CONTAINER CARRIER

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application, Ser. No. 63/725,287, filed on 26 Nov. 2024. This application is also a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Patent Application, Ser. No. 18/960,696, filed 26 Nov. 2024, which claims the benefit of Provisional U.S. Patent Application, Ser. No. 63/604,488, filed 30 Nov. 2023.

The aforementioned co-pending provisional applications and related patent application are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety and is made a part hereof, including but not limited to those portions which specifically appear hereinafter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a flexible carrier for carrying a plurality of containers such as bottles or cans.

Description of Prior Art

Conventional container carriers are often used to unitize a plurality of similarly sized containers, such as cans, bottles, jars and boxes and/or similar containers that require unitization. Flexible plastic ring carriers and paperboard boxes are two such conventional container carriers.

Conventional flexible ring carriers include multi-packaging devices that engage the chime, rim or rib around the upper portion of the container, called “rim-applied carriers” or “RAC carriers.” Another conventional flexible ring carrier is the sidewall-applied carrier, called “SAC carriers,”wherein the multi-packaging device engages the sidewall of the containers.

Conventional carriers are arranged in aligned arrays of longitudinal rows and transverse ranks of container receiving apertures. A common arrangement is two rows of three ranks of longitudinally and transversely aligned container receiving apertures forming six total container receiving apertures and a “six-pack.” Other common configurations include two rows of four ranks forming an eight container multipackage and three rows of four ranks forming a twelve container multipackage.

Flexible carriers are applied to containers by stretching the carrier around the diameter of the container, and allowing the stretched carrier to recover, providing a tight fit. As described above, the carrier is typically applied to the chime or rib, where this structure exists, in a rim-applied carrier, or to the main sidewall, in a sidewall-applied carrier.

Several modes of failure are known in existing carriers and limit the amount of stretch designed into such carriers. A first common mode of failure occurs if the container engaging portion of the carrier is stretched too much during application. As a result, the carrier may stretch beyond its yield strength and not adequately recover, a condition also called “neck down,” leading to package failure. However, if the aperture is too large and the container engaging portion is not stretched enough, it may not develop enough tension to adequately engage the container, leading to package failure.

Another common mode of failure is caused by stress risers within the carrier created by notches or scratches within the otherwise smooth flexible carrier. Small notches or scratches may be formed during either the manufacturing process or when the carrier is passed over and against the containers. These notches, scratches or tears result in stress risers that propagate into larger tears due to the stresses placed on the carrier during application and/or by the weight of the package thereby causing failure such as a dislodged container.

Recent flexible carriers have incorporated post-consumer recycled (PCR) material and/or other material and/or additives that lower the environmental burden resulting from disposal. Such material and/or additives may affect the ability of a carrier to recover after application. As such, a need exists to design a flexible carrier that permits a firm engagement of the individual container engagement apertures with the respective containers following application of the carrier to the containers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to a container carrier for unitizing a plurality of containers into a multipack. The subject container carrier preferably includes a geometry that remains firmly engaged with the sidewall of a container, such as a can, to maintain package integrity following application and remains firmly engaged when the package is lifted and carried.

The subject container carrier for unitizing a plurality of containers preferably includes a plurality of outer bands and inner bands forming an array of container receiving apertures arranged in two or more transverse pairs. Each outer band of the plurality of outer bands preferably forms a convex container engaging portion of each container receiving aperture. Each inner band of the plurality of inner bands also preferably forms a convex container engaging portion of each container receiving aperture.

A central grasping aperture is preferably positioned between each transverse pair of container receiving apertures. The central grasping aperture includes opposite radiused ends and a central expanded opening.

A stress relief cutout is additionally positioned along each inner band between each container receiving aperture and each central grasping aperture. The resulting geometry enables a sidewall-applied carrier that isolates the containers in an engaged position when a user grabs the package so that the package maintains integrity and all containers are retained within the container carrier. This is because each aperture pair provides a consistent pathway for even stress distribution while the carrier is stretched for application and isolates forces exerted while lifting the package through the central grasping aperture.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended claims and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top plan view of a container carrier according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a top plan view of a container carrier according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a top plan view of a container carrier according to one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 shows a side view of a multipackage formed by a container carrier according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a container carrier 10 to unitize a plurality of containers into beverage multipacks. The container carrier 110 according to this invention is shown in FIGS. 1-4. FIGS. 1-3 show a container carrier according to an embodiment having ten container receiving openings and FIG. 4 shows a completed multipack featuring a unitized plurality of six containers.

The flexible sheet 20 used to form the flexible carrier 110 is desirably a polymeric or plastic sheet, which can be formed by an extrusion process and then stamped or cut to form the container carrier 110. The flexible sheet 120 preferably comprises a thickness which provides sufficient structural integrity to carry a desired number of containers. For instance, each container carrier 110 may be designed to carry two, four, six, eight, ten or twelve containers of a desired product having a specific weight, volume, shape and size. For most applications, the flexible sheet 120 may have a thickness of about 3-50 mils, suitably about 5-30 mils, commonly about 10-20 mils.

The flexible sheet 120 used to form the container carrier 110 is formed using a polymer composition that preferably includes a high-pressure low density polyethylene polymer. Often, this polyethylene polymer is blended with post-consumer recycled (PCR) material and/or other additives or blends to extrude the flexible sheet 20 used in the finished container carrier 110. Such a composition preferably provides a container carrier with satisfactory recovery after stretch, desired elongation and strength at application, and resistance to tearing when the carrier is notched or scratched, however, these factors may be affected by the PCR content of the flexible sheet 120 versus virgin polyethylene polymer alone.

The container carrier 110 generally include a plurality of container receiving apertures 125 that are each stretched around container 50 to form a unitized package 115 of containers 150, such as shown in FIG. 4. As described, portions of the container carrier 110 are stretched a sufficient amount to permit a tight, gripping engagement with containers 150. This tight, gripping engagement also preferably maximizes the amount of material of the container carrier 110 positioned in the vertical plane, i.e., in contact with the sidewalls of containers 150.

FIG. 1 illustrates one structure for the container carrier 110 of the present invention for forming a package of ten containers. The illustrations are exemplary, and the invention is not limited to the flexible carriers 110 or packages shown. Each container carrier 110 preferably includes the flexible sheet 120 having a plurality of bands defining a plurality of container receiving apertures 125, each for receiving a container 150. The flexible sheet 120 includes bands or rings of material, termed container engaging portions 130, 132, that surround each container receiving aperture 125. Such container receiving portions 130 stretchingly engage or grip the respective containers to form a unitized package of containers 150. FIG. 4 shows a unitized package of six containers utilizing the subject container carrier 110.

Specifically, the container carrier 110 preferably includes a plurality of outer bands 135 and inner bands 40 forming an array of container receiving apertures 125 arranged in two or more transverse pairs.

Each outer band 135 of the plurality of outer bands 135 preferably forms a convex container engaging portion 130 of each container receiving aperture 125. These convex container engaging portions 130 are located along an outer periphery of the container carrier 110, as shown in FIG. 1.

Each inner band 140 of the plurality of inner bands 140 preferably forms a convex container engaging portion 132 of each container receiving aperture 125. These convex container engaging portions 132 are preferably located through a central area of the container carrier 110, as shown in FIG. 1. As a result of the outer band 135 and inner band 140 configurations, each container receiving aperture 135 preferably includes three convex edges. Also as shown in FIG. 1, two generally straight edges may connect each outer band 135 with each inner band 140.

A central grasping aperture 160 is preferably positioned between each transverse pair of container receiving apertures 125. The central grasping aperture 160 preferably includes opposite radiused ends 164 and a central expanded opening 166.

A stress relief cutout 170 is preferably positioned along each inner band 140 between each container receiving aperture 125 and each central grasping aperture 160. According to one embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the stress relief cutout 170 comprises an inner edge following a contour of the central expanded opening 166 of the central grasping aperture 160 and an outer edge following a contour of the pair of container receiving apertures 125.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show additional embodiments of the container carrier 10 wherein the stress relief cutout 170 is formed as an arcuate slot. The arcuate slot preferably maintains a generally uniform width over its length.

As shown in FIG. 4, each container receiving aperture is engaged with a sidewall of a container 150, such as a can, to create the final unitized package 115.

The resulting geometry enables a sidewall-applied carrier 110 that isolates the containers 150 in an engaged position when a user grabs the package 115 so that the package 115 maintains integrity and all containers are retained within the container carrier. This is because each aperture pair provides a consistent pathway for even stress distribution while the carrier is stretched for application and isolates forces exerted while lifting the package through the central grasping aperture 160.

The invention illustratively disclosed herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element, part, step, component, or ingredient which is not specifically disclosed herein.

While in the foregoing detailed description this invention has been described in relation to certain preferred embodiments thereof, and many details have been set forth for purposes of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is susceptible to additional embodiments and that certain of the details described herein can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of the invention.