Patent ID: 8267266

Claim:
A plastic hot fill bottle comprising: an enclosed base; an upper portion that extends upwardly to a finish; a body located between the base and the upper portion, the body defining a vertical axis oriented perpendicular to the enclosed base, and including a sidewall having an even number of circumferentially spaced, vacuum compensation elements, each one of the elements generally having a V-shape and comprising a first field, a second field, and a third field; the first field being nested within the second field, and the second field being nested within the third field; each of said elements being generally closed on one of an upper end and a lower end and generally open on the other one of the upper end and the lower end, each of said elements further including: the closed end defining a rounded tip with a pair of free ends; curved transition portions extending from the free ends of the tip; lateral portions connected to the curved transition portions and being generally parallel to each other and laterally displaced from the vertical axis; and flared end portions connected to the lateral portions and bending outwardly relative to the lateral portions and to the vertical axis.