Stackable ribbed bottle system

Abstract

A bottle having a storage chamber defined by spaced upper and lower surfaces and planar sidewalls; a conical ceiling in said upper surface having an opening at the top thereof; a conical convex recess in said lower surface for receiving the conical ceiling of the next adjacent bottle when stacking said bottles, and means for interlocking the sides and upper and lower surfaces of the bottles when stacked. The bottle may have ribs in the conical ceiling, conical recess and sidewalls for increasing top load resistance. A plurality of bottles may be assembled into a stable bottle stack with minimal packaging material.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates generally to containers, and more particularly to a system of stackable bottles.BACKGROUND ART[0002]It is known to provide a storage bottle which permits stacking of bottles on the bottles' sides. Examples of such bottles include U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,207 to Cullis entitled: “Bottled Water Container”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,199 to Frahm entitled: “Stackable Bottle”, U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,955 to Schieser et al. entitled: “Interfitting, Stackable Bottles”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,834 to Harris entitled: “Container Construction”. Such stackable bottles are not ideal as the sideways stacking of bottles may increase the likelihood that the contents of the bottles will leak out of the bottles, particularly where the bottle contents are liquid.[0003]It is also known to provide stackable bottles which permit the nesting of the neck of one bottle into a recess in the bottom of another bottle. Examples of such bottles include those described in U.S....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]In still a further aspect, ribs may be incorporated on the conical ceiling, the conical recess, or the sidewalls to make the bottle stronger and increase the top load capability. The said ribs also improve collapsibility of the bottle when empty to reduce volume at the end of the life cycle. In an alternative embodiment, the conical ceiling may have a hexadecagonal cross section.

Problems solved by technology

Such stackable bottles are not ideal as the sideways stacking of bottles may increase the likelihood that the contents of the bottles will leak out of the bottles, particularly where the bottle contents are liquid.

These nesting, stackable bottles do not include means for interlocking the sides or tops and bottoms of the bottles to provide stability to a stack of such bottles.

In addition, nesting bottles often do not provide sufficient strength to withstand collapse under the pressure exerted by bottles stacked above.

Such bottles, however, do not include means for interlocking their side walls.

These bottles, however, do not include means for interlocking their top and bottom surfaces.

Such a structure is less than ideal in that the handles of the bottle will not be accessible when the bottle is in a stack.

The bottle does not provide a planar top and bottom support surface for stable vertical stacking of bottles containing consumables.

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