Package Of Identifiable Beverage Containers

Abstract

A package of 6, 12, 24, or 48 individual beverage containers is disclosed wherein the containers are identical except for an identifier associated with each of the individual beverage containers in the package for facilitating visual discrimination of each of the individual beverage containers, the identifier comprising a color and/or symbol and/or number on the cap or top of the beverage container. The package can be supplied by a beverage manufacturer and does not require consumer intervention by marking his or her own container since the containers are premarked when purchased.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for identifying beverage containers and distinguishing one from the other.

[0002] More particularly, the invention relates to an improvement in the field of packages of beverage containers and to methods of identifying individual beverage containers and distinguishing one container from another.

[0003] Beverages sold in containers are typically packaged in sets of 6, 12, 24, 48, or other amounts, with each container in such a set being identical to each other container. For example, a six-pack of beer cans, a 24-pack of water bottles, a 48-pack of juice boxes would be manufactured with no way of distinguishing the containers. In some cases, each container may have an individual serial number, but a consumer does not usually pay attention to serial numbers to distinguish beverage containers.

[0004] Frequently two or more people (referred to hereafter as consumers) have opened containers from the same packaged set and have consumed part but not all of the beverage in the containers they have opened. The consumers may place their opened containers on a coffee table and may be distracted by a program being broadcast on a television, a conversation, a game being played among individuals, and the like, sometimes resulting in confusion as to who has been drinking from a particular container. Since the containers from a single packaged set are identical, the individuals have no easy way of identifying their own container.

[0005] This problem has been recognized by others and various attempts at solving it have been proposed. Placing a display tag on the neck of bottle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,971,528. Mounting an identifying device on the neck of a bottle with a clip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,629. Identification indicia mounted on an elastic clip are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,770. The clip is shaped to fit a liquid container. Others have suggested an elastic O-ring that fits on a container, a loop with hanging member (U.S. Pat. Publ. 2007008933), a scratch-off coating area on a container so that a consumer may write his initials or other identifying information (U.S. Pat. Publ. 20060249950), for example. U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,795 discloses a beverage can with an identification system to distinguish one consumer's beverage from another's, wherein each can is identical, having an opaque covering on a series of numbers or other identifiers, with the same identifiers also visible but below the corresponding opaque covered identifiers. The consumer is expected to scratch off the opaque covering over a selected number or other identifier so that the series of numbers or identifiers is visible and one out of the previously opaque covered numbers also visible.

[0006] The prior devices and systems for identifying a container have one or more disadvantages and as a result have not become commercially successful or adopted as a means for identifying individual beverage containers by consumers. Each of the prior art systems requires a consumer to scratch a portion of a container, place an identifier on the container, or other steps which are so inconvenient that none of these prior art systems have become commercially successful.

[0007] Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved device for identifying a container and distinguishing one container from another which does not require consumer action.

[0008] It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for identifying and distinguishing liquid containers one from the other without the aforementioned consumer action required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] These objects, and others which will become apparent from the following description and drawings, are achieved by the present invention which comprises in one aspect a package of beverage containers, each beverage container in the package having a unique identifier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first package of 6 water bottles having an identifier associated with each bottle on the caps thereof.

[0011] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second package of 6 water bottles having an identifier associated with each bottle on the caps thereof.

[0012] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third package of 6 water bottles having an identifier associated with each bottle on the caps thereof.

[0013] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a fourth package of 6 water bottles having an identifier associated with each bottle on the caps thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] While the invention is capable of being carried out in various embodiments, for purposes of illustration only certain embodiments are described in detail with reference to the drawings wherein FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment wherein a package of six water bottles 18 are packaged in a bottom cardboard box 20 and maintained in the box 20 with plastic wrap 19. Each cap 17 has a different design on top, the designs being a star 11, dog 12, airplane 13, sun 14, and flower 15.

[0015] Referring now to FIG. 2, a second package is illustrated with the different designs on top of the caps 17 being a happy face 21, dollar sign 22, bike 23, apple 24, heart 25, and X 26.

[0016] In FIG. 3, the unique identifiers are bear 32, mouse 33, ram 34, cat 35, antelope or reindeer 36, and sheep 37.

[0017] Referring to FIG. 4, the unique identifiers are sports team logos, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

[0018] It is contemplated that packages of 12, 24, or 48 individual beverage containers would be manufactured by any state of the art method except for the individualized caps having identifiers which facilitate visual discrimination of each individual container, the identifiers comprising a color and/or symbol and/or number on the cap.

[0019] In some embodiments the containers have a flip top cap member as is conventional on some packages of water bottles, with each flip top cap having a unique identifier, for example a color or color combination, number, symbol, or the like.

[0020] With beer or soda cans which do not have caps as water bottles do, the identifier can be on the top surface or any place where the identifiers are visible to a consumer prior to purchasing the package.

[0021] Packaging systems according to the invention have certain advantages which make them more marketable and desirable to consumers who have experienced the problem of more than one bottle being open at the same time and being mixed up by the people drinking from them when they put the bottles down and forget which bottle was being consumed by which person. According to the present invention, the manufacturer would provide the individualized identifiers on otherwise-identical containers to help the consumers keep track of their own containers after they have opened them in an environment where others have opened containers of the same beverage.

[0022] The present invention, therefore, is well adapted to carry out the objects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as others inherent therein. While the invention has been depicted and described and is defined by reference to particular preferred embodiments of the invention, such references do not imply a limitation on the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The invention is capable of considerable modification, alteration and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those ordinarily skilled in the pertinent arts. The depicted and described preferred embodiments of the invention are exemplary only and are not exhaustive of the scope of the invention. Consequently, the invention is intended to be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims, giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects.

Claims

1. A package of 6, 12, 24, or 48 individual beverage containers, the containers being identical except for an identifier associated with each of the individual beverage containers in the package for facilitating visual discrimination of each of the individual beverage containers, the identifier comprising a color and/or symbol and/or number on the cap or top of the beverage container.

2. The package of claim 1 wherein the container is a water bottle with a flip top cap member and the identifier is located on the flip top cap member.

3. The package of claim 1 wherein the container is a soda or beer can and the identifier is on the top surface.

4. The package of claim wherein the identifiers are visible to a consumer prior to purchasing the package.

5. A packaging system comprising a plurality of packages according to claim 1, wherein the identifiers are unique among the individual beverage containers in the plurality of packages so that when a consumer purchases a plurality of packages, each beverage container has a unique identifier.