Trays for holding a forest of bottles and stacking the same in layers

A tray according to the present invention comprises a plastic body having upper and lower surfaces. A number of bottom sockets are distributively formed in the upper surface of the body so the respective bottom portions of bottles can be inserted individually in the bottom sockets. Each bottom socket has a configuration which is obtained by connecting those portions of the respective cross-sectional contours of the bottom portions of two or more different types of bottles which are situated outermost when the individual contours are superposed concentrically so that at least two diametrically facing regions of the one contour are not situated inside the other contour. Cap socket corresponding one of the bottom sockets is defined on the lower surface of the body. Each cap socket is a hole, such as a stepped hole, which has at least two hole portions with different inside diameters.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to trays for holding a forest of bottles 
filled with a fruit juice drink, coffee, sports drink, black tea, green 
tea, oolong, and so forth. More particularly, this invention relates to 
trays adapted to be used in a manner such that one tray is put on a forest 
of bottles held on another tray, whereby the bottles can be stacked in 
layers. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
The trays of this type or the so-called bottle trays are disclosed, for 
example, in Published Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application Nos. 
62-48913 and 62-63075. Each of these conventional bottle trays has a 
number of recesses arranged in the form of a matrix on the upper surface 
thereof. Each of the recesses constitutes a bottom socket in which the 
bottom portion of a bottle is to be inserted. Also, a number of recesses 
are arranged on the lower surface of the bottle tray in the same manner as 
the bottom sockets, that is, so as to be coaxial with their corresponding 
bottom sockets. Each of these cap sockets, which is smaller than each 
bottom socket, constitutes a cap socket in which a cap fitted on each 
bottle is to be inserted. 
Thus, if the bottle tray is placed with its bottom sockets upward, a number 
of bottles can be held standing together on the tray in a manner such that 
the respective bottom portions of the bottles are fitted individually in 
the bottom sockets. If all of the trademarks pasted or printed on the 
peripheral surfaces of the outermost bottles are exposed to the outside, 
consumers can easily identify the contents of the bottles through visual 
observation of the trademarks. Thus, the bottles on the bottle tray can be 
utilized as articles on display in a store. The exhibitive effect of these 
bottles is greater than the effect produced when a number of bottles are 
contained in a bottle case for display. 
If another bottle tray is put on the forest of bottles so that caps on the 
individual bottles standing upright on one bottle tray are inserted in 
their corresponding cap sockets of the another tray, another forest of 
bottles can be held on the another tray. Thus, by using these bottle 
trays, a plurality of forests of bottles can be stacked in layers. When 
the bottles are stacked in this manner, the bottom portion of one of the 
bottles is fitted in its corresponding bottom socket of a bottle tray, and 
the top or cap portion of the bottle is fitted in its corresponding cap 
socket of another bottle tray which directly overlies the forest of the 
bottles on one tray. Thus, the forest of bottles on each level are held 
between each two bottle trays, so that the bottles can be securely 
prevented from sliding horizontally. As a result, the bottles can be 
stacked in layers with reliability. If the multilayer stacking of the 
bottles can be effected with stability in this manner, spaces for the 
storage of the bottles in stores or warehouses or in transportation means 
can be reduced. 
In general, the contours of the bottles of this type vary considerably for 
each of discrimination, despite the equality in capacity. In other words, 
the contours of the bottles depend on the unique designs of products which 
are intended to heighten the consumers' desire to buy the products. Even 
though the bottles of this type have the same capacity, therefore, their 
respective bottom portions are naturally different in cross-sectional 
configuration, due to the variation in contours. The cross section of the 
bottom portions may, for example, be circular, elliptic, square, or 
polygonal. 
However, each bottom socket of the bottle trays disclosed in the 
aforementioned applications has a configuration which agrees with the 
cross-sectional configuration of the bottom portion of a specific bottle 
to be inserted into the bottom socket. Thus, the bottom socket has a 
simple configuration selected among circular, elliptic, square, and 
polygonal configurations. If the configuration of the bottom socket of the 
conventional bottle trays is different from the cross-sectional 
configuration of the bottom portion of a bottle, therefore, the bottom 
portion cannot be inserted into the bottom socket. Accordingly, in the 
conventional case, it is necessary to provide various bottle trays whose 
bottom sockets are different in configuration, depending on the difference 
in cross-sectional configuration between the respective bottom portions of 
the various bottles. 
In many cases, moreover, the mouth portions of these bottles or the caps 
thereon are different in outside diameter, due to the aforesaid variation 
in contours. In the conventional arrangement, therefore, various bottle 
trays whose cap sockets have different diameters must be provided also 
depending the difference in outside diameter between the caps on the 
various bottles. 
In these circumstances, the conventional bottle trays are exclusive-use 
trays which are applicable only to a specific type of bottles. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the present invention is to provide trays which can be 
applied to bottles of different types, and can not only securely hold a 
forest of bottles, but also enable these bottles to be stably stacked in 
layers. 
The above object is achieved by a tray according to the present invention, 
which comprises a body having upper and lower surfaces in use; means for 
distributively defining, in the upper surface of the body, a number of 
bottom sockets in which the respective bottom portions of bottles are to 
be inserted, each of the bottom sockets having an inner peripheral 
configuration obtained by connecting those portions of the respective 
cross-sectional contours of the bottom portions of two or more different 
types of bottles which are situated outermost when the individual contours 
are superposed concentrically so that at least two diametrically facing 
regions of the one contour are not situated inside the other contour; and 
means for distributively defining, in the lower surface of the body, cap 
sockets in which caps of the bottles are to be inserted, the cap sockets 
being as many as the bottom sockets and each located coaxially with the 
bottom socket corresponding thereto. 
According to the tray described above, the bottom portion of each bottle 
can be inserted into the bottom socket when the bottle is situated in a 
predetermined angular position corresponding to the cross-sectional 
configuration of the bottom portion of the bottle, with respect to the 
bottom socket. When the bottom portion of the bottle is inserted into the 
bottom socket in this manner, the outer peripheral surface of the bottom 
portion, despite the cross-sectional configuration thereof, comes into 
contact with at least two regions of the inner peripheral surface of the 
bottom socket, which has the aforesaid configuration. In other words, the 
bottom portion of the bottle is held between at least wo regions of the 
inner peripheral surface of the bottom socket, so that the bottle can 
stably stand upright. When the respective bottom portions of the bottles 
of the same type are inserted individually into all the first sockets of 
the tray, therefore, the bottles are held standing together on the tray. 
Thus, the tray of the present invention can be applied to at least two 
types of bottles, depending on the aforementioned configuration of each 
bottom socket. 
Preferably, the tray of the present invention further comprises means for 
defining the cap sockets as stepped holes each having a plurality of 
inside diameters, corresponding to at least two types of caps with 
different outside diameters. In this case, each cap socket is a stepped 
hole whose diameter is reduced in stages with distance from the open end 
of the cap socket. Thus, if each of the bottom and cap sockets is provided 
with the above-mentioned means, the tray of the present invention can be 
applied to those bottles which are different in the outisde diameter of 
the caps thereon, as well as in the contour of their bottom portions. More 
specifically, if another tray is put on the bottles held standing together 
on the first tray so that the cap on each bottle is fitted in part of one 
of the cap sockets of the second tray, all the bottles are held between 
the top- and bottom-side trays. Thus, the bottles can be stably secured 
without sliding horizontally. Thereafter, another forest of bottles may be 
put on the second or top-side tray, and still another or third tray may be 
put on these bottles so that the bottles are held between the second pair 
of trays. In this manner, a plurality of forests of bottles can be stacked 
in layers. 
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will 
be more apparent from the ensuing detailed description taken in connection 
with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIG. 1, so-called bottle trays 10 are arranged vertically 
spaced with a number of bottles 1 between them. The bottles 1 are products 
that are filled with a fruit juice drink, coffee, sports drink, black tea, 
green tea, oolong, and so forth. The mouth of each bottle is closed by 
means of a cap 3. 
Each bottle tray 10, as a whole, is a plastic product formed by injection 
molding. As seen from FIG. 2, the bottle tray 10 has a rectangular body 
12. A number of bottom sockets 14 are formed on one side or the upper 
surface (FIG. 1) of the body 12. The sockets 14 are arranged in the form 
of a matrix composed of three rows and four columns. Thus, the sockets 14 
are twelve in number. As shown in FIG. 3, each bottom socket 14 is defined 
by a bottom wall 16, constituting part of the body 12, and a peripheral 
wall 18 integrally rising from the bottom wall 16. The upper peripheral 
edge of the peripheral wall 18, defining each bottom socket 14, is 
integrally connected to those of the adjacent sockets by means of a top 
wall 20 of the body 12. For example, the depth of each bottom socket 14 is 
set to about 40 mm. 
In this embodiment, the bottom sockets 14 can receive three kinds of 
bottles whose bottom portions have different circumferential contours. 
Referring to FIG. 4, there are shown the details of the configuration of 
the peripheral wall 18 of the bottom socket 14. This contour is obtained 
by connecting the outermost portions of the respective contours of an 
ellipse A, a circle B, and a square C superposed concentrically, as 
indicated individually by two-dot chain lines. In this case, the major and 
minor axes of the ellipse A are longer and shorter, respectively, than the 
diameter of the circle B. If the ellipse A is superposed concentrically on 
the circle B, therefore, those portions of the contour of the ellipse A 
which are situated corresponding to the opposite ends of the major axis 
project outward from the contour of the circle B. Also, each diagonal of 
the square C is longer than the major axis of the ellipse A. If the square 
C is superposed concentrically on the circle B and the ellipse A so that 
one of the diagonals of the square C is in line with the major axis of the 
ellipse A, the four corner portions of the square C project from the 
contours of the circle B and the ellipse A. 
As is evident from the above description with reference to FIG. 4, four 
portions a of the contour of the ellipse A project outward from the 
contours of the circle B and the square C, four portions c of the contour 
of the square C project outward from the contours of the circle B and the 
ellipse A, and four portions b of the contour of the circle B project 
outward from the contours of the ellipse A and the square C. Thus, the 
configuration of the peripheral wall 18 of the bottom socket 14 is 
obtained by connecting the portions a, b, and c of the individual 
contours. In this embodiment, the ellipse A and the square C are not 
perfect in shape. Virtually, the ellipse A is in the form of a rectangle 
having arcuate sides, and the square C has its four corners chamfered in a 
manner. 
Four guide ribs 22 are integrally formed on the peripheral edge of the 
bottom wall 16 of each bottom socket 14 so as to be situated corresponding 
individually to the portions b of the circle B. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, 
each guide rib 22 is in the form of a triangle declining from the 
peripheral wall 18 to the bottom wall 16. A slanting surface 22a of the 
guide rib 22, extending from the peripheral wall 18, has a length such 
that the rib 22 intersects both of the respective contours of the ellipse 
A, and the square C, as shown in FIG. 4. 
Cap sockets 24, as many in number as the bottom sockets 14, are formed on 
the other side or the lower surface of the body 12. Each cap socket 24 is 
located coaxially with its corresponding bottom socket 14. In this 
embodiment, each cap socket 24 is defined by a circular outer peripheral 
wall 26 integrally protruding from the bottom wall 16 of the bottom socket 
14, and an inner peripheral wall 28 integrally protruding from the bottom 
wall 16 and situated coaxially inside the outer peripheral wall 26 in a 
spaced manner. The inner peripheral wall 28 is shorter than the outer 
peripheral wall 26, so that the cap socket 24 is substantially a stepped 
hole. Each bottom socket 14 and its corresponding cap socket 24 connect 
with each other by means of a hole 30 in the bottom wall 16. The 
respective inside diameters of the outer and inner peripheral walls 26 and 
28 are set depending on the outside diameters of the caps 3 on different 
bottles 1 to which the bottle tray 10 of the present invention is 
applicable, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for instance, the 
inside diameter d0 and height h0 of the outer peripheral wall 26 may be 
set to 40 mm and 42 mm, respectively, while the inside diameter d1 and 
height h1 of the inner peripheral wall 28 may be set to 30 mm and 20 mm, 
respectively. 
As seen from FIG. 1, a skirt portion 32 is integrally formed on the body 12 
of each bottle tray 10 so as to surround the array of the cap sockets 24. 
The height of the skirt portion 32 is a little greater than that of the 
outer peripheral wall 26 of the cap socket 24. Formed on the lower edge of 
the skirt portion 32 is a notch 34 in which a user's fingers are to be 
inserted for conveyance. 
According to the bottle tray 10 of the first embodiment described above, a 
number of bottles 1 can be set upright thereon by inserting the respective 
bottom portions of the bottles 1 individually into the bottom sockets 14 
of the tray 10. 
Unless the cross-sectional configuration of the bottom portion of each 
bottle 1 resembles the circle B, that is, if it resembles the ellipse A or 
the square C, the bottom portion can be inserted into one of the bottom 
sockets 14 by properly adjusting the rotational angle of the bottle 1 
around its axis to the configuration of the bottom socket 14. 
In the bottle tray 10 of the present invention, the configuration of each 
bottom socket 14 is not completely coincident with the cross-sectional 
configuration of the bottom portion of each bottle 1. When the bottom 
portion of the bottle 1 is inserted into the bottom socket 14, however, 
the peripheral surface of the bottom portion comes into contact with four 
regions of the peripheral wall 18 of the bottom socket 14, which has the 
configuration shown in FIG. 4, despite the cross-sectional configuration 
of the bottom portion. Thus, the bottle 1 can be stably kept upright. 
Further, a number of bottles 1 can be held between the two bottle trays 10 
by putting the second tray 10 onto the forest of bottles 1 on the first 
tray 10. In doing this, the caps 3 on the individual bottles 1 are 
inserted into their corresponding cap sockets 24 of the top-side tray 10 
so that they abut against a ring-shaped end face of the inner peripheral 
wall 28, inside the outer peripheral wall 26. Thus, the bottles 1 can be 
prevented from sliding horizontally. Even though the bottom portions of 
the bottles 1 fitted in the bottom sockets of the bottom-side bottle tray 
10 are subject to some variation in size, moreover, the axis of each 
bottle 1 can be accurately aligned with that of its corresponding bottom 
socket 14, that is, the axis of its corresponding cap socket 24 of the 
top-side bottle tray 10, since the bottom of each bottle 1 is guided by 
the slanting surfaces 22a of the guide ribs 22 of the bottom socket 14. 
Accordingly, the cap sockets 24 of the second bottle tray 10 can be 
center-aligned with the caps 3 on their corresponding bottles 1 by only 
putting the second tray 10 onto the bottles 1 on the first tray 10. Thus, 
the second tray 10 can be easily set on the bottles 1. 
After new bottles 1 are inserted individually into the bottom sockets 14 of 
the top-side bottle tray 10, still another bottle tray 10 is put on these 
bottles 1. By repeating these steps of procedure, a plurality of forests 
of bottles 1 can be stacked in layers, as shown in FIG. 1. 
In the first embodiment described above, the cap 3 on each bottle 1 is 
inserted in the space inside the outer peripheral wall 26 of its 
corresponding cap socket 24. If the cap 3 has a relatively small outside 
diameter, however, it may alternatively be inserted in the space inside 
the inner peripheral wall 28 of the cap socket 24, as shown in FIG. 6. In 
this case, the cap 3 is forced into the socket 24 so that it abuts it 
abuts against the bottom wall 16. 
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the 
first embodiment described above. Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown 
a second embodiment of the invention. In this second embodiment, each cap 
socket 24 is defined by three coaxial peripheral walls 34, 36 and 38. In 
this case, the cap socket 24 is applicable to three types of bottles 1 
with different outside diameters of the caps 3. 
Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a third embodiment of the present 
invention. In this third embodiment, the configuration of each bottom 
socket 14 is obtained by connecting two portions a of the contour of an 
ellipse A and two portions b of the contour of a circle B. In this case, 
when the bottom portion of a bottle 1 is inserted into the bottom socket 
14, the bottom portion is supported by two regions of a peripheral wall 18 
of the socket 14. Guide ribs 22 are not shown in FIG. 8. 
The cross-sectional configuration of each bottle 1, which defines the 
configuration of each bottom socket 14, is not limited to the 
aforementioned combinations of the ellipse A, circle B, and square C. For 
example, the ellipse A shown in FIG. 4. may be replaced with an ellipse D 
whose regions d bulge more than those of the ellipse A so that they are in 
line with the contours of their corresponding corner portions of the 
square C, as indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 4. In this case, the 
configuration of the bottom socket 14 is obtained by connecting regions 
d', b, and c.