Patent Application
20250151882
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The disclosure relates to beverage container holders and more particularly pertains to a new beverage container holder for holding beverage containers on a person's body.
The prior art relates to beverage container holders, including those which enclose the beverage between a pair of portions of a case and which use a snap fit lid to cover a rim of a beverage can to prevent spillage of a contained beverage. However, the prior art fails to describe such an apparatus which includes a lanyard for carrying the beverage container holder on a person's body, such as on the person's neck or wrist. In particular, a lanyard with the structure described herein which provides multiple adjustable loops, is not disclosed by the prior art. Such a lanyard is advantageous over the prior art by providing unique adjustable connection means to the person's body.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a case with a lower portion and an upper portion. The lower portion has a bottom wall and a perimeter wall, and the perimeter wall is coupled to and extends away from the bottom wall. The lower portion defines an interior space in the lower portion with a size and a shape such that the lower portion is configured to hold a beverage container in the interior space. A top edge of the perimeter wall defines an opening to the interior space. The upper portion is coupled to the lower portion and is movable between an open position and a closed position with respect to the opening of the lower portion. The case also includes a closure which is coupled to the lower portion and the upper portion and is operable to releasably secure the upper portion in the closed position.
A lanyard is coupled to the case and comprises a strap and an adjustment ring. The strap is mounted to the upper portion of the case via a pair of end portions of the strap. The strap also has a middle portion is coupled to and extends between the pair of end portions. The adjustment ring is slidably coupled to the pair of end portions of the strap and receives the pair of end portions through the adjustment ring. The adjustment ring forms a proximal loop and a distal loop with the strap with respect to the case and is slidable alternately toward and away from the case to adjust sizes of the proximal loop and the distal loop.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The perimeter wall 18 has a height from the bottom wall 16 to the top edge 22 of the perimeter wall 18 such that the top edge 22 is configured to be positioned between a top end 66 and a bottom end 68 of the beverage container 64 when the lower portion 14 holds the beverage container 64 in a held position 70 in the lower portion 14. The top edge 22 is configured to be positioned closer to the top end 66 than to the bottom end 68 of the beverage container 64 when the lower portion 14 holds the beverage container 64 in the held position 70. The top edge 22 is positioned between the top end 66 and the bottom end 68 of the beverage container 64 to facilitate drinking, pouring, or otherwise accessing a beverage 76 contained in the beverage container 64 while the beverage container 64 is held in the held position 70 without interference by the lower portion 14.
An interior surface 26 of the perimeter wall 18 has a shape such that the interior surface 26 is configured to be complementary in shape to an exterior surface 74 of the beverage container 64 to prevent shifting or rattling of the beverage container 64 within the lower portion 14. The perimeter wall 18 has a cylindrical shape but may have another shape if the beverage container 64 used with the device has an alternative shape. The lower portion 14 may comprise a flexible material so that the lower portion 14 conforms to various shapes of various beverage containers.
The upper portion 28 is coupled to the lower portion 14 and is movable between an open position 34 and a closed position 36 with respect to the opening 24 of the lower portion 14. The upper portion 28 has a top wall 30 and a peripheral wall 32, and the peripheral wall 32 is coupled to and extends away from the top wall 30. The upper portion 28 and the lower portion 14 are configured to completely enclose the beverage container 64 when the upper portion 28 is positioned in the closed position 36. The lower portion 14 and the upper portion 28 comprise a thermally insulating material which may be any suitable thermal insulator such as a polyethylene foam, polystyrene foam, another polymer foam, a ceramic, or the like. In some embodiments, the thermally insulating material may be contained within an outer casing which comprises a flexible fabric, a polymer, a metal, or the like.
The case 12 further comprises a hinge 38 which is coupled to the lower portion 14 and the upper portion 28, and the upper portion 28 is pivotable with respect to the lower portion 14 via the hinge 38. The hinge 38 comprises a living hinge 38 and is integrally formed with the lower portion 14 and the upper portion 28. In embodiments wherein the lower portion 14 and the upper portion 28 comprise a flexible fabric outer casing which contains a thermally insulating material, the flexible fabric may also be used for the living hinge 38.
The case 12 additionally includes a closure 40 and a lid 44. The closure 40 is coupled to the lower portion 14 and the upper portion 28 and is operable to releasably secure the upper portion 28 in the closed position 36. The closure 40 comprises a pair of mating members 42. The closure 40 comprises a zipper but may include a latch, a snap fit connection, a threaded fastener, or the like. The lid 44 is mounted in the upper portion 28 and comprises a panel 46 and a peripheral lip 48. The peripheral lip 48 is coupled to and extends away from the panel 46 wherein the peripheral lip 48 is configured to form a seal around a rim 72 of the beverage container 64. The peripheral lip 48 is shaped to have a snap fit to the rim 72 of the beverage container 64 but may include a latch, a clamp, a resiliently deformable material, or the like to form the seal.
A lanyard 50 is coupled to the case 12 and comprises a strap 52 and an adjustment ring 58. The strap 52 is mounted to the upper portion 28 of the case 12. Each one of a pair of end portions 54 of the strap 52 is coupled to the case 12, and the strap 52 has a middle portion 56 which is coupled to and extends between the pair of end portions 54. The adjustment ring 58 is slidably coupled to the pair of end portions 54 of the strap 52. The adjustment ring 58 receives the pair of end portions 54 through the adjustment ring 58, forming a proximal loop 60 and a distal loop 62 with the strap 52 with respect to the case 12. The adjustment ring 58 is slidable alternately toward and away from the case 12 to adjust sizes of the proximal loop 60 and the distal loop 62.
In use, the beverage container 64 is placed in the held position 70 in the lower portion 14 of the case 12. The upper portion 28 of the case 12 is positioned in the closed position 36, and the lid 44 is positioned against the rim 72 of the beverage container 64 to form the seal with the rim 72. The closure 40 is operated to secure the upper portion 28 of the case 12 to the lower portion 14. The adjustment ring 58 is positioned relative to the strap 52 to adjust the sizes of the proximal and distal loops 60, 62. The proximal and distal loops 60, 62 may be used to hang the beverage container 64 on a structure or a body part of a user 78. For example, the distal loop 62 may be worn around a neck 80 of the user 78, and the adjustment ring 58 may be positioned to ensure the strap 52 remains on the user's 78 neck 80 without constricting the neck 80. The proximal loop 60 may be worn on a wrist 82 of the user 78 and may be tightened around the wrist 82 via the adjustment ring 58 to ensure the beverage container 64 is secured to the user's 78 wrist 82. The proximal loop 60 may be used to keep the beverage container 64 adjacent to the user's 78 wrist 82, thereby avoiding inadvertently swinging and shaking of the beverage container 64.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
