Abstract:
The improved low cost Spill-Resistant Cup for storing and dispensing liquids resists spilling when shaken or vibrated suddenly. The improved cup has a scoop-like-baffle and a push tab that separates the body of the cup with the mouthpiece of the cover. An opening is created when the push tab is pressed and the push tab springs back to close the opening when the pressure is released. When the improved cup is tilted and the tab pushed down for pouring, such that the liquid level inside the storage chamber of the cup chamber is higher than the liquid level at the opening, no liquid pours out of the cup. The liquid starts to flow out of the mouth opening after the cup is tilted beyond a start-to-pour angle. The start-to-pour angle is reached when the cup is tilted permitting the outside air to pass through the opening of the scoop-like-baffle and into the storage chamber.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/307,912 filed Feb. 28, 2006, and is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/428,691 filed Jul. 5, 2006, which is also a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/307,912 filed Feb. 28, 2006. The entirety of each of these disclosures is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The field of the invention is cups and other containers for dispensing a liquid and more particularly, is cups for dispensing a liquid with a smoother pour and with reduced spilling especially when shaken or vibrated suddenly.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Man has used containers for storing and dispensing liquids for millennia. However, containers still have their problems. For example, full cups of soda or hot coffee sold in fast food restaurants being consumed in moving cars have caused many spilling accidents. Although these cups may be equipped with sealing lids with small mouth openings, spilling mishaps are still very common. Serious burns may result from a very hot coffee spill due to certain unavoidable mishap in a moving car. Therefore, there is a need for an improved low cost disposable cup and container, which ideally does not spill while drinking and, realistically is spill-resistant.  
         [0004]     On the market, most low cost drinking cups for take out from a restaurant have attachable cover for customer to prevent spill. These covers are usually flat or have some forms of a dome shape with bent edges that fits snugly to the rim of the cup. A small opening is provided on the cover so that the user can drink from the cup with the cover remains attached. When the cup is shaken or vibrated suddenly due to unexpected breaking in a moving car or any other reason, spilling liquid splashed from the opening is common and often unavoidable. A simple low cost yet effective design to replace the current cup design and prevent the spill is needed. A U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,456 proposed a lid for the cup having a hinged portion of a re-closable opening for drinking. This design works well as long as the opening of the hinged re-closable portion is in the closed position. However, when the user opens the hinged portion for drinking, few if any will re-close the opened portion and thus lost its protective feature for spill prevention and making it no more different from most of the cups on the market.  
         [0005]     This inventor has developed a number of spill-resistant containers; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,098,850; 6,374,541; 6,460,741; and 6,758,375 using a hydrostatic principle in achieving the spill-resistant feature. The present invention simplifies the design and allows a scoop-like-baffle with a self re-closeable opening feature and a fitted mouthpiece to be made as an integral part of the cover and achieving the desired low cost spill-resistant cup.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The improved cup for storing and dispensing liquids has an integral downward scoop-like-baffle with a self re-closable opening on the cover of the cup. The improved cup resists spilling and pours the liquid more smoothly.  
         [0007]     Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views. However, like parts do not always have like reference numerals. Moreover, all illustrations are intended to convey concepts, where relative sizes, shapes and other detailed attributes may be illustrated schematically rather than literally or precisely.  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of a cross-sectional side view of an example embodiment of the spill-resistant cup including an ordinary body of the cup, and a removable cover having a scoop-like-baffle.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is the same view of the removable cover in  FIG. 1  without the body of the cup.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is the same view of the removable cover in  FIG. 2  with the push-down-tab being depressed for drinking.  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is the top view of the removable cover of the spill-resistant cup taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a schematic representation of a side view of the removable cover of the spill-resistant cup taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  is a schematic representation of a cross-sectional side view of the removable cover of the spill-resistant cup taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  is a schematic representation showing how the spill-resistant cup operates. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of the cross-sectional side view of a preferred example embodiment of a spill-resistant cup  10 . The heavy dark line shown in this drawing and all following drawings represent the cut walls of the cup.  FIG. 1  illustrates a substantially circular shape of the spill-resistant cup  10  (the circular shape of the body of the cup as illustrated here serves only as an example because it can be of many other shapes and forms). This cup consists of a body of the cup  20  and a removable cover  30 . The body of the cup  20  has a cone shaped sidewall  40  and a bottom  50  to form a storage chamber  60  for holding the drinking fluid. The upper edge of the sidewall  40  has a rim  70 . The removable cover  30  has a lip  80  around the outer circle that can be sealingly snap onto the rim  70  of the body of the cup  20 . The removable cover  30  may be substantially flat or have an optional large or small dome  90  with or without a dome-rim  100  around the edge of the small dome  90 . One portion of the dome-rim  100  is raised higher to form a mouthpiece  110  to fit with the mouth while drinking. In line with the mouthpiece  110  on the small dome  90  there is an integral downward scoop-like-baffle  120  with a push-down-tab  130  to act like a barrier to prevent spilling. One of the methods of making the removable cover  30  is by thermal vacuum forming from a thin gauge plastic sheet. During the process of forming this removable cover  30 , a cut line  140  (better shown in  FIG. 4  below) on the scoop-like-baffle  120  partially around the base of the push-down-tab  130 . This cut-line  140  on the scoop-like-baffle  120  around the base of the push-down-tab  130  allows the push-down-tab  130  to be bent downward from the scoop-like-baffle  120  when the push-down-tab  130  is pushed downward. The plastic removable cover  30  has certain rigidity, when the push-down-tab  130  is pushed downward, a small opening  150  in the scoop-like-baffle  120  is created. This opening allows liquid to flow out for drinking. When the push down pressure is released the push-down-tab  130  springs back up by itself to its un-open position and reduces the small opening  150  to a minimum gap opening and further minimizes the chance of a spill. After the storage chamber  60  of the body of the cup  20  is filled with drinking fluid, the lip  80  of the removable cover  30  is sealingly snapped onto the rim  70  of the body of the cup  20  to complete the spill-resistant cup  10 . The small opening  150  created by the cut-line  140  on the scoop-like-baffle  120  with the push-down-tab  130  and the mouthpiece  110  forms a flow passageway  160  for the fluid to flow out. When drinking, the upper lip of the mouth is pressed against the push-down-tab  130  to press it downward and open up the small opening  150 . Fluid in the storage chamber  60  flows out through the small opening  150  on to the mouthpiece  110  into the mouth. When not drinking and the spill-resistant cup  10  is tilted in a counter-clockwise direction, the mouthpiece  110  has a lowest point  170  and the small opening  150  (reduced to a minimum gap for not been pressed downward) has an apex point  180  at the scoop-like-baffle  120 . Connecting the lowest point  170  and the apex  180  with a straight line forms a start-to-pour line X-X. The angle between the start-to-pour line X-X and the horizontal line Y-Y is the start-to-pour angle X. The usage of this start-to-pour line X-X will be described later.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is the removable cover  30  in the same view of  FIG. 1  without the body of the cup  20 . The small dome  90  shown in this sample has a raised dome-rim  100  of uneven height around the edge of the small dome  90  with higher portion of the mouthpiece  110  at near the scoop-like-baffle  120 . The small dome  90  of the removable cover  30  can be of any suitable size and shape with or without a rim to meet user&#39;s preferences. There is also a small pinhole  190  on the small dome  90  as a vent to help the out flow of liquid while drinking.  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is the same view of the removable cover shown in  FIG. 2  with the push-down-tab  130  being depressed when drinking. When the push-down-tab  130  being pushed downward it will bend along the bend-line  200  (better shown in  FIG. 4 ) and creates a small opening  150  on the scoop-like-baffle  120 . The upper tip of the push-down-tab  130  rests against the sidewall of the mouthpiece  110  at point  210  to stop the push-down-tab  130  from bending any further.  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is the top view of the removable cover  30  of the spill-resistant cup taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 . The push-down-tab  130  as shown has a half cylindrical shape. It can be any other suitable shape and size. The cut-line  140  is a half circle with slightly larger radius then the radius of the push-down-tab  130 . It can also be in other form to fit the shape and size of any push-down-tab  130 . The curved scoop-like-baffle  120  with the apex  180  are better shown in this view, which coincide with the bend line  200  in this example. The shape of this scoop-like-baffle  120  is shown as an example; other suitable form and shape may be used. When pushing down the push-down-tab  130 , the portion of the scoop-like-baffle  120  including the push-down-tab  130  will bend downward along the bend line  200  and create a small opening  150  (does not show in this view) in the scoop-like-baffle  120 . The scoop-like-baffle  120  formed from a region of the dome  90  of the removable cover  30  by bending it downward toward the storage chamber  60  of the body of the cup  20 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a schematic representation of a side view of the removable cover  30  of the spill-resistant cup  10  taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4 . The mouthpiece  110  is a local raised portion of the dome-rim  100 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a schematic representation of a cross-sectional side view of the removable cover  30  of the spill-resistant cup  10  taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0022]      FIG. 7  is a schematic representation of how the spill-resistant cup  10  operates to prevent spilling when not drinking but being tilted accidentally. The spill-resistant feature of the scoop-like-baffle  90  can prevent accidental spill for allowing the spill-resistant cup  10  to be tilted up to the start to pour angle. To explain its operation, first assume that the pinhole  190  does not exist. The fully filled cup of the spill-resistant cup  10  of  FIG. 1  is being rotated in counter-clockwise direction in three different angles from the vertical position  1  to the start to pour position  3  through an intermediate position  2 . At position  1  the filled spill-resistant cup  10  has a liquid level line A in the liquid storage chamber  60  and a liquid level line B at the scoop-like-baffle  120 . When the spill-resistant cup  10  is tilted from position  1  to position  2 , the liquid level line A in the liquid storage chamber  60  is moved to liquid level line A′ and the liquid level line B at the scoop-like-baffle  120  is moved to liquid level line B′. At this position the start-to-pour line X-X changed to line X′-X′ and the angle X between the start-to-pour line X-X and the horizontal line Y-Y reduced to angle X′. The lowest point  170  is moved to  170 ′ and the apex  180  is moved to  180 ′. The liquid level line B′ at the scoop-like-baffle  120  is lower than the lowest point  170 ′ at the mouthpiece  110  and higher than the apex  180 ′ at the scoop-like-baffle  120 . Because at this tilting angle, the liquid level line B′ stops any outside air from passing through the small opening  150  (the gap opening created around the cut line  140 ) and entering into the liquid storage chamber  60 . Liquid inside the liquid storage chamber  60  cannot flow out of the small opening  150 . This allows the liquid level A′ in the liquid storage chamber  60  to be higher than the small opening  150  without allowing the out flow of liquid and thus preventing the spilling of liquid. When the spill-resistant cup  10  is tilted further from position  2  to position  3  where the start-to-pour line X″-X″ becomes horizontal. At this tilting angle, the liquid level line A in the liquid storage chamber  60  tilted to liquid level line A″ and the liquid level line B at the scoop-like-baffle  120  tilted to liquid level line B″. The start-to-pour angle X is reduced from X to X″ or zero degrees. The lowest point  170  is moved to  170 ″ and the apex  180  is moved to  180 ″, which is raised to the same height of the lowest point  170 ″. The start-to-pour line X″-X″ is now parallel to the horizontal line Y-Y and is in line with the liquid level line B″ at the scoop-like-baffle  120 . At this tilting angle, the liquid level line B″ is in line with the lowest point  170 ″ at the mouthpiece  110  and the apex  180 ″ at the scoop-like-baffle  120 . With any slight increase in tilting angle, outside air will be able to enter the small opening  150  into the liquid storage chamber  60  through the apex point  180 ″. Once air starts to enter the liquid storage chamber  60 , liquid will start to pour out of the small opening  150 . This illustration shows that this spill-resistant cup  10  is spill resistant to sudden shaking or vibration when the spill-resistant cup  10  is upright or at position  1 . Because liquid will not flow out until the spill-resistant cup  10  is tilted to the start to pour angle X or position  3 . With the presence of a pinhole  190 , the start to pour angle will decrease. The amount of decrease is inversely dependant to how fast or how slow the spill-resistant cup  10  is being tilted. The faster it is tilted or sudden shaking the less the effect from this pinhole&#39;s existence. Therefore, the effect to the spill resistant feature by the presence of this pinhole is small. Pinhole  190  is needed to allow air to enter the storage chamber  60  for smooth drinking because the mouth often cover the entire small opening  150  while drinking.