Nestable and stackable basket assembly

Abstract

A nestable and stackable basket assembly for shipping or displaying bakery products includes a bottom wall, side walls and end walls. Stacking towers, including stepped slots formed in the end walls, project inwardly to define nesting stop surfaces at different and corresponding heights on the upper end thereof. A pair of movable lugs with upwardly facing support surfaces are provided on each end wall and are adjustable for selective engagement with corresponding stop surfaces. The lugs project inwardly from the end wall and are interconnected with a rack and pinion arrangement for equal and opposite sliding movement when one of the lugs is manually indexed. The lugs may be manually indexed along the end walls to achieve (1) a full nesting position, (2) two intermediate stacking positions, and (3) a full stacking position; all with the baskets being in a vertical in-line relationship and without end-to-end rotation of the baskets. Vertical offset stacking between like baskets for display purposes is achieved with separate display towers.