Lid for container

A disposable lid is used with a container has pre-stored additives such as sugar or cream. The base member has at least one compartment region which has a sealed outlet and a cover sealing the compartment region to prevent the additive from exiting the compartment region. When the cover is actuated, the outlet breaks open and allows the additive in the compartment region to flow into the container. The outlet in the base member projects from the base member and preferably has troughs formed in the outlet. The outlet is arranged under the cover, and when the cover is depressed the outlet opens at the troughs to allow the content to exit out of the compartment region. The cover is preferably made of a flexible material to permit the outlet to be depressed by applying pressure on the cover. The compartment region of the base member is formed by raised walls surrounding the compartment region, the cover being affixed to top of the raised wall to create an air tight seal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to Ea disposable lid for beverage container, and 
more particularly, to a disposable lid having a plurality of compartments 
having outlets for storing and releasing contents therein through the 
outlets. 
2. Description of Related Art 
Beverage container lids are well-known to prevent the spillage of the 
contents of the container. Plastic disposable lids having openings for 
inserting plastic straw are commonly found in fast food restaurants. 
Similarly, disposable lids for hot beverage, such as coffee and tea, are 
also commonly used. 
Conventional disposable lids have removable flaps and/or straw openings to 
access the content. When drinking hot beverage, the flaps are either 
removed or folded backwards to create a drinking hole. However, in many 
conventional lids, the opening is not sufficiently large to pour in sugar 
and cream. In stead, the entire lid must be first removed to add desired 
amount of sugar and cream into the content. The use of such conventional 
lids may not be problematic when a consumer is not driving. However, many 
drivers purchase their food and drinks through drive-in windows of 
restaurants and eat and drink while driving. Driving while eating and 
drinking already creates danger to the driver as well as others driving 
near by. To compound the problem, many drivers try to add sugar and cream 
to their drinks while driving. The design of conventional plastic lid 
provides no other alternative but to completely remove the plastic lid 
from a container containing hot beverage and adding cream and sugar 
therein. Such construction of plastic lids is cumbersome and sometimes 
creates a dangerous driving condition. 
Another problem with convention disposable lids is that once sugar and 
cream are added into the container, the packages for sugar and cream must 
be separately discarded creating more trash. 
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a disposable lid 
which overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings and disadvantages 
associated with conventional designs. Specifically, the present invention 
allows the addition of additives, such as cream and sugar or other edible 
substance, into the container without physically opening the lid. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disposable lid 
which contains sugar and cream therein so that the entire container may be 
discarded after the content has been consumed. 
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in 
the description which follows and in part will be apparent from the 
description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The 
objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and 
attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written 
description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. 
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of 
the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a lid for use 
with a container has pre-stored contents and includes a base member sized 
to fit over the container, the base member having at least one compartment 
region which has a sealed outlet, and a cover sealing the compartment 
region to prevent the content from exiting the compartment region. When 
the cover is actuated, the outlet breaks open and allows the content in 
the compartment region to flow into the container. 
The outlet in the base member preferably projects from the base member and 
has troughs formed around the outlet to allow easy tear. The outlet is 
arranged below the cover, and when the cover is depressed the outlet opens 
at the troughs to allow the content to flow out of the compartment region. 
The cover is preferably made of a flexible material to permit the outlet 
to be depressed by applying pressure on the cover. The cover further 
comprises a tab protruding from the cover and forming an integral part of 
the cover. The tab is substantially aligned with the outlet to permit the 
outlet to be depressed by applying pressure on the tab. 
According to one aspect of the present invention, the compartment region of 
the base member is formed by raised walls surrounding the compartment 
region, the cover being affixed to the top of the raised wall to create an 
air tight seal. 
In an alternative embodiment, the cover has lowered walls surrounding the 
compartment regions of the base member, the base member being affixed to 
the bottom of the lowered walls to create an air or fluid tight seal. The 
cover further includes an actuating region having a downward projection. 
An outlet of the base member is an aperture substantially aligned with the 
actuating region in the cover and sealed with a sealing layer. The sealing 
layer breaks open when the actuating region is depressed. Accordingly, the 
sealing layer is made of a thin plastic which is easily rupturable. 
According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover further 
comprises an actuating region and the outlet projects from the base member 
and has troughs formed in the outlet. The outlet is substantially aligned 
with the actuating region and opens at the troughs to allow the content to 
flow out of the compartment region when the actuating region is depressed. 
The actuating region has a tab protruding from the cover and forming an 
integral part of the cover. The tab is substantially aligned with the 
outlet to permit the outlet to be depressed by applying pressure on the 
tab. In this configuration, the cover is made with a rigid material, and 
preferably made with the same material as the base member. 
Moreover, the base member has a spout actuator which creates an aperture, 
when depressed, to drink the content from the container. To accommodate 
the spout actuator when the cover is attached to the base member, the 
cover has a spout region which substantially surrounds the spout actuator. 
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention 
will be better understood by studying the detailed description in 
conjunction with the drawings and the accompanying claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a disposable lid 10 for a beverage 
container 60 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The 
disposable lid 10 includes a disc shaped base member 20 and a similarly 
shaped cover top 40. The base member 20 is preferably made with plastic 
and is designed to be used with a conventional disposable beverage 
container 60. The top cover 40 affixed to the top of the base member 20 
are placed on the opening defined by the container 60 fluid tightly 
sealing the container 60. 
The base member 20 is preferably used for capping the container 60, such as 
a Styrofoam cup, containing hot liquid. The base member 10 has 
compartments 21-24 for storing additives in powder or liquid form, such as 
cream or sugar. For example, the compartments 21 and 22 may contain cream 
and the compartments 23 and 24 may contain sugar. The base member 10 also 
has a spout region 25 separated from other compartments 21-24 with walls. 
Each one of the compartments 21-24 are separated by raised walls made 
during, for example, an injection molding process. The size of each 
compartment can be varied depending on the amount of additives to be 
stored therein. Alternatively, instead of having four compartments 21-24 
as shown in FIG. 1, the base member 10 may have fewer or more 
compartments. 
The base member 20 has protruding outlets 31-34 each one having a half-cone 
shape. The enlarged illustration of the protruding outlet 31 is shown in 
FIG. 4. The protruding outlets 31-34 are made of the same material with 
the rest of the base member 10, and preferably are integrally manufactured 
with the base member 20. The protruding outlets 31-34 have substantially 
vertical troughs 39 formed around the inner surface of the base member 20 
which can be easily torn when depressed. The protruding outlets 31-34 
preferably have identical heights and are no higher than the height of the 
rim 29. The troughs 39 may be formed by perforation or half-depth 
incisions, such as the ones used for forming the drinking opening, during 
thermo-formation of the base member 20. 
The base member 20 includes a rim 29 constructed to engage an opening 
defined by a rim 62 of the beverage container 60 to hold the base member 
20 firmly on the container 60. The rim 29 surrounds a disk-like body of 
the base member 20 which covers the container opening when the base member 
20 is placed on the container 60. 
In the spout region 25 of the base member 10, there is a raised spout 
actuator 35 and a vent hole 38. To drink out of the cup, the raised spout 
actuator 35 is depressed with a lip which creates an opening defined by a 
surrounding shallow trough 37. More specifically, the lid opening is 
defined by the shallow trough 37 thermoformed during manufacturing. When 
the raised spout actuator 35 is depressed, the trough 37 is tore opened in 
a shape defined by the trough 37 thus forming a lid opening. 
After the additives, such as cream and sugar, are individually placed in 
the compartments 21-24, the top surface portion of the base member 20 is 
covered with the top cover 40. The top cover 40 is preferably made with a 
flexible and resilient material, such as vinyl, and is attached to the 
base member 20 so that each compartment 21-24 is preferably air or fluid 
tightly sealed. Preferably, the top cover 40 and base member 20 may be 
either pressure or thermal sealed together. More specifically, the 
sealable region 42 of the top cover 40 is fluid tightly affixed to the top 
of the raised walls defining the compartments 21-24. As a result, the 
cover compartment regions 51-54 are placed substantially above the 
compartments 21-24 of the base member 20. Because the top cover 40 is made 
with a flexible material, the top cover region immediately above each 
protruding outlet 31-34 can be depressed without disturbing the integrity 
of the seal created by the base member 20 and the top cover 40. The 
depression of the protruding outlets 31-34 in the base member 10 through 
the top cover 40 causes the protruding outlets 31-34 to be vertically 
contracted, which in turn causes the troughs 39 to break and thus allows 
sugar or cream, either in liquid or powdered form, to flow into the 
container 60. 
As an alternative embodiment, instead of using the top cover 40 which 
substantially covers the entire base member 20, the top cover may be 
designed to cover only the compartments formed in the base member 20. In 
that regard, individual cover pieces may be used to cover different 
compartments in the base member 20. 
At the spout region 25, the top cover 40 is folded down to flushly affixed 
to the top surface of the spout region 25. This construction allows the 
content of the container 60 to flow out when the spout actuator 35 is 
depressed with a lip. Alternatively, the spout region may not be covered 
at all with the top cover 40. In addition, a vent hole 57 formed in the 
top cover 40 is aligned with the vent hole 38 of the base member, and 
thus, they are in fluid communication with each other. 
When a user wishes to add cream into the coffee contained in the container 
60, the protruding outlet 31, for example, is depressed, which in turn 
tears the protruding outlet 31 due to vertical troughs formed thereon. As 
a result, the cream contained in the compartment 21 flows into the 
container 60. 
FIG. 2 illustrates the disposable lid 70 according to the second embodiment 
of the present invention. According to the second embodiment, the 
disposable lid 70 contains the identical base member 20 but has a 
different top cover 80. Similar to the disposable lid 10 shown in FIG. 1, 
the base member 20 of the second embodiment is covered with the top cover 
80. The top cover 80 is made with more rigid materials, such as plastic. 
Preferably, the top cover 80 and base member 20 may be made of the same 
material and are either pressure or thermal sealed together. The function 
of the top cover 80 of the second embodiment is identical to the top cover 
40 of the first embodiment. However, because the top cover 80 is made with 
a more rigid material, it is not as flexible as the top cover 40 of the 
first embodiment. To allow easy depression of the protruding outlets 31-34 
in the base member 10, the top cover 80 is equipped with correspondingly 
aligned depressible tabs 83-86. 
The top cover 80 is attached to the base member 20 so that each compartment 
21-24 is preferably air or fluid tightly sealed. More specifically, the 
sealable region 82 of the top cover 80 is affixed to the top of the raised 
walls defining the compartments 21-24 of the base member 20. As a result, 
the cover compartment regions 91-94 are placed substantially above the 
compartments 21-24 of the base member 10. Because the top cover 80 is made 
with a rigid material, the top cover region immediately above each 
protruding outlet 31-34 can be depressed with the assistance of the 
depressible tabs 83-86. The depression of the protruding outlets 31-34 in 
the base member 10 through the corresponding tabs 83-86 of the top cover 
80 causes the protruding outlets 31-34 to be vertically contracted which 
in turn causes the troughs to break and thus allows sugar or cream, either 
in liquid or powdered form, to flow into the container 60. 
At the spout region 25 of the base member 20, the corresponding spout 
region 95 of the top cover 80 is constructed to fold down to flushly 
affixed to the top surface of the spout region 25. The top cover 80 has an 
opening 96 aligned with the spout actuator 35. This construction allows 
the content of the container 60 to flow out when the spout actuator 35 is 
depressed with a lip. When the spout actuator 35 is not depressed, the 
spout actuator 35 flexes back to the opening 96 formed in the top cover 
80, hence preventing the liquid content from flowing out. 
Alternatively, the spout region 25 may not be covered at all with the top 
cover 80. In addition, a vent tube 97 formed in the top cover 80 is 
aligned with the vent hole 38 of the base member, and thus, they are in 
fluid communication with each other. The use of the vent tube 97 in lieu 
of the vent hole prevents fluid contained in the container 60 from 
squirting out hence burning the lip. 
When a user wishes to add cream into the coffee contained in the container 
60, the tab 83, for example, is depressed, which in turn tears the 
corresponding protruding outlet 31 due to vertical troughs made thereon. 
As a result, the cream contained in the compartment 21 flows into the 
coffee. 
FIG. 3 illustrates a third embodiment of the disposable lid 200 of the 
present invention. In the third embodiment, the top portion of the 
disposable lid 200 is being referred herein as the base member 100 to 
which the bottom cover 150 is attached. However, the labeling of each 
element is for the purpose of describing the present invention. In that 
regard, the element 150 may be referred to as the base member and the 
element 100 may be referred to as the top cover because the element 150 
has many of the features of the base member 10 of the first embodiment. 
According to the third embodiment, the disposable lid 200 has a base member 
100 which has as a bottom cover 150 sealing the base member 100 from 
underneath. The base member 100 of the third embodiment differs from the 
base member 10 of the first embodiment as to how the cream and sugar are 
stored in the compartments. In the first embodiment, the additives are 
stored on the top of the base member 10 and the top cover 40 is placed 
thereon. In the third embodiment, the additives are stored underneath the 
base member 100 and the bottom cover 150 is placed below the base member 
100 to seal the compartments. 
The base member 100 has compartments 101-104 for storing powder or liquid 
additives. Preferably, the compartments 101 and 102 are used to store 
sugar and the compartments 103 and 104 are used to store cream. The base 
member 100 also has a 20 spout region 106 separated from other 
compartments 101-104 with walls defining the compartments. Each one of the 
compartments 101-104 is separated by the raised walls made during, for 
example, injection or thermal molding process. The size of each 
compartment can be varied depending on the amount of additives to be 
stored therein. Alternatively, instead of having four compartments 101-104 
as shown in FIG. 3, the base member 100 may have fewer or more 
compartments. 
The base member 100 has built-in caps 110 and 111 having an inverse cone 
shape projection 118 from the bottom of the base member 100. The enlarged 
illustration of the cap 110 is shown in FIG. 5. When the caps 110 and 111 
are depressed, the inverse cone shape projections 118 puncture the film 
157 and 158 sealing the holes 155 and 156. The punctured holes allow the 
cream in the compartments 103 and 104 to seep into the container. 
Alternatively, the base member 100 may have tabs 112 and 113 similar to 
the tabs 84 and 86 of the top cover 80 shown in FIG. 2. 
The base member 100 also has a spout region 106 having an opening 105 and a 
vent tube 161. The vent tube 161 is constructed to align with a vent hole 
160 of the bottom cover 150. The opening 105 aligns with a spout actuator 
153 in the bottom cover 150. 
The bottom cover 150 is made with more rigid materials, such as plastic. 
Preferably, the bottom cover 150 and base member 100 may be made of the 
same material and are either pressure or thermal sealed together. The 
bottom cover 150 has four compartment regions 165-168 which are aligned 
with the compartments 101-104. 
The bottom cover 150 is attached to the base member 100 as shown by two 
arrows so that each compartment 101-104 is preferably air or fluid tightly 
sealed. More specifically, the sealable region 170 of the bottom cover 150 
is affixed to the bottom surface of the dividing walls defining the 
compartments 101-104 of the base member 100. As a result, the bottom cover 
compartments 165-168 are placed substantially below the compartments 
101-104 of the base member 100. 
FIG. 3 shows two compartments 165 and 166 of the bottom cover 150 having 
corresponding protruding outlets 151-152 each one in a half-cone shape. 
The protruding outlets 151 and 152 are made of the same material with the 
rest of the bottom cover 150, and preferably are integrally manufactured 
with the bottom cover 150. The protruding outlets 151-152 have vertical 
troughs around the inner surface which can be easily torn when depressed 
as shown in FIG. 4. The protruding outlets 151-152 preferably have the 
approximately the same height as the height of the rim of the base member 
100. 
The bottom cover 150 also has a spout actuator 153 with a surround 
pre-incision or trough and a vent hole 160. When depressed, the spout 
actuator 153 tears around the incision 154 creating an opening for 
drinking. The bottom cover 150 also has a vent hole 160 which is aligned 
with a raised vent tube 161 of the base member 100. The raised vent 161 is 
beneficial since the coffee spilling out of the vent 160 is initially 
trapped in the raised vent 161 to avoid splashing the drinker's face. The 
construction of the spout actuator 153 and the went hole 160 are similar 
to the corresponding elements in the base member 20 shown in FIG. 1, and 
thus will not be repeated here. 
Each protruding outlet 151 and 152 can be depressed with the assistance of 
the corresponding depressible tabs 112 and 113 of the base member 100. The 
depression of the protruding outlets 151 and 152 in the bottom cover 150 
through the corresponding tabs 112 and 113 of the base member 100 causes 
the protruding outlets 151-152 to be vertically contracted which in turn 
causes the troughs to break and thus allows the additives, either in 
liquid or powdered form, to flow into the container 60. 
The holes 155 and 156 in the corresponding compartments 167 and 168 of the 
bottom cover 150 are covered with films or thin plastic membranes 157 and 
158 which can be easily torn with a sharp abject. The thin plastic 
membranes 157 and 158 are preferably made with cellophane like material or 
any suitable material that can easily be punctured. The diameter of the 
membranes 157 and 158 are slightly larger than that of the openings 155 
and 156 and are air or fluid tightly affixed to corresponding openings 155 
and 156. 
Each cap 110 and 111 in the base member 100 can be individually depressed 
with a finger. The depression of the caps 110 and 111 causes the inverse 
cone shape projection on the bottom of the base member 100 to puncture or 
rip the thin plastic membrane sealing the bottom cover 150. The punctured 
plastic membrane allows the additives, either in liquid or powdered form, 
to flow into the container 60. 
Although the third embodiment of the disposable lid 200 shown in FIG. 3 has 
two caps 110 and 111, two tabs 112 and 113 and corresponding openings 155 
and 156 and protruding outlets 151 and 152, all of the compartments 
101-104 of the base member 100 may be equipped with caps with 
corresponding membranes similar to 157 and 158. Alternatively, all of the 
compartments 101-104 of the base member 100 may be equipped with tabs with 
corresponding protruding outlets similar to 151 and 152. 
FIG. 6 illustrates a disposable lid 300 according to the fourth embodiment 
of the present invention. The concept and the function of the disposable 
lid 300 is similar to that of first and second embodiments. The disposable 
lid 300 includes a disc shaped base cap 320 and a similarly shaped bottom 
cover 340 for mounting inside the base cap 320. The base cap 320 is used 
for sealing any type of container, such as a bottle 360, containing 
beverage or other liquid. The bottom cover 340 is affixed to the inner 
circular fringe 321 of the base cap 320. 
The base cap 320 has a compartment 322 for storing an additive in powder or 
liquid form, such as sugar or other substance. The size of the compartment 
322 can be varied depending on the amount of substance to be stored 
therein. 
The bottom cover 340 has a protruding outlet 331 comprising a half-cone 
shape. The enlarged illustration of the protruding outlet 331 is identical 
to the corresponding element of the first embodiment and is shown in FIG. 
4. Consequently, the detailed description of the protruding outlet 331 
will not be repeated. 
The base cap 320 has a preferably circular depression region 324 air or 
fluid tightly sealed with a top cover 326 made with a flexible material, 
such as film, vinyl, etc. The depression region 324 is arranged 
immediately above the protruding outlet 331. 
After an additive, such as sugar, is placed in the compartment 322, the 
neck 321 of the base cap 320 is air or fluid tightly covered with the 
bottom cover 340. The bottom cover 340 is preferably made with a rigid 
material, such as plastic. Preferably, the bottom cover 340 and base cap 
310 may be either pressure or thermal sealed together. Because the top 
cover 326 is made with a flexible material, the top cover can be depressed 
without disturbing the integrity of the seal created by the base cap 320 
and the top cover 326. The depression of the protruding outlet 331 in the 
bottom cover 340 through the top cover 326 causes the protruding outlet 
331 to be vertically contracted, which in turn causes the troughs 39 to 
break and thus allows the substance stored in the compartment 322 to flow 
into the bottle 360. 
While the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present 
invention, it will be understood that many modifications may be made 
without departing from the spirit thereof. The accompanying claims are 
intended to cover such modifications as would fall within the true scope 
and spirit of the present invention. 
The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all 
respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention 
being indicated by the appended claims, rather than the foregoing 
description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of 
equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.