Abstract:
This is a floating beverage-container-holder which is ballasted and neutrally buoyant. It provides floatation, insulation and stability to a beverage-container in water. The holder includes a beverage-container receptacle, a floatation member to provide buoyancy and vertical stability, and a weighted ballast chamber containing sufficiently dense material to offset the buoyant force of the portion of beverage container and ballast chamber, which are submerged. The flange of the receptacle has holes to allow the entire holder to be tethered via clips and tether material to the user or any object.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. Nr. 61/988,277, filed May 4, 2014 by the present inventors, which is incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    Not Applicable 
       SEQUENCE LISTING 
       [0003]    Not Applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0004]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0005]    This invention relates to improvements in a floating beverage holder. More particularly, the improvements relate to a ballasted holder with a floatation member for a drink container, such as a cup or can, which allows the beverage to remain in an upright position, even in the midst of waves, wakes or other turbulent water where the beverage-container-holder is floating. Various types of container holders are proposed in prior art. The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant: 
       U.S. Patents 
       [0006]      
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Pat. No. 
                 Issue Date 
                 Patentee 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 3,015,406 
                 Jan. 2, 1962 
                 Nolte 
               
               
                 4,571,194 
                 Feb. 18, 1986 
                 Kiss et al. 
               
               
                 4,887,716 
                 Dec. 19, 1989 
                 Abraham 
               
               
                 5,088,948 
                 Feb. 18, 1992 
                 Scheurer 
               
               
                 5,727,709 
                 Mar. 17, 1998 
                 Nobile 
               
               
                 6,014,833 
                 Jan. 18, 2000 
                 Benavidez 
               
               
                 6,029,845 
                 Feb. 29, 2000 
                 Mueller 
               
               
                 6,085,926 
                 Jul. 11, 2000 
                 Weiss 
               
               
                 6,269,587 
                 Aug. 7, 2001 
                 Wallace 
               
               
                 6,491,179 
                 Dec. 10, 2002 
                 Dokun 
               
               
                 6,607,090 
                 Aug. 19, 2003 
                 Doerr 
               
               
                 6,616,493 
                 Sep. 9, 2003 
                 Powell et al. 
               
               
                 6,991,505 
                 Jan. 31, 2006 
                 Wells 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
       U.S. Patent Applications 
       [0007]      
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Publication Number 
                 Publication Date 
                 Applicant 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 2009/0101655 
                 Apr. 23, 2009 
                 Tess et al. 
               
               
                   
                 2010/0301053 
                 Dec. 2, 2010 
                 Willis et al. 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0008]    2. Discussion of Prior Art 
         [0009]    Every day, millions of people can be found engaging in recreational activities in the water. They may be swimming, boating or just relaxing in a spa. Oftentimes, when someone is engaged in these activities, they like to have a drink close to them to stay hydrated or just to relax. They don&#39;t want to have to get in and out of the water to get to their drink, and they don&#39;t want to have to hold on to their drink for the entire time that they are in the water. As a result, many people have come up with the idea of a floating drink holder. 
         [0010]    While many variations of floating beverage-container-holders exist in the prior art, there are none that have all of the characteristics needed to ensure the following: (1) Continuous buoyancy of the receptacle, allowing the beverage-container to remain stable in the beverage-container-holder whether full or empty; (2) Insulating properties to help maintain the temperature of the beverage—both hot and cold; (3) A floatation member to provide stability and to keep the beverage-container-holder upright in waves, swells, wakes or other turbulent water; (4) A tethering system to allow floatation without the user having to physically hold the beverage-container-holder to ensure that it doesn&#39;t float away and to simultaneously allow beverage-container-holders to be tethered to each other; (5) The capacity to hold a variety of sizes and shapes of beverage containers within the receptacle, including cups, cans, and bottles; and (7) Designed so that the beverage-container-holders nest within each other to ensure minimal space is needed for storage, which is particularly important when storage is occurring in a small space such as a boat, dock box or pool house. Of note is that in many of the previous versions, the entire beverage holder must be picked up in order to take a drink, so the bulkiness or size of the holder makes it more cumbersome to consume the beverage. 
         [0011]    Examples of patents covering floating beverage-container-holders for a single beverage are discussed more fully below. 
         [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,194 issued Feb. 18, 1986 to James M. Kiss et al for a “Collapsible and Floatable Beverage Holder.” This reference shows a floating beverage holder that requires a user to blow air into it in order to inflate the float. There is no weight or ballast encompassed in this reference to ensure that the holder remains upright regardless of the amount of liquid present in the beverage container. 
         [0013]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,948 issued Feb. 18, 1992, to Scheurer, for a “Buoyant Beverage Container for Swimming Pool Use.” This reference shows a buoyant sleeve and a body of heavy ballast material encapsulated between a bottom cap and a retainer cap. Although the ballast weight helps to maintain the container in an upright position, when the container is empty, it has no floatation member to provide stability and to keep the container afloat in an upright position in the midst of turbulent water, nor does it include a tether. 
         [0014]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,709 issued Mar. 17, 1998, to Nobile, for a “Thermally Insulated Floating Beverage Container Holding Device.” This reference has an elongated body for holding a drink container, and it has a weight secured to the bottom of the container in order to provide stability for holding the container upright during depletion of the beverage; however, this reference does not have a floatation ring or member to provide enough stability for withstanding turbulence produced by waves or swells like one would find in a lake with boating activity or an ocean. Furthermore, this reference does not include a tether. 
         [0015]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,090 issued Aug. 19, 2003, to Doerr, for a “Floating Beverage Holder.” In this reference, there is no ballast or weight, rather the container is maintained upright by moving a stabilizer up and down the cylindrical body as the drink within becomes empty. This reference does not allow the upright stability that is maintained with a weight or ballast on the bottom so that an upright position is maintained during depletion of the beverage, thus it does not have the stability necessary to withstand turbulence produced by waves or swells like one would find in a lake with boating activity or in an ocean. In addition, this reference is not designed with an included tether. 
         [0016]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,493 issued Sep. 9, 2003, to Powell et al., for a “Floatable Beverage Holder.” This reference is essentially a thick, flat, foam float that slides around the cylindrical side of a soda can. Although this reference does show a tether with an alligator clip on it, it is not weighted, thus in order to remain upright during depletion of the beverage, the float must be adjusted up and down the beverage container to account for the volume of liquid in the beverage container. 
         [0017]    U.S. Pat No. 6,991,505 issued Jan. 31, 2006, to Wells, for a “Buoyant Apparatus for Attachment to Beverage Insulators Holding Beverage Containers.” This reference is weighted to provide stability during rough aquatic action, but it is attached to an elongate arm with a rod-like configuration which is designed to be attached to a beverage insulator used to hold beverage cans or other containers. This reference does not itself have a cup-type body to hold a beverage container, nor does is it designed with an included tether. One must hold on to the beverage container in order to keep it nearby, and one must lift up the entire apparatus in order to take a drink. 
         [0018]    U.S. Patent Application 2010/0301053 published Dec. 2, 2010, to Willis et al. for a “Cooleebob Compliant Upright Drink Insulator Attachment.” Although this reference is weighted and is easily stored, it also works by attaching to a standard drink insulator, thereby limiting the usage. Furthermore, it is not designed to be tethered to the user or another object. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Having briefly described the general nature of this invention in the Background of the Invention section, you can see that it is an object to provide a floatable device capable of supporting a beverage in an upright position near a person who is floating in the water or engaged in other water activities. Further, it is an object to have the center of gravity remain relatively the same regardless of the weight of the drink, and to have the entire unit remain upright in turbulent water. 
         [0020]    It is also an object of this invention to provide a device which will maintain the beverage in appropriate proximity to the person while the person is engaged in activities in a body of water. It is a further object to provide utility to swimmers, floaters, boaters, kayakers, fisherman and hunters in pools, lakes, rivers, oceans, spas, and other bodies of water. 
         [0021]    It is another object of the invention to have pass through holes incorporated in order to allow connection of a tether. It is also an object of this invention to utilize a tether which can be clipped on or connected in a variety of manners with a cord of adequate length to allow pulling behind or alongside while swimming, tubing or small boating (like kayaking) and to keep the beverage-container-holder close enough for convenience while floating, tubing or remaining within a confined water space. 
         [0022]    It is another object to have a floatation member or ring to provide stability for the receptacle body and drink. It is also an objective to have the floatation member made of closed-cell foam or other non-water-absorbing material. It is another object to have an area on the floatation member or ring where branding or personalization can occur. It is another object to allow the floatation member to be either fixed or inflatable. 
         [0023]    It is another object to allow multiple receptacles to nest within each other so that limited storage space is needed. It is another object to have a variety of colors of both the receptacle and the ring. 
         [0024]    It is also an object to have a flexible enough design to allow various materials to be used for manufacturing both the receptacle and the floatation member. It is yet another object to utilize materials for the receptacle and the floatation member which are UV, chemical and corrosion resistant to the sun and to compounds typically found in open bodies of water, swimming pools and spas. 
         [0025]    Finally, it is an object to have a receptacle which will hold a variety of shapes and sizes of beverage containers, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and thus reducing costs to consumers. 
         [0026]    Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  is a perspective of the top view of a ballasted receptacle with foam ring constructed in accordance with the invention and showing an attached tether. 
           [0028]      FIG. 2  is a perspective of a side view of the ballasted receptacle of  FIG. 1  which shows the ring in relation to the receptacle and the tether. 
           [0029]      FIG. 3  is a perspective of a side view which is cut out to show the interior portion of the receptacle. 
           [0030]      FIG. 4  is a perspective of a side view of the ballasted receptacle with ring of  FIG. 2  holding an insulated cup with lid and straw. 
           [0031]      FIG. 5  is a perspective of the top view of the ballasted receptacle with ring of  FIG. 1  holding an insulated cup with lid and straw. 
           [0032]      FIG. 6  is a perspective of a side view of the ballasted receptacle with ring of  FIG. 2  holding a can that is in a Koozie™. 
           [0033]      FIG. 7  is a perspective of the top and side view of an inflatable ring that could be used in another embodiment. 
           [0000]    
         
           
                 
               
                 
                 
               
             
                 
                     
                 
                 
                   Drawings - Reference Numerals 
                 
                 
                     
                 
               
               
                 
                     
                 
               
            
             
                 
                     
                   1-Ballast chamber containing weight 
                 
                 
                     
                   2-Receptacle bottom lid 
                 
                 
                     
                   3-Holes in top of flange of receptacle 
                 
                 
                     
                   4-Tether 
                 
                 
                     
                   5-Floatation member 
                 
                 
                     
                   6-Flange of receptacle 
                 
                 
                     
                   7-Top of floatation member 
                 
                 
                     
                   8-Receptacle 
                 
                 
                     
                     
                 
               
            
           
         
       
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0034]    A first embodiment of this floating beverage-container-holder is shown in  FIGS. 1-6 . The beverage-container-holder includes a receptacle  8  in which the beverage-container would be placed, with a weight enclosed in the bottom ballast chamber  1  that is encapsulated by the bottom of the cup  2 . The receptacle  8  has a flange  6  with holes  3  for securing a tether  4 . The receptacle flange  6  vertically restricts the floatation member  5  which has adequate space  7  for personalizing or customizing the ring  5 , and which provides stability to keep the beverage-container-holder afloat. 
         [0035]    In this embodiment, the receptacle body  8  includes a receptacle side wall having a top edge and a bottom edge of a substantially inverted, truncated, cone-shaped surface which is centered vertically. The receptacle  8  is made of injected-molded plastic with a weight of approximately one-hundred-thirty (130) grams. The internal dimensions of the receptacle  8  are sized to receive a twenty-four (24) ounce insulated Tervis™ tumbler, an aluminum beverage can, with or without an insulating cover like a Koozie™, a wine glass with or without a stabilizer, or a standard beer bottle, and the injection-molded plastic provides an insulating barrier between the water and the beverage container. 
         [0036]    At the top edge of the side wall a flange  6 , or lip, of approximately twenty (20) mm. This flange  6  contains two holes  3  which can be used to clip or wrap a tether  4  to the floating beverage-container-holder to keep it from floating away, either by current or wind, from the user. The top of the cylindrical receptacle  8  is completely open so as to permit the insertion of a beverage container into the receptacle  8 . The floor of the open receptacle  8  contains ridges  9  to prevent a vacuum seal from being formed between the drink container and the receptacle walls. 
         [0037]    A ballast chamber  1  is positioned below the above-described receptacle  8 , and this contains dense material in the form of a steel puck to serve as a ballast, much like that on a sailboat, to provide stability with or without a beverage-container in the receptacle  8 . This provides neutral buoyancy, and in fact it keeps the receptacle  8  upright in the water when it has no beverage container inserted, even without the floatation member  5 . Below the dense material or weight is a bottom wall  2  that provides a water-tight closure. The ballast may be incorporated into the receptacle  8  through various processes including: (1) Putting the weight into the ballast chamber  1  and enclosing the chamber with a sonic-welded cap; (2) Placing the weight into the ballast chamber  1  and over-molding the weight to create the bottom wall  2 ; (3) Injection molding by employing an “insert molding” which is a process that requires post-mold sealing of locator pin holes; (4) Using a cup containing the weight and affixing it to the bottom  2  of the receptacle  8 ; or (5) Inserting the weight into the inside bottom of the receptacle  8  and over-molding or affixing an internal cap to the interior of the receptacle  8  via sonic-welding or other processes. The weight of the ballast material or puck in this embodiment is five-hundred-twenty (520) grams. 
         [0038]    The floatation member  5  in this embodiment is a ring which is held in place by the friction caused by compression of the floatation member  5  and by the vertical restriction of the flange  6  of the receptacle  8 . The floatation member  5  is placed onto the receptacle  8  from the bottom  2  and pushed up to the flange  6  where it remains in place. The floatation member  5  can remain in place during storage or can be taken off for storage, if needed. The top  7  and sides of the floatation member  5  can be branded or personalized as described above. The floatation member  5  in this embodiment has a weight of forty-one (41) to ninety-one (91) grams, depending upon the process used for manufacturing the ring which would usually be either molded or vinyl dipped. In the case of a molded ring, it is manufactured through either an exothermic or an endothermic process, depending upon the compound that is used. The molded ring in this embodiment weighs forty-one (41) grams and has a density of approximately 1.65 pounds/cubic foot. A vinyl-dipped ring for the current embodiment would be die-cut from sheet stock and then vinyl dipped. The vinyl-dipped ring in this embodiment weighs ninety-one (91) grams and has a foam density of 3.6 pounds/cubic foot. Both types of rings can be branded or personalized through printing, stamping, laser-etching or application of vinyl decals. 
         [0039]    The tether  4  is extruded plastic coil with looped ends. In this embodiment, one end of the tether  4  is connected to a prefabricated plastic spring clip. The tether  4  can either be affixed to the receptacle  8  through the hole  3  on the flange  6  by pulling it through the looped end and utilizing the spring clip to secure the tether  4  to a bathing suit or other object or by clipping it to the tether  4  itself thereby creating a loop that can be wrapped around a wrist or other object. Conversely, the spring clip may be attached directly to one of the holes  3  in the flange  6  of the receptacle  8  after running it through the loop end of the tether  4  to create a loop that can be wrapped around a user&#39;s wrist or other object. 
         [0040]    In other embodiments, the receptacle  8  may be made of other sufficiently dense material, such as stainless steel, rather than of injected-molded plastic as described above. In still other embodiments, the size of the unit could be changed to accommodate different sizes of beverage containers, such as smaller beverage containers used by children or smaller beverage containers that are used by many all-inclusive resorts to reduce their beverage costs. 
         [0041]    In another embodiment, referring now to  FIG. 7 , an inflatable floatation member  5  or ring can be used as the floatation member  5 . This floatation member  5  may be made with blow-molding, roto-molding or by various other processes known for producing other types of water products, with inflation valves incorporated. The floatation member  5  is inflated at the valve by blowing or by mechanical pumping. This embodiment may yield a lower cost alternative in order to reduce the cost to the consumer. 
         [0042]    It is contemplated that the receptacle  8  can be made in any color or a mixture of colors. It is further contemplated that the floatation member  5  or ring can be made in any color or a mixture of colors. It is further contemplated that the floatation member  5  or ring can be branded or personalized on the top  7 , bottom or sides of the ring, depending upon which ring embodiment is used. It is still further contemplated that the wall thickness of the receptacle  8  itself and/or the number of walls of the receptacle may be changed in another embodiment to provide additional insulation to the beverage container. 
       How It Works 
       [0043]    The premise of the present floating beverage-container-holder relies on the principles of a centered ballast or a conical pendulum. The beverage-container-holder&#39;s centered ballast is molded into the bottom of the receptacle  8  which provides a constant center of gravity. The ballast weight combined with the weight of the receptacle material is calculated to make the receptacle  8  neutrally buoyant. This allows the receptacle  8  in this embodiment to float on its own 1.5″ above the waterline while maintaining the center of gravity approximately 4.5″ below the surface. The 1.5″ thick foam ring  5  in this embodiment has to support the weight of the beverage and its container while providing dimensional stability to the neutrally buoyant receptacle  8 . The stabilizing action of the foam ring keeps the receptacle  8  and its contents perpendicular to the surface of the water. 
         [0044]    The exact weight of the loaded beverage-container-holder depends on the volume of the beverage left inside the container and the weight of the beverage-container itself. From a mathematical perspective, after every sip of the beverage from the container, the weight distribution changes but the constant remains. Due to the neutrally buoyant nature of the receptacle  8 , as stated above, the foam ring  5  only supports the weight of the beverage and its container. The floating beverage-container-holder in this embodiment has an effective weight capacity of zero (0) to 3.75 pounds of beverage and associated container component weight. Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of several embodiments. Thus, the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and other embodiments which may perform similar functions and/or achieve similar results could be made to those examples without departing from the inventive concepts herein. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention and are intended to be covered by the appended claims.