ZA200703423B

ZA200703423B - Container insert

Info

Publication number: ZA200703423B
Application number: ZA200703423A
Authority: ZA
Inventors: Watkins Gerhard
Original assignee: Apl Cartons Proprietary Ltd
Priority date: 2006-03-30
Filing date: 2007-04-26
Publication date: 2009-01-28

Description

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the packaging of elongate objects such as bottles during storage and transportation. In particular, the invention relates to a container insert.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION ‘

Botties such as glass bottles filled with wine, are typically stored and transported in cardboard containers and are prevented from damaging - one another during handling and transport, by sheets of cardboard that extend between adjacent bottles to absorb compressive loads between bottles and to prevent friction between bottles from damaging their outer surfaces and/or labels.

The shapes of such bottles typically include a body that can be generally cylindrical with a circular base on which a bottle can stand and a narrow neck with an opening that protrudes from the body at the opposite end of the bottle, i.e. at the bottie’s upper end, when standing on its base.

However, the shapes of many bottles’ bodies are not perfectly cylindrical, but are tapered to varying degrees.

Bottles are often packed in a generally horizontal orientation in a cardboard container in single or multiple layers. However, given the varying : cross-sectional dimensions of the bottles, this means that the upper surfaces of the containers are well supported by the bottles in regions where the bottles have wide cross sections and are supported less effectively or not at all in other regions. The problem can be alleviated to some extent by packing bottles in an upper layer with an opposite orientation from the orientation of the bottle immediately below it, so that any taper of the body of a lower bottle is countered by the taper of the bottle above it and the combination of the two bottles’ bodies effectively has a lower surface and an upper surface that are parallel.

However, even if the bottles in successive layers are staggered as described above, the bottles are too narrow in their neck regions to abut against the insides of the container walls, so that the container walls are largely unsupported in these regions. The result is that when containers receive loads from outside in the regions corresponding to bottle necks on 15S their insides, they are prone to deformation by denting, sagging, bending and the like. This is particularly problematic when containers need to be stacked on top of each other and where the stability of such a stack depends on the even geometry of each container.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that containers for holding bottles horizontally typically have folding flaps or lids that close the containers to form their top walls, i.e. the top walls are only permanently attached to the side walls along one edge. Further, the location of the neck of a bottle at the end of a layer of bottles is necessarily at a corner of the container and by their protruding nature, corners are more prone to deformation.

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The present invention seeks to provide an insert for a container for bottles, to improve internal support for the container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided an insert for a container, said insert comprising a sheet of resilient material that is shaped to define at least one locating formation with a recess in which part of a bottle is receivable and at least one support formation that is configured to abut the : inside of the container in a corner region.

At least one support formation may be configured to abut the inside of the container in the vicinity of a neck of the bottle and at least one locating formation may be configured to receive a neck of a bottle.

In some instances, at least one locating formation and at least one support formation may be integrally formed to receive the neck of the bottle and to abut the inside of the container in a corner region in the vicinity of the bottle neck. In particular, at least one locating formation may be in the form of a sheet that is configured to extend generally transverse to the axis of the bottle and the support formation may be in the form of a sheet that is configured to extend generally parallel to the axis of the bottle. The insert may include two locating formations extending generally parallel to each other and a support formation extending between the locating formations, the locating formations acting as walls for supporting the support formation.

At least one locating formation may be configured to receive the base of a bottle and at least one support formation may be spaced apart from the locating formation, such that the locating formation can receive the base of a bottle and the support formation can be in the vicinity of the neck of the bottle.

The insert may include a plurality of locating formations and a plurality of support formations and may be configured to receive multiple layers of bottles in a spaced array.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is three dimensional perspective view of a container insert in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side perspective view of the insert of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a profile view of a blank of sheet material form which the insert of Figure 1 is folded.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings, an insert in accordance with the present invention for use inside a container for transport and storage of bottles, is generally indicated by reference numeral 10.

The insert 10 is formed by folding it from a sheet of cardboard or other suitably resilient material that is cut with a predetermined profile to form a blank 12 as shown in Figure 3.

The insert 10 is intended to be used inside a rectangular container in the form of a cardboard carton containing an array of six bottles, e.g. glass bottles containing wine and the bottles are arranged horizontally in a configuration with three bottles in a lower layer and three in an upper layer.

Further, adjacent bottles have alternating orientations and similarly, the bottled in each layer has an opposite orientation from the bottle above or below it. The wine bottles have been omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity, but this arrangement of bottles is know to those skilled in the art.

The insert 10 includes two large sheets that form a lower shelf 14 and an upper shelf 16, on which the lower and upper layers, respectively, of the bottles can be supported. The lower shelf 14 has three locating formations, each in the form of a generally U-shaped flap 18 that extends upwardly form the shelf and the flaps define central recess 22 in which the necks of the bottles can be received and lateral recesses 24 that correspond to the circumferences of the bottle’s bases. The recesses 22,24 are

® 7 configured to locate the bottles on the lower shelf 14 in position in a parallel arrangement, spaced slightly apart to prevent them from damaging one another.

The upper shelf 16 is attached at one end, via two of the flaps 18, to the lower shelf 14 and at that same end, the upper shelf has a single flap 18, identical to those of the lower shelf, which extends upwardly to perform the same locating function as the flaps of the lower shelf. At the opposite end of the upper shelf 16, two flaps 26 extend from the corners of the shelf and each flap 26 is folded to form two locating formations in the form of parallel, upstanding walls 28 and a support formation extending between the upper ends of the walls. Each wall 28 defines an aperture 32 through which the neck of a bottle can pass snugly, so that the walls can serve to locate the necks of the outer two bottles on the upper shelf 16, in the corner regions of the shelf.

The walls 28 of each flap 26 also serve to provide structural support to the support formation 30 and when the insert 10 is fitted inside a carton, the support formations 30 are aligned with the upper edges of the carton’s side walls from which its lids are folded to form the top wall of the carton. Accordingly, the support formations 30 abut the underside of the top wall of the carton in its two corners in the vicinity of the necks of the outer two bottles on the upper shelf 16. The abutment of the support formations 30 with the top wall of the carton improves the structural integrity of the carton in

® 8 these regions and assists in preventing deformation of the corners of the carton.

Claims

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1. An insert for a container, said insert comprising a sheet of resilient material that is shaped to define at least one locating formation with a recess in which part of a bottle is receivable and at least one support formation that is configured to abut the inside of the container in a corner region.

2. An insert as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one support formation is configured to abut the inside of the container in the vicinity of a neck of the bottle.

3. An insert as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one locating formation is configured to receive a neck of a bottle.

4, An insert as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one locating formation and at least one support formation are integrally formed to receive the neck of the bottle and to abut the inside of the container in a corner region in the vicinity of the bottle neck.

5. An insert as claimed in claim 5, wherein at least one locating formation is in the form of a sheet that is configured to extend generally transverse to the axis of the bottle and the support formation is in the form of a sheet that is configured to extend generally parallel to the axis of the bottle.

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6. An insert as claimed in claim 6, which includes two locating formations extending generally parallel to each other and a support formation extending between the locating formations, the locating formations acting as walls for supporting the support formation.

7. An insert as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one locating formation is configured to receive the base of a bottle.

8. An insert as claimed in claim 7, wherein at least one support : formation is spaced apart from the locating formation, such that the locating formation can receive the base of a bottle and the support formation can be in the vicinity of the neck of the bottle.

9. An insert as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, which includes a plurality of locating formations and a plurality of support formations.

10. An insert as claimed in claim 9, which is configured to receive multiple layers of bottles in a spaced array.

11. An insert for a container, substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings. Dated this 25™ day of April 2007 yr Brian Bacon & Associates Inc. Applicant's Patent Attorneys