Patent ID: 8887942

Claim:
A collapsible drinking cup assembly comprising: a flexible cup apparatus manually movable between a collapsed position and an expanded position, said cup apparatus including: a plurality of annular ring segments each flexibly coupled together, end-to-end, at a flexible, annular fold interface, and sequentially sized and dimensioned such that each respective adjacent lower ring segment is concentrically nested within each respective adjacent upper ring segment, when in the collapsed position, said plurality of annular ring segments includes an upper drinking lip segment having an interior sidewall and an exterior sidewall such that the drinking lip segment tapers inwardly from a lower base portion to an annular upper distal edge thereof, at least one of said interior sidewall and said exterior side wall of said drinking lip segment being concave, and a support floor extending over a bottom portion of a bottom ring segment of said plurality of annular ring segments, said support floor having an annular bottom flange extending radially beyond an exterior wall of said bottom ring segment; and a relatively rigid top lid member having a top lid portion formed and dimensioned to extend over an opening into said cup apparatus defined by said upper distal edge of said drinking lip segment, said top lid member having a pair of opposed, inner and outer contact walls downstanding from said top lid portion that collectively define an annular receiving groove therebetween formed and dimensioned for friction-fit receipt of the drinking lip segment therein, said lower base portion of said drinking lip segment includes an upward facing annular shoulder portion formed and dimensioned to seat against a lower annular edge of said exterior contact wall of said top lid member when said drinking lip segment is fully received within said receiving groove, forming an air-tight seal such that said cup apparatus can be expanded from the collapsed position to the expanded position when both the annular bottom flange and the lid member are radially gripped and axially pulled apart longitudinally thereof before separation of the lid member from the drinking lip segment.