Patent Application
20140027502
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cup and more particularly to a disposable non-transparent cup, such as a coffee cup, that includes measurement markings which can be made using automated manufacturing processes.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Disposable cups, such as coffee cups, are well known in the art. Such disposable coffee cups are normally made from materials, such as, styrofoam. Disposable coffee cups are also known to be made from paper and more specifically 100% bleached virgin paperboard. The paperboard is bleached with various chemicals to remove natural pigments in the paperboard. In order to prevent the coffee cups from leaking, the paperboard is known to be coated with a plastic material, such as polyethylene. Polyethylene is a synthetic resin that makes the paper watertight and thus suitable for use as a coffee cup.
Coffee cups made from bleached paperboard and coated with a plastic material are commonly used at stores operated by coffeehouse chains, such as Starbucks Corporation. Such coffee cups are non-transparent. As such, the coffee cups have no measurement indications on the cup to enable store employees to gauge how much coffee to fill in the cup.
Consumers that purchase their coffee from such coffeehouse chains are typically selective regarding the amount of cream or milk to be added to their coffee. Normally, the coffee is normally served to the consumer black. A cream and sugar bar is provided in the stores to enable consumers to add milk or cream and sugar to taste.
Adding cream or milk to the coffee can cause overfilling of the coffee cup which can cause a safety problem. Normally, when the consumer does not request the employee to “leave room” for cream or milk, the coffee cup is filled by the store employee to be fairly close to the top of cup. In order to avoid overfilling the cup, consumers are known to pour a portion of the coffee in a receptacle in order to allow milk or cream to be added. Such practice results in a significant amount of coffee being wasted.
Alternatively, consumers can request the store employee to “leave room” for cream or milk. Unfortunately with no markings in or on the cup, the store employee can only guess at how much coffee to put in the cup. In situations where too much room is left, the consumers normally hand the cup back to the store employee and request additional coffee. In situations in which the employee does not leave enough room, the consumer spills out the additional coffee in a receptacle.
Thus, there is a need for non-transparent cups, such as coffee cups, that include measurement markings so that the amount of room left for cream or milk can be specified by the consumer to avoid waste.
Briefly, the present relates to a non-transparent disposable cup, such as a coffee cup, used for dispensing coffee by coffeehouses and the like. Measurement markings are provided adjacent the mouth of the cup. The measurement markings identify different fill lines which relate to the amount of milk or cream (hereinafter referred to as “cream”) that the consumer wishes to add to the coffee. For example, a marking closest to the mouth of the cup, i.e. top fill line, may optionally be used to represent a top fill line for both the coffee and the cream. Markings below the top fill line may be used to represent alternate fill lines as a function of the amount of cream to be added. Depending on the cup size, two or more additional markings may be provided. These marking are located below the top fill line and may optionally represent the space to add a certain percentage of cream. For 12 ounce cups, the markings may be located at levels equivalent to one ounce of cream and two ounces of cream. Thus, when a consumer orders coffee, the consumer may specify to the store employee to “leave room” for one cream or two creams. In this way, the amount of coffee wasted is minimized. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the markings can be made on an interior surface of the cup by automated manufacturing methods.
These and other advantages of the present invention will be readily understood with reference to the following specification and attached drawing wherein:
The present invention relates to the use of measurement markings on a non-transparent disposable, such as a coffee cup used for dispensing coffee by coffeehouses and the like. Although a coffee cup is illustrated and described herein, the principles of the present invention are applicable to virtually any non-transparent disposable cup, such as a cup used for delivering medicine.
There are several embodiments of the invention. In two of the embodiments of the invention, raised measurement markings are formed on an interior surface and corresponding recessed markings are formed on an exterior surface of the cup adjacent the mouth. In a third embodiment of the invention, the measurement markings are simply printed on an interior surface of the cup. In the third embodiment, optional corresponding fill lines may be printed on an exterior surface of the cup.
The measurement markings are used to identify different fill lines for the coffee depending on the amount of cream that the consumer wishes to add to the coffee. For example, a marking closest to the mouth of the cup, i.e. top fill line, may optionally be used to represent a top fill line for both the coffee and the cream. Markings below the top fill line may be used to represent alternate fill lines as a function of the amount of cream to be added. Depending on the cup size two or more additional raised markings are provided. These marking are located below the top fill line and may optionally represent the space required to add a certain percentage of cream. For 12 ounce cups, the markings may be located at levels equivalent to one ounce of cream and two ounces of cream. Thus, when a consumer orders coffee, the consumer may specify to the store employee to “leave room” for one cream or two creams. In this way, the amount of coffee wasted is minimized. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the raised markings can be made on an interior surface of the cup by automated manufacturing methods.
As mentioned above, an important aspect of the invention is that the coffee cups in accordance with the present invention which include the measurement markings can be manufactured using automated manufacturing processes. The manufacturing processes are illustrated in
As illustrated and described herein, annular rings are shown for the measurement markings. However, other annular markings which do not circumscribe the inner perimeter surface of the cup are contemplated. For example, various other markings, such as, short arcuate segments, are also contemplated.
Referring first to
As shown, the measurement markings 30 circumscribe at least a portion of the inner perimeter surface 32 of the cup 20 and are formed, as shown, with a generally semicircular cross-sectional shape. However, as mentioned above, other measurement markings are also contemplated which have other shapes, for example, short line segments.
Four measurement markings 30 identified with the reference numerals 34-40 are shown in
As shown best in
Various levels for the measurement markings are contemplated. In addition, the space above the coffee level, i.e. “room”, may be adjusted as a function of the cup size. For example, in addition to 12 ounce coffee cups, coffee houses are known to provide 16 ounce, 20 ounce and 24 ounce coffee cups. In order to provide measurement markings having the same proportion of cream, the distance measurement markings can easily be scaled and spaced so that there is the equivalent 1.5 ounces of space, for example, between each measurement marking for 16 ounce cups and the equivalent of 2.0 ounces of space, for example, for 24 ounce cups.
An alternate embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
Referring to
Similar to the embodiment discussed above, the method for creating the raised markings 54-60 provides an added benefit of providing recessed markings on an exterior surface 59 of the cup 50 in the same operation. Thus, the measurement markings 52 are viewable on both the inside and outside of the cup 50, as discussed above. In addition, the inner measurement markings 54-60 may optionally be printed with different colors as represented by the different cross section lines.
Another alternate embodiment is illustrated in
The cups 20, 50 and 62 can be manufactured using standard manufacturing processes as noted below. Block diagrams illustrating the processes for manufacturing the cups 20, 50 and 62 are illustrated in
With reference to
Referring to
The blanks are stacked and transported to the forming machine 72 by way of a conveyor belt, indicated by the arrow 80. The flats are relayed to station 82 in the forming machine 72 which includes a carousel where mechanical jaws wrap each flat around a mandrel to form the flat into the shape of a cup. An FDA compliant adhesive and heat guns are used to seal opposing ends of the flat to form a vertical seam in the cup forming a cup body with a continuous sidewall.
With reference to
The last step in the process is ejecting the finished cup 20 from the mandrel 86. In the case of the cup 20 with the measurement markings 30, simply removing the cup 20 from the mandrel 86 in an axial direction could cause the cup 20 to tear since the grooves 88 on the mandrel 86 are complimentary to the measurement markings 30 and are thus embedded therein. As such, the mandrel 86 may be formed as a collapsible mandrel. By forming the mandrel as a collapsible mandrel, the mandrel 86 can be slightly collapsed to disengage the grooves 88 in the mandrel 86 from the recessed measurement markings 30 in the cup 20. The cup 20 is then safely ejected from the machine 72.
Collapsible mandrels are known in the art. An exemplary collapsible mandrel is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,020, hereby incorporated by reference.
The cup 50 may be made by the processes illustrated in
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, the raised measurement markings can be formed on an exterior surface of the cup and the recessed measurement markings can be formed on an interior surface of the cup. Thus, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described above.
What is claimed and desired to be secured by a Letters Patent of the United States is:
