Abstract:
An apparatus combines a beverage holder (e.g., a mug) with a compressible device (i.e., a gripper or handgrip) that is usable as an exercise apparatus for a users hands, wrists or forearms. This dual purpose apparatus can function not only as a mug or insulator but also a squeezable exercise device whereby flexing and relaxing a user&#39;s hand, the user conditions their hands, wrists or forearms. The device may also include lights or audio. In some embodiments the handgrip may be detachably attached to the beverage container to allow the independent use of the holder and handgrip.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/571,787 filed Jul. 5, 2011; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/626,820 filed Oct. 3, 2011 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/631,114 filed Dec. 27, 2011. The contents of these provisional applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention generally relates to containers and exercise equipment and more particularly relates to an apparatus that serves as both a holder for a beverage and also an exercise apparatus for the hands, wrist or forearms. The device may also include lights and audio. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Beverage holders such as mugs, glasses, cups, steins, bottles and so forth have been used for centuries so that various beverages can be conveniently consumed. Also insulating devices (sometimes known as Koozies™) have been known for many years to help keep a beverage either warm or cold. Insulating beverage holders can be designed to fit standard bottle sizes or standard beverage cans. Insulating beverage holders are often sold or given away by beverage companies since they can be used as advertising vehicles (i.e. the outside surface of the Koozie has advertising space for commercial entities). Koozies are typically designed to snugly fit around either the bottle or can of the beverage. Likewise, most beverage bottles and cans in a single serving size are designed to fit comfortably into a user&#39;s hand. Drinking beverages (particularly alcoholic beverages) is sometimes considered to be a sedentary activity. In fact, for many years the poster child for the inactive, overweight “couch potato” is a man sitting on a couch drinking a beer while watching some sports event. 
     Grippers are often used by persons involved in sports where hand, wrist or forearm strength is crucial (e.g. tennis, baseball, football, rugby, basketball, golf and so forth). Grippers can be as simple as a circular spring with V-shaped handles that are attached to the two legs coming off the spring. These single spring grippers include, for example, Tiger Claw Hand Exercise Grips from Amazon.com, Extra Strength Hand Grip from Everlast Worldwide, Inc. and Heavy Grip from Heavy Sports, Inc. In addition, more complex grippers with multiple springs (sometimes one for each finger) include, for example, GripMaster Hand Exerciser from Accu-Net, LLC. Compressible balls or spheres, such as foam shaped ball or sphere or a ball or sphere with a resilient rubber like covering filled with dry particles or pellets, can also be used for exercise. Exercise grippers are disclosed, for example, in a series of US patents by Mark A Scatterday, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,504, 5,350,342, 5,716,303, 6,210,304, 6,059,249, 6,482,129, and 6,162,149 (hereinafter the Scatterday patents). Some compressible ball apparatuses are, for example, the GHS Handmaster Plus Hand Exerciser and the DynaFlex Platinum Powerball, both available from Amazon. 
     It would be a significant improvement and advance to combine exercise with beverage drinking. 
     SUMMARY 
     In certain embodiments, an apparatus serve as an insulating device to keep the beverage either hot or cold. The apparatus includes a gripper. In at least one embodiment of the invention, the exercise apparatus portion of the combined apparatus is a hand compressible apparatus. As a user repeatedly compresses and then releases the compressible hand apparatus (also called a “gripper”) this exercises their hand muscles, wrist muscles and forearm muscles. The term “gripper”, as used herein, is meant to broadly include any of a large number of squeezable hand exercise apparatuses including but not limited to ones with single springs, multiple springs and grippers without springs made of compressible materials such as rubber, elastomers or dry flowable sand or other small spheres. 
     In at least one embodiment of the invention, mechanical grippers with springs are attached to a handle of a beverage holder such as a mug. The gripper may be an integral part of the mug handle or may be detachably attached to the mug handle. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, the gripper is either attached to or an integral part of a “Koozie” ™ type beverage holder (hereinafter called “insulating beverage holders”). 
     In embodiments using insulating beverage holders (rather than mugs with handles), the gripper may not be a mechanical apparatus with a spring or springs but instead it might be a compressible material such as a compressible ball. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A more complete and thorough understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages may be acquired by referring to the detailed description below in conjunction with the drawings referenced immediately below: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mug with a handle that has a gripper incorporated as an integral part of the mug handle. 
         FIG. 2(   a ) is a perspective view of a mug with a coupler on the handle and an independent gripper when the two apparatuses are not in combination. 
         FIG. 2(   b ) is a perspective view of the same mug and gripper of  FIG. 5(   a ) but with the gripper attached to the mug. 
         FIG. 3  is a cutaway view of a mug with two handles for weight distribution and in which at least one of the handles of the mug includes a gripper with multiple springs. 
         FIG. 4(   a ) is a cutaway view of a beverage bottle with an insulating beverage holder having a compressible area usable as an exercise apparatus. 
         FIG. 4(   b ) is a cutaway view of a beverage can with an insulating beverage holder having a compressible area usable as an exercise apparatus. 
         FIG. 5(   a ) is a cutaway view of a beverage bottle with a compressible doughnut shaped insulating beverage holder that is slipped over the top of the bottle. 
         FIG. 5(   b ) is a cutaway view of a beverage bottle with a compressible doughnut shaped insulating beverage holder that is intended to be slipped over the top of the bottle wherein the compressible doughnut shaped bottle holder also has a skirt extending below the doughnut that covers much of the bottle. 
         FIG. 5(   c ) is a frontal perspective view of a beverage bottle with a compressible doughnut shaped bottle holder that is intended to be slipped over the top of the bottle. 
         FIG. 6  is a cutaway view of a beverage bottle with an insulating beverage holder having a compressible area usable as an exercise apparatus. The apparatus also includes electronics which cause activation of either lights or audio. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure and additional features and benefits will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and referring to the accompanying figures. It should be understood that the description herein and appended drawings, being of example embodiments, are not intended to limit the claims of this patent or any patent or patent application claiming priority hereto. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claims. Many changes may be made to the particular embodiments and details disclosed herein without departing from such spirit and scope. 
     In showing and describing preferred embodiments in the appended figures, common or similar elements are referenced with like or identical reference numerals or are apparent from the figures and/or the description herein. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic in the interest of clarity and conciseness. 
     As may be used herein and throughout various portions (and headings) of this patent application, the terms “invention”, “present invention” and variations thereof are not intended to mean every possible embodiment encompassed by this disclosure or any particular claim(s). Thus, the subject matter of each such reference should not be considered as necessary for, or part of, every embodiment hereof or of any particular claim(s) merely because of such reference. The terms “coupled”, “connected”, “engaged”, “incorporated” and the like, and variations thereof, as used herein and in the appended claims are intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection or engagement. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devices and connections. 
     Certain terms are used herein and in the appended claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. Also, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used herein and in the appended claims in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ” Further, reference herein and in the appended claims to components and aspects in a singular tense does not necessarily limit the present disclosure or appended claims to only one such component or aspect, but should be interpreted generally to mean one or more, as may be suitable and desirable in each particular instance. 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of at least one embodiment of a combined beverage holder and exercise apparatus  838 . Apparatus  838  comprises gripper  888  that is attached as an integral part to beverage holder  880 . Beverage holder  880  in this embodiment is a traditional mug with handle  808 . Gripper  888  comprises spring  800  with integral legs  818  and  828 . Legs  818  and  828  are kept in a V-shape by restrictor  802  when gripper  888  is not being squeezed or compressed by a user. Squeezing or compressing gripper  888  brings legs  818  and  828  into a more parallel configuration until the user releases their grip and spring  888  returns to its uncompressed V-shape against restrictor  802 . Gripper  888  is commercially available from Amazon.com under trade name Tiger Claw Hand Exercise Grips. 
     Apparatus  838  allows a user to enjoy a beverage such as a beer while also exercising his hand, wrist and forearm while compressing spring  888 . Handle  808  may include finger guides  848  on the interior side of handle  808  to make it more comfortable for the user. 
     There are a number of different ways of attaching a gripper to a beverage holder. One method of making combination apparatus  838  is to make both beverage holder  880  (including handle  808 ) and gripper handle  801  out of the same plastic using injection molding processes well known in the art. Spring  888  can be integrally attached to both mug  880  and grip handle  801  by over molding mug  880  and handle  801  over legs  818  and  828  of spring  888 . In some embodiments where a transparent mug is desired the injection plastic may be a polycarbonate. 
     Another way of permanently attaching gripper  888  to a mug handle  808  is to injection mold mug  880  such that mug handle  808  has a cavity sized to fit a leg of the gripper (not expressly shown) and to insert gripper leg  818  into the cavity and attach it with an adhesive such as an epoxy glue. In another embodiment (not expressly shown) handle  801  can have a foam or elastic comfort sleeve slipped over handle  801  for either comfort or improved grip. 
     Another embodiment, in which a gripper is not necessarily an integral part of a mug, is shown in  FIGS. 2(   a ) and  2 ( b ). Beverage container  300  comprises a standard mug or cup like section  301  and also handle  302 . Handle  302  in certain embodiments may be similar to a standard handle on any mug but handle  302  also includes coupler  303 . In some circumstances coupler  303  is an integral part of handle  302 . Coupler  303  is intended to be used such that standalone gripper  400  can be detachably attached to mug  300 . In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 2(   a ) and  2 ( b ) coupler  303  is shaped with a recessed area (or cavity)  304  such that grip  401  of gripper  400  can slide or snap into handle  302 .  FIG. 2(   a ) shows gripper  400  unattached and  FIG. 2(   b ) shows gripper  400  detachable attached to mug  300 . In other embodiments (not expressly shown) coupler  303  can include other nonpermanent couplers such as Velcro, straps, snaps, buttons, zippers, and so forth. 
     It may be desirable, but not necessary, for either coupler  303  or grip  401  (or both) to be a compressible material in order to make taking handgrip  400  on and off of mug  300  easier. If it is easy to attach and remove hand grip  400  from mug  300  then both items can easily be used alone and not in combination. For example, handgrip  400  can be taken off of mug  300  and used in a normal exercise routine unrelated to mug  300 . Likewise, mug  300  can be used as a normal mug without the exercise apparatus once handgrip  400  is removed. For this reason, it may be desirable to make handle  302  and coupler  303  as comfortable as possible for a user should handgrip  400  be removed. 
     In yet another embodiment involving a mug,  FIG. 3  shows a gripper included on the onside of the handle of the mug and also a second handle that can be used as counterbalance to the weight of the handle with the gripper. (It is also possible to have counterweights in the mug itself . . . not expressly shown).  FIG. 3  shows mug  80  with handle  90 . (Note: a mug as used herein can be any beverage container with a handle attached to it). In at least one embodiment, the handle includes gripper  99  with multiple springs. In  FIG. 3  compressible device  99  comprises finger guides  91  attached to springs  92  which are attached to handle  90 . A person drinking out of mug  80  can either simply hold mug  80  by using handle  90  and drink the contents of mug  80  or the user can decide to compress and release compressible device  99  using finger guides  91  in order to exercise. It may also be desirable to have a second handle  70  with no exercise component in order for the user of the mug to have a standard handle that is comfortable for the user when the user is not exercising. Second handle  70  may also be used as counter weight to handle  90  should compressible device  99  be heavy (in certain embodiments, not expressly shown, a counter weight may be included in the bottom of the mug itself). 
       FIGS. 4-6  show embodiments that do not involve mugs or rigid primary beverage containers but instead secondary insulating beverage holders (i.e. holders not in direct contact with the beverage). 
       FIG. 4(   a ) shows a standard beverage bottle  10  with bottle bottom  11 , and shoulder area  15  leading to narrower neck area  12 . At the top of bottle  10  is opening  13  covered by bottle cap  14 . 
     Surrounding bottle  10  is bottle holder/koozie  20  with hole  21  in the bottom of holder  20  to prevent vacuums. Bottle holders are well known in the art and have various uses including the following: (1) an insulator to keep ones beverage either cold or warm; (2) a holder to improve a user&#39;s grip on the bottle or can; and (3) a marketing tool using the surface of the bottle holder as advertising space. Common names for bottle and can holders include the following: Koozie™, coosie, beer sleeve, coolie, hugger, huggie, can cooler and so forth. In this disclosure the use of the word koozie and insulating beverage holders can be interchangeable. 
     The beverage holder of the subject invention is dramatically different than the standard koozie, because it also includes compressible device  40  which is intended to be used as an exercise apparatus. Typical insulating beverage holders are simple foam, polyester or neoprene cylinders with a foam base. The cylindrical part of the insulating beverage holders is typically as thin as possible to still have insulation properties. Such standard insulating beverage holders typically have a consistent thickness throughout the insulating beverage holders (except that perhaps the bottom of the insulating beverage holders bottom may be made of different material with a different thickness). 
     In at least one embodiment of the subject disclosure, gripper/compressible device  40  is attached to (or integral with) the outside surface of cylindrical holder  20 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4(   a ), device  40  extends outward along one radius of the outside circumference of holder  20  and away from the bottle  10 . Device  40 s width and height are designed to make it comfortable for a user to grip bottle  10  with holder  20  around it with the user&#39;s four fingers resting on device  40 . Compressible device  40  may have finger guides  41  that allow a user to more easily grip compressible device  40 , holder  20  and accordingly bottle  10 . When a user grasps bottle  10  they necessarily also grip holder  20  and their fingers may at times of their choosing fit into finger guides  41 . A user can use device  40  simply as an improved gripping device for their beverage in some instances. In other instances they may choose to begin squeezing and releasing compressible device  40  for exercise that may be beneficial for their hands, wrists or forearms. Because in the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4(   a ) compressible device  40  only covers a portion of holder  20  it is also possible that when a user does not want to exercise he simply holds the portion of holder  20  which does not include compressible device  40  (i.e. the user experience is no different than holding any standard koozie). These non-spring grippers may be more easily incorporated into insulating beverage holders because in some embodiments they can be made of the same or similar substances as the insulating beverage holder itself. 
     Compressible device  40  may be made in a variety of different ways and out of a variety of different substances such as rubbers, elastomers, foams and dry flowable particles. In one embodiment shown in  FIG. 4(   a ), compressible device  40  is comprised of resilient covering  43  which holds dry particles  42 . This type of compressible device is described in detail by the various Scatterday patents referenced above. It is also possible that compressible device  40  may be made of the same substance as the remainder of insulating beverage holder/koozie  20  and accordingly it is an integral part of holder  20 . This situation may be workable in situations where the compressible material of device  40  is not only a good compressible material for exercising hands, wrists and forearms but also a good insulator (e.g. some open cell foam formulations have both characteristics). 
       FIG. 4(   b ) shows yet another embodiment of the disclosure where once again holder  120  is slipped over the bottom of can  110 . In this embodiment of the disclosure, compressible device  140  is an integral part of holder  120  and holder  120  simply has a thicker, compressible area  140  that allows a user to compress thicker, compressible area  140  to get hand, wrist and forearm exercise. This embodiment may be preferable when holder  120  (and thus thicker compressible area  140 ) are made of materials that have both insulation properties and compressibility and resilience (e.g. memory) properties (e.g. open cell foams). In some embodiments, such as the one shown in  FIG. 4(   b ), compressible area  140  extends around the entire circumference of bottle  110  and holder  120 . In other embodiments (similar to  FIG. 4(   a )) compressible area  140  is only on portions of the radius of bottle holder  120  and may or may not include finger guides. 
       FIG. 5(   c ) shows another embodiment of the subject disclosure where doughnut shaped holder  50  is slid over the top of bottle  10  and the hole in holder  50  is sized so that it fits snugly on shoulder  15 . (Inside surface  55  of doughnut shaped holder  50  may be textured in such a way that it grips glass or made of materials that grip glass (e.g. certain rubbers, neoprene, foams etc)).  FIG. 5(   a ) shows a cutaway view of the bottle and doughnut shaped holder of  FIG. 5(   c ). The embodiment shown in  FIGS. 5(   a ) and  5 ( c ) may be preferable when neck area  12  is long enough to accept holder  50  or when the diameter of bottle  10  is too large for a normal sized hand to use the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 4(   a ) and  4 ( b ). 
     Beverage holder  50  of  FIG. 5(   a ) is a roughly doughnut shaped device, in that it has a hole in the middle allowing it be slipped over the top of bottle  10 . Holder  50  is slipped over bottle cap  14 , down neck  12  and then sits on shoulder  15 . In this particular embodiment, holder  50  comprises resilient cover  53  that covers dry particles  52  (e.g. the Scatterday compression system). Holder  50  could also include other compressible materials such as gels, viscous fluids, rubbers, foams, and so forth). A user drinking from bottle  10  can hold onto the bottle by grasping holder  50 . This person also has the option of doing hard, wrist and forearm exercises by squeezing and releasing holder  50 . In some embodiments (not expressly shown) doughnut shaped holder  50  may also include finger guides similar to those in  FIG. 5(   a ). In some cases it may be desirable to have additional insulation added to doughnut shaped holder  50 . A user may also decide to simply hold bottle  10  in area  19  (a normal holding area somewhere near the middle of the bottle) and then move up to grab holder  50  and squeeze and release only at times when the user wants to exercise. 
       FIG. 5(   b ) shows a beverage holder similar to holder  50  in  FIGS. 5(   a ) and  5 ( c ). However, holder  50  in  FIG. 5(   b ) also includes skirt  60  which may be desirable to either improve the insulation properties of holder  50  or to improve the gripping properties. Skirt  60  may be made of the same type materials typically used in koozies (e.g. neoprene, rubbers, open cell foams etc.) 
       FIG. 6  is a cut away view showing beverage bottle  200  surrounded by beverage holder  210 . The configuration is similar to the embodiment of the invention shown in  FIG. 1   a  except that the embodiment in  FIG. 6  does not include the dry particles shown in  FIG. 4(   a ) but instead the compressible material in finger guide area  218  is the same material used in the remainder of beverage holder  210  (e.g. rubber, neoprene etc). (Nothing prevents the embodiment of  FIG. 6  including the dry particles of  FIG. 4(   a )). 
     The major difference between  FIG. 4(   a ) and  FIG. 6  is the inclusion of electronic components that trigger a light or audio activation. Light and audio activations in response to pressure when a product is used are well known in the art. An example includes LED lights in shoes that are triggered by the pressure of walking. 
     The light or audio embodiment shown in  FIG. 6  is also easily adaptable with the mug embodiments shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . 
       FIG. 6  shows piezoelectric sensor  220  which is located or molded between finger guides  218  such that when the beverage holder  210  is squeezed pressure is put on piezoelectric sensor  220  comprised of a sheet or layer of polymeric piezoelectric material. Referring to  FIG. 6  piezoelectric sensor  220  is also located or molded in beverage holder  210  and electrically connected to circuit  230  which may contains a battery pack (not expressly shown). 
     Circuit  230  when triggered by the piezoelectric impact sensor  218 , energizes a light-emitting diodes (LEDs)  240 . The LED(s)  240  may also be located or molded into the beverage holder  240 . 
     In use, as the drinker of beverage bottle  200  squeezes beverage holder  210  piezoelectric sensor  220  produces a pulse of electrical energy each time finger guide area  218  of beverage holder  210  is squeezed or compressed by virtue of the piezoelectric effect. Each pulse of electrical energy from sensor  220  triggers a reaction from circuit  230  in ways well known in the art and disclosed in both patents &#39;163 and &#39;635. 
     Triggering circuit  230  allows LED(s)  240  to light for a time period determined by circuit  230 . In another embodiment, not expressly shown, circuit  230  communicates with an audio device such as a speaker or transducer such that the beverage holder responds visually or audibly with the use of the exercise device. This capability allows for many interesting ways to either entertain the user or third parties or give the user information on his use of the apparatus. In certain embodiments where higher levels of energy are required (e.g. audio, video or dramatic lighting) the apparatus may include a battery or other power source. In this embodiment (not expressly shown) the piezo electric sensors trigger reactions in but do not necessarily power the displays since the battery can be used for this purpose. 
     Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure thus offer advantages over the prior art and are well adapted to carry out one or more of the objects of this disclosure. However, the present invention does not require each of the components and acts described above and is in no way limited to the above-described embodiments, methods of operation, variables, suggested shapes, values or value ranges. Any one or more of the above components, features and processes may be employed in any suitable configuration without inclusion of other such components, features and processes. Moreover, the present invention includes additional features, capabilities, functions, methods, uses and applications that have not been specifically addressed herein but are, or will become, apparent from the description herein, the appended drawings and claims. 
     The methods that may be described above or claimed herein and any other methods which may fall within the scope of the appended claims can be performed in any desired suitable order and are not necessarily limited to any sequence described herein or as may be listed in the appended claims. Further, the methods of the present invention do not necessarily require use of the particular embodiments shown and described herein, but are equally applicable with any other suitable structure, form and configuration of components. 
     While exemplary embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, many variations, modifications and/or changes of the system, apparatus and methods of the present invention, such as in the components, details of construction and operation, arrangement of parts and/or methods of use, are possible, contemplated by the patent applicant(s), within the scope of the appended claims, and may be made and used by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or teachings of the invention and scope of appended claims. Thus, all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative, and the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims should not be limited to the embodiments described and shown herein.