Abstract:
An improved spill-proof cup, such as a “sippy cup.” The sippy cup has an internal partition that is angled toward the mouth of the sippy cup to decrease the amount of tilt required to dispense the entirety of the liquid from the sippy cup, thus improving comfort for the infant using the sippy cup while also teaching good drinking habits that can be applied to an adult type cup.

Description:
This application claims benefit from a U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/071,343, entitled “IMPROVED SPILL-PROOF CUP,” filed on Apr. 23, 2008, and from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/914,007, filed on Apr. 25, 2007, the entire contents of each being incorporated herein in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention provides an improved spill-proof cup, commonly referred to as a “sippy cup.” More particularly, the present invention provides a sippy cup having an internal partition that is angled toward the mouth of the sippy cup to decrease the amount of tilt required to dispense the entirety of the liquid from the sippy cup. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Sippy cups are used to help transition babies from bottles to regular cups. Typically, the biggest challenge in transitioning babies to regular cups is teaching them to not dump the fluid all over themselves by tipping the cup as far back as the bottle, to which they have come accustomed, to empty the cup. 
     Sippy cups usually come in two varieties, a cup with lid and spout (sippy cup) to drink while tilted towards the mouth, or a cup with lid and straw to drink by sucking through the straw. One problem with the straw cup is it does not train the baby&#39;s motor skill habits to handle a regular cup. On the other hand, with the lid and spout sippy cup, the baby will usually tip the cup almost completely upside down and thus need to tip his or her head back to finish the fluid. This creates discomfort for the baby, and also provides no training for transition to using regular adult type cups. 
     Accordingly, a need exists for an improved sippy cup. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be more readily appreciated from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating an example of a sippy cup according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  without its lid; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  taken in a direction facing the side of the sippy cup along which the inclined internal partition is positioned; 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  taking in a direction opposite to that of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  taken in a direction facing the side of the sippy cup transverse of the inclined internal partition; 
         FIG. 6  is a side view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  taken in a direction facing the side of the sippy cup opposite to that shown in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a top view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a bottom view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of the sippy cup shown in  FIG. 1  taken along lines  9 - 9  as indicated in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the sippy cup as shown in  FIG. 5  tipped at an angle with respect to the horizontal; 
         FIG. 11  is a side view of an example of a variation of the sippy cup as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a side view of an example of another variation of the sippy cup as shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 13  is a side view of the variation of the sippy cup as shown in  FIG. 12  taken in a direction facing the side of the sippy cup along which the inclined internal partition is positioned. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIGS. 1-10  illustrate an example of a sippy cup  100  according to an embodiment of the present invention. As with conventional sippy cups, the sippy cup  100  includes a cup  102  and a cap  104 . The cup  102  and cap  104  can be made of any suitable non-toxic, shatter-resistant material such as plastic, polycarbonate, polypropylene or the like, which can be clear, transparent or have any desired coloring. 
     The cap  104  can be snap-fit, screwed on, or removably coupled to the cup  102  over the top opening  105  in the cup  102  in any suitable manner. The cap  104  typically includes a mouthpiece  106  having one or more openings  108  therein which communicate with the interior chamber  110  of the cup  102 . The cap  104  can further include one or more openings  112  therein which are in communication with the chamber  110  and allow, for example, air to enter the chamber  110  as fluid flows out of the openings  108 , thus facilitating the flow of the fluid through the openings  108 . As can be understood, the fluid can be any type of liquid that is typically consumed by a baby or infant, such as formula, milk, water, juice and so on. As further shown, the cap  104  can include handles  114  to assist in the removal of the cap  104  or to assist with handling of the sippy cup  100 . 
     As shown in more detail in, for example,  FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  9 , the cup  102  further includes an angled partition  116  can be made, for example, of the same material as the cup  102 . The angled partition  116  can be formed (e.g., molded) integral with the cup  102 , or can be removably installed in the cup  102 . The angled partition  116  has one end  116 - 1  that is integral with or connected to an inner bottom surface of the cup  102  and another end  116 - 2  that integral with or connected to an inner surface of the side wall of the cup  102  and is proximate to the top surface  124  of the cup  102 . In either event, the angled partition  116  divides the chamber  110  into a fluid housing chamber  118  and one or more isolated chambers  120 . The angled partition  116  can have, for example, one or more supports  122  as shown in  FIG. 9  which provides added rigidity to the partition  116  and, along with the inner surface of the wall of the cup  102 , define the isolated chambers  120 . The isolated chambers  120  can be enclosed within the wall of the cup  102 , or alternative can be open to the environment outside of the cup  102 . For example, the bottom of the cup  102  below the isolated chambers  120  can be open so that the isolated chambers  120  vent into the outside environment, while still being isolated from the fluid housing chamber  118  inside the cup  102 . Also, the isolated chambers  120  can be solid or substantially solid (e.g., completely or partially filled with the material with which the cup  102  is made). 
     Accordingly, when cap  104  is removed and fluid such as the type described above is placed (e.g., poured, taken from a faucet, etc.) into the chamber  110 , the fluid is contained in the fluid housing chamber  118  and does not enter the isolated chamber  120 . Hence, the isolated chamber  120  is isolated or substantially isolated from the fluid housing chamber  118 . The top surface  117  of the angled partition  116  can be planar or substantially planar (e.g., flat or substantially flat), or can have any other suitable shape (e.g., a trough or groove-like shape) to facilitate flow of the liquid. 
     As further shown in  FIG. 5 , the top surface  117  of the angled partition  116  is at an angle θ 1  with respect to the wall of the cup  102 , and thus is at an angle θ 2  with respect to the top surface  124  of the cup  102  which defines the opening  105  in the cup  102 . The angles θ 1  and θ 2  in this example are within any suitable ranges of degrees sufficient to enable the liquid in the fluid housing chamber  118  to flow along the top surface  117  of the angled partition  116  and out of the opening  105  in the cup  102  and ultimately out of the openings  108  in the mouthpiece  106  without having to tip the cup  102  upside-down, and more particularly, without having to tip the cup  102  much if any amount of degrees beyond the horizontal as shown in  FIG. 10 . For instance, the angle θ 1  and θ 2  each be at or about 45 degrees, or within any other suitable range of angles (e.g., θ 1  can be within at or about 30 degrees to 60 degrees with θ 2  being at a corresponding angle of at or about 90 degrees minus θ 1 ). As can be appreciated, as the height of the cup  102  increases with respect to the diameter if the cup, a smaller angle for θ 1  may be sufficient to achieve the desired flow. 
     It also be should be noted that the wall of the cup  102  need not be normal (e.g., at or about 90 degrees) with respect to the top surface  124  of the cup  102 , but can be slanted or have curves or recesses for ease of handling or design. For instance, the cup  102  can have one or more flattened areas  126 , and the cap  104  can likewise have one or more flattened areas  128 , to insure that when the cap  104  is placed on the cup  102 , the mouthpiece  106  is positioned with respect to the angled partition  116  as shown in the figures so as to maximize the effectiveness of the angled partition  116  with regard to fluid flow as discussed above. For example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the openings  108  are aligned such that a line passing through the center opening  108  in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cup passes through a central portion of the partition  116  when the cap  104  is coupled to the cup  102 . 
     Alternatively, the cup  102  can be cylindrical or substantially cylindrical, and the cap  104  can likewise be round or substantially round, in which even the cap  104  can have an alignment notch therein and the cup  102  can have an alignment groove therein, or vice-versa, to insure that when the cap  104  is placed on the cup  102 , the mouthpiece  106  is positioned with respect to the angled partition  116  as shown in the figures so as to maximize the effectiveness of the angled partition  116  with regard to fluid flow as discussed above. For example, as shown in  FIG. 11 , the one or more handles  114 - 1  (e.g., tabs) can be made present at the top of the cup  102  (instead of on the cap  114  as in  FIG. 1 ) and thus one or more corresponding notches  115  can be in the cap  104  to insure that when the cap  104  is placed on the cup  102 , the mouthpiece  106  is positioned appropriately with respect to the angled partition  116  as discussed above. Alternatively, an area by the top surface  124  of the cup  102  can include threads, which can engage with threads inside the portion of the cap  104  that mates with the cup  102 , such that when the cap  104  is screwed completely or substantially completely onto the cup  102 , the mouthpiece is positioned appropriately with respect to the angled partition  116  as discussed above. 
     Accordingly, as can be appreciated from the above, when a baby, for example, tips the sippy cup  100  to drink from the sippy cup  100 , the surface  117  of the partition  116  will facilitate flow of the liquid to the mouthpiece  116 . Due to the presence of partition  116 , the sippy cup  110  can be emptied, or at least substantially emptied, when the sippy cup  100  is tilted so that the surface  117  of the partition  116  is at an angle θ 3  which can be substantially zero degrees with respect to the horizontal H or any suitable degree with respect to the horizontal H which is sufficient to enable the liquid in the fluid housing chamber  118  to flow along the top surface  117  of the angled partition  116  and out of the opening  105  in the cup  102  and ultimately out of the openings  108  in the mouthpiece  106  without having to tip the cup  102  upside-down, and more particularly, without having to tip the cup  102  much if any amount of degrees beyond the horizontal. Therefore, the baby need not tip the sippy cup  100  substantially vertical to empty the sippy cup  100 . Hence, the sippy cup  100  provides improved comfort for the baby since the baby need not tip his or head as far back as with a typical sippy cup to empty the sippy cup, and also help to teach the baby good drinking habits which can be applied to an adult type cup. 
     As can further be appreciated from the above, the sippy cup  100  can include additional features or enhancement that can improve its use. For instance, as shown in  FIGS. 12 and 13 , the cap  104  can include larger handles  130  that that baby can use to better handle the sippy cup  100 . 
     While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, the preferred embodiments described above are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.