Stackable Tray With Elevated Interior Columns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing low depth trays for storing and transporting beverage containers have limited lateral support, leading to instability in stacked bottles, and their design results in high nesting heights, increasing storage and transportation costs.
Innovation Solution
A tray design featuring spaced base walls, opposed side walls, interior columns, and dividers with pocket walls that extend higher than the side walls, providing increased support for bottles while maintaining nestable compatibility with similar trays, thus reducing nesting height.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the height of side walls is increased to provide better lateral support for bottles, then bottle stability is improved, but nesting height of empty trays increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces interior columns that extend vertically beyond the side walls, providing lateral support in a different spatial dimension. These columns rise above the side wall height to engage with bottles, offering enhanced stability without increasing the overall tray depth that would affect nesting. The support function is achieved through vertical elements rather than extending side wall height.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray design incorporates nested structures where interior columns are positioned within the tray boundaries, and the overall tray is designed to nest within similar trays. The interior columns extend upward but remain contained within the horizontal footprint, allowing trays to nest efficiently while the columns provide their elevated support function.
2Length of stationary object
If the nesting height of empty trays is reduced to lower storage and transportation costs, then storage efficiency is improved, but lateral support for bottles is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing side wall height to provide support, the patent uses interior columns that extend vertically within the tray body to provide lateral support. These columns reach upward to engage bottles at the appropriate height, delivering stability without increasing the overall tray depth that would compromise nesting efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray structure is segmented into multiple functional elements: side walls for containment, interior columns for lateral support, and base walls for positioning. This segmentation allows each element to perform its specific function optimally - the interior columns can extend to the necessary height for bottle support independent of the side wall height, which is determined by nesting requirements.
3Stability of the object's composition
If interior columns extend higher than side walls to increase bottle support, then lateral support is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The interior columns are integrated with the divider walls, merging the support function with the structural framework. The columns extend upward from the base and connect to the divider system, creating a unified structure that provides lateral support without requiring separate, complex support mechanisms. This integration reduces overall device complexity while achieving the support function.
Data Source
AI summary
A tray for storing and transporting bottles includes a plurality of spaced apart base walls each for supporting a bottle thereon. A pair of opposed side walls and a plurality of interior columns are connected by a plurality of dividers. The dividers also connect the columns and the side walls to the base wall. Each divider includes a lower end having spaced apart pocket walls each connected to a different one of the base walls.