Apparatus for manually forming containers into portable packs

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT As illustrated in FIG.
3, a paperboard carrier blank 2 is laid onto a base 1 with carrier finger holes 3 registered on pins 4 in the base 1 to align the apertures 5 in the blank 2 concentrically upon holes 6 in the base.
The diameter of holes 6 is chosen to allow the fingers 7 surrounding apertures 5 to flex downwardly in the holes 6 and admit the ends of containers 8 while supporting the surrounding area of the rest of blank 2.
The thickness of base 1 is selected to limit the penetration of the ends of containers 8 to that which is necessary to allow fingers 7 to first flex sufficiently to pass the chimes 9 of the containers 8 sufficiently to have the fingers 7 snap under the chimes 9 of containers 8 which almost abut the support surface 10 without permitting the tapering surface or shoulders 11 of containers 8 to bear on the fingers 7 at their base and possibly distort them.
The bending of fingers 7 too severely will adversely affect their intended function of retaining containers.
Containers 8 are formed into appropriate groups or packs 12 by being manually loaded, neck down (see FIG.
3), into a chase or guide 13 which is held in correct location in relation to the blank 2 by pins 14 on base 1 engaging holes 15 at either end on guide 13.
When the correct number of containers is placed in the chase or guide 13, the chase or guide constrains the containers to assume positions to line up with the apertures 5 of blank 2 and apertures 6 in the base 1.
It is well illustrated in the exploded view of FIG.
3 that the base 1 of the apparatus is formed with a plurality of locator elements 4 which are intended for locating the finger holes 3 of the carrier blank 2, and other locator elements 14 for positioning the chase or guide 13 on the base 1 through the use of tabs 16 on the chase or guide 13 which drop over the locator elements 4 on the base 1.
In addition to the several locators 4 and 14, the series of apertures 6 have a depth equal to the thickness of the base 1