Patent Application
20130341443
The present invention relates generally to beverage containers, and more particularly to a modular container for mixing and storing nutritional supplements.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Nutritional supplements such as protein shakes, creatine shakes, meal replacement shakes and the like are useful tools for health minded individuals such as athletes, bodybuilders and casual gym members. These supplements are advertised to provide users with building blocks necessary to increase muscle tissue, boost the immune system, and/or enhance hormonal and cellular responses, for example. Currently, the most popular way to consume these supplements is in a powder form which must be mixed with a liquid such as water or milk, in order to create a blended beverage.
As shown, the powder supplement 5 often forms clumps 5a that do not break up in order to be fully blended with the liquid 6. As a result, the clumps remain intact and/or form a slurry mixture that is either consumed by the user, or becomes stuck to the bottom of the container when the user shakes the container in a vain attempt to dissolve the clumps.
When the clumpy mixture is consumed by the user, it does not have the opportunity to be adequately broken down by the user's body, thus rendering the consumed mixture less effective. Likewise, when the clumpy mixture sticks to the bottom of the container 5, it can be extremely difficult to remove, which often results in the user simply discarding the soiled container, thus increasing the burden on our landfills and other natural resources.
Secondly, the articulating cap 14 typically swings upward as shown by arrow a. To this end, the plug portion of the cap 14a which had previously been inserted into the spout 13 will often retain liquid 6 that often makes direct contact with the forehead and/or face of the user when they are attempting to drink from the container. Moreover, as these caps are often constructed from lightweight materials, it is not uncommon for the articulating cap 14 to break off of the lid, which can allow the contents to spill from the cup and/or allow contaminants to enter the beverage.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a supplement beverage container capable of dissolving supplements into a supplied liquid that does not suffer from the drawbacks of the devices described above.
The present invention is directed to a modular supplement beverage container for storing and mixing a powder supplement and a liquid.
One embodiment of the present invention can include a lid that is removably connected to an upper chamber, the lid including a spout for removing a blended mixture from the container. The container also includes a filter that is removably disposed between the upper chamber and a lower chamber. The filter including a plurality of cutters for breaking clumps of supplements into a fine powder.
Another embodiment of the present invention can include a tethered cap that can cover the spout, and a cap holder capable of retaining the cap when it is not in use.
This summary is provided merely to introduce certain concepts and not to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter.
Presently preferred embodiments are shown in the drawings. It should be appreciated, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the description in conjunction with the drawings. As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the inventive arrangements in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of the invention.
As described throughout this document, a mixture, beverage and/or shake, can include virtually any type of liquid substance intended to be consumed by a user. Additionally, although described herein as a supplement powder, one of skill in the art will recognize that the inventive concepts disclosed herein can apply equally to any number of different substances where a blended mixture between solids and liquids is desired. Accordingly, the presently claimed invention is not to be limited to the health care or physical fitness arenas. For purposes of this description, the terms “upper,” “bottom,” “right,” “left,” “front,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” and derivatives thereof shall relate to the invention as oriented in
As illustrated in
As shown in
As shown, a plurality of embedded elements forming a screw thread 29a can be located along the top end 21a, and another plurality of embedded elements forming a screw thread 29b can be located along the bottom end 21b. In one preferred embodiment, threads 29a can be located along the outside periphery of the top end, and threads 29b can be located along the inside periphery of the bottom end. As will be described below, threaded elements 29a and 29b can act to removably connect the upper chamber to the lid 30 and filter 40, respectively, in a secure and waterproof manner. Threaded elements having lands and grooves for securing complementary objects together via a twisting motion are extremely well known. Accordingly, no further description will be provided.
One or more optional cap holders 25 can be secured to the outside of the upper chamber 20 and/or the lid 30, in order to retain the cap 35 when the container is in use. Although illustrated as a single flexible shaft, one of skill in the art will recognize that the cap holder 25 can include any number of known items capable of securing the cap 35 against the container in a removable manner. Several non-limiting examples include strips of hook and loop material (i.e., Velcro®), opposing magnetic elements, and compression fittings such as snaps and clips, for example.
The lid 30 can enclose the top portion of the upper chamber and, as shown in
The lid can further include a cap 35 having a top surface 35a and a bottom surface 35b. The bottom surface of the cap 35b can include a size and shape approximating that of the spout 33, and can further include a rubber grommet 35c for creating an airtight and waterproof seal when secured within the spout 33. A tether 36 can be secured to the cap 35 via a pair of anchors 37. The tether can act to prevent the cap from being separated from the container 100 during use and can preferably be constructed from a sturdy piece of coiled wire and/or other conventional materials. Anchors 37 can include any number of conventional hardware components capable of securing two objects together, such as compression fittings, for example.
The lid 30 and the cap 35 can preferably be constructed from a semi-rigid material, such as polypropylene, by a method such as injection molding or blow molding, but other materials such as stainless steel and hard plastic, for example, are also contemplated.
When in operation, the cap 35 can be secured to the cap holder 25 of the upper chamber, in order to prevent the cap from making contact with the face of the user when in operation.
The filter 40 can include a hollow tubular main body 41 having an open top end 41a and an open bottom end 41b. A series of narrow cross mounted and/or overlapping cutters 45 having sharp sides/edges can be disposed across the middle portion of the filter main body at a location between the top end and the bottom end. These cutters 45 can form a lattice-like network of obstacles and openings for breaking up clumps of supplements into fine powder that can be easily blended with a supplied liquid. Additionally, these cutters can be shaped to form a wire mesh capable of breaking the clumps into a fine powder. In one preferred embodiment, the main filter body 41 can be constructed from injection molded plastic, and each of the cutters can be constructed from thin pieces of stainless steel or plastic. Of course, any number of other suitable materials and construction techniques can also be utilized.
Although described above as cutters, one of skill in the art will recognize that other contemporary devices for separating powder clumps can also be utilized. For example, alternate embodiments can substitute a plastic or metal strainer, for example, each being capable of functioning as the cutters.
A plurality of embedded threads 49a and 49b can be located along the outer surfaces of filter body at the top end 41a and 41b, respectively. Embedded threads 49a and 49b, being configured to mate with threads 29b and 59 of the upper chamber and the lower chamber, respectively, in a secure and waterproof manner. To this end, the filter 40 may be screwed into the upper chamber 20 and the lower chamber 50 for use, and similarly may be screwed off to permit washing of the components.
The lower chamber 50 can include a generally tubular main body 51 having an open top end 51a and a closed bottom end 51b. The top end including a plurality of threaded elements 59 for mating with the threads 49b of the filter 40. The lower chamber will act as the bottom of the container 100 and will preferably include a flat surface along the outside of the bottom end 51b in order to allow the container to stand upright. In one preferred embodiment, the lower chamber can be constructed from injection molded plastic; however, other materials and construction techniques such as stainless steel, for example, can also be utilized.
Although described above as including threads 29a, 49a, and 49b as being located on the outside periphery, and threads 29b, 39 and 59 being located on the inside periphery, this is for illustrative purposes only, as one of skill in the art will recognize that other configurations for mating outer periphery and inner periphery threads can be accomplished without undue experimentation. Additionally, one of skill will recognize that any number of conventional methods of mating the above described components together in a removable fashion can be accomplished without deviating from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts described herein. To this end, the cap, upper chamber, filter and lower chamber, or any combination thereof can be friction fitted to an adjacent component and/or may also be provided with a variety of mating surfaces to otherwise couple the components in accordance with known devices and construction methodologies. Additionally, one or more of the lid 30, upper chamber 20, filter 40 and/or the lower chamber 50 may be provided as a paired set, or can be manufactured separately to form any number of different sizes i.e., length, width and volume of contents, which can be separately purchased or owned by the user.
As described herein, one or more elements of the modular supplement beverage container 100 can be secured together utilizing any number of known attachment means such as, for example, compression fittings and welds, among others. Moreover, although the above embodiments have been described as including separate individual elements, the inventive concepts disclosed herein are not so limiting. To this end, one of skill in the art will recognize that one or more individual elements such as the lid 30, the upper chamber 20, the filter 40 and/or the lower chamber 50, including all sub components, for example, may be formed together as one continuous element, or a plurality of continuous elements comprising two or more of the above mentioned components joined together in either a removable or permanent fashion. This process can be performed either through manufacturing processes, such as welding, casting, or molding, or through the use of singular pieces of material milled or machined with the aforementioned components forming identifiable sections thereof.
As to a further description of the manner and use of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
