Patent Publication Number: US-2011073557-A1

Title: Bottle Stopper

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a bottle stopper and, more particularly, to a bottle stopper with a cap and a body securely coupled together to allow easy manufacturing of the bottle stopper. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , Taiwan Patent Number M349386 discloses an airtight bottle stopper  8  which includes a body  81  and an enclosing member  82 . The body  81  is cup-like and consists of an opening portion and a compartment integrally formed with the opening portion. The body  81  and the enclosing member  82  may be made of a plastic material, allowing easy manufacturing of the airtight bottle stopper  8 . The body  81  and the enclosing member  82  are usually dyed in the same color such as red, green, black, golden, purple, etc. Here it is assumed that an N number of colors are available for the body  81  and the enclosing member  82 . Based on this, inconsistent color between the body  81  and the enclosing member  82  may be avoided when the body  81  and the enclosing member  82  are coupled with an opening of a bottle. In addition, since different kinds of bottles may have different openings with different diameters, an X number of sizes of the body  81  might be required. In total, an N by X number of types of the body  81  are required for manufacturing, raising the need for huge storage space for storing so many types of the body  81 . Moreover, the huge number of types of the body  81  may lead to an increase in cost for manufacturers. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , Japanese Patent Number 2005-15013 discloses a bottle stopper  9  consisting of a body  91  and a head  92 . The body  91  is made of a resin and the head  92  is made of a metal plate. The head  92  includes a sleeve portion  93  whose terminal  94  may be deformed by a punching process, allowing the terminal  94  of the sleeve portion  93  to be folded into a labyrinth portion  95  of the body  91 . Thus, the body  91  and head  92  are combined together. 
     For the bottle stopper  9  shown in  FIG. 2 , it is required to produce merely the X number of sizes of the body  91  in a single color rather than N colors. This reduces manufacturing costs of the bottle stopper  9 . Based on the metal head  92 , however, extra punching equipments are required in order for the terminal  94  of the sleeve portion  93  to be folded into the body  91 . This relatively increases manufacturing costs. Furthermore, it will be very difficult to separate the body  91  from the head  92  during the recycling process of the discarded bottle stopper  9 , making recycling the bottle stopper  9  uneconomical. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore the primary objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper made of a plastic material, in which a cap of the bottle stopper may be dyed into different colors and a body portion of the bottle stopper may be produced in various sizes in a single color to save costs. 
     It is therefore another objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper in which only a cap of the bottle stopper is exposed outside an opening of a bottle when the opening of the bottle is stopped by the bottle stopper, thus achieving better visual effect. 
     It is yet another objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper for easy processing and recycling. 
     The invention discloses a bottle stopper which includes a body and a cap. The body is made of a deformable material and has a body portion and a ring portion on two ends thereof, respectively. The cap has a top disk and an annular wall extending downwards from a bottom face of the top disk. The cap further includes an auxiliary annular wall extending downwards from the bottom face of the top disk such that an annular trough is formed between the annular wall and the auxiliary annular wall. The ring portion is inserted into the annular trough. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional airtight bottle stopper. 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross-sectional view of another conventional bottle stopper. 
         FIG. 3  shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a first embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of the bottle stopper according to the first embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the first embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 6  shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a second embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the second embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 8  shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a third embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the third embodiment of the invention. 
       In the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the term “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, “inner”, “outer” “top”, “bottom” and similar terms are used hereinafter, it should be understood that these terms refer only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings and are utilized only to facilitate describing the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a bottle stopper consisting of a body  1  and a cap  2  coupled with the body  1  is disclosed according to a first embodiment of the invention. The body  1  is made of a deformable material in a specific color. The deformable material is preferably chosen as a rubber, a polypropylene (PP) or a polyethylene (PE). The body  1  includes a body portion  10  capable of radial shrinkage and expansion. The specific color of the body  1  may be any color consistent with the color of the cap  2 , such as the original color of the deformable material, a white color or a cork-like color. The body  1  has substantially the same shape as a cross section of an opening of a bottle using the bottle stopper, with the commonest round shape being the case in the embodiment for illustration purposes. The body portion  10  has an outer diameter substantially larger than a diameter of the opening of the bottle, allowing the opening of the bottle to be stopped by the body  1 . 
     In the embodiment, the body portion  10  includes a ring portion  11  which may include a coupling portion  12  in a form of a protruding ring. The coupling portion  12  may be formed on an outer circumferential face of the ring portion  11 . The body portion  10  includes a first air room  13  and a second air room  14  separated from the first air room  13  by a separation wall  15 . The first air room  13  may sustain the pressure that is applied on the body portion  10 . The second air room  14  may accommodate the air inside the bottle that can not be expelled from the bottle. Based on this, the first air room  13  and the second air room  14  may squeeze each other through the separation wall  15 . The body portion  10  may further include a plurality of ribs  16  located in the first air room  13 , allowing the body portion  10  to have a stronger mechanical intensity on an outer surface of the body portion  10 . In addition, as shown in  FIG. 5 , the body portion  10  may be in closer contact with an opening of a bottle  3  when the opening of the bottle  3  is stopped by the body portion  10 . 
     The cap  2  includes a top disk  21  and an annular wall  22  extending straight downwards from a periphery of a bottom face of the top disk  21 . The annular wall  22  preferably extends in a length capable of covering the ring portion  11  of the body  1 . The annular wall  22  includes a plurality of holding portions  23  on an outer circumferential face thereof, which may be in a form of string dents or protruding bars for easy holding of the cap  2  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The cap  2  further includes an auxiliary annular wall  25  extending straight downwards from the bottom face of the top disk  21 , with the auxiliary annular wall  25  having a smaller diameter than the annular wall  22 . In this way, an annular trough  26  may form between the annular wall  22  and the auxiliary annular wall  25 . The annular trough  26  may allow secure coupling between the body  1  and the cap  2 . The annular wall  22  may further include a coupling portion  24  on an inner circumferential face thereof for improving the coupling between the body  1  and the cap  2 . The coupling portion  24  may be in a form of an annular dent and may be coupled with the coupling portion  12  of the body  1 . The annular wall  22  may further include protruding sticks  27  on an inner circumferential face thereof. Similarly, the auxiliary annular wall  25  may also include protruding sticks  27  on an outer circumferential face thereof facing the annular wall  22 . The protruding sticks  27  may have great sharpness so that they may destructively extend into the surface of the ring portion  11  to avoid relative rotation between the body  1  and the cap  2 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the body  1  and the cap  2  are shown to be securely coupled with each other to form the bottle stopper. In  FIG. 5 , the ring portion  11  of the body  1  is shown to be securely coupled into the annular trough  26  of the cap  2 , with the body  1  and the cap  2  being coupled with each other via the coupling portions  12  and  24 . Since the protruding sticks  27  are destructively extended into the surface of the ring portion  11  as described above, best coupling between the body  1  and the cap  2  is therefore achieved. As shown in  FIG. 5 , only the cap  2  is exposed outside the bottle  3  when the opening of the bottle  3  is stopped by the body portion  10  of the bottle stopper. Thus, the bottle stopper may appear in only a single color of the cap  2  for better visual effect. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , a bottle stopper consisting of a body  4  and a cap  2  is disclosed according to a second embodiment of the invention. The cap  2  has been described above. In the embodiment, the body  4  includes a body portion  40  on one end thereof, and a ring portion  41  and a coupling portion  42  on another end thereof. The ring portion  41  and the coupling portion  42  may be respectively coupled with the annular trough  26  and the coupling portion  24  to attain secure coupling between the body  4  and the cap  2 . In the embodiment, the body  4  is a filled-up elastomer so that the opening of the bottle  3  can be better closed by the body portion  40  when stopped by the body portion  40 . Also, the bottle stopper may appear in only the color of the cap  2  for better visual effect. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , a bottle stopper consisting of a body  5  and a cap  2  is disclosed according to a third embodiment of the invention. The cap  2  has been described above. In the embodiment, the body  5  is a hollow elastomer. The body  5  includes a body portion  50  on one end thereof, and a ring portion  51  and a coupling portion  52  on another end thereof. Based on this, the ring portion  51  and the coupling portion  52  may be respectively coupled with the annular trough  26  and the coupling portion  24  to attain secure coupling between the body  5  and the cap  2 . Furthermore, to improve mechanical intensity of the body portion  50 , the body portion  50  may have an inner circumferential wall  53  which comprises a plurality of ribs  54  extending from the inner circumferential wall  53 . Based on this, the opening of the bottle  3  can be better closed by the body portion  50  when stopped by the body portion  50 . Also, the bottle stopper may appear in only the color of the cap  2  for better visual effect. 
     The bottle stopper of the invention may be made of a plastic material. Since the body of the bottle stopper may be in a single color, it is merely required to manufacture different-sized bodies. In addition, since the bodies may be used with various caps of different colors, manufacturing costs are therefore reduced. 
     In the invention, only the cap of the bottle stopper is exposed outside an opening of a bottle when the opening of the bottle is stopped by the bottle stopper. Thus, better visual effect is achieved. 
     Since the bottle stopper of the invention may be made of a plastic material, easy processing and recycling of the bottle stopper are attained. 
     Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to its presently preferable embodiment, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.