Abstract:
A cap device for bottles which contains an additive in an additive container thereof and discharges the additive from the additive container into a bottle according to a predetermined movement of a part of the cap device, thus introducing the additive into the bottle and thus mixing the additive with a bottled liquid to prepare a mixture and allowing a user to easily prepare the mixture just prior to consuming or using the mixture. The cap device has an actuating unit to actuate the additive container while movably supporting the additive container. The actuating unit includes a body provided on the cap body, with the additive container received in the body to be moved vertically relative to both the body and the cap body. At least one aim is coupled to the body, and a head is mounted on the body.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates, in general, to cap devices for bottles containing therein a variety of liquids, such as beverages, liquid medicines or liquid chemicals, and, more particularly, to a cap device for bottles, which contains an additive therein and is secured to the mouth of a bottle, and discharges the additive into the bottle according to a rotation of a part of the cap device, thus introducing the additive into the bottle and thus mixing the additive with a bottled liquid to prepare a mixture and allowing a user to easily prepare the mixture just prior to consuming or using the mixture.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     In the related art, most of the conventional disposable bottles sold in markets each contain therein only a single liquid, such as a beverage, a liquid medicine or a liquid chemical, and are closed by caps at the mouths thereof When a user desires to add an additive to the liquid contained in such a capped bottle so as to prepare a mixture prior to consuming or using the mixture, the user must add the additive from a separate vessel to the bottled liquid after removing a cap from the bottle. Therefore, it is necessary for manufacturers of the additives and the bottled liquids to contain such additives and liquids in separate vessels and bottles prior to selling them, thus undesirably wasting resources due to the production of the separate vessels and capped bottles. In addition, the adding of the additive from the separate vessel to the bottled liquid to mix them after removing the cap from the bottle is inconvenient and costly to the user in that the user is must separately purchase and handle the additive vessel and the bottle.  
         [0005]     Furthermore, it is extremely difficult for the user to add a precise amount of the additive from the separate vessel to the liquid contained in the bottle, so that the user roughly measures the additive to be added to the bottled liquid. Therefore, in the case of mixing of an additive with a bottled beverage to produce a mixed beverage, the rough measurement of the additive may result in changes in the taste and quality of the mixed beverage. In the case of mixing of an additive with a bottled liquid medicine or a bottled liquid chemical to produce a mixed medicine or a mixed chemical, the rough measurement of the additive may result in incomplete dissolution of effective ingredients of the additive in the medicine or the chemical and a failure of accomplishment of desired medical or chemical effects of the mixed medicine or the mixed chemical.  
         [0006]     Of course, when mixtures are prepared by manufacturers in factories and are sold in a bottled state, in place of allowing users to mix additives with bottled liquids to prepare mixtures just prior to consuming or using the mixtures, it is possible to avoid the above-described problems that may arise in the mixing of the additives with the bottled liquids performed by the users. However, the mixtures which are prepared by the manufacturers and sold in the bottled state are problematic in that the effects of ingredients of the bottled mixtures may be gradually degraded as time goes by, in addition to changes in colors of the mixtures. Furthermore, the bottled mixtures may generate floating matters and deposits therein with passage of time.  
         [0007]     In an effort to overcome the above-described problems, the present invention provides a cap device for bottles, which has an additive containing chamber to contain an additive therein and is secured to the mouth of a bottle that contains a liquid therein. The cap device discharges the additive into the bottle according to a rotation of a part of the cap device, thus introducing the additive into the bottle and thus mixing the additive with the liquid in the bottle to prepare a mixture and allowing a user to easily prepare the mixture just prior to consuming or using the mixture. With the use of the cap device, the user can easily prepare the new mixture prior to consuming or using the new mixture. Furthermore, the cap device eliminates the necessity of a separate production of the vessels for additives and the capped bottles, thus preventing the excessive consumption of resources and protecting environment by reducing the amount of wastes.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the related art, and it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a cap device for bottles, which contains an additive in an additive container thereof and is secured to the mouth of a bottle, and discharges the additive from the additive container into the bottle according to a rotation of a part of the cap device, thus introducing the additive into the bottle and thus mixing the additive with a bottled liquid to prepare a mixture and allowing a user to easily prepare the mixture just prior to consuming or using the mixture.  
         [0009]     It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a cap device for bottles, which has an actuating unit provided on a cap body to actuate the additive container while movably supporting the additive container, thus moving the additive container vertically relative to the cap body, the actuating unit capable of being in the form of a toy to arouse the user&#39;s curiosity, thus enhancing the market competitiveness of the products and increasing the use of the products.  
         [0010]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.  
         [0011]     The above and/or other aspects are achieved by providing a cap device for bottles, comprising: a cap body having an internal thread to be secured to an external thread of a mouth of a bottle, with a valve part provided on a lower portion of the cap body and having an additive discharging port. The cap device further has an additive container to contain an additive therein. The additive container is received in the cap body to be moved vertically relative to the cap body in an axial direction of the cap body, thus opening or closing the additive discharging port of the valve part of the cap body. The additive container has a dispensing port provided on an upper end thereof to dispense a liquid of the bottle to an outside of the bottle, and the dispensing port is closed by a sub-cap. An actuating unit provided on the cap body actuates the additive container while movably supporting the additive container, thus moving the additive container vertically relative to the cap body.  
         [0012]     The actuating unit can be in the shape of a toy having a body, head and arm, with the additive container received in the body of the toy to be moved vertically relative to both the body of the toy and the cap body. A rack gear axially is provided on an external surface of the additive container, and a pinion gear is provided on an inside end of the arm of the toy-shaped actuating unit to engage with the rack gear to allow the additive container to move vertically relative to both the toy body and the cap body by a rotation of the arm of the toy-shaped actuating unit relative to the toy body.  
         [0013]     In an alternative construction of the actuating unit, the actuating unit has a body, a head engaged to the body, and an arm connected to body. An actuating external thread is provided on an upper portion of the additive container, and an actuating internal thread is provided on the head to engage with the actuating external thread of the additive container, wherein the additive container is moved vertically relative to both the body and the cap body by a rotation of the head of the actuating unit relative to the body.  
         [0014]     In another alternative construction of the actuating unit, the actuating unit has a body, a head engaged to the body, and an arm connected to body. An actuating external thread is provided on the additive container, and an actuating internal thread is provided in the body to engage with the actuating external thread, wherein the additive container is moved vertically relative to both the body and the cap body by a rotation of the body of the actuating unit relative to the cap body.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]     The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing an appearance of a cap device for bottles when the cap device is secured to the mouth of a bottle;  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the cap device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0018]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are sectional views showing an operation of the cap device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of movable parts provided in the cap device of  FIG. 1  to actuate the cap device;  
         [0020]      FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  are sectional views showing an operation of a cap device for bottles, according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0021]      FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  are sectional views showing an operation of a cap device for bottles, according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0022]     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0000]     [First Embodiment] 
         [0023]      FIGS. 1 through 4  are views of a cap device for bottles according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIGS. 1 through 4 , the cap device for bottles according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes an additive container  51  to contain an additive therein, with a dispensing port  510  provided on an upper end of the additive container  51 . The cap device further includes a cap body  50   a  secured to the mouth  10  of a bottle  13  through a screw-type engagement. Thus, the cap body  50   a  prevents undesired leakage of the contents from both the additive container  51  and the bottle  13  and prevents any change in the quality of the contents. The cap device further includes an actuating unit  400  to movably support the additive container  51  and to actuate the additive container  51  by a manual operation of a user.  
         [0024]     The additive container  51  comprises a cylindrical body that is opened at a lower end thereof and contains a predetermined amount of additive therein. The cylindrical additive container  51  comprises an upper part and a lower part, with a rack gear  402  axially provided on an external surface of an upper portion of the lower part of the additive container  51 . In the embodiment shown, the lower part has a first predetermined diameter larger than a second predetermined diameter of the upper part. The dispensing port  510  of the additive container  51  is provided on the upper end of the upper part of the additive container  51  and is closed by a sub-cap  50   b . To secure the sub-cap  50   b  to the dispensing port  510  of the additive container  51 , the upper end of the upper part of the additive container  51  is provided with an external thread  512 , while the sub-cap  50   b  is provided with an internal thread. When the sub-cap  50   b  is secured to the dispensing port  510 , the additive W 2  is prevented from undesirably leaking from the additive container  51  through the dispensing port  510 .  
         [0025]     The cap body  50   a  has a double-walled structure with an internal thread  112  engaging with an external thread  12  of the mouth  10  of the bottle  13  when the cap body  50   a  is secured to the mouth  10  of the bottle  13 . Thus, the cap body  50   a  prevents undesired leakage of the liquid W 1  of the bottle  13  to an outside of the bottle  13  and prevents any change in the quality of the liquid W 1 . The cap body  50   a  has a valve part  222  at a lower portion thereof, with a plurality of additive discharging ports  200  provided at predetermined positions on the valve part  222  of the cap body  50   a . The additive container  51  is movably received in the cap body  50   a  In a normal state, the opened lower end of the additive container  51  comes into close contact with an inner surface of a lower end of the valve part  222 , so that the lower opening of the additive container  51  is closed by the valve part  222 , and so as to close the additive discharging ports  200 , as shown in  FIG. 3   a . Thus, the additive container  51  in the above state stores the additive W 2  therein without allowing the additive W 2  to leak into the bottle  13  before the user manually operates the cap device to open the additive discharging ports  200  of the valve part  222  of the cap body  50   a  and to discharge the additive W 2  into the bottle  13  through the opened additive discharging ports  200 .  
         [0026]     The actuating unit  400  is mounted to the cap body  50   a  and includes a body  409 , two arms  401  and a head  406 . The body  409  is mounted to the cap body  50   a , with the additive container  51  received in the body  409  to be moved vertically relative to both the body  409  and the cap body  50   a . The two arms  401  are rotatably coupled to the shoulders of the toy body  409 , respectively. A pinion gear  412  is provided on an inside end of one of the two arms  401  of the toy-shaped actuating unit  400  to engage with a rack gear  402  provided on the additive container  51 . In this first embodiment, the arm  401  has the pinion gear  412  at the inside end thereof to function as an actuating arm to actuate the additive container  51 . The head  406  of the actuating unit  400  is mounted above the body  409 . When the user rotates the actuating arm  401  having the pinion gear  412  relative to the body  409  in a predetermined direction, the pinion gear  412  of the actuating arm  401  is rotated in the same direction to move the rack gear  402  of the additive container  51  upward, as shown by the arrow of  FIG. 3   b . With this upward movement of the additive container  51 , the lower end of the additive container  51  is spaced apart from the lower end of the valve part  222  of the cap body  50   a  so that the additive W 2  is discharged from the additive container  51  into the bottle  13  through the opened additive discharging ports  200 . As such, the additive W 2  is introduced into the bottle  13  to be mixed with the liquid W 1  in the bottle  13 . After preparing the mixture in the bottle  13 , the user can consume or use the mixture by either removing the cap body  50   a  from the mouth  10  of the bottle  13  or by removing the sub-cap  50   b  from the dispensing port  510 .  
         [0027]      FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  are sectional views showing an operation of a cap device for bottles, according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b , the cap device for bottles according to the second embodiment of the present invention is constructed to discharge the additive W 2  from the additive container  51  into the bottle  13  according to a rotation of the head  406  relative to the body  409  of the actuating unit  400 , in place of the rotation of the actuating arm  401 , different from the first embodiment.  
         [0028]     The general shape of the cap device according to the second embodiment remains the same as that described for the first embodiment except for the structure allowing the rotation of the head  406  relative to the toy body  409  of the toy-shaped actuating unit  400 . Those elements common to both the first and second embodiments will thus carry the same reference numerals, and further explanation of those elements is not deemed necessary. To allow the rotation of the head  406  relative to the toy body  409 , a fitting groove  408  is formed on a lower end of the head  406 , while a fitting protrusion  418  is formed on an upper end of the toy body  409  to correspond to the fitting groove  408 . The fitting groove  408  of the head  406  is movably fitted over the fitting protrusion  418  of the toy body  409 , so that the head  406  is rotated relative to the toy body  409 . The cap device according to the second embodiment further includes an actuating external thread  403  which is provided around the external surface of the upper part of the additive container  51 , and an actuating internal thread  413  provided in the head  406  of the actuating unit  400  to engage with the actuating external thread  403  of the additive container  51 . The cap device of this embodiment also includes an O-ring  500  provided at a junction between the head  406  and the body  409  of the actuating unit  400  to prevent leakage of the additive W 2  to an outside of the actuating unit  400 .  
         [0029]     When a user rotates the head  406  relative to the toy body  409  in a predetermined direction, the additive container  51  moves upward relative to both the toy body  409  and the cap body  50   a  due to the movable engagement of the actuating external thread  403  of the additive container  51  with the actuating internal thread  413  of the head  406 . That is, both the movable engagement of the actuating internal thread  413  of the head  406  with the actuating external thread  403  of the additive container  51  and the movable fitting of the fitting protrusion  418  of the body  409  into the fitting groove  408  of the head  406  convert the rotation of the head  406  relative to the body  409  into the upward linear movement of the additive container  51  relative to both the body  409  and the cap body  50   a . Thus, the lower end of the additive container  51  becomes spaced apart from the lower end of the valve part  222  of the cap body  50   a  so that the additive W 2  is discharged from the additive container  51  into the bottle  13  through the opened additive discharging ports  200 . The additive W 2  is mixed with the liquid W 1  in the bottle  13  to prepare a mixture.  
         [0030]      FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  are sectional views showing an operation of a cap device for bottles, according to a third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b , the cap device for bottles according to the third embodiment of the present invention is constructed to discharge the additive W 2  from the additive container  51  into the bottle  13  according to a rotation of the body  409  of the actuating unit  400  relative to the cap body  50   a , in place of the rotation of the head  406  relative to the body  409 , different from the second embodiment.  
         [0031]     The general shape of the cap device according to the third embodiment remains the same as that described for the first embodiment, except for the structure allowing the rotation of the body  409  relative to the cap body  50   a  of the actuating unit  400 . Those elements common to both the first and third embodiments will thus carry the same reference numerals, and further explanation of those elements is not deemed necessary. To allow the rotation of the body  409  relative to the cap body  50   a , a fitting groove  58  is formed on a lower end of the body  409 , while a fitting protrusion  458  is formed on an upper end of the cap body  50   a  to correspond to the fitting groove  58 . The fitting groove  58  of the toy body  409  is movably fitted over the fitting protrusion  458  of the cap body  50   a , so that the toy body  409  is rotated relative to the cap body  50   a . The cap device according to the third embodiment further includes an actuating external thread  53  which is provided around an upper portion of the lower part of the additive container  51 , and an actuating internal thread  453  which is provided in the body  409  to engage with the actuating external thread  53 . In this third embodiment, when a user rotates the body  409  relative to the cap body  50   a  in a predetermined direction, the additive container  51  is moved upward relative to both the body  409  and the cap body  50   a  due to the movable engagement of the actuating external thread  53  of the additive container  51  with the actuating internal thread  453  of the body  409 . That is, both the movable engagement of the actuating internal thread  453  of the body  409  with the actuating external thread  53  of the additive container  51  and the movable fitting of the fitting protrusion  458  of the cap body  50   a  into the fitting groove  58  of the toy body  409  convert the rotation of the body  409  relative to the cap body  50   a  into the upward linear movement of the additive container  51  relative to both the body  409  and the cap body  50   a . Thus, the lower end of the additive container  51  is spaced apart from the lower end of the valve part  222  of the cap body  50   a , so that the additive W 2  is discharged from the additive container  51  into the bottle  13  through the opened additive discharging ports  200 . The additive W 2  is mixed with the liquid W 1  in the bottle  13  to prepare a mixture.  
         [0032]     Although embodiments of the present invention have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. That is, in the embodiments of the present invention illustrated, the additive container is actuated by a rotation of the actuating arm, the head or the body of the actuating unit. However, the actuating unit may be constructed in that the body is divided into two parts, with an upper part of the divided toy body being rotated to actuate the additive container. As a further alternative, the actuating unit may be constructed to actuate the additive container by a joint movement, in place of the rotation of the actuating arm.