This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/391,384, filed Oct. 8, 2010, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present disclosure relates to containers, and particularly to drink cups. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a drink cup having a brim.
A drink cup in accordance with the present disclosure includes a body and a brim. The body is formed to include an interior region providing a fluid-holding reservoir and the brim is coupled to the body to frame an opening into the interior region.
In illustrative embodiments, the brim is a rolled brim including an annular lip and an annular ridge. The annular lip is coupled to an upper portion of the body and arranged to lie outside of the interior region and surround the upper portion of the body to define a downwardly opening ridge-receiving chamber therebetween. The annular ridge is coupled to an inner lip wall of the annular lip and arranged to lie in the downwardly opening rigid-receiving chamber to provide pivot means for establishing a pivot about which the annular lip is rolled during exposure of the annular lip to a progressive die as a container comprising the body, annular lip, and annular ridge is run through the progressive die to produce the drink cup so that an outer lip wall that is included in the annular lip and that is arranged to face outwardly away from the inner lip wall of the annular lip has a round shape.
In illustrative embodiments, the annular lip terminates at a distal end and includes a first segment coupled to the upper portion of the body, a third segment configured to include the distal end, and a second segment arranged to interconnect the first and third segments and coupled to the annular ridge. The annular ridge is arranged to extend away from the inner lip wall of the annular lip and into the ridge-receiving chamber. Each of the first, second, and third segments is bounded by a convex curved outer surface and the convex curved outer surfaces of the first, second, and third segments cooperate to define the outer lip wall characterized by the round shape.
A process in accordance with the present disclosure comprises the steps of forming a container having a body and an unrolled brim coupled to a top end of the body and then converting the container into a drink cup having a rolled brim at a brim-former station. In an illustrative process, an annular lip coupled to the top end of the body is rolled about a pivot established by an annular ridge coupled to an inner lip wall of the annular lip to form a rolled brim including an outer lip wall having a round shape.
Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures in which:
A drink cup 10 includes a body 12 formed to include an interior region 14 and a ring-shaped rolled brim 16 made in accordance with the present disclosure and coupled to body 12 to frame an opening into interior region 14 a suggested in
Rolled brim 16 includes an annular lip 18 and an annular ridge 22 coupled to an inner wall 181 of annular lip 18 as suggested in
Annular ridge 22 has a quarter-round shape in accordance with a first embodiment of the present disclosure as shown in
Body 12 of drink cup 10 includes a floor 30 and a side wall 32 extending upwardly from floor 30 and mating with annular lip 18 as suggested in
Annular lip 18 includes an annular distal end 180, an inner lip wall 181 extending from an upper edge of distal end 180 to an upper edge of interior surface 34 of side wall 32, and an outer lip wall 182 extending from a lower edge of distal end 180 to an upper edge of exterior surface 33 of side wall 32 as suggested in
Side wall 32 of body 12 includes an upper portion 32U that is arranged to be surrounded by annular lip 18 and terminate at a first partition line PL1 and a lower portion 32L that is coupled to upper portion 32U at first partition line PL1 and extend downwardly to mate with a perimeter edge of floor 30 as suggested in
Annular ridge 22 is located in a downwardly opening ridge-receiving chamber 36 which is formed in an upper end of drink cup 10 in a space provided outside of interior region 14 and between exterior surface 33 of upper portion 32U of side wall 32 and inner lip wall 181 of annular lip 18 as shown, for example, in
Annular ridge 22 is coupled to inner lip wall 181 as shown in
An illustrative cross-sectional shape of rolled brim 16 is shown in
Intersecting x-axis and y-axis reference lines are provided on
First segment 18I of annular lip 18 is bounded by a first convex curved outer surface 182I included in outer lip wall 182 and an inner surface 181I as suggested in
Second segment 18II of annular lip 18 is bounded by a second convex curved outer surface 182II included in outer lip wall 182 and an inner surface 181II as suggested in
Annular ridge 22 of rolled brim 16 has a quarter-round shape and includes a convex curved surface 220 mating with second concave inner surface 181IIb. Annular ridge 22 also includes a cylindrical first exterior surface 221 and an annular second exterior surface 222. These first and second exterior surfaces 221, 222 meet at a common (annular) edge and face outwardly into ridge-receiving chamber 36 as shown, for example, in
Third segment 8III of annular lip 18 is bounded by annular distal end 180, a third convex curved outer surface 182III included in outer lip wall 182, and a third concave curved inner surface 181III. Annular distal end 180 is arranged to interconnect free edges of third convex curved outer surface 182III and concave curved inner surface 181III. Third convex outer surface 182III is arranged to interconnect a lower edge of annular distal end 180 and second convex curved outer surface 182II. Third concave curved inner surface 181III is arranged to interconnect an upper edge of annular distal end 180 and first planar surface 221 as shown in
First, second, and third convex curved outer surfaces 182I, 182II, and 182III have a common center of curvature and cooperate to subtend an angle of about 270° in an illustrative embodiment as suggested in
Drink cup 10 is formed using an illustrative drink cup manufacturing process 40 in accordance with the present disclosure which includes a container-manufacturing process 41 shown, for example, in
Container-manufacturing process 41 includes a series of steps used to make a container 11 having an unrolled brim 15 as shown in
Extrusion step 62 is accomplished by extruding a continuous sheet 70 as shown in
Heating step 62 is accomplished illustratively by passing continuous sheet 70 through a channel 52 formed between an upper heater 51 and a companion lower heater 53 as shown in
Molding step 63 is accomplished by positioning a portion of continuous sheet 70 in an illustrative mold cavity 55 formed between an upper female mold core 54 and a companion lower male mold core 56 as suggested in
Stamping step 64 is performed by moving continuous molded sheet 80 through a stamping machine 57 where containers 11 are separated from container-carrier sheet 82 as shown in
Accumulating step 65 is accomplished by nesting each individual container 11 in a neighboring container 11 so that a container stack 11S is established. As an example, containers 11 are nested in one another by operation of stamping machine 57 as shown in
Rolled brim 16 is formed on each container 11 in brim-forming process 42 as shown in
Brim-former machine 58 includes a first rotating spindle 111, a second rotating spindle 112 and a spindle rotator 113 coupled to first and second rotating spindles 111, 112. As shown in
As shown in
As an example, container stack 11S moves through brim-former machine 58 and container 11A of container stack 11S engages a first thread 1241 which has a first thread radius 131. First thread 1241 supports distal end 46A of annular lip 18A as container 11A moves along helical thread 124. Container 11B has engaged a second thread 1242 which has a relatively larger second thread radius 132. As a result of second thread 1242 having larger second thread radius 132, force is applied to distal end 180 and outer lip wall 182 of third segment 18III of annular lip 18 of container 11B to cause non-elastic deformation of annular lip 18B so that distal end 180B pivots about quarter-round ridge 22B towards exterior surface 33 of body 12B. Container 11C has engaged a third thread 1243 which has a relatively larger third thread radius 133 that causes additional force to be applied to distal end 180C of container 11C and to outer lip wall 182 of third segment 18III of annular lip 18C so that third segment 18III pivots about quarter-round ridge 22C. Container 11D has engaged a fourth thread 1244 which has a relatively larger fourth thread radius 134. Fourth thread radius 134 causes even more force to be applied to distal end 11D and outer lip wall 182 of third segment 18III of annular lip 18C so that third segment 18III continues to pivot about quarter-round ridge 22D as shown in
Quarter-round ridge 22 cooperates with helical thread 124 of brim-former machine 58 to control inelastic deformation of annular lip 18. Inelastic deformation occurs as a result of helical thread 124 applying force to distal end 180 and third segment 18III of annular lip 18. As helical thread 124 applies force, third segment 18III of annular lip 18 pivots about quarter-round ridge 22 toward exterior surface 33 of body 12. Helical thread 124 maintains force applied to annular lip 18 as container 11 moves through brim-former machine 98. As a result, inelastic deformation of annular lip 18 happens over time and is maintained by support from helical thread 124. As shown in
A second embodiment of a rolled brim 216 in accordance with the present disclosure is shown in
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