Hot fill plastic container having reinforced pressure absorption panels

A thin-walled container formed from a plastic material and adapted to contain a liquid at a temperature elevated above room temperature, said container comprising:

• an upper portion which includes a sealable closure receiving portion;
• a lower portion including a base closing the bottom of the container;
• and a sidewall extending between said upper portion and said lower portion, said sidewall being generally tubular in shape and including a plurality of elongated vertically oriented vacuum panels which are adapted to flex inwardly upon a lowering of internal pressure during cooling of said liquid, each of said vacuum panels having an upper edge and a lower edge, an elongated outwardly projecting portion extending between and spaced from said upper and lower edges of said vacuum panel and oriented vertically within said vacuum panel, and a transverse rib dividing said outwardly projecting portion into upper and lower panel portions, said vacuum panel including a first outward projecting connecting portion extending between an upper edge of said upper panel portion and said upper edge of said vacuum panel and connecting said upper edge of said upper panel portion to said sidewall along said panel upper edge, and a second outwardly projecting connecting portion extending between a lower edge of said lower panel portion and said lower edge of said vacuum panel and connecting said lower edge of said lower panel portion to said sidewall along said lower edge of said vacuum panel.

A thin-walled container formed from a plastic material and adapted to contain a liquid at a temperature elevated above room temperature, said container comprising:

• an upper portion which includes a sealable closure receiving portion;
• a lower portion including a base closing the bottom of the container;
• and a sidewall extending between said upper portion and said lower portion;
• said sidewall being generally tubular in shape and including a plurality of elongated vertically oriented vacuum panels which are adapted to flex inwardly upon lowering of internal pressure during cooling of said liquid, each of said vacuum panels having an upper edge and a lower edge, an outwardly projecting portion extending between and spaced from said upper and lower edges, and a transverse rib dividing said outwardly projecting portion into upper and lower panel portions which extend between said upper and lower edges of said vacuum panel and are oriented vertically within said vacuum panel, said upper edges of said vacuum panels being spaced from said container upper portion defining a label upper mounting area and said lower edges of said vacuum panels being spaced from said container lower portion defining a label lower mounting area, a first annular reinforcement rib located in said label upper mounting area adjacent to the upper edges of said vacuum panels and a second reinforcement rib located in said lower label mounting area adjacent to the lower edges of said vacuum panels, said first and second annular ribs extending continuously around the inner circumference of said sidewall, supporting said vacuum panels at their upper and lower edges, and said first annular reinforcement rib being located closer to said upper edges of said vacuum panels than to said container upper portion and said second annular reinforcement rib being located closer to said lower edges of said vacuum panels than to said container lower portion.

A thin-walled container formed from a plastic material and adapted to contain a liquid at a temperature elevated above room temperature, said container comprising:

• an upper portion which includes a sealable closure receiving portion;
• a lower portion including a base closing the bottom of the container;
• and a sidewall extending between said upper portion and said lower portion;
• said sidewall being generally tubular in shape and including a plurality of elongated vertically oriented vacuum panels which are adapted to flex inwardly upon lowering of internal pressure during cooling of said liquid, each of said vacuum panels having an upper edge and a lower edge, an outwardly projecting portion extending between and spaced from said upper and lower edges, and a transverse rib dividing said outwardly projecting portion into upper and lower panel portions which extend between said upper and lower edges of said vacuum panel and are oriented vertically within said vacuum panel, said vacuum panel having first and second parallel vertical sides connected to said upper and lower edges of said vacuum panel by arcuately shaped corners having a radius of curvature in the range of about 10 to 12 mm.

A thin-walled container formed from a plastic material and adapted to contain a liquid at a temperature elevated above room temperature, said container comprising:

• an upper portion which includes a sealable closure receiving portion;
• a lower portion including a base closing the bottom of the container;
• and a sidewall extending between said upper portion and said lower portion;
• said sidewall being generally tubular in shape and including a plurality of vacuum panels, each including elongated, outwardly projecting upper and lower panel portions, the ratio of the overall height of said container to the diameter of said sidewall being at least 3 to 1.

A vacuum panel for a plastic container comprising:

• a vertically elongated back surface having a top and a bottom;
• a vertically elongated outwardly projecting upper panel portion spaced from said top;
• a vertically elongated outwardly projecting lower panel portion spaced from said bottom and from said upper panel portion;
• and first and second outwardly projecting connecting portions, said first connecting portion extending from said top to said upper panel portion and connecting said upper panel portion to said top, and said second connecting portion extending from said bottom to the lower panel portions and connecting said lower panel portion to said bottom.