Universal bottle case

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 generally annular bottom surface and a generally annular base-cup indentation located radially inwardly of the annular bottom surface, the annular bottom surface being located in a position to contact the surface on which the bottle stands, the annular bottom surface and the annular base-cup indentation being 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 with a petaloid-lobe-separation notch extending generally radially between each pair of adjacent petaloid lobes, 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 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 seating 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) a plurality of dual-base-engagement projections disposed in a generally annular array generally symmetrically about the pocket centerline, the dual-base-engagement projections extending generally parallel to the pocket centerline and projecting into the bottle pocket, the number of dual-base-engagement projections being equal to the number of petaloid lobes formed in the base of a PET bottle of the petaloid type;
• (c.2) 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, the dual-base-engagement projections being shaped and positioned to fit within and engage the annular base-cup indentation in the base cup of the bottle seated in bottle pocket to tend to stabilize the bottle;
• and
• (c.3) 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 tangent to a plane which defines 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 spaced apart from the base-cup-bottle annular-bottom-surface contact plane in a direction along the pocket centerline, 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, the dual-base-engagement projections being shaped and positioned to fit within and engage the petaloid-lobe-separation notches between the petaloid lobes of the bottle seated in the bottle pocket to tend to stabilize the bottle;
• and
• (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 case-to-closure load-transmission surface, the case-to-closure load-transmission surface of the case rest facing 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 in contact with the tops of the closures.