Patent Application
20160255972
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of lids for beverage containers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a lid for use with a beverage container that would typically contain a hot liquid such as coffee or tea, and that provides a removable, sanitary boundary that ensures that the drink lid surface that will come into contact with the beverage drinker's mouth is not contaminated by the beverage server.
2. Summary of the Invention
There is broad support for the proposition that human hands can transport and communicate viruses or harmful bacteria. People that work in coffee shops typically will apply a drink lid to a beverage container before the beverage is provided to a customer. This action often requires the beverage server to place his fingers/palm on the portion of the drink lid that will contact the beverage drinker's lips/mouth when the beverage is consumed. As a result, there is a substantial opportunity for the beverage server to communicate harmful viruses or bacteria to the drink lid and then for the harmful viruses or bacteria to then contact the beverage drinker's lips/mouth.
Further, once a beverage drinker receives the beverage, the beverage drinker often moves to a secondary station where the drinker can add cream, sugar, or other condiments to the beverage. This process generally requires the beverage drinker to remove the beverage lid and often results in the lid being placed on the secondary station that itself, may be contaminated with harmful viruses or bacteria. As a result, having a removable lid that is not connected to the beverage container provides an additional opportunity for contamination. Also, to keep a hot beverage hot, and to prevent spillage, it is preferable for a beverage lid to completely seal the top of the beverage container. Finally, retailers wish to place advertisements, promotions, and other information in locations that will be viewed by customers.
Thus, there is a need for a beverage lid that provides a removable barrier that keeps the portion of the drink lid that will contact a user's lip/mouth sanitary, that allows the lid to be removed without the lid having to be placed in contact with secondary surfaces, that provides a complete sealing of the beverage container, and that provides a location for the placement of advertisements, promotions, and other information.
This summary provides, in simplified forms, concepts that are more fully described and detailed below. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is this summary intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope fo the claimed subject matter. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the appended claims. These and other features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set described in this application.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
As illustrated in
Front cover 104 includes at least one front tab 102 that is not adhered to cup lid 106 and may be readily grasped by a user to facilitate removal of front cover 104. Rear cover 105 also includes at least one rear tab 103 that is not adhered to cup lid 106 and may be readily grasped by a user to facilitate removal of rear cover 105. It should be understood that the general disposition and configuration of the front cover 104 and rear cover 105 may be modified to fit any and all beverage lid configurations, and no description herein is intended to limit the shape, design, dimensions, angles, materials or application of the invention. While this embodiment is intended to accommodate easy manufacturing on a flat sheet of material, front cover 104 and rear cover 105 may be transparent, opaque, colored, or of any combination thereof. Provided, however, that front cover 104 and rear cover 105 are made from a material suitable to receive printing on both a top surface that is immediately viewed by a user, and a bottom surface, that is not viewable until front cover 104 and/or rear cover 105 is removed from cup lid 106. Further, front cover 104 and rear cover 105 are preferably made from a thin, flexible, fluid impervious sheet of material.
As seen in
As shown in
In operation, a barista would first fill beverage container 101 with a consumer's choice of beverage. Next, the barista would position cup lid 106 into position on top of beverage container 101. Because plug 401 completely seals sip opening 203, beverage container 101 is completely sealed and there is no need to insert a separate sip opening plug as is common practice with conventional drink lids. The consumer then removes front cover 104, thereby removing plug 401, and the consumer may then consume the beverage through sip opening 203. Importantly, removing front cover 104 exposes a portion of lid 106 that is clean, sanitary, and untouched by the barista. If a consumer desires to remove lid 106 to add condiments, tether 201 retains lid 106 without requiring lid 106 to be placed on a separate surface. This eliminates the possibility of acquiring contaminants from a secondary surface.
It will be readily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention fulfills all the objects set forth above. After reading the foregoing specification, one of ordinary skill will be able to effect various changes, substation of equivalents and various other aspects of the invention as broadly disclosed herein. It is, therefore, intended that the protection granted hereon be limited only by he definition contained in the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
