The present disclosure relates to fluid containers (also commonly referred to as bottles), and more particularly to bottles that, for example, are typically plastic and blow molded as a one-piece, unitary body having an opening through which fluid contents are introduced into and poured from the bottle.
Consumers have a comfort level with a bottle that has a center pour opening formed therein. Advantageously, such a bottle is also adaptable to a traditional filler, for example, of the type commonly used in the dairy industry. It is well-known that milk bottles have conventionally used a center pour opening dating back to glass bottle designs, and that the center pour opening design has been carried through into present-day plastic milk bottles that are widely used in the industry.
In a continued attempt to reduce costs associated with packaging, delivery, etc., a need exists for a bottle design that has desired attributes not associated with the conventional packaging of individual containers/bottles into cases (where cases are used to carry the stacking forces or load, rather than modifying the bottle to itself carry and transfer load), and a large number of bottles can be easily stacked (such as on pallets), that potentially eliminates use of slip sheets, and that still mimics the comfort and feel associated with a center pour bottle. Still other desired features may include a cap that has a breakaway tamper evident band, elimination of a foil seal, the ability to fill on a traditional filler, provision for enlarged surfaces on the bottle to maximize the amount of information that may be conveyed to the consumer, a desire to interlock adjacent bottles, an ergonomic handle, and the ability to palletize filled bottles to take advantage of reduced shipping costs.
A new container for fluid product satisfies one or more of the needs identified above.
In one embodiment, the container includes a one piece body having first, second, third, and fourth sidewalls, an upper surface and a lower surface, the first and third sidewalls separated by the second and fourth sidewalls, the second and fourth sidewalls having non-planar, parallel conformations that each include a convex surface portion that merges into an adjacent concave surface portion.
The container further includes a handle formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion that is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shaped contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface.
A circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle merges tangentially into the fourth sidewall.
The handle further includes recesses or depressions formed in the first and third sidewalls that are spaced inwardly from the fourth sidewall.
The handle may be a no pass structure.
The convex first portion and the concave second portion on the second sidewall are opposite from the concave first portion and the convex second portion on the fourth sidewall, respectively, whereby adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the upper and lower surfaces, i.e., the convex first portion of the second sidewall of a first container mates with the concave first portion of the fourth sidewall of an adjacent second container, and the concave second portion of the second sidewall of the first container mates with the convex second portion of the fourth sidewall of the second container.
The recessed region in the lower surface is dimensioned to at least partially receive a center pour opening or cap of the upper surface of an adjacent like container whereby abutting upper and lower surfaces of adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the second and fourth sidewalls.
Adjacent containers may be arranged in layers and layers stacked one atop another by laying individual containers on either the first and third sidewalls where at least two laterally adjacent containers interlock along abutting second and fourth sidewalls, respectively, and at least two longitudinally adjacent containers interlock along the upper and lower surfaces.
At least some of the individual containers in contiguous layers of stacked containers are oriented 90 degrees relative to one another.
The containers in a stacked array are each pressurized.
The upper surface is laterally offset from the bottom surface of an individual container.
The circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle that tangentially merges into the fourth sidewall is located in that portion of the fourth sidewall that has a convex contour.
The handle is formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion that is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shape contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface.
Benefits are provided by a bottle that has a center pour opening formed therein, and therefore adaptable to be filled on a traditional filler, while still offering the benefits of stackability without the use of cases for purposes of shipping.
Another benefit is the ability to use a cap that has a breakaway tamper evident band and eliminates use of a foil seal.
Another advantage resides in the enlarged surfaces provided on the bottle to maximize the amount of information that may be conveyed to the consumer.
Still another advantage is associated with the ability to interlock adjacent bottles in a layer of a stacked array.
Yet another benefit is found in the provision of an ergonomic handle.
Still another benefit is associated with elimination of the cardboard or corrugate slip layer oftentimes used in connection with stacked products which reduces, cost, reduces waste, reduces associated handling and thereby reduces labor costs, and eliminates issues encountered in the prior art where the slip layer becomes moist or wet and loses its strength.
A still further advantage results from a shorter unbraced length as a result of orienting the containers on their sides when the containers are stacked in layers one atop another.
Yet another advantage is the low weight to volume ratio (e.g., 96 ounce container uses only 90 grams of PET—less than 0.94 g/oz) which is approximately one-third that of other plastic containers used in the market.
Other benefits and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from reading and understanding the following detailed description
Turning initially to
The fourth sidewall 108 includes a convex surface portion 124 and a concave surface portion 126. As illustrated, the convex surface portion 124 of the fourth sidewall 108 includes a first convex surface portion 124a and a second convex surface portion 124b. The concave surface portion 126 interconnects the spaced apart convex surface portions 124a, 124b in a generally smoothly contoured, reverse-curved surface or S-curve conformation. The first convex surface portion 124a smoothly merges into the bottom surface 112. The concave surface portion 126 of the fourth sidewall 108 is located below the mid-height of the overall height of the bottle 100, and the second convex surface portion 124b smoothly merges into the upper surface 110.
As is perhaps most apparent in
The contours of the first and third sidewalls 102, 106 are more particularly evident in
The unique configuration or shape of the handle 150 is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shaped contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface. Thus, the thumb and index finger (as well as the remaining fingers) are received over the cylindrical conformation portion 152 of the handle 150. The palm of the user's hand is received over the circumferential region 154 of the handle, and likewise conforms to the convex contour 124b of the handle defined along the fourth sidewall 108. The fingers and thumb of the user grip the handle 150 along the cylindrical conformation 152 disposed in each of the first and third sidewalls 140, 142, respectively (or in the third and first sidewalls 142, 140, respectively,—depending on whether the user grips the handle 150 with the right or left hand). Interconnecting portions 170, 172 of the first and third sidewalls 102, 104 each have a compound, curvilinear conformation in a generally horizontal plane (
The upper wall 110 has an arch shape where the respective sidewalls 102, 104, 106, 108 merge together. The upper wall includes an opening 180 located centrally therein. This is advantageous for at least a couple of reasons. First, the central opening 180 can be used with many existing fillers that already are commercially installed and widely used in the industry. Second, the central opening 180 is a pour location that consumers are accustomed to and have used for a long period of time. The consumer is comfortable with how fluid pours from the opening 180, and need not re-train themselves to grow accustomed to other locations of the opening when pouring contents from the bottle 100.
In
The opening 180, and more particularly the cap 190 received thereon, defines the uppermost portion of a filled bottle 100. Since the cap 190 has a relatively small surface area, and because the remainder of the upper wall 110 drops away from the central opening 180 and merges into the respective sidewalls 102, 104, 106, 108, this design of the bottle is not conducive to stacking bottles one atop the other in a vertical orientation to transfer load from an upper row of bottles to a lower row of bottles (or to a pallet). However, the contour of the sidewalls 104, 108, and the generally enlarged planar regions 140, 142 of the first and third sidewalls 102, 106, respectively, allows the filled bottles to be positioned in a stacked array and conveniently shipped in such a stacked form 210 on, for example, a pallet 212 (
Particularly, as shown in
Further, the intercooperation between the cap 190/opening 180 of the upper surface 110 of one bottle with a recess 196 in the lower surface 112 of an adjacent bottle shows a second manner of interlocking adjacent bottles together to prevent relative sliding movement therebetween (again, when the bottles are laid on their sides, and layers of interlocked bottles are stacked one layer atop another (
With continued reference to
By orienting the bottle on their sides in the stacked orientation, each bottle layer has a sort unbraced length which provides desired increased strength and stability to the individual bottles and to the stacked array.
In summary, the present disclosure provides a unique bottle that includes a center pour opening. This location of the pour opening advantageously meets with user expectation, and what users are acclimated to. The center pour opening also allows the plastic blow molded bottle to be filled on a traditional filler which can further reduce costs. The configuration of the bottle allows like bottles to be easily stacked together. The contoured profiles of adjacent bottles interlock to prevent relative sliding movement between abutting bottles in at least one direction, and preferably two directions that are perpendicular to one another. An enlarged substantially planar region is provided on at least two of the sidewalls to accommodate an enlarged label area desired for marketing and consumer information. The ergonomic handle preferably has a no pass handle for lower manufacturing cost. The handle is also particularly applicable for use as a pressure vessel and the contoured handle easily adapts to lock in the hand of a user while providing a comfortable fit. The bottle can also be scaled-up and scaled-down to accommodate different fluid volumes. The locking features between adjacent bottles by interfitting contiguous, abutting surfaces in the stacked array results in a tied pallet for added strength. Further, the bottle contours and the ability to pressurize the fluid content of the bottles also adds additional strength. The interlocking contours tie the pallet together and remove the need for slip sheets (e.g., corrugate sheet that it typically included in the stacked array to add stability). Elimination of the slip sheets/corrugate layer reduces cost associated both with the material itself, waste, and the handling/labor associated with use of a slip layer. Moreover, it is known that the slip sheet/corrugate layer loses strength if wet-which is a distinct possibility when handling fluid product. As a result of the interlocking contours of the pressurized bottles that are laid on their sides in a stacked array, when the perimeter of the stacked array is wrapped, for example with a plastic shrinkwrap, the pallet with the stacked array of pressurized fluid bottles has desired strength and stability for stacking, shipping, and distribution. Removal of the wrap from the stacked array also does not impact the ability for the stacked array to maintain its shape and stability when consumers remove individual bottles. It will also be appreciated that the drawings should be evaluated together so that features omitted or included in one drawing and not in another drawing, do not preclude use of such features in one drawing from being used with the features in another drawing. For example, structural details of the handle are removed from
In a preferred embodiment, the bottle has dimensions as follows: the bottle is about 9.5 inches tall (measured between the upper wall 110 and the lower wall 112) and has a width of 4 inches (measured between the first and third sidewalls 102, 106), and a length of about 6.5 inches (measured between the front and rear sidewalls 104, 108). This computes to an unbraced length-to-height value of 2.375 (9.5 inches divided by 4 inches), and such length-to-height value is preferred to be about 2.5 or less.
Moreover, the plastic bottle is a thin wall structure that has only 90 grams of plastic used in a 96 ounce container, i.e., a low weight-to-volume ratio (e.g., uses only 90 grams of PET for a 96 ounce container—less than 0.94 g/oz) which is approximately one-third the weight-to-volume ratio found in other plastic containers used in the market. Because the container of the present disclosure is pressurized (about 0.5 psi), and the containers are stacked on their sides (a short unbraced length), effective stacking on pallets is still achieved along with desired stability provided by the mating surfaces of the adjacent containers that interlock the bottles. Further, the corrugate/cardboard slip sheets provided between layers of stacked product is also advantageously eliminated because of the interlocked arrangement, all at a cost savings associated with material, labor, and associated waste.
This written description uses examples to describe the disclosure, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the disclosure. The patentable scope of the disclosure is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims. Moreover, this disclosure is intended to seek protection for a combination of components and/or steps and a combination of claims as originally presented for examination, as well as seek potential protection for other combinations of components and/or steps and combinations of claims during prosecution.
This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/145,183, filed Apr. 9, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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