This invention relates to a beverage bottle, more specifically, a beverage bottle such as a synthetic resin-made bottle (chiefly a PET bottle) which is capable of keeping a carbonated beverage left over therein from going flat.
As for a beverage bottle designed for keeping a leftover carbonated beverage from going flat, it is conventionally known that there is a PET bottle having a trunk section formed in the shape of a bellows (3), wherein when a carbonated beverage is left over in the bottle, the bellows (3) is shrunken in accordance with the amount of leftover carbonated beverage, and thereafter, the bottle is sealed by a cap (1) in state where the bellows is shrunken, as disclosed in a patent document 1, for instance.
According to the PET bottle of this type, a misunderstanding arises such that it seems as if the PET bottle is capable of keeping the leftover carbonated beverage from going flat. As a matter of fact, the above patent document 1 contains a description to the effect that the PET bottle is capable of keeping the leftover carbonated beverage from going flat.
However, the PET bottle disclosed in the above patent document 1 fails to keep the leftover carbonated beverage from going flat.
This is because an action of merely sealing the bottle by the cap (1) with the bellows (3) shrunken in accordance with the amount of leftover carbonated beverage brings about a phenomenon in which carbon dioxide is released freely from the leftover carbonated beverage, and accordingly, the bottle comes to be returned to the original state (or the state in which the bellows (3) is expanded) by the thus released carbon dioxide.
Alternatively, a carbon dioxide divergence preventing device for a carbonated beverage in a PET bottle is also conventionally known, which has two holding plates (2) connected with each other by a hinge (1), a squeezing belt (3) fixed to one holding plate (2), and a slit-shaped through hole (4) provided in the tip of the other holding plate (2) to permit the squeezing belt (3) to pass through, as disclosed in a patent document 2, for instance.
The carbon dioxide divergence preventing device of this type allows the PET bottle to be maintained in the squeezed state in accordance with the amount of leftover carbonated beverage, and is therefore capable of keeping the leftover carbonated beverage from going flat.
However, it is inconvenient to use the carbon dioxide divergence preventing device in places other than home, because, in order to do so, there is the need for carrying this device.
An object of the present invention is to provide a beverage bottle which is capable of keeping a carbonated beverage left over therein from going flat.
To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a beverage bottle which comprises a bottle body having a volume-reducing structure capable of reducing the volume of the bottle body, a cap capable of sealing an opening of the bottle body, and a shrunken state-maintaining means provided on the bottle body to cause the bottle body having been reduced in volume to be maintained in the reduced volume state.
According to the beverage bottle of the present invention, when a beverage is left over therein, the bottle body is shrunken by the volume-reducing structure in accordance with the amount of leftover beverage, the opening is then sealed by the cap, and thereafter, the bottle body having been changed to the shrunken state is maintained in the reduced volume state by the shrunken state-maintaining means provided on the bottle body.
Therefore, when the leftover beverage belongs to a group of carbonated beverages, the beverage bottle of the present invention is capable of keeping a leftover carbonated beverage from going flat.
Further, the beverage bottle of the present invention allows the amount of contact of the leftover beverage with air to be reduced, and is therefore also capable of keeping the leftover beverage from deterioration of the tastes thereof.
Besides, since the bottle body itself has the shrunken state-maintaining means, there is neither need for separately preparing any special instrument therefor nor need for carrying it, unlike the conventional art as disclosed in the above patent document 2.
There may be provided the beverage bottle of the present invention, wherein the volume-reducing structure is configured of helical protrusions and recesses respectively formed on the bottle body, and the shrunken state-maintaining means is provided on a trunk section of the bottle body and is configured with a squeezing means for squeezing and maintaining the trunk section having been narrowed by being squeezed along the helical protrusions and recesses.
With such a configuration, it is made possible to maintain the bottle body in the reduced volume state by a simple squeezing structure, while easily causing the bottle body to be shrunken by a squeezing action.
Alternatively, there may be provided the beverage bottle of the present invention, wherein the volume-reducing structure is configured by forming at least the trunk section of the bottle body in a bellows shape, and the shrunken state-maintaining means is configured with a plural number of mutually engageable hooks respectively provided on the angle-part tips of the bellows-shaped section.
With such a configuration, only an action of shrinking the bottle body along the bellows-shaped section enables the bottle body to be maintained in the reduced volume state in such a manner that the hooks are engaged with each other at the same time that the bottle body is shrunken, and as a result, any additional operation for maintaining the shrunken state is eliminated.
Alternatively, there may be provided the beverage bottle of the present invention, wherein the volume-reducing structure is configured of helical protrusions and recesses respectively formed on the bottle body, and the shrunken state-maintaining means is configured with hooks capable of being engaged with each other at the time when the bottle body is squeezed along the helical protrusions and recesses.
With such a configuration, only an action of squeezing the bottle body along the helical protrusions and recesses enables the bottle body to be maintained in the reduced volume state in such a manner that the hooks are engaged with each other at the same time that the bottle body is shrunken, and as a result, any additional operation for maintaining the shrunken state is eliminated.
Hereinafter will be described embodiments of a beverage bottle according to the present invention with reference to the attached drawings. Referring to each drawing, it is noted that like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout.
A beverage bottle 1 shown in
According to the illustrated beverage bottle 1, when a beverage is left over therein, the bottle body 10 is shrunken by the volume-reducing structure 12 in accordance with the amount of leftover beverage, the opening 11 is then sealed by the cap 20, and thereafter, the bottle body 10 having been changed to the shrunken state is maintained in the reduced volume state by the shrunken state-maintaining means 30 provided on the bottle body 10, as shown in
Therefore, when the leftover beverage belongs to a group of carbonated beverages, the beverage bottle of the present invention is capable of keeping a leftover carbonated beverage from going flat.
Further, the beverage bottle of the present invention allows the amount of contact of the leftover beverage with air to be reduced by decreasing the amount of air remaining in the bottle, and is therefore also capable of keeping the leftover beverage from deterioration of the tastes thereof.
Besides, since the bottle body 10 itself has the shrunken state-maintaining means 30, there is neither need for separately preparing any special instrument therefor nor need for carrying it, unlike the conventional art as disclosed in the above patent document 2.
Referring to
With such a configuration, it is made possible to maintain the bottle body 10 in the reduced volume state by a simple squeezing structure, while easily causing the bottle body 10 to be shrunken as shown in
The bottle body 10 may be made of a synthetic resin (or PET (polyethylene terephthalate), for instance).
The volume-reducing structure (or the helical protrusions and recesses as for the volume-reducing structure shown in
The squeezing means 31 may be configured by fixing a tie-wrap 32, specifically, a portion 32b1 (see
Hence, it is made possible to maintain the bottle body 10 in the reduced volume state as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
In this case, it is made possible also to maintain the bottle body 10 in the reduced volume state as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
With such a configuration, only an action of shrinking the bottle body 10 along the bellows-shaped section 15 in accordance with the amount of leftover beverage enables the bottle body 10 to be maintained in the reduced volume state in such a manner that the hooks 16, 17 are engaged with each other at the same time that the bottle body 10 is shrunken, as shown in
In the process of shrinking the bottle body 10 as shown in
The hook 16 in the form of a downward hook and the hook 17 in the form of an upward hook are respectively provided in plural number. With such a configuration, the hooks 16, 17 arranged in proper places corresponding to the reduced volume state of the bottle body 10 come into engagement with each other.
It is noted that the pitch of the bellows and the number of the hooks 16, 17 may be appropriately set.
The hooks 16, 17 are respectively arranged in more than one place (at least two places (on the surface side and the back side of the page space in
The hooks 16, 17 may be formed integrally with the bottle body 10.
Alternatively, as shown in
With such a configuration, only an action of squeezing the bottle body 10 along the helical protrusions and recesses 14 enables the bottle body 10 to be maintained in the reduced volume state in such a manner that the hooks 18, 19 are engaged with each other at the same time that the bottle body 10 is shrunken, as shown in
In the process of shrinking the bottle body 10 as shown in
The hook 18 in the form of a downward hook and the hook 19 in the form of an upward hook are respectively arranged in more than one place about the axis of the bottle body 10. The hooks 18, 19 shown are those arranged at spacing of 90 degrees in four places.
The hooks 18, 19 may be formed integrally with the bottle body 10.
Although the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the present invention.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2015/054373 | 2/18/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2016/132469 | 8/25/2016 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
216227 | Sedgwick | Jun 1879 | A |
5209372 | Norwood | May 1993 | A |
5562221 | Beniacar | Oct 1996 | A |
20100314284 | Truesdale | Dec 2010 | A1 |
20130048593 | Jung, II | Feb 2013 | A1 |
20130075393 | Haynie | Mar 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
H09-301371 | Nov 1997 | JP |
H11-342948 | Dec 1999 | JP |
2000-153821 | Jun 2000 | JP |
2003-312624 | Nov 2003 | JP |
2004-083119 | Mar 2004 | JP |
2010-513158 | Apr 2010 | JP |
3174437 | Mar 2012 | JP |
2015-037951 | Feb 2015 | JP |
99056454 | Nov 1999 | WO |
2002024531 | Mar 2002 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20180029740 A1 | Feb 2018 | US |