Patent ID: 8146762

Claim:
An apparatus usable to form substantially identical lower and upper parts of a container for a flexible bag of liquid, the apparatus comprising: an inner surface configured to support the flexible bag of liquid when the apparatus is used as a lower part, the inner surface including side walls extending parallel to a longitudinal centerline of the inner surface and configured to support the flexible bag of liquid, and first and second contoured end projections extending directly upwardly from the inner surface and generally perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline of the inner surface, the first and second contoured end projections confronting each other along the longitudinal centerline of the inner surface and being configured to support opposite ends of the flexible bag with each of the first and second contoured end projections being spaced inwardly from the respective side walls; an outer surface; and projections extending outward from the outer surface and adapted to support the apparatus on a support surface when the apparatus is used as a lower part of a first container, and when the apparatus is used as an upper part of the first container, the projections face away from the support surface and facilitate alignment with a second container in a stacked formation on the support surface, the projections on the first container adapted to extend between projections on the second container to provide a more stable stacked formation.