Abstract:
A cover for a liquid container having a mechanism for selectively attaching the cover to the liquid receptacle, a valve centrally located upon the cover, the valve being adapted to either allow the flow of liquids or disallow the flow of liquids, the valve having a pair of outwardly extending hinged ears pivotal to urge the valve into the on position; a pair of spacing horns formed on the cover, each horn extending upwardly and coaxially from the top surface of the cover proximate the periphery of the cover.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention as described herein relates to liquid dispensers, and more particularly, to portable dispensers for sanitary dispensing liquids for human consumption. When a liquid dispenser or container is used by only one person the problems of the transfer of germs, viruses, and the like does not arise. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. 
     Commonly at an event, the participants will require the infusion of liquids to prevent dehydration brought on by the perspiration of their exertion. The liquid used is most commonly plain water, although, various sweetened or electrolytic replacement types of drinks are also used. Frequently, each participant has his or her own liquid container for fluid replenishment and when each participant limits himself or herself to their own container the problem of transfer of infectious agents does not occur. However, the participants, particularly children, will share a liquid container with other participants and thus share the infectious agents which may lead to the spread of colds, flu, or other communicable diseases. 
     At some team events, the team will provide a group of liquid dispensers for use by the participants. While, the intent may be to allow each participant to have his or her own liquid dispenser, in the rush of the competition, the “ownership” of a particular dispenser is frequently in question which results in the containers being shared. 
     Specifically, the problem is that the lips of a person will touch the mouth of the dispenser, contaminating the dispenser with the germs, bacteria, or viruses from the first user. Then the second and subsequent users will drink from the dispenser and inadvertently both share the existing germs, bacteria, and viruses and add their own germs, bacteria, and viruses to the collection on the dispenser. This behavior often leads to the spread of an illness throughout a team or school much to the consternation of the parents. 
     One attempt to resolve the problem has been the use of disposable drinking cups. However, this produces an additional cost and participants will frequently reuse a drinking cup obviating the sanitary benefit of the disposable cups. Additionally, the use of disposable cups causes difficulties at the container dispensing the liquid when a large group of participants will queue up and mill about trying to fill their cups. Finally, there is the problem of disposing of the used cups. 
     While in most cases, the illness that spread is something relatively harmless such as a common cold that may have been spread anyway, there is, however, the risk of something more harmful being spread. Regardless of what the participants have been told, there likely will be at least some of the participants who will simply grab the first liquid dispenser found and drink from it thus spreading germs. 
     What is needed is a sanitary liquid dispenser that is designed to minimize, if not prevent, the spread of germs, bacteria, and viruses by preventing oral contact with the users. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention as disclosed herein is a cover for a liquid container that provides for the sanitary dispensations of liquids to a user. The cover is mated to a conventional bottle using a conventional mating mechanism, such as threads to screw the cover on, or deformable snap fit to snap the cover on or off. 
     The cover is a similar to a conventional cover and has a central spout for dispensing the liquid. The spout has an on/off valve so that the spout can be turned off and the container moved or stored without spilling the contents. The valve may be a conventional pull-on, push-off valve that is commonly used for water bottles and the like. 
     The cover may have a pair of upwardly extending horns formed on its periphery. The horns located oppositely on the periphery and extend upwardly from the top surface of the cover. The horns space the face of the user away from the surface of the spout forcing the user to squirt the liquid into the mouth of the user and preventing the user&#39;s mouth from contacting the spout, thus preventing the transfer of bacteria, germs, or viruses. 
     By keeping the spout and top of the cover germ free, the liquid container may be used by one or more user. Even when the best efforts to segregate each user to his or her own liquid container fail, the shared liquid container will allow the sharing of only liquid and not of germs, bacteria, or viruses. 
     The invention is a sanitary liquid dispenser designed to minimize, if not prevent, the spread of germs, bacteria, and viruses by preventing oral contact with the users. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows an overall perspective view of the invention attached to a conventional container. 
     FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the invention taken along a diameter of the invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the invention like FIG. 2, and, rotated a quarter turn showing a second embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Looking first to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the sanitary cover  12  attached to a conventional water bottle  10 . The sanitary cover  12  has a centrally located liquid valve  20  that may be opened by urging the valve  20  upwardly or away from the bottle  10  and similarly, the valve  20  may be closed by urging the valve, downwardly toward the bottle  10 . The liquid valve  20  may be joined to the nib  24  as shown in FIG. 2. A pair of horns  16  are located on the periphery of the sanitary cover  12 , sharing a horizontal plane with the nib  24 , being horizontally displaced from the liquid valve  20  and nib  24  and having a central axis that is generally parallel to a central axis of the nib  24  (see FIG. 2) to space the user away from the liquid spout  22 . The valve  20  comprises a movable cap  13  centrally affixed on the cover  12  and a central aperture  15 , and the cover  12  further includes an upwardly extending reduced diameter nib  24 , the nib  24  sized to fit within the central aperture  15  of the cap, the nib  24  further having radial orifices formed therein; the cap  13  further being movable axially such that the cap  12  and nib  24  may closably mate with the central aperture  15  of the cap  13 . 
     The sanitary cover  12  may be attached to the bottle  10  using any suitable mechanism. Examples of mechanisms for attaching the sanitary cover  12  would include mating threads on the bottle  10  an the sanitary cover  12 , a sanitary cover  12  fabricated from a sufficiently deformable material to be deformably fit over the bottle  10  and retained by mating lips, or friction. Another example would be a disposable sanitary cover  12  that is placed on the bottle  10  during the manufacturing process after the bottle  10  has been filled with liquid and is intended for a single use followed by disposal or recycling of the bottle  10  and the sanitary cover  12 . 
     A preferred method of attachment would be having male threads formed on the bottle  10  and mating female threads  32  formed on the inside of the skirt  28  of the sanitary cover  12 . Thus, the sanitary cover  12  may be removed to allow the bottle  10  to be filled with a liquid of the user&#39;s choosing and the sanitary cover  12  replaced and screwed tight using the threads  32  to prevent leakage and allow ease of transport. 
     The sanitary cover  12  has at least one horn  16  attached to the periphery of the cover  12 . The horns  16  extend upwardly from the top surface  26  of the sanitary cover. The horns  16  extend further from the top surface  26  than the spout  22  so as to space the user from the spout  22  and prevent the user from mouthing and drinking from the spout  22 . The length of the horns  16  will vary dependent on the distance the horns  16  are spaced apart, the number of horns  16  and the age or size of the intended user. The horns  16  are of sufficient length to preclude a user from placing his or her lips on the spout  22  while drinking, but not being so long as to provide difficulties with the user being unable to squirt the liquid into the user&#39;s mouth. Similarly, the spacing of the horns  16  should be sufficient wide so that the horns  16  will abut on the cheeks of the user and not the mouth of the user while being sufficiently narrow so that the horns  16  will not pass outside and beyond the cheeks of the user. 
     While the sanitary cover may function with a single horn  16 , the functionality of the sanitary cover  12  is improved with the use of a plurality of horns. While the use of a single horn  16  does not mandate that the user not place the spout  22  in his or her mouth, it can be easier to drink from the spout  22  with a single horn  16 . The plurality of horns  16  effectively recesses the spout  22  away from the face of the user forcing the user to squirt the liquid from the spout  22  into the mouth of the user. 
     The horns  16  may be of any suitable width and should be of sufficient width and thickness so as to not injure a user. However, when the horns  16  become either individually too wide or too numerous, the horns  16  begin to merge into a ring which will retain the liquid intented to be consumed and the retained liquid may becomes a vehicle for the transfer of germs, bacteria, or viruses. 
     The horns  16  have been disclosed in a preferred form it is understood that the horns may of a multiplicity of sizes and shapes. Some examples of shapes for horns would include open loops, horns that are bent at a selected distance above the periphery of the cover, or the horns  16  may even be decoratively filigreed. The particular shape of the horns  16  is unimportant so long as the horns  16  provide the mechanism for spacing the face, and more particularly, the lips of a user away from the spout  20  to prevent the user from transferring germs, bacteria, or viruses from the user&#39;s mouth to the spout  20  where the germs, bacteria, or viruses may be re-transferred to another user. 
     The sanitary cover  12  may be fabricated to attach to any standard sized bottle  10  or other container. Examples of standard size bottles would include soft drink bottles, sport drink bottles, bottled water bottles, and water bottles that are sold empty. When used with existing bottles, it is expected that the sanitary cover  12  will be removed from a bottle  10  after use and reused by attachment to another bottle  10 . 
     Conventional soft drink bottles, while varying in capacity, all have consistent sized threads to accept a conventional screw type bottle cap. It is understood that when the sanitary cover  12  is adapted for use with a soft drink bottle, that the sanitary cover  12  will be adapted to have threads to attach to and mate with the male threads of the standard soft drink bottle  10 . 
     Sport drink bottles such as those sold under the trademark of Gator Aide® or other competing products also use a standard sized threaded bottle  10 , however, a sport drink bottle is a larger size than a soft drink bottle and thus, the sanitary cover  12  may be constructed having threads sized to mate with the male threads of a sport drink bottle  10 . 
     While two examples of different sized bottles  10  have been illustrated, it is understood that the sanitary cover  12  can be fabricated of any suitable size to fit on a bottle  10  of a selected size. It should be noted, that the spacing of the horns  16  must be retained in the ranges as was previously stated. With a bottle  10  having a particularly small diameter neck  18 , the horns  16  may be extended outwardly from the periphery of the sanitary cover  12 . Conversely, with a bottle  10  having a particularly large diameter neck  18 , the horns  16  may be inset from the periphery of the sanitary cover  12  so as to maintain a proper spacing of the horns  16 . 
     The spout  20  may be a cognitional pull open, as indicated by arrow “A” in FIG. 2; push close, as indicated by arrow “B” in FIG. 2, type of spout  20  and in an alternate embodiment, the spout  20  has outwardly extending ears  40 . Additionally, the addition of ears  40  to the spout  20  may further space the fingers of a user away from the spout  20  to reduce the opportunity of the transfer of bacteria, germs, or viruses from the hand on one user to the mouth of another user. 
     The ears  40  may be simply exertions to the spout  20  to aid in gripping, or the ears  40  may have a hinge  42  formed in its length to allow the ear  40  to hinge and assist the opening of the spout  20 . The hinge  42  may be any suitable mechanism to allow the hinging of the hinged ear  41  and is preferably a reduced thickness area to form a bendable area where the hinged ear  41  may be bent to facilitate the opening of the spout  20 . 
     It is preferred that the hinged ear  41  be formed so that the spout  20  may be opened by simply pulling up on the hinged ear  41  or by pressing downwardly and together on the hinged ears  41  so that the hinged ears  41  will operate as a cam to urge the spout  20  away from the cover top surface  26  to open the spout  20  for dispensing the liquid. 
     In its use, a user will select a bottle  10  with an attached sanitary cover  12  and if necessary, fill the bottle  10  with the user&#39;s preferred liquid. When filling the bottle  10  the user will remove the sanitary cover  12  by unscrewing the threads  32  of otherwise operating the attachment mechanism. The opened bottle  10  will then be filled with a selected liquid and the sanitary cover  12  replaced. 
     To use the sanitary cover  12 , the user will first open the spout  20  by urging the spout away from the top surface  26  of the sanitary cover  12 . In the first embodiment of the sanitary cover  12 , the user will grasp the periphery of the spout  20  and pull. With the second embodiment of the sanitary cover  12 , the user will grasp the ears  40 ,  41  of the spout  20  and either pull the ears  40 ,  41  or squeeze the hinged ears  41  to urge the spout away from the top surface  26  of the sanitary cover  12  and open the spout  20 . With the spout  20  open, the user may then tip the bottle  10  up and while pointing the spout toward the user&#39;s mouth squeeze the bottle  10  to squirt the liquid into the user&#39;s mouth. When the user has consumed sufficient liquid, the user may relax the grip on the bottle  10  and return the bottle  10  with the sanitary cover  12  to its storage location to await further use. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention