Patent Abstract:
The present invention relates to a means for carrying a bottle ( 100 ). According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a carrying means ( 100 ) for a bottle ( 350 ) having a body portion ( 110 ), a neck portion and a tapered portion extending therebetween, said carrying means including; a first bottle retention loop ( 115 ) adapted to receive the body of said bottle therein; a carry handle ( 125 ) connected to said first bottle retention loop ( 115 ); a second bottle retention loop ( 130 ), adapted to receive the neck of said bottle ( 300 ), therein, and a body portion ( 110 ) connecting said first and second loops together, wherein, in use the body of said bottle ( 300 ) is retained in said first loop ( 115 ), and the neck of said bottle is retained in said second loop ( 130 ), such that when said carrying means is suspended by said carry handle ( 125 ) said bottle ( 300 ) is substantially supported by said second loop ( 130 ) against the tapered portion of the bottle ( 300 ).

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a means for carrying a bottle. In particular, the present invention relates to means for crying a bottle from at the point of sale in a convenient and simple manner.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    When goods are purchased from shops and other retail outlets it is common that the sales person or cashier will provide a bag or other type of packaging to the customer in order to assist the customer in carrying the goods from the shop.  
           [0003]    For example bottle shops and liquor stores will typically place bottles of wine, spirits or beer purchased by a customer in a brown paper at the point of sale. Typically brown paper bags are not provided with handles and do not provide any significant protective advantage, or handling advantage over carrying the bottle alone. Additionally the effectiveness of any advertising on a paper bag is also minimal.  
           [0004]    In use, a paper bag is typically twisted around the neck of the bottle in the act of grasping the bottle around the neck in order to carry the bottle. Thus any advertising slogans or pictures printed on the paper bag are creased or obscured from view while the bottle is being carried.  
           [0005]    In the current climate of environmental awareness it is also desirable that packaging and carrying means are provided which use less material in their construction.  
           [0006]    Therefore, clearly it is desirable to provide a means for packaging bottles at the point of sale which address at least one of the above drawbacks of current methods.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a carrying means for a bottle of the type having a body portion, a neck portion and a tapered portion extending therebetween, said carrying means including;  
           [0008]    a first bottle retention loop adapted to receive the body of said bottle therein;  
           [0009]    a carry handle connected to said first bottle retention loop;  
           [0010]    a second bottle retention loop adapted to receive the neck of said bottle therein, and  
           [0011]    a body portion connecting said first and second loops together, wherein, in use the body of said bottle is retained in said first loop, and the neck of said bottle is retained in said second loop, such that when said carrying means is suspended by said carry handle, said bottle is substantially supported by said second loop against the tapered portion of the bottle.  
           [0012]    Preferably the carrying means is unitary in construction.  
           [0013]    It is also preferable that the carrying means is made from paper, plastics, fabric or woodfree paper.  
           [0014]    In a preferred embodiment at least a portion, of at least one surface of said carrying means, has a decorative design, advertisement, logo or picture displayed thereon. Preferably at least one surface of said body portion has an advertisement printed thereon. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred forms of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1A shows a front view of a carrying means according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIGS. 2A to  2 D show a front view, side view, rear perspective view and front perspective view respectively of the carrying means according to an embodiment of the present invention holding a bottle;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a carrying means according to an embodiment of the present invention in use carrying a bottle;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment of a carrying means according to the present invention; and  
         [0021]    [0021]FIGS. 5A and 5C show three embodiments of the carrying means according to the present invention adapted to hold 2 bottles.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]    The detailed description given herein will describe a series of embodiments of the invention, in particular in relation to a means for carrying a bottle.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1A shows a front view of a first embodiment of the carrying means according to the invention. The carrying means  100  includes an elongate body portion  110  having an aperture  120  extending therethrough. The body portion  110  extends around the aperture  120  to define a first loop  115 . The carrying means  100  also includes a carry handle  125  attached to the loop  115 . At the opposite end of the elongate body portion  110  to the carry handle  125  a second loop  130  is attached.  
         [0024]    Turning now to FIG. 1B which shows the rear side of the carrying means  100  of FIG. 1A. The rear side of the carrying means  100  similarly includes an elongate body portion  110 , with an aperture  120  extending therethrough defining a first loop  115 . The carry handle  125  is attached to the rear surface  111  of the elongate body  110  at the loop portion  115 . The handle  125  can be attached with an adhesive such as glue or double-sided tape to the rear surface  111  of the elongate body  110 . Retention of the carry handle  125  is aided by the placement of a generally annular reinforcing patch  140  which is attached to the rear side  110  of the carrying means  100 . Similarly the second loop  130  is glued to the upper surface  111  of the body portion  110  and held in place via a second reinforcing patch  150 . In addition to holding the carry handle  125  and second retaining loop  130  in position, the reinforcing patches  140 , 150  provide additional strength to the carrying means  100  in positions with high mechanical stress.  
         [0025]    The carrying means may be made from a suitably flexible yet strong fabric, plastics, paper or woodfree-paper material. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B the body portion  110  can be made of a synthetic paper-like material such as Tyvek made by DuPont, and the handle  125  and retaining loop  130  may be made of a reinforced paper ribbon such as is commonly used in the art to make handles for brown paper bags. Alternatively the carry handle and second retaining loop, can be plastic carry handles, such as ScotchPad™ Carry Handles from by 3M.  
         [0026]    In this embodiment, the carry handle  125  and the retaining loop  130  are glued to the body portion  110  and the reinforcing patches  140  and  150  are made from a self-adhesive fabric-backed tape, such as gaffer tape or book binding tape. Alternatively, the reinforcing patches  150  can be made of the same material as the body  110  of the carrying means and be attached using a suitable adhesive.  
         [0027]    In use, the carrying means may be applied to a bottle by firstly placing the first retention loop  115  around the bottle such that the body of the bottle protrudes through the aperture  120  of the carrying means  100 .  
         [0028]    In general, there is no requirement that the loop portion  115  of the carrying means  100  passes over the entire bottle from the narrower end to the wider end in order to attain a position around the wider end of the bottle. Ideally, the aperture  120  is of a dimension which allows the easy insertion of the bottle but it should not be so large as to allow the bottle to move around freely within the aperture. The chief purpose of the first loop  115  is not to support the weight of the bottle in the carrying means, but rather it is to retain the bottle in a substantially inverted vertical alignment such that it does not fall over or fall out of the carrying means  100 .  
         [0029]    Next, the neck of the bottle is placed through the second loop  130 . The second loop  130  is then moved along the length of the bottle to be carried until the loop  130  attains a tight fit around the shoulder, between the neck and body of the bottle.  
         [0030]    Once the second retention loop  130  is in a position such that it will not move further along the body of the bottle, the carrying means can be lied by the handle  125 . When the carrying means is lifted by the handle, the weight of the bottle in the carrying means is supported substantially by the second retention loop  130  against the taper of the bottle&#39;s shoulder. The body portion  110  of the carrying means  100  acts as a sling connecting the second retention loop  130  to the carry handle, whilst the first retention loop  115  maintains the bottle in vertical alignment.  
         [0031]    It should be noted that when an bottle is lifted using the carrying means it may be possible that the second retention loop  130  will slide along the bottle. In order to prevent this the length of the body portion  110  should not be so long that the second retention loop slips off the base of the bottle. Additionally, it is preferable that the weight of the bottle is supported only by the second retention loop  130  and not by the first retention loop  115 . In order to ensure that this is the case aperture  120  should be sized such that the first retention loop  115  is a loose fit around the body of the bottle to be carried.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIGS. 2A to  2 D show a carrying means  100  according to an embodiment of the invention being used applied to a bottle  200 . The bottle  200  is of the type having a body portion  210  and a relatively narrow neck portion  220  with a tapered region  215  located therebetween The bottle  200  additionally has a base  205 . It can be seen from FIGS. 2A to  2 D that the carrying means  100  is placed on the bottle such that the first retention loop  115  is located around the body portion  210  of the bottle  200  in a location adjacent to the base  205  and the second retention loop  130  is positioned around the tapered portion  215  of the bottle between the neck  220  and the body  210 . The elongated body portion  110  of the carrying means  100  is pulled taut along the length of the body  210  of the bottle  200 .  
         [0033]    The carrying means  100  can be applied to a bottle in a number of different ways. Typically, the carrying means will be applied to the bottle while the bottle is standing in an upright position on its base  205  supported by a table, bench or other support means. In this position, the carrying means can be placed on the bottle by sliding the first retention loop  115  over the neck  220  of bottle  200  and sliding it down to a position in the vicinity of the tapered portion  215  of the, bottle. Next, the second retention loop  130  can be placed over the neck  220  over the bottle  200  and slid down to a position adjacent to the first retention loop  115 . From this position the first retention loop  115  can be slid along the body  210  of the bottle  200  until the body portion  110  of the carrying means  100  is pulled taut along the side of the bottle  200  and the second retention loop  130  is pulled along the neck until it becomes tight against the tapered portion  215  of the bottle. The bottle can then be turned over and carried by the carry handle  215 . It will be clear that many other methods of placing the carrying means  100  on a bottle or other bottle are available such as placing the bottle  200  base first  205  through the first retention loop  115  and then sliding the first retention loop up the body  210  of the bottle  200  toward the tapered portion  215  until the second retention loop  130  can be placed over the top of the neck  220  of the bottle  200 . The carrying means can be then slid toward the base  205  of the bottle  200  until the second retention loop  130  becomes tight around the tapered portion  215  of the bottle and the weight of the bottle may be supported via the carry handle  125 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the carrying means applied to a bottle  300  in use. It can be seen that the weight of the bottle  300  is supported from the user&#39;s hand by the carry handle  125  through the side portions  115 A of the first retention loop  115  and down through the body portion  110  of the carrying means  100  to the second retention loop  130 .  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 4 shows a preferred embodiment of the carrying means according to the present invention. The carrying means  400  comprises a single sheet of paper, fabric, plastic, wood free paper or other suitable material. The carrying means  400  consists of a general elongate body portion  410  having a first retention loop  415 , a carry handle  425  and a second retention loop  435  being defined by a series of apertures  420 ,  440  and  430  respectively. The first aperture  420  and third aperture  440  are located next to each other, and spaced apart by a small amount at a first end of the elongate body portion  410 . The piece of body material, which remains between the two apertures  420  and  440  provides a first retention loop  415 , and the strip of material which remains between the third aperture  440  and the outer periphery  401  of the carrying means defines a carry handle  425 . Similarly, the second retention loop  435  is formed by leaving a strip of material between the outer periphery  401  of the packaging device  400  and the second aperture  430 .  
         [0036]    In use, the carrying means  400  can be used in an identical fashion to the embodiment described in connection with FIGS.  1  to  3 .  
         [0037]    The embodiment of the carrying means shown in FIG. 4 is particularly advantageous as it can, be made from a single sheet of suitable material. As discussed in connection with the embodiment of FIGS.  1  to  3  the carrying means can be made from fabric, paper, a synthetic paper alternative or plastics material. However, it should be noted that, as a single sheet of material is used in this embodiment and no reinforcing patches are used, the material from which this packaging is manufactured should be strong enough to support the weight of a full bottle adequately without tearing or stretching substantially.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIGS. 5A, 5B and  5 C show three additional embodiments of the present invention which can be used to carry more than one bottle. These embodiments generally comprise a pair of package means as discussed in connection with FIGS.  1  to  4 , which are joined together, in order to allow two bottles to be carried. The 3 embodiments shown represent 3 configurations which may be obtained by joining 2 “single bottle” packages together at different positions.  
         [0039]    Turning first to FIG. 5A which shows a carrying means  500  comprising an elongate body  510  with 3 pairs of apertures  521 ,  540 ,  550 , extending therethrough. The carrying means  500  is symmetrical about line A-A, with each half being adapted to carry one bottle. As discussed in connection with FIGS.  1  to  4 , the aperture is defined two retention loops  555 ,  531  and a handle  520 . In use, the carrying means  500  is folded along line A-A to produce two identical, carrying means joined by the handle. As this embodiment is adapted to carry a greater weight than the embodiment of FIGS.  1  to  4 , it may be necessary to reinforce the handle portion  520  with a reinforcing patch as discussed in connection with FIGS. 1A and 1B. Alternatively, the material may be layered or laminated to provide additional strength over the entire carrying means  500 .  
         [0040]    Turning now to FIG. 5B which shows an alternative embodiment of the carrying means  599  for carrying more than one bottle. In this embodiment, the carrying means  599  is symmetrical about line A-A providing two “single bottle” packages joined by their respective second retention loops  555 . As discussed in relation to FIG. 5A each half the carrying means  599  includes a series of three apertures thereby defining a first and second retention loops  530  and  550  respectively, and a carry handle  520 .  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 5C shows a further alternative embodiment of a carrying means adapted to carry two bottles. The carrying means  598  includes a generally elliptical body portion  510  which is symmetrical about line A-A. This embodiment essentially represents 2 “single bottle” packages attached by their respective first retention loops  531 . Each half of the body portion  510  includes two apertures  530 ,  550  which define two retention loops  531  and  555  in each half of the carrying means  598 . The carrying means  598  additionally includes a handle  600  which is attached to the body  510  of the carrying means  598  along the centre line A-A. The handle  600  can be made of suitable material such as reinforced paper or polymer material as discussed in connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 1A and 1B. The handle  600  is attached along the centre line A-A of the carrying means  598 , and in use defines a line along which the package will naturally fold.  
         [0042]    In a preferred embodiment of the carrying means according to an invention, the surfaces of the carrying means can be adorned with decorative designs or advertising material advertising either the retail outlet selling the bottle to be carried, the supplier of the bottled product or a third party. The advertising slogans or images can be applied to the carrying means during manufacture, by simply printing the designs or advertisements onto the surface of the material from which the carrying means is made either prior to cutting the material or on the finished product.  
         [0043]    It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.  
         [0044]    The foregoing describes embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0