The invention relates to a bottle carrier. A wide variety of bottle carriers are known. One form of carrier comprises a rigid moulded container into which one or more bottles can be inserted; a shoulder strap is connected to the moulded container. Another form of carrier comprises at least two loops which are arranged to engage the necks of bottles and are attached to a handle.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved form of bottle carrier which is reliable and easy to carry.

According to the invention there is provided a bottle carrier comprising: a harness comprising flexible strips secured together to form the skeleton of a cylindrical container open at one end- and a flexible shoulder strap attached to the open end of the harness.

Preferably the harness comprises longitudinal strips secured in the region of a base of the harness, extending upwards from that region and secured to further strips extending transverse to the longitudinal strips. Preferably the base of the harness includes at least two strips extending across respective diameters of the bottom of the harness. Such an arrangement provides a

lightweight, yet robust, structure. Preferably, the further strips are in the form of rings. That further strengthens the harness, especially with regard to its ability to withstand radially outwardly directed forces. Preferably, there are two transverse strips. Having only two transverse strips avoids the strips unduly obscuring the container and, in particular, any labels or other markings on the bottles and, yet, especially when there are two longitudinal strips extending across the bottom of the harness, can be sufficient to hold the container securely. Preferably the longitudinal strips are secured at right angles to the transverse strips. Preferably there are four longitudinal strips or strip portions extending upwards from the region of the base of the harness. Each longitudinal strip may be arranged with a middle portion in the region of the base of the harness and have two portions extending upwards therefrom whereby two longitudinal strips provide four strip portions; alternatively each longitudinal strip may be secured at one end in the region of the base of the harness, in which case four strips are preferably provided. Preferably the flexible strips forming the bottle carrier are made of plastics material.

A variety of means may be used for securing together the strips forming the harness. Preferably the flexible strips forming the harness are secured together by heat sealing.

Preferably the shoulder strap is a continuation of one of the flexible strips forming the harness. Such an arrangement provides in a very simple manner a strong and reliable connection between the shoulder strap and the harness.

Preferably, the shoulder strap should be of adjust¬ able length. The means of adjustment may be a buckle or buckle-like arrangement.

The shoulder strap may be in the form of an open loop, when the buckle is closed, the free ends attached to the topmost transverse ring of the harness at two points.

When a bottle is being carried, the bottle is received in the harness. Preferably the strips are so close together that the bottle is unable or unlikely to slip through the spaces between the strips, for example by ensuring that the spaces between the strips forming the harness have at least one dimension which is smaller than the maximum diameter of the bottle, when the harness is in its undistorted form. Preferably the topmost part of the harness, being the open end of the harness, reaches further than halfway up a bottle when that bottle is received in the harness. This makes it less likely that the bottle will fall out of the harness during use. By way of example an embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, of which:.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bottle carrier, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the bottle carrier with a bottle received therein. The bottle carrier 9 includes a shoulder strap 6 and a harness comprising two longitudinal strips 1, 2 and two transverse strips 4, 5. The strips 1, 2 , 4, 5 and the strap 6 are flexible and are made of plastics material. The longitudinal strips 1, 2 are secured to each other by heat sealing at the base 3 of the harness. The longitudinal strips 1, 2 extend upwards from the base 3 and are secured to the transverse strips 4, 5 by heat sealing at equal intervals along the portions of the strips extending from the base 3 of the harness. The strip 4 defines a lower ring and the strip 5 an upper ring of the harness. The two portions of the longitudinal strip 1, extending in opposite directions from the base 3 are secured at diametrically opposite points on each ring 4, 5 and at 90" intervals from the two portions of the longitudinal strip 2. The longitudinal strips 1, 2 , are secured at right angles to the transverse strips 4, 5.

The bottle carrier is shown in Figure 1 with the harness in its undistorted shape; the harness forms the skeleton of an open ended cylindrical container of circular cross-section with the closed end in the shape of a hemisphere.

The harness is able to withstand very rough handling

without damage by deforming from its undistorted shape; for example the harness may be substantially flattened without being damaged. After such deformation the harness will tend to return to its original shape because of the resilient nature of the strips 1, 2, 4, 5; it will not necessarily return to a cylindrical shape of circular cross-section but that shape will be regenerated when a bottle is inserted into the harness.

The shoulder strap 6 includes a buckle 7 for adjusting its length and is a continuation of one of the longitudinal strips 1, meeting the topmost transverse ring 5 at diametrically opposite points on that ring.

Figure 2 shows the bottle carrier 9 and the way in which it will support and carry a bottle 8, which in this example is a moulded drinks bottle of plastics material, when a bottle 8 is received in the harness. The upper ring 5, forming the topmost part of the harness, is more than halfway up the bottle 8 to allow the bottle to sit stably in the bottle carrier. The spaces between the strips 1, 2, 4, 5, forming the harness are small enough that a bottle can not slip through.