Claims
- 1. A low depth nestable tray for containers, said tray adapted to be nested with other trays when empty of the containers and stacked with other trays when loaded with the containers, said tray having a low depth wall structure comprising a substantially flat band extending around the periphery of said tray for preventing the containers from tipping during transport, said wall structure comprising side walls and end walls; a floor structure having a floor top surface, and a floor bottom surface; a corner post at each corner of said wall structure connecting said floor structure to said band; and a plurality of columns along each side of said wall structure interconnecting said band and said floor structure, said plurality of columns being substantially flat along the inside of said tray so as to not interfere with containers or multi-packs of containers in said tray and being configured to nest deeply with columns of another tray;
- wherein the improvements comprise:
- a plurality of support areas on said floor top surface, said support areas having means for supporting containers spaced apart from said wall structure to prevent damage to the containers from excessive contact with said wall structure;
- each said corner post comprising an exterior corner rib extending vertically downward and outward from said corner post such that the bottom of said corner rib is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface;
- each said corner post further comprising an interior corner rib, substantially equal in height to said exterior corner rib, extending vertically upward and inward from said floor top surface opposite said exterior corner rib;
- each said corner post further comprising a vertical corner slot indented into said corner post above said interior corner rib, wherein the top of said exterior corner rib and the bottom of said vertical corner slot form a corner nesting ledge and said vertical corner slot is adapted to matingly receive the exterior corner rib of another tray nested thereabove so that the bottom of the exterior corner rib rests on said corner nesting ledge of said tray when empty and nested with another tray thereabove;
- at least one of said columns being a ledged column comprising an exterior wall rib extending vertically downward and outward such that the bottom of said exterior wall rib is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface;
- each said ledged column further comprising an interior wall rib, substantially equal in height to said exterior wall rib, extending vertically upward and inward from said floor top surface opposite said exterior wall rib;
- each said ledger column further comprising a vertical wall slot indented into said ledged column above said interior wall rib, wherein the top of said interior wall rib and the bottom of said vertical wall slot form a wall nesting ledge and said vertical wall slot is adapted to matingly receive the exterior wall rib of another tray nested thereabove so that the bottom of the exterior wall rib rests on said wall nesting ledge of said tray when empty and nested with another tray thereabove;
- wherein said interior corner ribs and said interior wall ribs are equal in height, and said exterior corner ribs and said exterior wall ribs are adapted to be supported by the corner nesting ledges and the wall nesting ledges, respectively, of another tray when the low depth tray is empty and nested with another tray therebeneath, and said corner nesting ledges and said wall nesting ledges are adapted to support the weight of any trays nested above the low depth tray, to thereby prevent spreading and fraying of said wall structure of the low depth tray.
- 2. A low depth nestable tray for containers, said tray adapted to be nested with other trays when empty of the containers and stacked with other trays when loaded with the containers, said tray having a low depth wall structure comprising a substantially flat band extending around the periphery of said tray for preventing the containers from tipping during transport, said wall structure comprising side walls and end walls; a floor structure comprising a floor top surface, a floor bottom surface; a corner post at each corner of said wall structure connecting said floor structure to said band; and a plurality of columns along each side of said wall structure interconnecting said band and said floor structure, said plurality of columns being substantially flat along the inside of said tray so as to not interfere with containers or multi-packs of containers in said tray and being configured to nest deeply with columns of another tray;
- wherein the improvements comprise:
- a plurality of support areas on said floor top surface, said support areas having means for supporting containers spaced apart from said wall structure to prevent damage to the containers from excessive contact with said wall structure;
- each said corner post comprising an exterior corner rib extending vertically downward and outward from said corner post such that the bottom of said corner rib is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface;
- each said corner post further comprising an interior corner rib, substantially equal in height to said exterior corner rib, extending vertically upward and inward from said floor top surface opposite said exterior corner rib;
- each said corner post further comprising a vertical corner slot indented into said corner post above said interior corner rib, wherein the top of said interior corner rib and the bottom of said vertical corner slot form a corner nesting ledge and said vertical corner slot is adapted to matingly receive the exterior corner rib of another tray nested thereabove so that the bottom of the exterior corner rib rests on said corner nesting ledge of said tray when empty and nested with another tray thereabove;
- wherein said exterior corner ribs are adapted to be supported by the corner nesting ledges of another tray when the low depth tray is empty and nested with another tray therebeneath, and said corner nesting ledges are adapted to support the weight of any trays nested above the low depth tray, to thereby prevent spreading and fraying of said wall structure of the low depth tray.
- 3. A low depth nestable tray for containers, said tray adapted to be nested with other trays when empty of the containers and stacked with other trays when loaded with the containers, said tray having a low depth wall structure comprising a substantially flat band extending around the periphery of said tray for preventing the containers from tipping during transport, said wall structure comprising side walls and end walls; a floor structure having a floor top surface, a floor bottom surface; a plurality of columns along each side of said wall structure interconnecting said band and said floor structure, said plurality of columns being substantially flat along the inside of said tray so as to not interfere with containers or multi-packs of containers in said tray;
- wherein the improvements comprise:
- a plurality of support areas on said floor top surface, for supporting containers spaced apart from said wall structure to prevent damage to the containers from excessive contact with said wall structure;
- at least one of said columns being a ledged column comprising an exterior wall rib extending vertically downward and outward such that the bottom of said exterior wail rib is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface;
- each said ledged column further comprising an interior wall rib, substantially equal in height to said exterior wall rib, extending vertically upward and inward from said floor top surface opposite said exterior wall rib;
- each said ledged column further comprising a vertical wall slot indented into said ledged column above said interior wall rib, wherein the top of said interior wall rib and the bottom of said vertical wall slot form a wall nesting ledge and said vertical wall slot is adapted to matingly receive the exterior wall rib of another tray nested thereabove so that the bottom of the exterior wall rib rests on said wail nesting ledge of said tray when empty and nested with another tray thereabove;
- wherein said exterior wall ribs are adapted to be supported by the wall nesting ledges of another tray when the low depth tray is empty and nested with another tray therebeneath, and said wall nesting ledges are adapted to support the weight of any trays nested above the low depth tray, to thereby prevent fraying of said wall structure of the low depth tray.
- 4. The low depth tray of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said floor bottom surface comprises:
- a first set of spaced downward redoubts generally disposed below each said support area, said first set of redoubts adapted to sit within the top rims of the containers in another tray therebeneath when loaded and stacked, and
- a second set of spaced downward redoubts disposed generally between said support areas and adapted to be positioned between the tops of the containers in another tray therebeneath in order to interlock the low depth tray with the tops of the containers in another tray therebeneath when in a loaded and stacked position, such that tops of containers in another tray stacked therebeneath are encircled by said second set of redoubts and said first set of redoubts sit within the tops of the containers.
- 5. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein the outer edges of the redoubts of said first set and said second set are contoured surfaces.
- 6. The low depth tray of claim 5, wherein the outer edges of the redoubts of said first set and said second set are beveled surfaces such that a slight rotation of said tray about a generally vertical axis causes the redoubts to disengage from the top surfaces of the containers therebeneath and thereby permitting the containers to ride up said beveled surfaces allowing free sliding of the low depth tray on the top surfaces of the containers therebeneath.
- 7. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein the containers are substantially cylindrical cans.
- 8. The low depth tray of claim 7, wherein said tray is adapted to accommodate containers having substantially equal body diameters and varying top and bottom diameters, and wherein said first set of redoubts and said second set of redoubts are sized and placed on said floor bottom surface to accommodate different sizes of container tops and interlock in stacked and cross-stacked configurations, whereby said second set of redoubts are sized and positioned to interlock with the largest diameter container tops and said first set of redoubts are sized and positioned to interlock with the smallest diameter container tops.
- 9. The low depth tray of claim 7, wherein each said support area comprises a seat means for engaging the bottoms of the containers to prevent shifting of the containers in said tray, said seat means comprising indentations in said radial struts forming a generally circular seat means, said seat means being sized to accommodate varying sizes of container bottoms.
- 10. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein said second set of redoubts are positioned interstitially between said support areas to be adaptable for cross-stacking loaded trays, the cross-stacked configuration being rotated about a vertical axis approximately 90 degrees from the stacked configuration.
- 11. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein said second set of redoubts are adapted to be between the tops of the containers in another tray therebeneath only when in a blocked position, such blocked position being either a stacked configuration or a cross-stacked configuration.
- 12. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein said first set of redoubts are generally circular and said second set of redoubts are generally diamond-shaped, the sides of said diamond-shaped redoubts being arcs of larger circles concentric with said circular redoubts.
- 13. The low depth tray of claim 4, wherein said floor structure is a generally open grid arrangement comprising longitudinal and lateral struts traversing the length and width of said floor structure, and
- wherein said support areas each comprise a ting member and a plurality of radially extending radial struts, said radial struts connecting to said longitudinal and lateral struts to form a lattice-type arrangement, the bottoms of said ring members forming said first set of redoubts on said floor bottom surface, and said second set of redoubts connected to said longitudinal and lateral struts and disposed between said support areas.
- 14. The low depth tray of claim 12, wherein said ring members are generally open in their centers, the bottoms of said ring members including an annular shelf extending inward to increase the surface area of said first set of redoubts so as to provide a smoother surface for twisting the low depth tray into an unblocked position and for sliding along the tops of containers in another tray therebeneath.
- 15. The low depth tray of claim 12, wherein said second set of redoubts are generally open in their centers, and wherein the bottoms of said second set of redoubts including a shelf extending inward to increase the surface area of said second set of redoubts so as to provide a smoother surface for twisting the low depth tray into an unblocked position and for sliding along the tops of containers in another tray therebeneath.
- 16. The low depth tray of claims 1 or 2, wherein said interior corner ribs, said exterior corner ribs and said corner slots are disposed closer to said end walls than the side walls of said wall structure so as not to interfere with multi-packs of containers.
- 17. The low depth tray of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said tray is constructed of plastic material, and wherein an exterior portion of said band is continuous and adapted for printing, molding or stamping for advertising or informational purposes and any column supporting said continuous portion of said band has material removed to prevent deformations due to shrinking in the plastic material.
- 18. The low depth tray of claims 1 or 3, wherein said wall slots and said wall ribs are disposed on the center ones of said columns along said side walls of said wall structure.
- 19. The low depth tray of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein the exterior lowermost edge of said band comprises a downwardly and inwardly inclined beveled surface adapted to cam said tray downward against the top of a band of another tray when placed in close relation so as to prevent shingling.
- 20. The low depth tray of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said end walls of said tray each comprise a lip extending from said band and at least one anti-shingling tab disposed along each of said end walls, said tab having a downwardly and inwardly inclined beveled surface adapted to cam said tray downward against the top of a band of another tray when placed in close relation so as to prevent shingling.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/963,678 filed Oct. 20, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,884 which is incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (17)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1182452 |
Feb 1970 |
FRX |
2504889 |
Apr 1981 |
FRX |
1030944 |
May 1966 |
GBX |
WO9015758 |
Dec 1990 |
WOX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
963678 |
Oct 1992 |
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