Abstract:
A popcorn container funnel cap including a mounting flange to engage under the bead of a popcorn container and including a longitudinally projecting open sided spout converging to a reduced in cross section mouth large enough for free flow of popcorn.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to containers for receiving popped popcorn for individual consumption. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Popcorn is a popular snack at movies, theatres, amusement parks and other places of entertainment. The product is most tasteful when flavored by melted butter or other types of flavoring oils. Oil and butter render the popped kernels greasy to the touch and require excess use of napkins, tissue and the like. It has been long been a dilemma to the movie theatre operator that the profit generated from the demand for popcorn is often times offset to a great extent by the propensity for patrons to drop greasy popcorn on the seating upholstery, carpet or other floor covering and/or to wipe their greasy fingers on the arm rests or seats. 
         [0005]    This then leads to the need to, when furnishing a theatre, giving attention to stain resistant upholstery and grease resistant floor coverings. This, and removal of greasy stains and fingerprints from the upholstery, adds to the expense of equipping and maintaining a movie theatre. Greasy or even unflavored popcorn on the floor can result in customers stepping on it, particularly in the darkened theatre, resulting in a slip and fall incident leading to a painful injury to the customer and liability to the theatre operator, all adding to the expense of operation and driving up insurance premiums. 
         [0006]    Popcorn is often sold in an unbuttered state with the customer having ready access to the condiment stand where an abundant supply of melted butter or flavoring oil is available to be dispensed onto the hot popcorn to permeate down through the popped kernels to the bottom of the popcorn container. Juxtaposed the flavoring oil dispenser is typically a paper napkin dispenser with an abundant supply of napkins to encourage the customers to make ready use thereof for wiping of his or her fingers after each helping of the flavored popcorn. The napkins are often taken in abundance and the excess or soiled napkins promptly wadded up and discarded on the floor adjacent the customers seat thus leaving a plentiful collection of napkins at the end of the feature movie to be collected by the cleaning crew during the intermission. This is not only wasteful of the napkins but adds to the cost of clean up. 
         [0007]    From the foregoing, it is clear that a need exists for serving of butter flavored popcorn without the necessity of the consumer handling the individual popped and flavored kernels. In recognition of this need, numerous different proposals have been made in effort to solve the problem. One such proposal is a funnel constructed of paper and formed on its base with radially inwardly projecting, upwardly inclined crush tabs to permit engagement of the funnel with a top bead of a popcorn container. The funnel is then formed with a conically shaped circumferentially continuous wall tapering down to a reduced in diameter restrictive opening to constrict flow of the popcorn and to cause it to jam up at the opening to restrict free flow of the kernels themselves. A device of this patent is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,415 to Schreiber. While of benefit for its intended purposes, devices of this type suffer the shortcoming that as the popped kernels jam up at the outlet of the funnel the user is required to, while holding the container elevated, shake and jiggle the popcorn container in effort to induce release of even limited numbers of popped kernels. Such an arrangement is inconvenient for the customer sitting in a quiet crowded movie theatre faced with the prospect of elevating the container over his or her head and in the line of sight of viewers sitting behind, while he or she jiggles and shakes the container in an inverted orientation in effort to dispense the popcorn at what can seem like an excruciating slow rate of flow. Such inconvenience and tendency to draw unwanted attention to the consuming customer would discourage use by the customers even if the product were made available commercially. 
         [0008]    Other efforts to solve the problem propose use of popcorn bags to be held open by a funnel and sleeve arrangement to dispense popcorn therefrom. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0139085 to Clark. Such devices are expensive to manufacture and awkward to use, particularly in the diminished lighting often employed in movie theatres. 
         [0009]    A dilemma thus far has been successfully and economically attaching a funnel cap in a releasable manner to a popcorn container and avoiding the adverse consequences of restricting free flow of popcorn kernels in such a manner as to discourage use by the purchasing public. It is believed that standard popcorn kernels have a maximum width of about ¾ of an inch and a length of a bout 1 inch. Given the fact that conventional popcorn containers typically have a circular, square or rectangular cross section of about 4 inches or greater in transverse dimension for effective capping of the container and directing of popcorn flow in an efficient, convenient and economical manner, a practical solution would envision a funnel apparatus which is convenient to mount and which would incorporate a conical or pyramidal shaped funnel wall tapering upwardly to a fairly robust outlet defining a mouth having a cross sectional area of about 1.8 square inches or greater for egress or the popcorn kernels. I have discovered that a cross sectional dimension greater than 1½ inches and preferably about 1¾ to 2 inches will suffice in inducing free flow of popcorn without excessive shaking or jiggling. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    The popcorn container funnel of the present invention is characterized by a retainer flange to fit about the open end of a popcorn container to releasably attach to the container and a funnel converging to a larger mouth outlet for free flow of popcorn. The funnel includes an axially projecting funnel wall narrowing in the distal direction inwardly from its opposite sides to terminate in a wide delivery mouth such that popped popcorn kernels from the container will have free flow to such mouth for consumption by the user. 
         [0011]    In some embodiments, the cap includes a retainer flange configured with peripheral, radially inwardly projecting bearing elements which frictionally fit over the marginal bead of the container to hold the cap in place. In other instances, the retaining flange may be split to adjust to different diameters or may even include an elastic band or the like to draw it closed into a mounting arrangement. 
         [0012]    Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the invention. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a popcorn container cap apparatus embodying the funnel apparatus of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is an end view of the cap apparatus shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a partial front view of a cap apparatus shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a partial longitudinal is a sectional view, in enlarge scale, taken along the line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4 ; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0018]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , the popcorn container funnel apparatus of the present invention includes, generally, a funnel apparatus  21  constructed to releasably connect to a popcorn container  23  and formed with a peripheral annular retainer flange  25  and a longitudinally projecting spout  27  converging into mouth  31  having an opening greater than 1½ inches in diameter for free flow of popcorn. 
         [0019]    Popcorn containers  23  come in all different sizes and shapes, often with self supporting walls defining an upwardly facing opening for access to the popcorn. It is this style of container to which the cap apparatus of this invention is attached. There are the usual small, medium, large caps or containers, sometimes cylindrical, square or rectangular in horizontal cross section. Thus, the cap apparatus  21  comes in different sizes and shapes for accommodating different size and configurations of containers. Typically, the walls of such containers are somewhat flexible to thus permit a relatively rigid cap to snap fit thereover. In other instances, the containers may be more rigid the retainer rings of the caps may be more flexible or even of an adjustable circumference as explained below. 
         [0020]    Popcorn containers  23  are conventionally constructed of stiff waxed or coated paper or plastic and are typically configured at their upward extremity with radially outwardly turned circumferential beads  37  ( FIG. 4 ). The funnel apparatus  21 , in one embodiment, is formed with the retainer flange  25  configured about the interior thereof with a plurality of radially inwardly projecting circumferentially spaced cam like teeth defining respective bearing elements formed on their radially inward sides with radially outwardly and downwardly inclined bearing surfaces  41  to cooperate in combination to form an outline of a frusto conically shaped envelope to be frictionally received over the bead  37  to nest such bead in the annular groove  43  at the top of the respective teeth. 
         [0021]    The funnel apparatus  21  may be constructed of stiff paper, plastic or any other desired material and, in some embodiments, will be configured with a base defining a continuous band forming the retainer flange  25 . The base is then formed with a low inclined conically shaped parametrical, annular shoulder  47  which angles radially inwardly and distally from the flange  25  at an angle approximately 60° to 80° to the longitudinal axis and then transitions distally to form the conically shaped scoop  27  angling radially inwardly and distally at an angle approximately 20° to the axis. The scoop  27  may take many different forms, it only being important that it funnel down to a mouth  31  having a lateral dimension greater than 1½ inches and preferably about 1¾-2 inches or greater in diameter to provide for a free flow of popcorn when the funnel is tilted downwardly toward the mouth. In the preferred embodiment the funnel wall is formed at the mouth with a radially inturned annular reinforcing bead  32  having a radial width of about ⅛ of an inch. In the particular embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , the funnel wall is generally conically shaped but in some embodiments may be in the form a skewed cone. 
         [0022]    As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the funnel apparatus  21  may be manufactured from formed paper or cardboard, lightweight molded plastic or any other desirable material. In practice, the apparatus may include longitudinal corrugations or reinforcement ribs to contribute to the longitudinal stiffness thereof. It may come in selected different configurations and dimensions to accommodate the shape of various different containers and cross sectional shapes thereof. A theatre concession stand may stock an abundant supply of such caps nested together in tubular packaging or the like and stored under the concession counter near the popcorn popper. 
         [0023]    When an order is filled, the container  23  of the desired size and shape may be selected and the funnel apparatus  21  of the corresponding size and shape selected from one or more different tubular packaging containers. The selected popcorn container  23  may be scooped into the popped popcorn to quickly fill it with popcorn and the funnel apparatus  21  grasped and easily snapped over the open end thereof to embrace the peripheral bead  37 . It will be appreciated that with many different conventional containers  23  the side walls thereof and beads  37  are somewhat flexible. In those instances, the annular mounting flange  25  will have fairly substantial hoop strength since it is under tension as applied to the container. That is, the popcorn stand attendant can merely grasp the flange area of the cap away from the mouth, either with a clean hand, sterile cloths or a wipe to position the mounting flange over the bead  37 . The attendant may then, by merely pressing axially downwardly on the shoulder  47 , drive the respective cam elements of the teeth  41  downwardly over the bead thus compressing the bead a slight degree radially inwardly until it registers with the locking grooves  43  thereby allowing the bead to flex radially outwardly under its inherent tension to thus snap into the groove and hold the cap securely in position. 
         [0024]    It will be appreciated that in some instances, the caps will be mounted in a dispenser or the like and in individual customers may individually select a cap and withdraw it from the dispenser to exercise the option of placing it on the container when desired. That is, the customer may elect to season the popcorn with liquid butter or flavoring oil and salt or the like and thereafter attach the cap as described above. 
         [0025]    The customer may then carry the capped container upright to his or her seat with the cap somewhat restricting spillage of the popcorn. To partake of the popcorn, the user need merely grasp container and elevate the cap and container combination slightly above the level of his or her mouth, tilting the container to incline the scoop  27  downwardly such that topped popcorn will flow from the container downwardly toward the wide mouth  31  in a fairly unrestricted manner. In this regard, the popcorn will flow under the influence of gravity without restriction as influenced by the wide mouth scoop wall. In this manner, the user may dispense the desired quantity of popcorn for ingestion in a relatively short period of time without shaking or jiggling the container so as to minimize intrusion upon the enjoyment his or her neighboring viewers. 
         [0026]    When finished or, at the conclusion of the entertainment, the user may discard the empty or nearly empty container  23  with a cap attached thus tending to restrict spillage of any remaining popcorn and rendering the task of the cleaning crew less challenging and minimizing any necessity of wiping up or applying grease spray to grease spots which may have otherwise formed on the arm rests, seats and upholstery. 
         [0027]    From the foregoing, it will apparent that the popcorn funnel apparatus of the present invention provides an economical means for capping a popcorn container to control release of the popcorn but providing for free flow of the popcorn to the users mouth to thereby provide dispensation of a abundant quantity of popcorn with each discharge.