GB2499600A

GB2499600A - Drinks Carrier

Info

Publication number: GB2499600A
Application number: GB1202949.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Eves; Luke Booth
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-02-21
Filing date: 2012-02-21
Publication date: 2013-08-28
Also published as: GB201202949D0

Abstract

A drinks carrier 1 comprises a base having a central bridging portion 8, a plurality of support holes 3 for receiving tapered drinks containers 29,30, and a plurality of handles 4,5 extending from the base. The handles extend from the base at points located approximately equidistantly between each pair of adjacent support holes such that each hole is intersected by a line 11 running between respective points. There are preferably four support holes and a pair of handles. The drinks carrier may be formed from a plastics material such as low density polyethylene (LDPE).

Description

Drinks Carrier

The present invention relates to a drinks carrier.

5 Carrying a number of drinks, particularly over long distances often results in spillage and therefore waste. Traditionally a tray has been used to perform this task, however, various custom-built devices have been proposed, for example, those disclosed in US5127519 and GB2422289.

10 However, the drinks carriers thus far proposed have certain drawbacks. For example, drinks carriers made of cardboard may be weakened by wetting owing to spillage of drinks. Thus such carriers have a short lifetime.

Further, previously suggested carriers often suffer from drinks tipping over, 15 particularly if the carrier is not fully loaded so as to balance weights out. Thus, such carriers must be made of relatively rigid materials such as cardboard or HDPE. The material thickness required results in material waste, particularly if the articles are simply disposed of instead of being reused.

20 The carrier of GB2422289 is one example of such a wasteful carrier. As can be seen from figures a relatively thick material must be used in order that it is able to transport drinks without them tipping and spilling. If a carrier made to the design of that of GB2422289 were to be formed of a thin, flexible material then each pair of drinks (respective pairs lying on lines between the hinges of 25 respective handles) would tip out from the drink carrier and spill.

It would be preferable if a carrier could be formed from a thinner flexible material, such as LDPE.

30 The present invention seeks to address this issue.

According to the present invention there is provided a drinks carrier comprising a base having a central bridging portion, a plurality of support holes for receiving tapered drinks containers, and a plurality of handles

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extending from the base, the handles extending from the base at points located approximately equidistantly between each pair of adjacent support holes such that each hole is intersected by a line running between respective points.

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By positioning the handles such that they extend from points located approximately equidistantly between each pair of adjacent support holes such that each hole is intersected by a line running between respective points, any drinks container held within a support hole is less prone to tipping and 10 therefore spillage. Further, each support hole is equally supportive of a drinks container when the carrier is in use, thus any number of drinks may be transported using any combination of support holes. Even further, by providing a central bridging portion any drinks container held in the carrier is even less prone to tipping as the bridging portion provides a tension in the base around 15 at least part of the peripheries of the respective support holes, thus making the base less prone to torsional deformation.

In one embodiment the drinks carrier comprises four support holes and a pair of handles. Preferably the handles extend from points that substantially define 20 a square, with each hole being intersected by a respective side of the square.

Preferably the drinks carrier is formed in one piece.

By forming the drinks carrier in one piece the carrier may be readily formed by 25 processes such as die cutting.

Preferably the drinks carrier is formed from a plastics material. In one embodiment the drinks carrier is formed from LDPE.

30 By forming the carrier from a plastics material the carrier may be used repeatedly.

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Preferably the thickness of the material is greater than around 125|im. Preferably the thickness of the material is around 250|im. Preferably the thickness of the material is less than around 300|im.

5 By forming the carrier of a material with a thickness in the range 125 to 300(im, and preferably around 250(im material wastage is minimized, whilst maintaining optimum performance.

A specific embodiment will now be described with reference to the 10 accompanying drawings, which exemplify the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain and illustrate principles of the invention. The examples given are intended to be illustrative and are not inherently restricted to particular apparatus.

15 Figure 1 is a schematic view of a drink carrier made in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic view of the drinks carrier of Figure 1 showing how each drink support hole is intersected by a line drawn between the respective points where the handles of the carrier meet the base of the carrier; 20 Figure 3 is a diagram demonstrating the carrier of Figure 1 in use;

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the carrier of Figure 1 being used to carry one, two, three and four drinks;

Figure 5 a schematic view of a drink carrier not made in accordance with the present invention, but showing the importance of having a central bridging 25 portion;

Figure 6 is a view of the carrier of Figure 5 in use;

Figure 7 is a schematic view of a drink carrier not made in accordance with the present invention, but showing the importance of the handles extending from the base at points located approximately equidistantly between adjacent 30 support holes;

Figure 8 is a view of the carrier of Figure 7 in use; and

Figure 9 is a diagram showing the carrier of Figure 1, but also incorporating a flick so as to minimize the possibility of tearing.

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Referring to Figure 1, in a first embodiment the present invention a drinks carrier 1 that has been die cut from a single sheet of LDPE of a thickness of around 250(im. Carrier 1 comprises a base 2 having four substantially circular 5 drink support holes 3 and two handles 4, 5.

Handles 4, 5 each comprise a respective gripping hole 6, 7 by which a user may take hold of handles 4, 5.

10 Drink support holes 3 are arranged around the periphery of base 2 in a substantially square formation. Drink support holes 3 are of an appropriate size to support a tapered drink container, typically a pint glass, but evidently other sizes may be appropriate for different containers, such as half pint glasses, coffee cups, wine glasses and the like.

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At the centre of base 2 is bridging portion 8 in the form of an unbroken panel that extends between holes 3. Although in the present embodiment bridging portion 8 is in the form of an unbroken panel, in other embodiments the bridging portion may have parts cut from it provided its purpose is not

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As can be seen from Figure 2, handles 4, 5 meet base 2 at points 9, 10, 11, 12 located equidistantly between adjacent support holes 3 around the periphery of base 2 such that each support hole 3 is intersected by a line

25 running between respective adjacent points 9, 10, 11, 12. Although the lines intersecting holes 3 do not in the present embodiment precisely bisect holes 3, the lines are adjacent to lines of bisection, and in some embodiments might form lines of bisection.

30 Figures 3 and 4 show carrier 1 in use. As can be seen from Figure 3, to load carrier 1 a user may, with carrier 1 lying flat on an appropriate surface, locate drinks containers 13 such that they are positioned at holes 3, then by grasping

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handles 4, 5 simultaneously pick up and subsequently transport all four drinks containers 13.

As can be seen in Figure 4, the combination of central bridging portion 8 with 5 points 9, 10, 11, 12 being located between located equidistantly between adjacent support holes 3, regardless of whether the drinks carrier is loaded with one drink, two drinks, three drinks or four drinks, results in all of the drinks transported in the container remaining substantially upright. This is the case no matter what combination of holes 3 are used to carry drinks owing to 10 each of holes 3 being equally supportive of a container owing to the equidistant positioning between holes 3 of points 9, 10, 11, 12.

Each of holes 3 lies on a line drawn between points 9, 10, 11, 12 that is roughly adjacent to a line of bisection of the respective holes. Thus the centre 15 of gravity of a drink container placed within any hole lies roughly on one of these lines and therefore exerts little torsional force to the material surrounding the periphery of the hole. Thus it can be seen that by positioning points 9, 10, 11, 12 adjacent to a line of bisection of holes 3, carrier 1 is adapted to maintain drinks container 13 in a substantially upright position 20 when carrier 1 is in use.

Further, bridging portion 8, which exerts a tension on the side of the drink container so as to prevent it from rotating, mitigates whatever torsional force is exerted, thus maintaining the container in a substantially upright position.

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It will be apparent that the less flexible the material used to form drinks carrier 1, the further from a line of bisection of holes 3 it may be possible to position points 9, 10, 11, 12. This is because the greater the anti-torsional influence of bridging portion 8 (an influence that increases with a decrease in the flexibility 30 of the material) the more torsional force is required from a drinks container in order to tip it over. Thus, the centre of gravity of a drinks container (which when the carrier is in use is on a line of bisection of a hole 3) may lie further away from lines that run between respective points 9, 10, 11, 12 through holes 3.

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To illustrate further the importance of central bridging portion 8 and the positioning of points 9, 10, 11, 12 comparative examples of drinks carriers are shown in Figures 5 to 9.

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Figure 5 shows a drinks carrier 14 that is identical in all respects to drinks carrier 1 except that central bridging portion 8 is missing. Instead, carrier 14 comprises a cutaway hole 15. As can be seen in Figure 6, a carrier made without a central bridging portion results in drinks containers 16 tipping out, 10 away from the centre of carrier 14 and thus being liable to spill their contents.

Figure 7 shows a drinks carrier 17 that is identical in all respects to drinks carrier 1 except that handles 18, 19 meet base 20 at points 21, 22, 23, 24 that are not equidistant between holes 25. Instead, points 21 and 22 are offset 15 from holes 25 and 27 towards the sides of hole 28. Similarly points 23 and 24 are offset from holes 25 and 27 towards the sides of hole 26.

Thus, although any containers 29 positioned in holes 26 and 28 will be maintained in an upright position, as can be seen in Figure 8 any containers 20 30 placed in holes 25 and 27 will tip out from the centre of carrier 17, resulting in spillage of the contents. Thus, for uniformly stabilized support holes it is important that the points where the handles extend from the base are located approximately equidistantly between the respective holes. By having uniformly stabilized holes (and as shown in Figure 4) any number of drinks may be 25 carried and the drinks containers being carried may be located in any combination of holes.

As shown in Figure 9; some embodiments may include a flick 31 on each of the cuts 32 that define the handle parts so as to minimize the chances of the 30 material tearing under the weight of the contents being transported, which might happen particularly if the carrier 33 is used repeatedly.

As can be clearly seen from the Figures 1 to 9, points 9, 10, 11, 12 and four holes 3 are positioned in an alternating around periphery of base 2. This

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provides an advantage to a carrier made in accordance with the present invention in comparison to previous carriers in that as the handles are positioned in between each of the holes, a single user may access drinks held in the carrier using one hand, and without hindrance by the handles. This is 5 best illustrated by Figure 4.

Although in the present embodiment a carrier for four drinks has been described it should be apparent that containers to carry a different number of drinks (for example, three, five, six, or more) might be made in accordance 10 with the present invention.

Although in the present embodiment the carrier is formed from LDPE, it may of course be possible to form the carrier from other materials such as latex.

15 Many variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention as set out in the appended claims.

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Claims

Claims:

1. A drinks carrier comprising a base having a central bridging portion, a plurality of support holes for receiving tapered drinks containers, and a 5 plurality of handles extending from the base, the handles extending from the base at points located approximately equidistantly between each pair of adjacent support holes such that each hole is intersected by a line running between respective points.

10 2. The drinks carrier of claim 1 comprising four support holes and a pair of handles.

3. The drinks carrier of claim 2 wherein the handles extend from points that substantially define a square, with each hole being intersected by a

15 respective side of the square.

4. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the drinks carrier is formed in one piece.

20 5. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the drinks carrier is formed from a plastics material.

6. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the drinks carrier is formed from LDPE.

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7. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the thickness of the material is greater than around 125(im.

8. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the thickness of the

30 material is less than around 300|im.

9. The drinks carrier of any preceding claim wherein the thickness of the material is around 250(im.

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10. A drinks carrier substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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