Reinforced multi-article carrier

Claim 1

A carier for holding a plurality of articles, such as bottles or cans, which have adjacent the upper ends of their bodies radially outward extending portions, such as caps, beads or chimes, and which are arranged in at least one row, said carrier comprising: (a) a shell formed from a unitary blank of a relatively thin printable sheet material and including a relatively flat, generally rectangular top panel having opposed pairs of side and end panels foldably joined to the side and end edges thereof and extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom; (b) said top panel covering portions of said articles and having extending therethrough: (i) a plurality of first openings for receiving upper portions of said articles with said radially outward extending portions thereof positioned on the upper side of said shell; (ii) a pair of spaced second openings for accommodating the grasping and lifting of said carrier; (c) a unitary, molded plastic, skeletal frame being in contact with portions of the underside of said shell and being bonded thereto in critical areas providing a reinforcement arrangement, said frame including: (i) generally round ring elements surrounding each of said first openings and disposed therein in reinforcing engagement presenting a smaller opening for engagement with said articles; (ii) generally straight inner strut elements connecting certain of said ring elements to each other; (iii) a generally rectangular outer rim element surrounding said shell top panel and interconnecting outer portions of certain of said ring elements; (iv) corner rib elements extending downwardly from the corners of said outer rim element between adjacent side and end panels of said shell; (v) lower flange elements joined to lower ends of respective corner rib elements and extending transversely therefrom to form therewith generally T-shaped structures.