Bottle for containing a fluid

Claim 1

A bottle for use in dispensing a fluid with a fluid dispensing system, comprising: a generally rectangular bottle body having parallel first and second sides, parallel ends, each extending between said first and second sides, a top side and a bottom side, said first and second sides, said ends, and said top and said bottom enclosing a cavity in said bottle body adapted for receipt of a quantity of the fluid, an orifice formed in said top side for communicating between said cavity and exteriorly of the bottle body, a pair of spaced, generally planar parallel gripping surfaces formed in said first and second sides adjacent said bottom side for manual engagement from said bottom side for manipulating the bottle between an upright position with said orifice directed upwardly, and an inverted position with said orifice directed downwardly, further including a plurality of parallel transverse ribs projecting from each of said gripping surfaces, to facilitate manual engagement of said bottle body from said bottom side when shifting the bottle between said upright position and said inverted position, and wherein said ribs resist paneling in said gripping surfaces when said bottle is inverted and the fluid is being dispensed, and a shoulder formed in each of said first and said second sides between each of said gripping surfaces and said orifice in said top side of said bottle body, wherein said gripping surfaces are spaced apart a distance that is less than the distance that the first and second sides are spaced apart between said shoulder and said orifice, said shoulder acting to stiffen said first and said second sides of said bottle body to resist paneling when the bottle is inverted and the fluid is being dispensed through said orifice.