Patent ID: 8561851

Claim:
A sports bottle for storing and dispensing sports beverages, comprising: a container, with a dispensing opening, a sidewall, a bottom wall, and a round hole in said bottom wall; a duckbill valve mountable within said hole, having an even walled cylindrical body, a vertically sinuous contour surface associated with said cylindrical body, and at least two laterally opposed slit faces, which actuate laterally; an insert, having a reinforcing tube, an annular flat surface, and a vent, in which the joining of said cylindrical valve body upon said reinforcing tube and the flattening of said vertically sinuous contour surface with said annular flat surface establishes a vertically imposed preload upon said valve body resulting in a preload across said slit faces, while also maintaining said even walled cylindrical body in a cylindrically round state for concentric engagement within said round hole with even circumferential compression, appreciating that said vertically imposed preloading and said round cylindrical state permit mounting compatibility within non-uniform wall thicknesses of said bottom wall, while maintaining said preload across said slit faces for leak resistant valve operation, and reduced restriction dispensing of said sports beverages.