Container lid with cooling reservoir

Container lid with a cooling reservoir for releasably covering a disposable cup containing a hot beverage. The cooling reservoir includes a side wall with a small opening to allow a small volume of the hot beverage to pass into the cooling reservoir in which the beverage sufficiently cools down to enable the consumer to sip the beverage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 This invention relates generally to a disposable beverage container lid
 made of a plastic material designed to cover a container containing a hot
 beverage therein, such as tea or coffee. More particularly, the invention
 relates to a disposable container lid having an integral cooling reservoir
 with a small opening in the side wall portion thereof, allowing the hot
 beverage to partially fill and quickly cool in the reservoir thereby
 preventing burn of the user's mouth from the first sips of the beverage.
 2. Reported Developments
 The prior art has provided lids/closures/covers for disposable and
 non-disposable containers, such as take-out cups used in the fast food
 services. The objects of the prior art included convenient and safe
 handling of hot or cold beverages without spill from containers,
 especially in containers carried in moving vehicles. As a result,
 anti-spill lids were suggested and/or provided for beverage containers
 such as disclosed for examples in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,146,157 and 5,415,312.
 Other references disclose detachable covers for a drinking cup having a
 mouth or orifice enabling the user to drink the liquid without removing
 the cap form the container, such as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No.
 4,503,992.
 Another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,584 discloses a multi-function cap
 lid for disposable beverage containers where the lid has a means for
 retaining a flap in an open and non-interfering position when the liquid
 in the beverage container is being consumed by a consumer.
 Still other references, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,529,179, 5,722,558 and
 5,894,952 disclose condiment reservoirs integral with the lid of beverage
 containers for convenience of the user to consume the condiments therefrom
 or to place the condiments from the reservoir into the liquid contained in
 the beverage container from which the condiment is consumed along with the
 beverage.
 While providing anti-spill lids for take-out beverage containers, the prior
 art apparently has not satisfactorily addressed the need to prevent burn
 of the mouth and lips of the consumer when initially sipping hot coffee or
 tea. Plastic and paper cups are good insulators and maintain the
 temperature of a hot beverage for extended periods of time. However, the
 itinerant consumer in a motor vehicle would wish to sip the hot beverage
 without waiting for the hot beverage to cool down to a temperature at
 which it is safe to drink without the risk of burning his or her mouth or
 lips.
 Accordingly, the present invention is directed to the provision of a hot
 beverage cup lid which allows safe sipping of the hot beverage from an
 associated cup.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a cup lid with
 a means to contain a small volume of a hot beverage which allows cooling
 and safe sipping of the beverage from an associated disposable cup. The
 cup lid comprises:
 a planar top surface;
 an outer rim extending around the planar top surface;
 a recess in the planar top surface adjacent to the outer rim; and
 a closure tab in the planar top surface positioned away from the recess in
 said planar top surface; wherein the recess in the planar top surface
 forms a cooling reservoir which comprises:
 a conical side wall having an open proximal end terminating in a rim,
 a distal end connected to a closed bottom, wherein said conical side wall
 has an opening therein designed to allow a beverage to pass therethrough
 and into said cooling reservoir.
 In another aspect, the present invention provides a cup lid with a means to
 cool a small volume of a hot beverage in combination with a disposable cup
 containing the hot beverage.
 The combination comprises the cup lid as described above and a disposable
 cup which includes:
 a disposable cup having a generally conical configuration having a distal
 end and a proximal end. The distal end terminates in a flat, horizontal
 bottom portion closing the cylindrical side wall and forming a cup
 therewith. The proximal end of the cup is open to receive a hot beverage
 and terminates in a circular rim which extends slightly away from the side
 wall and is adapted to engage the outer rim of the cup lid having a skirt
 thereon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
 Referring to FIGS. 1 through 5 of the drawings, there is shown a disposable
 container 10 hereinafter referred to as cup, typically made of
 polystyrene, or paper coated with a thin polymeric material. Disposable
 cup 10 is of generally conical configuration having a distal end 12 and a
 proximal end 14. The distal end terminates in a flat, horizontal bottom
 portion 16 closing the cylindrical side wall 18 and forming a cup
 therewith. The proximal end is open to receive a beverage and terminates
 in a circular rim 20 which extends slightly away from side wall 18 of the
 cylindrical cup.
 Cup lid generally designated by the reference numeral 22 is releasably
 mounted on proximal end 14 of cup 10 closing the opening thereof. The cup
 lid is made of a plastic material, such as polystyrene marketed under the
 trademark STYROFOAM.RTM., or treated paper. Cup lid 22 comprises: a planar
 top surface 24 and a planar bottom surface 26; an outer rim 28 extending
 around the planar top surface 24 which, when cup lid 22 is mounted on cup
 10, provides for snap-on secure attachment of cup lid 22 to cap 10; a
 recess in cup lid 22 forming a cooling reservoir generally designated by
 the numeral 30 constituting the main feature of the present invention, and
 a closure tab 32, diagonally positioned away from cooling reservoir 30.
 Cooling reservoir 30 comprises a conical side wall 34 having an open
 proximal end 36 and a distal end 38. Proximal end 36 terminates in rim 40
 which preferably is at level with the planar top surface 24 of cup lid 22,
 although rim 40 may be at a level a few millimeters higher than the planar
 top surface 24 of cup lid 22. Conical side wall 34 at the distal end 38
 thereof connects to closed bottom 42.
 Cooling reservoir 30 is designed to receive of from about 1 ml to about 10
 ml or more of the hot beverage contained in disposable cup 10. Conical
 side wall 34 of cooling reservoir 30 contains an opening 44 therein
 through which the hot beverage enters from the disposable cup 10. The size
 of the opening may be of from about 0.5 to about 3 mm when the opening is
 circular; or of from about 0.3 mm to about 7 mm when the opening is
 rectangular.
 Closure tab generally designated by the numeral 32 is positioned in the
 planar top and bottom surfaces 24 and 26 of cup lid 22 opposite from
 cooling reservoir 30 and comprises: an access strip 46; tear indentations
 48 which provides for easy separation of the access strip from cup lid 22;
 hinge 50 which allows the closure tab to flex upon tearing the closure tab
 indentations away from the surface of the cup lid; and pull tab 52 which
 is integral with access strip 46 and facilitates the tearing back of the
 access strip from cup lid 22.
 In use the disposable cup 10 is filled with the hot beverage, such as hot
 coffee or tea. Cup lid 22 is placed on the cup by pressing the outer rim
 of cup lid with skirt 28 thereon against the rim 20 of the cup 10 and
 snapping the cup lid in place. At this time the closure tab 32 is in the
 closed position as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The consumer being in a
 stationary position or in a moving vehicle holds the cup with the cooling
 reservoir towards him/her and slightly tilts the cup from its vertical
 position thereby allowing the hot beverage to enter into the cooling
 reservoir through the opening in the side wall thereof. Because only a
 relatively small amount of the hot beverage can be contained in the
 cooling reservoir, the hot beverage quickly cools down allowing the
 consumer to sip the beverage without waiting. The cooling reservoir only
 allows a small volume of the beverage to remain therein even if the
 cooling reservoir is completely filled initially, since any volume above
 the opening in the side wall of the cooling reservoir simply flows back to
 the cup.
 After sufficient time has elapsed and the hot beverage in the disposable
 cup is cool enough, the consumer may wish to drink the beverage the
 conventional way, i.e. by holding the pull tab 52 and peeling back the
 access strip on the closure tab 46 along tear indentations 48 and bending
 it along hinge 50 towards the cooling reservoir.

TS LIST
 Disposable container or cup 10
 Distal end of cup 12
 Proximal end of cup 14
 Bottom portion of cup 16
 Side wall of cup 18
 Circular rim on proximal end of cup 20
 Cup lid, generally designated, in closed position 22
 Cup lid, generally designated, in open position 22'
 Planar top surface of cup lid 24
 Planar bottom surface of cup lid 26
 Outer rim of cup lid with skirt 28
 Cooling reservoir in lid, generally designated 30
 Closure tab, generally designated 32
 Conical side wall of cooling reservoir 34
 Proximal end of conical side all of cooling reservoir 36
 Distal end of conical side wall of cooling reservoir 38
 Rim of cooling reservoir 40
 Closed bottom of cooling reservoir 42
 Opening in side wall of cooling reservoir 44
 Access strip on closure tab 46
 Tear indentations in access strip 48
 Hinge of access strip 50
 Pull tab on access strip 52
 Having described the invention, it is apparent that changes and
 modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and
 scope of the invention.