Patent Publication Number: US-2007095171-A1

Title: Bottle opener

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Related Cases  
      This application is based on Provisional Application No. 60/732,462, filed Nov. 1, 2005, entitled “Bottle Opener”.  
      2. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a bottle opener, and in particular, to a bottle opener which opens bottles and counts the number of bottles opened.  
      3. Description of the Prior Art  
      There are a number of situations where it is desirable to count the number of bottles that have been opened. There are a number of existing bottle openers that have counters. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,607,543, 3,336,665 and 2,984,131.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a bottle opener that can effectively count the number of bottles opened.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a bottle opener that plays a song after a bottle has been opened.  
      In order to accomplish the above-described and other objects of the present invention, the present invention provides a bottle opener having a housing that includes a display, and an engaging opening. The engaging opening has a detection mechanism that detects the removal of a cap of a bottle. A processor is coupled to the detection mechanism and the display, the processor decreasing the count by one when the detection mechanism detects the removal of a cap. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a bottle opener according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates the electronics inside the bottle opener of  FIG. 1 .  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The following detailed description is of the best presently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating general principles of embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a bottle opener  10  according to the present invention. The bottle opener  10  has a generally planar housing  12  that can be shaped like a beer bottle. The housing  12  has a handle section  14 , a display section  16 , and an opening section  18 . The handle section  14  is adapted for the user to wrap his/her fingers around to grip the bottle opener  10  during use. The display section  16  includes a digital display  20  that displays a digital number or count. In addition, an illustration  22  can be provided on the outer surface of the housing  12 . The illustration  22  can be a word, a phrase, a slogan, a logo, or a drawing. In the present embodiment, the illustration is the phrase “______ bottles of beer on the wall” which represents the name of the song or audio output being broadcast when a bottle is opened (as explained below). A speaker  24  can also be provided in the housing  12 , and can be positioned anywhere in the sections  14  or  16 . A counter-reset button  32  can be provided in either of the sections  14  or  16 .  
      A bottle engaging opening  26  is provided in the opening section  18 . The opening  26  extends through the thickness of the entire housing  12 , and has an opening edge  28  which is adapted to engage the bottom edges of a bottle cap. A plurality of metal contacts  30  are provided in spaced-apart relation along the opening edge  28 .  
       FIG. 2  illustrates the electronics of the bottle opener  10 , which includes a processor  34  coupled to the contacts  30 . In addition, the speaker  24  and the display  20  (which can be a conventional LCD display) are coupled to the processor  34 . A memory  36  (e.g., a RAM) can be coupled to the processor  34 . The memory  36  is adapted to store the count that is being displayed in the display  20 , and to store the song(s) and audio output to be broadcast at the speaker  24 .  
      In use, the display  20  displays a maximum count, such as  100 , prior to use. When a user desires to open a bottle, the user inserts the bottle and its metallic cap through the opening  26 , and pulls on the housing  12  to remove the cap from the bottle. This causes the metallic bottle cap to contact the contacts  30 , thereby creating a closed electrical circuit to cause the processor  34  to recognize that another bottle has been opened. The processor  34  then decreases the count at the display  20  by an increment of one. At the same time, the processor  34  causes a selected song or audio output to be broadcast at the speaker  24 . For example, if the illustration is the phrase “______ bottles of beer on the wall”, then the song can be the tune for “99 bottles of beer”. When the count gets to zero, special celebratory visual and audio feedback can be provided at the display  20  and the speaker  24 .  
      While the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof. The accompanying claims are intended to cover such modifications as would fall within the true scope and spirit of the present invention. As a non-limiting example, sensors can be provided in lieu of the contacts  30  for detecting the removal of a cap.