Abstract:
A bite-proof spout is disclosed which contains multiple durometer material, such that the higher durometer material is in closer contact to the mouth of a user to be able to withstand biting without undue deterioration than the lower durometer material which is positioned further away from the mouth.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This applications claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/046,869, filed Sep. 5, 2014; and to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/988,077, filed May 2, 2014; the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety into this disclosure. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The subject disclosure relates generally to bottles and drinking containers. In particular, the invention relates to a bottle having a hardened, bite proof spout. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Conventional bottles with spouts are consistently exposed to harsh biting conditions from young children. After a long period of repeated biting, these spouts may become weakened or damaged causing irregular flow or loose particles. Unfortunately, these deficiencies have not been solved and have never been addressed previously. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    Various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail, wherein like reference numerals refer to identical or similar components or steps, with reference to the following figures, wherein: 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates a side view of an exemplary bite proof bottle with a pivoting cover according to the subject disclosure. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  shows a side view of the bottle with the pivoting cover in both an open and close position. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  depicts a front view of the bottle. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  illustrates a back view of the bottle. 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  shows a top view of the pivoting cover. 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  depicts a side view of the bottle with handles. 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  illustrates another side view of the bottle. 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  shows a front view of the bottle with handles. 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  depicts a top view of the bottle with handles with the pivoting cover in both the open and closed position. 
           [0014]      FIG. 10  illustrates a back view of the bottle with the cover in the closed position. 
           [0015]      FIG. 11  shows a cross section view of the bottle about A-A in  FIG. 10 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 12  depicts a back view of the bottle with the cover in the open position. 
           [0017]      FIG. 13  illustrates a cross section view of the bottle about B-B in  FIG. 12 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 14  shows a back perspective view of a bite proof bottle with a pivoting cover having another exemplary spout and lid according to the subject disclosure. 
           [0019]      FIG. 15  depicts a side perspective view of the bottle with the cover in the closed position. 
           [0020]      FIG. 16  illustrates a side perspective view of the bottle with the cover in the open position. 
           [0021]      FIG. 17  shows an upper perspective view of a bottle having a bite proof spout according to the subject disclosure. 
           [0022]      FIG. 18  depicts another upper perspective view of a bottle having a bite proof spout. 
           [0023]      FIGS. 19-20  show a front and side view of the bottle having a bite proof spout. 
           [0024]      FIG. 21  illustrates an upper perspective view of a soft top insert having a bite proof spout. 
           [0025]      FIG. 22  depicts a top view of the soft top insert having the bite proof spout. 
           [0026]      FIG. 23  shows a front view of the soft top insert having the bite proof spout. 
           [0027]      FIG. 24  shows a side views of the soft top insert having the bite proof spout. 
           [0028]      FIG. 25  illustrates a front cross section view of the soft top insert having the bite proof spout. 
           [0029]      FIG. 26  illustrates a side cross section view of the soft top insert having the bite proof spout. 
           [0030]      FIGS. 27-35  illustrate an exemplary process of making the soft top insert with the bite proof spout. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0031]    Particular embodiments of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the figures. 
         [0032]      FIG. 1  illustrates a bottle  10  having a lid  20 , a container  30 , a spout  40 , a cover  50  and a pivoting connection  60  embodied as a strap  54 . 
         [0033]      FIG. 2  shows the cover  50  having a cap portion  52  and the strap  54 . The cap portion  52  may be co-molded with the strap  54  which is made of a flexible material such that it allows the cap portion to pivot about the pivoting connection  60 . The cap portion  52  may also be of a harder durometer than the strap  54  by using methods later discussed herein. However, the strap  54  may also be made from a second material than the cap portion  52 . The cap portion  52  and strap  54  can take a variety of different shapes and sizes and be made from a wide variety of suitable materials with various thicknesses and durometer. 
         [0034]    In a closed position, the cover  50  will enclose the spout  40  such to prevent exposure of the spout  40 . The cap portion  52  has a shape which generally follows the contour of the spout  40  shape to create a slip-fit frictional connection preventing the cover  50  from slipping off of the spout  40  without a predetermined amount of force to overcome the friction fit. This force should be high enough to keep the cover  50  in a closed position if the bottle  10  is knocked over or dropped, but low enough such that a young child or parent can remove the cover  50  from the spout  40  with ease. 
         [0035]    The cap portion  52  may also have a beaded edge  57  and a pull tab  58 , which gives a user a place to grip onto for increased leverage of the cover  50  and to facilitate removing the cover  50  from the closed position. In addition, the cap portion  52  may connect directly to the lid  20  or base of the spout  40  by a mating feature between the beaded edge  57  and the spout  40  or lid  20 . The mating feature may act as a slip-fit or snap fastener, or any other suitable connection to prevent the cover  50  from slipping off of the spout  40 . 
         [0036]      FIGS. 3-4  illustrate the spout  40  having a top portion  42 , a bottom portion  44 , a middle band  46  and a lip  48 . The spout  40  can be made in various shapes or sizes, and be made from a variety of suitable materials. An opening in the top portion  42  may be made in the form of a circle, oval, race track, or any other suitable shape. 
         [0037]    The middle band  46  acts as a bite guard and subsequently protects the spout  40  from biting of the user. The middle band  46  may have a first durometer and the top portion  42  and bottom portion  44  may have a second durometer. The first durometer is greater than the second durometer in order to provide added bite protection. Alternatively, both the top portion  42  and the middle band  46  may have the first durometer while the bottom portion  44  may have the second durometer, thus protecting the entire upper portion of the spout  40  from gnawing or biting. 
         [0038]    The middle band  46  may be manufactured to have a first color while the top portion  42  and bottom portion  44  have a second color. This gives the user a visual indicator of where the material durometer changes and thus where the bite guard is located. Furthermore, using different colors for the middle band  46  may act to distinguish spouts with different durometer bite guards. For instance, a pink middle band  46  may represent a durometer of 70 Shore while a turquoise middle band  46  may represent a durometer of 100 Shore. Any range of durometer values may be used provided a difference in durometer values exist between the first material and second material on the soft top. 
         [0039]    The middle band  46  may be extended completely flush with the top portion  42  and bottom portion  44 , or may bow out by a predetermined width to form a bump  47  to further distinguish it from the rest of the spout  40 . The bump  47  may be located at the top, middle or bottom of the middle band  46 , or any combination thereof. The middle band  46  may also include various textures, patterns or designs on its surface or interior to further distinguish it from the rest of the spout  40 . Differing the texture of the middle band  46  or providing the bump  47  will provide the user an additional tactile feedback of where the durometer changes when they drink from the bottle  10 . 
         [0040]    In order to form the difference in durometer, the middle band  46  having the first durometer may be compression molded, and then the rest of the spout  40  having the second durometer may be subsequently liquid injection molded around the middle band  46 . In an alternative embodiment, both the top portion  42  and middle band  46  may have the first durometer while the bottom portion  44  has the second durometer. This may be manufactured in the same fashion as the previous embodiment. It also may be manufactured by first compression molding the top portion  42  and middle band  46  with the first durometer, then subsequently compression molding the bottom portion  44  with the second durometer. 
         [0041]      FIG. 5  depicts the strap  54  having a textured inner surface comprised of raised ridges  54   a  and grooves  54   b . Since the strap  54  has a smaller thickness at grooves  54   b , the strap  54  will be more flexible and thus the cover  50  can more easily pivot about the pivoting connection  60 . The raised ridges  54   a  also provide an increased tactile surface for the user to grip when removing the cover  50 . The surface of strap  54  may be formed with a variety of patterns, shapes, thicknesses and hardness. 
         [0042]    Furthermore, the cap portion  52  may be constructed to have a different durometer from the strap  54  in a similar method as the middle portion  46  as recited above. In the closed position, this would allow for the cap portion  52  to be harder in order to protect the spout  40  while accidentally dropped or knocked over. At the same time, constructing the strap  54  softer would allow the user to more easily manipulate the position of cover  50  from open to closed or vice versa. 
         [0043]      FIGS. 6-9  illustrate the bottle  10  further comprising handles  70  which extend out from opposing sides of the lid  20  and curve around towards a lower portion of the container  30 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , the handles  70  may also include a multitude of grooves  72  which enhance the grip of the user. The handles  70  can take a variety of different shapes and sizes and may have different types of grips such as rubber, plastic, groves, notches, apertures, textures, or any other suitable material or device to facilitate gripping by a user. 
         [0044]      FIG. 10-13  depict the lid  20 , the spout  40 , the cover  50 , the strap  54  and the pivoting connection  60  in greater detail.  FIG. 11  illustrates a cross section of the bottle  10  about section lines A-A in  FIG. 10  with the cover  50  in the closed position. 
         [0045]    The lid  20  further comprises a ventilation shaft  22 , a vent extrusion  22   a  and a cover attachment mechanism  80 . In addition, the cover  50  further comprises a recess  53  in the cap portion  52 , and a cover anchor  55  located at a second end of the strap  54 , wherein the cap portion  52  is located at a first end of the strap  54 . As best shown in  FIG. 11 , the cover anchor  55  is generally round and comprises an aperture which receives the vent extrusion  22   a  when the bottle  10  is assembled. However, the cover anchor  55  may take a variety of shapes and sizes suitable to mate and/or attach the cover  50  to the lid  20 . This configuration keeps the cover  50  attached to the bottle  10  and allows for the strap  54  to rotate about the pivoting connection  60 , while also being removable during washing. Furthermore, the cover anchor  55  may instead be attached or integral to the spout  40 . 
         [0046]    The spout  40  further comprises a horizontally extending ridge  48  and a ventilation aperture  49 . When assembled, the ridge  48  rests between the lid  20  and an upper portion  32  of the container  30  and is fixed in place. The ridge  48  also acts to fix the cover anchor  55  into place between the spout  40  and the lid  20 . The ventilation aperture  49  rests against a bottom of the vent extrusion  22   a  of the lid  20 . This allows air to flow from the atmosphere, through the ventilation shaft  22  of the lid  20 , the ventilation aperture  49  of the spout  40 , and into the container  30 . 
         [0047]    Since the cover anchor  55  surrounds the ventilation shaft  22 , both the pivoting connection  60  and the ventilation shaft  22  can be displaced by a predetermined amount from the spout  40 . The ventilation shaft  22  is positioned relative to the spout  40  to permit the free flow of air into the container  30  while in use. In addition, the pivoting connection  60  is suitably positioned relative to the spout  40  so that the cover  50  may not be obstructed by the user from gripping the spout  40  with their mouth while drinking from the container  30 . It is to be understood, however, that the ventilation shaft  22  may be located on different parts of the lid  20 , container  30  or spout  40  as will be shown in an alternative embodiment described in  FIG. 14 . 
         [0048]      FIGS. 12-13  show the bottle with the strap  54  (in dashed line) and cover anchor  55  hidden.  FIG. 13  illustrates a cross section of the bottle  10  about section lines B-B in  FIG. 12 . As shown, the lid  20  comprises an inner space  25  which surrounds the vent extrusion  22   a . The inner space  25  is adapted to receive the cover anchor  55  when assembled and fixes the cover anchor  55  in place between the lid  20  and the spout  40 . 
         [0049]    The cover attachment mechanism  80  is shown in more detail in  FIG. 13 . The recess  53  in the cover  50  has a resilient undercut which slightly flexes as it is pushed onto the cover attachment point  23 . The recess  53  flexes back into its original configuration when installed into the open position, thereby gripping the cover attachment point  23  of the lid  20  and preventing the cover  50  from flipping back into the closed position or any other position while the user is drinking from the bottle  10 . It is to be understood that the cover attachment mechanism  80  can take a variety of forms, including Velcro®, snap, hook and loop, slip-fit, button, or magnets fasteners, or any other suitable coupling mechanism. 
         [0050]      FIG. 14  shows a back perspective view of a bite proof bottle  110  with a pivoting cover  150  having another exemplary spout  140  and lid  120  according to the subject disclosure. As shown in  FIGS. 14-16 , the cover  150  includes a cap portion  152  and a strap  154  which connects to the lid  120  at a pivoting connection  160 . The cap portion  152  also includes a recess  153  which receives a complementary cover attachment point  123  on the lid  120 .  FIGS. 15-16  show another method to attach the cover  153  to the lid  120  which uses an integrated pin  223  connection which fits into an aperture  253  located within the cover  150   
         [0051]      FIG. 14  shows the spout  140  comprising a top portion  142 , bottom portion  144 , middle portion  146  and a vent  145 . Here, the strap  154  is attached between the spout  140  and the lid  120  in a separate position away from the vent  145 . The vent  145  communicates air from the atmosphere directly into a container  130 . The middle portion  146  may be constructed to have similar features of the middle portion  46  as recited above. 
         [0052]      FIGS. 17-26  show another briefly mentioned above process in which an upper portion  242  of a soft top insert  200  may be constructed to include the previous mentioned top portion  42  and the middle band  46  of a single material composition defining the spout  240 . That is, the spout  240  may be made of a harder first material composition of a first harder durometer (such as in the range of 60), and the second softer lower region  144  may be made of a softer second material composition comprised of a softer durometer (such as in the range of 50). 
         [0053]    As will be described in more detail later, the spout  240  may be formed of, and fastened to, the softer lower region  144  of the soft top insert  200  via a compression molding technique and/or any other suitable technique capable of fastening a spout of a first durometer to a lower base portion of a soft top insert which is composed of a different second durometer composition. 
         [0054]      FIGS. 21-24  illustrate various exemplary views of the soft top insert  200  including the spout  240  having a single material consistency of a first durometer and a lower region  144  having a single material consistency of a second durometer being softer than the spout  240 . 
         [0055]      FIGS. 25-26  depict front and side cross section views of the spout soft top insert  200  including the spout  240  connected to the lower region  144 . As shown, various contours may be constructed into the region adjacent to the connection between the spout  240  and the lower region  144  for a variety of different purposes. For example, various concentric bumps or ridges can be configured to create a connecting lap-joint between the between the spout  240  and the upper end of the lower region  144 . Alternatively, a channel  220  can be constructed adjacent to the spout  240  and the upper end of the lower region  144  in order to provide a flow area to allow for trapped gasses during the compression molding process to escape. A plurality of different configurations is possible at this juncture between the spout  240  and the upper end of the lower region  144 . 
         [0056]      FIGS. 27-35  illustrate an exemplary process for constructing the soft top insert, and would be a compression molding process in which one tool uses two different molds. A first mold would be used to construct the spout tip and a second mold may be used for an overmold process to connect the spout tip to the lower portion of the soft top insert. 
         [0057]    In a first step as shown in  FIG. 27 , the spout tip is processed using molding tool  300 . A first material composition  350 , such as a suitable silicon, is placed between an upper  312  and a lower  314  mold adjacent to a removable insert or core  316 . The first composition is placed over the removable core  316  and adjacent to the various cavities adapted to receive the molten composition to form the various spout tips. By way of example shown in  FIG. 27 , slabs of 60 durometer silicone may be placed over the removable insert or core  316 . The removable core  316  can be a single piece core or a modular core that is assembled with various component parts. As shown in  FIG. 27 , the various component parts of the removable core stack adjacent to each other, forming the recess structure that will define the shape of the spout between the upper  312  and lower  314  molds. 
         [0058]    In the first step process, the removable core  316  is aligned within the upper  312  and lower  314  molds and the various spouts are formed by a first compression molding process in which the molding material is generally preheated, and is placed in the open, heated mold cavity defined by the upper  312  and lower  314  molds and the inner removable core  316 . The mold is closed with a predetermined force, and pressure is applied to force the mold material  350  into contact with all mold areas, while heat and pressure are maintained until the molding material has cured to form the shape of the spouts. Following the spout molding process, the spout may undergo a curing process at a predetermined heat and duration of time. 
         [0059]    The advantage of compression molding is its ability to mold fairly intricate parts. It is also one of the lowest cost molding methods. However, it is to be understood that other methods for molding the spout may be employed, such as but not limited to other methods such as transfer molding and injection molding. 
         [0060]    In a second step as shown in  FIG. 28 , the individual spouts are shown attached to the removable core which has been removed from the upper  312  and lower  314  molds. Also shown, the individual spouts  352  may be removed as rows of spouts from the removable core  316 . As shown in  FIG. 29 , various individual components of the removable core  316  may then modularly separated from each other so that each of the individually molded spout tips  352  may be accessed and removed from the removable internal core  316 . Any extraneous flashing may be cleaned off, or removed from the individual spouts. 
         [0061]      FIG. 30  shows another step in which the molds for the first spout mold have been removed and the molds for the second process are put in place in the compression mold tooling. In the second overmold process, the spout mold is over molded with another mold material of a second durometer. 
         [0062]    In this step, the overmold has a mold comprised of three layers. As shown in  FIGS. 30-31 , the molded spout tips  352  are placed upside down onto mating projections  320  on the bottom most lower layer  314  of the mold. In a next step, the middle layer mold  318  is aligned and lowered over the first lower layer  314  holding the molded spout tips  352 . The middle layer  318  includes an internal mold recess adapted to be configured to the outer shape of the soft top insert. When the upper third layer  312  is closed over the second and first layers, an internal shape forming the soft top insert is constructed between the first  314 , middle  318  and upper  312  molds and overmolded or melted onto the preformed spout tip. 
         [0063]    Referring back to  FIG. 32 , a second mold material  354  of a predetermined quantity of a second softer durometer material is placed over the internal mold recess above the middle layer  318 . For example, predetermined quantities of slabs of 50 durometer silicon may be positioned adjacent to various recessed defined in the middle layer  318  of the mold to form the lower portion of the soft top insert. 
         [0064]    As shown in  FIG. 33 , the lower face of the upper mold  312  includes at least one projection  320  defining a negative construction of the internal surface area of the soft top insert. When the upper mold layer  312  is compressed against the second middle layer mold  318 , the projections  320  on the lower face of the upper mold  312  defines the inner construction of the soft top insert. During the compression process, the upper  312 , middle  318  and lower  314  mold layers closed against each other under high pressure and heat defining the configuration of the soft top insert and it being overmolded onto the hardened spout tip  352 . That is, the top mold layer  312  compresses onto the middle mold layer  318  and finally onto the lower mold layer  314  of the mold. This compression forms the bottom portion of the soft top insert and causes the bottom of the spout to overmold onto the spout tip. Thereafter, the complete soft top insert may be processed through a subsequent curing procedure. Since the spout tip of a first durometer has been cured, it is possible to form a clean secure bond connection against the upper connecting surface of the lower region of the soft top insert. 
         [0065]    Various techniques may be implemented to create a secure connection between the spout tip and the upper portion of the lower region of the soft top insert below the spout tip, such as by providing a lap-joint or other suitable interlocking structure there-between according to this subject disclosure. Other alignment and position fastening techniques may be employed to ensure that the position of the spout tip adjacent to the lower layer mold will not shift from its axial alignment during the compression process such as by forming ridges or joints to keep the spout in a predetermined position during the compression process. See for example the various ridges and bumps  220  integrated onto the spout as shown in  FIGS. 25-26  at the junction adjacent to the spout tip  240  and the lower region  144  of the soft top insert  200 . 
         [0066]    Likewise, various other processes may be implemented to bond the spout tip of a first durometer to a lower region of a soft top insert. For example, instead of a two step process, both the spout tip of a first durometer and the lower region of the soft top insert may be formed in a single compression process. Furthermore, other manufacturing processes may be employed, including but not limited to for example, a first or second stage compression molding process, an injection molding process, or other suitable process capable of securely bonding a spout tip of a first durometer to a lower region of a soft top insert of a second durometer. Various different suitable durometers may be used according to this subject disclosure. 
         [0067]      FIG. 34  shows the positioning of various soft top inserts  354  webbed together after the compression molding process has occurred and the upper layer has been removed from the middle layer mold  318 . 
         [0068]      FIG. 35  depicts the various soft top inserts  308  webbed together prior to removal of excess material flashing between adjacent soft top inserts  308 . The complete spouts  352  are removed from the mold and set to cool. 
         [0069]    The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that changes or modifications may be made to the above described embodiment without departing from the broad inventive concepts of the invention. It is understood therefore that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment which is described, but is intended to cover all modifications and changes within the scope and spirit of the invention.