Abstract:
A carrier for relatively heavy liquid containers, such as half-gallon bottles and gallon jugs, has container holders in the form of split collars that hold the containers by their necks and are pivotally attached to a bridge section by which the carrier is supported in normal carrying position to prevent accidental release of the containers from the carrier by twisting of the collars relative to the container necks in response to bending of the bridge section under the weight of the containers.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to container carriers and more particularly to a carrier for relatively large containers, such as half-gallon bottles and gallon jugs. 
     2. Prior Art 
     Containers of the kind with which this invention is concerned are widely used to package a great variety of liquids for commercial sale. Owing to increasing consumer interest in purchasing bulk quantities of many consumer products, because of the monetary savings involved, such containers have increased substantially in size and hence weight. For example, beverages such as milk, soft drinks, and water, and other liquids, such as swimming pool chemicals, are now commonly sold in half gallon bottles and gallon jugs. These containers are commonly fabricated from plastic or glass by a molding process, such as blow molding, and have an upper reduced neck through which the container contents are initially introduced into the container and later dispensed from the container. The open upper end of this neck is normally closed by a removable cap, such as a screw cap which is removable by rotating the cap or by a plastic cap having a pull tab which is torn off to release the cap for removal. Circumferentially surrounding the neck just below the lower edge of the cap is a shoulder, referred to as a &#34;neck ring&#34;  or &#34;chime&#34;. 
     A variety of carriers have been devised for holding two or more containers of this kind arranged side by side in a row or rows. For example, one type of carrier has a bottom tray on which the containers rest and an upper handle fixed to the tray for holding the carrier. In some cases, the carrier includes means at some level above the tray for supporting the containers laterally. One example of a carrier of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,498. Another type of carrier for such containers has a relatively rigid body, commonly a one piece molded plastic body, having spaced collar-like portions which receive the necks of the containers. These collar-like portions, or simply collars as they are referred to herein, include inner, circumferentially spaced, resiliently flexible neck engaging elements which yield axially and radially to permit passage of the container necks and neck rings through the collars. The elements then spring inwardly to engage the under sides of the neck rings in such a way as to support the containers in suspended fashion with most of the container length hanging below the carrier. Examples of carriers of this latter type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,090,729, 4,093,295, 4,235,468, 4,247,142, 4,249,766, and 4,471,987. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an improved carrier for containers of the kind described, that is containers having upper necks circumferentially surrounded by an annular shoulder or neck ring. The carrier has certain improved features which uniquely adapt the carrier to its intended purposes of securely supporting containers, such as half gallon and gallon bottles and jugs. According to one feature of the invention, the improved carrier has container holders pivotally joined to an intervening bridge section by which a container package including the carrier is supported or held. While this bridge section is made relatively stiff to resist bending, it is subject to some bending by the weight of the container supported on the carrier. These container holders are constructed to receive the necks of containers arranged side by side in a row, or rows, and to engage the under sides of their neck rings in such a way as to support the containers in suspended side by side relation. The holders have central axes which are normally parallel to one another when the carrier is empty and in its normal unstressed configuration. The presently preferred carrier embodiment described herein is designed to hold two containers. It will become evident as the description proceeds, however, that the improved features of the invention may be embodied in carriers for more than two containers. 
     When a container package consisting of containers and a container carrier according to this invention rests on a supporting surface, the container holders are disposed relative to the container necks with the holder axes parallel to one another and aligned with the axes of the container necks. When the container package is carried by the carrier bridge section, the weight of each container in the package acts downwardly on the corresponding holder. The container weight then tends to bend the portion of the bridge section adjacent the holder downwardly in a certain plane of the bridge section, referred to herein as a bending plane, which plane would be substantially vertical in the normal carrying position of the carrier. If the holders were rigidly joined to the bridge section, the holders would bend down with their adjacent portions of the bridge section in such a way that the holders would undergo, in effect, combined downward translation in the bending plane and rotation about an axis transverse to this plane. This rotation of the holders would occur relative to the suspended containers, which would tend to remain vertical because of the force of gravity on the containers, and would tend to twist the holders past the container neck rings and thereby inadvertently release the containers from the carrier. 
     According to the present invention, this problem of inadvertent release of the containers from the carrier is avoided by pivotally mounting each holder on the carrier bridge section on a pivot axis intersecting the holder axis transverse to the bending plane in which the respective adjacent portion of the bridge section bends under the weight of the container supported in the holder. The pivotal connections between the bridge section and holders permit the holders to remain coaxial with, and thereby firmly secured to, the container necks during downward bending of the adjacent bridge portions by the weight of the containers. 
     The container holders of the preferred carrier described herein are annular collars having relatively rigid outer rings and relatively stiff but resiliently flexible container-neck-engaging elements spaced circumferentially about and extending inwardly from the rings toward the central axes of the collars. These container-engaging elements are conical segments which incline inwardly toward the central axes and axially toward the normally upper sides of the collars and have inner edges which bear against the container necks just below their neck rings. According to another feature of this invention, these container-engaging elements or segments have upper surfaces which intersect the inner edges of the gripping elements along relatively sharp corner junctures that engage the under sides of the container neck rings to securely support the containers vertically and lower surfaces which join the inner edges of the elements along convex rounded junctures to aid entrance of the container necks and neck rings through the collars when placing the carrier on the containers. The collars include at least one relatively large gap or space between adjacent gripping engaging elements for accommodating pull tabs on the container caps. 
     A further feature of the invention resides in flange-like tabs which extend outwardly from the collars. These tabs are arranged so that a person may squeeze a collar tab and the upper end of the container neck positioned in the collar between the thumb and forefinger of one hand in such a way as to force the collar upwardly from the container neck. 
     The preferred carrier embodiment described herein is a one piece molded plastic carrier whose pivotal connections comprise integral torsionally resilient connections between the bridge section and the container holders or collars. In this preferred embodiment, the bridge section of the carrier has generally yoke-shaped arms which straddle each collar and are pivotally attached to the collar rings by integral torsionally resilient pivot connections. Other objects and features of the invention will become evident as the description proceeds. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carrier according to the invention mounted on two jugs, such as milk jugs, to form a jug twin pack; 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the carrier in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3--3 in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side view of the twin pack in FIG. 1, illustrating how the pack is held; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlargement of the area encircled by the arrow 5--5 in FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 6 is a view of the underside of the carrier taken at line 6--6 in FIG. 3. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Turning now to these drawings, there is illustrated a container package 10 including an improved carrier 12 according to the invention attached to relatively large containers 14 of the kind referred to earlier. The illustrated containers are plastic gallon containers, commonly referred to as jugs, which are fabricated by a blow molding process and widely used as containers for milk, water, swimming pool chlorine, and other liquids. Each container 14 has a lower container body 16 and an upper neck 18 circumferentially surrounded by an annular shoulder 20, referred to as a neck ring or &#34;chime&#34;. The neck 18 is used to initially fill the container and later to dispense the contents from the container and is normally sealed by a removable cap 22. 
     Carrier 12 comprises a pair of container holders 26 joined by an intervening relatively rigid bridge section 28. Bridge section 28 forms a grip portion or handle by which the carrier may be supported or held in the manner shown in FIG. 4. Holders 26 are constructed and arranged to receive the necks 18 of the containers 14 and have circumferentially spaced, resiliently flexible container-engaging elements 30 for engaging the container necks just below the container neck rings 20 in the manner best shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. These container-engaging elements support the two containers 14 in suspended side by side relation with the most of the length of the containers disposed below the carrier, as shown. The holders 26 have central axes 32 located in a common longitudinal plane P of the carrier. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the container package 10 when it rests on a supporting surface, that is, when the two containers 14 of the package rest on the surface. The container holders 26 are then coaxial with the container necks 18, and the holder axes 32 are parallel to one another, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bridge section 28, and aligned with or colinear with the axes of the container necks, as shown. When the container package 10 is grasped and lifted by the carrier bridge section 28, as shown in FIG. 4, the weights of the two containers 14 act downwardly on their holders 26 and thereby tend to bend the portions of the bridge section adjacent the holders, in this case the two ends of the bridge section, downwardly in bending planes (the plane of the paper in FIG. 4 and the plane P in FIG. 6) which are substantially vertical when the carrier occupies its normal carrying position of FIG. 4. While the bridge section is constructed to resist such bending, never-the-less, the opposing forces exerted on the carrier, i.e. the upward lifting force exerted on the bridge section and the downward gravitational forces on the containers, bend the two ends of the bridge section downwardly, as shown in FIG. 4, until further bending is prevented by either the bending resistance of the bridge section or lateral abutment of the lower ends of the two containers. 
     If the holders 26 were rigidly joined to the bridge section 28, they would bend downwardly with the ends of the bridge section in such a way that the holder axes 32 would remain substantially perpendicular to their respective bridge section ends, and the holders would effectively undergo combined downward translation in the bending plane P and rotation about axes 34 normal to this plane. This rotation of the holders would occur in opposite directions about axes 34, and the holder axes 32 would rotate in the plane P from their normal parallel positions in such a way that the upper ends of these axes would move away from one another and the lower ends of the axes would move toward one another. Gravity, on the other hand, would tend to maintain the containers 14 vertical. As a consequence, if the holders 26 were rigidly joined to the carrier bridge section 28, downward bending of the holders with the ends of the bridge section would tend to rotate the holders from their normal positions on the container necks 18 and thereby twist the holders past the container neck rings 20 with resultant inadvertent release of the containers from the carrier. 
     According to the present invention, this problem of inadvertent release of the containers 14 from the carrier 12 is avoided by providing pivotal connections 36 between the container holders 26 and bridge section 28. These pivotal connections permit the holders to pivot on the axes 34 relative to the bridge section and thereby remain coaxially aligned with the container necks 18 during downward bending of the ends of the bridge section by the weight of the containers. 
     Referring now in more detail to the preferred inventive embodiment illustrated in the drawings, each carrier holder 26 comprises a split annular collar including an outer relatively rigid ring 38. The container engaging elements 30 of each collar comprise four generally conically tapered segments integrally joined to and spaced circumferentially about the collar ring 38. These segments are relatively stiff but resiliently flexible axially of the collar. As shown best in FIG. 5, each collar segment 30 has a radially outer conically tapered portion 40 which inclines radially inward toward the collar axis 32 and axially toward the normally upper side of the collar and a relatively flat, radially inner portion 42. The radially inner portions 42 of the four segments 30 are disposed in a common plane normal to the collar axis 32. 
     The collars 26 have the following features whose functions will be explained presently. The collar segments 30 have upper surfaces which intersect the radially inner edges of the respective segments along relatively sharp junctures or edges 44. The collar segments have lower surfaces which join the inner edges of the segments along rounded convex junctures 46. The segments of each collar are circumferentially spaced so as to provide between the adjacent segments two relatively narrow, diametrically opposed gaps 48 aligned laterally of the carrier and two relatively wide diametrically opposed gaps 50 aligned lengthwise of the carrier. Each collar has a flange-like tab 52 projecting outwardly from the side of the collar ring 38 diametrically opposite the carrier bridge section 28. 
     The carrier bridge section 28 is relatively flat and has a thickness about equal to the axial thickness of the collars 26. The bridge section has a generally rectangular central section 54 and integral yoke-shaped arms 56 at opposite ends of the central section. The underside of the central section has reinforcing ribs 58 along the edges and across the center of the section which reinforce the bridge portion against bending. The yoke arms 56 are relatively rigid and integrally joined to the central section 54 of the bridge section. These arms straddle the collar rings 38 along their pivot axes 34 and are pivotally joined to the collar rings on their pivot axes by the pivot connections 36. According to a preferred feature of the invention, the entire carrier 12, including the collars 26, bridge section 28, and pivot connections 36, is injection molded as a single integral plastic structure whose pivot connections 36 are torsionally resilient plastic portions extending between and integral with the collar rings 38 and the yoke arms 56. 
     The carrier 12 is applied to the containers 14 by coaxially aligning the containers with the carrier collars 26 and then pressing these collars downwardly over the container necks 18 to the positions of FIGS. 1, 3, and 5 wherein the collar segments 30 encircle the container necks and engage the undersides of the container neck rings 20 to vertically support the containers. During this application of the collars 26 downwardly over the container necks, the container caps 22 initially engage the rounded inner lower junctures 46 of the segments 30 and then deflect these segments upwardly and radially outwardly to enlarge the collar openings sufficiently to pass the container neck rings 20. The collar segments then spring back under the neck rings to the positions of FIGS. 1, 3, 5 wherein the upper inner sharp edges 44 of the segments engage the under sides of the neck rings. The stiffness and upward conical taper of the collar segments 30 cooperate to enable the segments to support the containers. The rounded lower junctures 46 of the segments facilitate passage of the container caps and neck rings through the collars. The sharp upper edges 44 of the gripping segments effect firm supporting engagement of the segments with the collar neck rings. Removal of the carrier 12 from each container 14 is accomplished by gripping or squeezing the container cap 22 and corresponding carrier tab 52 between the thumb and forefinger, in the manner shown in FIG. 1, so as to twist the corresponding carrier collar 26 from the container neck.