Universal case for transporting bottles

A universal case for transporting PET bottles of a base-cup type and of a petaloid type, each type of PET bottle being generally symmetric in shape with a longitudinal symmetry axis and having a closure generally centered with respect to the symmetry axis for sealing the bottle, the PET bottle of the base-cup type having a base cup with an underside shaped to permit the bottle to stand upright on a flat horizontal surface, the underside of the base cup including a base-cup-bottle central base surface and an annular bottom surface located radially outwardly of the central base surface and in a position to contact the surface on which the bottle stands, the base-cup-bottle central base surface and the annular bottom surface being approximately coplanar with respect to one another and substantially centered with respect to the symmetry axis of the bottle, the PET bottle of a petaloid type having a plurality of petaloid lobes formed in a base of the bottle shaped to permit the bottle to stand upright on a flat horizontal surface, the lobes being disposed generally symmetrically about the symmetry axis of the bottle, undersides of the petaloid lobes being substantially coplanar with respect to one another to form lobe bottom surfaces for contacting the surface on which the bottle stands, the lobe bottom surfaces defining a petaloid bottle support plane, the base of the petaloid bottle having a petaloid-bottle central base surface located generally radially inwardly of the petaloid lobes and offset along the symmetry axis of the bottle from the petaloid bottle support plane by a petaloid-bottle central-base-surface clearance distance, the case being molded from a plastic material and comprising:

• (a) an outer shell;
• (b) a plurality of support elements connected to and generally disposed within the outer shell for reinforcing the shell, the outer shell and support elements being shaped to define a plurality of bottle pockets for receiving the bases of PET bottles, the number of bottle pockets defining a case-bottle-capacity number, a pocket centerline being defined to extend generally centrally through each bottle pocket;
• (c) a case-bottle-capacity number of bottle seeating means for seating a bottle inserted into a bottle pocket, each bottle seating means being associated with a bottle pocket and being connected to at least one of the outer shell and the support elements and including:
• (c.1) base-cup-bottle alignment means for orienting a PET bottle of the base-cup type seated in the bottle pocket so that the longitudinal symmetry axis of the bottle extends generally parallel to the pocket centerline of the bottle pocket, the base-cup-bottle alignment means having a base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact surface oriented generally normal to the pocket centerline and disposed to contact the annular bottom surface of the base cup of the bottle to orient the bottle, the base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact surface defining a base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact plane;
• and
• (c.2) petaloid-bottle alignment means for orienting a PET bottle of the petaloid type seated in the bottle pocket so that the longitudinal symmetry axis of the bottle extends generally parallel to the pocket centerline of the bottle pocket, the petaloid-bottle alignment means having a plurality of petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact surfaces, the petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact surfaces being substantially coplanar with one another to define a petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact plane, the petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact plane being oriented generally normal to the pocket centerline, the petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact surfaces being disposed generally symmetrically about the pocket centerline at locations to register with and contact the lobe bottom surfaces of the bottle to orient the bottle, the petaloid-bottle lobe-bottom-surface contact plane being below the base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact plane when the case is in a horizontal rest position and spaced apart from the base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact plane by a distance approximately equal to the petaloid-bottle central-base-surface clearance distance;
• (d) a case-bottle-capacity number of case rests, each case rest being associated with a bottle pocket, the case rest being connected to the bottle seating means associated with the bottle pocket, the case rest being generally symmetrically located with respect to the pocket centerline, each case rest having a central-base-surface bottle-to-case load-transmission surface and a case-to-closure load-transmission surface, the central-base-surface bottle-to-case load-transmission surface facing the bottle pocket and being located in approximately the base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact plane in a position to contact the central base surface of a PET bottle of the base-cup type or the petaloid type seated in the bottle pocket, the case-to-closure load-transmission surface of the case rest being generally spaced apart from the central-base-surface bottle-to-case load-transmission surface in a direction generally parallel to the pocket centerline directed away from the bottle pocket, the case rest being configured to locate a closure of a bottle oriented generally coaxially with the pocket centerline such that a top surface of the closure contacts the case-to-closure load-transmission surface, so that cases of bottles can be stacked one on top of the other with the case rests of an upper case resting on the closures of the bottles of a lower case with the case-to-closure load-transmission surfaces of the case rests contacting the tops of the closures and with the central base surfaces of PET bottles of either the base-cup type or the petaloid type in the pockets of the upper case contacting the central-base-surface bottle-to-case load-transmission surfaces of the case rests so that weight tends to be transmitted from a central base surface of a bottle in an upper case substantially directly compressively through a case rest to the top of a closure of a bottle in a lower case.