Patent Application
20160272387
The present invention relates to a closure cap, preferably a screw cap, for mounting cm a liquid container, preferably a bottle, more preferably a PET bottle, wherein the closure cap at least comprises
The present invention also relates to a dispensing body, preferably a tablet for mixing with a liquid which is situated in a liquid container sealed with the closure cap in accordance with the invention.
The invention finally relates to a system containing at least one closure cap in accordance with the invention and at least one dispensing body in accordance with the invention.
In order to enable the intake of liquid on the road or during sports, drinking bottles are known, especially drinking bottles with a closure cap. The drinking bottles usually comprise a thread onto which the closure caps are screwed. The threads are standardized and the number of the different standardized threads of said drinking bottles is low. These bottles can be prefilled on the one hand, e.g., with mineral water, which can also be mixed with flavors, or with an isotonic beverage. On the other hand, bottles can be concerned which are designated to receive a liquid mixed by the user as required. In this case, effervescent powders in powder form or tablet form are available in addition to fruit juice syrups.
It is disadvantageous in both cases that the user is fixed to the specific beverage mixture for the entire duration of use of the beverage, i.e. between the start and the end of the consumption of the beverage, which means the user is no longer able to change the flavor during the consumption of the beverage, because the liquid still contained in the bottle only comprises the once selected flavor.
However, not only the desire for a specific flavor can change during the start and the end of the consumption of the beverage. If the user has decided on a non-isotonic beverage for example and wishes to have an isotonic beverage after a specific period of time in which the user has practiced sports, this is also no longer possible with the liquid still present in the bottle.
In the case of preparing the beverage by means of effervescent tablets, the use of chemicals for dissolving the effervescent tablet is required, which means the use of entirely natural substances for preparing the beverage is not possible in this case, which can be regarded as disadvantageous.
It may further occur with respect to effervescent powders and also effervescent tablets that the powder or the tablet is not dissolved completely and portions of the powder or the tablet reach the user's mouth, which is perceived as highly unpleasant.
Incomplete dissolution can also be caused by sub-optimal dosing, especially an excessive concentration of the effervescent powder or tablet. Maintaining the correct dosage is usually not always easy because the specifically existing quantity of liquid needs to be considered in mixing the powder or the tablet with the liquid, which is usually water.
These disadvantages can be remedied at least in part according to U.S. 2010/0012193A1. It describes a liquid container with a closure cap which is formed in three parts, i.e. a tablet container, a container lid and a closure cap closure. The container lid must be screwed off and subsequently screwed on again for the insertion of a tablet into the tablet container. It is disadvantageous that the container lid can be dropped or lost.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a closure cap for liquid containers which allows admixing flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements and/or medical compounds into a liquid that can be received in the liquid container by avoiding the aforementioned disadvantages. In particular, simple handling shall be guaranteed which allows a simple exchange of the flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements. Furthermore, dosing problems, especially too high concentrations of flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements in the liquid, shall be prevented. The possibility for avoiding chemicals shall further be provided in this case, so that natural substances can be used for admixing.
This object is achieved by a closure cap, preferably a screw cap, for mounting on a liquid container, preferably a bottle, more preferably a PET bottle, wherein the closure cap at least comprises
It is provided that the receiving element can be actuated in the operating position of the closure cap and can be brought through the opening both from the receiving volume to a loading position for changing the dispensing body and also to a dispensing position in the receiving volume.
The dispensing body can thus be exchanged without having to separate the closure cap from the liquid container. The receiving element can thus laterally be actuated on the closure cap, e.g. in the direction normally to the longitudinal axis of the closure cap. The opening is also situated laterally on the closure cap. In the loading position, the opening is open for introducing the dispensing body, the receiving element is removed at least partly from the receiving volume, so that a dispensing body situated on or in the receiving element can be removed and/or a dispensing body can be placed on or into the empty receiving element (or she receiving element can be exchanged entirely). In the dispensing position, the opening for introducing the dispensing body is closed. Liquid which flows from a liquid container into the closure cap attached thereto can only exit, then from the closure cap through the spout opening or through a mouthpiece attached thereto. The opening for introducing or removing the dispensing body is then also closed in a liquid-tight manner.
The liquid container, which is sealed with the closure cap in accordance with the invention and is preferably formed as a PET bottle, comprises a conventional spout or bottle opening, which is sealed by the closure cap in the operating position. The closure cap preferably concerns a screw cap which fits all standardized water bottles, or it is possible to use the low number of differently standardized types of bottle threads with the low number of different closure caps. The closure cap is usually provided with a mouthpiece which seals the spout opening of the closure cap and can be transferred from a closure position or closed position to a release position or open position, preferably by displacing the mouthpiece. In the closed position, no liquid can pass through the closure cap via the mouthpiece. In the operating position, secure storage of the liquid in the liquid container is enabled with the closure cap in accordance with the invention, even when it is transported or carried along by the user during sports activities. In the release position, liquid can pass through the closure cap and the user is thus able to drink.
The receiving element is arranged and releasably fixed in the dispensing position within the receiving volume, which in addition to the walls of the receiving element is bounded by the inner walls of the closure cap. This arrangement allows that liquid flows through the receiving element primarily during the drinking process when the liquid container is guided to the mouth of the user. If at least one dispensing body is arranged in the receiving element, liquid flows around the same during drinking and can supply substances, especially flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements and/or medical compounds, to the liquid, i.e. a mixture occurs with the liquid directly before the user actually drinks the mixture. A too high concentration of the desired substances in the liquid can thus principally be prevented.
Notice must be taken in this respect that after removing the liquid container (the bottle) after the drinking process a specific portion of the liquid will generally flow back into the liquid container from the receiving element. A specific proportion of the aforementioned, substances can be transferred to the remaining liquid situated in the liquid container, which needs to be considered in the configuration of the dispensing body or its dispensing characteristics.
In order to prevent that the dispensing body drops out of the receiving volume, the receiving volume (irrespective of the specific shape of the receiving volume) is preferably enclosed on all sides. Permeability for liquid is provided in this case, which can be realized by small openings for example, so that an enclosure on all sides of the receiving volume is still present. The enclosure of the receiving volume on all sides can be provided by the receiving element itself or by the receiving element in cooperation with another part of the closure cap.
In order to achieve cost-effective production of the closure cap, the receiving element and/or other parts of the closure cap can be made of plastic.
The permeability of the receiving element for the liquid is realized in a preferred embodiment of the liquid container in accordance with the invention in such a way that the receiving element comprises through-openings, which are preferably arranged in a lattice-like or grid-like manner. It is thus further reliably prevented that the dispensing body or parts of the dispensing body reach the liquid container after drinking.
Potential contact of the dispensing body with the liquid already prior to drinking principally depends on the arrangement of the receiving element in the closure cap. Contact can be prevented in the case of a perpendicularly standing liquid container when the receiving element is entirely situated in a volume formed by the closure cap. This means the volume that is bounded on the one hand by the closure cap and on the other hand by an imagined surface area which is bounded on its part by an edge of the closure cap. Said imagined surface area is actually free from material in order to enable the connection of the closure cap with the liquid container, especially in order to enable it to be screwed onto said container. This means that in this case contact of the closure cap only occurs during tilting of the bottle, as performed by the user during the drinking process. It is thus accordingly provided in a preferred embodiment of the liquid container in accordance with the invention that the entire receiving element is arranged in the dispensing position in a volume formed by the closure cap.
In order to ensure that the receiving element does not drop out of the closure cap in the loading position and is lost or soiled, it is provided in a further preferred embodiment of the liquid container in accordance with the invention that the receiving element is fastened to the closure cap, preferably releasably fixed thereto. If the receiving element can be drawn similar to a drawer from the closure cap, a securing means could be provided which during normal use prevents the full extraction and can be overcome by specific measures for the purpose of cleaning the receiving element for example. One embodiment of the invention provides that the opening can be closed in a liquid-tight manner by the receiving element in the operating position of the closure cap (in order to enable the introduction of the at least one dispensing body into a receiving volume or the removal of said body from said receiving volume). In this case, no separate closure is required for this opening; the receiving element itself is used as the closure for the opening. In particular, a liquid-tight region of the receiving element in the dispensing position of the receiving element can form, a portion of the jacket surface of the closure cap, i.e. the externally visible surfaces of the closure cap and the receiving element therefore continuously converge into each other. As a result, the receiving element forms a common outer surface with the closure cap, and there are no projections or depressions where dirt can accumulate.
It is obvious that it would also be possible to close the opening with a flap or a slide fixed to the closure cap once the receiving element has been brought to the dispensing position.
The actuation of the receiving element can advantageously be configured in such a way that the receiving element is displaceable relative to the closure cap, especially along a straight line. The receiving element can thus be pulled out from the closure cap similar to a drawer or it can be pushed into said cap. The direction of displacement can especially be normally to the longitudinal axis of the closure cap rotational axis in the case of substantially rotationally symmetrical closure caps or identical to the rotational axis of the bottle on which the closure cap is fastened, or the direction in which the liquid enters the closure cap). Respective guides for the translatory movement such as depressions (grooves) or bulges can be provided on the inner side of the closure cap.
Alternatively, the receiving element can be twistable relative to the closure cap, especially about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the closure cap.
Combinations of translatory and rotational, movement of the receiving element during insertion into or extraction from the closure cap can also be considered.
An especially simple and convenient filling of the receiving element can be realized in that the receiving element is formed like a drawer, which can be pushed from the outside into the corresponding opening in the closure cap and can also be pulled out again from the corresponding opening. This means that for filling the receiving element it is pulled out of the corresponding opening, at least one dispensing body is placed in the receiving element, and the receiving element is then pushed back into the corresponding opening again. One receiving element is therefore preferably provided, which comprises a bottom surface and a jacket surface (but no top surface which sears the receiving element), wherein through-openings are arranged on the bottom surface. A further element with through-openings for a liquid is arranged between the receiving element and the spout opening of the closure cap, so that the dispensing body or parts thereof cannot reach the mouthpiece. In order to facilitate the actuation (extraction and pushing in, and/or twisting) of the receiving element, a respective auxiliary apparatus can further be provided on a jacket surface of the receiving element.
In order to achieve a simple and thus cost-effective production method for the container in this case, it is provided in a further preferred embodiment that the auxiliary apparatus comprises a depression and/or a projection in the jacket surface. The depression or the projection allows comfortable gripping of the container by the user.
If the receiving element comprises a top surface with through-openings so that the receiving volume is completely surrounded by jacket surface, top surface and bottom surface, the receiving element with the dispensing body situated therein can be produced and sold as a unit. The jacket surface, top surface and bottom surface can be connected to each other in a non-detachable manner, so that the unit represents a disposable product which after use is replaced by a new unit consisting of the receiving element and dispensing body.
A dispensing body, preferably in form of a tablet, is provided for receiving in a receiving volume of a closure cap in accordance with the invention in order to ensure simple handling and an optimal dosing possibility when using the closure cap in accordance with the invention.
Accordingly, the use of a dispensing body, preferably a tablet, is provided in accordance with the invention in a receiving element of a closure cap in accordance with the invention.
In order to enable producing a beverage when making contact with the liquid or to release flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements and/or medical compounds and thus mix them into liquid, it is provided according to a preferred embodiment of the dispensing body in accordance with the invention that the dispensing body may comprise at least one water-soluble element for producing a beverage and/or for releasing a flavor and/or a nutrient and/or a dietary supplement and/or a medical compound. The nutrients comprise carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. If several carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins are released, the production of an isotonic, beverage is thus possible.
In order to ensure that the dispensing body can be accommodated in the receiving volume of the receiving element, the dispensing body comprises a dispensing body volume which is not greater than a receiving volume of the receiving element. In particular, the dispensing body will have dimensions which enable the receiving element to be pushed through the opening. In other words, there must be a greatest cross-section of the dispensing body which is smaller than the cross-section of the opening of the closure cap, through which opening the receiving element can be brought to a loading or a dispensing position.
In order to guarantee a spatially stable arrangement of the water-soluble elements, which additionally contributes to ensuring that no water-soluble elements can reach through the passage openings of the closure cap, they can be arranged in a sponge for example which fills the dispensing body volume at least in part. It is accordingly provided in a preferred embodiment of the dispensing body in accordance with the invention that the dispensing body comprises a sponge, preferably a plastic sponge. Said plastic sponge can especially preferably be formed in such a way that the liquid can easily reach the water-soluble elements, which can be achieved for example by a sponge fabric made of coarsely woven fibers.
In order to further improve handling, it is provided in a preferred embodiment of the dispensing body in accordance with the invention that the dispensing body comprises a liquid-permeable net-like fabric, especially game, which retains the dispensing body in a dispensing body shape which preferably corresponds to a receiving volume shape of the receiving element. The thus stabilized dispensing body shape especially allows simple and convenient changing of the dispensing body after the drinking process, once the water-soluable elements have already been dissolved entirely or at least partly. The variant in the embodiment in which the dispensing body shape corresponds to the receiving volume shape of the receiving element further ensures an especially stable arrangement of the dispensing body in the receiving element or its receiving volume.
Especially good stabilization of the dispensing body shape in combination with simultaneously simple producibility can be achieved in that the net-like fabric is arranged on an exterior side of the dispensing body.
In order to avoid the use of chemicals and only use natural substances for the preparation of the beverage, it is provided in a preferred embodiment of the dispensing body in accordance with the invention that the at least one water-soluble element concerns a ball arranged in the dispensing body volume, whose surface is formed by a water-soluble layer and whose interior is filled with a substance such as syrup or tea, which contains a flavor and/or a nutrient and/or a dietary supplement and/or a medical compound. The water-soluble layer is formed in this case from a water-soluble icing, especially sugar icing, which contributes to the avoidance of chemicals.
The time progression of the delivery of the substances, especially the flavors and/or the nutrients and/or the dietary supplements and/or the medical compounds, can be realized by several balls with different icing layer thicknesses. The balls with the thinnest icing layer thicknesses release the substances first, whereas balls with thicker icing layer thicknesses do not release any substances yet. Only at a later point in time when the substances of the balls with the originally thinner icing layer thickness have been consumed will the balls with the originally thicker icing layer thicknesses release the substances stored in them.
They can concern the same substances for example as before, so that a temporarily constant concentration of these substances is achieved in the liquid. It is also possible to provide different substances in the balls, so that a beverage with fruit flavor is provided at first and an isotonic beverage at a later point in time. This allows athletes to drink different beverages over time by carrying along only one single liquid container, wherein an isotonic beverage is also included in this case.
That is why it is provided in an especially preferred embodiment of the dispensing body in accordance with the invention that several balls with the same substance or different substances are arranged in the dispensing body volume, wherein the water-soluble layers of the balls have different layer thicknesses, especially in order to enable continuous dispensing of the substance or substances.
Finally, the closure cap in accordance with the invention and the dispensing body in accordance with the invention shall be regarded as a system which allows simple production of beverages or the adding of flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements and/or medical compounds to a liquid.
The invention will now be explained in closer detail by reference to embodiments. The drawings are exemplary and are used to explain the inventive concept, but shall not limit or illustrate the same with finality, wherein:
The closure cap 7 is provided with a mouthpiece 33 which is shown in
The bottle 5 comprises interior walls 6, which jointly delimit a volume 4 with the closure cap 7 in the operating position 8. A receiving element 1 is arranged in accordance with the invention in said volume 4, which receiving element can be pushed into the closure cap 7.
The receiving volume 20 allows accommodating at least one dispensing body, preferably at least one tablet 2 (see
In the illustrated case, the receiving element 1 consists of a bottom surface 16 and a jacket surface 17 which surrounds the bottom surface 16. The bottom surface 16 comprises through-openings 15, which can be formed from a lattice for example. The receiving element 1 does not comprise any top surface, i.e. it is upwardly open so that a tablet 2 can be inserted simply from above. In order to ensure that the tablet 2 or parts thereof cannot leave the receiving volume 20 in the upward direction towards the mouthpiece 33, a further element 13 with through-openings 15 for a liquid is arranged in the closure cap 7 between the receiving element 1 (in the—closed-loading position) and the spout opening 9 (or the mouthpiece 33). The further element 13 is arranged in this case directly above the receiving element 1, so that the receiving volume 20 is enclosed on all sides and corresponds to the free volume within the receiving element 1. The bottom element 16 and the further element 13 are flat in this case and arranged in parallel with respect to each other.
The liquid 37 can pass into the receiving volume 20 through the through-openings 15 of the bottom surface 16 and the element 13 at least during the drinking process and thus come into contact with the tablets 2 situated in the receiving volume 20. As is shown in
In order to ensure that the receiving element 1 can precisely assume its dispensing position, guide devices are provided on the inner side of the jacket of the closure cap 7, i.e. a groove 14 in this case. The actuation of the receiving element 1 is supported by an auxiliary apparatus 18, i.e. a projection 19.
In contrast to the variant shown in
In both embodiments, the receiving element 1 is entirely situated in a volume which is formed solely by the closure cap 7. This means a volume which on the one hand is bounded by the closure cap 7 and on the other hand by an imaginary surface which is bounded on its part by an edge 40 of the closure cap 7. Said imaginary surface is actually free from material in order to enable the connection of the closure cap 7 with the bottle 5 (see
The receiving element 1 of
The receiving element 1 is only shown schematically in this case and will be explained below in closer detail.
A (circular) element 13 with through-openings 15 which terminates the receiving volume 20 is situated directly above the inserted receiving element 1.
The receiving element 1 in
The receiving element 1 for the embodiment according to
In order to enable the convenient insertion of the receiving element 1 into the opening 12 or the removal thereof from the opening 12, the receiving element shown in
In order to avoid endangering the tightness of the closure cap 7 when the receiving element 1 is inserted, no through-openings 15 are provided in the jacket surface 17, but only through-openings 15 in the bottom surface 16.
The receiving element 1 which fits
As an alternative to
The receiving element 1 comprises a liquid-permeable fiat top surface 21 and a bottom surface 16. In order to ensure that the liquid can not flow past the receiving element 1, a barrier (baffle plate) 33 is provided in the interior of the closure cap 7 in the region of the height extension of the receiving element 1, which barrier closes the cross-section of the closure cap 7 between the receiving element 1 (in the dispensing position) and the jacket surface 36 of the closure cap 7 (see
Guides can generally be provided on the receiving element 1 and/or on the inner side of the closure cap 7 for all embodiments with displaceable receiving element 1.
The receiving element 1 in
The receiving element 1 in
The receiving element 1 can now be arranged in such a way that its jacket surface 17 surrounds it entirely (i.e. it has the shape of a cylinder jacket in this case), and in the dispensing position (
The receiving element 1 itself can surround the receiving volume 20 again, by means of the top surface 21 and the bottom surface 16. It could then also be considered that the receiving element 1 is equipped on the production side already with a dispensing body 2, and the jacket surface 17, the top surface 21 and the bottom surface 16 are connected to each other in a non-releasable manner. The receiving element 1 would then be a disposable product. The receiving element would then have to be disengaged from the hinge 41 for changing the dispensing body 2 and a new receiving element 1 with a dispensing body 2 situated therein would have to be mounted in the hinge.
The receiving element 1 can also be formed without the top surface 21. In this case however it is necessary to arrange a further element 13 again between the receiving element 1 and the spout opening 9, similar to
The receiving element 1 (and the jacket 36 of the closure cap 7) can also be arranged as shown in
The receiving elements of
Generally, all embodiments of receiving elements, irrespective of whether they are twistable or displaceable, can also be arranged in such a way that they do not form any part of the jacket surface 36 of the closure cap 7 in the dispensing position. For this purpose they would have to be dimensioned in a smaller way normally to the longitudinal axis. In this case, the opening 12 in
In all embodiments where the opening 12 is sealed in a liquid-tight manner by the receiving element 1 or a part of the receiving element 1 (e.g. by a part of the jacket surface 17), a closure is provided on the (part of the) receiving element 1 which terminates with the closure, cap 7 when the receiving element 1 is pushed into the closure cap 7. The closure can then overlap the closure cap 7 at both ends and latch into the same. The same principle of the closure can be applied when the opening 12, as described above, is sealed by a separate flap.
Additional seals can be provided to produce tightness between the flap or receiving element 1 on the one hand and closure cap 7 or its jacket surface 36 on the other hand.
One condition which needs to be fulfilled in any case is that a dispensing body volume 24 of the tablet 2 must not be greater than the receiving volume 20.
In order to keep the tablet 2 permanently in the dispensing body shape 22, the tablet 2 comprises a gauze 23 which is arranged on an exterior side 26 of the dispensing body.
The balls 27 act as water-soluble elements in order to produce a beverage or release flavors and/or nutrients and/or dietary supplements and/or medical compounds, so that admixing to the liquid 37 can occur. For this purpose, the balls 27 are arranged according to the cross-sectional view according to
The release of the syrup 32 or its mixing with/addition to the liquid 37 only occurs when the icing layer 23 with the icing layer thickness 31 has been dissolved.
The icing layer thickness 31 can be provided with different thicknesses in different balls 27, so that the dissolution of the icing layer 28 takes different lengths in time. The time progression of the admixing of the syrup 32 can be arranged accordingly. Furthermore, the different balls 27 can contain different substances in their respective interiors 30 of the balls. Some balls 27 can therefore contain syrup 32, whereas other balls 27 provide other substances, e.g. to provide an isotonic beverage after a specific period of contact of the balls 27 with the liquid 37.
Furthermore, the balls 27 can be provided with different sizes, i.e. they can have differently large diameters as indicated in
It is finally also possible to arrange different substances (as explained, above, not necessarily syrups 32) in differently large balls 27 with different icing layer thicknesses 31. As a result, the time progression of the admixing of different quantities of different substances to the liquid 37 can thus be determined.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2013/069588 | 9/20/2013 | WO | 00 |
