U.S. patent application number 12/229408 was filed with the patent office on 2009-02-26 for cup lid with an anti-splash ergonomic shape.
Invention is credited to Jason Alan Ivey.
Application Number | 20090050641 12/229408 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40381210 |
Filed Date | 2009-02-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090050641 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ivey; Jason Alan |
February 26, 2009 |
Cup lid with an anti-splash ergonomic shape
Abstract
A cup lid for covering a disposable beverage cup has an outer
peripheral wall and concentric therewith, an inner peripheral wall.
The outer and inner peripheral walls are spaced apart and are
mutually joined by a top rim having an aperture through which
liquids in the beverage cup may be disbursed when the top rim is
held between the lips. A well is defined by the inner peripheral
wall and a panel where the panel is contiguous with the inner
peripheral wall. The top rim and horizontal panel are spaced apart
by approximately one inch thereby establishing an adequate space
for a person's nose within the well when the beverage cup is raised
for draining liquid therein.
Inventors: |
Ivey; Jason Alan; (Irvine,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PATENT LAW & VENTURE GROUP
2424 S.E. BRISTOL, SUITE 300
NEWPORT BEACH
CA
92660
US
|
Family ID: |
40381210 |
Appl. No.: |
12/229408 |
Filed: |
August 22, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60965797 |
Aug 22, 2007 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
220/713 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 2543/00296
20130101; B65D 2543/00046 20130101; B65D 2543/00092 20130101; B65D
2543/00537 20130101; B65D 43/0222 20130101; B65D 51/245
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
220/713 |
International
Class: |
A47G 19/22 20060101
A47G019/22 |
Claims
1. A cup lid comprising: an outer peripheral wall and concentric
therewith and in near parallel juxtaposition, an inner peripheral
wall, the outer and inner peripheral walls spaced apart and
mutually joined by a top rim; a well defined by the inner
peripheral wall and a panel, the panel contiguous with the inner
peripheral wall; the top rim and the panel in near parallel
juxtaposition and vertically spaced apart by between 3/4 and 11/4
inch thereby establishing the well with a space sufficient to
receive a person's nose when the top rim is placed in the person's
lips so that the panel is positioned in a near vertical
attitude.
2. The cup lid of claim 1 wherein a portion of the top rim has an
aperture therein, the portion of the top rim and the aperture
mutually tilted toward the inner peripheral wall.
3. The cup lid of claim 1 wherein the outer peripheral wall has a
peripheral sealing surface thereon shaped for engaging a lip of a
drink cup.
4. The cup lid of claim 1 further comprising one of an embossment
and an impression in the panel.
5. A combination drink cup with a cup lid engaged thereon, the
combination comprising: the cup lid having an outer peripheral wall
and concentric therewith and in near parallel juxtaposition, an
inner peripheral wall, the outer and inner peripheral walls spaced
apart and mutually joined by a top rim; a well defined by the inner
peripheral wall and a panel, the panel contiguous with the inner
peripheral wall; the top rim and the panel in near parallel
juxtaposition and vertically spaced apart by between 3/4 and 11/4
inches thereby establishing the well with a space sufficient to
receive a person's nose when the top rim is placed in the person's
lips and the drink cup is tilted toward the person.
6. The combination of claim 5 wherein a portion of the top rim has
an aperture therein, the portion of the top rim and the aperture
mutually tilted toward the inner peripheral wall.
7. The combination of claim 5 wherein the outer peripheral wall has
a peripheral sealing surface shaped to sealingly engage the cup
lip.
8. The combination of claim 5 wherein the well has a diameter
approximately equal to an outside diameter of a lower portion of
the drink cup whereby the drink cup is able to frictionally fit
into the well for stacking one drink cup on top of another drink
cup and for using the cup lid as a coaster for supporting and
stabilizing the drink cup.
9. The combination of claim 5 wherein the top rim and the panel are
spaced apart by approximately one-inch.
10. The cup lid of claim 5 further comprising one of an embossment
and an impression in the panel.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a non-provisional application describing
the same invention as a copending provisional application, Ser. No.
60/965,797, filed on Aug. 22, 2007, and which date priority is
claimed therefrom. Said provisional application is hereby
incorporated herein by reference.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT
[0003] Not applicable.
INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT
DISC
[0004] Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0005] 1. Field of the Present Disclosure
[0006] This disclosure relates generally to lids for disposable
beverage cups, and more particularly to such a cup lid with
improved ergonomic features and a beneficial conformation that is a
major departure with respect to the prior art.
[0007] 2. Description of Related Art Including Information
Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
[0008] Cuplike containers for coffee, soft drinks or other
beverages often are provided with lids to cover the contents before
and during use. Such lids may thermally insulate the contents and
assist in excluding dust, hair, insects, leaves or other
contaminants. Lids to cover such contents usually are flanged
peripherally to fit down over the cup rim, which is often rolled or
beaded to retain the lid securely but removably. Simple or multiple
recessing of one or more regions of laminar lids is commonly
practiced for structural reinforcement of what otherwise would be
too flexible for the desired use.
[0009] DeDaro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,624, discloses a cup lid for use
with a beverage cup comprising a peripheral flange to fit over a
cup rim and a central portion containing a reclosable access
closure flap selectively movable between an open and closed
position having a pull tab formed on one end portion thereof and a
hinge formed on the opposite end portion thereof and a first
retainer element such that when the reclosable access closure flap
is moved from the closed position to the open position the
reclosable access closure flap engages the first retainer element
to releasably retain the reclosable access closure flap in the open
position.
[0010] Van Melle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,961, discloses a thin plastic
disposable lid for use with a cup, typically a disposable plastic
Styrofoam.RTM. or paper container. The lid includes a small
foldback portion that is partially removed from the remainder of
the lid by tearing it along tear lines that are coincident with the
oriented fibers of the plastic material, thus creating an opening
in the lid. No pre-formed score lines, slits or notches are
required to facilitate proper tearing of the lid. Further, the
foldback portion is hinged and retained in intimate engagement by
the lid when it is fully open. A specific feature of the lid is
that the foldback portion is easy to fold back and to engage. The
foldback portion is also resealable over the opening in the
lid.
[0011] Hament, U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,691, discloses a cup lid for
fitting the lip of a cup. The lid comprises a first circular
sealing flange that fits over an entire circumference of the lip
and is effective to seal the cup against spillage, and a second
circular sealing flange intersecting the first circular sealing
flange and which may be fitted over the lip so as to form, together
with the first circular sealing flange, a figure-8 outline. An
opening in the cup lid outside the first circular sealing flange
and inside the second circular sealing flange is effective to
dispense material from the cup when the second circular flange is
fitted over the lip.
[0012] The related art described above discloses several of the
prior art cup lids. However, the prior art fails to disclose the
configuration of the present invention and its advantages The
present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing
heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following
summary.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The present invention is a cup lid for covering a disposable
beverage cup. Such cup lids provide important advantages such as
being disposable so as to enable a beverage to be taken from a
point of purchase and consumed "on the go." Take out beverages are
typically either hot or iced. With respect to such beverages, a cup
lid has the general advantages of keeping the beverage sanitary, of
maintaining its temperature while being consumed, and of limiting
spills.
[0014] The presently described cup lid has a near-vertical outer
peripheral wall sealingly engaged with a cup lip of a typical
disposable beverage cup. Concentric therewith is a near-vertical
inner peripheral wall. The outer and inner peripheral walls are
spaced apart and are mutually joined by a contiguous top rim which
has an aperture through which liquids in the beverage cup may be
drawn when the top rim is held between the lips and the cup tipped
toward the aperture. A central well is defined by the inner
peripheral wall and a horizontal panel contiguous with the inner
peripheral wall. The top rim and horizontal panel are spaced apart
by at least one-inch thereby establishing a sufficient space for a
person's nose within the well when the beverage cup is raised into
a position for draining a last of the liquid held therein.
[0015] Cup lids in the prior art are typically flat across the lip
of the beverage cup, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,624 at FIG. 2, and
therefore make it impossible to drain all of the liquid from the
cup without rotating one's head backward so that the nose is
directed upwardly. This is uncomfortable to the neck and it makes
it likely to spill liquid on oneself while drinking since the cup
is positioned over the front surface of the drinker's face and
chest. The present invention, as described above, provides the
advantage of creating a space, the well, for the nose to enter so
that the cup can be drained without rotating the head backwardly
and while maintaining the lip of the beverage cup forward of the
chest.
[0016] Another problem with a flat lid is that it is nearly
impossible to sample the temperature of the liquid in the cup
because a sip from the surface of the liquid is essentially the
same temperature as the bulk of the liquid. The present cup lid
overcomes this problem because when the beverage cup is tilted
toward the aperture a relatively small amount of the contained
beverage is "sampled" by being partially isolated from the bulk of
the beverage as it flows into the space between the outer and inner
peripheral walls prior to reaching the aperture. This partially
isolated portion of the beverage is a small volume and is spread
out so that it cools relative to the bulk of the beverage. By
sampling in this manner it is possible to judge the temperature of
the beverage at large.
[0017] A still further problem with a flat lid is that it is too
easy to splash hot liquid on oneself. This is because a typical
disposable beverage cup is filled to near the lip of the cup. Some
prior art lids tend to provide a drinking aperture that is
positioned below the lip of the lid and may, indeed, be just above,
or actually in contact with the surface of the beverage liquid. In
such cases, any inadvertent tilting of the beverage cup will tend
to force liquid to squirt upward out of the drinking aperture. When
one attempts to tilt the cup to start drinking, the liquid may exit
the cup at a faster then expected rate, a spill problem, and a
scalding problem. Finally, during handling of the cup when the
surface of the beverage is below the lid's inner surface, a surface
wave is normally propagated on the beverage surface and may cause
squirting of liquid from the aperture even when the cup is not
intentionally tilted. Of course, the present invention overcomes
all of these difficulties by placing the drinking aperture at least
one-inch above the surface of the beverage. Also, the inner and
outer peripheral walls prevent surface waves from forming below the
drink aperture, a further safety effect, i.e., anti-splash feature.
A still further anti-splash feature of the present invention is
that the entire top rim is slightly slanted inwardly toward the
well and the portion of the top rim that has the drink aperture is
raised above the general level of the rest of the top rim and the
drink aperture is therefore tilted toward the well. Liquid that
might rush toward the drink aperture tends to emerge at an angle
biased toward the well and not toward the drinker.
[0018] A yet further problem with the flat prior art drink cup lids
is that they do not afford any stacking feature. In order to carry
two prior art drink cups from point of purchase, it is generally
necessary to carry one in each hand. This makes opening doors,
handling car keys and other simple tasks difficult. The present
invention, as stated, provides a central well and this well is
sized to snuggly receive the lower end of a drink cup so that
nesting one cup within the lid of another makes it quite easy to
carry two full drink cups with one hand.
[0019] The present invention preferably has an embossment or an
impression formed in the central well that is able to provide a
commercial message such as a logo or other indicia and may be
visually offset by small amounts of colored beverage that may be
collected in the well through spillage or leakage during the
drinking process.
[0020] Other features and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by
way of example, the principles of the presently described apparatus
and method of its use.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
[0021] Illustrated in the accompanying drawing(s) is at least one
of the best mode embodiments of the present invention In such
drawing(s):
[0022] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the presently described
beverage cup lid apparatus as mounted on a disposable drink cup
that is shown with a typical insulating band;
[0023] FIG. 2 is a frontal perspective view of the cup lid thereof
as seen from above;
[0024] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view thereof taken along cutting
plane line 3-3 in FIG. 2;
[0025] FIG. 4 is a perspective view thereof as inverted;
[0026] FIG. 5 is a side elevational view showing a first beverage
cup mounted within the presently described beverage cup lid;
and
[0027] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a use of the
described beverage cup lid wherein a well in the cup lid is able to
receive the nose of a drinker.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] The above described drawing figures illustrate the described
apparatus and its method of use in at least one of its preferred,
best mode embodiment, which is further defined in detail in the
following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may
be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described
herein without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, it
should be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for
the purposes of example and should not be taken as a limitation on
the scope of the present apparatus and its method of use.
[0029] Described now, and as best shown in FIGS. 1-4 in detail, is
a cup lid 10 for a disposable drink cup 20. The cup lid 10 is
positioned in a horizontal attitude when it is placed onto the
drink cup 20, and in that orientation, the cup lid 10 has a
near-vertical outer peripheral wall 12, although a lower portion of
the outer peripheral wall 12 is configured to fit onto a lip 22 of
the drink cup 20 and is therefore not smoothly continuous
downwardly as is clearly shown in FIG. 3. Concentric with the inner
peripheral wall 12 is a near-vertical inner peripheral wall 14, the
outer and inner peripheral walls 12, 14, being spaced apart and
mutually joined by a contiguous top rim 16. This is best depicted
in the sectional view of FIG. 3. A central well 18 is defined by
the inner peripheral wall 14 and a central panel 11, where the
panel 11 is contiguous with the inner peripheral wall 14. The
central panel 11 is preferably oriented horizontally but may be
otherwise oriented such as non-horizontal. The panel 11 is
preferably circular and concentrically positioned relative to the
inner and outer peripheral walls 12, 14, but may alternatively be
non-circular and non-concentric as stated.
[0030] The top rim 16 and the central panel 11 are mutually spaced
apart, see dimension "D" in FIG. 3, by between about three-fourths
of an inch and an inch and one-quarters, and most preferably by
one-inch, thereby establishing an adequate space for a person's
nose within the central well 18 when the top rim 16 is positioned
in the person's lips, and this enables the cup lid 10 to move to an
essentially vertical orientation as shown in FIG. 6 without the
person rotating his/her head rearwardly. It has been found that a
spacing of less then about three-fourths of an inch is not adequate
for many adults with rather protruding nose mass, and a spacing of
greater than about one and three-fourths of an inch causes the cup
lid 10 to be too tall when stacked for inventory storage, shipping
and other necessary utilizations. Therefore, a spacing of about
one-inch is a compromise that uniquely meets all use criteria as
will be further described below.
[0031] Preferably, a rim portion 16A of the top rim 16 has a drink
aperture 15 therein, the rim portion 16A and the drink aperture 15
being mutually tilted toward the central well 18, that is,
preferably, with the cup lid 10 held in a horizontal posture, as
for instance, when it is properly mounted on drink cup 20, with the
drink cup 20 standing on a horizontal surface, the top rim 16
including the rim portion 16A are tilted, at least a few degrees,
away from the horizontal and toward the central well 18. In this
case liquids that arrive onto the top rim 16 naturally flow into
the central well 18. In the foregoing, it is assumed, as is
universally applied, that the cup lid 10 is made of a relatively
thin sheet plastic material molded into the shapes as described
herein. In this sense, when it is stated herein that a portion of
the cup lid 15 is formed into a particular attitude, i.e.,
vertical, horizontal, and so on, the meaning applies to both the
portion described as well as its two opposing surfaces.
[0032] Preferably, the outer peripheral wall 12 has a peripheral
sealing surface 13 that is configured to mate with a circular rim
22 of the drink cup 20 as shown in FIG. 6. Thus, the cup lid 10 is
easily pressed onto the drink cup 20 temporarily sealing it at its
lip.
[0033] In use, with the cup lid 10 mounted on the drink cup 20, a
beverage within the drink cup 20 is able to be received by a
person, as shown in FIG. 6 by merely tilting the drink cup 20, as
shown, so that the beverage is able to flow into the space between
the inner and outer peripheral walls 12, 14 so as to gain access to
the drink aperture 15 where the liquid may be disgorged. FIG. 5
shows that an upper drink cup 20 may be mounted onto a lower drink
cup 20 by placing a lower portion 24 of the upper drink cup 20
within the central well 18 of the cup lid 10 on the lower drink cup
20. When the central well 18 of the cup lid 10 is a tight fit with
the lower portion 24 of the drink cup 20 there is virtually no
chance that the upper drink cup 20 will fall out of the central
well 18 when the lower drink cup 20 is carried with care, assuming
that the lower cup lid 10 is tightly fixed to the lip 22 of the
lower drink cup 20.
[0034] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the central
panel 11 is preferably embossed or impressed with a logo or other
design as shown in FIG. 1, the embossment 11A, and in FIG. 4, the
impression 11B. When in use, the cup lid 10 is highly efficient for
directing a beverage through the aperture 15 to a person drinking
from the drink cup 20. However, leakage may occur in this process,
and often does, so that the central panel 11 may receive a small
amount of the beverage on its surface. When this occurs, the
beverage visually offsets embossment 11A since embossment 11A is
raised relative to the general surface of central panel 11. This is
particularly striking when the beverage is a dark color as with
coffee or tea, and the cup lid 10 is made of a white colored
material, as is typical. Likewise, when the central panel 11
carries the impression 11B, it is visually offset when the
impression fills with beverage liquid. The appearance of a logo in
a cup lid is of value to the retail beverage purveyor, to coffee
producers and to other commercial interests. Since the logo or
other indicia, when offset by small amounts of colored beverage is
quite visually striking, it attains, as referenced in the branding
profession, an enhanced memory factor.
[0035] The enablements described in detail above are considered
novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to
the operation of at least one aspect of the apparatus and its
method of use and to the achievement of the above described
objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the
instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of
their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special
definition in this specification: structure, material or acts
beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an
element can be understood in the context of this specification as
including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as
being generic to all possible meanings supported by the
specification and by the word or words describing the element.
[0036] The definitions of the words or drawing elements described
herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements
which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure,
material or acts for performing substantially the same function in
substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result.
In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent
substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the
elements described and its various embodiments or that a single
element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim.
[0037] Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a
person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised,
are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope
intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious
substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the
art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements.
This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is
specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually
equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what
incorporates the essential ideas.
[0038] The scope of this description is to be interpreted only in
conjunction with the appended claims and it is made clear, here,
that each named inventor believes that the claimed subject matter
is what is intended to be patented.
* * * * *