Tubular carrier and blank for making same

Aug. 19; 1969 μ. τ. farquhar 3,462,011

TUBULAR CARRIER AND BLANK FOR MAKING SAME

Filed Jan. 18, 1968

Sheets-Sheet 1

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5161 ⁵⁶2^

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FIG-2

X-23A 45

BY

INVENTOR.

MELVILLE. T FARQUHAR

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HIS ATTORNEYS

Aug. 19, 1969 μ. τ. farquhar 3,462,011 ⁴ TUBULAR CARRIER AND BLANK FOR MAKING SAME

Filed Jan. 18, 1968 ² Sheets-Sheet 2

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56B^L56

United States Patent Office Patented Aug. 19, 1969

3,462,011 TUBULAR CARRIER AND BLANK FOR MAKING SAME Melville T. Farquhar, Bon Air, Va., assignor to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 698,892 Int. Cl. B65d 85/62, 21102, 61/00 U.S. CI. 206—65 11 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates to a tubular, carrier for a plurality of bottles, or the like, having a substantially L-shaped retaining flange adjacent each top corner of such carrier wherein each L-shaped flange retains its configuration and holds an adjoining container within the carrier under substantially all handling conditions including the forceful urging thereagainst of an adjoining container during carrying of the carrier as well as upon grasping and pulling of a terminal end portion of the carrier top wall to move such carrier.

Background of the invention

The construction of presently used tubular carriers for bottles, or the like, is such that structural portions of each carrier which hold comer bottles in position are easily moved out of holding position during normal handling thereof whereby the bottles are generally free to move out of their associated present carrier and often dropped and broken causing substantial product losses as well as creating safety problems.

Summary

This invention provides an improved tubular carrier for bottle-like containers and an improved blank for making same wherein such carrier is constructed to assure that its bottle-like containers are held in position even under adverse handling conditions.

Other details, uses, and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description of the embodiment thereof presented in the accompanying drawing proceeds.

Brief description of the drawings

The accompanying drawings show a present preferred embodiment of this invention, in which—

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating one exemplary embodiment of the improved carrier of this invention particularly highlighting that an end portion of the top wall of such carrier may be grasped and pulled to position such carrier and its containers during handling thereof, for example;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the construction and arrangement of an L-shaped retaining flange provided in one corner of the carrier of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view on the line 3—3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the blank used to make the carrier of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view particularly illustrating a portion of the blank of FIGURE 4 which defines an associated L-shaped retaining flange upon assembly of such blank to define the carrier of FIGURE 1.

Description of illustrated embodiment

Reference is now made to FIGURE 1 of the drawings wherein an exemplary carrier of this invention designated generally by the reference numeral 20 is illustrated. The exemplary carrier 20 is used for storing and carrying a plurality of six containers shown in the form of bottles and each designated generally by the reference numeral 21. Each bottle 21 has a substantially cylindrical bottom portion 22, an upwardly tapering neck 23, and a crowntype closure cap 24 suitably fastened in position over the top portion of the neck 23 in a known manner. The carrier 20 has a plurality of substantially L-shaped retaining flanges each designated generally by the reference numeral 26 and each flange 26 is provided at a top comer of the carrier 20 to hold an associated corner bottle 21 in position and prevent such corner bottle and the adjacent bottles from falling out of the carrier 20 even under adverse handling conditions and in a manner as will be described in detail subsequently in this specifica- tion.

Carrier 20 has a top wall 30 and a pair of substantially vertically arranged side walls each designated generally by the same reference numeral 31 fastened to opposite side edges of the top wall 30 and extending downwardly 20 therefrom. Carrier 20 has a bottom wall 33 fastened to the bottom edges of the side walls 31 and the walls 30, 31, and 33 are constructed and arranged to define a substantially tubular configuration for the carrier 20.

The vertical side walls 31 are substantially identical 25 and, if desired, either one or both side walls may be provided with suitable tear strips to facilitate the opening of the carrier 20. In this example of the invention, a pair of substantially rectangular tear strips 35 and 36 are shown in dotted lines as being provided in the right 30 side wall 31, as viewed in FIGURE 1 of the drawings.

The tear strips 35 and 36 are defined by cooperating sets of aligned slits provided in their associated side wall 31 and in a known manner.

Each side wall 31 has a vertically arranged central 35 portion 40 which is positioned against the vertical outer surface of the cylindrical portion 22 of associated bottles 21. Each side wall 31 also has an upwardly and inwardly inclined top portion 41 which corresponds generally to the inclination of the neck 23 of bottles 21 and an in40 dined bottom portion 42 which is, in effect, wrapped around the heel 43 of each bottle 21 carried within the tubular carrier 20.

The exemplary carrier 20 has three openings each designated generally by the reference numeral 44 pro45 vided in each inclined strip 42 of each side wall 31. Each opening 44 is adapted to receive a portion of a heel 43 of an associated bottle 21 therewithin and hold such heel firmly in position. In addition, each opening 44 has an associated skirt portion 44A which provides some protec50 tion for an associated heel 43 of an adjoining bottle 21.

The carrier 20 also has a pair of openings each designated generally by the reference numeral 45 provided adjacent opposite top corners of each inclined portion 41 of each side wall 31. Another opening 46 is also provided ⁵⁵_at the top end of each inclined portion 41 and aligned substantially centrally between the openings 45. Each opening 45 and 46 is adapted to receive a part of an associated crown-type closure cap 24 therethrough in the manner illustrated in the drawings.

⁶⁰ The manner in which the openings 44, 45, and 46 are defined in each side wall 31 of carrier 20 will be described in more detail later in this specification in connection with the blank used to make the carrier 20 and which is shown in plan view in FIGURE 4 of the drawθ³ ings.

The top wall 30 of carrier 20 extends in a horizontal plane and has a pair of substantially D-shaped fingerreceiving openings provided therein and each designated by the same reference numeral 48. A pair of fingers of one hand, for example, may be easily inserted through the openings 48 and enable easy grasping and carrying of the carrier 20.

3,462,011 ³

As seen in FIGURE 1 of the drawings each end portion of top wall 30 may be easily grasped to move the carrier 20 by sliding or lifting during routine handling thereof such as the stacking of a plurality of carriers 20 for storage or display, for example. The retaining flanges 26 provided in carrier 20 will remain in position even if the carrier 20 is grasped and moved as shown and described and assure that the bottles 21 will be held securely within the carrier and not tend to fall out if the carrier 20 is subsequently picked up in the conventional manner using its openings 48 and tilted with either of its open ends inclined substantially downwardly.

As will be apparent particularly from FIGURES 2 and 5 of the drawings, the carrier 20 has a plurality of comer cuts each being arranged adjacent an associated top corner of the carrier 20 and designated generally by the reference numeral 50. Each corner cut 50 has a first cut portion 51 provided in the top wall 30 and a second cut portion 52 provided in an associated side wall 31.

The carrier 20 has a plurality of sets of fold lines and each set of fold lines cooperates with an associated cut 50 to define a high strength and substantially L-shaped retaining flange at each top corner of the carrier 20. Each set of fold lines is comprised of a first fold line 54 which is provided in the top wall 30 and extends outwardly from the terminal end of an associated first cut portion 51 to the near end of the top wall 30, a second fold line 55 provided in an associated side wall 31 and which extends outwardly from the terminal end of an associated second cut portion 52 to the near end of its associated side wall 31, and a third fold line 56 extending from the point of junction indicated at 60 of the cut portions 51 and 52 outwardly to the near end of the carrier 20.

As will be apparent particularly from FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawings, each third fold line 56 defines the bight of an associated previously mentioned L-shaped retaining flange 26. Further, it will be seen that each Lshaped retaining flange has a first leg portion or leg 61 extending between the fold lines 54 and 56 and the leg 61 extends transverse to and is supported at one end by the top wall 30. Each L-shaped retaining flange 26 also has a second leg portion or leg 62 defined between fold lines 55 and 56 and the leg 62 extends transverse to and has one end portion supported by a associated side wall 31.

The fold lines 54 and 55 provided in blank 75 and hence carrier 20 may be defined by suitably scoring the blank 75 on one surface and in a conventional manner. However, it will be appreciated that if the fold line 56 were to be formed by similar scoring, the portions of blank material adjoining opposite sides of the fold line 56 would have to be folded in a reverse manner and the resulting L-shaped flange 26 would probably not retain its configuration. To overcome this potential problem the score line 56 may be defined in the form of a cut-score line comprised of a plurality of spaced apart slits 56A arranged in aligned end-to-end relation with a scored portion 56B aligned between each pair of immediately adjacent slits. The cut-score line 56 thus enables easy folding of the legs 61 and 62 of flange 26 thereabout in a reverse direction from the direction in which the legs 61 and 62 are each folded about their respective fold lines 54 and 55.

As previously mentioned, each of the containers 21 is in the form of a bottle 21 having a neck 23 and a crowntype closure cap 24 suitably fastened in position at the top of the neck 23. Each cap 24 has a skirt portion 64 provided with a lower edge 65 which defines an annular projection extending outwardly from an associated neck 23.

Upon placing the bottles 21 in position with the tubular carrier 20, it will be seen that the leg 62 of each L-shaped retaining flange 26 extends beneath an annular projection defined by the lower edge 65 of an associated cap 24 and helps maintain the configuration of the Lshaped flange 26 by preventing upward movement of leg 62. Further, the inned edge of each leg 62 also engages an associated bottle 21 and helps hold such bottle in position against any tendency of the bottle to move outwardly from within the carrier 20, even under conditions where the carrier 20 is grasped by inserting fingers through the finger-receiving openings 48 and tilted with an open end thereof facing substantially downwardly·

As seen particularly in FIGURES 2 and 5 of the drawings, each cut 50 has the end of its cut portion 52 which adjoins point 60 offset inwardly from the near end of its associated side wall 31 as indicated at 67 and the remainder of the cut portion 52 is arranged so that it extends substantially parallel to the end edge of its associated side wall 31. This configuration assures that the inner edge of the leg 62 extends beneath the skirt 64 of an associated cap 24 and against an associated bottle neck 23 as mentioned above.

Thus, it is seen that each cut 50 provided adjacent each comer of the carrier 20 defines one edge of an associated corner opening 45 provided in the carrier 20 and each opening 45 is adapted to receive a part of the upper end portion of an associated container therethrough. In this example of the invention each opening 45 is adapted to receive a part of a closure cap 24 as previously explained.

Carrier 20 can be formed in any suitable manner and made from any suitable foldable material. It is preferably formed from the blank 75 illustrated in FIGURE 4 of the drawings. The blank 75 is made of paperboard, or the like, and may have a surface such as the exposed surface thereof laminated with metallic foil, such as aluminum containing metallic foil, or the like, suitably colored, embossed, imprinted, or remaining plain, as desired.

The detailed description of the blank 75 will now proceed by describing primarily those structural portions which were not previously described in detail in connection with the description of the carrier 20. However, where a previous detailed description was made in connection with the carrier 20, such description will not be repeated in connection with the blank and corresponding component portions of blank 75 will be designated by the same reference numerals as in the carrier 20.

The blank 75 is of rectagular peripheral outline and is suitably cut and scored and adapted to be assembled to define the resulting improved carrier 20 of this invention and comprises a plurality of parallel spaced-apart score lines including a score line 76, a pair of substantially centrally arranged score lines each designated by the reference numeral 77, and a score line 79 Which define the top wall 30 between the central score lines 77, one side wall 31 between score line 76 and one score line 77, and the other side wall 31 between score line 79 and the other score line 77. As will be apparent from FIGURE 4, each score line 76, 77 and 79 is comprised of a plurality of spaced apart sections aligned in a rectilinear manner.

The blank 75 also has a pair of rectangular flaps 82 and 83 which extend outwardly of score lines 76 and 79 respectively and are adapted to be folded into a common plane and suitably fastened together to define the bottom wall 33 of carrier 20. The flap 83 also has a rectangular extension 84 which extends from its terminal outer edge and is adapted to be inserted in position as a protective separator between a pair of parallel rows of bottles 21 upon forming the carrier 20 from the blank 75 and in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the drawings.

The extension flap 82 has a plurality of two centrally arranged and comparatively large identical locking tabs formed therein and each locking tab is designated by the reference numeral 90 and is defined by a substantially arrowhead-shaped or wedge-shaped cut 91. In addition,

8,462,011 a pair of smaller identical locking tabs 92 are provided adjacent the opposite ends of the extension flap 82 and each locking tab 92 is defined by a wedge-shaped cut 93 which is similar to the wedge-shaped cut 91 and of smaller size.

The extension flap 83 has a pair of centrally arranged sets of cooperating cut and score lines provided therein and arranged in the form of a substantially wedge-shaped configuration and each set is designated generally by the reference numeral 94. Each set 94 is defined by a substantially U-shaped cut 95 which has a V-shaped score line 96 arranged with the terminal ends of its diverging legs adjoining the terminal ends of the diverging legs of the U-shaped cut.

The substantially wedge-shaped area bounded by the U-shaped cut 95 and the V-shaped score line 96 is bisected by a rectilinear cut 100 which extends perpendicular to the base of the U-shaped cut 95 so as to define a pair of foldable flaps 101 and 102 which are each hinged about one of the diverging legs of the V-shaped cut 96. Each set 94 of cut and score lines also has a peripheral outline which corresponds to the outline of a locking tab 90.

The extension flap 83 also has a set of cooperating cut and score lines provided therein adjacent each end thereof and each set is designated generally by the reference numeral 104. Each set 104 is comprised of a U-shaped cut 105, a V-shaped score line 106, and a rectilinear cut 107 arranged in a similar manner as described in detail in connection with corresponding parts of each set 94 so as to define a pair of foldable flaps 108 and 109 in this latter instance. Each set 104 of cut and score lines also has a peripheral outline which corresponds to the outline of its associated locking tab 92.

The blank 75 is easily assembled in a known manner to form the carrier 20 by inserting the wedge-shaped locking tabs 90 and 92 through an associated set 94 and 104 respectively of cooperating cut and score means to thereby lock the terminal ends of the blank 75 together. The fastening action may be achieved utilizing automatic equipment which employs push rods which engage the locking tabs 90 and 92 and push them in locking position after the separator 84 is folded in position between the two rows of bottles 21 and then the outer extension flap 82 is folded against its row of bottles 21 and against the extension flap 83.

As mentioned previously in connection with the description of the carrier 20, a pair of finger-receiving openings 48 are provided in file top wall 30. Each finger-receiving opening 48 is defined by a C-shaped cut 110 which has a score line 111 extending between the terminal ends of the cut 110 so as to define a foldable flap 112 which is folded inwardly to define an associated opening 48.

Each side wall 31 also has an inclined upper portion 41 as previously mentioned. The upper portion 41 in one side wall 31 extends between one score line 77 and a continuous score line 116 provided in such side wall. The upper portion 41 in the other side wall 31 extends between the other score line 77 and a score line shown at 117 which may have the lower edge portions of the optional tear strips 35 and 36, shown in dotted lines, coinciding therewith.

The blank 75 also has a pair of strips 42 defined therein and in the assembled carrier 20 each strip 42 is inclined inwardly toward and adjoins the bottom wall 33. The strip 42 in one side wall 31 is defined between score line 76 and an adjacent score line 118. Similarly, the strip 42 in the other side wall 31 is defined between score line 79 and an adjacent score line 119.

Three sets of cooperating cuts and cutouts each designated generally by the reference numeral 120 are provided substantially within the confines of each strip 42 and each set 120 defines the previously mentioned opening 44 and associated skirt 44A for receiving the heel 43 of an associated bottle 21 therewithin. The particular shape and arrangement of the cuts and cutout comprising each set 12® may be varied to suit the particular application and configuration of the containers carried within carrier 20 and thus will not be described in detail.

A plurality of cuts is also provided in each side wall 31 which cooperate with each elongated cut 50 and help define each opening 45. In particular, it will be seen that a substantially L-shaped cut 125 is provided in side wall 31 in association with each opening 45 and has the terminal end of one leg 126 adjoining the terminal end of cut portion 52 and the terminal end of another leg 127 coinciding substantially with an associated score line 77 defining the top edge of an associated side wall 31.

A slit 130 is also provided in association with each opening 45 and extends perpendicular to and downwardly from the center of the leg portion 126. The slit 130 cooperates with a pair of slits 131 which are arranged in a V-shaped pattern on opposite sides of slit 130 and diverge toward the leg 126 of L-shaped cut 125. The slits 130 and 131 cooperate with leg portion 126 to define an expandable skirt for receiving the upper end portion of a bottle 21 thereagainst. In this example of the invention the skirt thus defined receives an annular bead 23A provided on bottle neck 23.

The centrally arranged opening 46 provided in each side wall 31 is defined by a substantially U-shaped cut 134 having a pair of parallel legs 135 and a transverse leg 136. The terminal ends of the legs 135 are arranged to coincide with an associated score line 77 and the transverse leg 136 is arranged substantially parallel therewith. Upon folding the associated side wall 31 in position beneath top wall 30 in forming carrier 20 it will be seen that the substantially rectangular area 137 defined by the U-shaped cut remains coplanar with top wall 30 and the opening 46 is formed therebeneath.

A slit 140 is also provided in association with each opening 46 and extends perpendicular to and downwardly from the center of leg 136 defining the lower edge of opening 46. The slit 140 cooperates with a pair of slits 141 which are arranged in a V-shaped pattern and extend toward leg 136 on opposite sides of slit 140 to define an expandable skirt for receiving the upper end portion of a central bottle 21.