Bottle with center pour opening, contoured handle, and contoured profile for interlock during stacking/transport

Abstract

A container for fluid product includes a one piece body having first, second, third, and fourth sidewalls, an upper surface and a lower surface. Two of the sidewalls have non-linear, parallel conformations that each include a convex surface portion that merges into an adjacent concave surface portion for abutting engagement between adjacent containers and limit sliding movement of the abutting containers relative to one another in a layer of a stacked array of containers. The upper and lower surfaces have a center pour opening and a recessed region, respectively, which cooperate to limit sliding movement of adjacent containers relative to one another in a layer of the stacked array. A handle is formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion that is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shape contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface, and a circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle tangentially merges into one of the sidewalls.

It is claimed: 
     
         1 . A container for fluid product comprising:
 a one piece body having first, second, third, and fourth sidewalls, an upper surface and a lower surface, the first and third sidewalls separated by the second and fourth sidewalls, the second and fourth sidewalls having non-planar, parallel conformations that each include a convex surface portion that merges into an adjacent concave surface portion.   
     
     
         2 . The container of  claim 1  further comprising a handle formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion that is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shape contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface. 
     
     
         3 . The container of  claim 2  wherein a circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle merges tangentially into the fourth sidewall. 
     
     
         4 . The container of  claim 2  wherein the handle further includes depressions formed in the first and third sidewalls that are spaced inwardly from the fourth sidewall. 
     
     
         5 . The container of  claim 4  wherein the handle is a no pass structure. 
     
     
         6 . The container of  claim 5  wherein the convex first portion and the concave second portion on the second sidewall are opposite from the concave first portion and the convex second portion on the fourth sidewall, respectively, whereby adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the upper and lower surfaces. 
     
     
         7 . The container of  claim 1  wherein the convex first portion and the concave second portion on the second sidewall are opposite from the concave first portion and the convex second portion on the fourth sidewall, respectively, whereby adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the upper and lower surfaces. 
     
     
         8 . The container of  claim 7  wherein the convex first portion and the concave second portion on the second sidewall are opposite from the concave first portion and the convex second portion on the fourth sidewall whereby abutting second and fourth sidewalls of adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the upper and lower surfaces. 
     
     
         9 . The container of  claim 8  further comprising a recessed region in the lower surface dimensioned to at least partially receive a center pour opening or cap of the upper surface of an adjacent like container whereby abutting upper and lower surfaces of adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the second and fourth sidewalls. 
     
     
         10 . The container of  claim 1  further comprising a recessed region in the lower surface dimensioned to at least partially receive a center pour opening or cap of the upper surface of an adjacent like container whereby abutting upper and lower surfaces of adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the second and fourth sidewalls. 
     
     
         11 . The container of  claim 1  wherein adjacent containers are arranged in layers and layers stacked one atop another by laying individual containers on either the first and third sidewalls where at least two laterally adjacent containers interlock along abutting second and fourth sidewalls, and at least two longitudinally adjacent containers interlock along the upper and lower surfaces. 
     
     
         12 . The container of  claim 11  wherein at least some of the individual containers in contiguous layers are oriented 90 degrees relative to one another. 
     
     
         13 . The container of  claim 11  wherein the containers in a stacked array are each pressurized. 
     
     
         14 . The container of  claim 11  wherein upper surface is laterally offset from the bottom surface. 
     
     
         15 . The container of  claim 1  wherein the upper surface is laterally offset from the bottom surface. 
     
     
         16 . The container of  claim 1  further comprising a handle formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion, and wherein a circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle merges tangentially into the fourth sidewall. 
     
     
         17 . The container of  claim 16  wherein the upper surface is laterally offset from the bottom surface. 
     
     
         18 . The container of  claim 17  wherein the convex first portion and the concave second portion on the second sidewall are opposite from the concave first portion and the convex second portion on the fourth sidewall, respectively, whereby adjacent, like containers interlock against relative sliding movement in a direction oriented between the upper and lower surfaces. 
     
     
         19 . The container of  claim 18  wherein the circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle that tangentially merges into the fourth sidewall is located in that portion of the fourth sidewall that has a convex contour. 
     
     
         20 . The container of  claim 1  further comprising a handle formed at least in part by a cylindrical portion that is dimensioned to conform to a generally C-shape contour formed by a user's thumb and index finger when the fingers of a user's hand are stretched and shaped over a virtual hemispherical surface, wherein the circumferential region of the cylindrical portion of the handle that tangentially merges into the fourth sidewall is located in that portion of the fourth sidewall that has a convex contour.