The invention relates to a container (1), preferably a bottle, which extends along a main axis (A) and comprising a wall forming a neck portion (2), a shoulder portion (3) connected to the neck portion (2), a body portion (4) connected to the shoulder portion (3), the body portion (4) comprising a grip portion (7), and a base portion (5) forming the bottom of the container (1) and connected to the body portion (4). The grip portion (7) comprises, over at least the majority of its dimension along the main axis (A), a plurality of spiral ribs (13) formed by the wall of the container (1) and spiralling in parallel around the main axis (A). The spiral ribs drastically increase side stability, compression and twisting deformation resistance of the container, while they have a non-technical and appealing appearance.

A machine for shaping an initially tubular cylindrical preform 1 to form a non-round shape in registration with printed or similarly applied surface decoration or the like on the preform, comprises: a conveyor (3, FIG. 3) for carrying a series of the preforms; a tool table 6 having a plurality of tool stations 7, 9 between which the preforms are conveyed by indexed motion of the conveyor, the tool table being reciprocable along an axis towards and away from the conveyor, to bring forming tools 11 at the tool stations into and out of operative engagement with the preforms; a registered shaping tool 11 at at least one of the tool stations operatively arranged to deform the preforms to an out-of-round shape; at least one sensor 118, 124, (128, 126, 130, 132) operatively arranged to determine the angular orientation of each preform in a plane normal to the reciprocation axis; at least one reorientation actuator (A1, A2, B1, B2, C, D, E), F1, F2, G operatively arranged to cause relative rotation between each preform and the registered shaping tool, whereby the registered shaping tool and the preforms are brought into a predetermined relative angular orientation about an axis of the preform at the registered shaping tool station; the relative rotation with respect to a given preform taking place during a plurality of reciprocations of the tool table and/or indexing movements of the conveyor. Improved embossing/debossing tools are also disclosed (FIGS. 8a-23).

A blow molded multilayer article with a hollow body defined by a wall with an inner surface and an outer surface. The outer surface has an axial color gradient. The wall has multiple layers and at least one layer optionally contains an effect pigment and/or an opacifying pigment.

A bottle with reinforcing structure for a sidewall around a bottle lip is disclosed. The sidewall is a shoulder in an upper part of a bottle body that has the bottle lip atop the shoulder. The reinforcing structure is such formed that the shoulder is a chamfered rectangular structure in a direction parallel to a width of the bottle body, and four vertical lateral faces support the bottle lip from blow. Four slopes are respectively formed at four corners between any two adjacent lateral faces and each slope has a downward-narrowed surface. All of the lateral faces and the slopes are plane and flat in geometry. Each of the lateral faces has a downward-widened surface defined by the slopes flanking it from two sides, while each of the lateral faces has an upper edge thereof locationally close to the base of the bottle lip. The reinforcing structure structurally strengthens the shoulder.

A container may have a base, a sidewall connected to the base, a bell connected to the sidewall, and a finish connected to the bell. The base may have strap ribs to resist deformation of the base. The sidewall may have recessed columns to resist bending, leaning, crumbling, and/or stretching. The strap ribs and recessed columns may vertically line up along a central axis of the container to communicate forces on the container vertically along the container to continuously resist deformation in the base and the sidewall.

A multiple-chamber container that is extrusion blow molded with a single neck finish and a method to trim the single neck finish is provided. The physical appearance of the multiple-chamber container before the trimming process differs from the multiple-chamber container after the trimming process. The multiple-chamber container includes multiple openings that are configured to engage with a single cap after the trimming process to create a seal. The multiple-chamber container may contain different materials, such as liquids, gel-like substances, granular materials, food, etc. that are not permitted to flow from one chamber to the other chamber when the cap is engaged with the chamber openings.

A container and system for the mobile/portable heating of fluids is described. The container has an octahedral shape, including a pinched waist section. This pinched waist, along with the rounded corners at each edge of the octahedron, has a specific radius of curvature selected to maximize volumetric efficiency while still maintaining the ability to blow mold the container. One or more heating elements and attachment mechanism are also provided so that fluids in the container can be quickly and efficiently heated.

Container includes a top portion, a body portion and a bottom portion. The body portion includes a front wall, a rear wall and first and second side walls, the first side wall disposed opposite the second side wall, opposing grip areas formed in the first and second side walls, a first circumferential rib disposed above the opposing grip areas and extending horizontally about an entire outer circumferential perimeter of the body portion, a second circumferential rib disposed below the opposing grip areas and extending horizontally about the entire outer circumferential perimeter of the body portion, at least one horizontal body rib disposed between and spaced circumferentially from the opposing grip areas, a first vertical strut formed in the first side wall and a second vertical strut formed in the second side wall, each strut disposed between the first and second circumferential ribs and spaced a distance from each grip area.

A container may comprise a spout, a base portion, and an ovular sidewall extending away from the base portion to the spout. The ovular sidewall comprises a vertical portion, a top transition region, and a top region extending from the top transition region to the spout. The top region comprises at least two discrete linear sections having different slopes between the top transition region and the spout. Moreover, the base portion of the container defines a support surface on which the container rests, a base channel extending across the diameter of the container, and an inset concave panel aligned with a center of the container. The container additionally comprises a handle portion defining a complex-curved face surface interrupting the top transition region and the top region, and a handle extending from a bottom portion of the face surface to a top portion of the face surface.

A blow-molded article having improved well-defined corners is provided.