Patent ID: 7128234
Filing Date: 2006-10-31
Classification: B65D,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A stackable low depth case for retaining and transporting bottles comprising: opposing side walls and opposing end walls forming an outer shell, and a case bottom disposed substantially within said outer shell; the side walls including a lower wall portion and a plurality of spaced upwardly projecting pylons, including four corner pylons defining four corners of the case; a vertical rib structure generally disposed within the outer shell defining, in combination with the case bottom, the side walls and the end walls, a plurality of bottle retaining pockets, said plurality of bottle retaining pockets comprise two sets of four pockets configured to support two sets of four equally spaced bottles such that the two sets of four equally spaced bottles are separated by a separation distance (S), such that each of said bottles is spaced from a peripheral edge of the case by a distance (D) which is one-half of the separation distance (S), and such that adjacent pair of the equally spaced bottles are separated by a distance less than the separation distance (S), thereby providing bottle alignment in cross-stacked cases, said pylons extending above said lower wall portions and below a top surface of the retained bottles; said end walls each comprising an integrally molded handle structure having interior and exterior surfaces suspended from an upper portion of one of the adjacent said corner pylons to an upper portion of the other of the adjacent said corner pylons, each handle structure having an uppermost surface that does not extend above a plane containing uppermost surfaces of the four corner pylons, a generally open area being defined below said interior and exterior surfaces of said handle structure and between said interior surface of said handle structure and a first portion of said vertical rib structure such that said handle structure may be freely grasped about substantially the entire periphery thereof; and said end walls each further comprising an integrally molded structural reinforcement member extending between said adjacent corner pylons below the respective handle structure and sufficiently spaced from the respective handle structure to prevent interference with said grasping of the handle structure.