Blow molded one-piece bottle

Claim 1

A carbonated beverage container comprising an upright hollow body of blow molded plastic material having an upright longitudinal axis, said body having a tubular side wall of a first diameter, said side wall merging at its lower end with a base structure, said base structure comprising: an arcuate bottom wall extending downwardly and radially inwardly from the lower end of said side wall and terminating at the lower end thereof in a center section which intersects said axis; said bottom wall being interrupted at locations radially outward of said center section by a plurality of downwardly projecting wall portions defining hollow legs terminating in substantially planar feet having inner and outer edges radially spaced from said center section, said feet being inclined in a direction radially inwardly and upwardly such that during support of said container on a horizontal support surface said outer edges of said feet are in contact with said horizontal surface, said feet being substantially equally spaced from said center section such that said outer edges of said feet form a non-continuous support surface engaging area of a predetermined outer diameter, said predetermined outer diameter being only slightly less than said first diameter, and said inner edges are above said surface thereby enabling said feet to rotate downwardly about said outer edges to substantially horizontal positions in which said feet from substantially said inner edges to said outer edges are in surface to surface engagement with said horizontal support surface in response to the internal pressure of a carbonated beverage within said cointainer with the outer diameter ofthe non-containuous support surface engaging area remaining substantially constant; and said wall portions including outer leg wall portions extending downwardly from said side wall forming a radially outer surface of said hollow legs, said outer leg wall portions having lower ends adjacent the outer edges of said feet.