Container carrier
AssigneeBritish Polythene Limited
InventorStephen Bates
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a container carrier and to packaging systems for containers and using the same. This invention pertains to carrier stock for machine application to substantially identical containers such as beverage cans having annular chimes, cylindrical side walls, and frusto-conical walls between the chimes and the side walls. In particular, the present invention relates to plastic film having apertures to securely retain drinks cans, food cans, bottles and similar containers, a method of applying the film and the resultant combination.
Claims16
A plastics film comprising a thin plastics sheet material, the thin plastics sheet material comprising:
- a plurality of quadra-arcuate apertures for holding a plurality of containers together, each container of the plurality of containers having a beading, the plurality of quadra-arcuate apertures extending in at least a first direction of the plastics film;
- wherein each quadra-arcuate aperture of the plurality of quadra-arcuate apertures has a center and wherein edges defining each quadra-arcuate aperture has a geometry which comprises four tabs facing the center, each tab of the four tabs being defined by peaks spaced apart by troughs, each trough defining a root at a maximum point from the center;
- wherein the peaks and the roots lie, respectively, on first and second circumferences relative to the center, the second circumference, when the plastics film is in unstretched form and prior to placement about a container, being equal to or greater than a beading circumference of the container;
- wherein each tab of the four tabs is curved such that each tab has a curved edge facing the center, each curved edge forming an arc of a circle, the circle having a radius that is greater than a distance between the curved edge and the center of each quadra-arcuate aperture of the plurality of quadra-arcuate apertures;
- wherein a configuration of each quadra-arcuate aperture of the plurality of quadra-arcuate apertures is such that, upon placement of each quadra-arcuate aperture about a container of the plurality of containers, each peak of each tab engages with said beading of the container, wherein the plastics film, at a point where the peaks of the tabs meet with an underside of the beading of the container of the plurality of containers, is deflected in a downwards direction to form a non-planar wave effect in at least the first direction of the plastics film as the thin plastics sheet material elastically forms a three dimensional structure to retain the plurality of containers together;
- and
- wherein the plastics film can be provided as a roll.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.