Patent Application
20150108152
The present disclosure is generally directed toward devices utilized to support beverage cups or containers.
Standard beverage cups or containers, such as those that are commonly sold as containment for beverages such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, water, and fruit juices, have a number of disadvantages. Such cups and containers are often made of plastic or Styrofoam, and often have an open top. Most often these cups are intended to be disposable, and are therefore made in a very inexpensive manner, such that the cup or container has weak structural integrity. This weak structural integrity can result in collapse of the cup or container; increased splashing or spilling of the beverage contained therein; and even injury, such as when the contained beverage is hot and spills on the end user, causing scalds or burns.
The present disclosure greatly improves the end user experience and safety when utilizing these structurally weak cups or containers. The disclosure describes a solution to the problem of weak structural cups or containers collapsing or flexing—and the resulting spillage, dropping, and/or potential injury from hot beverages—by providing a rigid structure into which the structurally weak cup or container is inserted and which supports the structurally weak cup or container. The disclosure also addresses the difficulty of carrying multiple beverage cups or containers in one end-user hand by allowing nesting of multiple units of a universal handle into which the cups or containers are inserted. Similarly, the disclosure provides for universal handles that can be nested for storage and/or display. And, the disclosure provides for surfaces on a universal handle to be utilized for advertisement, log placement, branding, and other graphical messages directed to the end user as well as to others who may be exposed to the visual sight lines of the universal handle.
These are not the only advantages of the present disclosure over known removable or disposable cup or container holders. Many such holders utilize an inverted frustoconical support for the cup or container support. Because the walls of cups and containers can be sloped at different angles, such holders are not well adapted to be used on cups or containers sloped at an angle other than the angle of the wall of the inverted frustoconical support. The present disclosure describes a universal beverage cup or container handle, which can be used with cups or containers having walls sloped at varying angles.
The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appended figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale:
It is with respect to the above-noted challenges that embodiments of the present disclosure were contemplated. In particular, a universal handle for beverage cups or containers is provided that solves the drawbacks associated with known beverage cups or containers.
Various aspects of the present disclosure will be described herein with reference to drawings that are schematic illustrations of a preferred embodiment. It should be appreciated that embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the embodiments depicted and described herein.
With reference now to
In embodiments, the grip 1a of the handle 1 comprises an extruded structure having a circular or polygonal cross-section. The grip 1a is preferably of sufficient length to be held comfortably by the intended end users of the particular embodiment of the universal handle, whether adults or children. To facilitate nesting, the grip 1a is hollow, and is open at least at the upper end. The lower end of the grip 1a has the same cross sectional shape (i.e. a circle or polygon) as the upper end, but the outer perimeter of the lower end is smaller than the inner perimeter of the upper end. As a result, the lower end of the grip 1a of a first universal handle may be inserted into the upper end of the grip 1a of a second universal handle. In preferred embodiments, the grip 1a is evenly tapered so the grip 1a of a first universal handle can be inserted into the grip 1a of a second universal handle until the supports 1b of the first and second universal handles are in contact or almost in contact. This minimizes the amount of storage space needed when the universal handles are nested in a storage configuration (i.e. in vertical alignment), as depicted in
Certain embodiments of the universal handle include a grip 1a having a cross-section in the shape of a circle or an equilateral polygon. Such embodiments allow a plurality of universal handles to be nested during use (i.e. while supporting a beverage cup or container 5), at varying degrees of rotation out of vertical alignment, as depicted in
In the embodiment of
The gasket 2 provides a conformable surface for conforming to and gripping the exterior surface or surfaces of a beverage cup or container. In embodiments, the gasket 2 is made from a soft plastic or flexible polymer material. These or other soft and/or flexible materials from which the gasket may be manufactured can provide a non-slip functionality that prevents or reduces the potential for a cup or container to slip out of the handle 1 during use, even if a beverage or other contained fluid spills and wets the gasket 2 and/or the handle 1. The gasket 2 also serves as a conformable surface that can conform to a multitude of shapes, textures, and materials of various commercially available cups and containers. For example, the gasket 2 can conform to beverage cups having walls sloped at various angles.
In embodiments, the finger grip 3 may be integrally molded or fabricated as part of the handle 1. The finger grip 3 may also comprise a flap or tab that extends from the gasket 2 and is integral with or made of the same material as the gasket 2. Alternatively, the finger grip 3 may be formed separately from the handle 1 and the gasket 2, and affixed to the handle 1 by mechanical, adhesive, or other means. Preferably, the finger grip 3 comprises non-slip features, such as ridges or bumps, and/or is formed of a non-slip material.
As shown in
Embodiments of the universal handle may be fabricated from any suitable material, including but not limited to plastics, polymers, metals, woods, or any other material that can be properly formed into the desired shape and geometry. Such embodiments may be any color, and may be decorated in any manner that does not detract from the utility of the universal handle.
While illustrative embodiments of the disclosure have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations, except as limited by the prior art.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61894672 | Oct 2013 | US |
