Patent Application
20230234769
The present invention relates to a bottle having an internal mixing compartment. More particularly, the invention relates to a bottle having an internal mixing compartment containing a mixing ball.
The use of hand-held, portable bottles continues to increase in popularity. Such bottles are often sold containing water or other beverages. It is also become increasingly popular for persons to utilize portable bottles during exercise or while conducting various athletic activities. A wide variety of powders, teas and other products are sold which are mixed into water within a portable bottle. In the past, a spoon, mixing straw or similar item was used to mix powders or syrups into water. This is less practical with a portable bottle because the openings in the tops tend to be small.
A wide variety of solutions have been devised to assist in mixing a powder with water in a portable bottle quickly and easily. Lids containing a powder may be screwed onto a bottle and then actuated to puncture a membrane, thereby releasing powder into the water. The bottle is then shaken by the operator to dissolve the power.
For teas, coffee and the like, which include a substantial amount of insoluble material, adding the particulate material directly to the water within a portable bottle is undesirable. This is because the undissolved tea leaves, coffee grinds, etc., are not separated, and will float out of the bottle along with the liquid. This results in the undesirable effect of tea leaves and coffee grinds entering a user's mouth. One solution is to use a tea bag which is water permeable that holds the undissolved solid matter within the bag. However, when using the portable bottle, the teabag itself can flow toward the bottle's exit, blocking the opening or causing the teabag to fall into the user's mouth. Small agitators, often spherical in shape, are also available for containing particulate matter within a container of liquid, but they suffer from the same disadvantages as tea bags.
Teabags retain the solid components within a pouch and prevent them from dispersing throughout a liquid. However, dissolution of the soluble components within the teabag is imperfect at best and relies in large part on osmosis. As a result, a user often must remove the teabag and physically squeeze out liquid, then reinserted into the liquid in order to promote effective dissolution. Devices such as coffee pots may be used by lining the teabags flat in the upper chamber of a coffee pot to ensure the hot water passes through the teabag, maximizing osmosis. However, this substantially complicates the process.
For larger containers such as teapots and coffee pots, more elaborate devices are available to separate the solids from the liquid. Coffee pots can come in the form of percolators which prevent the coffee grounds for mixing with the liquid. Teapots include interior chambers that hold the leaves but are also water permeable. A French tea press is an example. Another common example is a teapot with a steel mixing compartment. Neither of these designs are usually secured closed, nor are they designed to be shaken.
A wide variety of reusable bottles are used by persons to mix and drink protein shakes and similar beverages. Some of these bottles include a plurality of radially extending arms near the top of the bottle to assist in mixing the power with the liquid. Another common device is an agitator such as a “mixing ball.” A mixing ball is typically a ball formed from an open spherical frame that may or may not have a smaller ball or other structure within. Mixing bowls are inserted into a bottle with water and a powder. When the bottle is shaken vigorously, the physical action of the mixing ball assists in mixing and dissolving the powder into the water. This type of mixing ball agitator is generally used with powders that dissolve fully into the liquid and are generally not used with materials that do not completely dissolve.
In the health and exercise fields, it has become commonplace to use drinking bottles with internal free floating agitators to mix protein powder into water or milk. However, whey protein, the most common form of protein powder, often forms floating clumps that are take time to dissolve, even when very effective agitators are used. As a result, when a person takes a drink from the bottle, these floating clumps are the first to exit the bottle and are generally unpleasant to consume.
The above-described deficiencies of today's systems are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide improved devices and methods for affectively dissolving solid materials into a liquid, with or without the presence of insoluble solids, in a highly portable container or bottle and which prevents solid materials and partially dissolved clumps from approaching the opening through which the liquid is dispensed.
Disclosed is a portable bottle having an internal mixing compartment for mixing a powder and a liquid comprising a drinking bottle defined by a bottle sidewall extending from a base to a top. A mixing compartment is located within the drinking bottle and includes a mixing compartment sidewall extending from a mixing compartment top to an opening in the base of the bottle. The opening may include an annular lip and connects the mixing compartment sidewall to the base of the drinking bottle. Both the mixing compartment top and mixing compartment sidewall are formed from a perforated, rigid material such as a rigid screen mesh. A removable top lid covers and forms a watertight seal over an opening in the top of the bottle when the top lid is affixed to the top of the drinking bottle. A removable bottom lid covers and forms a watertight seal over the opening in the base of the drinking bottle. A mixing compartment chamber is defined by the mixing compartment sidewall, the mixing compartment top and the bottom lid. The mixing compartment chamber is only accessible through the annular lip connected to the base of the drinking bottle. At least one removable agitator is placed within the internal mixing compartment.
In additional embodiments, the annular lip may be detachable from the base of the bottle and the mixing compartment may also optionally be removable from the drinking bottle. The drinking bottle and the mixing compartment may also both be substantially cylindrical and coaxially aligned about a longitudinal axis. The agitator may be a free floating agitator. The width of the at least one agitator may be substantially equal to or less than a width of the mixing compartment. The top of the bottle may comprise a cylindrical neck extending upward from a convex shoulder, and the cylindrical neck may be less wide than the mixing compartment. The annular lip around the opening in the base of the drinking bottle may or may not prevent the agitator from exiting the mixing compartment chamber. The agitator may comprise a spherical frame surrounding an internal weighted sphere, or may be ellipsoidal. The agitator may be sized to fit through the annular lip and is removable from the mixing compartment chamber.
In another embodiment, a method of mixing a powder and a liquid within a portable drinking bottle comprises several steps. First, a drinking bottle defined by a bottle sidewall extending from a base to a top, a mixing compartment housed within the drinking bottle comprising a mixing compartment sidewall extending from a mixing compartment top to an annular lip, wherein the annular lip defines an opening in the base of the drinking bottle and connects the mixing compartment sidewall to the base of the drinking bottle, and wherein the mixing compartment is formed from a perforated, rigid material, a removable bottle top lid covering and forming a watertight seal over an opening in the top of the bottle when the top lid is affixed to the top of the drinking bottle, a removable bottom lid covering and forming a watertight seal over the opening in the base of the drinking bottle, a mixing compartment chamber defined by the mixing compartment sidewall, the mixing compartment top and the bottom lid, wherein the mixing compartment chamber is only accessible through the annular lip connected to the rim of the opening in the base of the drinking bottle, and at least one removable agitator within the internal mixing compartment is provided.
Next, a particulate material is added into the mixing compartment chamber by inverting the drinking bottle, removing the bottom lid and pouring the particulate matter into the mixing compartment chamber. A liquid is then added to the bottle having an internal mixing compartment. Finally, the bottle having an internal mixing compartment is manually vigorously shaken.
In alternative embodiments, The liquid is added by pouring the liquid through the opening in the base of the bottle having an internal mixing compartment such that it passes through the mixing compartment chamber. The maximum width of the agitator may be substantially equal to the width of the mixing chamber. The annular lip around the opening in the base of the drinking bottle may prevent the agitator from exiting the mixing compartment chamber. The method may also further comprise reattaching the bottom lid to the bottle having an internal mixing compartment after particulate material is added, then un-inverting the bottle having an internal mixing compartment, removing the top lid, adding a liquid to the bottle having an internal mixing compartment through the opening in the top of the bottle having an internal mixing compartment, and reattaching the top lid. The method may also further comprises removing the at least one agitator prior to adding the particulate matter and reinserting the at least one agitator after depositing the particulate matter. A plurality of agitators having ellipsoidal shapes may also be used.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved bottle having an internal mixing compartment for mixing a particulate matter with a liquid in a portable bottle.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims. There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention 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 features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
A more complete understanding of the present invention, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
The invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The disclosed subject matter is described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments of the subject disclosure. It may be evident, however, that the disclosed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the various embodiments herein. Various embodiments of the disclosure could also include permutations of the various elements recited in the claims as if each dependent claim was a multiple dependent claim incorporating the limitations of each of the preceding dependent claims as well as the independent claims. Such permutations are expressly within the scope of this disclosure.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, dimensions, reaction conditions and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about”. The term “a” or “an” as used herein means “at least one” unless specified otherwise. In this specification and the claims, the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, use of “or” means “and/or” unless stated otherwise. Moreover, the use of the term “including”, as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included”, is not limiting. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components comprising one unit and elements and components that comprise more than one unit unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms “width” and “diameter” are used throughout interchangeably unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Various components of the invention are shown as cylindrical or spherical in some exemplary embodiments, and in such case the width is equal to the diameter. However, it should be understood that the invention may be practiced with components that are not cylindrical or spherical, in which case the term “diameter” should be understood to mean “width” or “maximum width.” “Portable” as used herein generally refers to a bottle that that is suitable for use by an operator during, and may be held or stored by the operator during, running, biking, hiking, kayaking, exercising in a gym, or other situations where an operator preferably drinks from the bottle having an internal mixing compartment directly instead of pouring the contents of the bottle having an internal mixing compartment into an ancillary container.
Various embodiments of the disclosure could also include permutations of the various elements recited in the claims as if each dependent claim was a multiple dependent claim incorporating the limitations of each of the preceding dependent claims as well as the independent claims. That is, the combinations of the various components of the invention are not limited to those combinations expressly shown in the Figures. Unless expressly stated otherwise, components described in one embodiment may be interchanged with components of the same name found in other embodiments. Such permutations are expressly within the scope of this disclosure.
Disclosed is a bottle having an internal mixing compartment for mixing a powder and a liquid which includes a typically sized drinking bottle having an internal mixing compartment accessible through the bottom of the bottle and which contains one or more agitators, which are preferably free-floating. The devices disclosed herein are self-contained and secure, having no external moving parts. They allow an operator to dissolve solid materials into a liquid affectively by simply shaking the bottle while also preventing any free-floating particulate matter from mixing with the liquid to be consumed by the operator. Liquid is consumed directly from the bottle such that it is inverted when in use. As a result, any liquid remaining inside the mixing compartment drains automatically as the liquid is consumed.
A removable top lid 20 is removably attachable to the top 16 of the bottle 12 and forms a watertight seal when attached. In this embodiment, the top lid 20 also includes an annular gripping surface 22 similar to the cuff 15, in order to allow the top lid 20 to be detached and reattached more easily. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inside of the top lid 20 may include a gasket to facilitate watertight sealing between the lid 20 and the bottle 12. In this embodiment, the lid 20 engages the top 16 of the bottle 12 by means of threading and is screwed on and off. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the numerous other removable attachment mechanisms such as a friction fit, bayonet lock or the like may also be suitable. A bottom lid 24 removably attaches to the base 18 and a similar manner by which the lid 20 attaches to the top 16. That is, it forms a watertight seal and may be removed and attached by screwing and unscrewing or other mechanisms. The bottom lid 24 similarly includes an annular gripping surface 26. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the lids 20 and 24 may include a gasket or other component to facilitate watertight sealing of the lids to the bottle.
An internal mixing compartment 28 extends from the base 18 of the bottle 12 upward to a point about half way between the mixing compartment top 16 and the base 18 of the drinking bottle 12. The top 30 of the internal mixing compartment 28 in this embodiment is circular but may optionally be hemispherical. Both the mixing compartment's top 30 and the mixing compartment's sidewall 32 are formed from a permeable rigid material. This material may be a mesh screen of a desired gauge, or may simply be a solid material that has been perforated. The sidewall 32 in top 30 of the mixing compartment allow liquid to freely pass across them, but prevent particulate matter of a given size or larger from passing through. In this embodiment, the drinking bottle 12 in the mixing compartment 28 are substantially cylindrical and coaxial. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that different geometric shapes may be used, but the cylindrical and coaxial design shown in
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Whereas, the present invention has been described in relation to the drawings attached hereto, other and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. Descriptions of the embodiments shown in the drawings should not be construed as limiting or defining the ordinary and plain meanings of the terms of the claims unless such is explicitly indicated. The claims should be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63266978 | Jan 2022 | US |
