Insulated bottle holder

An insulated bottle holder defined by an outer shell of a moldable, resilient plastic material and an inner, removable insulating liner inside of a lower, cylindrical portion of the outer shell. The uppermost portion of the shell is conical, being truncated and flat at its top, the flat top defined by a deformable wall having a bottle ring engaging opening. A bottle is inserted into the open bottom of the holder and is pushed upwardly until the bottle threads and ring pass through and extend slightly beyond the opening in the deformable wall. The periphery of the top opening releasably holds the bottle in the bottle holder by snugly engaging the neck of the bottle just below the ring, the ring abutting the upper periphery of the top opening in the deformable wall. Friction between the bottle and the liner also holds the bottle in the holder shell. The bottle is removed by forcing it downwardly against the deformable wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to an insulated bottle holder of the type adapted to 
thermally insulate a glass bottle to thereby maintain the bottle and its 
contents at a below ambient temperature. Such bottle insulators are placed 
around a cooled bottle after it has been taken from a refrigerator. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the practice of this invention, a thermally insulated bottle 
holder is fashioned from a moldable plastic material, such as low density 
polyethylene, the holder being in the general form of a cylinder having a 
tapered conical top or upper integral extension, the extension having an 
aperture or opening to receive an engage the upper end of a bottle. The 
lower end of the bottle holder is open to thereby enable the insertion and 
the removal of a bottle. The cylindrical portion contains a removable 
insulating liner, the latter being in the general form of a rectangular 
sheet of a closed cell polyethylene sheet bent end to end to a generally 
cylindrical form so as to conform to the generally circular inner sides of 
the main or lower portion of the holder. The bottle, conventionally, 
carries a ring located below the screw threads, the ring engaging the 
upper periphery of the opening through which the bottle screw threads and 
ring extend. This abutment establishes a support for the bottle such that 
when the holder is lifted upwardly, the bottle will not fall out. 
Insertion of the bottle into the holder is effected by pushing it in, to 
thereby distort or bend the upper opening, the extent of the insertion 
being such that the ring of the bottle extends slightly beyond the 
periphery of the opening and will come to rest against the upper periphery 
of the opening at the conclusion of the insertion process. For removal, 
the bottle is pushed downwardly to again distort the opening, so that the 
ring of the bottle may now pass through the opening. The cylindrical 
portion of the container is provided with a plurality of horizontally 
extending ridges, to thereby define ridges and valleys and enhance the 
ease with which the holder may be grasped by the fingers. Further, one or 
more flat portions are provided on the cylindrical portion of the holder, 
extending generally vertically and interrupting the ridges, to thereby 
facilitate the display of indicia, such as advertising indicia, on the 
bottle holder. The interior surfaces of the flat, indicia bearing portions 
extend radially inwardly somewhat so as to give the insulating liner a 
slightly elliptical shape. The narrowmost portions of the insulating liner 
frictionally grip the bottle exterior to thereby define additional support 
for the bottle. The closed cell insulating liner may be removed for 
cleaning or for replacement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes generally the 
insulated bottle holder of this invention and it includes a shell formed 
from a moldable resilient thermoplastic material, such as low density 
polyethylene, and having a generally cylindrical, main lower portion 12 
integrally secured to an upper, generally tapering or truncated conical 
portion 14. 
The lower and generally cylindrical portion of the outer shell includes 
four ridges denoted by the numeral 18, the spaces between the ridges 
defining valleys denoted by the numeral 20. The valleys 20 facilitate 
engagement of the lower cylindrical portion by the fingers of the user. 
The numeral 22 denotes the lowermost portion of the shell, the shell being 
open at its bottom. The diameter of the bottom opening, at lower portion 
22, is slightly larger than the diameter of a bottle which is to be 
inserted into the holder, and is slightly smaller than the diameter of an 
insulating liner, shortly to be described. The numeral 24 denotes the 
interior surface of the lower portion 12, at flat portions 39 the latter 
to be described. The numeral 30 denotes the uppermost portion of the 
cylindrical part 12 of the shell, portion 30 extending generally 
horizontally and defining an upper abutment for the insulating liner. 
The numeral 32 denotes the wall of the upper, truncated conical portion of 
the shell, this portion terminating in a horizontally extending wall 
portion 34, the latter having an opening 35 therein, with the upper 
peripheral surface or rim immediately adjacent to the opening being 
denoted by the numeral 36. The numeral 38 denotes a bevel across the 
thickness of wall potion 34 at the rim of the opening. The bevel slants 
radially inwardly in passing upwardly. The numeral 39 denotes either one 
of two flat, indicia bearing portions on opposite sides of the lower 
holder portion 12. As indicated at FIG. 2, these flat portions, or flats, 
engage the liner 40 (to be described) to give the liner a slightly 
elliptical shape in transverse cross section. 
The numeral 40 denotes an insulating liner, originally rectangular in 
shape, and fashioned from closed cell polyethylene. The upper portion of 
liner 40 is adjacent abutment 30, while its lower portion or rim is 
supported by portion 22 of the shell. Insulating liner 40 has an internal 
memory or bias and hence tends to remain flattened, in its original, 
planar configuration, so that when it is inserted into the shell, it 
exhibits a tendency to move radially outwardly and firmly abut against the 
interior surfaces 24 of the cylindrical shell portion 12. The inner 
diameter of liner 40 is substantially the same size or slightly less than 
the external diameter of the glass bottle. 
The numeral 44 denotes a glass bottle having the usual lower cylindrical 
portion with a tapered neck portion, the latter including an integral ring 
or bead 46, the uppermost and external portion of the bottle having the 
usual screw threads denoted by the numeral 48. 
The operation of the insulated bottle holder of this invention is as 
follows. With the insulating liner 40 having been inserted into the 
interior of the lower portion 14 of the holder, the bottle is then pushed 
upwardly until its upper rim strikes beveled portion 38 of opening 35. 
Bevel 38 functions as a guide for the bottle top. The bevel is in a 
direction to make bottle withdrawal more difficult than bottle insertion. 
At this point, some resistance to continued upward motion of the bottle 
relative to the holder 10 is encountered. However, due to the flexibility 
of wall portion 34, and also due to the presence of diametrically opposite 
recesses 37 adjacent periphery 36 of the top opening, wall portion 34 
deforms sufficiently enough to permit the passage of the upper portion of 
the bottle completely through the opening, until the bottle assumes the 
position indicated at FIG. 1, or slightly above that position, relative to 
the outer shell of the holder. At this position, as shown at FIG. 1, the 
upper peripheral surface 36 of opening 35 is in bearing and supporting 
contact with respect to the lower peripheral portion of integral ring 46 
of the bottle, with the result that the bottle is supported against 
downward movement relative to the bottle holder. The thinness of the rim 
of opening 35, due to bevel 38, assists in producing a tight fit on the 
neck of the bottle. The slightly elliptical shape of the liner 40, due to 
interior surfaces 24 of flats 39 abutting it, provides a degree of 
friction with the bottle, to further support the bottle against downward 
movement relative to the holder. 
After the user consumes the liquid contents of bottle 44, the bottle is 
removed from the container by reversing the action attendant its 
insertion, namely the lower portion 12 of the holder is grasped in one 
hand and the other hand pushes down of the uppermast part of the bottle, 
to again cause distortion and bending of wall portion 34, with the result 
that the bottle can now be removed from the holder. 
The function of insulating liner 40 has been stated to enhance thermal 
isolation of the bottle from ambient, to thereby assist in maintaining the 
temperature of the bottle and its contents below ambient. Additionally, 
the closed cell, low density polyethylene material employed for liner 40 
functions to protect the bottle from vibration and shock. In order to 
remove liner 40, it is only necessary to grasp an edge of one of its 
corners near the bottom opening of the bottle holder and pull to thereby 
distort the liner and remove it. For insertion, the liner is rolled from 
its flat form to assume a tubular form, and then inserted into the lower 
cylindrical portion 12, and it expands to its indicated configuration. 
Lower abutment 22 inhibits the pulling out of liner 40 from the holder when 
a bottle is removed, the friction between the bottle and liner urging the 
liner downward. During bottle insertion, the horizontal wall 30 defines an 
abutment to prevent extreme upward movement and distortion of the liner, 
also due to friction between the bottle and the liner. 
The exterior surface of cylindrical portion, including rings 18, is 
textured to give a rough surface and thereby facilitate holding with the 
hand. The rings 18 and depressions 20 additionally function to give a 
corrugated construction and thereby impart structural integrity. 
Additionally, the corrugating effect permits the holder to accommodate 
some bottle diameter variations by slightly changing diameter, as 
required. 
While glass bottle 44 is shown as having the usual integral ring 46 
thereon, there may be a certain bottles which are not so provided. In 
those cases, the relatively sharp edge defined by slanted or beveled 
surface 38 and flat wall surface 34 provides a tight fit with the upper 
portion of the neck of the bottle just below the threads 48, or with the 
threads themselves. Thus, because of the thinness of wall 34 at the 
periphery 36 of upper opening 35, the threads alone, for those bottles 
which have no integral ring 46, may be engaged. Further, from a 
consideration of FIGS. 1 and 2, it will seen that the diameter of the 
upper opening 35 of conical portion 14 is smaller than the outer diameter 
of the threads 48 and ring 46, while the maximum distance between openings 
or recesses 37 is greater than the outside diameter of threads 48 and ring 
4. This arrangement facilitates both the insertion and the removal of the 
bottle from this holder. Flat portions 39, in the manufacture of the 
holder, may be formed slightly towards or slightly away from the holder 
interior, to thereby slightly vary the degree of eccentricity of the 
elliptical cross sectional shape of liner 40 and thus more readily 
accomodate bottles of specific manufacturers which may be of slightly 
different diameters. 
Both the shell and insulating liner are fashioned from F.D.A. approved 
materials, approved for food packaging. A child could chew on the shell of 
the liner with no harmful effects. Further, the toughness of the material 
would make it very difficult to bite off a piece. 
The terms upper, lower, longitudinal and transverse are used to facilitate 
the description of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting 
terms.