Covered Top Container Carrier

Abstract

A package of a plurality of outwardly beaded or chimed containers, such as cans, each mounted within a corresponding aperture of an apertured plastic carrier sheet member with the carrier material round each aperture supportingly engaging beneath the bead at the top of an inserted container and also enveloping the sides of the bead to present exposed carrier material thereabove, preferably overlying the top of the bead, so as to permit ready conversion of the thusly formed open top package unit to a closed top package unit by application of a flat protective cover sheet to the package unit and adhering the same to the exposed carrier material without manipulative deformation of the cover sheet.

Description

This invention is concerned with the general type of package and carrier unit shown in prior U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,835, and with improvements in protectively covered carrier package units of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,355,013.

According to the present invention, the herein disclosed carrier member may be applied to the container assembly without substantial modification of existing carrier applying equipment but with portions of the carrier material around each aperture projecting above the beads of the included containers while supportingly engaging the under sides of the container beads.

For the above purpose, the carrier material around each aperture therethrough has initially downwardly open annular groove formations which, upon association of the containers and carrier member as a unit, engage beneath the container beads and envelop the outer edges thereof to overlie the top edges thereof for sanitary purpose and provide the exposed portions of the carrier material.

Thus, a principal object of the present invention is to permit the ready conversion of the above described open top package unit to a closed top package unit by adhering a flat cover of plastic or paperboard material to the exposed portions of the carrier material without the necessity of interlocking or otherwise deforming the cover material for securing the same as a sanitary and protective cover for the ends of the packaged containers.

The above and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will be hereinafter more fully pointed out in connection with the description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the carrier member;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view through one longitudinal row of carrier apertures;

FIG. 3 is a similar sectional view showing a row of containers inserted and retained by the carrier; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 and showing the protective cover applied to the package unit.

Referring more in detail to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing, a sheet like carrier member 10 is illustrated for use as a six pack carrier. The carrier member is provided with six apertures in rows of three 11, 11a, 11b, and 12, 12a, 12b with the outer edges of the carrier material in scalloped contour. The apertures may be oval shaped, as illustrated, or otherwise slightly out-of-round or of slightly smaller diameter than an associated container to be stretched when assembled with the containers in order to snugly grip the same in the package unit. The edges 14, 14a, 14b and 16, 16a, 16b of the carrier material around each of the apertures 11, 11a, 11b and 12, 12a, 12b , respectively, are of open groove formation with the groove formations initially opening downwardly from the carrier sheet, as indicated in FIG. 2. If desired for increased flexibility of the groove formations both in assembling containers with the carrier and removing containers therefrom, the groove formations may be notched at spaced intervals generally indicated by the numeral 18 and provide therebetween bead engaging supporting ledges. Finger gripping or handle attaching apertures 20, 20a may be provided in the carrier material and the cover (to be later referred to) may have registering openings.

The containers 22, 22a, 22b shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are of the type having outward beads or chimes 24, 24a, 24b, respectively, at the upper ends thereof. The size of the carrier apertures is such that the material therearound will stretch and deform when the containers are assembled therewith. A resilient, elastic and deformable material, such as polyethylene, is selected for this purpose. Thus, when the containers are assembled to the carrier sheet, as shown in FIG. 3, the material adjacent the apertures is deflected upwardly to position the grooves in inwardly horizontally opening disposition with depending coupling material of the carrier between each container as shown at 26 between the grooves 16, 16a, and at 26 a between the grooves 16 a, 16 b in FIGS. 3 and 4. In such assembled position, the grooves embrace the outer surfaces of the associated beads with the lower edges of the grooves in snug supporting engagement with the under surfaces of the associated container beads and with the upper edges, for example 28, 28 a, 28 b of the grooves 16, 16 a, 16 b, respectively, projecting above the associated container beads 24, 24 a, 24 b, respectively, and snugly overlying the same to provide exposed portions of the carrier material to which the protective cover 30 may be secured by heat sealing if made of plastic or by an adhesive bond if made of paperboard or the like.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the carrier package may be of the open top form with the container ends exposed, as in FIG. 3, or of the closed top form, as in FIG. 4, with the cover sheet carrying any desired printed or display matter. Thus, conversion between the package forms of FIG. 3 to FIG. 4 is a simple operation requiring only a flat cover sheet secured in suitable manner such as by bonding to the exposed portions 28, 28 a, 28 b around the carrier apertures, and without any interlocking, folding, or other deformation to provide the desired association of the cover 30 with the package unit. This, of course, gives a degree of selectivity to customers, that is, those desiring an open type package of FIG. 3 and those desiring a closed top package of FIG. 4, and for the latter, the operation of applying the cover is extremely simple. The cover may be provided with openings in registry with the openings 20, 20 a in the carrier and the application of lifting force to the package will be transmitted through the carrier sheet to the container beads so that the adherent connection between the cover and the carrier need not be more tenacious than necessary for merely securing the cover thereto as a protective or sanitary cover for the container ends.

Claims

I claim:

1. A container package unit comprising a plurality of containers each having a top peripheral outward bead; and a carrier sheet of plastic material having a plurality of apertures therethrough corresponding to the number of containers in the package unit and each aperture having an annular groove formation of the material therearound peripherally dimensioned to be stretched when associated with a container and axially shifted to a position with the lower edge of the groove snugly engaging beneath the associated container bead and with the remaining material of the groove enveloping the outer edge of the associated container bead and providing a projecting portion thereabove, lifting grip means on the carrier sheet for transporting the package unit, and a flat cover sheet extending over the package unit and bonded to projecting portions of the groove material.

2. A container package unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the projecting portions of the groove material overlie the upper edges of the associated container beads, and wherein said flat cover sheet extends over the package unit and is bonded to said overlying projecting portions of the groove material.

3. A container package unit comprising a plurality of containers each having a top peripheral outward bead; and a carrier sheet of plastic material having a plurality of apertures therethrough corresponding to the number of containers in the package unit and each aperture having an annular groove formation of the material therearound peripherally dimensioned to be stretched when associated with a container and axially shifted to a position with the lower edge of the groove snugly engaging beneath the associated container bead and with the remaining material of the groove enveloping the outer edge of the associated container bead and providing a projecting portion thereabove, lifting grip means on the carrier sheet for transporting the package unit, said groove formations being formed to initially face downwardly and deformed to laterally envelop and overlie associated container beads when the containers are assembled therewith and a flat cover sheet extending over the package unit and bonded to portions of the groove material overlying the container beads.

4. A container package unit as claimed in claim 3, wherein the groove material is laterally notched for increased flexibility thereof.

5. A carrier for retaining a plurality of containers having outwardly projecting top peripheral beads in side-by-side substantially parallel relationship as a multiunit package, said carrier comprising a plurality of side-by-side container encircling bands integrally interconnected at outer peripheral edges of said bands, a curved segment integrally formed on a portion of the inner periphery of each of said bands, the line of connected between each segment and the respective inner periphery of each of said bands being formed as a groove, said bands and said segments being integrally formed from a sheet of resilient and deformable plastic material so that the inner periphery of each of said bands is stretched into gripping engagement with the circumferential surface of a container and so that each of said segments overlies the top of an associated container bead when a plurality of containers are axially inserted through said bands with said top peripheral beads of said containers immediately above the inner peripheral edge of said bands, and a flat cover sheet extending over said carrier and bonded to said segments.