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US 11,319,130 B2Granted
Beverage crate
AssigneeRehrig Pacific Company
InventorRyan C. Meers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage crate includes a base, end walls at ends of the base, and side walls at sides of the base. The side walls each include a plurality of side columns extending upward from a lower portion of the side wall. The side walls are significantly shorter than the end walls to improve visibility and accessibility of containers in the crate. The side columns are significantly shorter than the lower portion of the side wall, significantly shorter than end columns and corner columns of the crate.
Claims23
A beverage crate comprising:
- a base;
- end walls at ends of the base;
- side walls at sides of the base, the side walls each including a plurality of side columns extending upward from a lower portion of the side wall, wherein side windows opening upward are defined between the side columns;
- and
- corner columns at corners of the crate, wherein the corner columns are more than twice as tall as the side columns, wherein the corner columns are nestable into corner columns of an identical crate nested thereon;
- wherein the beverage crate is configured such that an identical crate when nested thereon would have a base the bottom surface of which would be higher than the plurality of side columns of the beverage crate.
3 more elements
A plastic beverage crate comprising:
- a base;
- end walls at ends of the base, wherein the end walls include end columns;
- side walls at sides of the base, the side walls each including a plurality of side columns extending upward from a lower portion of the side wall to define side windows opening upward therebetween, a divider projecting toward an interior of the crate in alignment with each of the plurality of side columns, wherein the lower portion of the side wall is approximately twice as tall as the side columns on the lower portion of the side wall;
- and
- corner columns at corners of the crate wherein the corner columns are more than twice as tall as the side columns, the corner columns nestable into corner columns of an identical crate nested thereon, the end columns nestable into end columns of the identical crate when nested thereon;
- wherein the beverage crate is configured such that an identical crate when nested thereon would have a base the bottom surface of which would be approximately coplanar with uppermost edges of the plurality of side columns of the beverage crate.
3 more elements
A plastic beverage crate comprising:
- a base having a lower surface including a plurality of vertically-oriented ribs defining bottle-cap receiving recesses;
- end walls at ends of the base, wherein the end walls include end columns that are nestable into end columns of an identical crate nested thereon;
- side walls at sides of the base, the side walls each including a plurality of side columns extending upward from a lower portion of the side wall to define side windows opening upward therebetween, a divider projecting toward an interior of the crate in alignment with each of the plurality of side columns, wherein the lower portion of the side wall is approximately twice as tall as the side columns on the lower portion of the side wall, wherein the end columns that are significantly taller than the side columns;
- and
- corner columns at corners of the crate wherein the corner columns are more than twice as tall as the side columns, the corner columns nestable into corner columns of an identical crate nested thereon, the end columns nestable into end columns of the identical crate when nested thereon, wherein the base, end walls and side walls are all integrally molded as a single piece of plastic;
- wherein the beverage crate is configured such that an identical crate when nested thereon would have a base the bottom surface of which would be approximately coplanar with uppermost edges of the plurality of side columns of the beverage crate.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.