Ball Corporation

John P Henderson

Daniel M Futral

Stephen R Lynn

Craig P Davis

A plastic container comprises a lower base forming portion that includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced downwardly convex segments (,) and a plurality of intervening, circumferentially spaced, totally convex, hollow foot forming portions (,) that extend radially from the central bottom portion (,) and downwardly from the downwardly convex segments to form a clearance (,) for the central bottom portion. The downwardly convex segments have smoothly curved cross sections, in radially extending planes through their central regions and coplanar with the container's longitudinal axis (,). The clearance forming portion (,) of each foot forming portion includes a compound curved offset formed with opposing radii of curvature lying in a range of about 15% to over about 30% of foot contact diameter, the compound curved offset curving downwardly and outwardly about a center of curvature (,) below the bottom forming portion before curving about a center of curvature (,) above the bottom forming portion.

Plastic container for carbonated beverages

Plastic bottle

A blow molded plastic container for carbonated beverages includes an upper mouth-forming portion, a cylindrical sidewall portion and a lower base-forming portion, all of the portions being generally symmetrically situated about a central longitudinal axis. The lower base-forming portion includes a central portion contiguously surrounding the central longitudinal axis and a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, downwardly convex rib segments, each rib segment extending upwardly from the central portion following a hyperbolic profile and expanding circumferentially outwardly to merge with the sidewall. The lower base-forming portion additionally has a plurality of intervening and circumferentially-spaced, convex, hollow foot-forming portions extending downwardly from the circumferentially-spaced, rib segments. Each of the foot-forming portions has a bottom clearance-forming portion adjacent the central portion and a lower outer portion defined by the rotation of a heel radius greater than 0.8 cm about a central point of each foot situated on a contact radius. The rotation of the heel radius is along a mirrored hyperbolic profile having a coefficient of curvature of between about 0.65 and 0.80 so that the bottom of the foot exhibits essentially no incidence of creases and folds common in prior art containers.

Growing community of inventors

Kennesaw, GA, United States of America

John P Henderson