The present invention relates generally to packages comprising a lid and a container body having a bottom and a peripheral side wall with a peripheral skirt having a lower edge, the lid having upstanding opposite peripheral walls defining a peripheral groove for receiving the upper edge of the peripheral side wall, an upper peripheral wall bridging the two walls, a central portion and a plurality of spaced apart upstanding ribs arranged along with and contiguous with one of said the walls.

An example of such a package is disclosed in EP 1681242.

Often, such a package with its content of paint or other fluid is presented to the consumer stacked with several identical packages on a pallet. Although the package may sometimes be provided with a handle this handle may not be readily accessible when several stacks of the package are placed close to each other, as will be the case when stacked on a pallet.

Since filled packages of this general type may be relatively heavy it is bur- densome for the consumer to remove a package from a stack, depending on the height of the stack.

The present invention has for its object to provide a package that is easier to remove, and this is accomplished in that the ribs define ramps having an up- per surface defining a smooth face extending between the central portion of the lid and the upper wall, the upper surface of the lid wall defining a continuation of the upper surface of the ramps without any upstanding edges on the lid restricting a sideways sliding movement off said lid of an identical container body placed on the lid. Often, the closeness of the neighbouring stacks on a pallet makes it impossible for the consumer to grip around the sides of the package in order to pull a desired package out of or off the stack. To further facilitate removal of the package, according to one embodiment the side wall may additionally have a retracted side wall part extending continuously from the bottom and into a space between the inside of skirt and the outside of said side wall to locally widen said space to define a gripping portion which may allow a person to insert at least one finger between said skirt and the side wall part. The invention also relates generally to package comprising a container body with a lid with ribs thereon and having a bottom face and a peripheral side wall with a peripheral skirt having a lower edge, a space being between the inside of skirt and the outside of said side wall, a portion of the bottom face being curved or angled towards an adjacent side wall part, preferably along two or four opposite side wall parts.

The invention will now be explained in further details with reference to an embodiment. Fig. 1 shows two adjacent stacks of the packages, seen from the side, Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the package, Fig. 3 shows the process of sliding the package off another one,

Fig. 4 shows a bottom view of the package, and

Fig. 5 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the package. In fig. 1 reference numeral 1 represents an embodiment of a moulded plastic material package comprising a lid 10 and a container body 20. The drawing shows two adjacent stacks of packages 1 , each stack comprising two packages 1 . One use of such a package is for containing paint or other liquid material, and such packages with content will typically be presented to the consumer arranged in a relatively high stack, such as with five to eight packages 1 stacked one above the other.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the package 1 of fig. 1 , showing the configuration of the lid 10 and of a skirt 25 that runs along the periphery of the side wall 22 of the container body 20, integral therewith, to provide a stiffening of the container body 20. The container body 20 is configured to be slightly wider at the upper end, compared to the base end at the container body bottom face 28, and a handle (not shown) may be attached to the skirt of the container body 20. The exemplary package 1 shown in the drawings has opposed skirt parts running somewhat parallel to each other, to define in this case a package 1 with an almost square contour as seen from above.

As shown also in fig. 2, the container body 20 is configured with at least one gripping area 26 to allow for a person to grip hold of the package with his fingers H to pull the package 1 sideways out of a stack. This is of particular advantage when stacks of packages 1 are placed closely next to one another, in which case the consumer is prevented from withdrawing the package by gripping around two opposite sides of the container body 20. This would of- ten be the case when the packages are supported on a pallet.

Fig. 2 furthermore shows the lid 10 as having upstanding opposite peripheral walls 1 1 , 1 1 ' defining in a conventional manner a peripheral groove for receiving the upper edge of the peripheral wall 22 of the container body 20 to allow the contents of the package 1 to be sealed therein by the lid, an upper peripheral wall 18 bridging the two walls 1 1 , 1 1 '. The lid 10 has a central por- tion 12 and a plurality of spaced apart integrally moulded ramps or ribs 13 arranged along with and contiguous with the innermost wall 1 1 '. The ramps 13 may be arranged in a spaced-apart relationship along the entire wall 1 1 ' surrounding the central portion 12, or along opposite segments of the wall 1 1 ' only, three such ramps 13 being shown in fig. 2. Common to the ramps 13 shown in the drawing is that their upper surface 14 defines a smooth face extending between the central portion 12 and the upper peripheral wall 18. The upper surface 14 may be flat or have a slightly curved shape corresponding somewhat to the shape of a portion 29 of the container body 20 bottom face 28, to be discussed below. The upper surface of the wall 18 is smooth, and may be angled to define a continuation of the upper surface 14 of the ramps without any sharp transitions. In the exemplary embodiment the upper surface of the wall 18 is horizontal parallel with the central portion 12 and intersects the upper surface 14 at the angle at which the upper surface 14 intersects the central portion 12.

Turning to fig. 3 it is shown that the container body bottom face 28 preferably has a slightly curved or angled surface portion 29 along one side wall part 22' (as shown), or preferably along two or four opposite side wall parts. When stacking the packages 1 the ramps 13 will provide for a centering of the packages 1 in the stack in that the bottom face 28 slides onto the central portion 12 on a lower one of the packages. On the other hand, when a consumer pulls a selected package outwards using the gripping area 26 the bottom portion 29 surface slides on the corresponding upper surface 14 of the ramps 13 formed on the lid 10 of the package on which the selected package 1 rests. With no upstanding edges on the lid 10 restricting this movement, and with an appropriate angle between the surface 14 of the ramps 13 and the central portion 12, such as within the range of 30°-60°, the consumer is able to slide the selected package 1 from the stack without any significant lifting effort that would otherwise be required had the lid 10 had any upstanding edges (that must be overcome by lifting the package) between the ramps 13 and the central portion 12 and between the ramps 13 and the outermost wall 1 1 .

It is noted that the ramps or ribs 13 are preferably each delimited by opposite side walls 14' that may provide for a stiffening of the lid 10, as is conventional for ribs on a lid. In another embodiment (not shown) the ramp 13 may extend continuously along the entire periphery of the lid 10.

Turning now to figs. 2 and 4, the configuration of the gripping portion 26 will now be explained. To allow for a close stacking of packages 1 on a pallet it is normally preferred to form such packages with an essentially rectangular, such as a square, contour, when viewed from above and below. This contour is provided by the peripheral skirt 25 which runs at a distance, such as 3-8 mm from the container body wall 22 and which has a lower edge 23. The skirt 25 is in a conventional manner joined with the container body wall 22 inter alia by means of ribs (of which some are schematically illustrated by reference numeral 24 in fig. 2) in the space 30 bridging the inside of skirt 25 and the outside of the wall 22 and extending partially towards the lower edge 23 of the skirt 25. Often, the ribs 24 will extend halfway along the skirt 25 to- wards the lower edge 23 thereof.

To allow for the consumer to manually seize hold of the gripping portion 26, as shown in fig. 2, according to the invention the space 30 between the inside of skirt 25 and the outside of the wall 22 is made wider locally by e.g. 6- 12 mm to a total of e.g. 9-20 mm by the wall 22 having a wall part 22' that is retracted away from the skirt 25 towards the interior of the container body 20. In the shown embodiment the side wall 22 is retracted at two opposite corners of the rectangular container body 20 which thereby shows a somewhat askew configuration seen best in fig. 4, the two remaining side wall parts of the container body 20 being essentially straight and running parallel with each other. To allow for an easy release of the container body 20 from the injection mould the retracted wall part 22' preferably extends continuously from the bottom face 28 and up into the space 30 behind the skirt 25. As shown in the bottom view of fig. 4, the transition between the retracted wall part 22' and the adjoining parts of the side wall 22 is preferably smooth in that no sharp edges are created at the transition. Preferably, the generatrix of the container body side wall 22 follows a straight line, also at the retracted wall part(s) 22', whereby in a vertical cross-section as shown in fig. 5 the entire side wall 22 extends continuously along a straight line; this allows for an easy labelling of the container body 20, either in an in-mould-labelling proc- ess, or subsequently to the moulding, as well for an easy printing of the container body 20. Preferably, the gripping portion 26 allows a person to insert at least one finger into the space 30 at said gripping portion 26 by at least 15 mm, preferably at least 25 mm, measured from the lower edge of the skirt 25 towards the peripheral wall. If ribs 24 are present, this would be the distance between the lower edge of the skirt 25 and the ribs 24.

The skirt 25 may as shown locally have an integral dependent portion having a lower edge 27 running below the level of the edge 23 of the rest of the skirt 25 to allow for an adult person to insert his fingers even deeper behind the skirt 25 before his finger tips meet the ribs 24 in the space 30 whereby he is able to hold even more firmly onto the skirt with his index finger and his thumb, as shown in fig. 2, to lift and pull out the package 1 from the stack through the movement illustrated by the arrow in fig. 3. The lower edge 27 of the dependent portion of the skirt may follow a smooth curve, as shown, and the dependent portion preferably runs in the same plane as the rest of the skirt 25. It will be understood that when the generatrix of the side wall 22 follows a straight line, as described above, the distance between the retracted side wall part 22' and the inside of the skirt 25 will be larger at the lower edge 27 compared to the distance between the skirt part 25 and the retracted wall part 22' at the level of the edge 23. It is noted that the retracted wall part 22' may be located at one corner of the container body 20 only, or between two corners at the same side wall par; when the packages 1 are stacked the bottom portion 29 will slide sideways on ramps 13, a gripping portion 26 preferably being located above bottom portion 29, as shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows by dashed lines the above mentioned alternative configuration of the ramp 13 when having a curved shaped, and of the wall 18 when being angled, and also of the portion 29 of the bottom face 28 when having a curved shape. As shown, no upstanding edges stop the package when sliding it off the stack, as shown in fig. 3.