Panelless hot-fill plastic bottle

Abstract

A plastic bottle base having a seating ring perpendicular to the bottle axis. A base inner portion extends upward and inward toward a center bottom wall surrounding the axis. A flexible diaphragm portion extends outward from the seating ring to join a heel portion at a substantially horizontal inflection point. The diaphragm portion is sufficiently flexible to respond to changes in bottle volume and vacuum to allow the seating ring to move upward so that the seating ring is above the heel portion of the bottle. A sidewall is defined by a small number of barrel shaped surfaces separated by indented ring segments to form a panelless plastic bottle capable of hot-filling and capping.

1 . A molded plastic bottle in its pre-hot fill state comprising: a base surrounding a vertical axis, having a portion extending upward to define an outer edge, a sidewall having a lower edge coupled to the outer edge of the base, the sidewall extending upward from the base to a sidewall upper edge, a shoulder portion coupled to the sidewall upper edge and leading upward and radially inward to a neck portion, a finish coupled to the neck portion adapted to receive a closure, the finish surrounding an opening leading to a plastic bottle interior, the sidewall being defined by an outer surface including at least one land segment bounded by vertically spaced indented ring segments, each land segment being defined by a vertical arc rotated around the vertical axis to form an outwardly curved surface having an outermost point to define a maximum label diameter D L  of said bottle, the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment adapted to resist any tendency toward a concave inward deformation in response to any drop of pressure within the bottle. 
     
     
         2 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein the vertical arc forming the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment has a vertical radius R A  of up to 2.45 D L . 
     
     
         3 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein each indented ring segment has a depth of at least 0.08 D L , the indented ring segment depth being a relative distance between the vertical axis and the closest point on the indented ring segments and the maximum distance between the vertical axis and the outermost point of the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment. 
     
     
         4 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one land segment has a vertical distance of at least 0.49 D L . 
     
     
         5 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein the indented ring segments are defined by an inwardly curved surface having a vertical radius R B . 
     
     
         6 . The plastic bottle of  claim 5 , further comprising an arcuate shoulder portion joining the inwardly curved surface of the indented ring segments to the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment, where the arcuate shoulder portion has a vertical radius R BL  that is greater than the vertical radius 
     
     
         7 . The plastic bottle of  claim 5 , wherein the vertical radius R B  of the inwardly curved surface of the indented ring segments is up to 0.02 D L . 
     
     
         8 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein there are only two of the land segments and three of the indented ring segments between the sidewall lower edge and the sidewall upper edge. 
     
     
         9 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein the distance between the vertical axis and the closest point on the indented ring segments to the axis is between 0.8 and 0.9 times the maximum distance between the vertical axis and the outermost surface of the at least one land segment. 
     
     
         10 . The plastic bottle of  claim 1 , wherein the vertical arc forming the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment has a vertical radius R A  of up to 2.45 D L , and at least one of: each indented ring segment has a depth of at least 0.08 D L , the indented ring segment depth being a relative distance between the vertical axis and the closest point on the indented ring segments and the maximum distance between the vertical axis and the outermost point of the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment; and the at least one land segment has a vertical distance of at least 0.49 D L . 
     
     
         11 . A molded plastic bottle in its pre-hot fill state comprising: a base surrounding a vertical axis, a sidewall having a lower edge coupled to the base, the sidewall extending upward from the base to a sidewall upper edge, the sidewall being free of any vacuum responsive panel and including at least one indented ring segment, a shoulder portion coupled to the sidewall upper edge and leading upward and radially inward to a neck portion, a finish coupled to the neck portion adapted to receive a closure, the finish surrounding an opening leading to a plastic bottle interior, the base being defined by an outer surface including a seating ring surrounding the vertical axis at a fixed radius, at least a first inner surface coupled interiorly to the seating ring and extending upwardly and inwardly from the seating ring, a diaphragm surface coupled exteriorly to the seating ring, the diaphragm surface including an inner edge extending upwardly and outwardly from the seating ring and an outer edge extending substantially horizontally outwardly, and a heel portion joining the diaphragm outer edge to the sidewall lower edge, the diaphragm surface being sufficiently flexible to permit an upward flexing of the diaphragm surface in response to any drop of pressure within the bottle at least until the seating ring is situated above the heel portion. 
     
     
         12 . The plastic bottle of  claim 11 , wherein the inner surface coupled interiorly to the seating ring comprises a set of circumferentially continuous conical surface sections joined to and extending inward from the seating ring. 
     
     
         13 . The plastic bottle of  claim 11 , wherein the continuous seating ring is situated at a radius of between 0.75 R and 0.85 R, where R is the radius of the diaphragm outer edge. 
     
     
         14 . The plastic bottle of  claim 11 , wherein the sidewall is defined by an outer surface including at least one land segment bounded by two or more indented ring segments, each land segment being defined by a vertical arc rotated around the vertical axis to form an outwardly curved surface having an outermost point to define a maximum label diameter D L  of said bottle. 
     
     
         15 . The plastic bottle of  claim 14 , wherein the vertical arc forming the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment has a vertical radius 
     
     
         16 . The plastic bottle of  claim 15 , wherein each indented ring segment has a depth of at least 0.08 D L , the indented ring segment depth being a relative distance between the vertical axis and the closest point on the indented ring segments and the maximum distance between the vertical axis and the outermost point of the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment. 
     
     
         17 . The plastic bottle of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one land segment has a vertical distance of at least 0.49 D L . 
     
     
         18 . A molded plastic bottle in its pre-hot fill state comprising: a base surrounding a vertical axis, having a portion extending upward to define an outer edge, a sidewall having a lower edge coupled to the outer edge of the base, the sidewall extending upward from the base to a sidewall upper edge, a shoulder portion coupled to the sidewall upper edge and leading upward and radially inward to a neck portion, a finish coupled to the neck portion adapted to receive a closure, the finish surrounding an opening leading to a plastic bottle interior, the sidewall being defined by an outer surface including at least one land segment bounded by vertically spaced indented ring segments, each land segment being defined by a vertical arc rotated around the vertical axis to form an outwardly bowed barrel-shaped surface with an outermost surface defining a maximum label diameter D L  of said bottle, said vertical arc having a vertical radius R A  of up to 2.45 D L ) the outwardly bowed barrel-shaped surface of the at least one land segment adapted to resist any tendency toward a concave inward deformation in response to any drop of pressure within the bottle. 
     
     
         19 . The plastic bottle of  claim 18 , wherein each indented ring segment has a depth of at least 0.08 D L , the indented ring segment depth being a relative distance between the vertical axis and the closest point on the indented ring segments and the maximum distance between the vertical axis and the outermost point of the outwardly curved surface of the at least one land segment. 
     
     
         20 . The plastic bottle of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one land segment has a vertical distance of at least 0.49 D L .