Graham Packaging Company, L.p.

George Harrell

Richard K Ogg

David Murray Melrose

Seungyeol Hong

John Vlah

Raymond A Pritchett, Jr

Scott E Bysick

A blow-molded plastic bottle body for use in containing hot-filled beverages. The bottle body has a dome with various interactive functional zones. For example, some of the zones are primarily responsible for accommodating vacuum absorption, while other zones are primarily intended to rigidify the container such as by providing column strength to improve container top loading capability. Although each zone may have a primary function, each zone also aids adjacent zones in providing their functions. Thus, the entire dome, and not merely selected locations, reacts in a progressive manner to the forces generated by the hot-fill process on the bottle body. Preferably, the bottle body is slender and capable of readily being gripped by a single hand, and preferably the flex panels in the dome accommodate at least 90% of the total vacuum absorption required by the bottle.

Blow molded slender grippable bottle having dome with flex panels

A container having an inverted active cage generally includes an enclosed base portion, a body portion extending upwardly from the base portion, and a top portion with a finish extending upwardly from the body portion. The body portion further includes a central longitudinal axis, a periphery, a plurality of active surfaces, and a network of pillars. Unlike the prior art, each of the plurality of active surfaces is outwardly displaced with respect to the longitudinal axis, while each of the network of pillars is inwardly displaced with respect to the longitudinal axis. The plurality of active surfaces, together with the network of pillars, are spaced about the periphery of the container in order to accommodate vacuum-induced volumetric shrinkage of the container resulting from a hot-filling, capping and cooling thereof.

Plastic container having an inverted active cage

Blow molded slender grippable bottle dome with flex panels

Upper portion of a bottle

Growing community of inventors

York, PA, United States of America

George Harrell