Hot-Fill Container Capable of Internal Pressurization

Abstract

A container has features to enable it to withstand pressure filling, including a smooth transition between its sidewalls and vacuum panel, no vertical stiffeners on the edges of the vacuum panels, and a gripping portion having wall either with small radial components or oriented at oblique angles. A pair of windows are included in the field portion of the vacuum panel outside of the gripping portion.

1 . A bottle capable of being hot filled with a product, sealed while the product is hot, and allowed to cool, thereby creating an internal vacuum, said bottle comprising: 
 an enclosed base including a reentrant portion and a heel;    an upper portion extending upwardly to a finish on which a closure may be applied; and    a body, located between the base and the upper portion, including a sidewall and a pair of opposing vacuum panels, the sidewall including a front portion and a rear portion, the vacuum panels being located generally between the front and rear portions, each one of the vacuum panels including: 
 a generally flat field,  
 a smooth transition between the field and each one of the front portion and the rear portion of the sidewall;  
 a handgrip including a gripping surface and at least a proximal wall and a distal wall, the gripping surface is capable of receiving a user's fingers on one of the vacuum panel handgrips and a user's thumb on the opposing one of the vacuum panel handgrips,  
 the distal wall forming an oblique long wall angle Al with a vertical line in elevational view and forming a short wall angle A 2  of between approximately 85 degrees and approximately 115 degrees with the field in transverse cross section;  
 a pair of inwardly extending windows formed at least partly in the field generally below the handgrip,  
 wherein the failure mode of the container if subject to positive pressure is a bulge in the handgrip distal wall.  
   
     
     
         2 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the proximal wall smoothly merges with the rear portion of the sidewall.  
     
     
         3 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the short wall angle A 2  is between approximately 85 degrees and approximately 105 degrees.  
     
     
         4 . The bottle of  claim 3  wherein the short wall angle A 2  is approximately 90 degrees.  
     
     
         5 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the long wall angle Al is between approximately 10 degrees and approximately 25 degrees.  
     
     
         6 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the long wall angle A 1  is approximately 15 degrees.  
     
     
         7 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the length of the distal wall is less than about 3.5 inches and greater than about 1.25 inches.  
     
     
         8 . The bottle of  claim 7  wherein the length of the distal wall is less that about 3.0 inches.  
     
     
         9 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the vertical component of the length of the distal wall is less than about 3.0 inches.  
     
     
         10 . The bottle of  claim 9  wherein the vertical component of the length of the distal wall is less than about 2.5 inches.  
     
     
         11 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the container withstands internal positive pressure of between 3.5 and 7.5 psi.  
     
     
         12 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the container withstands internal positive pressure of at least 6 psi.  
     
     
         13 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the distal wall is substantially straight in elevational view.  
     
     
         14 . The bottle in  claim 1  wherein the distal wall is substantially planar.  
     
     
         15 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the handgrip includes a lower wall and an upper wall.  
     
     
         16 . The bottle of  claim 15  wherein the upper wall is connected between an upper end of the distal wall and an upper end of the proximal wall.  
     
     
         17 . The bottle of  claim 16  wherein the upper wall is substantially straight and the handgrip includes a curved transition that connects the proximal wall and the distal wall together at upper ends thereof.  
     
     
         18 . The bottle of  claim 15  wherein the lower wall is curved and connects the proximal wall and the distal wall together at lower ends thereof.  
     
     
         19 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the front and rear portions of the sidewalls do not have vertical ribs.  
     
     
         20 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the front portion is a front label portion.  
     
     
         21 . A method of hot-filling a bottle comprising the steps of: 
 a) providing a bottle that includes described in  claim 1;     b) filling the bottle with contents at an elevated temperature at a positive pressure, wherein the bottle is capable of withstanding an internal pressure of up to 9.0 PSI; and    c) capping the bottle while the contents are hot and enabling the capped bottle to cool, the vacuum panels deflecting inwardly in response to cooling and shrinking of the contents.    
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the bottle in the hot filling step is capable of withstanding a positive internal pressure of up to 8.0 PSI.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the bottle in the hot filling step is capable of withstanding a positive internal pressure of up to 7.0 PSI.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the bottle in the hot filling step is capable of withstanding a positive internal pressure of approximately 6.6 PSI.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the bottle in the hot filling step is capable of withstanding greater than greater than 3 psi.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the bottle in the hot filling step is capable of withstanding greater than greater than 4 psi.