Patent Application
20190084745
The present disclosure relates generally to beverage containers and, more specifically, to a disposable beverage container with upper and lower apertures to facilitate the removal of the liquid contained in the beverage container.
Containers for holding, storing, and transporting liquids have greatly evolved over time. Early containers were often hollowed out gourds, animal skins, and the like. Other containers, such as wood, clay, and the like were used to create vessels for storage of liquids. In more modern times, glass, plastic, and metal (e.g., steel, aluminum, or the like) were commonly used. Many of these beverage containers are still in wide use today.
Waxed paper containers are frequently used for storage of liquids, such as milk. Within the last fifty years, multi-layered paper containers have been widely used for storage of small or single servings of juice or milk. These boxes, sometimes referred to as a “juice box,” are typically manufactured from a liquid packaging board that includes multiple layers of paper, polyethylene, and aluminum foil. The paper layers are used to shape the product and give the juice box an extra source of strength. The polyethylene layers form a liquid-tight seal. The aluminum layers may be used to prevent light or oxygen from spoiling the liquid inside the box. For this reason, juice boxes often do not require refrigeration.
In a typical juice box, a small sealed aperture is provided on the top of the box and a flexible straw is often glued directly to the outside of the box. Users can puncture the sealed aperture using the bottom of the straw to thereby gain access to the stored liquid in the container.
Alcoholic beverages, such as wine are sometimes supplied in such liquid containers. Instead of a sealed aperture on the top of the container, a “wine box” may contain a spigot or valve near the bottom of one side of the box to gain access to the wine contained therein.
Juice boxes have not typically been used for carbonated alcoholic beverages, such as beer. Small serving size portions of beer are still distributed in bottles or cans. A popular drinking game, sometimes referred to as “a shotgun” is sometimes used while drinking beer from a can. To shotgun a beverage, a small hole is punched in the side or bottom of the can. The drinker places their mouth over the hole at the bottom of the can and pulls the tab at the top of the can. With this approach, the liquid is quickly drained through the bottom hole into the drinker's mouth. The bottom hole in the beer can is typically made with a sharp object, such as a key, bottle opener, knife, or the like. Other specialized novelty tools have been developed to create the bottom hole in the beer can.
The creation of a hole at the bottom of the metal beer can with a sharp object increases the possibility of jagged edge of the can injuring the drinker. The ad hoc nature of the creation of the hole creates unpredictable results and possible safety concerns.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a need for a beverage container that can be safely opened and can facilitate the rapid discharge of the liquid from within the container. The present disclosure is directed to a disposable beverage container and method of operation that addresses these issues. This, and other advantages, will be apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying figures.
The beverage container is embodied, in one example, in a container 100 illustrated in
As illustrated in
The top panel in
The top panel 110 is shown in the top plan view of
Alternatively, the top and bottom seals 124-126 may be made of known low temperature seals, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, foil, mylar, or other thermoplastic materials that are known in the art for sealing openings in a liquid-containing carton.
In the embodiment illustrated in the
In an alternative embodiment, illustrated in
While the embodiment in
In yet another embodiment, the circular apertures 120-122 illustrated in
In the exemplary embodiments of
In the exemplary embodiments of
In this embodiment, the top aperture 120 is placed in the top panel 110 of the container 100 and the bottom aperture 122 is placed in the side panel 128 proximate the bottom panel 112. This arrangement facilitates the fast withdrawal of the liquid within the container 100. Alternatively, the top aperture 120 is placed in the top panel 110 of container 100 near the edge of the side panel and the bottom aperture 122 is placed in the side panel 128 proximate the bottom panel 112 and generally on the side furthest from the edge where the top aperture is positioned. This arrangement facilitates the fast withdrawal of the liquid within the container 100.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the top aperture 120 may be placed in the top panel 110 or in the side panel 128 at or near the top panel. Similarly, the bottom aperture 122 may be placed in the bottom panel 112 or in the side panel 128 at or near the bottom panel. In yet another alternative, the top aperture 120 is placed in the top panel 110 of the container 100 and the bottom aperture 122 is placed in the bottom panel 112.
As with other embodiments described herein, the sealed apertures 120-122 may be circular, as shown in
In yet another alternative embodiment, the elongated top and bottom apertures 120-122 may omit the top and bottom flaps 130-132, respectively and rely on puncturing to unseal the apertures. In yet another alternative embodiment, one of the top and bottom apertures 120-122 may be round or elongated and may be puncturable or may include a flap to facilitate unsealing of the aperture. The various combinations of circular and elongated apertures can readily be employed in the container 100. Similarly, the apertures may be puncturable, or may include flaps, in any combination such that one or both apertures are circular and one or both apertures are puncturable. In addition, one or more of the apertures may be circular and one or more of the apertures may include a flap to facilitate unsealing of the aperture. Similarly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other shapes may be employed for the aperture, such as the elongated shape illustrated in several of the Figures herein. In the embodiments of
In operation, a user initially unseals either the top aperture 120 or the bottom aperture 122. Because the container 100 includes apertures on both the top and bottom, it does not matter which aperture is initially opened. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, whichever aperture is opened is generally facing up to avoid inadvertent discharge of the liquid contained within the interior portion 114 (see
After one of the apertures (either the top aperture 120 or the bottom aperture 122) is unsealed, the user quickly inverts the container 100 to place the opened aperture directly above or near the user's mouth. Following the proper positioning of the container, the remaining aperture is then opened to quickly release the liquid in the interior portion 114 of the container 100 directly into the user's mouth.
Because the various panels (e.g., front and rear panels 102-104 and left and right panels 106-108) are flexible, the user can apply slight pressure to the front and rear panels 102-104 to further accelerate the discharge of the liquid into the user's mouth. In yet another variation, the user can apply pressure to the side panels e.g., the front and rear panels 102-104 and/or the left and right panels 106-108) after unsealing only one of the sealed apertures. The pressure will force the liquid out of the unsealed aperture and, when the remaining sealed aperture is unsealed, the rate of discharge will increase further.
The foregoing described embodiments depict different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).
Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
