Patent Application
20240341513
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The disclosure relates to drinking cups and more particularly pertains to a new drinking cup for facilitating drinking from a container while lying in a supine position.
The prior art relates to drinking cups and includes a variety of drinking cups having a drinking straw. Known prior art does not include a modified drinking straw being mounted to a lid of the drinking cup and including a bend therein to allow a user to be able to drink from the drinking cup while in a supine position.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a cup enclosing an interior space containing a fluid. The cup includes a base wall and a perimeter wall coupled to and extending upwardly from the base wall. A top edge of the perimeter wall defines an opening into the interior space. A lid is removably mounted to the top edge of the cup and has a hole extending therethrough. A drinking straw is elongated and has a first end being open and defining an inlet and a second end being open and defining an outlet. The drinking straw has an upper bend therein to define a first section and a second section positioned adjacent to each other and being orientated parallel to each other. The first section includes the first end and the first section extends through the hole such that the first end is positioned adjacent to the base wall. The drinking straw has a lower bend therein to define a third section including the second end. The lower bend is positioned within 2.0 inches of a plane of the base wall and the lower bend forms an acute angle between the second and third sections such that the third section is angled upwardly away from the plane of the base wall.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A lid 28 is removably mounted to the top edge 26 of the cup 12. The lid 28 normally comprises a disc having a top surface 30, a bottom surface 32, and a boundary edge 34. The lid 28 removably encloses the interior space 14 of the cup 12, wherein the bottom surface 32 of the lid 28 abuts the top edge 26 of the perimeter wall 20 when the lid 28 is mounted to the cup 12 and the boundary edge 34 is flush to the exterior surface 22 of the perimeter wall 20. The lid 28 has a hole 36 extending therethrough. The hole 36 typically extends through the top surface 30 and the bottom surface 32 of the lid 28.
A seal 38 retains the lid 28 in engagement with the cup 12. The seal 38 typically includes a first mating member 40 being mounted to the cup 12 and normally comprises threading formed on the interior surface 24 adjacent to the top edge 26 of the perimeter wall 20. A second mating member 42 is mounted to the lid 28 and removably couples with the first mating member 40, wherein the lid 28 removably couples to the cup 12. The second mating member 42 normally comprises a flange extending from the bottom surface 32 of the lid 28 and an outer surface of the flange has threading formed thereon.
A drinking straw 44 is elongated and has a first end 46 being open and defining an inlet and a second end 48 being open and defining an outlet. The drinking straw 44 has an upper bend 50 therein to define a first section 52 and a second section 54 positioned adjacent to each other and being orientated parallel to each other. The first section 52 includes the first end 46 and the first section 52 extends through the hole 36 such that the first end 46 is positioned adjacent to the base wall 18. The drinking straw 44 has a lower bend 56 therein to define a third section 58 including the second end 48. The lower bend 56 is typically positioned within 2.0 inches of a plane 60 of the base wall 18. More typically, the lower bend 56 will be positioned equal with or above the plane 60 of the base wall 18. The lower bend 56 forms an acute angle 62 between the second 54 and third 58 sections such that the third section 58 is angled upwardly away from the plane 60 of the base wall 18. The acute angle 62 is typically between 60 angular degrees and 80 angular degrees, wherein the third section 58 is angled between 10 angular degrees and angular degrees between the plane 60 of the base wall 18. The drinking straw 44 typically comprises a rigid material such as plastic, metal, or any other conventionally rigid material such that the drinking straw 44 resiliently retains its form.
A mouthpiece 64 is coupled to and covers the second end 48 of the drinking straw 44. The mouthpiece 64 comprises a sleeve 66 receiving the second end 48. An end wall 68 covering is attached to the sleeve 66 and covers the second end 48 of the drinking straw 44. The end wall 68 comprises a resealable valve 70 allowing fluid 16 to flow outwardly of the drinking straw 44 through the second end 48 when negative pressure is applied to an exterior of the mouthpiece 64. The mouthpiece 64 normally comprises a resiliently bendable material such as rubber, wherein the resealable valve 70 is able to form into a closure when suction is not applied to the mouthpiece 64.
In use, the user is able to drink from the cup 12 when in a supine position by sucking on the mouthpiece 64 of the drinking straw 44. The drinking straw 44 pulls the fluid 16 from the interior space 14 of the cup 12 when suction is applied by the user to the mouthpiece 64. The releasable valve of the mouthpiece 64 forms into a closure when suction is not applied to retain the fluid 16 within the drinking straw 44.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
