Unitized package
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorPeter Lems
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A unitized package of a plurality of generally cylindrical containers, such as cans or bottles, is disclosed. The package is sufficiently rigid to maintain a stable configuration upon handling even when the package is constituted by a relatively large number of containers. The unitized package comprises several independent, integral container cells of equal size that are held contiguous to one another by a resilient film ribbon under tension. The resilient film ribbon is in contact with the packaged containers about the periphery of the package along a major portion of the container cylindrical body portion length dimension. A particularly well suited film ribbon material for the foregoing purposes is oriented polypropylene film about 3 to 5 mils thick.
Claims10
A unitized package constituted by a plurality of substantially uniform containers arranged in rows and columns, each container having a cylindrical body portion, and comprising:
- at least two contiguous but separate, integral container cells of equal size;
- and
- a resilient but relatively inelastic film ribbon of oriented polypropylene under tension, circumscribing said contiguous container cells;
- each said container cell including a separate container connecting means, and at least two containers aligned with one another and individually gripped by the connecting means so that movement of the gripped containers relative to one another is restricted;
- and
- said resilient film ribbon being in contact with containers about the periphery of the package along a approximately 50% of the length of the cylindrical body portion length dimension and being under a tension of at least about one pound force per pound of total package weight but less than a tension that impairs the configurational integrity of individual containers in the package, said tension being distributed substantially uniformly across the width of the film ribbon, said film ribbon including a fusion welded seam substantially across the width of the ribbon at overlapping extremities of the ribbon.
A unitized package constituted by a plurality of substantially uniform containers arranged in rows and columns, each container having a cylindrical body portion, and comprising:
- at least two contiguous but separate, integral container cells of equal size;
- and
- a resilient but relatively inelastic film ribbon of oriented polypropyene under tension, circumscribing said contiguous container cells;
- each said container cell including a separate container connecting means, and at least two containers aligned with one another and individually gripped by the connecting means so that movement of the gripped containers relative to one another is restricted;
- and
- said resilient film ribbon being in contact with containers about the periphery of the package along a major portion of the cylindrical body portion length dimension and being under a tension of at least about one pound force per pound of total package weight but less than a tension that impairs the configurational integrity of individual containers in the package, said tension being distributed substantially uniformly across the width of the film ribbon, each container cell further being connected by a continuous resilient elastic band circumscribing the outer periphery of each cell, said film ribbon under tension being juxtaposed over a portion of the width of the bands that are exposed to the outer periphery of the unitized package.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.