Pack and method for producing such a pack

Abstract

A filmless pack formed from at least two containers, each container (bottles or cans) having a curved region has containers disposed in a non-nesting position. A contact region extends between adjacent containers. A contact-or-touching surface lies on the contact region. When viewed in a circumferential direction, the contact-or-touching surface defines a flat interrupting region that interrupts the curved region by introducing a radially extending discontinuity therein. Adhesive is applied to the contact-or-touching surface.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A manufacture comprising a filmless pack formed from at least two containers, each container having a curved region, wherein said containers are disposed in a non-nesting position, wherein said containers are selected from the group consisting of bottles and cans, wherein a contact region extends between adjacent containers, wherein a contact-or-touching surface lies on said contact region, wherein, when viewed in a circumferential direction, said contact-or-touching surface defines a flat interrupting region that interrupts said curved region by introducing a radially extending discontinuity therein, and wherein adhesive is applied to said contact-or-touching surface. 
     
     
         22 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said radially extending discontinuity is a protrusion on said curved region. 
     
     
         23 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said radially extending discontinuity is a depression in said curved region. 
     
     
         24 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said containers each comprise a roll-off ring selected from the group consisting of a head-end roll-off ring and a foot-end roll-off ring, and wherein said contact-or-touching surface is arranged on said roll-off ring. 
     
     
         25 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said containers define plural contact-or-touching surfaces that, when viewed vertically, are arranged in a line. 
     
     
         26 . The manufacture of  claim 25 , wherein said contact-or-touching surfaces are identical with one another. 
     
     
         27 . The manufacture of  claim 25 , wherein said contact-or-touching surfaces supplement each other complementarily. 
     
     
         28 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein one of said containers comprises first and second contact-or-touching surfaces disposed on a common first vertical axis, and third and fourth contact-or-touching surfaces disposed on a common second vertical axis, said third and fourth contact-or-touching surfaces being offset from said first and second contact-or-touching surfaces along a circumferential direction by 90°. 
     
     
         29 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , wherein said contact-or-touching surface is formed from an application of adhesive and forms a radial discontinuity that extends in a radially outward direction. 
     
     
         30 . The manufacture of  claim 21 , further comprising a strapping around said containers, wherein at most one of said containers has an application of adhesive. 
     
     
         31 . A method of producing, from a group of containers, a filmless pack of containers, each container having a curved region, wherein said containers are disposed in a non-nesting position, wherein said containers are selected from the group consisting of bottles and cans, wherein a contact region extends between adjacent containers, wherein a contact-or-touching surface lies on said contact region, wherein, when viewed in a circumferential direction, said contact-or-touching surface defines a flat interrupting region that interrupts said curved region by introducing a radially extending discontinuity therein, and wherein adhesive is applied to said contact-or-touching surface, said method comprising forming a container stream of randomly oriented containers into lanes, separating containers in each lane by a predetermined distance along a transport direction of said containers, dividing off a predetermined number of containers in said lanes, thereby forming a provisional container group, from said provisional container group, forming a finished container pack by bringing containers together and aligning said containers to achieve a predetermined desired orientation, subsequently aligning said containers by controlled rotation about axes thereof based on a desired location at which adhesive is to be applied, and after subsequently aligning said containers, using said adhesive to interconnect said containers to form said filmless pack of containers, whereby a container is manually detachable from said pack without damage to a configuration of containers remaining in said pack. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein interconnecting said containers comprises strapping said containers together with a strap. 
     
     
         33 . The method of any one of  claim 31 , wherein bringing containers together comprises using a holding-and-gripping head for displacing containers relative to a main transport path. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising using said holding-and-gripping head to displace said containers individually relative to each other. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein using said holding-and-gripping head comprises using motor-driveable gripping elements by which gripped containers can be rotated independently of one another. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein using said adhesive to interconnect containers comprises applying adhesive to no more than one quarter of said containers that form said filmless pack of containers. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein applying adhesive comprises applying only a single application of adhesive to a contact-or-touching surface of a container. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein applying adhesive comprises applying points of adhesive. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein applying adhesive comprises applying strips of adhesive. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein using said adhesive to interconnect containers comprises applying adhesive to no more than one of said containers that form said filmless pack of containers.