Stacking and nesting bin

Claim 1

Stacking and nesting bin comprising: (a) a rectangular bottom wall, (b) a rectangular back wall extending upwardly from the bottom wall, (c) a pair of side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from said bottom wall and attached to said back wall so that the bin has a top opening and a front opening, each of said side walls having a top edge surface which is provided with a notch, (d) a pair of spaced retaining tabs extending downwardly from said bottom wall in general vertical alignment with said notches, respectively, said tab being adapted to a function as supporting legs for the bin on a flat supporting surface and adapted to fit into the notches of an identical second bin to function as retaining tabs for stacking the bin on said second bin, (e) a pair of spaced support tabs which extend downwardly from the bottom wall on the rearward portion of the bin to function as rear support legs when said bin is located on a flat supporting surface or nested within a second identical bin, and (f) a short front wall which extends upwardly from the bottom wall to define the bottom limit of said front opening, so that when a first of said bin is nested within a second of said bin, the respective bottom walls of the bins are spaced, said support tabs and said front wall being of sufficient length to maintain the side walls of said first bin spaced from the corresponding side walls of said second bin when said bins are nested, wherein the relative length of said support tabs and said front wall are such that when said first and second bins are nested, the spacing between the bottom walls of said bins is greater at the forward portions of the bins than at the rearward portion thereof, so that the spacing between adjacent side walls of the bins gradually diminishes from front to back to a relatively small contact area at the extreme rearward portions of said adjacent side walls.