US20060060556A1

US20060060556A1 - Bottle cap in which a straw is mountable

Info

Publication number: US20060060556A1
Application number: US11/195,717
Authority: US
Inventors: Jung-Kuo Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-09-17
Filing date: 2005-08-03
Publication date: 2006-03-23
Also published as: TWM264237U

Abstract

A bottle cap in which a straw is mountable. The bottle cap has a cavity inward recessed from bottom face of the bottle cap. A skirt is formed in the cavity of the bottle cap. When drinking a beverage contained in a bottle, the straw is folded about a foldable portion and then the foldable portion is fitted into the skirt to assemble the straw with the bottle cap. At this time, the straw has a long end and a short end. The long end of the straw is soaked into the beverage contained in the bottle and a user can suck the beverage out of the bottle from the short end of the straw. After the bottle cap is screwed on the opening of the bottle, the straw is stored in the bottle for reuse.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a bottle cap in which a straw is mountable for a user to conveniently drink a beverage. After the bottle cap is screwed on the opening of the bottle, the straw is stored in the bottle for reuse.
Portable bottles are widely used for containing beverages therein. A user can conveniently carry a portable bottle for ready drink of the beverage. However, the existent portable bottle is not equipped with any straw. Therefore, a user often needs to hold the opening of the bottle with his/her mouth to directly drink the beverage. This is not convenient and elegant.
Some beverage venders will provide straws for consumers. However, there is no suitable measure for storing the straw inside the bottle. Therefore, a user often misses the straw before he/she finishes the beverage. In the case that the straw is directly plugged into the bottle and stored therein, it often takes place it is hard to take out the straw for reuse.
Moreover, when unscrewing the bottle cap for drinking the beverage, a user often incautiously drops the bottle cap or randomly places the bottle cap in a not obvious place. Therefore, the user often fails to recover the bottle cap for resealing the opening of the bottle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a bottle cap in which a straw is mountable for a user to conveniently drink a beverage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above bottle cap by which the straw can be easily stored in a bottle for reuse.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above bottle cap which is not easy to miss.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective partially sectional view of a first embodiment of the bottle cap of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view according to FIG. 1, in which a straw is mounted in the bottle cap of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view according to FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 shows the use of the bottle cap of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing that the straw is stored in the bottle;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the bottle cap of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the bottle cap of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a perspective exploded view of a fourth embodiment of the bottle cap of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a sectional assembled view according to FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3. According to a first embodiment, a straw can be easily mounted in the bottle cap 10 of the present invention.
The bottle cap 10 has a cavity 12 inward recessed from bottom face of the bottle cap 10. The inner circumference of the cavity 12 is formed with a thread 14 for screwing the bottle cap 10 on the opening of a bottle. A leakproof member 16 is disposed on inner face of top wall of the bottle cap. The leakproof member 16 can be a rubber-made leakproof ring. When the bottle cap is screwed on the opening of the bottle, the opening is airtightly sealed with the bottle cap.
The present invention further has a skirt 20 in the cavity 12. The skirt 20 has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the bottle cap. The skirt 20 can be a circular tube body, a square tube body or any otherwise shaped tube body without limitation to the shape shown in the figures. In this embodiment, the skirt 20 is a circular tube. The top end of the skirt 20 is adhered to or integrally formed with the inner face of the top wall of the bottle cap 10. The axis of the skirt 20 is parallel the axis of the bottle cap 10 and a bottom end of the skirt 20 is directed downward.
The inner circumference of the skirt 20 is formed with an engaging portion 22. In this embodiment, a lower half section a of the skirt 20 is thicker, while an upper half section b is thinner so that an annular shoulder is formed between the upper and lower half sections to serve as the engaging portion 22.
The present invention is co-usable with an ordinary and easily commercially available straw 30 as shown in FIG. 1. The straw 30 has a foldable bellows portion 32 having multiple crimps 34.
In use, the foldable bellows portion 32 of the straw 30 is folded and then the folded section is fitted into the skirt 20 from bottom end thereof as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. At this time, the foldable portion 32 of the straw 30 contacts with the inner wall of the skirt 20. In addition, the crimps 34 of the folded section are engaged with the engaging portion 22 as shown in FIG. 3, whereby the straw is chucked by the engaging portion 22 and prevented from easily dropping out.
After the straw is assembled with the bottle cap, the straw has a long end 35 and a short end 36. When drinking a beverage, the long end 35 of the straw is soaked into the beverage contained in a bottle 40 as shown in FIG. 4. In addition, at the opening 42 of the bottle 40, the bottle cap is bent to one side about the foldable portion 32 exposed to outer side of the bottle cap 10 as shown by solid line of FIG. 4. Under such circumstance, the short end 36 of the straw is lifted for a user to suck the beverage from the bottle.
In the case that the beverage is not finished, the user can bend the straw 30 back to the state as shown by phantom line of FIG. 4. Then the bottle cap 10 can be re-screwed on the opening 42 of the bottle as shown in FIG. 5. At this time, the straw 30 is received in the bottle 40.
When further drinking the beverage, the bottle cap 10 is unscrewed and again bent to one side about the foldable portion 32 back to the state as shown by solid line of FIG. 4. The user can then drink the beverage again.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a skirt 55 is also fixedly disposed on inner face of top wall of the bottle cap 50 inside the cavity 52 thereof. In this embodiment, the engaging portion 56 is an annular rib formed on inner circumference of the skirt 55.
The foldable bellows portion 62 of the straw 60 is folded and then the folded section is fitted into the skirt 55. At this time, the foldable portion 62 of the straw 60 contacts with the inner wall of the skirt 60 and the crimps 64 of the folded section are engaged with the engaging portion 56 to chuck the straw in the bottle cap. The usage of this embodiment is identical to that of the first embodiment and will not be further described hereinafter.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the bottle cap 70 of the present invention, in which the inner circumference of the skirt 72 is formed with a thread 74 serving as the engaging portion. The crimps 78 of the foldable portion 76 of the straw 75 are engaged with the engaging portion 74 to chuck the straw in the bottle cap.
FIGS. 8 and 9 show a fourth embodiment of the bottle cap 80 of the present invention, in which the bottle cap 80 has a different structure. A pad member 84 is placed in the cavity 82 of the bottle cap 80. After the bottle cap is screwed on the opening of a bottle, the bottle cap via the pad member 84 airtightly seals the opening. In practice, a leakproof ring 86 can be formed on a bottom face of the pad member to tightly abut against inner rim of the opening. However, the leakproof ring is omissible.
A skirt 90 is fixedly adhered to or integrally formed under the bottom face of the pad member. An engaging portion 92 is formed on the inner circumference of the skirt 90. The engaging portion 92 can be any of the above three embodiments. The pad member 84 with the skirt 90 is mounted in the bottle cap 80 inside the cavity 82 thereof.
This embodiment can achieve the same effect as the first embodiment.
According to the above arrangement, the present invention has the following advantages:

- 1. The present invention provides a bottle cap in which a straw is mountable. After the bottle cap is unscrewed from the opening of a bottle, a user can mount a straw in the bottle cap for sucking the beverage for convenient use.
- 2. As shown in FIG. 5, in the case that the beverage is not finished at one time, the straw can be stored inside the bottle without missing. When it is desired to further drink the beverage, the user can again unscrew the bottle cap to reuse the straw. The straw is always kept inside the bottle so that it is sanitary to reuse the straw.
- 3. During drinking, the bottle cap keeps connected with the straw so that the bottle cap is prevented from missing.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A bottle cap in which a straw is mountable, the bottle cap having a cavity inward recessed from bottom face of the bottle cap, said bottle cap being characterized in that a skirt is formed in the cavity of the bottle cap, a bottom end of the skirt being directed downward; and an engaging portion is formed on inner circumference of the skirt, whereby a straw can be folded about a foldable portion and then the foldable portion can be fitted into the skirt to co-use the straw with the bottle cap or store the straw in the bottle cap, the engaging portion chucks the straw.

2. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein an annular shoulder is formed on the inner circumference of the skirt to serve as the engaging portion.

3. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one annular rib is formed on the inner circumference of the skirt to serve as the engaging portion.

4. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thread is formed on the inner circumference of the skirt to serve as the engaging portion.

5. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein a top end of the skirt is fixedly connected with inner face of a top wall of the bottle cap.

6. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 2, wherein a top end of the skirt is fixedly connected with inner face of a top wall of the bottle cap.

7. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 3, wherein a top end of the skirt is fixedly connected with inner face of a top wall of the bottle cap.

8. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 4, wherein a top end of the skirt is fixedly connected with inner face of a top wall of the bottle cap.

9. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a pad member disposed in the cavity of the bottle cap, a top end of the skirt being fixedly connected with bottom face of the pad member.

10. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a pad member disposed in the cavity of the bottle cap, a top end of the skirt being fixedly connected with bottom face of the pad member.

11. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a pad member disposed in the cavity of the bottle cap, a top end of the skirt being fixedly connected with bottom face of the pad member.

12. The bottle cap as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a pad member disposed in the cavity of the bottle cap, a top end of the skirt being fixedly connected with bottom face of the pad member.