IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0465612
(2009-05-13)
|
등록번호 |
US-8091730
(2012-01-10)
|
발명자
/ 주소 |
- Keefe, Gwendolyn Huyen
- Harlan, Jeffery Laurence
- Keefe, III, John Joseph
|
출원인 / 주소 |
|
대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
4 인용 특허 :
13 |
초록
▼
A no-spill drinking vessel includes a cup, lid, spout and valve assembly. The valve assembly includes: a liquid-out valve with hinged flap, air vent check valve, air and liquid inlets, air and liquid outlets, and a mechanism for retention to the lid. The valve assembly is constructed from inexpensiv
A no-spill drinking vessel includes a cup, lid, spout and valve assembly. The valve assembly includes: a liquid-out valve with hinged flap, air vent check valve, air and liquid inlets, air and liquid outlets, and a mechanism for retention to the lid. The valve assembly is constructed from inexpensive molded elastomeric components. In usage mode these components cleave sealingly together by the resilient returning forces they exert on each other's complementary interlocked geometries. The fluid and air passageways, inlet and outlet port openings, mouthpiece channels and openings, and the interior volumes of the valve bodies are defined by spaces between the abutted elastomeric components. When manually separated into a cleaning configuration, the interior liquid-contacting surfaces become exposed, external surfaces for ready cleaning. The closure is baby-proof and small parts are tethered together.
대표청구항
▼
1. A no-spill drinking cup comprising: (a) a vessel having a cavity with an open end;(b) a lid cover, attachable to said vessel for closing the open end of said vessel's cavity; when in a closed state, said lid cover constituting a boundary defining an interior and an exterior of said cup; said lid
1. A no-spill drinking cup comprising: (a) a vessel having a cavity with an open end;(b) a lid cover, attachable to said vessel for closing the open end of said vessel's cavity; when in a closed state, said lid cover constituting a boundary defining an interior and an exterior of said cup; said lid cover defining at least one opening for allowing liquid communication from the interior to the exterior of said cup;(c) a valve assembly attached to said lid cover and configured in relation to the at least one opening such as, when said lid cover is closing said vessel's open end, to provide a controlled liquid communication route from the cavity of said vessel to the exterior of said cup, said valve assembly comprising: one or more valve bodies for liquid control, said bodies collectively having at least two faces and at least one of said valve bodies being comprised of an elastic material;said one or more valve bodies for liquid control being arrangeable to bring said at least two faces into mutual adjacency with portions in mutual sealing abutment, such that the faces create an interface;the interface between the at least two adjacent face portions defining an enclosed channel comprising: an inlet for accepting fluid from the cavity,an outlet for dispensing fluid to the exterior of the cup, anda conduit connecting said inlet to said outlet and configured to provide fluid communication from said inlet to said outlet;said valve assembly further comprising: a flap constituted on the at least one valve body composed of an elastic material, said flap configurable within the channel such that said flap selectively blocks the fluid communication;the abutted portions of the at least two faces, being separatable along a path parallel to the conduit and extending from the inlet to the outlet such that, when separated, the surfaces of said flap and all formerly interior surfaces of the channel become exposed, exterior surfaces. 2. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 1 in which said valve assembly is non-destructively detachable from said lid cover. 3. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 1 wherein said flap is so shaped, constituted, and configured to be responsive to a pressure differential between the environment of the cavity and the environment of the outlet, such that a relatively lower outlet air pressure urges flap deflection in a manner allowing fluid communication from said cavity to said outlet. 4. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 1 further comprising a valve seat, and wherein the selective blocking of fluid communication is effectuated by said valve flap being biased against said valve seat when in a ready-to-use state. 5. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 1 limited by said lid cover further defining at least one distinct air opening for allowing flow of air from the exterior of said cup to the cavity. 6. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 5 further comprising: an air valve assembly attached to said lid cover and configured in relation to the at least one air opening such as, when said lid cover is closing said vessel's open end, to provide a controlled gas communication route between the exterior of said vessel and the cavity, said air valve assembly comprising: one or more air valve bodies, said air valve bodies collectively having at least two faces, and at least one of said air valve bodies being comprised of an elastic material;said one or more air valve bodies being arrangeable to bring said, at least two faces of air valve bodies, into mutual adjacency with portions in mutual sealing abutment, such that these faces create an interface for air control;the interface between the at least two adjacent air valve bodies face portions defining an enclosed air channel comprising: an air inlet,an air outlet, andan air conduit connecting said air inlet to said air outlet and configured to provide gas communication between said air inlet and said air outlet;said air valve assembly further comprising: an air flap constituted by the at least one air valve body composed of an elastic material, said air flap configured within said air channel such that said air flap selectively blocks air communication;the abutted portions of the at least two air valve faces configured to be separatable along a path parallel to the conduit extending from the inlet to the outlet such that, when separated, the surfaces of said air flap and all interior surfaces of said air channel become exposed, exterior surfaces. 7. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 6 wherein said valve bodies for liquid control are integral with said air valve bodies, and further, that the geometry of the liquid out valve's mutually abutable face portions are mutually complementary, and, the geometry of the air valve body's mutually abutable face portions are also, respectively, mutually complimentary; further each of said integrated bodies are substantially composed of an elastic material with effective degrees of hardness such that the mutually complementary geometry of their respective two or more faces cleave sealing together in a watertight manner, without the requirement of additional sealing or retaining structures; and wherein by integral is meant that a sidewall of the liquid conduit is unitarily formed with a sidewall of the air conduit. 8. The no-spill drinking cup of claim 3 wherein said valve bodies are substantially composed of a rubber material with a hardness of between 0.40 and 0.90 durometer on the Shore A scale. 9. A spill resistant cup with a lid, a mouthpiece. and a valve for regulated liquid dispensing, both valve and mouthpiece each having an enclosed liquid pathway, the improvement comprising: said valve and mouthpiece are integrated in that a sidewall of the pathway of the mouthpiece is unitarily formed with a sidewall of the pathway of the valve: further, they are comprised by one or more elastomeric bodies; said bodies collectively having two or more sealingly abutable, and separatable faces, at least one of the faces having a generally concave feature;further, all non-disposable portions of said enclosed liquid pathways are defined by spaces between the abutted faces, and all liquid contacting surfaces of said integrated mouthpiece and valve become external, exposed surfaces when the faces are separated. 10. The spill resistant cup of claim 9 further comprising indicia on at least one of said elastomeric bodies; such indicia suitable to aid a user in the sealing abutment of separated faces. 11. The spill-resistant cup of claim 9 wherein said one or more elastomeric bodies are exactly two elongated elastomeric components. 12. A flow control apparatus for regulating the flow of fluid in a dispensing container comprising: a fluid-conducting passageway defined by internal sidewalls, having an inlet and an outlet and including a valve having at least one moving part for selectively blocking said passageway's fluid flow;said passageway's internal fluid-contacting regions being defined by the interface between two or more adjacent surfaces, said adjacent surfaces being separatable along a re-sealable longitudinal seam extending from inlet to outlet;further, when separated along the seam, the apparatus is reversibly placed into a stable, cleaning configuration in which the formerly internal liquid-contacting sidewall regions of the passageway become external exposed areas providing for effective cleaning. 13. The flow control apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a vent-valve for equalizing air pressure thereby facilitating the dispensing of liquid. 14. The flow control apparatus of claim 12 wherein said adjacent surfaces are aspects of one or more molded elastomeric bodies. 15. The flow control apparatus of claim 14 wherein the adjacent surfaces are constituted on a single common molded elastomeric body. 16. A flow control apparatus of claim 14 further comprising, in combination, a lid attachable to said fluid-conducting passageway. 17. The flow control apparatus of claim 12 further comprising one or more small holes, or optionally slits, as one or more flow-restriction features wherein a re-sealable seam bisects each of the one or more flow-restriction features such that, when the apparatus is opened along the seam to a stable cleaning configuration, opposing sides of each flow-restriction feature reside on opposing sides of the open seam providing for effective cleaning of the opposing surfaces of the flow restriction features. 18. The flow control apparatus of claim 11 wherein small openings and slits are further limited to those with any non-depth dimension smaller than about 6 millimeters. 19. The flow control apparatus of claim 17 wherein bisects means a substantially 50/50 division. 20. A non-spill cap for a drinking cup comprising: a lid, operationally connectable to aa spout, and said lid also operationally connectable toa valve,said valve providing for a controlled flow of liquid through said lid and out said spout in which all non-disposable liquid-contacting areas of said spout and said valve are non-destructively, manually, transformable into a cleaning configuration in which a majority of the non-disposable liquid contacting areas are exposed for cleaning;further, when in said cleaning configuration, said lid, spout, valve, and any other liquid contacting structures of said cap are mutually connected to each other or otherwise constitute a single item for handling purposes,wherein fully exposed for cleaning means as readily cleanable as household food serving items are generally. 21. The cap of claim 20 wherein small openings and slits are further limited to those with any non depth dimension smaller than about 6 millimeters. 22. The non-spill cap of claim 20 wherein a cleaning configuration is one free of all small holes and slits and wherein the limitation of a majority of the non-disposable liquid-contacting areas are exposed for cleaning is further limited to all of the non-disposable liquid contacting areas are fully exposed for cleaning; and further wherein small opening and slit means those that are too small to be as readily cleanable as household food serving items are generally. 23. A drinking vessel comprising: (a) means for holding liquid in a defined space having an open end,(b) means for substantially covering the open end of said defined space,(c) means for allowing a controlled flow of liquid from said defined space, through said means for covering the open end;said means for allowing a controlled flow comprising a liquid-conducting route and a moving part to interfere with that route;further, said means for allowing a controlled flow comprising two or more elongated, elastic members for collectively defining all non-disposable portions of said liquid-conducting route by their mutual interface, such that all non-disposable surfaces defining said liquid conduction route are completely accessible for cleaning when said members for defining the route are separated from each other;completely accessible for cleaning includes the property that there are no substantial impediments to the free flow of a cleaning solution over and past all surfaces requiring cleaning and that no small fluid-restricting holes or interior surfaces remain. 24. A child-proof spill-resistant child's drinking cup minimizing loose parts comprising: a) a cavity with an open end,b) a cover for sealingly closing said cavity's open end, said cover attachable to the open end of said cavity in a sealingly locked fashion, when so attached, said cover defining the cavity as an interior region and an the outside of said cup as an exterior region; andsaid cup producing a user detectable indicium when said cover becomes locked;locked means that at least two contemporaneous forces in different directions are required before allowing said cover to unseal the open end of said cavity,c) a conduit providing selective liquid communication from said interior region, through said cover, to said exterior region; said cover, when disassembled for cleaning, comprises at least three distinct functional subcomponents, at least one of which is large and at least one of which is small, and further, all small subcomponents are loosely tethered together, and are mutually tethered to the at least one large subcomponent to form a single item for handling purposes;wherein large means of a size, shape. and constitution to be reliably held in a rack designed to hold household food serving items; and loose tethering means allowing an effective freedom of movement to avoid areas prone to trap liquid. 25. The child-proof non-spill child's drinking cup of claim 24 wherein large subcomponents are further limited to subcomponents unable to fit through a rectangular opening of about 90 mm by about 38 mm and small subcomponents are further limited to subcomponents that are able to fit through a rectangular opening of about 65 mm by about 25 mm.
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