Article carrier

A carrier of foldable sheet material for accommodating a plurality of articles arranged in a pair of parallel rows, comprising a base panel for subtending and supporting the rows of articles;

• upright end wall panels extending from oppositely spaced first peripheral portions of said base panel for disposition adjacent opposite ends of the article rows;
• upright side wall panels extending from oppositely spaced second peripheral portions of said base panel, each side wall panel adapted to be disposed adjacent a side of an article row;
• and a handle spanning the distance between the end wall panels, said handle including an elongated single ply center section foldably connected at opposite ends to upper portions of said end wall panels and a pair of elongated side sections foldably connected to opposite elongated side edges of said center section, and, when in one folded mode, extending downwardly and having portions thereof adapted to be disposed between the article rows, said center section being provided with a pair of longitudinally spaced fingerholes, the portion of said center section intermediate said fingerholes being substantially planar and in spaced substantially parallel relation with said base panel, even when the side sections are in the folded mode, said sheet material having a grain extending longitudinally of said center section, each fingerhole having a tab adapted to be struck out from said center section and folded relative thereto in a direction towards said base panel and under the portion of said center section intermediate said fingerholes, said tabs initially extending in opposite directions away from each other, each tab being substantially defined by a substantially continuous curved cut having opposite end portions curved outwardly away from each other and forming a pair of relatively spaced open loops, the open sides of each pair of loops of a cut facing substantially in a direction towards an adjacent end wall panel, the open loops of each cut being disposed at opposite ends of the folding axis of the tab defined by said cut, said tab having a maximum width portion spaced from the folding axis thereof which is greater than the length of the folding axis between said loops, said maximum width being measured in a direction parallel to said folding axis.