Abstract:
An infant beverage dispenser carries a beverage powder and a liquid in separate compartments until needed. The compartments are contained in a flexible bag and are separated by each other by a seam. The seam is rupturable due to manual squeezing of the compartment containing the liquid. Once ruptured, the liquid mixes with powder to create the beverage. A nipple is attached to the outlet of the bag for allowing the beverage to be dispensed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This invention is based on provisional application No. 60/141,607 filed Jun. 30, 1999. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates in general to containers for dispensing a beverage, and in particular to a container that holds a powder and a liquid in separate compartments that are sealed from each other until the beverage is to be dispensed. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Disposable baby bottles are marketed wherein the user prepares the beverage at home, then fills the bottle and dispenses it shortly after. While away from home, however this becomes more difficult. If the beverage, such as in infant formula, is placed in the bottle at home, it may spoil prior to use. While powdered infant formula is available that can be mixed water, this too can be a problem. The parent must either carry water or be able to locate purified water wherever the parent may be. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,885,104 shows a bottle with a disposable cartridge. The cartridge has two compartments, one containing a powder and the other a liquid. These compartments are separated by a sealing juncture that is penetrated by pulling on a tab. When pulled, the tab breaks the sealing juncture, allowing the liquid to mix with the powder for dispensing. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     In this invention, the dispenser has a flexible bag with an outlet and two compartments. One compartment is adapted to contain beverage powder while the other is adapted to contain a liquid. A seam separates the two compartments. The seam is rupturable due to manual squeezing of the compartment containing the liquid. This allows the liquid to flow into the other compartment and mix with the powder to create a beverage. A mouthpiece or nipple is attached to the bottle for allowing the beverage to be dispensed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a beverage dispenser in accordance with this invention, shown filled with liquid and powder in separate compartments. 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the beverage dispenser of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the dispenser of FIG. 1, shown after the powder and liquid have been mixed, and shown along with a nipple and a retainer ring in exploded form. 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the dispenser as shown in FIG. 3, with the nipple and retainer ring attached. 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of dispenser as shown in FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the dispenser as shown in FIG. 3 being positioned within a housing. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIG. 1, dispenser  11  includes a bag  13  that may be of plastic or other flexible impermeable material. Bag  13  is an elongated rectangular member that is substantially flat prior to filling. Bag  13  has a powder compartment  15 , which is shown in this embodiment to be on the upper end, and a water compartment  17 . Compartments  15 ,  17  could be reversed from each other. A transverse seam  19  extends between compartments  15 ,  17 , sealing them from each other initially. Seam  19  is located about midway along the length of dispenser  11 , making compartments  15 ,  17  about the same size as each other, however this need not be so. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, in this embodiment, bag  13  has a pair of sidewalls  21 ,  23 . Seam  19  is formed by contacting interior portions of sidewalls  21 ,  23  with each other, then bonding sidewalls  21 ,  23  together at the contact line. The bonding may be by heat sealing or other known techniques. Furthermore, a perimeter seal  25  extends around the perimeter of bag  13  as shown in FIG.  1 . While bag  13  is shown to be two flat pieces bonded together around perimeter seal  25 , it could also be formed as a tubular member, in which case perimeter seal  25  would not be necessary on the sides. 
     Bag  13  is secured to a nipple base  27  on its upper end. The terms “upper” and “lower” are used for convenience herein, as dispenser  11  can be oriented in any manner. Nipple base  27  has a cylindrical base wall  29  that is concentric with the longitudinal axis of nipple base  27  and bag  13 . A neck  31  joins base wall  29 . Neck  31  has a considerably smaller outer diameter than the outer diameter of base wall  29 . Bag  13  has a mouth  33  that seals over neck  31 . As shown in FIG. 5, base wall  29  has a rim  35  on its upper end. Initially, a sealing disk  37  will be adhesively secured to rim  35  to prevent any leakage from bag  13  and to discourage tampering. Sealing disk  37  has a pull tab  39  that enables disk  37  to be readily pulled from rim  35  when dispenser  11  is to be used. FIG. 3 shows sealing disk  37  removed. 
     Referring still to FIG. 3, a mouthpiece or nipple  41  of conventional design is adapted be coupled to nipple base  27 , which serves as an outlet for the contents of bag  13 . Nipple  41  has a radially extending flange  43  on its lower end. Flange  43  has an outer portion that bears against rim  35  as shown in FIG.  5 . 
     A retainer  45  is placed over nipple  41  into engagement with nipple base  27  as shown FIGS. 4 and 5. Retainer  45  is a ring that has an upper wall  47  that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of dispenser  11 . Upper wall  47  has a central portion that bears down on nipple flange  43  to form a seal with flange  43 . A cylindrical inner or retention wall  51  depends downward from upper wall  47 , inward from the outer diameter of upper wall  47 . An outer or housing wall  53  depends downward from the periphery of upper wall  47 , concentric with inner wall  51  and with the longitudinal axis of dispenser  11 . A central aperture  55  is located in upper wall  47 . Nipple  41  protrudes through aperture  55 . 
     Retainer  45  preferably snaps onto nipple base  27 . In the preferred embodiment, this is handled by a plurality of ribs  57 , shown also in FIG. 3, that extend circumferentially in a plane perpendicular to the axis of dispenser  11 . Ribs  57  protrude from the interior of inner wall  51  and engage a circumferential groove  59 . Groove  59  is formed on the exterior of nipple base wall  29 . Ribs  57  are preferably triangular or sawtooth in shape, as well as groove  59 . This allows retainer  45  to be readily pressed over nipple base  27 , with ribs  57  snapping into engagement with groove  59 . Once in engagement, retainer  45  is not removable from base  27 . Although shown with ribs  59  on retainer  45 , and groove  59  on the exterior of nipple base wall  2 : 9 , the positions of ribs  57  and groove  59  could be reversed. Ribs  57  could be on base wall  29  and groove  59  on inner wall  57 . 
     A set of internal threads  61  are located on the interior side of retainer outer wall  53 . Splines  62  are located on the exterior of outer wall  53  to aid in gripping. An annular space exists between inner wall  51  and outer wall  53 . 
     A holder or housing  63  is adapted to enclose bag  13  and engage retainer  45 . Housing  63  is a cylindrical, substantially rigid member having an open bottom  65 . External threads  67  are located on the upper end of the housing  63 . The upper end inserts into the annular space between walls  51 ,  53 , and threads  67  engage threads  61  to secure housing  63  to retainer  45 . 
     In operation, dispenser  11  will be preferably filled at a manufacturing facility and sold with outer compartment  15  containing powder and compartment  17  containing liquid. The powder may be an infant formula, and the liquid may be purified water. Seam  19  will seal the contents of the compartments  15 ,  17  from each other, and sealing disk  37  will seal the contents of powder compartment  15 . The package sold also preferably contains a nipple  41  and a retainer  45 ,shown in FIG. 3, which are packaged disassembled from dispenser  11 . Housing  63  is preferably sold separately and reused. 
     When it is desired to dispense the beverage, the user will manually squeeze liquid compartment  17  with sufficient force to cause seam  19  to break or rupture. The amount of force required to break seam  19  is far less than that required to rupture seam  25 , thus seam  25  will not normally rupture due to squeezing liquid compartment  17 . Once broken, the contents of compartment  15 ,  17  are free to commingle. The user then will flex bag  13  to cause good mixing of the components. The user pulls off sealing disk  37  with pull tab  39 . The user than assembles nipple  41  and retainer  45  as shown in FIG.  4 . To do this, the user inserts nipple  41  through aperture  55  and presses retainer  45  downward against nipple base  27 . Ribs  57  will snap into groove  59 , securely locking retainer  45  and sealing with nipple flange  43 . The user then may insert housing  63  over bag  13  and secure it with threads  67  to retainer  45 . After use, the user unscrews housing  63  from retainer  45 . The user discards dispenser  11 , along with nipple  41  and retainer  45 , while retaining housing  63  for later use. 
     The invention has significant advantages. The liquid and powder components are maintained in separate compartments. They are readily mixed simply by squeezing the liquid compartment, causing the seam to rupture. 
     While the invention has been shown in only one of its forms, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible to various changes without departing from the scope of invention.