Patent ID: 7926243

Claim:
A method for handling hot-filled plastic bottles, each said plastic bottle including a neck portion, a body portion, and a base portion, the body portion having a first concave hoop ring, a second concave hoop ring, and an annular smooth sidewall portion free of vacuum panels and arranged between the first and the second concave hoop rings, and the base portion forming a standing surface for the plastic bottle and having a bottom end thereof with a moveable element configured to be activated, the method comprising: hot-filling the plastic bottles; capping the hot-filled plastic bottles; creating a vacuum in each of the hot-filled and capped plastic bottles by cooling, each vacuum causing temporary deformation of the corresponding plastic bottle, the temporary deformation for each plastic bottle being substantially confined to the smooth sidewall portion and unpredictable in shape, size, and timing, with substantially no deformation of the first concave hoop ring and the second concave hoop ring; conveying the plastic bottles having said temporary deformations such that each said plastic bottle is in contact with a plurality of other plastic bottles, the first and the second concave hoop rings for each said plastic bottle providing for substantially stable touch points for conveyance of the plastic bottles while said plastic bottles are conveyed with said temporary deformations in said smooth sidewall portion; and after said conveying, activating the moveable element of each said conveyed plastic bottle, said activating including moving the moveable element from a first position to a second position, the second position being more toward the interior of the plastic bottle than the first position, and said activating removing at least a portion of the vacuum, wherein, in response to said hot-filling and said capping, each said plastic bottle is caused temporarily to deform, the temporary deformation being substantially confined to the smooth sidewall portion, with substantially no deformation of any other portion of the plastic bottle, the first concave hoop ring and the second concave hoop ring providing for substantially stable touch points such that no portion of the deformed smooth sidewall portion of any said plastic bottle contacts any other of said plastic bottles.