The invention will be described with reference to its use in carrying bottles, but it is equally applicable for use in carrying any elongate frangible articles which need to be kept separate, one from another, to avoid breakage. For the purposes of this application, the word bottle will be used to define any such elongate frangible article.

It is well known to carry bottles in crates or cartons which are either filled with packing material or partitioning. However, these require two hands to carry them and are therefore inconvenient. Also, they cannot be reduced in size when not in use.

It is also known to provide bottle carriers which have a handle, such as were once used by milkmen. While these have the advantage of being carriable by one hand, they are still rigid and cannot be folded away when not in use.

Attempts have been made to remedy this problem by forming similar containers of cardboard. To an extent, these are useful in that they can be folded to a flat form. However, in use, it is possible for the bottom of the carrier to become unattached, thereby consigning the bottles to the ground and inevitable breakage. Also, even in flat pack form, the carriers occupy a considerable amount of space.

It is also known to carry bottles in carrier bags of plastics material. In this case, some of the bottles must be individually wrapped in tissue paper or other protective material. Also, in most carrier bags, a central handle position draws the bottles together within the bag, which again increases the risks of breakage. Such carrier bags do have the advantage that, when not in use, they occupy minimal space.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible carrier for bottles which overcomes or at least reduces all of the disadvantages set out above.

According to the present invention, there is provided a carrier for elongate articles comprising at least one sheet of flexible material, carrying means including a rigid member extending across substantially the entire width of the sheet, and at least one elongate pocket adapted to carry a respective one of said elongate articles and formed from said at least one sheet so connected to itself or another sheet as to form a bottom and sides of the pocket.

Preferably the carrier comprises a single sheet of flexible material, encircling said rigid carrying member, folded upon itself and so sewn or connected as to form at least two, preferably four pockets.

A slot may be provided in said sheet adjacent said rigid carrying member to allow it to be manually gripped.

Said pockets may extend towards said carrying member from an end of the carrier remote from the carrying member, and are preferably open at their end facing the carrying member.

Alternatively, said pockets may extend in a direction approximately parallel to the direction of the carrying member, and be open at one edge of the material.

Tape means may be provided at the remote end of the carrier.

In this case, the least one sheet of flexible material is adapted to be rolled around the carrying member and tied together by said tape means to hold the carrier out of use.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is side elevation of the embodiment of Figure 1, with one pocket filled and extended ; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line A-A of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an elevation of a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a side elevation of the carrier of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line B-B of Figure 4; Figure 7 is a front elevation of a third embodiment of the invention; and Figure 8 is a side elevation of the embodiment shown in Figure 7.

Referring now to the drawings, the carrier 1 comprises one (or several) sheet of cloth or other flexible but strong natural or plastics material formed into a generally rectangular shape.

Hereinafter, for convenience, such material will be referred to as cloth.

At the upper edge of the rectangular shape 1, the sheet is folded and the two layers of cloth thus formed are sewn together to form a tube 2 into which may be inserted a rod 3 of wood or similar load bearing material. In the cloth immediately below the seam forming the tube 2 there is provided a slot 4 dimensioned to accommodate the fingers of a user of the carrier in such a manner that the entire weight of the carrier is taken by the rod 3, and that may be carried centrally by one hand of the user, utilising slot 4 to grip the rod 3. The weight of the carrier is thereby distributed evenly to the load bearing rod 3.

The two layers of cloth are folded along line 14 at their lower edges and the two lower folds are joined together along edge seams 9 and central seam 8. Thus, for each layer of cloth (which now comprises two layers folded upon themselves) there are formed pockets 5 defined by a lower edge 14 and side seams 8 and 9. The top of each of the four pockets is open. It is preferred that, at the lower edge 14, a seam is formed through both sheets of cloth when folded, i. e. through all four thicknesses of cloth. At this lower edge 14, there is attached a pair of tapes 6, the purpose of which will be described further below. Referring now to Figures 4,5 and 6, a second embodiment is shown which differs only from that described above in that the pair of central seams 8 is replaced by a single central seam 10 extending through the four thicknesses of cloth.

A further embodiment of the invention is shown in Figures 7 and 8. In this embodiment, the carrying rod 3 and slot 4 remain the same, as does the general shape of the carrier, including the tapes 6. However, the pockets 5 are aligned generally across the direction of the carrier, at a slight angle with the open ends 12 uppermost. The upper edges of the upper row of pockets 5 are defined by seam line 11, and their lower edges by seam 15. The"bottom"of the pocket 5 is defined by seam 9 at an edge of the carrier.

In order that the bottles nest together more closely, it may be preferable to separate the pockets 5 on one side of the carrier by a space 16 between the lower seam 15 of an upper pocket and the upper seam of a lower pocket. Indeed, the space 16 could be extended to form a third pocket 5 on the one side.

In use, the carrier may, as is stated above, be carried by means of a manual grip on the rod 3, utilising the slot 4. One, two, three, four or even more (if more pockets are provided) bottles may then be carried. Since the weight of each bottle is carried by the cloth immediately above the bottle and transmitted thereby upwardly to the rod 3 which extends across the carrier, the load is spread more evenly and there is no tendency for the bottles to be pulled together at their upper ends and thereby be forced into contact. Hence, the possibilities of breakage are minimised. Also, since each bottle is contained within its own pocket, it is separated by at least two layers of cloth, as defined, from any neighbouring bottle. In further embodiments (not shown) the pockets may be omitted on one side of the carrier and replaced by a bag adapted to carry purchases or goods of a general nature, leaving only two bottle carrying pockets (or perhaps more) on the other side.

Indeed, the bag need not be present. The carrier may simply comprise two elongate pockets on one side.

When the carrier is not in use, it may be rolled up around the rod 3 and tied by the tapes 6 in the manner of a scroll or pipe roll. Hence, it occupies minimal space and may be easily stored, e. g. in a compartment of a wine rack. It may be carried in a pocket or bag for journeys to purchase wine or other bottles, as defined herein.

The cloth of the carrier may be printed either with a decorative motif or with advertising material, such as the name or logo of an off-licence or wine merchant.