US3822012A - Multiple container package arrangements - Google Patents

Abstract

A unit handled group of container packages and a carrier support handle therefor; each package including plural individual containers, such as beaded cans arranged in six packs, interconnected by an apertured carrier sheet of plastic material with the carrier sheet material around each aperture resiliently stretched and deformed to engage individual containers below the bead or other rim formation at the upper ends thereof; the packages in the group being disposed in vertical array one above the other; and the web portions of the carrier sheet of each package being provided with openings between adjacent containers to receive therethrough the ends of a support handle having lateral tabs below each carrier sheet and spaced to engage the same for individually supporting each package of containers when the handle is grasped to transport the vertical array of container packages in the group.

Description

United States Patent 1191,

Weaver 11] 3,822,012 1 July 2,1974

[75] Inventor: William N. Weaver, Glen Ellyn, 111. [73] a Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc., Chicago,

[22] Filed: July 14, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 271,883

[52] US. Cl 206/151, 206/163, 206/199, 224/45 C, 224/45 P, 294/872 [51] Int. CL... 865d 71/00, B65d 25/28, B66f 19/00 [58] Field of Search 224/45 C, 45 P; 206/65 C; 220/94 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,774,510 12/1956 Logan 224/45 C X 2,874,835 12/1959 Poupitch 206/65 C 2,997,169 SLlgQL P QILitEh 206/65 c 3,016,136 1/1962 Poupitch 220/94 UX 3,224,575 12/1965 Whiteford 206/65 C 3,250,564 5/1966 Stern et a1 220/97 B X 3,607,308 9/197] Dubble ..229/43 Primary Examiner-Leonard Summer 5 7] ABSTRACT A unit handled group of container packages and a carrier support handle therefor; each package including plural individual containers, such as beaded cans arranged in six packs, interconnected by an apertured carrier sheet of plastic material with the carrier sheet material around each aperture resiliently stretched and deformed to engage individual containers below 1 having lateral tabs below each carrier sheet and spaced to engage the same for individually supporting each package of containers when the handle is grasped to transport the vertical array of container packages in the group.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 1 I I MULTIPLE CONTAINER PACKAGE ARRANGEMENTS,

SUMMARY like with the materialaround each aperture stretched and deformedto engage the cans below the top beads thereof for assembly and with central finger holes in the carrier web to transport the package by hand grip or by means of a handle inserted in the finger holes. One type of such a handle is shown in the Poupitch U.S. Pat. No.

The present invention is concerned with the arrangement of container packages in groups with the individual packages disposed in vertical array one above the other in the group, and a principal object of the invention is to provide means for maintaining the packages in the group assembly and for transport of the plural packages as a single group of packages.

Another object of the invention is to provide for each group of packages an elongate handle member projecting through the carrier web of each package in the group and having lateral tabs engageable with the under surface of each carrier web for transport of the group of packages.

A further object of the invention is to provide an elongate handle member of the above type wherein the lateral tabs are spaced along the length thereof in cor relation with individual container heights in each package such that each package is independently supported by tabs during transport of the group of packages.

The above and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will be hereinafter more fully pointed out in the detail description in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pair of six container packages in a unit handled group assembly;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the elongate handle strap;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section along the line 33 of FIG. 1 shwoing the upper and lower packages slightly separated from one another during handle support of the group thereof for transport, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view showing one of the carrier sheet openings and tabs positioned therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference to FIG. I, there is shown an upper package of six containers, such as cans with end beads 12, and a lower package of six similar cans 14 with end beads 16. The packages are arranged in vertical array one above the other as a single group of two or more packages arranged for transport by a handle member 18 as will appear below. The integrity of each individual package is maintained by a carrier sheet of resilient deformable plastic material, such as polyethylene or a comparable material which is apertured in ac- "cordance with the number and arrangement of the containers in each package. Thus, the upper carrier sheet 20 will havesix apertures with web portionstherebetweenand through which apertures the upper ends of the cans 10 will be forced. This results in the carrier material being stretched and deformed into generally vertically disposedstrap-like ring portions 22 gripping the body portions of the cans 10 immediately below the top beads 12 for support and maintenance of the cans in the six pack assembly. In like manner, the lower carrier sheet 24 has similar gripping ring formations 26 for the containers 12 in that lower package. The upper carrier sheet 20 is provided with a pair of openings 28, one disposed through the web portion of the sheet between a cluster of four containers and the other disposed through the comparable web portion of another cluster of .four containers with the center pair of containers being common to both clusters. The lower carrier sheet 24 is provided with similarly located openings 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, the handle member 18 is in the form of an elongated flat strip of polyethylene, preferably of high density type, or similar material with available s'trength and flexibility characteristics for the intended use thereof. The central portion 32 of the handle strap serves as a hand grip portion and may be provided with longitudinal fold lines to conform the same to hand gripping for comfort in lifting and transporting the group of packages. At opposite extremities of the handle strap 18, there are provided pairs of laterally extending tabs or lugs 34 and 36 which present, respectively, abutment or support ledges or shoulders 34a and 36a projecting at generally right angles from the edges of .the handle strap and facing the center thereof. These tabs have tapered side edges 34b and 36b rendering the same tapered as a trapezoid to facilitate passage through the openings 28, 30, in the upper and lower carrier sheets 20, 24, respectively, to a position with the ledges 34a underlying the lower carrier sheet 24 as shown in FIG. 3. Intermediate the ends of the handle strap and substantially at the extremities of the central portion 32, there are provided additional pairs of laterally extending tabs or lugs 38 and 40 which present similar abutment or support ledges 38a and 40a, respectively, facing the center of the strap and which are passed through the openings 28 in the upper carrier sheet 20 to a position underlying the same as shown in FIG. 3.

In this position of the handle strap 18 in association with the upper and lower container packages, the central portion 32 is curved upwardly for hand gripping to lift the group of packages as a unit for transport thereof with the pendant strap or leg portions 35, 35a extending between adjacent pairs of containers 10 in the upper package. In this connection it is to be noted that the distances between the ledges 34a and 38a, on the one hand, and the distances between the ledges 36a and 40a, on the other hand, are slightly longer than the lengths or heights of the containers 10 in the upper package; So arranged, initial lifting of the handle portion 32 of the strap will bring the ledges 38a and 40a into engagement with the under surface of the web portions to opposite sides of the openings 28 in the upper carrier sheet 20 prior to engagement of the ledges 34a and 36a with the under surface of the carrier sheet 24 to opposite sides of the openings 30 therein. Continued lifting of the handle strap will first elevate the upper package of the containers 10 and thereafter elevate the lower package of the containers 14, leaving a space 50 (see FIG. 3) between the bottoms of the upper containers l and the, tops of the lower containersl4 during transport of the group of packages. Thus, the ledges 34a and 36a support the lower package of containers 14 and the ledges 38a and 40a support the upper package of containers 10, with the separate weights of the packages transmitted through the strap portions 35, 35a to the handle portion 32. When the group of packages'is at rest on a support surface, the containers of the upper package will rest on the containers 14 of the lower package. If a group is stacked on another group, the handle portion 32 will be depressed to be flush with the top of an underlying group and the strap portions 35, 35a and tabs will assume the dotted line positions of FIG. 3. The inherent resiliency of the handle strap, when bent to the carrying position in association with a group of packages, will tend to spread the strap portions 35, 35a and thus urge the tabs outwardly to underlie the carrier sheet web portions at the outer edges of the openings 28, 30 which may be shaped to provide increased carrier sheet material with which the tab ledges engage for support of the packages in the group.

The tabs 38 and 40 may also be provided with tapered edges 38b and 40b, respectively, facing the extremities of the handle strap 18 to facilitate passage of the tabs through the openings 28 in the upper carrier sheet 20. In this connection, the openings 28 and 30 in the web portions of the carrier sheet may be variously shaped to facilitate passage of the tabs therethrough as for example by being in the form of slits extending longitudinally of the associated carrier sheet in which case the strap portions 35, 35a will be appropriately twisted to pass the tabs therethrough and the inherent resiliency of the handle strap material will restore the tabs to positions transversely of the slits to underlie the carrier sheet material on opposite sides thereof. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the openings 28 and 30 may be somewhat arcuate in shape so that as a tab, for example, tabs 34 are automatically forced therethrough, they will bend slightly to follow the arc, as shown in dotted lines, due to the taughtness of the carrier web portions with the web-attached cans and then restore themselves to the underlying support positions and urged toward the outer edges of the openings to underlie maximum available carrier sheet material, as where the openings are arcuate or taper toward the outer edges, for adequate support of the packages during transport.

I claim:

1. Two groups of multiple container packages to be handled as a unit with the packages disposed in vertical array, each of said groups of multiple container packages comprising a plurality of containers and a carrier, said carrier formed from a resilient plastic sheet material and having a plurality of container receiving and gripping apertures positioned in said sheet material in adjoining rows with webs of said sheet material therebetween, said plastic sheet material further having a pair of spaced apart openings through said webs and between said rows, the carriers of the two groups and the openings therein being vertically aligned, each of said plurality of containers positioned within one of said container receiving and gripping apertures of one of said carriers with said carrier immediately below the upper ends of said containers, and a support handle having a central hand grip portion and leg portions projecting downwardly from each end of saidsupport handie, each of said leg portions extending downwardly through one of said spaced apart openings of each of said carriers, and each of said leg portions provided with integral horizontally projecting ledge means, each of said ledge means positioned below one of said openings and having sufficient length to engage the underside of said webs about said openings for engagement with said webs upon lifting of the hand grip portion to transport said two groups of packages in said vertical array.

2. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between said ledge means on each of said leg portions is greater than the vertical extent of the containers in said packages whereby upon lifting of the hand grip portion superposed and lowermost packages will be separately and independently supported on associated ledge means.

3. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 2, wherein the support handle is formed of a plastic material having inherent resiliency with the hand grip portion bowed to urge the downwardly projecting leg portions in opposite directions in a vertical plane between said rows.

4. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ledge means are provided at the upper edges of laterally extending pairs of tabs at least certain of which have tapered leading edges to facilitate passage thereof through the openmgs.

5. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 4, wherein the support handle is formed from a flat plastic sheet material with the hand grip portion bowed upwardly and tending to urge the leg portions in opposite directions in a vertical plane between said rows.

Claims (5)

1. Two groups of multiple container packages to be handled as a unit with the packages disposed in vertical array, each of said groups of multiple container packages comprising a plurality of containers and a carrier, said carrier formed from a resilient plastic sheet material and having a plurality of container receiving and gripping apertures positioned in said sheet material in adjoining rows with webs of said sheet material therebetween, said plastic sheet material further having a pair of spaced apart openings through said webs and between said rows, the carriers of the two groups and the openings therein being vertically aligned, each of said plurality of containers positioned within one of said container receiving and gripping apertures of one of said carriers with said carrier immediately below the upper ends of said containers, and a support handle having a central hand grip portion and leg portions projecting downwardly from each end of said support handle, each of said leg portions extending downwardly through one of said spaced apart openings of each of said carriers, and each of said leg portions provided with integral horizontally projecting ledge means, each of said ledge means positioned below one of said openings and having sufficient length to engage the underside of said webs about said openings for engagement with said webs upon lifting of the hand grip portion to transport said two groups of packages in said vertical array.

2. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between said ledge means on each of said leg portions is greater than the vertical extent of the containers in said packages whereby upon lifting of the hand grip portion superposed and lowermost packages will be separately and independently supported on associated ledge means.

3. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 2, wherein the support handle is formed of a plastic material having inherent resiliency with the hand grip portion bowed to urge the downwardly projecting leg portions in opposite directions in a vertical plane between said rows.

4. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ledge means are provided at the upper edges of laterally extending pairs of tabs at least certain of which have tapered leading edges to facilitate passage thereof through the openings.

5. Two groups of multiple container packages as claimed in claim 4, wherein the support handle is formed from a flat plastic sheet material with the hand grip portion bowed upwardly and tending to urge the leg portions in opposite directions in a vertical plane between said rows.

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