WO1999037556A1

WO1999037556A1 - Bottle carrier

Info

Publication number: WO1999037556A1
Application number: PCT/PL1999/000002
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zygmunt Piotrowski
Original assignee: Zygmunt Piotrowski
Priority date: 1998-01-23
Filing date: 1999-01-21
Publication date: 1999-07-29
Also published as: AU1894399A

Abstract

A bottle carrier, preferably made of pasteboard or cardboard, comprising two carrying parts (1), central walls (3) of which form the central portion of the carrier, the carrying parts (1) provided with openings (5) connected with a lock (2) to form a grip (4), wherein each of said carrying parts (1) extends into a flap (33) with two partly cut and symmetrically arranged rings (16), said flap (33) with the rings (16) have a frontal strip (34) fastened to the external wall (9) of said carrying part (1) to form the external portion of the carrier, wherein the lateral wing (18) of each of two rings (16) of said flap (33) protrudes beyond the side edge of said carrying part.

Description

Bottle carrier

The subject of the invention is a collapsible, reusable bottle carrier, especially for bottles with contents, preferably made of pasteboard or cardboard.

Known from the disclosure of Polish Patent Application PCT/PL97/00012 by the same applicant is a packing carrier, preferably made of cardboard or pasteboard, formed from two symmetrical carrying parts with central walls superimposed so as to form a central portion of the carrier, wherein both central walls have their openings aligned and connected by a lock to form a grip, and each of the central walls comprises at least one partly cut ring with a cut-out internal opening, each of said rings is provided with lateral wings and frontal wing, the carrier wherein each of the carrying parts comprises, in addition to the central wall, a bottom wall and an external wall which all together form the external portion of the carrier, said portion is attached to the frontal wing of the ring and, by means of the ring, fastens the central portion with the external portion of each of the carrying parts of the carrier. Additionally, during assembling of the carrier, a girding polypropylene strap is inserted into the appropriate, symmetrically arranged, holes provided in the external walls of each of the carrying parts.

A disadvantage of this known solution is that the ring cuts made in the carrying part weaken the load-carrying capacity of that part, whereas the not large enough surface area of the frontal wing of said ring, adversely affects the strength of the bond of the frontal wing glued onto the carrying part.

Another disadvantage of this known solution is the need of using a girding strap, which is threaded through the holes of the external portions of the carrying parts which make up the bottle carrier. The strap made of plastic material, apart from its practical advantages of quick, reliable and inexpensive binding of the bottle carrier, represents undesirable waste, hostile to the natural environment, when the worn-out carrier is disposed of. The purpose of this invention is a construction of a bottle carrier devoid of the aforesaid prior-art disadvantages.

Another purpose of the invention is a construction of a bottle carrier with a minimal use of material by application in the manufacturing process of a suitably thin pasteboard, which is made stiff by gluing the carrying parts together in a proper way, and without need of using a girding strap.

The purpose has been achieved in the construction of the bottle carrier disclosed in this specification, according to which the carrier, preferably made of pasteboard, comprising two carrying parts with central walls, bottom walls and external walls, the central walls superimposed so as to form the central portion of the carrier, both of said central walls having two superimposed openings fastened by a lock to form a grip, each of said carrying parts extends into a flap comprising two, partly cut and symmetrically arranged rings with cut-out internal openings, lateral wings and frontal wings, said frontal wings being fastened to the external walls of carrying parts to form the external portions of the carrier, wherein the lateral wing of each of the two partly cut rings of the flap protrudes beyond the side edge of the carrying part.

Preferably, the centres of two, partly cut, rings of the flap are distant from each other by at least two internal diameters of the rings.

Preferably, the side edges of each of the carrying parts are distant from each other by at least three internal diameters of the partly cut rings of the flap.

Preferably, the internal diameter of the partly cut rings approximately equals the diameter of the bottle placed in the bottle carrier.

Preferably, the two rings of the flap are separated from each other along cut lines, which form two partition wings.

Preferably, the frontal wings of the partly cut rings of the flap are integral with a frontal strip.

Preferably, the frontal strip is fastened to the external wall of the carrying part with an adhesive.

Preferably, the flap is provided with an extra opening to form the grip. Preferably, the flap is provided with two extra tabs integral with the base strip, situated in opposition to the tabs of the rings.

Preferably, the base strip is fastened onto the central wall of the carrying part with an adhesive.

The purpose has been achieved also in an embodiment of the bottle carrier, according to which the carrier, made of pasteboard or cardboard, preferably comprises two carrying parts with central walls, bottom walls and external walls, the central walls are superimposed so as to form a central wall of the carrier, both of said central walls having two superimposed openings fastened by a lock to form a grip, each of said carrying parts added to the flap comprising at least two partly cut and symmetrically arranged rings with cut-out internal openings, lateral wings and frontal wings, said frontal wings being fastened to the external walls of the carrying parts to form the external portions of the carrier, wherein the two flaps are connected to each other along the foldline to form the overlay.

Preferably, two openings of the carrying parts and two openings of the overlay all are fastened with a lock to form a common grip of the bottle carrier.

The location of the partly cut rings in the flaps, which differs in relation to the carrying parts known from the prior art, offers the advantage that the outermost bottles of the loaded pack are encircled with the partly cut rings, so that the use of a girding strap to pack the bottle carrier becomes unnecessary.

The arrangement of the partly cut rings and their lateral wings situated symmetrically at the edges of each of the flaps allows some extra bottles to be accommodated in the carrier.

By making the distance between the two partly cut rings of each of the flaps by at least one internal diameter of the ring allows extra bottles to be accommodated among these partly cut rings and, as a result, to make the carrier fit for six, eight or more bottles.

The sockets for these extra bottles are formed from the H-shaped pattern of cut lines which, upon being bent down, form two partition wings. The partition wings thus formed strengthen the three-dimensional construction of the bottle carrier by making it more rigid and stiff inside.

Moreover, as demonstrated in the embodiment of the carrier set up from the carrying parts and the overlay, it is preferable to use two paper kinds differing by mechanical properties and basis weight, and applied according to their designed use. For example, the carrying parts blank can be made from a rigid and brittle cardboard, whereas the blank of the overlay — from high tear-resistance pasteboard. The use of this technique clearly reduced costs of the commercial process, as, in addition to high- grade cardboard, it allows the use of lower-grade recycled paper.

The embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings.

Fig. 1. shows the blank, spread flat, of one of the carrier carrying parts that extends into the flap.

Shown in Fig. 2 are two carrying parts, spread flat, divided by the fold line which runs along the side edges of the carrying parts, whereas Fig. 3. depicts the blank of the overlay spread on a flat surface.

Fig. 4. shows two partly cut rings of the flap with wings, frontal strip and base strip, in a spread condition, whereas Fig. 5. visualises, in a perspective view, the bottle carrier with the partition wings folded and thereby strengthening its three-dimensional construction.

The carrier is made up of two identical carrying parts 1 (Fig. 1). Each of said carrying parts 1 has a lock 2 designed to fasten two central walls 3 of both carrying parts I with each other to form a grip 4. Each of the central walls 3 is provided with an opening 5. The central wall 3 is defined by the fold 6 which connects it to the bottom wall 7, whereas said bottom wall 7 is defined by the fold 8 which connects it to the external wall 9.

The central wall 3 of the carrying part I is defined by the fold 32 which connects it to the flap 33, wherein the fold 32 is the line along which said flap 33 and said carrying part I are set up during assembling of the carrier. The flap (Fig. 4.) comprises two partly cut rings 16 with internal openings 17 cut out therein, each of said rings 16 having folds 20, 21, 22, lateral wings 18, and a frontal wing 19. The frontal wing 19 has a tab 23 at its extension. Frontal wings 19 of the two rings 16 of the flap 33 are integral with frontal strip 34 which is fastened to the external wall 9 preferably with an adhesive.

While the centres of both the partly cut rings 16 of flap 33. are distant from each other by at least two, or more, internal diameters of the partly cut ring 16, said rings are separated by an area defined by cut lines 3_5, 36, and 37 that form an H-shaped pattern to make partition wings 18 Here also, the side edges of the carrying part 1 are distant from each other by at least three, or more, internal diameters of said ring.

The flap 33 (Fig. 1) has an extra opening 39 of a grip 4, and two extra tabs 40 opposed to the tabs 2! of the partly cut rings 16. Said two extra tabs 40 are integral with the base strip 42, which is fastened onto the central wall 3 preferably with an adhesive.

The bottle carrier is first formed into a flat construction as follows: the ends of each of the carrying parts l_are folded along the fold line 32, then an adhesive is applied onto the internal surface of the base strip 42, said base strip and the flap 33 are applied onto, and pressed against the surface of the carrying part 1, subsequently said carrying part is folded along the fold line 8 , the adhesive is applied onto the surface of the tabs 23 and the frontal strip 34, said tabs 23 and said frontal strip 34 are pressed against the internal surface of the external wall 9 , whereupon said carrying parts are put together to form a double central portion by threading lock 2 through the openings 5, 39 of the carrying parts and through the flaps and, finally, by bending lock 2 upwards to form the grip 4.

To render the carrying parts more rigid, prior to assembling the carrying parts 1 in the bottle carrier construction, the adhesive can additionally be applied onto the surface of central wall 3 to contact of said parts in their central portion.

The folded-up carrier can be turned into a three-dimensional construction with one move by opening the angles along the folds 8 in both carrying parts 1, preferably by an angle of 90°, which simultaneously makes all angles along folds 6, 20, 22 open. When extra bottles are inserted into the middle socket, the partition wings 38 deflect along folds 2_1 of the partly cut rings 16 yielding to the bottles weight and make partition wings 38 assume a position at a right angle to the base of said partly cut rings 16, thereby strengthening and fixing in place of the whole of the three-dimensional construction of the bottle carrier.

In another embodiment of the invention the bottle carrier is made up of two different blanks, one of which (Fig. 2) represents the blank of the two carrying parts 1 connected by the edges of their central walls 3 along the fold line situated on the symmetry axis of the blank.

The other blank (Fig. 3) corresponds to twin identical flaps 33 which, when folded up along the fold line 32, together make the overlay 43.

The bottle carrier according to the invention is made into a flat construction thus: the carrying parts 1 blank is folded up along the symmetry axis so that the openings of the central walls 3 become superimposed. Then the overlay 43 blank is folded along the symmetry axis along the fold line 32 , and the two blanks of various pattern thus formed are set up to make a grip 4 by making openings 5 and openings 39 overlap and contact with each other and interlocking them with the lock 2.

In the next step, the base strips 42 provided with tabs 40 are fastened with an adhesive to the central walls 3 and the frontal strips provided with tabs 23 — with the external walls 9 by folding the carrying parts 1 along the fold lines 8 and pressing together the external walls of both carrying parts 1 .

The integral construction of the flat carrier is turned into a three-dimensional construction with one move by opening the angles along the folds 8 in both carrying parts 1, preferably by an angle of 90°, which simultaneously makes all angles along folds 6, 20, 22 open. When a bottle is inserted into the middle socket, the partition wings 3J5 deflect along folds 21 of the rings 16 yielding to the bottle weight and make partition wings 38 assume a position at a right angle to the base of said rings, thereby strengthening and fixing in place of the whole of the three-dimensional construction of the bottle carrier (Fig. 5).

In still another embodiment of the invention, the blank of the flap 33_. is reduced to a blank of partly cut rings 16 with openings 17 and frontal strip 34 and base strip 42 as seen in Fig. 4. The reduced parts of the flaps _33 are glued onto the blank of two carrying parts 1_, as depicted in Fig. 2.

The invention covered by the above description in its diverse embodiments can be used as a bottle carrier, especially for six or eight glass beverage bottles. When emptied, the carrier can be used especially for multiple-use bottles. The construction according to the invention is of significance for the proecology trends in sales of beverages on a global scale.

The safe and easy handling of the multi-bottle carrier facilitates effective selling of the product directly off the pallets. After each use the carrier structure remains intact and is used to return the refundable bottles The bottles returned in the carriers are stored on the pallets and shipped to the manufacturer where they are sorted and recycled.

The new system of integrated returnable-bottle carriers follows the beverage market old tradition through promoting the retrieval of glass bottles.

Claims

Patent Claims

1. A bottle carrier, especially for bottles with contents, preferably made of pasteboard, comprising two carrying parts (1} with central walls (3), bottom walls (6) and external walls (9), the central walls (3) being superimposed so as to form a central portion of the carrier, both of said central walls having two superimposed openings (5) fastened by a lock (2} to form a grip (4), each of said carrying parts extends into a flap (33) comprising two, partly cut and symmetrically arranged, rings (16) with cut-out internal openings (17), lateral wings (18) and frontal wings (19). said frontal wings being fastened to the external walls (9) to form the external portions of the carrier, characterised in that the lateral wing (18) of each of the two partly cut rings (16) of the flap (11) protrudes beyond the side edge of the carrying part (1).

2. The bottle carrier according to claim 1, characterised in that the centres of two partly cut rings (16) of the flap (33) are distant from each other by at least two internal diameters of said rings.

3. The bottle carrier according to claim 1, characterised in that the side edges of the carrying part (1) are distant from each other by at least three internal diameters of the partly cut rings (16) of the flap (╧ï).

4. The bottle carrier according to claim 3, characterised in that the internal diameter of partly cut ring Q6) of the flap (╧ï) is approximately equal to the diameter of the bottle placed in the carrier.

5. The bottle carrier according to claim 1, characterised in that the two partly cut rings (16) of the flap Q3) are separated from each other along cut lines (15), (16), (37), which form two partition wings (38)-

6. The bottle carrier according to claim ^ characterised in that the frontal wings (J_9) of the partly cut rings (16) of the flap (╧ï) are integral with a front strip (34)-

7. The bottle carrier according to claim 6 , characterised in that the front strip (14) is fastened to the external wall (9) of the carrying part (1) with an adhesive.

8. The bottle carrier according to claim 1 , characterised in that each of the flaps (33) is provided with extra opening (19) to form the grip (4).

9. The bottle carrier according to claim 1 , characterised in that the flap (33) is provided with two extra tabs (40) integral with a base strip (42).

10. The bottle carrier according to claim 9, characterised in that the base strip (42) is fastened onto the central wall (1) of the carrying part (1) with an adhesive.

11. The bottle carrier, especially for bottles with contents, preferably made of pasteboard or cardboard, comprising two carrying parts (1) with central walls (1), bottom walls (6) and external walls (9), the central walls (1) being superimposed so as to form a central portion of the carrier, both of said central walls having two superimposed openings (5) fastened by the lock (2) to form the grip (4), each of the carrying parts added to the flap (╧ï) comprising at least two, partly cut and symmetrically arranged, rings (16) with cut-out internal openings (17), lateral wings (18) and frontal wings (19), said frontal wings being fastened to the external walls (9) of carrying parts (1) to form the external portions of the carrier, characterised in that the two flaps (33) are connected to each other along the fold line (12) to form an overlay (41).

12. The bottle carrier according to claim 11, characterised in that the two openings (5) in carrying parts (1) and the two openings (3_9) in the overlay (41) are fastened with the lock (2) which all together form the grip (4).