Nestable container

Claim 1

A nestable seamless plastic container comprising: a bottom; a sidewall portion extending upwardly from said bottom and terminating at an open end portion; a substantially vertical stacking skirt formed in said sidewall portioN, said stacking skirt being defined at its upper portion by an internal stacking shelf lying in a plane and extending inwardly toward the axis of said container; a plurality of stacking lugs disposed radially outwardly from said stacking skirt, each of said lugs having a bottom portion lying in a common plane and forming an interrupted external stacking shelf extending outwardly from said container axis and from said sidewall portion and defining the lower portion of said stacking skirt; said external stacking shelf being reduced in width between portions of said stacking lugs having the greatest external radius and having an outer circumferential outline, said lugs including top portions merging with said internal stacking shelf, said internal stacking shelf being reduced in width in those areas of merger with said lugs due to the outwardly radial offset configuration of said lugs and having an inner circumferential outline said lugs each having substantially vertical opposing sides whereby each reduced in width portions of said internal stacking shelf is axially aligned with the portions of the lugs having the greatest external radius on said external stacking shelf; the configuration of said inner circumferential outline of said internal stacking shelf except in selected sections being complementary to the configuration of said outer circumferential outline of said external stacking shelf; and a plurality of stacking shelf-members on said skirt, each of said stacking shelf-members having a surface lying substantially in the plane of one of said internal or external stacking shelves and altering the circumferential outline of at least one of said stacking shelves by at least partially eliminating the reduction in width in said selected sections of at least one of said internal or external stacking shelves, said stacking shelf-members providing additional constantly available stacking surface when a plurality of containers are in nested relation with one another and said external stacking shelf of one container is in stacking engagement with said internal stacking shelf of a container below in a stack of such nested containers.