Patent ID: 7147121

Claim:
A valve in combination with a cap fitted to a spill resistant cup to retain liquid in the cup, the cap including a spout to dispense the liquid and a rigid, generally cylindrical and hollow valve mount extending downward from the spout to engage with the valve, the valve comprising: a cylindrical valve tower having an interior bore for the passage of liquid and extending from a valve base and upward into the interior of the valve mount so that an outer circumferential surface of the valve tower frictionally engages an interior circumferential surface of the valve mount to sealingly engage the valve mount, an outer valve wall, having a height greater than a width of the wall, extending from the valve base circumferential to the valve tower to form a circumferential recess for receiving the valve mount so that the outer surface of the valve tower and an inner circumferential surface of the outer valve wall frictionally engage the inner surface of the valve mount and an outer circumferential surface of the valve mount, an oval valve face sloping across an upper end of the valve tower bore from a higher first point on a first side of the valve tower and to a lower second point on a diametrically opposite second side of the valve tower, and a valve mechanism located in the valve face for controlling a flow of the liquid through the valve mechanism dependent upon a pressure differential across the valve face, including a normally closed valve slit extending through the valve face and extending across the valve face from near the first side of the valve tower to near the second side of the valve tower.