Abstract:
A holding device including a sheet member (1) shaped and configured to form a channel (5) therein, slots (7a, 7b) in the sheet member to receive the rims (11) of a plurality of articles each having a rim, and a separate bridge part (20) connected to the sheet member (1) so as to span the channel (5) to maintain the channel (5) in the sheet member (1) and thereby maintain the articles in engagement with the sheet member (1) in use.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a holding device and has been devised particularly though not necessarily solely for use in holding beverage cans which are necked at one end. 
     It is often convenient to assemble a group of articles such as beverage cans into a batch or group for ready transportation or storage. One method of achieving this is to put the articles into a box or tray or provide a full wrap about the articles. Such methods are wasteful of packaging material. 
     Attempts to reduce the amount of required packaging material have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,414,313 and 3,075,799 to Schwartz and Weiss, respectively, each show constructions which engage the top of a can. However, each construction requires a substantial width of space to fold the holder onto the cans. Also, the particular constructional method used means that the technique cannot be extended to multiple rows of cans. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,245,711 to Dantoin shows a construction which can receive multiple rows of cans but requires complex folding of the holding material to achieve its result. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,503 to Federal Paper Board Company describes a construction wherein the tops of cans are held by a sheet material pushed downwardly between two rows of cans and at the edges of the sheet. The package is held in this position by a cover formed by end panels which are folded over the top of the cans and parts of the holding device engaged to the cans. The construction is however disadvantageous in that substantially space is required on each side and above the assembly line to accommodate the movements required of the end panels. 
     Furthermore, the large area of packaging material introduces complexities into handling. 
     Plastics packaging is available in the form of interconnected rings of plastics material having some stretch. While such packaging has found wide acceptance it too is disadvantageous in view of the long period required for discarded packaging to degrade plus the possibility of wild life being often fatally trapped or choked by the rings of material. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a holding device and/or a method of holding articles which will obviate or minimize the foregoing disadvantages in a simple yet effective manner. 
     Accordingly in one aspect the invention consists in a holding device comprising a sheet member shaped and configured to form a channel therein, means to receive the rims of a plurality of articles each having a rim, and a separate bridge part able to be connected to the sheet member so as to span the channel to maintain the channel in the sheet and thereby maintain the articles in engagement with the sheet in use. 
     In a further aspect the invention consists in a holding device comprising a sheet member shaped and configured to form a channel therein, means to receive the rims of a plurality of articles each having a rim, and a separate bridge part spanning the channel and connected to the sheet member at each side of the channel to maintain the channel in the sheet and thereby maintain the articles in engagement with the sheet in use. 
     In a still further aspect the invention consists in a method of holding articles comprising the steps of providing a sheet member forming a channel in the sheet member and engaging the sheet member with the rim of a plurality of articles, each having a rim, and engaging a bridge part across the channel to maintain the channel in the sheet and thereby maintain the articles in engagement with the sheet. 
     This invention may also be said broadly to consist in the parts, elements and features referred to or indicated in the specification of the application, individually or collectively, and any or all combinations of any two or more of the parts, elements or features, and where specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which this invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth. 
     The invention consists in the foregoing and also envisages constructions of which the following gives examples. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     One preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of one form of sheet member able to be used in a holding device according to the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of an alternative sheet member; 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view of one form of bridge member able to be used in conjunction with the sheet member of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 to form a holding device according to one preferred form of the invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view of an alternative bridge member for use with larger numbers of articles to be held; 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a holding device according to the invention, in use and showing an alternative bridge member; 
     FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a holding device according to the invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the holding device of FIG. 6 in assembled form; 
     FIG. 8 is an end view of the construction of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a holding device according to the invention in a further alternative form; 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a holding device according to the invention in a still further alternative form in which a larger number of articles are held by the holding device; 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an alternative form of the invention shown in FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is an end view of the construction of FIG. 10, and 
     FIG. 13 is a plan view of a sheet forming part of an alternative construction to that shown in FIGS. 10 to 12. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the drawings, a holding device is provided which comprises a sheet member 1 formed of a sheet material such as, for example, paper board or cardboard and the sheet member 1 is shaped and configured so that a channel can be formed therein and so that the sheet member can engage the rims of a plurality of rimmed articles, such as cans. The cans may be beverage cans in which the operable end is necked but the invention may be used with other rimmed cans or rimmed articles. This may be achieved by providing the sheet 1 with at least three substantially parallel fold lines 2, 3 and 4. 
     If the fold lines 3 and 4 are folded so that the fold line 2 is out of the plane of the sheet member 1 a channel 5 will be formed as can be clearly seen in FIGS. 6 and 8. 
     The sheet member 1 described herein is designed to be engageable with a necked article, for example, a beverage can 6 of the type which is provided with a neck at the top end terminating in a rim. The rim is able to be engaged with pairs of substantially arcuate slots such as 7a and 7b, that is to say slots which are substantially arcuate, though as can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 the preferred slot is not arcuate being somewhat flattened. The precise shape of the slots 7a and 7b will depend on the radius of the can top and size of the can rim. Thus, the best shape of slots 7a and 7b can be determined empirically for any particular article to be held. 
     The slots 7a and 7b are provided in pairs and in FIG. 1 and 2 two rows of three pairs of slots are provided so that the holding device including the sheet 1 will hold six beverage cans. It will be immediately apparent that other numbers of pairs of slots could be provided to hold different numbers of cans, for example, two rows of four cans to form eight cans or three rows of four cans to form twelve cans by way of example. Where twelve cans in three rows of four are to be provided then two substantially parallel channels 5 would be provided. A twelve can construction will be described further herein. 
     The outer side edges 8 of the sheet member 1 are also separated from the remainder of the material by fold lines 9 and 10 so that the outer parts 8 can be folded to at least some extend downwardly to engage the can rims 11. Fold lines 9 and 10 are substantially parallel to fold lines 2, 3 and 4. 
     The sheet material 1 is desirably modified about slots 7a and 7b so as to increase the engagement between the sheet material 1 and the can rims 11. In FIG. 1 this is achieved by providing sunburst type slots or slits 13 and in FIG. 2 this is achieved for example by providing outwardly converging crease lines as at 14. 
     Where the article to be held is a typical soft drink or beer can the crease lines 14 in a pair may be about 1.2 cm apart at the edge 15 of the sheet 1 and about 1.7 cm apart at the slot 7a where the shortest distance from the edge 15 to slot 7a is about 1 cm. Again, radius and rim size may affect these dimensions and the best angles and length can be empirically determined for any selected can. The crease lines 14 are shown extending substantially from edge 15 to slot 7a but can and rim size again may require that the crease lines 14 are shorter than this. 
     A bridge piece 20 is provided to span the channel 5 as can be seen, for example, in FIG. 7. Thus, in use the cans 6 are held in the desired arrangement and the sheet member 1 placed thereover so that the rims 11 catch in the arcuate slots 7a and 7b. This can be arranged to be done mechanically by providing suitable pressure members in the desired positions. As the channel 5 is formed the two rows of cans 6 are moved relatively inwardly. 
     The bridge piece 20 is then placed across the channel 5 being, for example, glued or adhered into position. The bridge piece 20 is glued or adhered to the arms 21 at each side of the channel 5. 
     The bridge member 20 preferably includes a handle and for example in FIG. 3 a pair of cut outs 22 may be provided with a tongue 23 extending into the cut out 22. The dimensions of the tongue 23 are such that the tongue 23 may be pressed into the channel 5 in the erected holding device, preferably being a close fit. A crease or fold line 24 may be provided to facilitate movement of tongue 23 into the channel 5 in use. 
     In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 8 the bridge piece 20 has down turned side edges 30 separated from the body of bridge piece 20 by fold lines 31. The down turned side edges 30 give some protection to the exposed can rims 11 and can be adhered to the edge of down turned parts 8 of the sheet 1 if desired or necessary. 
     In FIG. 9 the bridge piece 20 has an upwardly extending portion 40 with cut out 41 therein so as to provide a more conventional handle. The double thickness upwardly extending portion 40 may have the two sheets adhered one to the other and crease lines 42 may be formed between the portion 40 and the remainder of the handle. 
     In the embodiment of FIG. 10 twelve cans 6 are held by a pair of sheet members 1A or 1B. They are spanned by the bridge piece 20 shown in FIG. 4. The tongues 23 are pushed in use into a third channel 50 formed by adjacent side edges 8 of the two sheet members 1A or 1B. The bridge piece 20 is adhered to each of the four areas 21 in the preferred construction. 
     The construction of FIG. 11 is as for FIG. 10 save that the bridge part 20 has side edges 60 similar to those described for FIG. 5. 
     FIG. 13 shows an alternative sheet 1 for holding twelve cans. The sheet 1 has fold lines 2, 3 and 4 represented so that in the erected construction two channels 5 are formed. These may be mounted by adhering a bridge part 20 as shown, for example, in FIG. 4 to the construction. The bridge part 20 is adhered preferably to the edge of the three areas 21 and is therefore oriented in a direction at right angles to the direction of orientation of the bridge part 20 shown in FIGS. 10 to 12. 
     In use the holding device is applied to necked beverage cans in particular in the manner described. The cans may then be carried as desired and simply removed by a levering or twisting type action between the beverage can or other article and the holding device. The material from which the sheet material is made must be of sufficient stiffness to retain the cans in position but of sufficient flexibility so that the cans can be removed therefrom when desired. 
     Thus it can be seen that at least in the preferred form of the invention a holding device is provided and/or a method of holding articles is provided which has the advantage that the holding device can be made of cardboard or paperboard which has environmental advantages and which uses substantially less material than full wrap around or other single piece constructions. That is to say the volume of packaging material used is minimized. One large area of board is more difficult to handle than the two smaller areas of the invention. This is particularly so when the packaging is operating at commercial speeds. 
     The two piece construction of the invention has other advantages. For example, the manufacturer can cross grain the two pieces of board which has its maximum tear strength across the grain. Thus, the sheet member can have its grain running one way and the bridge have its grain running the other. Thus, lighter weight board can be used than in a one piece construction while retaining adequate strength. Also, the two piece construction gives flexibility in printing as combinations can be made. A user could, by way of example, print the sheet member on a &#34;house&#34; basis and the bridge on a &#34;brand&#34; basis allowing the thus more generic sheet member to be associated with a selected bridge of those available. 
     The construction is such that the loading operation of articles into holding devices can be effected in a way that is economical of machine space, particularly where multiple lines are operating and also economical in board usage. The construction is also advantageous in allowing the use of paper board or cardboard which being more biodegradable than plastics is less likely to cause environmental damage than packaging formed from many of the available plastics materials.