Patent Publication Number: US-2020288903-A1

Title: Sealing gasket with two deformation spaces

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a sealing gasket and more particularly to a sealing gasket with two deformation spaces. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Drinks such as coffee and tea contain a lot of wholesome ingredients. For example, a tea infusion may include carbohydrates, proteins, free amino acids, fatty acids, polyphenols, organic acids, plant alkaloids, minerals, and so on, whereas brewed coffee may include caffeine, antioxidants, polyphenols, proteins, tannins, linoleic acid, plant alkaloids, and so forth. This explains why many people like to have a cup of coffee or tea during or after work to either refresh themselves or stay in good health. 
     In light of this, the inventor of the present invention developed a portable brewing container that allows its user to brew coffee or tea rapidly wherever desired, as described below with reference to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . The brewing container  1  is composed of a cup-shaped structure  11 , a sealing gasket  13 , a liquid-stopping disk  15 , and a liquid stopper  17 . The cup-shaped structure  11  includes a receiving space  10  extending downward into its top side and has a through hole  111  in its bottom side. The sealing gasket  13  is mounted in the cup-shaped structure  11  at a position corresponding to the through hole  111 . The sealing gasket  13  has a through bore  130  configured to communicate with the receiving space  10  so that the liquid in the receiving space  10  can flow out through the through bore  130 . The liquid-stopping disk  15  is mounted on a bottom portion of the cup-shaped structure  11 , can be moved vertically, and is provided with a post  151  and a plurality of openings  153 . The post  151  is configured to extend into the through bore  130 , and the openings  153 , to communicate with the through bore  130 . The liquid stopper  17  is placed in the cup-shaped structure  11  and fixed on a top portion of the post  151 . The largest diameter of the liquid stopper  17  is larger than the diameter of the through bore  130 . 
     When the liquid-stopping disk  15  falls freely under gravity, referring again to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the liquid stopper  17  is driven downward by the post  151  and ends up covering the entire through bore  130 , preventing the liquid in the cup-shaped structure  11  from flowing out. When the liquid-stopping disk  15  is pushed upward, e.g., when the cup-shaped structure  11  together with the liquid-stopping disk  15  is placed on a tea cup, the liquid stopper  17  is driven upward by the post  151  and therefore no longer covers the through bore  130 ; consequently, the liquid in the cup-shaped structure  11  is allowed to flow into the tea cup sequentially through the through bore  130  and the openings  153  in order to be drunk. When the cup-shaped structure  11  is mass-produced, however, the diameter of the through hole  111  may vary from one cup-shaped structure  11  to another as the type of the end product varies or as is allowed in the manufacturing process (i.e., when certain manufacturing tolerances apply). Variation in diameter of the through hole  111  may prevent the wall of the through hole  111  from abutting tightly against the sealing gasket  13  mounted in the cup-shaped structure  11 , and should that happen, the liquid in the cup-shaped structure  11  will leak through the gap between the sealing gasket  13  and the wall of the through hole  111 , meaning the sealing effect of the sealing gasket  13  is compromised. 
     Moreover, in order to achieve a tight fit between the sealing gasket  13  and the liquid stopper  17  in  FIG. 1 , the inventor designed the two sealing gasket configurations in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 . The sealing gasket  13  in  FIG. 2  is provided with a thin annular plate  131 , which protrudes upward from the top side of the sealing gasket  13  and is adjacent to the through bore  130 . When the liquid stopper  17  abuts against the top side of the sealing gasket  13 , the thin annular plate  131  is deformed to lie compliantly against the periphery of the liquid stopper  17 . The sealing gasket  23  in  FIG. 3  is provided with a groove  233 , which extends into the top side of the sealing gasket  23  and is adjacent to the through bore  230  such that a thin annular plate  231  is formed. When the liquid stopper  17  abuts against the top side of the sealing gasket  23 , the thin annular plate  231  will also be deformed to lie compliantly against the periphery of the liquid stopper  17 . The relatively small thicknesses and lengths of the thin annular plates  131  and  231 , however, make it extremely difficult to unmold those plates during manufacture (with the exceptionally narrow groove  233  presenting the greatest difficulty in unmolding), which not only prolongs the manufacturing process, but also hinders the improvement of product yield. Besides, the thin annular plates  131  and  231  break easily during use or the unmolding process and, once broken, cannot produce the intended effect. 
     According to the above, the existing sealing gaskets still leave much to be desired. For those who are involved in the design and manufacture of sealing gaskets, therefore, it is important, or even critical to their survival in the industry, to overcome the foregoing drawbacks. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the various problems of the conventional sealing gaskets during manufacture and use, the inventor of the present invention conducted an extensive research and repeated experiments and finally succeeded in developing a sealing gasket that has two deformation spaces to effectively overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. 
     One objective of the present invention is to provide a sealing gasket that has two deformation spaces. The sealing gasket is configured to be mounted in a cup-shaped structure and has a main body penetrated by a through bore. The through bore opens on the top side and the bottom side of the main body. An inner deformation space extends downward into the top side of the main body and is adjacent to the through bore such that an inner deformable portion is formed between the inner deformation space and the through bore. An outer deformation space extends downward into the top side of the main body and is adjacent to the outer wall of the main body such that the outer wall of the main body forms an outer deformable portion corresponding to the outer deformation space. The two deformation spaces provide the sealing gasket with enhanced deformability so that the sealing gasket can adapt to a through hole whose diameter may vary within manufacturing tolerances. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The objectives, technical features, and effects of the present invention can be better understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a conventional brewing container; 
         FIG. 2  is a sectional view of a conventional sealing gasket; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of another conventional sealing gasket; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of a brewing container to which the present invention is applied; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the sealing gasket in  FIG. 4 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the sealing gasket in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a sealing gasket that has two deformation spaces. Referring to  FIG. 4 , the sealing gasket  33  according to an embodiment of the invention is configured to be mounted in the cup-shaped structure  31  of a brewing container  3 , wherein the cup-shaped structure  31  is provided therein with a receiving space  310  and has a through hole  311  in the bottom side, and wherein the through hole  311  is in communication with the receiving space  310 . More specifically, the sealing gasket  33  is configured to be mounted in the cup-shaped structure  31  at a position corresponding to the through hole  311 . A liquid-stopping disk  35  is vertically movably mounted on a bottom portion of the cup-shaped structure  31  and is provided with a post  351  and a plurality of openings  353 , wherein the post  351  is configured to extend into the receiving space  310  through the sealing gasket  33 . A liquid stopper  37  is configured to be placed in the cup-shaped structure  31  and fixed on the top end of the post  351  in order to be pushed by the post  351 . The liquid stopper  37  may be spherical. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , the sealing gasket  33  has a main body  33 A with a through bore  330 . The through bore  330  opens on the top side and the bottom side of the main body  33 A. Once the sealing gasket  33  is mounted in the cup-shaped structure  31 , the through bore  330  is in communication with the receiving space  310  so that the liquid in the receiving space  310  can flow out through the through bore  330 . The post  351  of the liquid-stopping disk  35  is configured to extend into the receiving space  310  through the through bore  330 . The largest diameter of the liquid stopper  37  is larger than the diameter of the through bore  330  in order for the liquid stopper  37  to cover the top portion of the through bore  330  and thereby prevent the liquid in the receiving space  310  from flowing into the through bore  330 , and when the liquid stopper  37  is pushed away from the through bore  330  by the post  351 , the liquid in the receiving space  310  is allowed to flow sequentially through the through bore  330  and the openings  353 . 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , an inner deformation space  331  extends downward into the top side of the main body  33 A and is adjacent to the through bore  330 . The inner deformation space  331  and the through bore  330  form an inner deformable portion  333  therebetween. When the liquid stopper  37  falls on the top portion of the through bore  330 , the inner deformable portion  333  will be deformed to conform to and lie against the periphery of the liquid stopper  37 , thereby producing a watertight sealing effect. An outer deformation space  332  also extends downward into the top side of the main body  33 A and is adjacent to the outer wall of the main body  33 A such that the outer wall of the main body  33 A forms an outer deformable portion  334  corresponding to the outer deformation space  332 . If the through hole  311  of the cup-shaped structure  31 , in which the sealing gasket  33  is to be mounted, has a relatively small diameter within manufacturing tolerances, the outer deformation space  332  will allow the outer deformable portion  334  to be displaced toward the outer deformation space  332 , so the sealing gasket  33  can still be mounted properly in the cup-shaped structure  31 . Thanks to the inner deformation space  331  and the outer deformation space  332 , the sealing gasket  33  can be deformed (or more specifically compressed) to a greater extent than without those deformation spaces. 
     In this embodiment, referring again to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , the side of the outer deformable portion  334  that faces away from the outer deformation space  332  (i.e., the outer wall of the outer deformable portion  334 ) is inclined, and the top end of this inclined side is farther away from the central axis L of the main body  33 A than is the bottom end of the same side. This design allows the sealing gasket  33  to better match the diameter of the through hole  311  because, regardless of the permissible dimensional deviations of the through hole  311 , the outer deformable portion  334  will always be able to lie compliantly against the wall of the through hole  311  to provide the intended watertightness. In other embodiments of the present invention, however, the aforesaid side of the outer deformable portion  334  may be parallel to the central axis L of the main body  33 A instead. The side of the inner deformable portion  333  that corresponds to the inner deformation space  331  is also inclined, and the top end of this inclined side is closer to the central axis L of the main body  33 A than is the lower end of the same side. In cases where the wall of the through bore  330  is parallel to the central axis L, this structural design renders the top end of the inner deformable portion  333  thinner than the bottom end so that the inner deformable portion  333  can deform, and lie compliantly against the periphery of the liquid stopper  37 , more easily than otherwise. Moreover, the relatively thick bottom end of the inner deformable portion  333  makes the inner deformable portion  333  less vulnerable to breaking (than the thin annular plate in the prior art) and therefore contributes to increasing the service life of the sealing gasket  33 . 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , although the sealing gasket  33  may expand or shrink in response to temperature variations, the inner deformation space  331 , the outer deformation space  332 , and the foregoing inclined sides help ensure the watertight sealing effect of the sealing gasket  33 . For example, when the sealing gasket  33  contracts under a low temperature, the inclined side of the outer deformable portion  334  will still lean outward and lie compliantly against the wall of the through hole  311  to prevent the formation of gaps. When the sealing gasket  33  expands under a high temperature, the deformation spaces  331 ,  332  and the deformable portions  333 ,  334  can be deformed to adapt to the expansion. Furthermore, the inner deformation space  331  in this embodiment is wider at the top end than at the bottom end, and so is the outer deformation space  332 . This configuration is intended to facilitate unmolding of the sealing gasket  33  during manufacture and thereby lower the fraction defective of the sealing gasket  33 . 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , the main body  33 A in this embodiment is peripherally provided with an engaging portion  335  adjacent to the bottom side of the main body  33 A. The engaging portion  335  is configured to engage with an engaging member  313  of the cup-shaped structure  31  so that, when thermal contraction or expansion takes place or when manufacturing tolerances come into play, an area adjacent to the engaging portion  335  can be pushed toward the inner deformation space  331  (as indicated by the dashed-line arrow in  FIG. 6 ) to affect only the size of the inner deformation space  331  while the inner deformable portion  333  (in particular its top end) remains generally at its predetermined position without moving excessively toward the central axis L and therefore keeps lying compliantly against the liquid stopper  37 . 
     While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.