US3485412A - Stackable plastic container - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 23, 1969 H. R. HAWLEY 3,485,412

STACKABLE PLASTIC CONTAINER Original Filed March 11, 1966 F l G. 4.

f l2 I3 INVENTOR HARRY R. HAWLEY vauw ATTORNEY 3,485,412 STACKABLE PLASTIC CONTAINER Harry R. Hawley, Lombard, Ill., assignor, by mesne assignments, to American Can Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Continuation of application Ser. No. 533,594, Mar. 11, 1966. This application Aug. 27, 1968, Ser. No. 757,215

Int. Cl. B65d 21/02 US. Cl. 220--97 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An integrally formed plastic cup wherein axially spaced upper and lower stacking rings in the cup side wall cooperate so that a plurality of cups may be readily stacked without jamming.

This application is a continuation of applieants application Ser. No. 533,594, filed Mar. 11, 1966, now abandoned.

When a large number of cups are nested together to form a relatively tall stack which will ultimately be dispensed one at a time, the Weight being supported by the stacking means of the bottom cup is relatively great and it is therefore important that the stacking means he sufficiently rigid and stiff to support this weight without causing jamming between adjacent cups. The thin walled plastic material presently in use in the drinking cup industry is relatively pliable and resilient, as has been brought out in Edwards Patent No. 3,139,213. I have found, however, that this resiliency and yieldability of the thin walled plastic cup does not actually assist in preventing jamming under the weight of a large number of cups but rather may even increase the jamming problem.

Objects of the invention It is therefore an object of this invention to provide stacking ring means which will produce substantially rigid, positive inter-engagement between adjacent pairs of stacked cups to prevent jamming of one cup within the other and permit easy removal of the cups, one at a time, from the stack.

More specifically it is an object to provide an open top drinking cup integrally formed from thin walled plastic material wherein the outwardly extending stacking ring of the inner cup is provided with a radially outwardly extending circumferential stitfening bead around the cup wall which is adapted to engage the inwardly extending shoulder of the next adjacent lower cup stacked therein.

It is another specific object of the invention to provide a cup of the type described wherein two axially spaced apart sets of stacking rings are respectively provided on upper and lower portions of the side wall of each cup in order to provide two circumferential supporting areas for each cup, one for supporting the lower portion of the cup and the other for supporting the upper portion of the cup.

These and other objects and advantages will more fully appear in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a pair of stacked cups with the outer cup being broken away,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modified stacking arrangement,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a pair of stacked cups with the outer cup broken away and showing ICC the upper stacking ring means for both forms of the lnventlon,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a pair of stacked cups with the outer cup broken away and showing the bottom stacking ring means embodied in the form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 2, and

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of one of the cups shown in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1 one embodiment of the invention is illustrated wherein a single set of spaced stacking rings is provided in the upper portion of each cup. A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 2. In both forms of the invention a tapered cup of thin walled thermo forming plastic material such as high impact polystyrene, rigid polyvinyl chloride, linear polyethylene is illustrated.

In the first embodiment of the invention the tapered cup has a side wall W with a curled upper lip L surrounding the open top thereof. A cup bottom B is provided which in the form shown has a central. recess to insure stability when placed on a table top and also to provide additional stiifness for the bottom panel.

A set of circumferential stacking rings 9 and 10 is formed in the upper portion of the side wall W. At least one of said rings must be continuous around the entire circumference of the cup. In the cup illustrated, the lower ring 10 is provided with an outwardly extending bead or step 10a. The spaced rings 9 and 10 are connected by an intermediate support section 11 which is cylindrical or may be tapered very slightly outwardly toward the top. In a plurality of stacked cups this intermediate section 11 serves to transfer the weight supported by the upper ring 9 to the lower ring 10 except for the top and bottom cups of the stack. The bead or step 10a provides circumferential stiffness for each of the rings 10 and said head also eliminates the necessity for a reverse taper in the intermediate support section 11, in order to provide the radial offset required for stacking engagement between the lower ring 10 and the upper ring 9 of adjacent cups.

In the second embodiment of the invention an upper set of stacking rings 9 and 10 is provided in the upper portion of the wall W of the cup C These are identical to the rings 9 and 10 in the first embodiment described above. In addition to the upper rings 9 and 10, a lower set of stacking rings 12 and 13 is also provided. The lower ring 13 is provided with a circumferential bead or step 13a which engages the inner portion of the upper ring 12 as best shown in FIG. 2, when adjacent cups are stacked together. The two sets of stacking rings provided in the second embodiment of the invention cooperate to support the weight of the cups stacked thereon and this materially reduces the weight carried by each set and substantially eliminates any problems of jamming.

It will be seen that both forms of the invention provide a novel and highly eflicient stacking structure without requiring the reverse taper previously used by many stacking cup designs and which provides substantially increased stiffness to each set of stacking rings by means of the outwardly projecting beads or steps.

I claim:

1. A thin walled plastic cup, comprising:

a tapered body having an integral bottom at the smaller end of said body and an annular brim surrounding the open opposite end;

axially spaced upper and lower peripheral stacking rings in the side wall of said body;

an intermediate section in said side wall separating said upper and lower rings;

said lower stacking ring being provided with an outwardly extending bead having a diameter greater than the diameter of said intermediate section; and

said upper stacking ring being a substantially horizontal shoulder having an outside diameter slightly greater than the outside diameter of said lower stacking ring and adapted to support the bottom surface of a lower stacking ring of a nested second cup.

2. The cup of claim 1 wherein said integral bottom has a flat bottom central recess therein to insure stability of said cup when placed on a horizontal surface.

3. The cup of claim 1 wherein said intermediate section is cylindrical.

4. The cup of claim 1 wherein said intermediate section tapers slightly outwardly toward the open cu end.

5. The cup of claim 1 wherein said stacking rings, separated by said intermediate section, are in the upper portion of said side wall.

6. The cup of claim 5 wherein a second pair of stacking rings, separated by an intermediate section, are in the lower portion of said side wall, so that there is a minim-um of frictional engagement between the tapered UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,223,305 12/1965 Edwards. 3,288,340 11/1966 Shapiro.

3,327,895 6/1967 Mueller.

3,347,411 10/1967 Kalata.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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