DE29613814U1 - Container carrier - Google Patents

Description

Container carrier

The invention relates to a carrier for bottles or similar containers for placement in bottle crates with partition walls, in particular in pinole crates with partition walls.

So-called quill boxes are commonly used for transporting and storing reusable bottles. These reach into the spaces between bottles with quills that protrude from a base plate. There are also multi-packs made of cardboard that can be filled with several bottles and placed in quill boxes. The quills reach through the quill openings in the bottom of the pack. The consumer can

Patent Attorneys · European Patent Attorneys · Authorized Representatives before the European Patent Office

Attorney: admitted to the Hamburg courts

Deutsche Bank AG Hamburg, No. 05 28497 (bank code 200 700 00) · Postbank Hamburg, No. 28 42 206 (bank code 200 100 20)
Dresdner Bank AG Hamburg, No. 933 60 35 (bank code 200 800 00)

remove individual multi-packs and use them to transport bottles home. After breaking open the packs and emptying the bottles, they can be placed individually in the sleeve box, where they are held at the sides by sleeves or partitions. Special packaging can be used as baskets for return transport and can be placed in the box with the bottles. This includes both packaging that can be placed around the bottles like a sleeve (cf. EP 0 513 566 Bl) and so-called truck loaders, which have compartments for bottles that are open at the top and a bar-like handle in the middle (cf. EP 0 579 895 Al).

For 5-, 10- and other quill boxes, a quill must be placed between two adjacent multi-piece packages. Multi-piece packages are already known for such boxes, which accommodate quills in edge quill cutouts or front-side notches (cf. EP 0 574 653 Bl for sleeve-type carriers and EP 0 579 895 Al for truck loaders).

However, it is also common to have quill boxes that are divided into compartments by vertical partitions, with quills arranged in the compartments. A common box has four compartments surrounded by walls on all sides, in each of which

because two sleeves are arranged so that each compartment can hold six bottles. For such crates, EP 0 436 968 Bl, 0 683 109 Al and 0 513 566 Bl disclose sleeve-type carriers and DE 29 03 163 Al discloses a truckloader-type carrier. The previously known carriers are, however, limited to holding the bottles in one compartment. If the consumer wants to take bottles from several compartments, he must use several multi-packs. This makes handling more difficult and increases the consumption of packaging material.

There are also bottle crates that are divided into compartments by vertical partitions and have narrow bars in the compartments on the top of the base, which define small compartments for holding the bottles in the base area. The bars have a height of around 30 mm, for example. Basically, container carriers of the sleeve type and truckloader type can be inserted into the compartments delimited by the partitions, with their base resting on the upper edge of the bars. This also applies to return transport if the bottle carrier is designed like a basket. Otherwise, the bottles can be inserted into the crate without the carrier, with them being held in the small compartments in the base area. However, even with these bottle crates, the consumer would have to

Grab multi-packs if you want to take bottles from multiple compartments.

Based on this, the invention is based on the object of creating a multi-piece packaging for bottle crates, in particular pinole crates, with partition walls, which facilitates the handling of a larger number of bottles and reduces material consumption.

The object is achieved by a container carrier with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the carrier are specified in the subclaims.

In the container carrier according to the invention, a slot for receiving a partition wall extends across the bottom wall and into the side walls. In addition, the bottom wall can have quill cutouts for receiving the quills, with the slot being arranged between the quill cutouts. As a result, the container carrier can receive the containers from two adjacent compartments and be inserted into them. In a bottle crate without quills, the container carrier can sit on the limiting webs of the bottom compartments. In a quill crate, container carriers with quill cutouts are used so that the quills of adjacent compartments can be inserted into the quills.

penetrate the quill cutouts. For example, the container carrier in the common quill box with six bottles per compartment holds a total of twelve bottles. The carrier is preferably of the sleeve type, with a cover wall connecting the side walls at the top and preferably end walls closing the front sides of the casing. The container carrier can also be of the truck loader type, which is then also equipped with a (e.g. slot-shaped) holder for the partition wall in the middle wall.

Preferably, the slot in the base wall is bridged by at least one separable cardboard bridge. The cardboard bridge stabilizes the blank or the container carrier before it is inserted into the bottle crate. In principle, the separable cardboard bridge can also be attached in the slot area of the side walls. The base wall sections of the packaging also support each other on the cardboard bridge after removal from the bottle crate. To further stabilize the packaging, the slots end at a distance below the upper edges of the side walls.

For transport, the top wall of a sleeve-type carrier can preferably have two spaced-apart access openings. These can have two depressable

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have removable grip tabs delimited by punched lines, which, when pressed in, form a reinforcement or edge protection.

In order to adapt to a bottle shape, the side walls can be trapezoidal and taper towards the top.

Finally, the end wall may consist of interconnected end wall sections, one of which has a tear perforation extending from the ends of a connecting section with an adjacent end wall section. The tear perforation may have two projecting finger engagement areas at one edge.

Preferably, the container carrier is made from a one-piece cut of foldable flat material. All connections can be made by gluing.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show an embodiment of a bottle carrier for a quill box with partitions. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 a one-piece cardboard cut of the bottle carrier
laid out flat in plan view;

Fig. 2 Bottle carrier formed from a blank according to Fig. 1 when inserted into a sleeve box in a roughly schematic side view;

Fig. 3 the same bottle carrier at an advanced stage of the insertion process in the same view;

Fig. 4 Two container carriers of a protruding type inserted into the sleeve box in a roughly schematic front view.

According to Fig. 1, a blank 1 has a base wall 2, on the long sides of which side walls 3 are guided. In the transverse direction, a slot 4 is punched out in the middle of the base wall 2, which extends into the side walls 3 and over about two-thirds of the side wall height. The slot width is dimensioned such that the partition wall of a quill box can penetrate.

Furthermore, there are a total of four quill cutouts 5 in the bottom wall 2. The slot 4 separates a bottom wall section 2' with a pair of quill cutouts 5' from a bottom wall section 2'' with a pair of quill cutouts 5''. The bottom wall sections 2', 2'' are connected to one another by means of a cardboard web 6, which

is connected to the bottom wall section 2' via narrow, separable cardboard bridges 7 and to the bottom wall section 2'' via a fold line 8.

Rectangular end wall sections 8 are connected to the transverse sides of the base wall 2. These have a connecting tongue 9 with a reduced width at the upper edge.

The side walls 3 have a trapezoidal contour that tapers towards the upper edge. On their transverse sides they have essentially rectangular end wall sections 10 at the bottom and essentially trapezoidal end wall sections 11 at the top, which are separated from one another by incisions 12.

Top wall sections 13', 13'' are connected to the upper edge of the side walls 3. These each have a pair of spaced-apart engagement openings 14' and 14 ^7/ in which depressible engagement tabs are delimited by punched lines. The top wall sections 13 ' and 13'' can be placed one above the other and are congruent in the overlapping area. The top wall section 13' is, however, less wide than the top wall section 13'', with an engagement opening 14' cut approximately in the middle.

Further end wall sections 15 are connected to the transverse sides of the cover wall section 13'', which taper outwards in a somewhat trapezoidal shape. The end wall sections 15 have externally connected connecting sections 16. Tear-open perforations 17 are formed in the end wall sections 15, which laterally delimit the connecting sections 16. The beginnings of the tear-open perforation 17 are spaced apart from one another by approximately the width of the connecting tongue 9. Close to the cover wall section ¹³ ', the tear-open perforation 17 has two crescent-shaped areas 18 for finger grip.

During packaging, twelve bottles are pushed onto the base 2 of the blank 1, with a group of six bottles on the base wall section 2' and a group of another six bottles on the base wall section 2". The side walls 3 are then folded up and first the top wall section 13' and then the top wall section 13 '' are folded against the bottle caps and glued together. The end wall sections 10, 11 of the side walls 3 are then folded against the front openings and then the end wall sections 8 are folded up and, if necessary, glued to the end wall sections 10. Finally, the end wall sections 15 are folded down and at their connecting sections 16

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glued to the connecting tongues 9 and, if necessary, glued to the end wall sections 11.

The container carrier 19 thus completed can be inserted into a sleeve box 20. According to Fig. 2 to 4, this has a base 21 and outer walls 22 on its long sides and 23 on its transverse sides. Inside the box 20, partition walls delimit compartments, with partition walls 24 being oriented in the long direction and 25 in the transverse direction of the box, so that they form a "dividing cross" overall. The height of the partition walls 24, 25 decreases towards their intersection point 26. They are only about half as high as the outer walls 22, 23.

In each compartment, two sleeves 27 are arranged, which taper upwards in a known manner and are approximately diamond-shaped in cross-section. In each compartment, the sleeves 27 of the pair are arranged in a staggered manner in the longitudinal direction of the box 20.

A bottle carrier 19 is placed on two adjacent compartments in the transverse direction of the box 20, whereby the two pintle pairs 27 penetrate into its pintle holders 5 and a partition wall 24 penetrates into its slot 4. When inserted, the container carrier 19 is held in place at the periphery by the outer walls.

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the 22, 23 and the partition walls 25 of the spindle box 20. When the cardboard web 6 rests on the partition wall 24, the cardboard bridges 7 are broken through and the cardboard web 6 is pushed upwards by the penetrating partition wall 24. Insertion and removal can be carried out by reaching into the access openings 14.

The consumer can open the bottle carrier 19 by pressing two fingers into the finger grip areas 18 and tearing open the tear perforation 17. Finally, the area delimited by the tear perforation 17 with the front wall section 8 can be folded down and the remainder of the front wall section 15 can be folded up. After folding out the front wall sections 10, 11, the bottles can be pulled out of the front wall openings.

.../12

Claims (18)

- 12 claims 1. Carrier for bottles or similar containers for placement in bottle crates (20) with partitions (24, 25), the carrier (19) consisting of a blank (1) of foldable flat material, in particular cardboard, which has a bottom wall (2) for supporting the containers, side walls (3) on the long sides of the bottom wall (2) for laterally supporting the containers and means (8, 10, 11, 15) for retaining the containers on the transverse sides, a slot (4) for receiving a partition (24) extending across the bottom wall (2) and into the side walls (3). 2. Container carrier according to claim 1 for placement in quill boxes (20) with partition walls (24, 25), wherein the bottom wall (2) has quill cutouts (5) for receiving quills (27) and the slot (4) in the bottom wall (2) extends between quill cutouts (25). 3. Container carrier according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the slot (4) in the bottom wall (2) is bridged by at least one separable cardboard web (6). .../13 4. Container carrier according to claim 3, in which the cardboard web (6) is connected to a bottom wall section (2') on at least one side via narrow separable cardboard bridges (17). 5. Container carrier according to claim 4, wherein the cardboard web (6) is hingedly connected to the other bottom wall section (2") on the other side. 6. Container carrier according to one of claims 3 to 5, in which a cardboard web (6) is arranged on the longitudinal center axis of the bottom wall (2). 7. Container carrier according to one of claims 2 to 6, in which two sleeve cutouts (5) are arranged in the bottom wall (2) on each side of the slot (4). 8. Container carrier according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the slot (4) ends at a distance below the upper edges of the side walls (3). 9. Container carrier according to one of claims 1 to 8, in which the side walls (3) are connected at the top by a cover wall (13). - 14 - 10. Container carrier according to claim 9, wherein the cover wall (13) consists of two interconnected cover wall sections (13', 13"). 11. Container carrier according to claim 9 or 10, in which the cover wall (13) has two spaced-apart engagement openings (14). 12. Container carrier according to one of claims 1 to 11, in which the side walls (3) are trapezoidal and taper in the upper region. 13. Container carrier according to one of claims 1 to 12, in which the means for transversely retaining the containers are end walls (8, 10, 11, 15) bridging the side walls (3), bottom wall (2) and/or top wall (13) on the transverse sides. 14. Container carrier according to claim 13, wherein the end walls have interconnected end wall sections (8, 10, 11, 15). 15. Container carrier according to claims 12 to 14, in which the side walls (3) have end wall sections separated from one another by cuts (12) on their transverse sides. .../15 - 15 cuts
(10, 11). 16. Container carrier according to one of claims 14 to 15, in which the end wall sections (8) on the bottom wall side are rectangular and have a connecting tongue (9) with a reduced width at the upper edge. 17. Container carrier according to claim 16, in which the top wall side end wall sections (15) have a tear perforation (17) which delimits their connecting section (16) with the connecting tongue (9). 18. Container carrier according to claim 17, wherein the tear-open perforation (17) has two projecting finger engagement areas (18).