Adhesive-Free Beverage Carrier With Retaining Struts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging solutions for beverage containers and other articles fail to provide an efficient and adhesive-free method for securely holding and displaying containers of various shapes and materials, such as plastic cups and aluminum cans, while allowing for easy handling and display.
Innovation Solution
A carton or carrier design featuring foldable panels and struts that form retaining features to securely hold containers without adhesives, using tabs and struts to engage the container's rim or flange, allowing for easy assembly and secure retention without the need for fasteners.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If adhesive methods are used to hold containers, then retention strength is improved, but ease of manufacture and environmental friendliness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces adhesive bonding with a mechanical retention system using a carrier structure that clips onto container flanges. The carrier employs struts, retaining features, and engagement mechanisms that use mechanical interlocking forces instead of chemical adhesives to achieve secure container retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier is divided into modular components including side panels, bottom panels, struts, and retaining features that can be separately manufactured and assembled. This segmentation allows for easier manufacturing and assembly while maintaining strong retention through the coordinated mechanical action of multiple discrete elements.
2Reliability
If complex fastening mechanisms are used to secure containers, then retention reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier structure is designed to automatically engage and secure containers through its own structural features without requiring additional fasteners, clips, or external fastening mechanisms. The struts and retaining features self-assemble into a secure configuration when the carrier is formed, providing reliable retention through the inherent geometry of the structure itself.
3Ease of manufacture
If adhesive-free mechanical retention is used, then ease of manufacture and environmental friendliness are improved, but retention strength may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier utilizes composite construction combining paperboard or corrugated fiberboard materials with specific structural geometries. The composite nature of the material and structure provides both the mechanical strength needed for retention and the ease of manufacture through conventional forming processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier incorporates curved and angled surfaces in its struts and retaining features that optimize mechanical engagement with container flanges. The curved geometries distribute forces more effectively and create friction-based retention that enhances holding strength without requiring adhesives or complex fasteners.
Data Source
AI summary
A carrier comprising a top panel, a first side panel foldably connected to the top panel, a second side panel foldably connected to the top panel, a first bottom panel connected to the first side panel by at least one first strut, and a second bottom panel connected to the second side panel by at least one second strut. At least one container-receiving portion can comprise a first retaining feature and an opposing second retaining feature. At least a portion of the first retaining feature or the second retaining feature is disposed in the first side panel or the second side panel. A container can be retained by at least one of the first retaining feature and the second retaining feature. At least a portion of at least one of the first bottom panel and the second bottom panel is disposed between the container and the top panel.