Patent Grant
8727150
This U.S. national phase application is based on international application no. PCT/EP2009/007744, filed on Oct. 29, 2009, which claimed priority to German national patent application 10 2008 053 927.9 filed on Oct. 30, 2008. Priority benefit of these earlier filed applications is hereby claimed, and the full disclosures of these earlier filed applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Disclosure
The invention concerns a device for attaching a figurine onto a beverage bottle, a combination of such an attaching device and a figurine, as well as a beverage bottle with such a combination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Figurines, also called “toppers” in English, are characters known from movies or television which are reproduced in a reduced form three-dimensionally in plastic, and are sold to promote the purchase of beverages, popcorn, cotton candy or similar in movie theatres and similar as one purchased unit together with the latter products. Hereby, the said products are offered in cups, the covers of which have a figurine. In order to attach the figurines, the cover that serves for closing the cup, optionally provided with an opening for a straw and manufactured by injection molding or deep drawing from plastics, during manufacture is provided with a cylindrical recess open toward the top into which a cylindrical base of the figurine can be inserted with a press fit. After consumption of the product, the figurine can be removed from the cover of the cup and used as a toy or collectible, whereby the solid base serves to improve the stability of the figurine placed on a support.
A cover for a beverage cup which has a recess in the middle for the base of such a figurine is disclosed, for example, in EP 2 105 388 A1.
However, particularly in connection with the sale of soft drinks, it is regarded as a disadvantage that the soft drink can only be offered in combination with such a figurine if it has first been poured into a cup whose cover is suitable for attaching a figurine. Besides the additional material used, the additional labor and the additional waste related to the pouring of the soft drink into the cup, soft drinks sold in a cup also lead more easily to a spilling of the remaining soft drink as a result of a tipping over of the mostly empty cup. Moreover, many clients prefer the consumption of soft drinks directly from a beverage bottle because the non-contamination of the contents before opening for the first time is ensured and after partial consumption there is again the possibility of resealing. The commercial figurines with cylindrical bases that are suitable for attachment to the cup covers however cannot be attached to the commonly used beverage bottles in such a way that on the one hand an aesthetic appearance of the product results and on the other hand it makes it clearly visible for the customer that the beverage bottle and the figurine form a joint sales unit.
Based on this, the task of the invention is to create a device of the type named at the outset with which the known figurines can be joined with an aesthetic appearance and promoting sales in a simple manner and separably with almost all the usual beverage bottles that are made of plastic to form a single sales unit.
According to the invention, this task is solved by the fact that the device comprises a body that has means for separable attachment of the figurine as well as a recess for attaching to a screw cap and/or to a neck part of the beverage bottle provided with an outside thread.
In a first variation of the device according to the invention, the body has two preferably cylindrical recesses pointing to opposite sides, one of which preferably can hold a preferably cylindrical base of the figurine and the other can hold the screw cap of the beverage bottle.
The invention is based on recognizing the fact that almost all the usual beverage bottles that are filled with soft drinks are made of plastic and have only a few types of standardized screw threads, namely an outside thread of about 27 mm diameter, of which the most commonly used are the narrow-neck beverage bottles such as commercial PET bottles for mineral- and drinking water as well as for carbonated soft drinks, as well as an outside thread of about 31 mm or about 36 mm diameter for two less widely-used wide-neck beverage bottles.
This has as its consequence that the screw caps, also mostly made of plastic, that serve for closing the beverage bottles of each of these types, have not only identical inner cross-sectional dimensions, but, because of the attempt to minimize material consumption, also have almost identical outer cross-sectional dimensions. This means again that for almost any type of beverage bottle with a standardized screw thread, be it a disposable or returnable bottle independently of content, volume, material, manufacturer or filling operation of the bottle, only a single type of attaching device according to the invention will be needed, in which the inside diameter of the cylindrical recess serving for holding the screw cap of the beverage bottle is chosen such that it exceeds the core or pitch diameter of the screw thread formed on the neck of the beverage bottle by a defined amount.
A preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the inside diameter of the cylindrical recess for holding the screw cap of the beverage bottle exceed the core or pitch diameter of a screw thread formed on the neck part of the bottle by 5 mm±0.5 mm or by 3 mm±0.5 mm. An attaching device according to the invention provided with such dimensions can be attached to most plastic screw caps of narrow- or wide-neck beverage bottles with a sliding fit or with a slight press fit so that they can easily be removed or pulled off of the screw cap by the customer in order to open the beverage bottle.
While the inside diameter of the recess serving to hold the screw cap is usually about 30 mm for the attaching devices intended for narrow-neck beverage bottles, the attaching devices intended for wide-neck beverage bottles have an inside diameter either of about 36 mm or about 40 mm since two different thread diameters are used by the various manufacturers for wide-neck beverage bottles.
In order to ensure an attractive aesthetic appearance of the sales unit consisting of the beverage bottle, figurine and attaching device, the two recesses are arranged coaxially to one another. In addition, the body of the attaching device preferably has one or two cylindrical outer peripheral surfaces, which are preferably coaxial to the recesses and optionally can be provided entirely or partially with a knurling or with another surface property that facilitates the removal of the attaching device from the screw cap of the beverage bottle.
In order to keep the height of the body of the attaching device as low as possible in order to save material, to further improve the aesthetic appearance and to minimize the total height of the sales unit consisting of beverage bottle, figurine and attaching device, the body of the attaching device is preferably designed in a ring shape, whereby it surrounds an axial through-opening formed by the communicating recesses.
Between the recess serving to hold the base of the figurine and the recess serving to hold the screw cap, the through-opening preferably has an annular shoulder in order to take into account the different inner diameters of the two recesses. In order to reduce the height of the body of the attaching device, the annular shoulder expediently has a plane annular surface which is arranged perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the two recesses.
Since at least most narrow-neck beverage bottles, below the neck part that has the screw thread, are provided with an annular, radially projecting collar, that usually has an axial distance of about 20 mm from the opening of the neck part, another preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the axial length of the recess serving to hold the screw cap is expediently 22 mm or more so that the joint can serve as a stop for the neighboring front end of the body of the attaching device, without the upper end of the screw cap projecting beyond the annular shoulder into the recess serving to hold the base of the figurine.
The axial length of the recess serving to hold the base of the figurine is expediently smaller and preferably measures about 9 to 10 mm so that the base can be introduced into the recess until its bottom side away from the figurine touches and/or until a platform that radially projects on its top side touches the upper front end of the body of the attaching device.
In order to save material further, the body has a stepwise reduced outer periphery in the axial direction of the cylindrical recesses. The wall thickness of the recess that serves to hold the base of the figurine is expediently somewhat larger than the wall thickness of the recess serving to hold the screw cap, but it is also possible for these wall thicknesses to be substantially of equal size.
On its periphery, each of the two recesses may be delineated by a smooth cylindrical peripheral surface, but it can also be advantageous, at least in the case of the recess that serves to hold the screw cap, to provide it on its outer periphery with a knurling which would then mesh during the application of the attaching device onto the screw cap of a beverage bottle with a knurling that is usually applied on the outer periphery of the screw cap.
In combination with a press fit of the screw cap of the beverage bottle in such a recess, this meshing would make it possible to unscrew the screw cap by turning the attaching device, optionally after removal of the figurine, around the longitudinal axis of the beverage bottle. Due to the larger outside diameter of the body of the attaching device in comparison to the outside diameter of the screw cap, the opening of the beverage bottle would be facilitated, especially for older or weaker persons.
In a second variation of the device according to the invention, the body is designed so that it can be attached to the screw cap of the beverage bottle not only before sale, but after the sale of the beverage bottle and the removal of the screw cap, the body can also be attached to the outer thread of the neck part of the beverage bottle, for example in order to close this with the device already containing the figurine.
For this purpose, the body preferably has an open lower end, a lower section bordering the open end with a larger opening cross-section, as well as an upper section with a smaller opening cross-section, whereby the lower section takes up the screw cap with sliding fit or slight press fit and a peripheral wall of the upper section is provided with an inner thread for engagement with the outer thread of the neck part of the beverage bottle.
In the context of the above description, the terms “below”, “above”, “lower” and “upper” refer to the orientation of the body of the device in which this is attached to an upright standing beverage bottle.
In order to make it possible to drink from the beverage bottle in spite of the attachment of the device on the outer thread of the neck part, the recess of the body is preferably open toward the top so that a drinking straw can be introduced from the top into the recess, and through this into the neck part.
Hereby the drinking straw can be introduced through an opening in a base of the figurine into the recess. In this case the previously-mentioned first variation of the device can be used, the body of which has two recesses pointing to opposite sides, one of which takes up the preferably cylindrical base of the figurine with a sliding fit or slight press fit and the other has two sections with different opening cross-sections, of which the lower broadened section can be attached from the top onto the screw cap with a sliding fit or slight press fit, while the upper, narrowed section by means of an inner thread provided on its periphery can be made to mesh with the screw thread of the bottle neck after removal of the screw cap.
Since, however, the bases of figurines intended for the cover of beverage bottles usually are not provided with an opening for a drinking straw, according to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the figurine is attached to the body of the device in such a way that it can be moved with reference to the latter, in order to release and close again an opening communicating with the recess, through which a drinking straw can be introduced into the recess and the neck part of the bottle.
Preferably, the figurine attached to the body can be rotated around an axis with reference to the body, this axis being displaced sideways with reference to a longitudinal axis of the body and of the recess. On the one hand, this permits that the figurine and its base can be swiveled to the side by rotation around the axis in order to free the opening for the drinking straw. On the other hand, such a movement can be realized with an eccentric central pivot projecting beyond the top side of the body, that enters from the bottom into an eccentric complementary opening into the bottom side of the base of the figurine, whereby the central pivot and the opening can serve at the same time as locking means in order to join the base of the figurine separably to the body.
The preferably cylindrical base of the figurine comprises expediently an upper part with a plane platform serving as the surface on which the figurine can stand and a skirt that is at a distance from a circular peripheral edge of the platform and projects from its bottom, as well as a flat cup-shaped bottom part which can be inserted from the bottom into a cylindrical recess of the upper part that is delineated by the lower side of the platform and the skirt, so that the means for attaching the figurine on the platform, such as locking projections that project through openings of the platform and are attached with glue on the bottom side of the platform, are hidden invisibly inside the base part. In this case the opening which is formed at the same time as a locking opening, is placed expediently in the cup-shaped lower part of the base, since there a locking opening that widens towards the top can be formed easily by injection molding.
In order, on the one hand, to improve the visual appearance of the sales unit consisting of device and figurine when the opening for the drinking straw is closed, and on the other hand, to prevent the figurine from being tilted to the side further than is necessary for the opening or closing of the drinking straw opening, the body advantageously has means for limiting the movement of the figurine attached to the body with respect to the body and these cooperate with complementary means on the base of the figurine. These means are expediently a pin projecting parallel to the central pivot beyond the top side of the body which engages into a circular arc-shaped groove that opens to the bottom in the bottom side of the base of the figurine, after this has been attached to the body. These means can serve at the same time for establishing the direction of rotation of the figurine attached to the body for opening or closing the opening.
The invention will be explained in more detail below with some of the practical examples shown in the drawing. The following are shown:
a and 8b: are perspective views of the beverage bottle after the attachment of a second embodiment of an attaching device onto the screw cap and after the removal of the screw cap and application onto a thread of a bottle neck, each with the figurine removed;
a and 9b: are perspective views of the beverage bottle after the attachment of the attaching device onto the screw thread of the bottle neck, which at the same time show different rotational positions of the figurine attached onto the attaching device;
a and 14b: are perspective views of the beverage bottle after attachment of a third embodiment of the attaching device onto the screw cap or onto the screw thread of the bottle neck;
The device 2 shown in the drawings serves for attaching a figurine 4 with a cylindrical base 6 as a merchandising article onto a beverage bottle 8 containing a soft drink.
As shown best in
As it is shown best in
Below the safety band 24, the neck part 18 of the beverage bottle 8 is provided with a radially projecting collar 30 that facilitates the mechanical manipulation of the beverage bottle 8.
As can be seen best from
The two recesses 34, 36 are each open to a neighboring upper or lower front end 38, 40 of the body 32 and communicate at their inner ends with one another so that together they form an opening that goes axially through the body 32.
Each of the two recesses 34, 36 is bordered radially toward the outside to an annular peripheral wall 42, 44 (
The inner diameter and the axial length of the upper recess 34 are adjusted to the outer diameter and to the axial height of the base part 6 of the figurine 4 in such a way that the base part 6 can be introduced with a sliding fit or with a slight press fit from the top into the recess 34, until the lower front end of the base part 6 rests on the surface 50 of the annular shoulder 48 and/or the collar 10 of the base part 6 rests on the upper front end 38. In the case of the attaching device 2 shown in the drawing, the inner diameter of the upper recess 34 is about 40 mm, while the axial height of the recess 36 is about 9 to 10 mm.
The inner diameter of the lower recess 36 is chosen so that it is larger by 5 mm±0.5 mm than the core diameter, and by 3 mm±0.5 mm larger than the pitch diameter of the outside thread 16 formed on the neck part 18 of the beverage bottle 8, which is engaged through the threads with the inner thread 22 of the screw cap 14. In the case of the narrow-neck beverage bottle 8 shown in the drawing, the outer thread has a core diameter and pitch diameter of 24.5 mm and 27 mm, respectively, while the inner diameter of the lower recess is 30 mm.
An attaching device 2, whose lower recess 36 has such an inside diameter, due to the slightly different wall thickness of the cover parts 20 can be attached with a more or less strong press fit separably on all plastic screw caps of typical narrow-neck beverage bottles, for example thin-walled PET disposable or returnable bottles with fruit juices, drinking waters or mineral waters or spritzers or on thick-walled PET returnable bottles with carbonated beverages, the neck part 18 of which always has a standardized outside thread with a core diameter of 24.5 mm and a pitch diameter of 27 mm.
The axial length of the lower recess 36 is chosen so that the upper end of the cap part 20 of the screw cap 14 does not project beyond the area 50 of the annular shoulder 48 into the upper recess 34 when the attaching device 2 is pushed from the top onto the screw cap 14 until contact with the lower front end 40 of the body 32 against the top side of the collar 30, as shown in
In the case of the attaching device 2 shown in the drawing, the axial length of the recess 36 is about 22 mm.
As can be seen best from
The cylindrical peripheral wall 72 of the body 60 that surrounds the recess 64 can be provided in the region of the lower section 68 with a longitudinal fluting or similar on its inside, in order to facilitate the introduction of the screw cap 14 into the lower section 68 of the recess and to improve the grip of the device 2 on the screw cap 14. In the region of the upper narrowed section 70, the cylindrical peripheral wall 72 is provided on the inside with an inner thread 73 which fits the outer thread 16 on the neck part 18 of the bottle 8, so that after removing the screw cap 14 and after screwing this off from the outer thread 16 of the neck part 18, the body 60 can be screwed tightly on it, preferably until either the upper front end of the neck part 18 rests against the bottom part of the end wall 66, or until the annular lower front end of the body 60 rests against the top side of the collar 30, as shown in
As is shown best in
The separable attachment of the figurine 4 on the device 2 is done here by locking the base 6 of the figurine 4 to the body 60. For this purpose, the body 60 has a locking peg 76 with rotational symmetry that projects in the axial direction toward the top beyond the end wall 66, and the free upper end of this locking peg has a thickened part 78 and above the thickened part 78 it has a conical narrowing as can be seen best in
The locking peg 76 can be introduced from the bottom into a complementary locking opening 82 shown in
The locking opening 82 is surrounded by a cylindrical bordering wall 90 which is formed in one piece with a bottom 92 of the lower part 88 by injection molding and is conically widened at its lower end in order to facilitate the introduction of the thickened upper end of the locking peg 76 into the locking opening 82. The height of the cylindrical bordering wall 90 is chosen in such a way that its upper edge after locking is located at the height of an upward widening part of the thickening 78, so that the base 6 is pressed lightly with the bottom side of the bottom 92 against the top side 86 of the end wall 66 of the body 60, in order to seal the opening 72 in the closed state.
As a result of the rotationally symmetrical form of the locking peg 76 and the locking opening 82, the figurine 4 together with base 6 after locking with the body 60 of the device 2 can be rotated with respect to the latter around the longitudinal axis of the locking peg 76 and the locking opening 82.
The locking peg 76 is arranged eccentrically with respect to the longitudinal middle axis 46 of the body 60 similarly to the locking opening 82 with respect to a longitudinal middle axis of the base 6. The eccentricity and the position of the locking peg 76 with respect to the opening 74 are chosen in such a way that the opening 74 is closed tightly by the bottom 92 of the base 6 of the figurine 4 when the peripheral area 62 and the longitudinal middle axis 46 of the body 60 are flush with the peripheral area of the skirt 12 and respectively with the longitudinal middle axis of the base 6, as shown in
In order to limit the rotational movement, a pin 94 which is parallel to the locking peg 76 projects upwardly beyond the end wall 66, which, after locking of the base 6 of the figurine 4 to the body 60, projects into an arc-shaped recess 96 which is open toward the bottom (
The third embodiment of the attaching device 2 represented in
In contrast to the previously-described devices 2, here the base 6 of the figurine 4 is provided with an opening 102 going through the platform 10 and the bottom 92 of the bottom part 88, which is surrounded by cylindrical sleeves 106, 108 that engage with one another and are formed on the platform 10 and on the bottom 92, respectively. Through this opening 102, a drinking straw 104 can be introduced into both recesses 34 and 64 as well as through the recesses 34 and 64 into the inside of the neck part 18 of the bottle 8, as shown best in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2008 053 927 | Oct 2008 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2009/007744 | 10/29/2009 | WO | 00 | 4/28/2010 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2010/049151 | 5/6/2010 | WO | A |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 2546122 | Goldfarb | Mar 1951 | A |
| 4938395 | Jamieson | Jul 1990 | A |
| 5502981 | Sullivan | Apr 1996 | A |
| 5509551 | Terrell, II | Apr 1996 | A |
| 5518143 | Iodice | May 1996 | A |
| 5711446 | Jeffs et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
| 6758358 | Bloom | Jul 2004 | B1 |
| 6877626 | Sherrod | Apr 2005 | B2 |
| 7025653 | Hawkins | Apr 2006 | B1 |
| 20090145874 | Hite | Jun 2009 | A1 |
| 20090184083 | Cho | Jul 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2 105 388 | Sep 2009 | EP |
| 386 710 | Apr 2008 | FR |
| WO 0189952 | Nov 2001 | WO |
| WO 2005060359 | Jul 2005 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| International Search Report and Written Opinion excerpt issued in related International application No. PCT/EP2009/007744 mailed Jul. 8, 2010. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110303631 A1 | Dec 2011 | US |
