Patent Application
20170127862
None.
Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored and no rights are given under any Federal Program.
Not Applicable.
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to drinking straws and, more particularly, to a drinking straw which would be quite appealable to toddlers and school-age children.
Description of the Related Art
As is known and understood, drinking straws are usually employed by toddlers and school-age children to sip liquid therethrough, and to “blow bubbles” in reverse into the liquid retaining container. As is also well known and understood, drinking straws of this type are available both “bendable” and “fixed”, in straight or looping configurations, transparent or solid, and typically of a length to fit within an 8 oz. can, a 12 oz. bottle, a 16 oz. bottle, or 4, 6, or 8 oz. glasses. Typical disclosures of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,517,884; 3,780,944; 4,379,511; 5,184,774; and 5,201,460.
As will be appreciated, my previous U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,604 describes the desirability of having a drinking straw that could be shaped by a child into his/her own desired configuration, to fit the size of the liquid retaining container in which it were to be used. At the same time, its disclosure set out that a shaping could result in further identifying the straw as belonging to one child of a family, instead of to its sibling brothers or sisters. Such '604 Patent described a personalized name straw that included a plurality of generally tubular components to form a drinking straw of desired configuration as having a first component being in the nature of a personalized name; a second component in the nature of a conduit to channel liquids from first end through the straw; and a third component for sipping the liquid through the straw. My patent went on to describe individual spacers between openings of each abutting, adjacent letter of the name in channeling the liquid through the name in forward or reverse direction. It noted that the three components could be interconnected to form the overall shape of the straw desired, or to take apart and reconnect it in any desired configuration. The patent concluded that by coupling together a series of straight components, or intercoupling them with loop components to correlate with the size of the liquid retaining container, an end result could be a fanciful design, personalized with the name of the user, and with the liquid flow being of a see-through colored appearance through the straw in creating a “squiggly” effect.
FIGS. 1-4 of the '604 Patent illustrated a construction of its invention with the boy's name Anthony showing how the letter “A” could be connected to the letter “N”, and how the letter “N” could be connected to the letter “T”. However, many other boys' names begin with the letters “AN”—such as ANAND, ANDERSON, ANDRE, ANDREAS, ANDREW, ANDY, ANGEL, ANGELO, ANGUS, ANSEL, ANSON, ANTON, ANTONIO and ANTONY; with such an availability of names came a realization that the letter “N” in the straw's second component could require the location of a different exit point in channeling the liquid through to the next letter in the chain, depending upon what the next letter in the chain might happen to be. In other words, for the following letter “A” in ANAND, the exit location for the letter “N” would be different for the following letter “D” in ANDERSON for example, then for the letter “G” in ANGELO, or for the letter “S” in ANSEL. And similarly, for the names AARON, ABRAHAM, ADAM, ARNOLD or AUSTIN, the connecting point between the first letter “A” and the next letter in the name, could well be different from that exit point n between the “A” and “N” in the name ANTHONY.
As will be appreciated, therefore, a great many numbered examples of each letter would be required for forming the personalized name depending upon what letter would appear; and that this would require even more individual letters if the letter was to be capitalized or not, or if only the first letter were to be capitalized. A great number of such letter combinations have thus been required to form the name portion of the personalized straw of the '604 Patent to connect with the, first and third components which respectively dip into the container on the one hand, and which exit from the last letter in the name to be sucked upon by the user, on the other hand.
And, in a manufacture of the personalized name straw according to its teachings, once the letters were determined for use as the “name component”, they were separated into top and lower halves that were then pressed together in forming a name “plate”, to then be coupled with the other two components of the straw.
As will become clear from the following description, the drinking straw of the present invention continues to be personalized with the name of the user but without there being individual components connected together in forming the drinking straw of a desired, unique configuration. Thus, and as will be seen, the preferred embodiment of the invention includes the input and output portions or segments of the straw being cursively co-joined with the name in script, and formed together through a substantially continuously injection molding manufactured process. As with the earlier invention, the name straw is manufactured of a rigid, plastic composition, colored and transparent for example, so as to observe the course of liquid passing through the straw while sipping. No detachment of the input and output segments from the “name” segment is required, and no individual fitting together of the segments is necessary by the child or adult to obtain the shape and configuration of the straw desired. Besides a more pleasant appearance resulting from the nature of the injection mold processing, so too is a manner of subsequent cleaning of the straw of any liquid that might remain after use. In such manner, and as will be readily understood, a specific “drinking straw design” is possible, of a nature that would appeal to the child whose name is displayed, no matter his/her age, both for “sipping” and for “blowing bubbles”. And, as will be seen, the personalized name straw embodying the invention can be formed and used in this manner, either with all the letters of the user's name being of a lower case letter cursive format, or with just the first letter of the name capitalized, or with all letters capitalized.
These and other features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying Drawings in which:
The personalized name straw depicted in
In this respect, the first segment, shown as 20, is of generally tubular configuration and is replicated as the third segment 22, the difference between them being that the first segment 20 is coupled into a first letter of the user's name, while the third segment 22 couples into the last letter of the name. Such “name” is shown as the second segment 24, composed of a plurality of co-joined letters connecting one another in cursive formation of the name of the user where each of the co-joined letters touch; and, with each letter of the second segment 24 being hollowed out for channeling liquid from the first segment 20 through each letter of the second segment 24, through to the third segment 22. With the preferred embodiment utilizing transparent and colored segments, the segments together form a conduit in permitting a liquid flow either from left-to-right or from right-to-left, allowing sipped liquid to flow from one end to the other (as from segment 20 to segment 22, or from segment 22 to segment 20)—in each direction, channeling through the user's name. In such manner, the first segment may be arranged for sipping by the user, while the third segment 22 is arranged for placement into the liquid retaining container. In such usage, the liquid flow proceeds from the third segment 22 into the last letter of the name in the second segment 24, and from there through its abutting, co-joined adjacent letters to exit at the first letter, and from there through the first segment 20 into the user's mouth. In an alternative use, as will be apparent, the third segment 22 may be arranged for sipping by the user, with the first segment 20 being arranged for placement into the container—in which case the liquid flow from the container is through the segment 20, into the first letter of the name in the second segment 24, and from there through its abutting co-joined letters, to exit at the last letter of the name—and from there through the third segment 22 into the mouth.
In the preferred usage of the embodiments of
While Applicant does not wish to be limited to any particular set of dimensions, overall lengths for the first, second and third segments of the personalized straw might be 2.50 inches, 4.50 inches, and 2.50 inches, respectively. The diameters for the tubular segments 20 and 22 in providing the described “tapering” would extend from 0.22 inches at their remote ends to 0.25 inches where they meet the letters of the second segment 24. Recognizing that different user's names contain different numbers of letters, the second segment 24 could have those letters spread out linearly along the length of the 4.50 inches of the second segment 24, or compressing them closer together depending upon the numbers of letters in the name.
Whereas there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. Thus, while different fonts may be employed for the letters of the user's name in the second segment 24, and while different dimensions for constructing the three segments 20, 22, 24 can be had in the injection molding manufacture process of the personalized straw, the overall effect will be seen to allow the presentation of a personalized straw that would appeal to children of all ages both for “sipping” and for “blowing bubbles” through the straw, be the straw be of a see-through nature, or in any manner of colorization, wherever desired. And, whereas the personalized straw could be a spelling of the name of the user, it will be understood that such personalized name could alternatively be that of a sports or entertainment celebrity character real or fictional, a professional, semi-professional or amateur athletic team or educational institute, or another person or pet living or deceased, while still embodying the invention as to the cursive, scripted presentation of the second segment of the personalized straw in channeling liquids from a first end thereof to a second end through the personalized straw. For at least such reasons, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.
