The invention relates to a mug.
Conventionally, for stirring a beverage in a beverage cup, such as a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, a separate stirring means is used, such as a teaspoon or, in the case of disposable cups, sometimes also e.g. a wooden stick.
A drawback in this conventional way of stirring the beverage is that both hands are always needed for doing it when the cup is held in hand. However, there are situations in which one hand is needed for something else than holding the cup or stirring the beverage in it simultaneously when drinking from the cup or holding the cup in hand. A need for keeping one hand free during drinking the beverage in the cup or holding the cup in hand occurs, for example, when driving a car or when holding another object or piece relating to drinking the beverage, such as another piece of tableware (e.g. a saucer) or a foodstuff (e.g. a slice of bread, a bun, a cookie, or the like).
At present, mugs and other drinking cups are also known, which are equipped with some kind of a stirring means that can be applied simultaneously by the same hand in which the mug or beverage cup is held. A mug, in which the beverage can be stirred simultaneously by the same hand in which the mug is held, is disclosed in e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,390 B1. In this solution, the mug is equipped with a handle comprising a pump operable by a finger to produce pressurized air which is introduced in the mug. A check valve is provided in the handle of the mug, preventing the entry of liquid into the handle but enabling the entry of air from the inside of the handle into the liquid space of the mug. In other words, flows that cause stirring are generated by means of an air flow introduced in the liquid space. As a result, the flows causing stirring are primarily air bubbles, wherein liquid flows causing actual stirring remain relatively insignificant and inefficient. Moreover, the arrangement for stirring comprises several separate elements which increases the manufacturing costs of the mug a lot compared with a conventional mug.
The aim of the invention is to introduce a novel mug which is simpler and less expensive to manufacture than before and in which the beverage can be simultaneously stirred by the same hand in which the mug is held, by means of a pumping device in the mug.
The aim of the invention is achieved by a mug according to the invention, because the mug is provided with a pumping space, into which the liquid in the mug, that is, the beverage, is sucked from the liquid space of the mug via a flow channel accelerating the liquid flow by underpressure generated by a pumping device, and from which the beverage is led by overpressure generated by the pumping device via a flow channel accelerating the flow back to the liquid space in the mug, wherein a liquid flow is generated in the beverage in the liquid space, generating significantly stronger turbulence and flows in the liquid space of the mug than merely air introduced into the liquid space. To put it more precisely, the cup according to the invention is characterized in what will be presented in the independent claim 1. Dependent claims 2 to 9 will present some advantageous embodiments of the mug according to the invention.
The mug according to the invention has the advantage that the mug, based on a pumping device in connection with the mug, which pumping device can be used simultaneously by the same hand in which the mug is held, can be made more efficient in stirring the beverage and simpler in its structure and less expensive in its manufacturing costs than mugs of prior art where the stirring of the beverage is based on a pumping device in the mug.
In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which
In this case, the mug 1 is made by casting from a suitable castable material, such as clay, porcellaine or plastic. A handle 5 is connected to the side wall 2 of the mug 1, for gripping the mug 1 when drinking the beverage 6 from it. In this case, the handle 5 is integrated in the mug 1, but the handle 5 could be a separate piece as well.
The mug 1 according to
A flow channel 9 extends from the pumping space 8 to the liquid space 4 of the mug 1, via which the liquid, i.e. the beverage 6, contained in the mug can flow from the liquid space 4 to the pumping space 8 and from the pumping space 8 to the liquid space 4. The stirring unit 7 comprises a pumping device 10 which, in this case, is a hollow pumping piece 12 made of an elastic material, fastened to a connecting opening 11 in the top part of the handle 5, and provided with a connecting collar 13 to be connected to the connecting opening 11 in an air-tight way, whereby air contained in the pumping piece 12 can flow from the inside of the pumping piece 12 to the pumping space 8 inside the handle 5. In this embodiment, the stirring unit 7 also comprises whirling grooves and/or protrusions at the bottom 3 of the mug 1, on the side of the liquid space 4, as shown in
In this embodiment, the pumping piece 12 is a spherical piece, hollow inside, having a wall of an elastic material. Thus, the pumping piece 12 can be compressed by a finger (in this embodiment, by the thumb), and it will resume its original shape when the compressing is discontinued. Thus, when pressing the pumping piece 12, the volume of the pumping piece 12 is decreased and air contained in it flows via the connecting collar 13 to the pumping space 8. As a result, the pressure of air in the pumping space 8 increases. In a corresponding manner, when the pressing is discontinued and the pumping piece 12 resumes its original shape, the volume of the pumping piece increases and air flows from the inside of the pumping space 8 back to the inside of the pumping piece 12. As a result, the pressure of air in the pumping space 8 decreases. In an embodiment similar to that shown in
In its simplest form, the flow channel 9 is a hole between the pumping space 8 and the liquid space, having an inner diameter that is relatively small in relation to the inner diameters of the pumping space 8 and the liquid space 4. In the embodiment of
When using the mug 1 according to
Further, the mug according to the invention can be implemented in a variety of ways different from the example embodiments presented above. In an embodiment of the mug according to the invention, the pumping space is formed inside the bottom or the side wall of the mug. In such a mug, the pumping piece can be formed in the mug, for example, in such a way that it is a cushion enveloping the mug in part or in whole, whereby it can be compressed by squeezing the mug more strongly and more lightly in an alternating manner. Thus, such an embodiment is suitable for a mug with no handle. On the other hand, such an embodiment can be provided in a mug with a handle as well, whereby in this case, too, the pumping piece can be provided e.g. in the wall of the mug, but alternatively, it can be provided e.g. in the handle, as in the embodiment of
Thus, the mug according to the present disclosure is not limited to the above described example embodiments, but it can be implemented in a variety of ways within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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20140336 | Dec 2014 | FI | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/FI2015/050843 | 12/2/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2016/087715 | 6/9/2016 | WO | A |
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2965274 | Brillis | Dec 1960 | A |
4967939 | Taylor | Nov 1990 | A |
6471390 | Cuthbertson | Oct 2002 | B1 |
20050135186 | Mbakaop | Jun 2005 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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202536971 | Nov 2012 | CN |
203619255 | Jun 2014 | CN |
203619255 | Jun 2014 | CN |
20100060583 | Jun 2010 | KR |
Entry |
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European Patent Office, Search Report, Application No. 15865080.4, dated Nov. 22, 2017, 7 pages. |
International Search Report, International Application No. PCT/FI2015/050843, dated Mar. 17, 2016, 4 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20170348656 A1 | Dec 2017 | US |