This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63,281,470, entitled “Drinking and Sealing Lid for Baby Bottles,” filed on Nov. 19, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present technology relates to drinking vessels and, in particular, to drinking and sealing lids for drinking containers and associated systems and methods.
Conventionally sip cups and sip bottles include lids that only fit specific cups and bottles for which they are designed. Conventional sippy cups can also leak when inverted or tipped on their side. Some require the user to close the lid (e.g., with an additional top) and seal them up after consuming liquids to avoid leaks. Children may forget or be unable to close the tops. This is particularly problematic when caregivers are traveling with the vessels in their diaper bags, luggage, or vehicles. Liquids may leak and spill to cause messes and damage.
Because conventional sippy lids only fit specific bottles and cups, caregivers are often required to bring entire vessels with the connective sip lids with them whether they are traveling, on a short outing, or in their own homes. When beverages are purchased and come in vessels with differently sized mouths, caregivers must empty the contents into the sip lid vessel. This creates circumstances where caregivers must purchase specialized drinking vessels for toddlers with sip lids rather than using sip lids that would work with a variety of different bottles and cups.
Caregivers must also dispose of readily available beverage containers and also wash multiple sip lid drink vessels rather than allowing their child to drink directly from the commercial, easily accessible vessels provided or utilizing the baby bottles they already have on hand from when the child was an infant. As a result of prior art deficiencies, children and caregivers must carry entire sip lid vessels with them to allow children to consume beverages without spilling or aspirating the beverage.
The various features of novelty that characterize the disclosure are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the disclosure, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawing and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the disclosure. Other objects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the disclosure, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
Other features of the disclosure will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed on clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure.
Disclosed herein is a sip lid configured to be coupled with differently sized and shaped drinking vessel mouths. The sip lid is made of an elastic material (e.g., silicone) that allows the sip lid to be stretched around the mouth and a neck of a drinking vessel. An inner surface of the sip lid can include one or more ridges that are configured to form a liquid-tight seal with the mouth of the drinking vessel. In some examples, the one or more ridges form a friction fit within threads of the mouth of the drinking vessel to form the liquid-tight seal. The disclosed sip lid provides for a convenient and economical sip lid that can be used for a variety of drinking vessels having different shaped and sized mouths that include or do not include threads. Importantly, the sip lid provides for a liquid-tight coupling to the differently sized bottles without spilling. As an example, the sip lid can be used for standard baby bottles thereby extending the usage time of the baby bottles as a child grows out of using nipples. The disclosed sip lid can also allow caregivers to carry a small flexible sip top that can readily connect to drink bottles purchased on the go.
Specific details of several embodiments of the present technology are described herein with reference to
The accompanying Figures depict embodiments of the present technology and are not intended to be limiting of its scope. The sizes of various depicted elements are not necessarily drawn to scale, and these various elements can be arbitrarily enlarged to improve legibility. Component details can be abstracted in the Figures to exclude details such as the position of components and certain precise connections between such components when such details are unnecessary for a complete understanding of how to make and use the present technology. Many of the details, dimensions, angles, and other features shown in the Figures are merely illustrative of particular embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, other embodiments can have other details, dimensions, angles, and features without departing from the spirit or scope of the present technology.
The base component 102 of the sip lid 100 is configured to be stretched around differently sized and shaped mouths of drinking vessels to couple the sip lid 100 to the drinking vessels. When the sip lid 100 is stretched around a mouth and/or neck of a drinking vessel, the base component 102 can form a friction fit with the mouth and/or neck of the drinking vessel thereby forming a liquid-tight seal between the base component 102 and the drinking vessel.
The spout component 104 is shaped and sized to be received within a child's mouth. For example, the spout component 104 is shaped and sized to be used by a toddler. The spout component 104 includes a first end region 106a and a second end region 106b. The first end region 106a includes one or more openings (e.g., openings 116 shown in
The second end region 106b is positioned opposite to the first end region 106a so that the base component 102 extends from the second end region 106b and at least partially surrounds the spout component 104 (e.g., at least half of a periphery). The spout component 104 has an elliptical peripheral shape that is configured to fit comfortably in a child's mouth. The base component 102 has a circular shape that is configured to fit over vessel mouths (e.g., circular or elliptical bottle mouths).
The base component 102 includes a top portion 108a and a side portion 108b. The side portion 108b extends perpendicularly or substantially perpendicularly from the top portion 108a. As shown in
The side portion 108b of the base component 102 can include smooth and non-smooth portions. For example, a peripheral edge 118 of the side portion 108b in
In some embodiments, an inner surface of the side portion 108b includes one or more ridges 112 as shown in
In some embodiments, the top portion 108a of the base component 102 includes one or more openings (e.g., an opening 114 in
The drinking vessels 200 and 300 in
At 402, the method 400 includes uncoupling the sip lid from the drinking vessel by pulling (e.g., translating in a linear manner) at least one of the sip lid and the drinking vessel relative to each other in an opposite direction until the sip lid is no longer in contact with the drinking vessel. For example, transitioning from
The method 400 can further include attaching the sip lid to a neck of another drinking vessel (e.g., drinking vessel 300 in
In accordance with some embodiments, a sip lid for a children's drinking vessel includes a spout component having a first end region and a second end region opposite to the first end region. The spout component is shaped and sized to be received within a child's mouth. The first end region comprises one or more openings configured to allow liquid to be extracted through the spout component when the child is applying suction to the spout component. The sip lid also includes a base component extending from the second end region of the spout component and surrounding the spout component. The base component is made from an elastic material configured to allow the base component to stretch over differently sized mouths of drinking vessels to form a liquid-tight seal between the base component and the drinking vessels.
In some embodiments, the base component is configured to couple with and form the liquid-tight seal with mouths of drinking vessels having diameters ranging from about 30 mm to about 55 mm.
In some embodiments, the base component is configured to couple with mouths of drinking vessels having different shapes.
In some embodiments, the spout component and the base component are made of the same elastic material. For example, the elastic material is silicone.
In some embodiments, the sip lid is configured to form the liquid-tight seal between the sip lid and the drinking vessel by friction fit. The base component does not include threads.
In some embodiments, the spout component has an elliptical outer peripheral shape and the base component has a circular outer peripheral shape.
In some embodiments, the base component includes a top portion and a side portion that extends perpendicularly from the top portion. The spout component extends from the top portion of the base component. The side portion is configured to extend over to the mouths of drinking vessels.
In some embodiments, the side portion comprises an outer surface having a plurality of grip regions that form protrusions or indentations along the outer surface.
In some embodiments, an inner surface of the side portion includes one or more ridges configured to form the liquid-tight seal between the base component and the drinking vessel. The one or more ridges are configured to concur within threads of a neck of the drinking vessel to form the liquid-tight seal.
In some embodiments, the top portion of the base component further includes an opening extending through the top portion of the base component.
In accordance with some embodiments, a sip lid for a vessel includes a spout component and a base component. The spout component has a first end region and a second end region opposite to the first end region. The first end region includes one or more openings configured to allow liquid to be extracted through the spout component. The base component extends from the second end region of the spout component and surrounds the spout component. The base component is made from an elastic material configured to allow the base component to stretch over differently sized mouths of drinking vessels to form a liquid-tight seal between the base component and the drinking vessels.
In some embodiments, the base component is configured to couple with and form the liquid-tight seal with mouths of drinking vessels having diameters ranging from about 30 mm to about 55 mm.
In some embodiments, the base component is configured to couple with mouths of drinking vessels having different shapes (e.g., circular, oval, or elliptical).
In some embodiments, a method of using a sip lid includes stretching a base component of the sip lid around threads of a neck of a drinking vessel to form a liquid-tight seal between the base component and the neck without using threads. The sip lid includes a spout component having a first end region with openings configured to allow for liquid extraction therethrough and a second end region coupled to the base component. The base component of the sip lid is configured to be stretched over the necks of drinking vessels having diameters ranging from about 30 mm to about 55 mm.
In some embodiments, the method includes uncoupling the sip lid from the drinking vessel by pulling at least one of the sip lid and the drinking vessel relative to each other in an opposite direction until the sip lid is no longer in contact with the drinking vessel. Pulling of at least one of the sip lid and the drinking vessel relative to each other does not include rotating.
In some embodiments, the drinking vessel is a first drinking vessel, the neck is a first neck. The method further includes uncoupling the sip lid from the first drinking vessel and attaching the sip lid to a second neck of a second drinking vessel. The second neck is being shaped and/or sized differently than the first neck.
The above detailed description of embodiments of the technology are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the technology to the precise form disclosed above. Although specific embodiments of, and examples for, the technology are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the technology as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, although steps are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments can perform steps in a different order. The various embodiments described herein can also be combined to provide further embodiments.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the technology have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments of the technology. Where the context permits, singular or plural terms can also include the plural or singular term, respectively.
Moreover, unless the word “or” is expressly limited to mean only a single item exclusive from the other items in reference to a list of two or more items, then the use of “or” in such a list is to be interpreted as including (a) any single item in the list, (b) all of the items in the list, or (c) any combination of the items in the list. Additionally, the term “comprising” is used throughout to mean including at least the recited feature(s) such that any greater number of the same feature and/or additional types of other features are not precluded. It will also be appreciated that specific embodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications can be made without deviating from the technology. Further, while advantages associated with some embodiments of the technology have been described in the context of those embodiments, other embodiments can also exhibit such advantages, and not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages to fall within the scope of the technology. Accordingly, the disclosure and associated technology can encompass other embodiments not expressly shown or described herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63281470 | Nov 2021 | US |