STACKING TRAY FOR BOTTLES

Abstract: Stacking tray (11), particularly for bottles, to stack the bottles (14) upright in two or more layers (15, 16), one above the other. The stacking tray comprises juxtaposed rows of tray depressions (12) for accomodating the lower part of the bottles, and tray tops (13) to be entered on bottle tops (18) in a lower layer (15) of bottles. The stacking trays are to be used with no twist and with 180 DEG twist, between consecutive stacking trays. The tray tops (13) are provided to support the stacking tray (11) with engagement in a position under the bottom (23) of the tray tops (13), at the transition into the tray depressions (12), to enable the stacking tray to be arranged with the lower side (26) at the upper part (27) of or over the bottle neck (22).

Description: Stacking tray for bottles Stacking tray, particularly for bottles, more specifically a stacking tray as described in the introductory part of claim 1. Background of the invention From WO-application No. 94/07758 a stacking tray for bottles is known. This stacking tray has protruding, hollow tray tops which can be entered on the bottle tops, to have the inside bottom of the tray tops engaging the upper side of the bottle tops. Additionally an annular rib on the bottle neck beneath the threads for the cap is providing a guide against the inner sides of the tray tops. The prior art stacking tray requires a diagonal arrangement of the bottles, as the rows of depressions are juxtaposedly disposed. Further, the engagement against the bottom of the tray tops require the lower side of the tray to extend over the upper, narrow part of the bottle necks. Consequently, this prior art stacking tray can not adapt packs of two or more bottles being connected with a carrying handle, e.g. of cardboard, with holes entered over the bottle caps to engage under the annular ribs. Objects The main object of the invention is to provide a stacking tray suitable for stacking of bottle packs with a carrying handle covering the bottle neck close to the annular rim. It is a particular object to provide a stacking tray in which a part of the load from an upper stacking tray is introduced on the annular rim. A further object is to provide a stacking tray which provides a stable stack when several layers of bottles are arranged one above the other. The invention The invention is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1. With this stacking tray, it is possible to stack bottle packs, e.g. 4-packs and 6-packs, with a handle of hardboard or plastic, in stacks of up to six layers. The side walls of the tray tops will merge into the side walls of the depressions at four sectors for each tray top. For each sector, a sickle shaped indent is formed in the tray tops, said indents providing an engagement as stated i claims 2 and 3. Further features of the invention are described in claims 4-6. Example The invention is described in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plane view from above, of a stacking tray according to the invention, with room for 88 bottles in one layer, Fig. 2 is a vertical section through two layers of bottles stacked with a stacking tray according to the invention, in a longitudinal section, Fig. 3 is a part of a section like in Fig. 2, in the opposite direction, Fig. 4 is a plane view from the bottom in somewhat larger scale of a part of the stacking tray of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a side view of a bottle arranged between an opper and a lower stacking tray, with the neighbouring bottles and parts of the stacking trays, Fig. 6 is an enlarged part of Fig. 5, to illustrate the support grooves for the annular rims of the bottle necks, Fig. 7 is a part of Fig. 1 in a larger scale, Fig. 8 is a vertical section through two neigbouring depressions in the stacking tray of Fig. 1 -7, in a larger scale, Fig. 9 is a part of a view from the bottom of an alternative embodiment of the novel stacking tray, Fig. 10 is a part of a side view of the stacking tray according to Fig. 9, used for stacking with engagement against the lower side of the tray depressions, while Fig. 1 1 is a part of a vertical section of an alternative embodiment of the transition between the depressions, to have a more firm engagement with the bottle caps. Fig. 1 shows a stacking tray 1 1 with eight rows of eleven tray depressions 12 each and a corresponding number of rows of tray tops 13, as illustrated in Figs. 6-8. The rows of tray depressions and tray tops respectively are arranged juxtaposed in an offset way, the rows of tray tops being offset half a pitch relatively to the rows of tray depressions. The tray tops 13 are placed upward to the tray depressions 12 and each is arranged adjacent to four neighbouring tray depressions, respectively symmetrically outside two neighbouring tray depressions at opposite of the tray sides. The tray depressions are dimensioned to acommodate the bottom part of a bottle of a certain size, e.g. a PET- bottle with the volum 0,5 - 2 Liter, while the tray tops are suited to engage with the top of a lower bottle. This will be described in more detail below. Fig. 2 and 3 are showing a stacking tray 11, used for stacking two layers 15 and 16 of upright bottles 14. A lower layer 15 of bottles is arranged on a stacking tray 1 1 on a not shown fundament, e.g. a pallet. Over the lower layer 15 of bottles a first stacking tray 1 1A is arranged, with the tray tops 13 entered on the bottle tops 18, as shown in Fig. 5 and 6. The stacking tray will stabilize the lower layer 15 of bottles and provide a base for an upper, second layer 16 of bottles, in which the bottles 14 are arrranged with the lower part in the tray depressions in the lower stacking tray 11A. The second layer 16 of bottles is correspondingly covered by a second stacking tray 1 IB as a stabilizer and also as a base for further layers of bottles. Fig. 2 shows that the bottles in each layer is arranged side by side and that stacked layers of bottles are mutually disposed half the distance beween two bottles. The edge of the stacking trays is provided with a depending rim (see Fig. 8 and 1 1) to avoid bending. Fig. 4 shows the area of engagement of the bottle tops 18 from below. In the bottom 19 of each tray depression 13 a sickle shaped indent or support groove 20 is provided, extending over a sector of approximately 15° facing each adjacent tray top 12, each bottom 19 having two respectively four indents 20 as shown more detailled in Fig. 6. Fig. 5 shows how each bottle 14 is arranged relatively to a lower stacking tray 11 A and an upper stacking tray 1 IB. The shown relation between the tray depressions 12 and 13 allows the stacking tray 1 1 to cover only the upper part of the bottle necks and the lower part of each bottle in an upper layer of bottles. This leaves free space for a handle 21, which is shown in outline in Fig. 5 and 6, and which is abutting the upper part of the bottle neck 22. Fig. 6 shows in more detail how the bottle tops 18 are enclosed by the tray tops 13. The bottom 23 of each tray top 13 has an opening 23 A. The uppe part of each tray top 13 may be cylindrical and merge into a diverging part integrated with the adjoining tray depressions 11. The bottom 19 of each tray depression 12 has an indent 20 as shown in Fig 4, adjacent to the tray top. Each tray top 13 located between four tray depressions 12 will thus face four indents 20 in a circle with a mutual distance of 90°. The indents 20 are provided in the wall of each tray depression 19, without penetrating the wall The bottle top 18 has an annular rim 25 located under and in a distance from a bottle cap 24, integrated with the material of the bottle neck. The distance between the bottle cap 24 and the annual rim 25 may incorporate a sealing ring (not shown), which is broken when the bottle cap is initially opened. The bottle cap 24 in the example is shown with engagement to the walls inside the tray top 13, but with clearance to the bottom 23. This incure no stress or transfer of vertical forces on the bottle cap 24, from the superposed stacking tray 1 IB Fig 1 shows how the annular rim 25 is engaging the indents 20 to transfer weight forces from a superposed stacking tray 1 IB The annular rims 25 will transfer the weight of the superposed stacking tray 1 IB to the bottle necks 22 The bottle necks are however exposed, as the lower side 26 of the stacking tray 1 IB is arranged over the upper end 27 of the conical part of the bottle neck A stacking tray according to the invention will thus leave space for a gripping handle 21 The gripping handle 21 may be designed in various ways, e g of plastic or cardboard, for lowering on to the bottle tops 18 of two or more bottles in a group Fig 7 shows a corner of a stacking tray 1 1 with a depending outer rim or shirt 28, illustrating the location of a tray top 13 between four tray depressions 12. Centrally in the bottom of each tray depression 1 1 there is a circular opening 29. This opening is surrounded by four evenly distributed ribs 30 defining intervening drainage grooves 31 The purpose of the ribs 30 is to engage the depressions at the bottom of each bottle, as illustrated in Fig 6 and 8, to support the bottles and contribute to the force transfer, to enable the bottles a small clearance or an engagement without force transfer on the side, against the walls of the tray depressions Fig 8 shows the design of the staking tray at the edge and at the transition between two tray depressions The height of the tray depressions 12 is lower than the height of the tray tops 13 This will leave necessary height for the bottle caps 24 to avoid engagement. Fig. 9 shows a view from the bottom of an alternative embodiment, in which the tray depressions 32 has a narrower opening 33, inhibiting the entrance of the bottle caps 24. The stacking tray thus can be used as shown in Fig. 2 and 5, for stacking the trays with a 180° twist, and additionally as shown in Fig. 10, with the trays arranged directly one above the other, for stacking with a high stacking tray, with the bottle caps of one layer engaging the bottoms of the tray depressions 32 of an upper tray. This is particularly advantageous for transporting filled bottles joined with handles in multipacks. For the return of empty bottles from a sales utlet, the tray will be twisted 180° to avoid engagement on the mouths of the open bottles. The stacking tray 1 1 may be manufactured of a suitable plastic materiale, e.g. PP, by extrusion or another known method of manufacturing. Several empty stacking trays may be stacked with mating lower and upper parts. At use, the stacking trays has to be twisted alternating 180° to have the tray depressions mate the tray tops, to introduce the bottle tops into the tray tops 13. As will appear from the description below, the tray may also be used for "high" stacking, without 180° twist, the bottle tops then will be engaging the the bottom of the tray depressions 12, see Fig. 10. In an alternative, not shown embodiment, an annular rib or series of axial ribs may extend from the bottom 23 or a step with a lower diameter may be provided at the inner end of the tray tops. Even if this may require a more complicated manufacturing and a higher consumption of material, it will enable a corresponding arrangement of the stacking tray as described above. By having the tray tops support by an engagement under the bottom, i.e. the end of the tops, any load on the top of the bottle cap is avoided. Thus, wearing off of any printing on the top of the bottle cap is avoided. Additionally, leakage due to alternating a load on the bottle cap is avoided.

Claims: Patent claims. 1. Stacking tray (11), particularly for bottles, to stack the bottles (14) upright in two or more layers (15, 16), one above the other, said stacking tray comprises juxtaposed rows of tray depressions (12) for accomodating the lower part of the bottles, and tray tops (13) to be entered on bottle tops (18) in a lower layer (15) of bottles, which stacking trays are to be used with no twist and with 180° twist, between consecutive stacking trays, characterized in that the tray tops (13) are provided to support the stacking tray (11) with engagement in a position under the bottom (23) of the tray tops (13), at the transition into the tray depressions (12), to enable the stacking tray to be arranged with the lower side (26) at the upper part (27) of or over the bottle neck (22). 2. Stacking tray according to claim 1, characerized in that the tray tops (13) in the transition area to the adjoining parts of the stacking tray (1 1 ) are provided with indents (20) provided to engage and transfer force in vertical direction with an annular rim (25) or step protruding from the bottle neck (22) at its upper end. 3. Stacking tray according to claim 2, characterized in that the indents (20) are provided in the bottom part (19) of adjoining tray depressions (12), providing sickle shaped grooves. 4. Stacking tray according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the indents (20) are non-penetrating recesses in the wall of the stacking tray. 5. Stacking tray acccording to on of the claims 1-4, characterized in that the tray tops are provided with internal support members to transfer weight to the bottle cap in a position under the bottom of the tray tops. 6. Stacking tray according to one of the claims 1-5, characterized in that the tray depressions (12) are provided to engage against the top of the bottle caps on stacking.

Inventors: PETERSEN ROAR, PETERSEN, ROAR
Applicants: DYNOPLAST AS, PETERSEN ROAR, DYNOPLAST A/S, PETERSEN, ROAR
Application year: 1995
Main classification: B65D71
IPC codes: B65D71