Patent Publication Number: US-6908011-B2

Title: Cap device for mixing different kinds of materials separately contained therein and in bottle

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates, in general, to caps for bottles which contain a variety of materials, such as drinks, liquid medicines or liquid chemicals, therein and, more particularly, to a cap device for such bottles, which is capable of mixing an additive contained therein with a material contained in a bottle to prepare a mixture in accordance with a simple rotating action of the cap device relative to the bottle, performed by a user, thus allowing the user to easily prepare the mixture just before taking or using the mixture. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   In the prior art, most of conventional disposable bottles circulated and sold in markets each contain therein only a single kind of material, such as a drink, a liquid medicine or a liquid chemical, and are closed by caps at mouths thereof. When a user wants to add an additive to the material contained in such a capped bottle so as to prepare a mixture prior to taking or using the mixture, the user must add the additive from a separate container to the bottled material after removing a cap from the bottle. Therefore, it is necessary for manufacturers of the additives and the bottled materials to separately contain such additives and materials in separate containers and bottles prior to marketing them, thus undesirably wasting natural resources due to the production of the separate containers and capped bottles. In addition, the adding of the additive from the separate container to the bottled material to mix them after removing the cap from the bottle is inconvenient to the user in that the user is forced to separately purchase and handle the additive container and the bottle. Furthermore, there is a likelihood that the additive may leak or spill during the mixing process and fall onto the user&#39;s body or garment. 
   Also, it is difficult for the user to add a precise amount of the additive from the separate container to the material contained in the bottle, and so the user ends up roughly measuring the amount of the additive to be added to the bottled material. Therefore, in the case of mixing of an additive with a bottled drink to produce a mixed beverage, the rough measurement of the amount of the additive may result in change in taste and quality of the mixed beverage. In the case of mixing of an additive with a bottled liquid medicine or a bottled liquid chemical to produce a mixed medicine or a mixed chemical, the rough measurement of the amount of the additive may result in incomplete dissolution of effective ingredients of the additive in the medicine or the chemical and a failure of accomplishment of desired medical or chemical effects of the mixed medicine or the mixed chemical. 
   Of course, when mixtures are prepared by manufacturers at factories and are marketed in a bottled state, in place of allowing users to mix additives with bottled materials to prepare mixtures just before taking or using the mixtures, it is possible to avoid the above-described problems experienced in the mixing of the additives with the bottled materials performed by the users. However, the mixtures which are prepared by the manufacturers and marketed in the bottled state are problematic in that the effects of ingredients of the bottled mixtures may be gradually degraded as time goes by, in addition to change in colors of the mixtures. Furthermore, the bottled mixtures may generate floating matters and deposit therein with passage of time. 
   In an effort to overcome the above-described problems, the inventor of the present invention proposed cap devices for bottles, which are capable of mixing an additive contained therein with a material contained in a bottle to prepare a mixture. However, such proposed cap devices are problematic as follows. That is, when a cap body is rotated to move up relative to a mouth of a bottle and thereby to open a cavity of the cap body, a vacuum pressure is not smoothly removed from the cavity containing the additive therein. In an effort to overcome the problem, a small vent hole having a valve cock to open or close the vent hole is formed at a top surface of a cap cover assembled with the cap body into the cap device. However, when the valve cock is not timely or appropriately opened, the vacuum pressure is not smoothly removed from the cavity. In such a case, the additive cannot smoothly flow from the cavity into the bottle through a lower end of a funnel part provided in the cap body. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior an, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cap device for bottles, which is capable of mixing an additive contained therein with a bottled material to prepare a mixture in accordance with a simple rotating action of the cap device relative to a bottle by a user, thereby allowing the user to easily prepare the mixture just before taking or using the mixture. 
   Another object of the present invention is to provide a cap device for bottles, which smoothly and naturally removes a vacuum pressure from a cavity containing the additive therein in response to a rotating action of a cap body in which the cap body is rotated to move down relative to a mouth of the bottle, thus allowing the user to easily and conveniently use the cap device, and which timely removes the vacuum pressure from the cavity, thereby allowing the additive to smoothly flow from the cavity into the bottle through a lower end of a funnel part of the cap body in response to the rotating action of the cap body. 
   In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a cap device for bottles, comprising: a cap body having a cavity to contain an additive in the cavity and tightened to an externally threaded mouth of a bottle, with a funnel part integrally formed in the cap body to discharge the additive from the cavity into the bottle through a lower end thereof, and a small vent hole formed at a top surface of the cap body; a breakable sheet attached to the lower end of the funnel part to close the lower end of the funnel part; a valve cock provided at the vent hole of the cap body to open or close the vent hole; a projection provided at a predetermined position on a top edge of the mouth of the bottle to thrust and open the valve cock; and a valve means placed in a neck of the bottle having a structure capable of allowing a liquid to pass through it, such that the valve means thrusts and breaks the breakable sheet when the cap body is rotated to move downward relative to the mouth of the bottle. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  are exploded perspective views showing a construction of a cap device, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the cap device of  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b , when the assembled cap device is tightened to a mouth of a bottle; and 
       FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are sectional views showing an operation of the cap device of FIG.  2 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components. 
     FIGS. 1   a  through  3   b  are views of a cap device for bottles according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawings, the cap device according to the present invention comprises a cap body  100 F defining a cavity therein to contain an additive in the cavity. A funnel part  52  is integrally formed in the cap body  100 F to discharge the additive into a bottle  13  through an opening formed at a lower end thereof A sheet of breakable material  32  is attached to the lower end of the funnel part  52  to close the opening formed at the lower end of the funnel part  52 . A small vent hole “H” is formed at a top surface of the cap body  100 F. A valve cock “C” is moveably placed at the vent hole “H” to open or close the vent hole “H”. The bottle  13  has a projection  10  protruding upward from a predetermined position on a top edge of a mouth thereof. The cap device also has a valve means to allow the cavity of the cap body  100 F to selectively communicate with an interior of the bottle  13 . 
   In a detailed description, the cap body  100 F is tightened to the externally threaded mouth of the bottle  13 , with the funnel part  52  integrally formed in the cap body  100 F to discharge the additive into the bottle  13  through the lower end thereof. 
   The funnel part  52  is shaped to define the cavity in cooperation with the cap body  100 F and to smoothly guide the additive downward. The sheet  32  is attached to the lower end of the funnel part  52  to close the lower end of the funnel part  52 . 
   The valve cock “C” is formed and placed so that from a position closing the vent hole “H” as shown in  FIG. 3   a , it can be thrusted upward by the projection  10  formed at the top edge of the bottle mouth to open the vent hole “H” when the cap device is rotated in a first predetermined direction moving the cap device downward relative to the bottle as shown in  FIG. 3   b.    
   The valve means, having a structure capable of allowing a liquid to pass therethrough, is stably placed in a neck of the bottle  13 . The valve means has a conical valve part to thrust the sheet of breakable material  32  upward to break the sheet  32  when the cap body  100 F is moved downward relative to the mouth of the bottle  13 . 
   That is, the valve means comprises a valve member  22 F having a conical valve part  14  which thrusts the sheet  32  upward to break the sheet  32  when the cap body  100 F is twisted in the first predetermined direction to move the cap body  100 F downward relative to the mouth of the bottle  13 . A plurality of radial ribs  124  extend outward from an external surface of the conical valve part  14  in radial directions. A ring  24  is integrated with outside ends of the radial ribs  124  so as to be stably placed in the neck of the bottle at a predetermined position. 
   When the cap body  100 F of the cap device having the above-described construction is rotated in the first predetermined direction, the conical valve part  14  of the valve member  22 F thrusts the sheet  32  upward to break the sheet  32 , as shown in  FIG. 3   b . In such a case, the valve cock “C” is thrust upward by the projection  10  of the bottle mouth, thus opening the vent hole “H” formed at the top surface of the cap body  100 F, as shown in  FIG. 3   b.    
   Thereafter, the cap body  100 F is rotated in a second predetermined direction to move the cap body upward relative to the bottle mouth, so that the lower end of the funnel part  52  having the broken sheet  32  is spaced apart from the valve member  22 F, as shown in  FIG. 3   a  The cavity of the cap device thus communicates with the interior of the bottle  13 . The additive is discharged from the cavity of the cap body  100 F through the open lower end of the funnel part  52 , and passes through the spaces between the radial ribs  124  of the valve member  22 F, thus being added to the material contained in the bottle  13 . 
   Since the vent hole “H” is opened by the valve cock “C” as described above, the vacuum pressure is smoothly and naturally removed from the cavity of the cap body  100 F containing the additive therein, without requiring any additional action. Therefore, the additive smoothly flows from the cavity into the bottle  13  through the open lower end of the funnel part  52  of the cap body  100 F. 
   As described above, the present invention provides a cap device for bottles, which is capable of mixing an additive contained therein with a bottled material to prepare a mixture in accordance with a simple rotating action of the cap device relative to a bottle by a user, thereby allowing the user to easily prepare the mixture just before taking or using the mixture. The cap device of the present invention allows the additive and the bottled material to be maintained in pure states without being mixed together before a user adds the additive to the bottled material by rotating the cap device relative to a mouth of the bottle. The cap device is thus free from physical or chemical problems of degradation in the effects of ingredients, change in colors, and a generation of floating matters and deposit experienced in conventional bottled mixtures marketed in a bottled state. 
   In addition, the cap device of the present invention allows the additive and the bottled material to be stored in separate states, and allows the user to mix a precise amount of the additive with the bottled material to prepare the mixture. Thus, the cap device does not force the user to separately purchase and handle an additive container and the bottle, and is convenient to the user. The cap device is also free from excessive consumption of natural resources due to the separate production of the containers for additives and the capped bottles. Since the cap device allows the user to mix the precise amount of the additive with the bottled material to prepare the mixture, it is possible to prevent change in taste and quality of the mixture in the case of preparing a mixed beverage through the mixing, and to prevent incomplete dissolution of effective ingredients of the additive in the bottled material or a failure of accomplishment of desired medical or chemical effects of the mixture in the case of preparing a mixed medicine or a mixed chemical through the mixing. 
   Furthermore, the cap device of the present invention smoothly and naturally removes a vacuum pressure from a cavity containing the additive therein in response to a rotating action of a cap body in which the cap body is rotated to move down relative to a mouth of the bottle, thus allowing the user to easily and conveniently use the cap device. The cap device also timely removes the vacuum pressure from the cavity, thereby allowing the additive to smoothly flow from the cavity into the bottle through an open lower end of a funnel part of the cap body in response to the rotating action of the cap body. 
   Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.