Blow molded slender grippable bottle having dome with flex panels
View Patent ↗A blow-molded plastic bottle body for use in containing hot-filled beverages. The bottle body has a dome with various interactive functional zones. For example, some of the zones are primarily responsible for accommodating vacuum absorption, while other zones are primarily intended to rigidify the container such as by providing column strength to improve container top loading capability. Although each zone may have a primary function, each zone also aids adjacent zones in providing their functions. Thus, the entire dome, and not merely selected locations, reacts in a progressive manner to the forces generated by the hot-fill process on the bottle body. Preferably, the bottle body is slender and capable of readily being gripped by a single hand, and preferably the flex panels in the dome accommodate at least 90% of the total vacuum absorption required by the bottle.
1. A blow-molded, hot-fill bottle having a longitudinal axis, said bottle including a body having a base closing one end of said bottle, a sidewall projecting from said base, and a dome with a finish located at an opposite end of said bottle, the improvement comprising:
a plurality of upright columns in said dome extending lengthwise of said dome in spaced relation; and
a plurality of recessed flex panels in said dome extending between said upright columns, selected one of said recessed panels including an outwardly concave initiator portion, and the remainder of each of said flex panels being progressively less outwardly concave in a longitudinal direction, as formed, and being adapted to flex in response to vacuum induced in the bottle;
said flex panels accommodating vacuum induced in the bottle as a result of hot-fill processing.
2. A bottle according to claim 1 , wherein each of said panels bows outwardly in a direction longitudinally away from said initiator.
3. A bottle according to claim 2 , wherein said initiator portions function to cause flex panel deflection to occur progressively in a direction from said outwardly concave portions toward said finish in a controlled manner in response to increasing reduction of internal volume of the bottle.
4. A bottle according to claim 3 , wherein said body includes a waist connecting the dome and sidewall;
said columns being circumferentially-spaced and said flex panels being circumferentially spaced and extending laterally between and connecting to an adjacent pair of said columns, each of said panels flexing inwardly in response to a reduction in internal volume when the bottle is hot-filled, capped and permitted to cool for accommodating at least about 90% of a total vacuum absorption required of the bottle; and
said sidewall being reinforced to resist any significant flexure in response to vacuum induced in the bottle as a result of hot-fill processing.
5. A bottle according to claim 4 , wherein, as formed, each column extending along opposite sides of each said panels has a lower end merging into said waist, and the flex panel between said columns is outwardly concave adjacent said waist to provide finger receiving recesses.
6. A bottle according to claim 5 , wherein each flex panel narrows peripherally in an upward direction and each column widens peripherally in an upward direction.
7. A bottle according to claim 6 , wherein said waist is an inset circumferentially-extending grip ring extending between and connecting said dome and said sidewall.
8. A bottle according to claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of panels extend and merge directly into adjacent columns without transitional framing walls.
9. A bottle according to claim 8 , wherein said panels extend laterally from said columns such that an obtuse angle is formed between said panel and said column at each panel-to-column juncture on an internal side of said bottle, and wherein said obtuse angle varies progressively along the length of each of said panel-to-column junctures.
10. A bottle according to claim 9 , wherein, as formed, each of said columns widens progressively in an upward direction and their associated flex panel narrows in an upward direction, said obtuse angle at each of said junctures varies along its length with said obtuse angle being greatest where said juncture extends within an upper portion of said body nearer to said finish than to said base and being least where said juncture extends within a lower portion of said body nearer to said base than to said finish.