Abstract:
A bottle includes a container and a closure device. The closure device includes a threaded cap for closing up the container, a slidable spout for opening and closing the fluid flow path from the container by means of two sealing elements on the spout, a vent check valve for permitting air to rapidly enter the container without passing through the spout and a multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover for achieving the leak-proof by forcing the spout to a close position and closing up the vent check valve by a projection extended from the protective cover.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention generally relates to the field of bottle for containing fluid for outdoor use and including an easily open and close multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover and a leak-proof push-pull closure device with vent check valve. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Conventional bottles for outdoor use are usually equipped with protective cover and the protective cover is a one-piece design with dimension same as the threaded cap. The one-piece protective cover design of the prior art is difficult to open and close by one hand. Some examples of this general type of protective cover are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,603,436 and 5,094,363. 
   Another fast push-pull spouts design is also common feature of the bottles. Some examples of this general type of push-pull spouts design are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,738,545; 5,100,033; and 5,094,363. Many of these past designs are difficult to operate and/or do not provide adequate leak protection. 
   Another vent check valve design permits air to rapidly enter the bottle without the need to pass through the water treatment unit to equalize the pressure in the bottle as water is treated and removed is also a common feature of the bottles. However, leakage through the vent check valve happens frequently. 
   It is therefore advantageous to design a bottle devoid of the shortcomings associated with the prior art bottles. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides a multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, provides a two-fold protective cover with dimension smaller than the threaded cap can be easily opened and closed by one hand. For example, a bicyclist often requires the use of the bottle by one hand. 
   The present invention of push-pull spout design provides both ease of operation and adequate leak-proof protection. 
   The present invention of vent check valve design enables the vent check valve to be securely closed at all time by a projection extending from the upper protective cover when the multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover is in a close position. 
   One principal aspect of the present invention provides for a multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover with dimension smaller than the threaded cap to enable easy opening and closing by one hand. 
   Another principal aspect of the present invention provides for an upper protective cover of the multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover to ensure the slidable spout is always kept in the close position for achieving the leak-proof of fluid from accidentally opening of the spout. 
   Still another principal aspect of the invention provides for a vent check valve which is always closed up by a projection extending from the upper protective cover when the multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover is in a close position for achieving the leak-proof of fluid from accidentally opening of the vent check valve. 
   Still yet another principal aspect of the invention provides for a spout which includes two sealing elements for opening up and closing off the fluid path from the container. 
   According to one aspect of the present invention, it provides a bottle which comprises (a) a container; and (b) a closure device. The closure device comprises (i) a threaded cap for closing the container; (ii) a hollow central tubular element defining a flow path through the cap, the central tubular element including three sections, the inside of the upper section with a transverse dimension larger than that of the middle section, the inside of the bottom portion of the upper section is chambered to a transverse dimension same as that of the middle section and the inside of the lower section with a transverse dimension larger than that of the middle section; and (iii) a spout having an outlet opening and is inserted in the central tubular element for sliding along an axis between open and close positions, the spout is hollow including the upper section and lower section with a partition in between the upper section and the lower section, the spout also including two sealing elements, the first sealing element is disposed about an outer surface of the upper section and the second sealing element disposed about an outer surface of the lower section, the top chamber portion of the upper section with a transverse dimension bigger than that of the lower portion of the upper section, the bottom of the upper section with openings on the space in between the inner surface of the outer section and outer surface of the lower section, the wall of the lower section also with openings below the second sealing element and the bottom of the lower section with an annular flange. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, it provides an inventive multi-fold cover, in which each fold is a curved sector with two hinged holes at the two sides of the vertex end of the each fold, the first fold is with the curved plate at the outer top surface, the last fold is with a plate at the back, a projection is on the inner surface of the back plate of the last fold, and at least one recess is above the front arc of the first fold at the inner surface of the first fold. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Advantages and features of the invention will become more apparent with reference to the following description of the presently preferred embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like references have been applied to like elements, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is an elevation view of a bottle constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of closure device, including a threaded cap, a vent check valve, a spout and a two-fold protective cover, of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a cross sectional view of  FIG. 2  showing both the two-fold protective cover and the spout are in a close position; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of  FIG. 2  showing both the two-fold protective cover and the spout are in an open position; 
       FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of  FIG. 2  showing the vent check valve is closed up by a projection of the upper protective cover in a close position; 
       FIG. 6  is an elevation view of the spout; 
       FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of the bottle suitable for tip up and sucking the fluid from the container without water treatment unit; 
       FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view of the bottle suitable for tip up and sucking the fluid from the container with water treatment unit; 
       FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view of the bottle suitable for the purpose of sucking the fluid from the container with bottle in a vertical position without water treatment unit; 
       FIG. 10  is a cross sectional view of the bottle suitable for the purpose of sucking the fluid from the container with bottle in a vertical position with water treatment unit. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , a bottle  90  includes a closure device  40  for closing a container  80  used for containing liquids. Closure device  40  comprises a threaded cap  30 , a spout  50 , a vent check valve  100  and a two-fold protective cover  10 . A spout  50  is inserted in the upper section of a hollow central tubular element  33  of the threaded cap  30  with a push-pull connection which allows spout  50  to be moved up with respect to threaded cap  30  to an open position, and down to a close position as described in further detail below. Preferably, the thread cap  30  has a raised platform at the center for closing the container  80 . More preferably, thread cap  30  includes two pivot pins  31   a  and  31   b  located systematical above the surface of threaded cap  30  behind the center of the threaded cap  30 . In addition, at least one snap lock, such as left and/or right snap lock  36   a  and/or  36   b  is located on the surface of the threaded cap  30  in front of the center of the threaded cap  30 , together with a hole  38  in the central platform for putting in the vent check valve  100  (see description below). 
   Spout  50  includes an upper outlet opening  52  for discharging fluids out of the container  80 . The two-fold protective cover  10  comprises an upper protective cover  11  and a lower protective cover  12 . A tongue-shaped handle  13  is provided on the lower protective cover  12  for enabling a user to use a finger to open and close the two-fold protective cover  10  described below. 
   The present invention discloses a multi-fold protective cover and, more particularly, to a two-fold protective cover, each fold is a curved sector with two hinged holes at the two sides of the vertex end of each fold, the first fold is with the curved plate at the outer top surface, the last fold is with a plate at the back. A projection extends from the inner surface of the back plate of the last fold, and there is at least one recess located above the front arc of the first fold at the inner surface of the first fold. 
   In a preferred embodiment and as shown in  FIG. 2 , the two-fold protective cover  10  is comprised of an upper protective cover  11  with hinge holes  23   a  and  23   b  and a lower protective cover  12  with hinge holes  21   a  and  21   b  which can be pivoted over pivot pins  31   a  and  31   b  of the raised central platform  41  on the top of the threaded cap  30 . A tongue-shaped handle  13  is provided on the lower protective cover  12  for enabling a user to use a finger to move the two-fold protective cover  10  to an open position or to a close position as shown in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , respectively. As shown in  FIG. 3 , both the two-fold protective cover  10  and the spout  50  are in an open position. A user can use a finger to close the two-fold protective cover  10  by moving the tongue-shaped handle  13  provided on the lower protective cover  12  upward as follows: first, the lower protective cover  12  is moved up until the front end  18  of the lower protective cover  12  touches the top surface  51  of the mouth piece  65  and presses the spout  50  downward continuously to a close position by the inner surface  25  of the upper protective cover  11  until the bottom  53  of the mouth piece  65  rests on the top of the upper section of the central tubular element  33 . At the same time, the left stopper  14   a  and right stopper  14   b  of the lower protective cover  12  touch the left stopper  15   a  and right stopper  15   b  of the upper protective cover  11  respectively and moving up both the lower protective cover  12  and the upper protective cover  11  continuously to a close position. The back plate  20  of the upper protective cover  11  is stopped by the stopper plate  32  on the top of the central platform  41  of the threaded cap  30 . In addition, the left recess  16   a  and right recess  16   b  of the lower protective cover  12  are moved into the left snap lock  36   a  and right snap lock  36   b  (see  FIG. 2 ) of the threaded cap  30  respectively for ensuring both spout  50  and two-fold protective cover  10  are in a close position (as shown in  FIG. 4 ) and the opening  101  of the vent check valve  100  on the hole  38  of the central platform  41  is also closed by a projection  49  extending from the upper protective cover  11  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 5 . 
     FIG. 5  shows both the two-fold protective cover  10  and the spout  50  in a close position. A user can use a finger to open the two-fold protective cover by moving the handle  13  of the lower protective cover  12  downward as follows: first, the lower protective cover  12  is moved up continuously, then followed by the upper protective cover  11  until both the lower protective cover  12  and the upper protective cover  11  are in an open position as shown in  FIG. 3 , except the spout  50  remains in a close position. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , both the two-fold protective cover  10  and the spout  50  are in an open position. The spout  50  is prevented from coming out of the upper section of the central tubular element  33  of the threaded cap  30  due to the size of annular flange  62  of the spout  50  is bigger than top portion  39  of the lower section  55  of the spout  50 . 
   The fluid flow path through the threaded cap  30  is now described here below. An opening hollow central tubular element defines the flow path. The central tubular element includes three sections, namely (i) the inside of the upper section  33  with a transverse dimension larger than that of (ii) the middle section  34 , whereby the inside of the bottom portion of the upper section  33  is chambered to a transverse dimension which is the same as that of the middle section  34  and (iii) the inside of the lower section  35  having a transverse dimension larger than that of the middle section  34 . This unique design ensures a smooth fluid flow path on the one hand, yet prevents any accidental fluid leaking on the other hand. 
   As indicated earlier,  FIG. 3  shows a spout  50  having an outlet opening  52  and is inserted in the central tubular elements  33 ,  34  and  35  for sliding along an axis between open and close positions. Spout  50  is hollow and includes the upper section  54  and lower section  55  with a partition in between the upper section  54  and lower section  55 . 
   The spout  50  also includes two sealing elements in the shape of O-rings. The first sealing element, O-ring  56  is disposed about an outer surface of the upper section  54  of the spout  50 . The second sealing element, O-ring  57  is disposed about an outer surface of the lower section  55  of the spout  50 . The O-ring  56  is always in continuous contact with the inner surface of the upper section of central tubular element  33  located on the top of the platform  41  on the threaded cap  30  resulting in fluid can only flow through the inside of the spout  50 . The bottom of the upper section are provided with openings on the space in between the inner surface of the outer section and outer surface of the lower section  55  of the spout  50 . The wall of the lower section of the spout  50  is also provided with openings below the second sealing element, O-ring  57 , and the bottom of the lower section with an annular flange  62 . When the bottle  90  is tipped up, fluid will flow into spout  50  through the lower inlet  58  of the spout  50 , then into the chamber  55   a  of lower section  55  of the spout  50 , then through a plurality of holes  59   a ,  59   b ,  59   c  and  59   d  located on the partition between the upper and lower section of the spout  50  into the chamber  33   a  of the upper section of central tubular element  33 , then through the a plurality of holes  61   a ,  61   b ,  61   c  and  61   d  located on the wall of the lower section of the spout  50  into chamber  54   a  of the upper section  54  of the spout  50  and eventually exit the bottle  90  through the upper outlet opening  52  of the spout  50 .  FIG. 6  shows the detail location of the holes  59   a ,  59   b ,  59   c ,  59   d ,  61   a ,  61   b ,  61   c  and  61   d.    
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , when the spout  50  is in an open position, the second sealing element, O-ring  57 , is positioned inside the upper central tubular element  33  without any contact with the inner surface of the central tubular element for opening up the fluid path from the container. However, when both the two-fold protective cover  10  and the spout  50  are in a close position (as indicated in  FIG. 4 ), with the bottle  90  tips up, the path of fluid flow is blocked by O-ring  57 . In this close position, O-ring  57  is disposed on the outer surface of the lower section  55  of the spout  50  and O-ring  57  is only in contact with the inner surface of the middle section of the central tubular element  34  which located just level the surface of the platform  41  on the threaded cap  30  for closing up the fluid path from the container. There is no need of axial compression on the spout  50  to insure against leakage. As long as the center of O-ring  57  is within the inner surface of the middle section of the central tubular element  34 , leak-proof is guaranteed. 
   In addition, a spout insert  70 , which takes the shape of a tube, is housed and operatively connected to the upper section  54  of the spout  50 . The inside transverse dimension of spout insert  70  at the top is smaller than that at the bottom. This unique design allows spout insert  70  to reduce the cross-section area of the upper outlet opening  52  of the spout  50 . Due to surface tension of the fluid, fluid that remains inside the chamber  54   a  of the upper section  54  of the spout  50  after the spout  50  is in a close position will not be dripped out in any circumstances. 
   In order to hold the spout  50  in the close position, the design of the present invention provides the bottom of the top chamber portion of the upper section  54   a  of the spout  50  with a larger transverse dimension than that of the upper section of the central tubular element  33 . Likewise, in order to hold the spout  50  in the open position, the design of the present invention provides the bottom of the middle section of the central tubular element  34  with a transverse dimension smaller than that of the annular flange  62  of the lower section of the spout  50 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , preferably, the threaded cap  30  has a raised platform  41  to ensure both the lower section  55  of the slidable spout  50  and the lower section of the central tubular element  35  are well above the bottom surface  37  of the threaded cap  30 . Thus, an optional water treatment unit  81  can be inserted in between the threaded cap  30  and the opening of the container  80 . 
   The bottle  90  can be used in either one of the two ways. Firstly, a user can tip up the bottle and suck the fluid from the container. Alternatively, with a flexible tube  82  connected to the lower central tubular element on the threaded cap to the bottom of the container, a user can suck the fluid from the container with the bottle in a substantially vertical position. Referring to  FIG. 9 , one end of a flexible tube  82  is connected to the lower section of the central tubular element  35  and the other end is touching the bottom of the container  80 . The flexible tube  82  enables a user to suck the fluid from the container with bottle  90  in vertical position. 
   Optionally and as shown in  FIG. 10 , one end of flexible tube  82  is connected to the lower section of the central tubular element  35  and the other end is connected to a water treatment unit  83  sitting on the bottom of the container  80  to enable a user to suck the fluid from the container with bottle  90  in vertical position. 
   It will also be understood that the preferred embodiments of the present invention, which have been described, are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.