Patent Application
20180334369
The disclosed technology pertains to an apparatus for holding and sealing bottles containing various substances.
Many jobs, hobbies and tasks require the use of liquid materials. For example, a person preparing a meal, whether professionally or in the comfort of their home, may use various vinegars, oils, syrups, sauces, or other liquid or semi-liquid ingredients. Likewise, a craftsman working with wood or other materials may use various types of stains, sealers, glues, and solvents during their work. As yet another example, a mechanic servicing automobiles, motorcycles, or even bicycles, may use oils, lubricants, solvents, dyes, powders, and other liquid, semi-liquid, or even fine powdered materials during the servicing and diagnosis of mechanical problems.
Such materials may be purchased in a variety of containers. Often, the container that a material is sold in may not be convenient for tasks with which it is commonly used. For example, cooking oil may be bought in bulk jugs holding a gallon or more, which may have a size and weight that make them inconvenient for pouring into a skillet or teaspoon. Some cleaning supplies or solvents may be purchased in a spray bottle that is inconvenient for precise application or soaking. Glues may be purchased in bottles that have twistable or foldable nozzles, which may be inconvenient for frequent use that may require repetitive twisting or manipulation to open and close the bottle. Due to the variety of containers that materials are purchased in, some users will move the material to a container that is more convenient for their own purposes. Often, this may be a simple bottle with a conical nozzle that dispenses the material by operation of gravity or due to a shaking or squeezing force applied to the bottle. While such a bottle may allow for easier use, it also introduces a possibility of spillage, evaporation, drying, or spoilage unless it is kept capped by, for example, a removable cap. However, introducing a removable cap reduces the convenience of the bottle, as it must be removed and replaced after use, and may also be easily lost or damaged by a glue or solvent.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system for storing and sealing bottles containing materials.
The drawings and detailed description that follow are intended to be merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as contemplated by the inventors.
The inventor has conceived of novel technology that, for the purpose of illustration, is disclosed herein as applied in the context of a self-sealing bottle storage apparatus. While the disclosed applications of the inventor's technology satisfy a long-felt but unmet need in the art of self-sealing bottle storage, it should be understood that the inventor's technology is not limited to being implemented in the precise manners set forth herein, but could be implemented in other manners without undue experimentation by those of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure. Accordingly, the examples set forth herein should be understood as being illustrative only, and should not be treated as limiting.
Turning now to the figures,
Since the bottle holder (100) is comprised of the upper frame (102) and the lower frame (104), it may be disassembled for storage, packing, shipping, and other similar situations, and it may also allow for some adjustment of the overall height of the bottle holder (100). As seen in
The bottle holder (100) also comprises a top (142) and a base (144). The depth of the base (144) may vary, and may typically be between about 3 and about 8 inches to accommodate bottles having various depths and to provide a stable base should a user desire to let the bottle holder rest on a flat surface rather than hanging it from a vertical surface via a set of mounting points (114) that allow for a screw, nail, or other such mounting hardware to be passed through the lower wall (118) or upper wall (119) and affix the bottle holder (100) to a structural wall or other vertical surface. The base (144) has one or more recesses (106) extending downwards into the base (144), which may be circular or square, and will have a circumference or perimeter that allows for the base of various sizes of bottles to be placed within and rest within the recess (106).
The depth of the top (142) may vary, and may typically between about 3 and about 8 inches to accommodate bottles having various depths, and to provide enough depth that a nozzle catch (122) may extend downwards from the underside of the top (142) and be approximately centered over the recess (106), such that a bottle placed within the recess (106) will have a nozzle that is located centrally and extends upwards relative to the nozzle catch (122). For example,
The nozzle catch (122) comprises a post (124) that is hollow and that extends downwards from underside of the top (142), and a nozzle cup (126) that is mounted within the hollow portion of the post (124) and that is movable upwards and downwards within the post (124). A spring or some other fastening and biasing means may connect the post (124) to the nozzle cup (126) both for retention and so that the nozzle cup (126) may be pressed upwards into the post (124) and then return to a neutral position, as will be shown and described in more detail below. The top (142) and base (144) may be respectively connected to the upper wall (119) and lower wall (118) by a set of angle braces (112) disposed horizontally along the inside edge where the horizontal plane (142, 144) meets the vertical plane (118, 119). These angle braces (112) provide both strength and rigidity to the entire piece, and when placed as shown in
The disclosed features and components provider a user with self-sealing storage of bottles having a variety of sizes and nozzle characteristics, and also allow for simple operation and one-handed operation. For example, as previously discussed, the tapered cup walls (142) of the nozzle cup (126) allow for bottles (132) having various nozzle (138) lengths and circumferences to be seated within and seal against the cup wall (142) or cup terminal (146). The biased nozzle catch (122) allows for bottles (132) having different overall heights to be stored by placing the nozzle (138) into the nozzle cup (126), pressing upwards so that the nozzle cup passes into the post (134) until the bottle (132) bottom edge passes above the base (144), and then moving the bottle (132) forward and back downwards until the bottom of the bottle (132) rests in recess (106), all while the nozzle catch (122) remains pressed against the nozzle (138) by the spring (140). Removal of the bottle (132) is performed by lifting the bottle (132) from the recess (106) and then pulling it outwards over the base (144) and downwards away from the nozzle catch (122) which, as previously described, will return to a neutral position. When secured to a wall or when properly weighted, the bottle holder (100) may be operated with one hand manipulating the bottle (132) as it is placed and removed, since the only other moving component is the nozzle catch (122), which moves upwards as a result of forces applied through the bottle (132) and moves downwards as a result of forces applied by the spring (140) decompressing. This may be useful when, for example, a cook is occupying one hand with a spatula or pan handle, and only one hand is available to reach and take hold of a bottle (132) filled with cooking oil, or when a woodworker is holding two pieces of wood in contact with each other and only one hand is available to reach and take hold of a bottle (132) filled with glue to apply along a seam of the wood. In these situations, the disclosed invention may be immovably mounted or placed nearby and allow for bottles (132) to be placed and removed with only one hand.
While the embodiments that have been shown and discussed have allowed for placement of four bottles (132) in a linear fashion, it should be understood that the disclosed features and components may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example,
Some embodiments of the apparatus disclosed herein may have additional features, or may lack features that have been previously described and discussed. For example, in some embodiments, the recess (106) may not be present in the base (144) of the bottle holder (100), and the bottle may instead rest on the base (144), or on a friction pad or other high-traction surface of the base (144). In some embodiments, instead of or in addition to a recess, a base (144) may have an angled, spring biased latch, such that when a bottle is pressed against the latch it depresses into the base (144), and when the bottle has passed the latch completely it springs back to a neutral position holding the bottle in place against a non-angled side. In some embodiments, the bottle holder (100) may be of unitary construction, rather than being assembled from the upper frame (102) and the lower frame (104).
In some embodiments, there may be multiple sets of fastener holes (116) on the lower frame (104), allowing for additional assembled configurations, or there may be vertically running slots instead of fastener holes (120) to allow for attachment at any point along the slot instead of only at a point where fastener holes (116, 120) align. In some embodiments, there may be no mounting point (114), and instead the base (144), top (142), or both may be heavily weighted so that the bottle holder (100) may be placed on a horizontal surface rather than being mounted on a vertical surface. Alternately, the bottle holder (100) may be attached to a surface by way of an adhesive or other semi-permanent mounting type. In some embodiments, the bottle holder may be installed and used with the nozzle catch (122) extending horizontally and holding the bottle horizontally between the nozzle catch (122) and the recess (106), or may be installed upside down, so that the nozzle catch (122) extends upwards and the bottle is placed into the nozzle catch (122) with its nozzle pointing downwards. Further alternative orientations can be used as will occur to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure.
It should be understood that any one or more of the teachings, expressions, embodiments, examples, etc. described herein may be combined with any one or more of the other teachings, expressions, embodiments, examples, etc. that are described herein. The teachings, expressions, embodiments, examples, etc. should therefore not be viewed in isolation relative to each other. Various suitable ways in which the teachings herein may be combined will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings herein. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.
Having shown and described various embodiments of the present invention, further adaptations of the methods and systems described herein may be accomplished by appropriate modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. Several of such potential modifications have been mentioned, and others will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, the examples, embodiments, geometrics, materials, dimensions, ratios, steps, and the like discussed above are illustrative and are not required. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be considered in terms of the following claims and is understood not to be limited to the details of structure and operation shown and described in the specification and drawings.
