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US 8,328,009 B2Granted
Bottle crate
AssigneeOrbis Canada Limited
InventorEdward L. Stahl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bottle crate (10) is provided that is configured to hold a plurality of bottles in a generally upright orientation, and is particularly designed to hold bottles having a variable diameter. The bottle crate can include at least one tray and a plurality of fingers (601) elastically arranged on the tray, such that the fingers are configured to move in response to insertion or removal of a bottle.
Claims23
A bottle crate, comprising:
- at least one tray having a plurality of bottle receiving pockets configured to receive a plurality of bottles, each bottle receiving pocket having a center and a plurality of walls;
- a plurality of upwardly projecting fingers elastically arranged on at least one of the plurality of walls in each bottle receiving pocket of the at least one tray, the fingers being positioned over a cut-out in a lower portion of the at least one wall and movable in response to insertion or removal of at least one bottle of the plurality of bottles, each of the fingers in each plurality of fingers are connected together at a bottom end above the cut-out and at a top end and being separated by an aperture between each finger, each finger including a top formed at a first distance from the center of the bottle receiving pocket and a bottom formed at a second distance from the center of the bottle receiving pocket greater than the first distance.
A method for holding bottles in a bottle crate, comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one tray having a plurality of receiving pockets configured to receive a plurality of bottles, each receiving pocket including a plurality of fingers, each finger separated by an aperture and elastically arranged to include a top portion at a first distance from a center of the receiving pocket and a bottom portion at a second distance from the center of the receiving pocket greater than the first distance over a cut-out on the at least one tray;
- arranging at least one bottle of the plurality of bottles on the bottle crate, such that insertion or removal of the bottle results in movement of at least one of the plurality of fingers;
- and
- holding the at least one bottle in an upright orientation in the bottle crate.
1 more element
A bottle crate, comprising:
- a tray having a plurality of bottle receiving pockets configured to receive a plurality of bottles, the tray including a plurality of columns arranged about an outer wall of the tray;
- a plurality of fingers elastically arranged in at least one of the plurality of receiving pockets on the tray, the fingers connected at a bottom end and at a top end and having an aperture between each finger, and being movable in response to insertion or removal of at least one bottle of the plurality of bottles, each finger including a top formed at a first distance from a center of respective bottle receiving pocket and a bottom formed at a second distance from the center of the respective bottle receiving pocket greater than the first distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.