Abstract:
An article carrier and a blank for forming an article carrier for carrying one or more articles comprising a plurality of panels for forming the opposed sides and ends of the article carrier including a pair of laterally spaced top wall panels hingedly connected to the opposed side walls. A carrying handle is hinged to the top wall panels. The handle is movable between a retracted position when the handle does not extend above the top of the articles and a deployed position whereby the handle protrudes above the article tops.

Description:
This is a continuation of international application No. PCT/US03/05391, filed Feb. 21, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to an article carrier, for example a basket type, adapted to accommodate a plurality of articles, such as bottles and to a blank for forming the carrier. In particular, the invention relates to a retractable handle for an article carrier. 
   Normally article carriers include a handle structure by which the carrier can be lifted and carried and the bottles are arranged in rows on either side of the handle structure. A problem associated with such carriers is that as the handle protrudes above the bottle tops it makes it harder to stack the carriers during transit because the handle arrangement may become deformed or may even tear if another carrier is mounted on top. Accordingly, known article carriers are not suited to stacking. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention and its preferred embodiments seek to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of the prior art. 
   A first aspect of the present invention provides an article carrier for carrying one or more articles for example bottles, comprising a plurality of panels for forming the opposed sides and ends of the article carrier including a pair of laterally spaced top wall panels hingedly connected to opposed side wall panels and a carrying handle hinged to the top wall panels wherein the handle is movable between a retracted position when the handle does not extend above the top of the articles and a deployed position whereby the handle protrudes above the article tops. 
   Preferably, the top wall panels are sized and hingedly connected to the handle such that each side wall panel flexes in a resilient manner. The arrangement is such that the top wall panels are put into tension during initial lifting or lowering movement of the handle and are relaxed by further movement of the top panels to cause a pop-up effect when lifting the handle and a retracting effect when lowering the handle. 
   Optionally, the pop-up effect occurs when the top wall panels move upwardly above the horizontal plane containing the upper edges of the side walls and the retracting effect occurs when the top wall panels move downwardly below the horizontal plane containing the upper edges of the side walls. 
   According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention there further comprises an intermediate panel hingedly connecting each top wall panel to the handle. The intermediate panel is adapted to move from downward orientation in the retracted position to an upward orientation in the deployed position so as to enable the handle to flex relative to the top wall panels. 
   According to another optional feature of this aspect of the present invention each of the top wall panels further comprises one or more apertures to receive an upper portion of an article. 
   Preferably the aperture is ellipsoidal in shape so as to be circular in diameter in both the deployed and retracted positions. 
   According to an optional feature of this aspect of the present invention the carrier is a basket type carrier. 
   A second aspect of the present invention provides a blank for forming an article carrier for carrying one or more articles comprising a plurality of panels for forming the opposed sides and ends of the article carrier hingedly connected together and a pair of laterally spaced top wall panels hingedly connected to the respective side wall panels and a handle panel hinged to the top wall panel. 
   Preferably the top panels are sized and hingedly connected to the handle such that each side wall flexes in a resilient manner in a set up article carrier, the arrangement being such that the top wall panels are put into tension during initial lifting or lowering movement of the handle and are relaxed by further movement of the top panels to cause a pop-up effect when lifting the handle and a retracting effect when lowering the handle. 
   According to an optional feature of this second aspect of the present invention there further comprises an intermediate panel hingedly connecting each top wall panel to the handle, the intermediate panel is adapted to move from, downward orientation in the retracted position to an upward orientation in the deployed position so as to enable the handle to flex relative to the top wall panels in a set up article carrier. 
   According to another optional feature of the second aspect of the present invention the top wall panel further comprises one or more apertures to receive an upper portion of an article. 
   Preferably the aperture is ellipsoidal in shape. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a plan view of a unitary blank from which an article carrier according to one aspect of the invention is formed; 
       FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4  illustrate the construction of the article carrier from the blank shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  illustrates the article carrier in a set up and loaded condition with the handle in a deployed position; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the article carrier shown in  FIG. 5  with the handle structure in a retracted position; and 
       FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9  are cross-section views of the article carrier shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrating the pop-up effect of the handle structure. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to the drawings and in particular  FIG. 1 , there is shown a blank  10  for forming an article carrier, which blank is formed from paperboard or other suitable foldable sheet material. The article carrier formed from the blank is adapted to accommodate a plurality of articles, for example six bottles arranged in two rows of three bottles each. It is envisaged that the carrier can be adapted to accommodate a different number and/or configuration of articles according to user requirements. 
   The blank  10  comprises a plurality of panels for forming the opposed sides, ends and base of an article carrier. In this embodiment there comprises a first end wall panel  12 , first side wall panel  14 , second end wall panel  16  and second side wall panel  18  hingedly connected one to the next in series along fold lines  20 ,  22  and  24  respectively. 
   In  FIG. 1 , an ‘arrowhead’ style basket carrier is formed, whereby the opposing ends are pushed together to separate the opposing side wall panels. In order to achieve this, the end wall panels are divided into two parts so that first end wall panel  12  comprises first part  26  and second part  28  hingedly connected together along fold line  30 . Similarly second end wall panel  16  comprises first part  32  and second part  34  hingedly connected together along fold line  36 . Of course, it is envisaged that in other embodiments, a ‘parallelogram’ style of basket carrier can be used without departing from the scope of invention. 
   One or more securing flaps  38 ,  40  and  44  are hingedly connected to an end edge of one of the end wall panels  12  to be secured to the opposing end of the carrier blank during construction of the carrier, described below. 
   Base wall panels  46  and  50  are provided which are, preferably, hingedly connected to first and second side wall panels  14  and  18  respectively along fold lines  48  and  51 . 
   A handle structure H is provided and is connected to the sides or ends of the article carrier by means of one or more top wall panels, so that top wall panel  52  is hingedly connected to first side wall panel along fold line  54  and second top wall panel  68  is hingedly connected to second side wall panel  18  along fold line  70 . 
   In  FIG. 1 , the handle structure H is provided by a pair of handle panels  62  and  76  which are hingedly connected to the respective one of the top wall panels  52 ,  68  along fold lines  64  and  78  respectively. Each handle panel is provided with a hand aperture  65   a ,  65   b  and one or more handle flaps  66   a ,  66   b  to provide a more comfortable handle arrangement. The top wall panel(s)  52 ,  68  further comprise one or more apertures  56   a ,  56   b  struck from their respective top wall panels  52 ,  68 . The apertures may be elliptical in shape and viewed from above they are circular so as to receive an article, although other shapes are envisaged, without departing from the scope of the invention. The shape of the apertures in  FIG. 1  enable the top panels to move from deployed to retracted positions, described in more detail below. 
   There may further comprise one or more protruding tabs  57   a ,  57   b  extending from the respective ones of the side wall panels  14 ,  18  respectively. In use, the protruding tabs provide additional protection for the upper portions of the articles. 
   In one class of embodiments, the handle structure H is allowed to flex relative the top wall panels  52 ,  68  and, to this end, intermediate panels  58  and  72  hingedly interconnect top wall panels  52  and  68  to the respective handle panels  62  and  76  along fold lines  60 ,  64  and  74 ,  78 . 
   It is envisaged that the construction of the article carrier can be formed by a series of sequential folding and gluing operations in a straight line machine, so that the carrier is not required to be rotated or inverted to complete its construction. The folding process is not limited to that described below and may be altered according to particular manufacturing requirements. 
     FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4  illustrate the forming process of the carrier. The first stage of construction is to form the side and end walls so that panel  26  is folded inwardly along fold line  30  and in to face contacting arrangement with panel  28 , shown in  FIG. 3 . Thereafter, second side wall panel  18  is folded inwardly about fold line  36  to replace overlapping arrangement with first side wall panel  14 . Second side wall panel  18  is&#39; secured to the securing flap  38  by glue G ( FIG. 3 ) or other suitable means known in the art. Thus the carrier is in a flat collapsed condition as shown in  FIG. 4 , ready to be supplied to the user or bottling plant for loading and final construction. 
   In some embodiments, handle panels  62  and  76  are secured together by glue G or other suitable means known in the art. 
   In order to erect the carrier of  FIG. 4  the opposing end edges defined, at least in part, by fold lines  30  and  36 , are pushed in an inward direction so as to separate panels  34 ,  18  and  26  from opposing panels  32 ,  14  and  28  respectively. Articles, for example bottles B 1 , B 2  and B 3  are loaded into the article carrier by relative vertical movement between the article carrier and the bottles, as is well known, and the outer portions of the bottles are inserted through the apertures  56   a  and  56   b . Base panels  46  and  50  are folded inwardly and are secured together in overlapping arrangement, by glue or other suitable means, for example a locking tab arrangement, as is known in the art. The article carrier is then in a set up and loaded condition as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
   In order to complete the construction of the carrier so that the article carriers can be shipped or stacked, the handle arrangement is pushed in a downward direction X, as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
   The top wall panels  52 ,  68  are sized and hingedly connected to the handle H such that each side wall panel  14 ,  18  and/or each top wall panel  52 ,  68  flexes in a resilient manner when the handle is moved downwardly. This causes the top wall panels  52 ,  68  to be put into tension during the initial lowering movement of the handle H. 
   As the lower edge E ( FIGS. 7 and 8 ) of the handle H drops beneath the horizontal plane P ( FIG. 8 ) containing the upper side edges of the side walls  14 ,  18  the tension in the top panels forces the handle structure H downwards providing a automatic retracting effect so that the handle H is positioned below the tops of the bottles B 3 , as shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . 
   To assist in this handle movement, intermediate panels  58 ,  72  may be provided to act as articulating parts so that the handle H can move relative the top wall panels  52 ,  68 . This results in the intermediate panels  58 ,  72  moving from an upwardly oriented position shown in  FIG. 9  to a downwardly oriented position shown in  FIG. 7  and reduces the prospect of the top panels creasing, or tearing. 
   Conversely, in order to move the handle H into a deployed position from the position in  FIG. 7 , the end user lifts the handle causing the top panels to be moved upwardly and the side wall panels  52 ,  68  and in some embodiments, the intermediate panels  58 ,  72  flex. As the lower edge E of handle H passes through the horizontal plane P shown in  FIG. 8 , the side walls  52 ,  68  force the handle structure upwards to cause a pop-up effect. 
   The ‘pop up’ and ‘automatic retracting’ effects are caused by making the width W 1  and W 2  of top panels (and optionally the intermediate panels) greater than the width of the end wall W 3  thereby creating an imbalance effect in the horizontal plane P. 
   One advantage of employing the present invention is that the loaded carriers can be stored or shipped by stacking the carriers without destroying the integrity of the handle structure. 
   The present invention and its preferred embodiments relate to an arrangement for providing a retractable handle structure in a basket style carrier. However, it is anticipated that the invention can be applied to a variety of carriers, for example wrap around or fully enclosed cartons and is not limited to those of the type hereinbefore described. 
   It will be recognised that as used herein, directional references such as “top”, “base”, “end”, “side”, “inner”, “outer”, “upper” and “lower” do not limit the respective panels to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these panels from one another. Any reference to hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a single fold line only: indeed it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or more of one of the following, a score line, a frangible line or a fold line, without departing from the scope of invention. 
   It should be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the present invention, for example, the size and shape of the panels and apertures may be adjusted to accommodate articles of differing size or shape, alternative base closure structures may be used. The article carrier may accommodate more than one article in different arrays.