Patent Publication Number: US-2012031277-A1

Title: Drink can

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a drink can and particularly to a drink can that has a resilient portion on the belly of the can that is squeezable to make a conical portion to dislocate a sealing plate at a distal end of a separated holding portion to quickly mix brewing liquid and brewing stuff. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A conventional drink can generally contains liquid which can be drunk directly. To prevent staling of the liquid during the preservation period, a preservative usually is added in the liquid to prolong the preservation period. However, increasing health-care awareness in recent years demands less use of the preservative. To extend the preservation period of the drink, an improved drink can  1  as shown in  FIG. 1  has been developed. It mainly includes a storage compartment  121  in a cap  10  to hold concentrate of a brewing stuff  122  for a longer period without spoiling. The cap  10  is mounted onto a container  20  which generally holds drinking water or alcohol drink. When in use, the brewing stuff  122  is mixed with the drinking water or alcohol drink. The cap  10  shown in  FIG. 1  includes an outer cup  11  and an inner sleeve  12 . The outer cup  11  has an outer ring  112  and an inner ring  113  and an interval space  114  formed between them. The inner sleeve  12  is coupled on the outer circumference of the inner ring  113 . The storage compartment  121  is formed between the inner ring  113  and inner sleeve  12  to hold the concentrate of the brewing stuff  122 . The inner sleeve  12  has a threaded rim  123  butting one end surface of a bottle mouth  21 , a cut slot  124  formed at one side remote from the threaded rim  123 , and a sealing plate  125  at the bottom. When in use, the outer cup  11  is moved towards the container  20  to open the storage compartment  121  so that the brewing stuff  122  can automatically drop into the container  20 . The cap  10  thus formed still has drawbacks in practice, notably: 
     1. Since the brewing stuff  122  is held in the cap  10 , the height of the cap  10  has to be increased that makes the total product higher and package more difficult. When displaying the product is desired on the shelves, it is difficult or impossible to place the product vertically. As a result, it is less likely to attract customer&#39;s attention. 
     2. The bottle mouth  21  has external threads  211  to screw with internal threads  1121  formed on the outer ring  112 , and a great number of screwing has to be done to turn the outer cup  11  to a desired location on the external threads  211  to open the storage compartment  121  and drop the brewing stuff  122  into the container  20 . Turning the cap  10  is time-consuming and troublesome. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a drink can to solve the problems of the conventional drink can that have a greater height and require longer screwing time of the cap. The drink can according to the invention has a resilient portion on the belly of the can that is squeezable to make a conical portion to dislocate a sealing plate at a distal end of a separated holding portion to quickly mix brewing stuff and brewing liquid. 
     The drink can of the invention includes a can body with a resilient portion formed thereon, a cap mounted on a bottle mouth of the can body and a separated holding portion coupled with the cap. The resilient portion is coupled with a set of pressure guards. The can is covered by a packaging film. The separated holding portion coupled with the cap holds concentrate of a brewing stuff with a taste different from a drink contained in the can body. The resilient portion formed on the belly can be squeezed to make a conical portion at the bottom of the can body to dislocate a sealing plate at the distal end of the separated holding portion, so that the concentrate of the brewing stuff held in the separated holding portion can quickly drop into the can body to be diluted by the brewing liquid, and then the brewing stuff can be mixed with the brewing liquid. 
     The structure of the invention set forth above provides many benefits, notably: 
     1. As the interior housing space of the separated holding portion can hold the concentrate of the brewing stuff, the height of the can body will not be increased, product profile is unchanged, package is easier, and the drink cans can be vertically displayed on the shelves to attract customer&#39;s attention. 
     2. The resilient portion on the belly of the can is squeezable to make the conical portion to dislocate the sealing plate at the distal end of the separated holding portion, hence the brewing stuff can be quickly mixed with the brewing liquid. 
     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a sectional view of a conventional drink can assembled with a container. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the drink can of the invention covered by a packaging film. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the drink can and one set of pressure guards according to the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the drink can of the invention. 
         FIG. 5A  is a sectional view of the drink can of the invention. 
         FIG. 5B  is a cross section taken on line  5 B- 5 B in  FIG. 5A . 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view showing the resilient portion in a squeezed condition according to the invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view showing the sealing plate of the separated holding portion squeezed by the conical portion according to the invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a sectional view showing the connector of the sealing plate dislocated by the conical portion according to the invention. 
         FIG. 9  is an enlarged sectional view according to  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view showing the resilient portion returning to its original condition according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 2 through 5B  for an embodiment of a drink can  30  of the invention. It aims to quickly drop concentrate of a brewing stuff  70  held in a separated holding portion  60  into a can body  40 . 
     The can body  40  has an elastic and section-folding resilient portion  41  on the belly and a conical portion  45  formed on the inner side of the bottom. The conical portion  45  has a plurality of reinforced ribs  451  on the outer circumference. The can body  40  has a bottle mouth  400  with an external thread portion  401  formed thereon. The can body  40  contains a brewing liquid  46 . 
     The drink can  30  also includes a cap  50  with an internal thread portion  51  formed on the inner circumference to be screwed with the external thread portion  401  of the bottle mouth  400 , and a screw bar  52  in the center with external threads formed thereon. 
     The separated holding portion  60  is a conical rod gradually shrunk from top to bottom and has internal threads  61  at one end screwed with the screw bar  52  of the cap  50  and a pliable member  62  located beneath the internal threads  61  formed in a conical shape and contacted tightly with the separated holding portion  60  to prevent the concentrate of the brewing stuff  70  held in the housing space  63  of the separated holding portion  60  from seeping outside. The separated holding portion  60  has a sealing plate  64  at a lower end surface which has a concave arched member  642  to guide the conical portion  45 . The concave arched member  642  has a thin connecting ring  643  on the outer circumference that is easily broken off by pushing of the conical portion  45  and a connector  641  connected to the sealing plate  64 . 
     The invention further includes a set of pressure guards  80  coupled on the resilient portion  41  (referring to  FIG. 3 ). The set of pressure guards  80  is formed in a semicircular shape with a flat surface on one side and a section-folding surface on another side mating the resilient portion  41 . 
     The invention also includes a packaging film  90  to cover the drink can  30 , pressure guards  80  and cap  50 . It has a tearing line  91  to allow users tearing off and then taking out the pressure guards  80 . Then the resilient portion  41  can be squeezed to allow the conical portion  45  pushing and opening the sealing plate  64  of the separated holding portion  60 , so that the concentrate of the brewing stuff  70  can quickly drop into the can body  40  to be diluted by a brewing liquid  46  contained in the can body  40  to quickly mix the brewing liquid  46  and brewing stuff  70 . 
     For assembly of the invention, referring to  FIGS. 2 through 5B , first, fill the brewing stuff  70  in the housing space  63  of the separated holding portion  60 ; place the pliable member  62  below the internal threads  61  of the separated holding portion  60  in a butting manner; move the cap  50  towards the bottle mouth  400  of the can body  40  and screw the internal thread portion  51  of the cap  50  with the external thread portion  401  of the bottle mouth  400  so that the screw bar  54  extended from the center of the cap  50  gradually presses the pliable member  62  and the conical pliable member  62  forms a tight compact condition in the conical housing space  63  to prevent the brewing stuff  70  held therein from spilling out; couple one set of the pressure guards  80  on the section-folding resilient portion  41  (referring to  FIG. 3 ); and package the drink can  30  by covering the packaging film  90  which has the tearing line  91  formed thereon (referring to  FIG. 2 ). 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , when the drink can  30  is in use, a user tears out the tearing line  91  on the surface of the packaging film  90  and takes out a set of the pressure guards  80 ; referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , squeeze the can body  40  to press the resilient portion  41 , the conical portion  45  at the bottom of the can body  40  butts the concave arched member  642  and the concave arched member  642  guides the conical portion  45  to be a vertical condition to dislocate the sealing plate  64  at the distal end of the separated holding portion  60 ; the thin connecting ring  643  is fractured so that the connector  641  is connected to the sealing plate  64 , thus the sealing plate  64  is open (referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 ); if the resilient portion  41  does not receive the pushing force, it will return to the original condition, and the concentrate of the brewing stuff  70  held in the separated holding portion  60  can quickly drop into the can body  40  through the opened sealing plate  64  (referring to  FIG. 10 ) to be diluted by the brewing liquid  46  to quickly mix the brewing liquid  46  and brewing stuff  70 .