Carrier and method

1. A carrier comprising a pair of support panels secured to one another and forming a support panel structure,

a pair of folding receptacles, each extending outwardly from said support panel structure on opposite sides thereof,

each of said receptacles including its own separate folding bottom wall structure and a plurality of side-wall panels secured together and to one of said support panels along fold lines, and including one side-wall panel having an upper edge and a lower edge and being spaced from and substantially parallel to the adjacent support panel when said carrier is unfolded,

at least one divider member extending upwardly and laterally from the upper edge of said one side-wall panel and being secured at its upper portion to said adjacent support panel,

in which each of said separate folding bottom wall structures includes a plurality of flanges, each extending from the bottom edge of one of said side-wall panels and said support panels,

said flanges being interconnected to automatically unfold to form a bottom wall when said carrier is unfolded.

2. A carrier as in claim 1 in which said divider member extends upwardly at an acute angle for a major portion of its length.

3. A carrier as in claim 1 in which said support panels have upper portions, and including a handle structure in said upper portions of said support panels.

4. A carrier as in claim 1 in which two of said flanges, one extending from said support panel and the other from said one panel, are shaped complementarily to automatically interlock with one another and hold said carrier open when said carrier is unfolded.

5. A carrier as in claim 1 in which said divider member is formed from reinforcing sheet material, the remainder of which, after removal of said divider member therefrom is secured to the adjacent support panel.

6. A carrier as in claim 1 including a foldable top container having

a bottom wall and side-walls extending from said bottom wall,

said bottom wall having a first slot for receiving said support panel structure therethrough,

and another slot for receiving said divider member therethrough.

7. A blank for making a carrier, said blank having a single sheet of material forming a pair of support panels, each having an upper portion,

a pair of automatic-opening bottom structures, each of said support panels extending to one of said bottom structures,

a series of side-wall panels secured to each of said support panels, and forming, with one of said support panels a pair of receptacles, each receptacle having a separate one of said bottom structures,

a reinforcing sheet of material secured to said upper portion of each of said support panels, and

at least one divider structure for each support panel, including at least one strip of material integral formed from said reinforcing sheet and with one of said side-wall panels at a lower end, and extending upwardly and laterally to said reinforcing sheet at the upper end when said carrier is unfolded.

8. A blank as in claim 7 , each of said bottom structures including a plurality of flanges each of said support panels and side-wall panels having a lower edge, said flanges being attached along fold lines to and extending from said lower edges of said support panels and side-wall panels to form, when secured together, an automatically opening foldable bottom panel for each of two receptacles formed by said side-wall and support panels.

9. A blank as in claim 7 , one of said side-walls being spaced from and parallel to said support panel when said carrier is unfolded, said strip extending at an acute angle with said side-wall panels so that said strip bends to form a barrier substantially perpendicular to said support panel and spanning the distance between said support panel and said one side wall panel.

10. A blank as in claim 7 including a pair of elongated attachment flanges, each located at one end of each series of side-wall panels, each attachment flange being approximately the same length as one of said support panels and being secured to the other of said attachment flanges at one end.

11. A carrier comprising a pair of vertical support panels secured together and forming a vertical support panel structure,

each of said vertical support panels having an upper portion and a lower portion, with a handle structure in said upper portion, and having an upper and a lower edge,

a pair of foldable side-wall structures, each having three side-walls, each having an upper and a lower edge and forming, with said lower portion of one of said vertical support panels, a receptacle extending outwardly from said support panel structure when said carrier is unfolded,

said upper portions extending substantially above said upper edges of said side-walls,

each of said foldable side-wall structures having a flange extending downwardly from each of said lower edges of the side-walls and said vertical support panel forming each of said receptacles, said flanges being selectively secured together to automatically fold upwardly into said carrier when said carrier is folded, and fold downwardly to form a bottom wall when said carrier is unfolded, and

at least one divider member extending upwardly from the upper edge of one of said side-walls to said upper portion of one of said vertical support panels in each of said receptacles.

12. A carrier as in claim 11 in which each of said vertical support panels is a two-ply structure, with each of said divider members being formed by a cut-out portion of one of the two plies, said one ply being secured to the other as a reinforcement.

13. A carrier as in claim 11 including a top-tray with a bottom-wall, sidewalls, and a pair of transverse slots in said bottom wall, said slots being sized and positioned to receive said upper portions of said vertical support panels and said dividers when said top-tray is positioned atop said carrier.