The invention relates to a packaging comprising a plastic container (2), comprising side walls (20, 21, 22, 23) meeting in corners (24), an upper opening (25) and a bottom (26), as well as a detachable plastic lid configured to cover the upper opening of the container (2), and wherein said side walls (20, 21, 22, 23) of the container are divergent, together forming a truncated pyramid, configured so that said container can be stacked in an identical container. According to the invention, said container has projecting portions (29) extending from side walls at the upper opening (25) of the container, said projection portions (29) being external to the container, configured to guarantee a constant stacking pitch between the container (2) and said identical container, when said container is stacked in said identical container.

A molded container of solid continuous construction having a floor and contiguous upstanding sidewalls angling outward and upward to a surrounding upper lip. Below the upper lip the floor and sidewalls surround an inner cavity adapted to receive food. The sidewalls include at least three outwardly-directed lugs that are thicker from an inner surface to an outer surface thereof than a nominal wall thickness of the remainder of the sidewalls. The sidewall at the location of each lug having an inner surface which is contiguous and uninterrupted relative to the inner surface of adjacent portions of the sidewall. Consequently, a first container may be stacked and nested within a second container such that the lugs on the first container contact the inner surface of the second container at the location of the lugs on the second container and maintain a predetermined axial spacing between the first and second containers.

A stackable crate has a horizontally oriented bottom panel and four vertically oriented side panels that are separately attached at their edges to form the stackable crate. Two straight-line channels, with widths at their tops being greater than at their bottoms, form ribs within the crate. When the channels and ribs of a first crate are aligned with the channels of a second stackable crate, the first crate nests within the second crate even when non-uniform material in the second crate is stored within it, without spilling the material or toppling the stack. When the channels and ribs of the first crate are not aligned with the channels of the second crate, the first crate does not nest within the second crate but instead rests on the tops of the ribs of the first crate.

A molded plastic drum configured to hold wire. The drum includes a plastic interior cone. The cone can include ribs or other similar structure to simulate an outer cylindrical shape (or any other desired shape) to wrap the wire around. The cone is integrally formed with the rest of the container. The drum includes windows to determine the amount of wire in the drum. The drum can also include drain holes.

Described herein are various coupling systems to be used with storage units that are selectively coupled and decoupled. The coupling systems may be used with storage units that are stackable and/or transportable, thus allowing the storage units to function well within a large stationary environment, such as a basement, and also for a subset of the storage units to be selected and easily moved to another location.

Described herein are various coupling systems to be used with storage units that are selectively coupled and decoupled. The coupling systems may be used with storage units that are stackable and/or transportable, thus allowing the storage units to function well within a large stationary environment, such as a basement, and also for a subset of the storage units to be selected and easily moved to another location.

The present invention is directed toward a food container that including a base, a perimeter wall and first, second and third protrusions. The protrusions are spaced apart from each other and coupled to the wall and the base. Each of the first, second and third protrusions defines a respective support surface that extends radially inward from the wall, a recess in the base and a recess in the wall. Each of the support surfaces is configured to support non-recessed portions of a base of another food container in a stacked configuration. Each of the recesses in the wall and the base are configured to receive a support surface of the other food container in a nested configuration.

A tray that eliminates the need for wrapping or packaging edible food articles that are in a malleable form, such as when made or otherwise produced, with the tray formed with at least a plurality of pairs of article holding compartments each three dimensionally contoured so as to define an edible food article mold that shapes or forms an edible food article received therein that is in a formable or moldable state so as to substantially conform at least a portion of the edible food article to the shape of the three-dimensional contour of the mold of the compartment in which the article is received. A preferred embodiment of the tray has at least a plurality of pairs of elongate article holding compartments that are generally parallel with one another with the article shaping or forming mold defined by each compartment formed of a compartment sidewall that has a concavely curved cross-section that preferably is generally semicircular in a transverse cross-section. In a preferred embodiment, each compartment has a mouth through which an edible food article enters during the filling of the tray with the mouth preferably defined by opposed portions of the generally semicircular compartment sidewall that are generally parallel to one another and which preferably can be obtuse the angled relative to one another to define a guide chute that guides the article into a desired position and/or orientation in the mold of the compartment that optimizes forming or shaping of the article before it cools, dries, cures or otherwise hardens thereby setting or fixing its shape memory so as to substantially conform at least a part of the shape of the article disposed in contact with the sidewall with the mold of the compartment in which the article is received.

Injection molded container article including a center portion having an outer perimeter. The center portion has a central flow leader defined therein, the central flow leader having a central flow leader thickness. A side wall portion extends from the outer perimeter to an outer rim portion. The center portion and the side wall portion together define a container space having a volume. The side wall portion includes a plurality of side wall flow leaders and a plurality of side wall panels extending between adjacent flow leaders and having side wall panel thickness less than the central flow leader thickness. Each side wall flow leader has a side wall flow leader thickness greater than the side wall panel thickness, and each flow leader extends between the central flow leader and the outer rim portion. Method of making the injection molded container article also provided.

In one embodiment, an end effector for a robotic manipulator has a base that is configured to attach to the end of a robotic arm, a first fork, and a second fork. The end first fork includes a first pair of prongs that extend from the base along a first direction and that are spaced from one another so as to receive a first storage container therebetween. The second fork includes a second pair of prongs that extend from the base along a second direction that is angularly offset from the first direction and that are spaced from one another so as to receive a second storage container therebetween. The first and second forks can be used to stack or unstack the first and second containers.