Crate for containers
AssigneeRehrig Pacific Company
InventorsWilliam P. Apps, Sean T. Ogburn, Cynthia R. Meissen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A crate includes a bottom wall including a plurality of dividers defining a plurality of container pockets and a peripheral wall extending upward from a periphery of the bottom wall. The bottom wall and peripheral wall are thermoformed from a single sheet of plastic, such as recycled PET bottles.
Claims33
A crate comprising:
- a plurality of bottom walls each having a pocket wall extending at least partially about the periphery of the associated bottom wall defining a container pocket thereon;
- a first lateral divider including an upper surface and contiguous walls extending generally transversely therefrom to resist bending of the crate around the first lateral divider, the upper surface of the first lateral divider including a wide center portion and a pair of substantially vertical contiguous walls extending downwardly therefrom, the pair of walls defining a generally perpendicular channel through the wide center portion of the first lateral divider;
- and
- an upper side wall extending upward from the pocket wall of each of the plurality of bottom walls, the upper side walls defining a peripheral wall of the crate, wherein the bottom walls, the pocket walls and the upper side walls are thermoformed from a single sheet of plastic.
A crate comprising a single thermoformed sheet defining a plurality of container pockets having bottom walls and dividers therebetween and a peripheral lip around an upper edge of the plurality of container pockets;
- the plurality of dividers including a first lateral divider including an upper surface and contiguous walls extending generally transversely therefrom, the upper surface of the first lateral divider including a wide center portion and a pair of substantially vertical contiguous walls extending downwardly therefrom, the pair of walls defining a generally perpendicular channel through the wide center portion of the first lateral divider.
A crate storing a plurality of bottles, the crate comprising a single thermoformed sheet defining a plurality of container pockets having bottom walls and dividers therebetween and a peripheral lip around an upper edge of the plurality of container pockets, the dividers each include a pair of spaced-apart walls, each defining a different one of the plurality of container pockets, wherein the dividers include a first lateral divider including an upper surface and contiguous walls extending generally transversely therefrom, the upper surface of the first lateral divider including a wide center portion and a pair of substantially vertical contiguous walls extending downwardly therefrom, the pair of walls defining a generally perpendicular channel through the wide center portion of the first lateral divider, each of the plurality of bottles received in one of the plurality of container pockets, wherein each of the plurality of bottles is in direct contact with at least two others of the plurality of bottles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.