A wrap-around carrier formed from a unitary paperboard blank and particularly adapted for accommodating large bottles, the carrier comprising a bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom and inclined toward each other to conform generally to the upwardly tapered configuration of the bottles, the side walls being joined by a narrow panel overlying the tops of said bottles and provided with handgripping apertures adjacent the top panel. Handle reinforcing panels are hinged to the carrier side walls and are folded inwardly into overlapping relationship therewith to provide a double play thickness of material in the vicinity of the hand-gripping apertures.

This invention relates to a bottle carrier of the wrap-around type and 
particularly, though not exclusively, to that class of wrap-around carrier 
adapted for accommodating a pair of large bottles, for example, of 2 liter 
capacity. The carrier is formed with hand-gripping apertures in its side 
walls which are reinforced so as to better withstand the load transmitted 
to the gripping apertures when the carrier is carried. 
One aspect of the present invention provides a wrap-around carrier for 
accommodating a plurality of bottles arranged in a single row, which 
carrier is formed from a unitary blank of foldable sheet material and 
comprises a bottom wall, opposing side walls extending upwardly from the 
bottom panel and inclined toward each other to conform generally to the 
upwardly tapered configuration of the bottles, and a top panel joined to 
the upper edges of the side walls, characterized by a reinforced 
hand-gripping aperture formed in at least one of the side walls of the 
carrier, said reinforcement being provided by at least one handle 
reinforcing panel hinged to and folded inwardly into overlapping 
relationship with the respective side wall of the carrier to provide extra 
material around said hand-gripping aperture. 
Another aspect of the invention provides an elongate blank for forming a 
wrap-around carrier of the type suitable for accommodating a linear series 
of bottles, which blank comprises a top wall panel, a pair of side wall 
panels hinged respectively to opposed transverse edges of said top wall 
panel, and a pair of bottom wall panels hinged respectively to said side 
wall panels, characterized in that each of said side wall panels is formed 
with a hand-gripping aperture and a handle reinforcing panel hinged to the 
side wall panel along a fold line extending obliquely with respect to the 
longitudinal and transverse axes of the blank, each of said handle 
reinforcing panels being formed with an aperture for registration with a 
respective hand-gripping aperture when the reinforcing panel is folded 
into overlapping relationship with its associated side wall panel.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 generally designates the central 
top panel of the carrier `C` which is narrow relative to the other carrier 
panels. A pair of side walls are hinged to opposed transverse edges of the 
top panel, the side walls comprising a pair of upper sloping panels 2 and 
3 hinged along fold lines 4 and 5, respectively, to the transverse side 
edges of top panel 1 and a pair of main side wall panels 6 and 7 hinged to 
the top sloping panels 2 and 3 along transverse fold lines 8 and 9, 
respectively. Similarly, bottom sloping panels 10 and 11 are hinged to the 
bottom edges of the main side wall panels 6 and 7 along transverse fold 
lines 12 and 13, respectively. Formed in bottom sloping panel 10 are 
bottle heel receiving openings 14 and 15. As is well known in the art, the 
bottom heel portions of the bottles protrude through the openings 14 and 
15 which respectively serve to hold the bottles `B` in place within the 
carrier. In a similar manner, slits 16 and 17 are formed in the bottom 
sloping panel 11 and have a corresponding function to that of the openings 
14 and 15 in bottom sloping panel 10. 
For forming the bottom of the carrier, a pair of bottom panels 18 and 19 
are hinged respectively to the bottom sloping panels 10 and 11 along 
transverse fold lines 20 and 21. 
In order to tighten the wrapper about the pair of bottles `B` during the 
packaging operation, a pair of tightening apertures 22, 23 are struck from 
the bottom panel 19 and two pairs of similar tightening apertures 24, 25 
and 26, 27 are formed in the bottom panel 18. As is understood in the art, 
suitable machine elements enter the tightening apertures 24, 25 and move 
underneath the pair of bottles towards the bottom panel 19. Similar 
machine elements enter the tightening apertures 22, 23 and draw the bottom 
panel 19 towards the bottom panel 18. 
The wrapper is suitably tightened when the apertures 22, 23 and 26, 27, 
respectively, are brought into register and generally simultaneously 
apertures 24, 25 are brought into register with the respective scalloped 
areas 28, 29 formed in the free end edge of bottom panel 19. After the 
wrapper has thus been tightened, locking tabs 30 to 32, formed in the 
bottom panel 18, are driven through cooperating locking openings defined 
by the retaining tabs 33 to 35 formed in the other bottom panel 19. Of 
course, the panels 18 and 19 are then disposed in overlapping relationship 
with panel 18 being on the outside. 
In order to minimize endwise movement of the bottles within the carrier, a 
pair of downwardly inclined bottle retaining flaps 36 and 37 are hinged to 
opposed ends of the top panel 1 along longitudinal fold lines 38 and 39 
respectively. The retaining flaps 36, 37 are further joined to the top 
sloping panels 2, 3 by means of gusset panels 40 to 43 along oblique fold 
lines 44 to 51, respectively, which serve to maintain the flaps in their 
downwardly inclined positions. 
In order to lift and carry the carrier `C`, a pair of hand-gripping 
apertures 52 and 53 are formed in each of the upper sloping panels 2, 3, 
respectively. Hand-gripping aperture 52 in formed with a hand-cushioning 
flap 54 and, similarly the hand-gripping aperture 53 is provided with 
hand-cushioning flap 55. 
In order to strengthen the handle area of the carrier, a pair of handle 
reinforcing panels 56, 57 are hinged to the upper sloping panels 2, 3 
along oblique fold lines 58, 59, respectively, which fold lines extend 
entirely within the confines of the side walls 6 and 7. The handle 
reinforcing panel 56 is formed with a central elongate aperture 60 and 
similarly the handle reinforcing panel 57 is provided with a central 
elongate aperture 61. As will be best seen from FIG. 2, each of the handle 
reinforcing panels 56 and 57 is struck at least in part from a side wall 
of the carrier and, more particularly, partly from the respective upper 
sloping panel 2, 3 and partly from the respective main side wall panel 6, 
7 along side edges 62, 63, respectively. Moreover, the handle reinforcing 
panels 56 and 57 are each constructed and arranged so as to lie obliquely 
with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the blank. Hence, an 
extension of the longitudinal axis of each of the panels 56 and 57 
intersect one another so as to form an obtuse angle .alpha. and intersect 
the central longitudinal axis of the blank to form acute angle .beta. and 
.gamma.. Desirably, the point of mutual intersection of the extended axes 
lies within the area defined by the adjacent bottle retaining flap 36 when 
the blank is in its unfolded condition. At any rate, however, it is 
preferred to have the hand-gripping apertures 52, 53 and hand hole 
reinforcing panels 56, 57 arranged and dimensioned so that the retaining 
flap 36 will be accommodated between the two hand hole reinforcing panels 
56, 57 as it is shown in FIG. 2. 
As best seen in FIG. 3, each of the handle reinforcing panels 56, 57 is 
folded about the fold lines 58 and 59, respectively, into overlapping 
relationship with the interior surface of the upper sloping panels 2, 3, 
respectively, and preferably are glued thereto. It will be noted that the 
fold lines 58 and 59 are arranged so that the elongate apertures 60 and 61 
are brought into register with the apertures 52 and 53, respectively, 
whereby the longitudinal axes of the reinforcing panels extend 
perpendicularly with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the 
blank. Thus, a double ply thickness of material is provided in the region 
of the hand-gripping apertures of the carrier. 
In order to provide for easy access to the bottles `B`, a tear-away panel 
64 is formed in the upper sloping panel 2 and provided by two series of 
perforations 65, 66, respectively. 
The wrap-around carrier according to the invention thus provides a package 
which has increased strength in the vicinity of the handle means, a 
feature which is extremely desirable in packages accommodating large 
capacity bottles. Moreover the reinforcement is provided by supplementary 
panels arranged in such a manner as to afford considerable savings in 
materials.