In recent years, multiple bottle carriers have evolved from cardboard or paper board carriers to plastic carriers. Cardboard carriers, which are being replaced by plastic carriers, consist of complex folded pieces of cardboard that required significant folding and securing means to shape them into an appropriate means for supporting bottles from the bottom. The more recently developed plastic molded carriers are conventionally formed of a single piece of vacuum molded plastic with a plurality of openings in which the necks of the bottles are commonly secured. Exemplifications of the presently available unitary plastic molded carriers include those used commercially for soft drinks. Such carriers are made by Owens Illinois, under the trademarks CONTOUR-PAK/PLASTI-SHIELD, as well as others. These plastic carriers have significant advantages over previously-used "paper board wrap-around carriers". Exemplifications of the conventional wrap-around carriers are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,191.
The plastic carriers presently used, however, have certain limitations. The conventional plastic carrier has not been optimally design to carry bottles having long necks. Such bottles are commonly used for wine, oil additives for automobile engines, anti-freeze, and the like. Consequently, there is a need for a plastic carrier optimally designed for bottles having elongated necks.
Existing prior art designed for supporting bottles with elongated necks are not altogether satisfactory. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,787 illustrates a carrier for a bottle with an elongated neck. That design, however, does not provide a carrier in which the bottle is secured against accidental dislodgement.