Patent Publication Number: US-2009236369-A1

Title: Container structure with dispensing valve

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a container structure having a dispensing valve, and more particularly to a container structure, which has a dispensing valve and is configured so that liquid, such as tea or drink, contained in the container structure can be drained out when the container structure is placed either horizontally or slantingly. 
     (2) Description of the Prior Art 
     Currently, a container structure for containing liquid, such as tea or drink, has a dispensing valve for directly dispensing the tea or drink. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a conventional container structure for containing tea or drink is mainly made of a stainless steel cylinder to form a container body  91 . The bottom end of the container body  91  is joined to a baseplate  92  so that a chamber  93  for containing the liquid is formed between the container body  91  and the baseplate  92 . The top opening of the container body  91  is joined to an upper cover  94  to prevent foreign objects or dust from entering the chamber  93 . A dispensing valve  95  penetrates through a portion of the container body  91  close to the baseplate  92 , and the dispensing valve may be opened or closed to control the provision of the liquid, such as the tea or drink. 
     When the dispensing valve  95  is mounted to the conventional structure, the dispensing valve  95  has to be higher than the baseplate  92  by a predetermined height so that the dispensing valve  95  can be fixed to the container body  91 . Consequently, the baseplate  92  and the dispensing valve  95  cannot be too close to each other, and the liquid, such as the tea or drink, tends to be remained in the container body  91  between the baseplate  92  and the dispensing valve  95 . Thus, the tea or drink is wasted, and it is complicated to treat the remained tea or drink. 
     Consequently, the baseplate of the conventional container structure still has to be improved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a container structure with a dispensing valve in order to decrease the remained and wasted liquid, such as tea or drink, greatly. 
     To achieve the above-identified object, the invention provides a container structure including a container body and a dispensing valve. The container body has a bottom end tightly joined to a baseplate to form a chamber. An inclined guiding portion is formed at a local position corresponding to a sidewall of the container body and an outer edge of the baseplate, and the inclined guiding portion is located at a lowest point of the chamber. The dispensing valve communicates with the inclined guiding portion and penetrates through the sidewall of the container body at a position corresponding to the inclined guiding portion. Thus, the liquid in this container body may fully flow to the dispensing valve along the inclined baseplate, and be fully drained out so that the liquid, such as tea or drink, contained in the container body cannot be partially hoarded and wasted. 
     The container structure with the dispensing valve according to the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     Further aspects, objects, and desirable features of the invention will be better understood from the detailed description and drawings that follow in which various embodiments of the disclosed invention are illustrated by way of examples. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematically partially pictorial view showing a conventional structure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematically partially cross-sectional view showing the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic illustration showing a second embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic illustration showing a third embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic illustration showing a fourth embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic illustration showing the implementation of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a container structure of the invention includes a container body  10 , a dispensing valve  20  and an upper cover  30 . The container body  10  is made of a stainless material, which is circled to form a cylindrical sidewall. A baseplate  11  is tightly joined to a bottom end of the sidewall so that a chamber  12  for accommodating liquid, such as tea or drink, is formed between the container body  10  and the baseplate  11 . An inclined guiding portion  13  is formed at a local position corresponding to the sidewall of the container body  10  and an outer edge of the baseplate  11 . The inclined guiding portion  13  is inclined down in a direction toward the sidewall of the container body  10  so that the inclined guiding portion  13  at the end portion of the sidewall is located at a lowest point of the chamber  12 . A mounting hole  14  is formed on the container body  10  at a position corresponding to the inclined guiding portion  13 . 
     The dispensing valve  20  is mounted to the container body  10  and penetrates through the mounting hole  14  of the container body  10  by a welding or screwing structure, for example, so that the dispensing valve  20  communicates with the inclined guiding portion  13 . 
     An inverse-U shaped handle is mounted on a top middle portion of the upper cover  30 . The upper cover  30  covers the opening of the top of the container body  10  to achieve the dustproof and temperature-keeping effects. 
     According to the above-mentioned structure, it is obtained that the invention mainly has the inclined guiding portion  13  formed at the local position corresponding to the sidewall of the container body  10  and the outer edge of the baseplate  11  so that the remained liquid, such as the tea or drink, on the baseplate  11  can smoothly enter the inclined guiding portion  13 , and then be drained out through the dispensing valve  20  communicating with the inclined guiding portion  13 . Thus, it is possible to prevent the liquid from being wasted or remained, and it is unnecessary to tilt and shake the container body to drain the remained liquid out. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a second embodiment of the invention is mainly applied to a heat insulating container structure, which includes a container body  10  made of a stainless steel material, which is circled to form a cylindrical sidewall. A bottom end of the container body  10  is tightly joined to a baseplate  11  with the same shape. An external container body  40  surrounds the sidewall with a heat insulating material  15  filled between the sidewall and the external container body  40  so that a temperature keeping container body having three layers is formed. A chamber  12  defined by the temperature keeping container body is for accommodating liquid, such as tea or drink, is formed between the container body  10  and the baseplate  11 . Also an inclined guiding portion  13  is formed at a local position corresponding to the sidewall of the container body  10  and an outer edge of the baseplate  11 . The inclined guiding portion  13  is inclined down in a direction toward the sidewall of the container body  10  so that the inclined guiding portion  13  at the end portion of the sidewall is located at a lowest point of the chamber  12 . A mounting hole  14  is formed on the container body  10  at a position corresponding to the inclined guiding portion  13 . A dispensing valve  20  is mounted to the container body  10  and penetrates through the mounting hole  14  of the container body  10  and the heat insulating material  15  so that the dispensing valve  20  communicates with the inclined guiding portion  13 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the baseplate  11  of the container body  10  is an inclined baseplate  11  corresponding to the shape of the container body  10 . Thus, a chamber  12  for accommodating the drink, such as tea or drink, may be formed between the container body  10  and the baseplate  11 . An inclined guiding portion  13  is formed at a local position corresponding to the sidewall of the container body  10  and an outer edge of the baseplate  11 . The inclined guiding portion  13  is inclined down in a direction toward the sidewall of the container body  10  so that the inclined guiding portion  13  at the end portion of the sidewall is located at a lowest point of the chamber  12 . The baseplate  11  of the container body  10  in this embodiment crosses two opposite sides of the sidewall and is gradually inclined so that the tea or drink in the chamber  12  may be fully drained out through the dispensing valve  20 . Thus, it is possible to avoid the conventional drawback that the drink or tea is remained in the container body  10  and thus wasted. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the baseplate  11  of the heat insulating container is an inclined baseplate  11  corresponding to the shape of the container body  10  so that a chamber  12  for accommodating the liquid, such as tea or drink, may be formed between the container body  10  and the baseplate  11 . An inclined guiding portion  13  is formed at a local position corresponding to the sidewall of the container body  10  and an outer edge of the baseplate  11 . The inclined guiding portion  13  is inclined down in a direction toward the sidewall of the container body  10  so that the inclined guiding portion  13  at the end portion of the sidewall is located at a lowest point of the chamber  12 . Thus, the tea or drink in the chamber  12  may be fully drained out to avoid the problem that the tea or drink is remained in the chamber  12 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , inverse-U shaped handles  16  are mounted to two opposite sides of the circumference of the container body  10 . The top end of the handle  16  extends slantingly outwards so that the palm of the hand can hold the handle  16  to move the container body  10 . 
     In summary, the structures of the invention are novel and cannot be found in the prior art and have the advantages mentioned hereinabove. New characteristics and advantages of the invention covered by this document have been set forth in the foregoing description. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. Changes in methods, shapes, structures or devices may be made in details without exceeding the scope of the invention by those who are skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is, of course, defined in the language in which the appended claims are expressed.