Spoon constructions

Abstract

A spoon construction is provided for the storage and dispensing of unit quantities of liquids or powders, such as medicants. The liquid or powder is received within a bowl portion, the bowl portion being sealed by a cover-piece removably affixed to the bowl. The spoon construction may be provided with a separate handle member adapted for removable engagement with the bowl member.

Parent Case Text

This is a divisional application of our co-pending application Ser. No. 251,989, filed May 10, 1972, now abandoned, which was a continuation-in-part application of our application Ser. No. 852,287, filed Aug. 22, 1969, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,463 which in turn was a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 793,522, filed Jan. 23, 1969, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Description

This invention relates specifically to spoons adapted for the marketing of measured amounts of liquid and powder materials. More particularly, it is directed to spoons adapted to store and dispense accurately measured amounts of such materials, as for example, medicants. During the storage mode, such spoons would retain the material in a sealed sterilized environment, the spoons being readily adapted for storage, vending from machines, and use as a means for dispensing the material.

The dispensing liquid and powdered medicants has posed a substantial problem in the art. While many medicants are disposed in solid forms, such as pills, tablets or capsules, there are many persons, such as the very young and the aged, who are unable to take such solid medicants. Further, there are many medicants which can only be dispensed in liquid or powdered form. In such cases, the medicine is generally dispensed in bottles containing bulk quantities and must be dosed out be the spoonful, as prescribed. However, it must be borne in mind that a physician considers a teaspoon to be 5 cc, counting 30 cc to the ounce. Since there is no volumetric standard for a household spoon, and since such household spoons are the general vehicle for dispensing liquid medicants, accurate dispensing of liquid and powdered medicants in the home become nearly impossible.

A FURTHER FACTOR IS THAT THE TRANSFERRING OF BULK QUANTITIES OF MEDICANTS TO INDIVIDUAL DOSAGE QUANTITIES REQUIRES THE EXPENDITURE OF TIME, WHICH, IN THE CASE OF HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES, COULD BE BETTER UTILIZED ELSEWHERE. For this reason, a spoon construction adapted to store and dispense unit dosages of liquid and powdered medicants would result in substantial increases in efficiency and cost savings in hospitals where such devices were utilized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a spoon construction is provided having a bowl portion dimensioned for at least partial receipt in a user's mouth and to receive an accurately measured amount of a liquid or powder, said bowl portion being formed with an upstanding peripheral rim. A cover member dimensioned to encompass said bowl portion rim is provided for retaining said liquid within said bowl portion and means are provided for releasably engaging said cover member and bowl portion.

Said spoon construction may be formed with an elongated handle member for removable engagement with a handle-receiving portion projecting laterally from said bowl portion.

The bowl portion may be provided with a top wall portion partially enclosing a portion of the region defined by said upstanding peripheral rim and formed integral therewith to define a cove within said bowl member for retaining said liquid therein. Further, said bowl may be formed with a longitudinally extending wall extending between two spaced points on said rim and dividing the bowl into two compartments, said cover member engaging against the upper surface of said longitudinally extending wall to isolate the two compartments.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide spoon construction permitting the storage and dispensing of unit quantities of liquids or powders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention with portions broken away;

FIG. 2 is a partial view taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a second embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along lines 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a third embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a fourth embodiment of a spoon construction according to the invention;

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view taken along lines 8--8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an exploded top plan view of a fifth embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention with portions broken away;

FIG. 10 is a partial view taken along lines 10--10 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view of a sixth spoon construction embodiment according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, a first embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention is depicted consisting of a bowl member 10 and a handle member 16. The bowl member consists of an upstanding peripheral wall having a transverse wall 12 partially covering a portion of the bowl to define a cove 14. The bowl member 10 is formed with a projecting handle engaging portion 22 which projects from a point on the bowl member below the peripheral rim 18 thereof. While handle 16 may be formed integral with handle engaging portion 22, in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the handle portion 20 of handle member 16 is provided with a longitudinally extending tongue 26 formed with longitudinally extending ribs 27. The end of handle engaging portion 22 is formed with a slot 24 having longitudinally extending grooves 29 for receiving said tongue and ribs for releasably retaining the handle and bowl members together. It is apparent that the handle engaging portion 22 of spoon member 10 could be provided with the tongue and/or the ribs if desired for mating with a slot and/or grooves on the handle member 16.

By providing a removable handle member, a single handle member may be provided with a plurality of bowl members, the handle being reusable while each bowl member is discarded after use. Further, if desired, the bowl members may be provided with integral handles.

When filled with a desired quantity of liquid or powder, the spoon member 10 may be sealed by a suitable cover member, such as plastic sheet 28, a suitable adhesive 34 being provided for maintaining the engagement between the cover and the peripheral rim 18 of the bowl member. For convenience in removal or stripping of cover 28 from the bowl, said cover may be provided with a projecting flange 34 for grasping. The cover may be formed of any desired material, transparent plastic being preferred.

The cove 14 defined by transverse wall 12 provides a useful cavity which retains the contents within the bowl during the stripping of the cover therefrom.

A modified embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention is depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5, wherein a snap-fit interengagement is provided between the cover 58 and the periphery 48 of bowl member 40. As in the case of the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the spoon construction is provided with a removable handle member 46 consisting of a handle 50 having a projecting tongue 56 for cooperation with a slot 54 in a handle engaging portion 52 of said bowl member. A cove 44 is defined by a transverse wall 42. The peripheral rim 48 of bowl member 40 is formed with an upstanding circumferential bead 62 for mating with a corresponding circumferential groove 64 in cover 58. The projecting edge 66 of the cover provides means for grasping said cover for stripping from the bowl.

Still another alternate embodiment is depicted in FIG. 6, wherein the peripheral rim of the bowl member is formed with a channel 70 for receiving a projecting circumferential bead 72 formed on the cover member. Still another embodiment is depicted in FIG. 11, wherein the upstanding rim 74 of bowl member 76 projects upwardly a predetermined distance above the desired liquid or powder level, cover 78 being provided with a channel 80 for receiving the upstanding peripheral rim 74. As in the earlier embodiments, a radial extending flange 82 is provided for permitting removal of the cover.

Referring now to the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8, the spoon construction 86 depicted is formed with an integral handle 88 projecting from a bowl portion 90 having a cover 92 secured thereto as described in FIG. 1. The embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8 does not include the transverse wall and cove of the embodiments of FIGS. 1-6. Also formed integrally with handle 88 is a spring finger 94 positioned in an aperture 96 which projects into the region below a portion of cover 92. Spring finger 94 is fixed at one end 98 thereof to handle 88, the other end 100 thereof being free for pivotable displacement and being in registration with cover 92. By manually displacing spring finger 94 in the upward direction, end 100 thereof engages cover 92 to start the release thereof from bowl 90 to permit the rapid removal of the cover without rist of spilling the contents of the spoon construction.

A further embodiment of the spoon construction according to the invention incorporating a similar device for starting the removal of the cover is depicted in FIGS. 9 and 10. In said arrangement, the separate handle member 102 is formed with a projecting tongue 104. A longitudinally extending rib 106 is formed on the upper surface of tongue 104, the end of said rib being formed with an upwardly projecting finger 108 having a curved leading edge 110. Bowl member 112 is formed with a projecting handle engaging portion 114 having a lateraly extending slot 116 dimensioned to receive tongue 104 and a longitudinally extending slot 118 dimensioned to receive rib 106 and finger 108. When handle member 102 is fully engaged in the handle engaging portion 114 of bowl member 112, the finger 108 displaces the end of cover 120 to expose said end to permit the removal of said cover. The curved leading edge 110 of finger 108 insures that cover 120 is displaced upwardly, rather than being merely bent or otherwise distorted.

The embodiment of FIGS. 9 and 10 is also provided with a longitudinally extending vertical wall 122 dividing the bowl into two compartments 124 and 126. Cover 120 is divided into two separate portions 128 and 130 respectively covering compartments 126 and 124 so that the two compartments may be separately exposed for the separate dispensing of the contents of each compartment. Each of the covers 128 and 130 engages the upstanding peripheral wall of the bowl as well as the top edge of vertical wall 122.

The foregoing embodiments permit the storage and dispensing of liquid and powdered materials in a spoon construction which minimizes handling of said materials as well as insuring dispensing of uniform quantities thereof. Further, the spoon construction can be sterilized after closure.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A spoon construction comprising a spoon member having a bowl portion dimensioned to receive an accurately measured amount of liquid or powder and formed with an upstanding peripheral rim and a handle portion projecting from said bowl portion for manipulation of said spoon member; a cover member dimensioned to encompass said bowl portion rim for retaining said liquid or powder within said bowl portion; means for removably securing said cover member to said bowl portion rim; and cover releasing means on said spoon member having a free end for selective displacement to a position at which a peripheral portion of said cover member is engaged by said free end to release only a portion of said cover member from said bowl portion rim to define a tab formed by said released cover member portion which can be manually manipulated to thereby effect removal of said cover member.

2. A spoon construction as recited in claim 1, said bowl portion being formed with a top wall portion partially enclosing a portion of the region defined by said upstanding peripheral rim and formed integral therewith to define a cove within said bowl portion for retaining said liquid therein; said top wall portion and cover releasing means being positioned on the side of said bowl portion in registration with said handle portion.

3. A spoon construction as recited in claim 1, wherein said means for removably connecting said cover member and said bowl portion includes an adhesive.

4. A spoon construction as recited in claim 1, wherein said handle portion projects from said bowl portion at a point on said bowl portion below said rim, said means for removably connecting said cover member and said bowl portion including snap-fit interengagement means on said bowl portion rim and said cover member, a first portion of said interengagement means being disposed on one of said bowl portion and cover member and adapted for penetration into and engagement by a second portion of said interengagement means disposed on the other of said bowl portion and cover member.

5. A spoon construction as recited in claim 4, wherein said snap-fit interengagement means includes a perimetric bead in said bowl portion rim and a correspondingly positioned groove in said cover member for snap-fit interengagement with said bead.

6. A spoon construction as recited in claim 4, wherein said snap-fit interengagement means includes a perimetric groove formed in said bowl portion rim, said cover member being formed with a correspondingly dimensioned bead for snap-fit interengagement with said groove.

7. A spoon construction as recited in claim 4, wherein said snap-fit interengagement means includes said bowl portion rim being formed with a perimetrically folded-over portion, said cover being formed with a groove dimensioned for snap-fit interengagement with said perimetrically folded-over rim portion.

8. A spoon construction as recited in claim 1, wherein said bowl and handle portions of said spoon member are formed of separate members, said bowl member being formed with a handle-receiving portion projecting laterally from said bowl member; and including handle interengagement means on said bowl member handle-receiving portion and said handle member for the releasable engagement of said bowl and handle members, said cover releasing means including a longitudinally extending slot in the upper surface of said handle-receiving portion extending from the end thereof to below a portion of said cover member, said handle member being formed with a rib on the upper surface thereof dimensioned for receipt in said slot and for displacing said portion of said cover member from said peripheral rim when said handle member is joined to said bowl member.

9. A spoon construction as recited in claim 1, wherein said cover-releasing means includes spring finger means formed in said handle portion and having a free end in registration with a portion of said cover member for freeing said cover member portion from said bowl portion peripheral rim when engaged thereagainst to define a tab for grasping to permit removal of said cover member from said bowl portion.

10. A spoon construction comprising a bowl member having a bowl portion dimensioned to receive an accurately measured amount of liquid or powder and formed with an upstanding peripheral rim and a handle receiving portion projecting from said bowl portion; a handle member for manipulation of said spoon member; handle interengagement means on said bowl member handle-receiving portion and said handle member for the releasable engagement of said bowl and handle members, a cover member dimensioned to encompass said bowl portion rim for retaining said liquid or powder within said bowl portion; and means for removably securing said cover member to said bowl portion rim, said handle-receiving portion including a longitudinally extending slot in the upper surface thereof extending from the end thereof to below a portion of said cover member, said handle member being formed with a rib on the upper surface thereof dimensioned for receipt in said slot and for displacing said portion of said cover member from said peripheral rim when said handle member is joined to said bowl member.

11. A spoon construction comprising a spoon member having a bowl portion dimensioned to receive an accurately measured amount of liquid or powder and formed with an upstanding peripheral rim and a handle portion projecting from said bowl portion for manipulation of said spoon member; a cover member dimensioned to encompass said bowl portion rim for retaining said liquid or powder within said bowl portion; spring finger means formed in said handle portion and having a free end in registration with a portion of said cover member for freeing only a portion of said cover member from said bowl portion peripheral rim when engaged thereagainst to define a tab for grasping to permit removal of said cover member from said bowl portion by the manual manipulation of said freed cover member portion; and means for removably securing said cover member to said bowl portion rim.