Patent Application
20200154917
The present invention relates to an environmentally-friendly straw improved structure, and more particularly to an environmentally-friendly straw improved structure that is reusable, environmentally effective and thoroughly cleanable.
With the popularity of tea drinking culture, consumers usually buy a cup of tea when they dine. Among them, the bubble or boba milk tea is made by adding and mixing tea with springy mouthfeel and chewy tapioca balls (or pearls), which is more popular among consumers. There are also drinks such as green tea, flower tea and juices added with tapioca balls. When buying these beverages, the store will provide a plastic straw for the consumer to suck the beverage. If the beverage is acidic, it is easy for the plastic straw to dissolve toxic and cause harm to human health. Both disposable chopsticks and plastic straws are disposable products that can only be used one time and are discarded after use. Disposable chopsticks and plastic straws will generate a large amount of garbage and cause environmental problems.
As consumers become more aware of their personal health and environmental protection, many consumers have their own reusable environmentally-friendly tableware when they dine outside. But with all kinds of environmentally-friendly tableware, it is quite inconvenient to carry, use and store, so that the consumers are often in the dilemma of choosing between health, environmental protection and convenience of use. Often, because of the lack of convenient storage and use of environmentally-friendly tableware, they cannot be used continuously, so that it is still practically difficult to reduce the usage amount of plastic straws effectively.
Therefore, in order to effectively solve the above problems, a main object of the present invention is to provide a reusable environmentally-friendly straw improved structure.
A secondary object of the present invention is to provide an environmentally-friendly straw improved structure that is environmentally effective.
Another secondary object of the present invention is to provide an environmentally-friendly straw improved structure that can be thoroughly cleaned without residual dirt.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an environmentally-friendly straw improved structure comprising a tube, at least one joint portion, and at least one combination portion. The tube is curlily formed by a sheet-like flexible member, the flexible member has an upper surface and a lower surface, a first side edge and a second side edge are respectively formed at two sides of the upper surface, and a third side edge and a fourth side edge are respectively formed at two sides of the lower surface. A hollow portion is correspondingly formed inside the tube. The joint portion is correspondingly formed at the first side edge of the upper surface. The combination portion is correspondingly formed at the fourth side edge of the lower surface. The combination portion is snapped with the joint portion to form the hollow portion for a fluid to pass through.
With the design of the structure of the present invention, the joint portion formed at the first side edge of the upper surface and the combination portion formed at the fourth side edge of the lower surface are assembled and fastened with each other, so that the original sheet-like flexible member is curled to form the tube. Thus, the user can use the tube to suck the fluid (the fluid refers to beverages, tapioca balls, pearls, coconut jelly, etc.). When the tube needs to be cleaned after use, it is only required to detach the joint portion and the combination portion to return the tube to the sheet-like flexible member, and then directly wash and clean the flexible member with water to have the tube thoroughly cleaned, thereby achieving the effect of preventing dirt from remaining in the tube.
The above objects of the present invention, as well as its structural and functional features, will be described in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the accompanying drawings.
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The joint portion 14 is correspondingly formed at the first side edge 110 of the upper surface 11, and the combination portion 15 is correspondingly formed at the fourth side edge 121 of the lower surface 12. In this embodiment, the joint portion 14 is illustrated by a rib, and the combination portion 15 is illustrated by a groove. The rib and the groove can be respectively formed in a continuous or discontinuous manner at the first side edge 110 of the upper surface 11 and the fourth side edge 121 of the lower surface 12, and the rib is correspondingly snapped and assembled with the groove to form the hollow portion 13 for a fluid (the fluid refers to beverages, tapioca balls, pearls, coconut jelly, etc.) to pass through. It should be noted that the combination portion 15 is spaced apart from a foremost end of the tube 1 by a distance and then fastened and assembled with the joint portion 14, and a cross-sectional area of two ends of the assembled tube 1 will form a beveled surface to cause the two ends of the tube 1 to be respectively formed as a tip end.
In addition, it should be noted that the sheet-like flexible member 10 is made of any one of a plastic material, an aluminum foil material, or a polymer material, that is, any material having flexibility can form the tube 1 of the present invention, and the material is highly reusable and low in cost, as described in the foregoing.
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As mentioned above, the present invention has the following advantages over the prior art:
1. reusable;
2. environmentally effective; and
3. thoroughly cleanable without residual dirt.
It is to be understood that the above description is only preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not used to limit the present invention, and changes in accordance with the concepts of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention, for example, the equivalent effects produced by various transformations, variations, modifications and applications made to the configurations or arrangements shall still fall within the scope covered by the appended claims of the present invention.
