield may be formed from a single piece of paper with a lap joint 54 extending across about 80% of the flat 44 and about 40% of the adjacent flat 50.

One shape of liter bottle with which the shield of my invention is used has a portion at 32 of approximately the same straight taper as the contour indicated for the shield in Figure 3. However, the shield may assume the same contour if the bottle inside is of more conventional shape with a neck extending down and departing inwardly from the contour indicated at 32.

When assembled with a liter bottle having a bail, as indicated in the drawings, I put a tape 52 similar to the tape 38 around the bottom edge of the shield also. The tape 52 has its upper edge at least level with or preferably a trifle above the lower edge of the band 22, and the upper edge of the band 22 extends up to the top of the slots [8 and 18. In this way any light coming from the side is prevented from entering the bottle. An important function of the sleeve is to keep light from impinging on therapeutic solutions which contain ingredients that tend to decompose gradually under exposure to light. It will be noted that the shield itself afiords no such protection for the bottom of the bottle. However, in practice, such a container and shield affords eiiective protection for the contents of the container because the container is placed with its bottom on a shelf or other horizontal support which is opaque.

The top of the bottle inside the neck 30 is also not protected by the shield, but the conventional cup-shaped seal used on such bottles is also opaque. If greater protection is desired at the top, it is a simple matter to make the opaque cap with a black outer surface, so that reflection down between the cap and the adjacent folds of the sleeve is substantially prevented. One advantage of the invention is that it lends itself with especial convenience to printing suitable indicia on a flat piece of paper before it is formed into a tube and creased. In this connection it is noted that when used in bottles with materially less than the current tolerance of plus or minus onesixteenth or an inch, much less than the entire circumference of the sleeve need be creased.

Others may readily adapt the invention for use under various conditions of service by employing one or more novel features disclosed or equivagame lents thereof. As at present advised with respect to the apparent scope of my invention, I desire to claim the following subject matter:

A light-shielded and impact protected bottleshaped container which comprises the combination of a bottle having a conventional body and neck, an opaque cap, a tapered portion joining said neck and body, an opaque band around said body near the bottom thereof, and a bail pivoted at its ends on said band at diametrically opposite points; and a shield adapted to prevent the passage of light into said container and to prevent impact breakage thereof comprising a generally tubular opaque paper body coextensive in length with the bottle and the bottle neck subdivided by fold lines parallel to its axis into an accordion pleated body having a number of normally plane portions between folds, the fold lines between said flats including two more inwardly directed folds than the number of outwardly directed folds, said pleated body being so constructed and arranged as to fit snugly over a bottle and to be expanded into substantially circular form at the periphery thereof, the pleats adjacent one end being adapted for gathering about the neck of a bottle into a portion of smaller circumference than the body of said shield, said shield having upwardly extending, diametrically opposed slots adjacent the other end to accommodate the ends of the bail, said slots being positioned where they can be defined by cutting away the corners of a flat folded shield, said slots having a width less than that of two pleats, said pleats being compressed around said neck, a neck band encircling said neck and pleats, the bottom end of said shield being cut off in a plane normal to the tubular axis and remaining open, the slots in said shield terminating below the upper edge of said opaque band and allowing the bail ends to extend therethrough.

MACK R. FIELDS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

Images