EP0619794B1 - Bottle case - Google Patents

Abstract

A bottle case has pegs (2) hollow on the underside projecting upwards from its base (1) arranged at the corners at which four square compartments (3) meet. At each side wall section (7) facing one of the adjacent compartments (3) the hollow pegs (2) have a bracket (10) secured to the hollow peg (2) at its upper and lower end which is separated from the adjacent regions of the side wall section (7) by slots (11) and projects slightly into the compartment (3). It is reinforced on the inside by two longitudinal ribs (15). It forms a clamping component which, by deforming slightly, develops a relatively high effective pressure between its approximately vertical lower section (13) and a bottle (16) inserted into the compartment (3) and thus reliably retains even empty pet bottles.

Description

The invention relates to a bottle crate according to the preamble of claim 1. Bottle crates of this type are used for the transport and storage of beverage bottles in particular.

The plastic bottles, which have become increasingly widespread in recent times, in particular the light PET bottles, pose an additional problem compared to the transport of relatively heavy glass bottles, namely that they are very easily transported by the wind when transported on the loading area of a truck, can be lifted out of the bottle crate by vibrations or the interaction of both.

A generic bottle crate is known from WO-A-92 16416 (see FIGS. 1-9). For the insertion of bottles, this preferably has cavities arranged in a square grid, which are separated from one another by separating elements and / or webs, each cavity having a rigid or elastically expandable or deformable constriction on the inside wall, by means of which an inserted bottle in the region of its shoulder or in Transition area of the bottle body to the bottle neck is held. The narrowing of the cavities in the shoulder area and the additional cavity in the area of the bottle bottom compared to the bottle used allow the bottles - when the bottle crate is tilted by 90 ° - to rotate or tilt around the constriction acting as a pivot point due to their own weight, so that the bottle slants. Such freedom of movement of the bottles could, however Transport lead to damage. However, if the narrowing of the cavity in the area of the bottle shoulder is chosen to be narrower in order to hold the bottles more securely, damage to the passages that are now too narrow compared to the diameter of the bottle body must be expected if the bottles are inserted and removed frequently.

Another generic bottle crate is known from DE-A-38 01 224 (see FIGS. 5-8) and has elastic clamping elements. These are designed as tongues protruding downwards, bent outwards and then downwards on separating columns made of two crossed tabs projecting from the floor or fastened laterally to a truss cross. Their job is to prevent twisting of glass bottles transported in the bottle crate and to ensure that the labels on the bottles face a window in the side wall of the bottle crate and thus remain visible from the outside. In practice, however, there is a risk of breakage or other injury to the clamping element due to improper handling of the bottle crate.

A third generic bottle crate is known from BE-A-613 221 (see FIG. 12) and has column-shaped whole or half separating elements which are obviously arranged in a square grid. These separating elements are designed as elastic hollow bodies which have bulges in the area near the floor. They can also be pear-shaped overall, in this case the bulges are spaced from the ground by a constriction. These bulges are more or less deformed when the bottles are inserted and thus contact the bottle surface in an undefined manner. In addition, partitions were dispensed with, which, for example, could connect the partition elements to one another so that they can be reached a sufficient stability of the bottle crate, considerably more material and space had to be used for the floor or wall construction, which hardly takes today's goals in terms of material and space optimization into account.

A fourth generic bottle crate is known from DE-A-38 06 924 (see FIGS. 3-5) and has separating elements known as quills, which are offset from one another in the circumferential direction and each have springs intended for contact with a bottle. The space delimited by these springs between the same and the intermediate or side walls of the bottle crate is smaller than the dimensions of a bottle. Partitions are provided for subdivision and stabilization of the bottle crate, which can also separate one bottle unit (e.g. 6-pack) from the next. Due to the described arrangement of separating elements and side or intermediate walls, retaining springs contact the bottles used only on one side, but in any case in an area that is smaller than half the circumference of the bottle.

It has been shown that the clamping elements of the generic bottle crates do not form an ideal safeguard, since they either exert too little or one-sided pressure on the bottles or are relatively deformed and are exposed to a concentrated load at certain points, which affects their service life.

The invention is intended to remedy this. The invention, as specified in claim 1 and further developed in the dependent claims, creates a bottle crate with elastic clamping elements which have a relatively steep spring characteristic, so that a sufficient contact pressure is developed even with slight deformation.

Fig. 1

einen Ausschnitt aus einer Draufsicht auf einen erfindungsgemässen Flaschenkasten,

Fig. 2

einen diagonalen Querschnitt durch ein Fach des Flaschenkastens nach Fig. 1 mit einer Trennsäule und einer Halbtrennsäule, an welche es anstösst und

Fig. 3

einen Ausschnitt aus einer Unteransicht des Flaschenkastens nach Fig. 1.

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail with reference to figures that represent only one exemplary embodiment. Show it

Fig. 1

a section of a plan view of a bottle crate according to the invention,

Fig. 2

a diagonal cross section through a compartment of the bottle crate according to FIG. 1 with a separation column and a semi-separation column to which it abuts and

Fig. 3

a section of a bottom view of the bottle crate according to FIG. 1.

The bottle crate shown in the figures has a bottom 1, from which protrude separation columns which are designed as hollow pins 2 which are open at the bottom. The hollow pins 2 are spaced apart from one another and form a regular pattern, preferably they are arranged in the corners of squares which form compartments 3 and are connected by low dividing walls 4. The bottom sections in the compartments are formed by ribs and rings 5 connected to the hollow pins 2 and the dividing walls 4. The bottom 1 is surrounded by side walls 6, which can be provided with windows and on which the hollow pin 2 correspondingly designed half-hollow pin 2 'are arranged.

The hollow pins 2 have an approximately square cross section. Each of the four compartments 3, which abut one of them, the hollow pin 2 turns to one of its side wall sections 7, which are connected by beads 8 at the edges to form a substantially closed side wall. At the upper end of the hollow pin 2, the side wall sections 7 converge approximately pyramid-like. At the top there is an opening 9 which allows the drainage of Liquid allows when the bottle crate - with the bottom up - is washed.

Each of the side wall sections 7 has a substantially vertically oriented bracket 10, which itself forms part of the same, but is separated from the wall regions bordering on both sides by narrow slots 11 and protrudes somewhat into the compartment 3 to which the side wall section 7 faces. At its upper end, the bracket 10 merges into the inclined part of the side wall section 7, at its lower end into a foot part 12 of the hollow pin 2 that widens slightly downwards. It consists of a lower section 13, which is slightly behind the side wall section 7 inclined on the outside, approximately vertically aligned and an upper section 14 which is bent towards the hollow pin 2. For reinforcement, it has a longitudinal rib 15 protruding into the interior of the hollow pin 2 on each edge.

If a bottle 16 (shown in dashed lines) is inserted into the compartment 3, the bracket 10 is pressed slightly against the hollow pin 2 and, owing to the anchoring on both sides thereof, develops a relatively large contact pressure which pushes the lower section 13 of the bracket 10 to the outside the bottle 16 presses, d. H. is effective on a fairly large area, so that there is a reliable frictional connection. The high bending stiffness of the hollow pin 2, even with a small wall thickness, ensures that the contact pressure is not reduced when the bottle crate is only partially filled by bending the hollow pin 2 sideways against an unfilled neighboring compartment.

Claims (4)

1. Bottle crate having a plurality of dividing columns which jut up from the base (1), are spaced apart from one another and form a regular pattern, in that they are arranged in the corners of squares forming compartments (3) and are connected to one another by means of dividing walls (4), at least some of these dividing columns bearing elastic clamping elements which protrude into adjoining compartments (3), so that at least one clamping element protrudes into each compartment (3), characterized in that each clamping element is configured as a bow (10) which can be pressed in towards the dividing column and has an approximately vertically aligned lower section (13) and an adjoining upper section (14) which is bent over obliquely towards the dividing column, this bow (10) being connected at its upper end to the dividing column and at its lower end likewise to the dividing column or to the base (1) in such a way that when a bottle (16) is inserted, there is a slight deformation of the bow (10), owing to it being anchored on both sides, and a sufficiently large contact force, and thus a reliable fractional engagement, is produced between the surface of the approximately vertically aligned section (13) of this bow (10) and the surface of this inserted bottle (16), each bow (10) being reinforced in a dimensionally stable manner by means of at least one longitudinal rib (15) in the region of the approximately vertically aligned section (13), and tapering of the longitudinal ribs at the upper or lower end of the bow (10) being provided, the longitudinal rib (15) being arranged in each case on the inside of the bow (10).
2. Bottle crate according to Claim 1, characterized in that the dividing columns are configured as downwardly open hollow pins (2), with an essentially enclosed side wall out of which the bows (10), separated by lateral slots (11) from edge regions adjoining on each side, protrude slightly into a compartment (3).
3. Bottle crate according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each dividing column, for each compartment (3) bordering it, exhibits at least one bow (10), which projects into the compartment (3) in question.
4. Bottle crate according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it exhibits side walls (6) on which half dividing columns (2') are disposed, and in that each half dividing column (2') exhibits, for each compartment (3) bordering it, at least one bow (10), which projects into the compartment (3) in question.

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