Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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I
BOTTLE CARRIER
The invention relates to carriers for articles such as bottles. More ~J~U li.,ul~u Iy the invention
relates lo carriers which grip the tops of bottles for example.
It is known to provide carriers of the top gripping type which comprise a series of
~ o~ ~t~ panels including top, bottom ar.d side panels, and article receiving apertures
in the top and bottom panel which receive the neck of a bottle. In order to retain the bottle
in the receiving apertures, it is known to provide so-called sun burst features around the
periphery of an aperture such that when a bottle is passed through the aperture the plurality
of tabs which form the sun burst engage the underside of a bottle cap or protruding flange
for example. A top gripping carrier of this type is disclosed in GB 2154197B.
Another type of top gripping carrier is disclosed in EP 42720BI wherein a triangular
formation is shown having top and bottom apertures such that the load of a bottle is
; l lr~ through the triangular side walls adjacent the aperture into the base panel thereby
to provide a relatively rigid article gripping device.
There are several problems with known carriers including for example that they expose the
bottle cap and that part of the neck label directly beneath the cap which is often damaged and
unsightly.
The invention seeks to avoid or at least mitigate these and other problems of the prior art.
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Accordingly, the invention provides an article carrier for packaging necked articles such as
bottles, comprising hingably i"t~ top, bottom and side walls wherein the bottom
wall comprises an article receiving aperture adapted to receive the neck of an article and
wherein the carton further comprises article retaining means disposed ' the bottom
and top wall such that the top of the associated article is retained between the top and bottom
of the carrier.
A.l. v 'y the unsightly, damaged label can be screened from the view of a customer
purchasing the packaged articles. Additionally, a strong article retaining means can be
provided within the carrier.
The calrier of the invention can comprise article retaining means which comprises a retention
panel having a bottle top receiving and reta~ning aperture. The rim of the bottle top
receiving and retaining aperture can be upwardly convex so as to provide resistance against
downward movement of an associated article engaged therein. The carrier can also comprise
an upper support member w....~li..v the retention panel and the top wall of the carrier.
The retention panel can be hingably connected to the side walls of the carrier.
Preferably the c~rlvuld~iul. of the carrier panels including the upper wall and retention panel
is such as to require distortion of the panel configuration in order to enable removal of an
article frvm the carri--.
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., Preferably, a carrier according to the invention comprises a plurality of article receiving
apertures and associated retaining means configured to carry a linear array of articles.
The carrier can also comprise end closure means which at least partially obscure from view
the tops of the articles retained in the carrier. The end closure means can be struck from that
part of the carrier which form an article neck receiving aperture and is hingably connected
to the rim thereof.
Another aspect of the invention provides a blank for forming a carrier according to the other
aspect of the invention.
The blank can compnse a series of hingably ~ panel portions including
/ endmost securing tab, an ' panel for forming article retaining
means, a central support panel, an upper panel portion, side panel, and base panel portion
which panels are repeated about a transverse symmetry axis through one of the panels.
Another aspect of the invention provides use of a blank according to another aspect of the
invention to form a carrier of packaged articles.
An ...,I,~;,... t of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with
reference to the ac~~ g drawing~, in which:-
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FIGURE I is a plan view of a blank for forming a carton according to the invention;
FIGUR~ 2 is an end elevation view of a carton according to the invention showing the article
loading process with end closure 40 removed for clarity;
FIGURE 3 is an end elevation view of the carton shown in Figure 2 with an article loaded;
FIGURE 3a is a sectional plan view along line X-X of the carton shown in Figure 3; and
FIGURE 4 is an end elevation view of the carton shown in Figures 2 and 3 during removal
of an article.
Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a carton blank 10 in a particular form of the invention
which is adapted to produce a carton for carrying three necked articles such as bottles. In
this particular example, blank 10 is ~ l about a central transverse fold line 23. The
blank comprises at one end a glue tab 12, hinged to an ' retention panel 14. The
retention panel 14 is hinged to a central support panel 16 along fold line 15 which is
interrupted by three article top receiving apertures 36 struck from panels 14 and 16. CentIal
support panel 16 is hinged to top wall panel portion 18 which in turn is hinged to side panel
20. Panel 20 is hinged to base panel portion 22 which in turn is hinged to a second base
panel portion 24 along interrupted fold line 23. Due to the reflective symmetry about fold
line 23, carton blank 10 therefore comprises side panel 26, upper panel portion 28, central
support panel 30, ;..~ .lhl~ retention panel 32 and a further glue tab 34.
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The base of the carton comprising panels 22 and 24 comprise article neck receiving apertures
38 which interrupt the central fold line 23. In this P ..',o i;".. ' the two endmost apertures
38 have struck therein end closures 40. The end closures 40 are hinged to the base panels
22 and 24 along fold lines 54 and comprise two main panel portions 42 and 44 hingably
connected along that part of fold line 23 which extends into the end closures 40. The main
panels 42 and 44 comprise lateral tabs 48 and 52 hingably connected to but partially cut from
the main end closure panels by cuts 46 and 50 l~ii~,ly.
The end elevation view shown in Figure 2 shows a carton 11 constructed from blank 10 in
which all the carton panels are clearly indicated. It is evident therefore that glue tabs 12 and
34 are adhered to the inside faces of side panels 20 and 26 I~L~Iy. T.he I g of
the glue tabs is such as to bring central support panels 16 and 30 together so that they can
be adhered to one another as shown in Figure 2. In this way, the carton is formed having
an upper wall comprising panels 18 and 28, side walls comprising side panel 20 and 26, and
a base wall comprising panels 22 and 24. Additionally, the carton 11 comprises article
retairling means 60 - ' the top and bottom walls.
The article retaining means comprises retention panels 14 and 32, and central support panels
16 and 30 which are formed within the carton to provide apertures to receive article tops and
retain each article in the carton until it is removed for use Thus, an aperture is created by
two associated apertures 36 from panels 14 and 32 as can be seen from Figure 3a. Means
60 is connected to the top wali of the carrier 11 along fold lines 17 and 29 and to the side
walls
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20 and 26 along fold lines 13 and 33. In this example the fold lines 13 and 33 are disposed
such that side wall panel portions 20a and 26a are taller than panels 16 and 30 which due to
the relative size of the other panels causes panels 14 and 32 to be inclined to the horiwntal
in the packaged position shown in Figure 3.
Referring now the operation of loading cartor 11 with a bottle B as shown in Figures 2 and
31 it can be seen that carton 11 in its initial position has its top panels 18 and 28 inclined to
the horiwntal by an angle which is less than that of the ;I-t 1~ retention panels 14 and
32. A bottle top C is passed through an aperture 38 with little resistance but in order for the
cap C to pass through the aperture in t I~ '- retention panels 14 and 32, the rim 37 of
the aperture 36 needs to flex outwardly and only minimal resistance to this movement is
presented provided that the carton 11 is made of a blank of suitable resilient mate~ial such
as medium calliper ~ Jo~ i, for example. Having passed the carton 11 onto the top of
a bottle B as shown in Figure 3 the carton 1l is positioned so that the top panels 18 and 28
are substantially horiwntal or parallel with the top cap of the bottle, and substantially parallel
to base panels 22 and 24. Since the base wall is wider than the top wall of the carton 11,
the side walls 20 and 26 are inclined to the vertical so as to contour the neck of the bottle.
However, the configuration of the internal bottle retaining means 60 is such that; ~ \f.l;.Ur
retention panels 14 and 32 are inclined at an angle relative to the planes of the top and
bottom panels of the packaged carton. As can be seen from Figure 2, side panel portions
20a and 26a are larger t an central support panels 30 and 16 respectively.
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In order to remove a bottle B from the carton 11, it is necessary for the bottle caps C to pass
back through the associated part of the aperture 36 in the ' retention panels 14
and 32. However, the underside of the bottle cap C engages the ' retention
panels 14 and 32 adjacent the aperture rim 37 thereby restraining further movement of the
bottle relative to the carton 11 as can be seen from Figure 3a. As the relative movement
continues the bottle cap C forces the i.~ panels 14 and 32 into an alignment
'ly parallel to the base panel 22 and 24 as seen in Figure 4. However, as can be
seen in Figure 4, this movement causes the upper panels 18 and 28 to be drawn downwardly
against the natural resistance of the carton structure. Accordingly, a resistive force is
presented against the withdrawal of the bottle from the carton 11. This resistance is of
course quite different from the action provided when loading the carton due to the relative
sizes and ~4 ~ of various panels as described earlier. ~ y a greatly
increased force is required to remove the bottle from the carton compared to the force
required to load the bottles into the carton. It is thereby found that a suitable carton retaining
means can be provided so that for example, the three bottles contained within a carton 11 can
be carried without significant risk of a bottle becoming accidentally detached from the carton.
Naturally, it would also be possible to provide a handle on the carton.
It is apparent therefore that the carton provides the various advantages of enabling good
bottle retention in a carton whilst providing a carton which also hides from view that part of
the bottle label L adjacent the bottle cap C which can be unsightly from a marketing or
aesthetic point of view or which may, for example be furnished with a single product bar
code. Further, a carton made from p.l~k:lbUdlll or similar material can of course carry
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printed matter such as product ~Pci~ n or advertising material thereby enhancing the point
of sale ~ t~Li~ of the product.
As well as obscuring from view from the sides of the carrier that part of the label L which
might be torn, the carton can also comprise end closures 40 which as shown 5~hPn q~ qlly
in Figure 3 act to obscure the majority of the end view of the bottle neck retained in the
carton 11 and ~u Liuul~uly that part of the label L directly below the bottle cap C. These end
closures 40 can be put into position simply by passing a bottle through the associate aperture
38 r nd by causing the end closure 40 to pivot about hinge line 54. The end closure 40 is
then raised to an upright position wherein friction tabs 48 and 52 fold about hinges at
opposite ends of cuts 50 and 46 thereby to ret~in the end closure 40 in its upright position.
Adv ~ '.y, the end closure 40 can be contoured at it~s upper end 56 so as to marry the
shape of the underside of ' panels 14 and 32 in the formed carton 11. This
enables complete screening of the end beneath the i..t~,., - ' pane~s 14 and 32 and above
the bottom walls 22 and 24 and also enables a further resistance against movement of the
illtUI ' panels 14 and 32 when trying to withdraw a bottle B from carton 11.
