HK1032378B - Stackable low depth bottle case - Google Patents

Description

Stackable shallow bottle box

The present invention relates to a stackable shallow container for holding and transporting bottles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a beverage bottle container that combines low depth with high stability storage bottles, that has sufficient label visibility for display purposes, that has an easy to grasp carrying structure, and that has cross-locking capability to secure a large number of stacks of empty containers.

Plastic bottles are widely used as containers for retail non-alcoholic and other beverages. One class of plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), has become particularly popular because of its transparency, light weight and low cost. In addition to flexibility, the walls of PET bottles have high tensile strength and can safely withstand the pressure of carbonated beverages. Also, conventional PET bottles can tolerate surprisingly high compressive loads as long as the load is acting substantially along the axial symmetry axis of the bottle. A single PET bottle can support the weight of many identically sized bottles filled with beverages, provided that the bottle stands on a flat horizontal surface, while the weight of the other bottles acts on the closure of the single bottle and substantially vertically along the axis of symmetry. However, if a compressive load is not applied to a conventional PET beverage bottle in the direction of the bottle's axis of symmetry, the bottle will have a tendency to warp. This tendency of conventional PET bottles to be subjected to off-axis compressive loads is particularly pronounced for large capacity bottles such as the two-liter bottles widely used for the sale of soft drinks.

Soft drink bottles are typically packaged with the bottles in boxes or other containers, several bottles in a box for shipment to retailers or for storage. The term "box" herein includes all kinds of boxes having a bottom and surrounding sidewall structure. Boxes containing bottles are usually stacked on top of each other, one on top of the other. In storage warehouses, the box columns are often stacked on pallets that can be lifted and moved by a forklift. The stack on the pallet must therefore be particularly stable in order to remain upright in the face of the impacts inherent to the movement. In order to improve the stability of the empty boxes loaded on the warehouse pallets, a technique known as "cross-stacking" is often used which interconnects stacks of empty boxes, the cross-stacking generally comprising: rectangular bottle boxes are stacked to create a layered structure, each layer having boxes oriented parallel to each other and adjacent layers having boxes oriented perpendicular to each other. Thus, since adjacent layers are vertical, in the cross-stacked layer, each box is placed on at least two boxes in the next layer. As a result, the boxes of the cross-stacked layers have a tendency to keep the boxes in which they are parked from moving away from each other. Thus, the cross-plied layers stabilize the stacked configuration.

Since conventional PET beverage bottles have a tendency to warp under off-axis loads. Therefore, attempts to stack these bottles can create serious problems. If the bottles are packed in conventional compartmented boxes with short side walls, the bottles can be tilted away from the vertical centring line when stacked. The inclined bottles in the box below a stack will warp and fall back, collapsing the stack. Even without warping, the tendency of bottles to tilt in conventional low-edge boxes creates problems. Tilting usually sets an unsatisfactory lower limit for the number of tiers in a stack, because tilting bottles in one box can cause tilting of adjacent boxes higher in the stack. Thus, if too many layers are included in the stack, instability results.

In the past, these problems have been addressed by containing beverage bottles in corrugated cardboard boxes having high sides whose height is often equal to the height of the bottles. Two-liter PET bottles containing soft drinks are often contained in a closed corrugated cardboard box for storage and transport. While the high sides of such cartons reduce the incidence of tipping and provide additional support when the cartons are stacked, the cartons are expensive. The cost of cartons is often not evenly distributed over many reuses because corrugated cartons are often not strong and reusable, and therefore they are often discarded by retailers.

One solution to the problem of full-height corrugated cardboard boxes is a full-height plastic box; i.e. a plastic tank having a circumferential side wall height substantially equal to the height of the bottles. In a full-height plastic box, the side walls are load bearing surfaces. However, full-height plastic boxes have a number of disadvantages, including their high manufacturing cost, their high shipping costs when empty and their high storage costs in warehouses, because they require a lot of space, and the full-height boxes also completely surround the bottles, preventing their display.

To overcome these difficulties, shallow plastic boxes have been used. Shallow plastic boxes are boxes with side walls at a height below the height of the bottles being stored, and are boxes with bottles supporting the weight of other boxes stacked on top of them. However, they also have disadvantages. For example, some shallow cases require additional structure to hold the bottles and ensure full stability of the bottles, even though the case depth is greater than 25% of the bottle height.

Various reusable plastic bottle carriers are known in the art. A reusable bottle carrier, which may be made of plastic and assembled from the following two pieces, is disclosed in U.S. patent No.3055542 to Russo: a handle and a body having six cups for a soft drink bottle. To stack the bottle carrier when empty, the handle must be removed. This is very inconvenient and time consuming. The bottle carrier of US' 542 also has significant limitations in terms of the carrier on which the bottles are stacked. It cannot be stacked in the conventional cross-stacked configuration because, as shown in the figure of the patent, the distance between bottles in the carrier is different in directions parallel and perpendicular to the handle of the carrier.

One of the earlier examples of molded shallow plastic bottle carriers is Kappel, U.S. Pat. No. 2970715. Each bottle rests on the plane of the ridges in the respective compartment. The bottom surface of the box is recessed to receive the tops of the bottles when the box is stacked vertically with the bottles. However, kappa does not indicate the size of the bottle carrying case relative to the bottles carried.

In U.S. patent No.3812996 to Bunnell, a plastic bottle carrier for beer is disclosed. The case is designed with a plurality of bottle compartments having flat bottom walls. The boxes are designed for cross stacking and are sized so that the center-to-center distance between adjacent bottles in adjacent boxes is equal to the center-to-center distance between adjacent bottles in immediately adjacent boxes. Thus, the vertical axes of the bottles in adjacent layers are in a line. Although a plurality of bottle carrying cases with bottles are designed to be stacked vertically with the weight of the upper case supported by the bottles in the lower case, the lower surface of the bottom wall of the case is flat. Thus, there is no structure that can ensure that a box is correctly aligned with an upper or lower box.

U.S. patent 3247996 to Garcia discloses a plastic bottle container for a milk bottle. The container is shorter than the bottle, which extends across the top surface of the container wall. In Garcia, the bottle is loaded rather than the wall of the container. A concave rounded portion is formed in the bottom wall to receive the bottle tops when the containers are stacked vertically. Like many prior art bottle carriers, Garcia' containers have side walls that are less than the height of those full height standard boxes; also, it can be used for various bottles. However, this box is not a shallow box and is more expensive than a shallow box. It also does not have the display capability of a shallow box.

A more recent search to solve the problem of providing reusable, low depth, cross stackable PET cases is disclosed in U.S. patent No.4344530 to delariosiere. The US' 530 patent has many of the features and problems of Garcia containers and discloses a plastic PET bottle box that can be cross stacked and has a very low depth as shown. The low depth disclosed herein is about 1/6 or about 2 inches of the height of the PET bottle. However, this depth is not sufficient in practice, since a large degree of lateral instability does not prevent the bottle from tipping. Furthermore, the bottle-holding pocket is required to have a raised annular bottle seat ring that fits into an internal recess formed in the base of many bottles to ensure stability of the bottles. Thus, it is impossible to rotate all PET bottles in the pockets to play a display role. Furthermore, it does not properly store the whole bottle (i.e. petaloid bottle without bottom recess).

Commonly assigned U.S. patent nos. 4899874 and 4978002, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose a shallow bottle box for 2 liter bottles that can be cross-stacked when empty if the upper cross-stacked box is properly positioned. Also, in the disclosed embodiment, the substantially flat upper surface across the bottle-holding pocket allows for storage of both the unitary petaloid bottle and the bottle with the bottle bottom recess. The low height of the box side walls and the posts above the box side walls also allow the label of the bottle to be displayed to the consumer. However, due to the low height and substantially flat upper surface across the bottle-holding pockets, a snap fit between the pockets and the bottles is generally required, and the range of bottle diameters that can be held in a stable stack is limited.

The trend in the bottle industry is now to make two-liter bottles as inexpensively as possible. This means that the amount of plastic used for the bottles is reduced, but still maintaining sufficient strength for the bottles to support the fully filled boxes stacked thereon. To accomplish this task, the latest two-liter bottles are made with a smaller diameter and a slightly higher height than the previous bottles. This results in a two-liter bottle having a lighter weight overall profile than the original two-liter bottle. However, due to its thin profile and high height, lightweight bottles cannot be ideally used in the well of the two liter shallow box discussed above.

These and other problems of the prior art are solved by the stackable shallow bottle crate of the present invention. According to the present invention, a stackable shallow box for storing and transporting bottles comprises a plurality of exterior sidewalls forming an enclosure having a low depth, said enclosure being rectangular and having a length greater than a width, the ratio of the length to the width of said enclosure being substantially equal to the ratio of the number of bottles held by said box in the length direction to the number of bottles held by said box in the width direction, at least two of said exterior sidewalls comprising a lower sidewall portion and a plurality of spaced apart side members extending beyond the upper surface of said lower sidewall portion; a bottom connected to the side wall; a plurality of spaced apart intermediate members disposed generally within said side wall and defining, in cooperation with said base and said outer side wall, a plurality of bottle-retaining pockets, each pocket having at least one intermediate member, at least some of said intermediate members having a portion extending above the top surface of said lower side wall portion and below the top surface of a retained bottle; and the above-mentioned bottom, it includes: an upper surface, and parking and guiding means for parking said bottom portion on the closure of a bottle stacked on said box and for guiding said closure into the central region of said bottle-holding pocket, said parking and guiding means including a rib formed with a longitudinal centerline offset from the center of said bottle-holding pocket; wherein said spaced members of said box interlock with the upper box when said box is empty and when bottles are in the lower box, the bottles contained in the lower box seal against said bottom parking and guiding means when said box is stacked on top with the bottom; and the ribs formed above comprise cloverleaf shapes.

The integrally moulded grip region makes it easy to handle the case and reduces the strain-free nature of the user's hand and wrist, while reducing the risk of wrist injuries such as carpal tunnel complications. The grip area allows the case to be lifted with the person's palm facing up, for example, for moving the case with the person's palm facing down when the case is on the ground, for lifting the case when the case is stacked over the person's head. Because of the handles, the distance between the pockets of the end pockets of adjacent boxes is no longer equal to the distance between the pockets inside the boxes. Thus, in order to obtain a stable condition of the bottles, the resting and guiding structure on the bottom of the box comprises a rib formed with a longitudinal centre line offset from the centre line of the cavity in which the bottles are stored.

Various other advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and form a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention and its advantages, reference should be made to the drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a stackable shallow box according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective thereof;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view thereof;

FIG. 6 is an end elevational view thereof;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of the cross-locking capability of an empty box in one configuration;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of the cross-locking capability of an empty box of another configuration;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of the cross-locking capability of an empty box in yet another configuration;

FIG. 13 shows the case being moved with the user's palm facing down;

FIG. 14 shows the case being moved with the user's palm facing upward;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a box post stacked on the same box below when empty;

FIG. 16 is a bottom plan view of a stackable shallow box according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention;

fig. 17A-B are schematic illustrations of the position of the tops of bottles stacked in the box of fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1-9, the stackable shallow bottle crate 10 has two basic elements: a bottom structure 20 and a wall structure 11. The wall structure 11 comprises four side walls 12, 14, 16, 18. The side walls 12, 16 are longer and extend along the length of the case 10, while the side or end walls 14, 18 are shorter and extend along the width of the case 10. The case 10 is rectangular and therefore symmetrical about two center lines bisecting the bottom surface. The depth or height of the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18 is relatively low compared to the height of the bottles stored therein. The ratio of the length of the long side walls 12, 16 to the length of the short end walls 14, 18 is substantially equal to the ratio of the number of bottles held by the box in the length direction to the number of bottles held by the box in the width direction. For example, a box of 8 bottles is about twice as long as it is wide and holds the bottles in a 4 x 2 relationship. The relationship of length to width is discussed further below.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the case 10 also includes a bottom structure or base 20 that is attached to the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18 to form an outer shell of the case 10. The case 10 is preferably made of plastic and integrally molded as one piece. The base 20 has an upper surface 22 and a lower surface 24. The upper surface 22 is substantially flat to accommodate a wide variety of bottles, including both unitary petaloid bottles and two-piece cup-bottomed bottles, and the lower surface 24 is shaped as a plurality of closed receiving areas 25, the areas 25 being defined by generally concave concentric circular portions 26, each area 25 having a central retaining aperture 28 disposed therein. The number of closed splicing zones corresponds to the number of bottles the box is intended to hold. The function of the circular depression 26 and the central retention hole 28 will be described in detail below. Furthermore, the periphery of the bottom ends with an inclined edge 35, which facilitates handling by allowing the trolley to easily slide under the box.

The side walls 12, 16 each include a lower wall portion 56 and a plurality of towers 58. It should be understood that in the present invention, the "tower" refers to an upwardly extending hollow column. In addition to the side wall towers 58, corner towers 58a are provided at each corner of the box 10. The towers 58, 58a are integrally formed with the lower wall portion 56 and the base structure 20. The towers 58, 58a are preferably hollow and extend generally upwardly from and beyond the top edge of the inner lower wall section 60. Towers 58, 58a are also integral with outer lower wall portion 62 and inner lower wall portion 60, in combination with outer lower wall portion 62, provides a double wall structure to case 10 such that they abut the inner and outer surfaces of the side and corner towers, respectively. This configuration ensures that the case 10 has sufficient strength and rigidity for a variety of different handling conditions.

Within the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18 are a plurality of vertical walls 29 and columns 30. For the purposes of clarity of the present invention, "column" refers to a hollow column that extends upwardly within the interior region of the box, and "tower" refers to a hollow column that extends upwardly around the perimeter of the box. In a preferred embodiment, the vertical wall 29 extends to the top surface of the base 20, with the side edges of the vertical wall 29 abutting the tower 58 and the column 30 and helping to secure the inner surfaces of the tower 58 and the column 30 to the base 20. The vertical wall 29, the posts 30 and the towers 58, 58a, when combined with the upper surface 22 of the base 20 and the side walls 12, 14, 16, 18, define a plurality of pockets 32 for holding bottles. The post 30 and towers 58, 58a project upwardly beyond the base 20 a distance approximately equal to 40% of the height of the bottles stored in the case 10. For example, when the case 10 is shaped to hold thin, lightweight 2-liter bottles, the column 30 and towers 58, 58a define a case that is approximately 5.25 inches high. The posts 30 and towers 58, 58a project upwardly about 3 inches beyond the lower wall portion 56 of the side walls 12, 16. This increases the effective height of the box while maintaining high bottle visibility and low manufacturing costs. Furthermore, since the higher columns and towers improve the lateral stability of the bottles in the pockets where they are held, greater deviations in the diameter of the bottles can be obtained, since a snug fit, as in the prior art cases, is no longer required.

The tower 58 is disposed along the walls 12, 16 and the column 30 is disposed off the walls but centered within the bottom 20. The tower 58a, which is disposed at the corner between two adjacent walls, has a curved surface 34. The towers 58 disposed on the sidewalls 12, 16 have two curved surfaces 34 and a flat surface 36 disposed therebetween. The two curved surfaces 34 help define two separate and adjacent bottle-holding pockets 32. A flat surface 36 is provided between the two pockets holding the bottles. The post 30, whose center is disposed within the bottom, is octagonal. The posts 30 have four alternating curved surfaces 34 and four alternating flat surfaces 36. Four curved surfaces 34 define portions of four bottle-holding pockets 32, and four flat surfaces 36 separate the pockets. Four individual posts 30 or four curved surfaces 34 on the tower 58 form the four corners of the internal pocket 32 for holding the bottle. The outer pocket formed by corner towers 58a, side towers 58 and columns 30 for holding bottles is defined by only three corners because there are no side towers on end walls 14, 18 for reasons discussed below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the post 30 and tower 58, which are disposed along the centerline 40 of the length of the case 10 (along the lateral axis of the case 10), include notches 42, 44, respectively, that extend downward to a height substantially equal to the height of the vertical wall 29. The posts 30 located along the centerline 46 of the width of the box (along the longitudinal axis of the box 10) also include notches 48 that extend downwardly to a height substantially equal to the height of the vertical walls 29. Also, the post 30 and tower 58, which are disposed along the lateral axis of the case along an axis parallel to the centerline 40, include notches 52, 54, respectively. As mentioned above, these recesses are intended to receive the ribs of an identical upper box and provide flexibility in stacking identical boxes.

The upper surface 22 of the base 20 in the well 32 of the holding bottle is substantially flat. This allows the bottle to be stored regardless of the shape of the bottom. Also, this allows the petaloid bottle to rotate within the well holding the bottle to aid in displaying the product. The low depth feature of the case 10 and the window or recess 38 cut from the side walls 12, 16 further enhances the display of product labels in retail situations.

In prior art cases, the center-to-center distances of adjacent bottle holding pockets are generally equal. Thus, regardless of whether the boxes are stacked in columns or cross-stacked, the symmetry and taper of the rounded portion aligns the bottle tops with the central retaining aperture. However, in the present invention, the location of the handle portion 64 breaks the equality of the center-to-center distance between adjacent end bottle-holding pockets of adjacent boxes that are side-wall abutted. Referring to fig. 17A, there is shown two lower boxes 10 and one cross-stacked identical upper box 10. The positions of the bottle 9 and the bottle top 9a are shown by a large circle and a small circle, respectively. As shown, the bottle tops 9a of the cross-stacked boxes are not aligned with the bottle tops below. Fig. 17B shows four possible positions of the bottle tops 9a of the upper box in cross-stacking, so that, given unequal end pocket distances, the present invention employs a closed receiving area to accommodate all possible positions of the bottle tops when stacking and cross-stacking a plurality of identical boxes. As outlined in fig. 17B, the closed receiving area 25 is offset from the longitudinal centerline of the bottle and may have a circular, rectangular or, preferably, cloverleaf shape.

In fig. 3, the closed receiving area of the lower surface 24 of the first embodiment of the invention is shown to permit the boxes 10 to be filled with bottles for vertical stacking for shipping, storage and display. The circular depressions 26 are formed offset from the centerline of the stored bottle by downwardly concave ribs or protrusions that define a circle. These ribs also form a central retention aperture 28. Referring also to FIG. 4, the central retaining aperture 28 is sized to receive the tops of the bottles located in the lower box 10. The bottle top mates with an adjacent central retaining aperture 28 such that the central retaining aperture 28 retains the bottle top in the applied position against the lower surface 24. The taper of the circular depression 26 helps the bottle rest on the central retaining aperture 28. When the upper box 10 is in place on the lower box 10 with the bottles therein, the bottle tops often do not align precisely with the respective central retention apertures 28. However, the bottle top will contact the offset circular depression 26 and, due to the shape of the depression, it will be guided into the central retaining aperture 28. Thus, the use of offset concentric circles in the undercut portion 26 enables the boxes to be stacked in a cylindrical or cross-stacked configuration on a stable platform, even if the center-to-center distances of adjacent bottle holding pockets are not substantially equal between adjacent boxes.

The circular closed receiving area shown in fig. 4 and the square closed receiving area shown schematically in fig. 17B restrict end-to-end movement of bottles in stacked boxes in the direction of box head "a". However, since the distance between the bottle top and the initial point of contact of the closed receiving area is large, side-to-side movement in the direction of arrow "B" is not limited to the same extent.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 16, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a cloverleaf-shaped closure landing zone 25' is employed to ensure contact along the entire periphery of the closure landing zone. The cloverleaf-shaped closure engagement area 25' substantially restricts not only the end-to-end movement of the bottles in the stacked carton, but also the side-to-side movement thereof.

The base 20 also includes a plurality of ribs 70 that correspond in position to the recesses 42, 44, 48, 52, 54 in the columns 30 and towers 58 and extend upwardly from the lower surface 24 to the bottom of the recesses. As shown in fig. 15, the correspondence of the ribs with the notches of the columns and towers allows the case 10 to be nested in columns one atop the other. This can also be achieved by having the towers 58, 58a and the columns 30 inclined towards the inside of the box. This means that the towers 58, 58a and the column 30 are tapered so that the cross-sectional area of their top is smaller than the cross-sectional area of their lower wall sections. The towers 58, 58a may also be slightly inward from the height of the lower wall section 56 to further enhance the nestability of the empty boxes.

The addition of the ribs 56 to the base 20 reduces the size of the openings between adjacent circular depressions 26. That is, the size of the opening formed between adjacent ribs is smaller than the seal of the bottle being held, which is typically less than 28-30 mm for a 2 liter bottle. Most PET bottles on the market have closures with about 28 or 38 mm. Thus, when the upper box 10 is in place on the lower box 10 containing bottles, there is less likelihood that bottle tops will become caught in these smaller openings as the lower box slides over the tops of the bottles in the box below it.

The end walls 14, 18 are formed with handle portions 64 to facilitate carrying the case 10. For a 2-liter case, the upper surface of handle portion 64 is preferably equal in height to turret 58a, which in turn is equal in height to turret 58 and post 30. The handle 64 integrally extends from the corner tower 58a and includes a substantially horizontal handle beam 66 integral with a handle support 68, the support 68 extending obliquely inwardly from the corner tower. The handle supports 68 of each handle 64 diverge from the handle bar 66 so that the handle has a generally trapezoidal shape with the handle bar defining the short sides of the trapezoid and the supports defining the diverging legs.

As shown in fig. 14, the handle portion 64 may be used to lift the case 10 in a conventional manner by grasping the upper edge with the palm of the hand facing upward and the fingers curving upward and into the case. However, this lifting method is detrimental to the wrist when the delivery person lifts the box from his head. Thus, the present invention also allows the grip portion 64 to be grasped with the palm facing downward and the fingers bent downward around the handle beam 66 as shown in FIG. 13. There are no towers or vertical walls on the end walls 14, 18 in the area immediately inside the handle beam 66 to ensure that there is adequate space for fingers to be inserted and bent around. As best seen in fig. 1 and 3, the upwardly extending end wall member 72 terminates below the height of the vertical wall 29 so as not to interfere with the action of the handle but to restrict movement of the contained bottle. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the handle portion 64 may also have finger notches along the upper and/or lower edges to further assist in shipping the case 10. Also, handle portions 64 and other handle structures may be provided on the side walls 12 and 16, in addition to the end portions 14 and 18, so that a grip structure is provided on each side of the case.

Referring to FIGS. 10-12, additional features of the present invention are shown therein. When empty box columns are stacked on the platform, the stacked columns have a tendency to move and separate. To prevent this, the box 10 of the present invention can be stacked upside down to cross lock the posts. FIGS. 10-12 illustrate various cross-lock arrangements that may be employed. These are, however, merely examples and other arrangements may naturally be used depending on the size of the stack.

In the preceding specification, numerous features, advantages and embodiments of the invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the disclosure is only exemplary and the invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention.

Claims (2)

1. A stackable shallow box for storing and transporting bottles, comprising:

a plurality of exterior sidewalls forming a housing having a low depth, said housing being rectangular and having a length greater than a width, a ratio of the length to the width of said housing being substantially equal to a ratio of a number of bottles held by said case in a length direction to a number of bottles held by said case in a width direction, at least two of said exterior sidewalls including a lower sidewall portion and a plurality of spaced apart side members extending beyond an upper surface of said lower sidewall portion;

a bottom connected to the side wall;

a plurality of spaced apart intermediate members disposed generally within said side wall and defining, in cooperation with said base and said outer side wall, a plurality of bottle-retaining pockets, each pocket having at least one intermediate member, at least some of said intermediate members having a portion extending above the top surface of said lower side wall portion and below the top surface of a retained bottle; and

above-mentioned bottom, it includes: an upper surface, and parking and guiding means for parking said bottom portion on the closure of a bottle stacked on said box and for guiding said closure into the central region of said bottle-holding pocket, said parking and guiding means including a rib formed with a longitudinal centerline offset from the center of said bottle-holding pocket;

wherein said spaced members of said box interlock with the upper box when said box is empty and when bottles are in the lower box, the bottles contained in the lower box seal against said bottom parking and guiding means when said box is stacked on top with the bottom; and

the ribs formed above comprise a cloverleaf shape.

2. The stackable case of claim 1 wherein said cloverleaf shape corresponds to the shape of four stacked bottle tops.