Low depth nestable tray for bottles or the like

A low-depth nestable bottle tray, comprising:

• a tray floor having a floor top surface and a floor bottom surface, said floor top surface including a plurality of support areas for vertically upright supporting in said tray an array of generally cylindrical peripheral bottles, said floor bottom surface including an array of upwardly recessed, bottle top receiving areas for receiving therein the tops of bottles supported in at least one similar bottle tray directly therebeneath and for thereby blocking free sliding movement of said floor bottom surface on the bottle tops;
• a generally upright continuous band spaced above said tray floor;
• a plurality of angled nesting columns and corner posts interconnecting a periphery of said tray floor with said band;
• and
• nesting rib assemblies on at least two of said columns, each said nesting rib assembly including an inwardly projecting, upwardly disposed shelf on an inboard surface of said column and at a generally central vertical location thereof and an outwardly projecting, downwardly disposed rib on an outboard surface of said column at a generally lower location thereof, said rib and said shelf being positioned and configured relative to one another such that when said tray is nested a distance down into a similar empty tray, said rib rests on the corresponding shelf of the similar empty tray and when a similar tray is nested down into said tray when empty, the corresponding rib of the similar tray rests on said shelf, wherein said column and said shelf are dimensioned such that said shelf supports the weight of the tray nested thereabove.

A low-depth nestable tray for bottles, said tray adapted to be nested with other similar trays when empty of bottles and low-depth stacked with other similar trays when loaded with bottles, said tray comprising:

• a low-depth wall structure including a peripheral tray band, said wall structure including side walls and end walls;
• a floor having a floor top surface and a floor bottom surface, said floor top surface comprising a plurality of support areas for supporting an array of bottles vertically upright, said floor bottom surface including upwardly recessed bottle top receiving areas for receiving tops of bottles in at least one similar tray therebeneath;
• and
• a plurality of columns along said wall structure interconnecting said band and said floor, said columns configured and positioned so as to not interfere with bottles or multi-packs of bottles supported on said floor and to empty nest with similar columns of another similar tray, wherein at least two of said columns are ribbed columns, each said ribbed column comprising:
• (a) an exterior rib extending vertically downward and outward such that the bottom of said exterior rib is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface,
• (b) an interior rib extending vertically upward and inward from said floor top surface opposite said exterior rib, and
• (c) a vertical slot positioned above said interior rib,
• wherein the top of said interior rib and the bottom of said slot form a nesting rib and said slot is configured and positioned to matingly receive the exterior rib of another similar tray empty nested thereabove and therewith such that the bottom of the exterior rib rests on said nesting rib of said tray when empty and nested with another tray thereabove.

A low depth nestable tray for an array of generally cylindrical peripheral bottles, said tray adapted to be nested with other trays when empty of bottles and stacked with other trays when loaded with bottles, said tray having a low depth wall structure comprising a band extending around the periphery of said tray for preventing the bottles from tipping during transport, said wall structure comprising side walls and end walls, a floor structure having a floor top surface, and a floor bottom surface, a plurality of columns disposed along the wall structure interconnecting the band and the floor structure, the columns configured to nest with columns of a similar empty tray,

• wherein the improvements comprise;
• a plurality of support areas on said floor top surface for supporting the bottles in an upright position;
• at least two of said columns being ledged columns, each said ledged column comprising
• at least one exterior column portion extending vertically downward from said ledged column such that the bottom of said exterior column is substantially flush with said floor bottom surface,
• at least one interior column portion extending vertically upward from said floor top surface,
• a vertical receiving portion indented into said ledged column above said interior column portion, wherein the top of said interior column portion and the bottom of said receiving portion form a nesting ledge and said receiving portion is adapted to matingly receive the exterior column portion of another tray nested thereabove,
• wherein the bottom of the exterior column portion rests on the nesting ledge of a subjacent tray when said tray is empty and nested therewith, and
• wherein said nesting ledge and said columns are dimensioned such that the nesting ledge supports the weight of said tray thereabove and thereby maintains a spaced distance between the bands of adjacent nested trays.
• wherein the band comprises upright arcuate indentations on its interior surface, said indentations arranged in an alternating manner with the columns and being positioned and configured to correspond to the generally cylindrical peripheral bottles of the array of bottles.