AU637187B2

AU637187B2 - Beverage container

Info

Publication number: AU637187B2
Application number: AU70211/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Willem Johannes Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-02-04
Filing date: 1991-02-04
Publication date: 1993-05-20
Anticipated expiration: 2011-02-04
Also published as: AU7021191A

Description

637187 Form COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952-69 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

"lass Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority *Related Art ame of Applicant: S Address of Applicant Actual Inventor *Add Address for Service WILLEM JOHANNES SMITH 10 Kiepersol Avenue, Jim Fouche Park, Welkom, South Africa WILLEM JOHANNES SMITH WATERMARK PATENT TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS.

LOCKED BAG NO. 5, HAWTHORN, VICTORIA 3122, AUSTRALIA Complete Specification for the invention entitled: BEVERAGE CONTAINER The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me 1 This invention relates to a beverages container suitable for drinking liquids such as milk, fruit juice and mineral water for example.

While the invention will be described with particular reference to fruit juice containers this should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any way.

It is well known to sell fruit juices in small plastics bottles or sealed cardboard containers. In the case of bottles the opening thereof are sealed with a foil, e.g. aluminium foil or plastic coated foil which is sufficiently thin for a sharpened drinking straw to be inserted therethrough by piercing. Similarly, the cardboard containers have a small opening which is sealed in a similar way. Often these straws are misplaced and this causes inconvenience to a would-be drinker.

According to the invention there is provided a blow moulded beverage container suitable for drinking liquid therefrom comprises a vessel with a S 15 sealable filling orifice and an integral external straw communicating with the interior of the vessel near the bottom thereof, wherein the vessel has a base portion and a major body portion extending upwardly therefrom, the body portion being defined partly by a substantially flat sidewall, the flat sidewall being located inwardly of the base portion with a bulge connecting the bottom end of the flat sidewall to the base portion, the straw rising from the bulge alongside said flat sidewall towards the top of the vessel and being connected only to the bulge.

Previous attempts to manufacture the integral drinking straw, communicating with the vessel through a bend in the strpw, entering the vessel sideways, were unsuccessful, particularly with employing modern blow moulding methods. These problems have now been overcome by judicially applying the present teachings.

Preferably the base portion forms a pedestal-like formation for a vessel body which is of substantially circular cross-section except for the recessed flat sidewall which adjoins the drinking straw. The recessed sidewall may be substantially plane, with the remaining side walls of the vessel being 2 substantially part-circular cylindrical, e.g. up to a neck formation encompassing the sealable filling orifice.

The straw preferably includes a closure at its end remote from the bottom of the vessel.

The container is blow-moulded, preferably from a plastics material, and the filling orifice is preferably sealable with a plastic-coated metal foil.

The straw preferably includes a concertina-like flexible section.

The closure for the straw preferably includes an integral plastics closure which is fractureci or pierced for withdrawing the beverage.

More particularly the drinking straw is preferably sealed at its far end by means of a fracturable membrane and a closure member is preferably adapted i to be located over the one end of the straw to cover the membrane, the closure member preferably including means for fracturing the membrane when the 0: closure member is urged or moved towards the membrane.

The closure member and the straw may, respectively, be provided with mating formations so that the closure member can be located on the one end of the straw in two different positions, i.e. a first position in which the closure member covers the membrane but the membrane is not fractured and a second position in which the membrane is fractured.

20 The mating formations may comprise screw threads or they may comprise mating reces.es and projections on the straw and the closure member, respectively.

Means on the closure member for fracturing the membrane may comprise a spike.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the 3 accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side view of the combination of a beverage container and a drinking straw, according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the container shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an axial section on a larger scale of a combination of a closure member and a straw in an embodiment of the inventior as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the embodiment of the invention as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings a container for fruit juice comprises a generally right circular cylindrical vessel 1 made of suitable plastics material, e.g. polyethylene, by blow moulding.

The vessel 1 has a circular standing rib 2 at the bottom 3 thereof and a filling orifice 4 at the end of a short multi-ribbed neck portion 5. Once the vessel has been filled this filling orifice is closed by means of a plastic-coated metal foil closure 6 (shown in broken lines).

;Extending almost the length of the vessel 1 and down one side thereof is a

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1 5 substantially plane recessed wall portion 7. A drinking straw 11 which is integral with the vessel 1 and exterior thereto communicates with the interior thereof at a position near the bottom of this wall portion 7 and hence near the bottom of the vessel itself. The ,-wall portion 7 partly defines a body portion of the vessel 1 the remainder of the body portion being defined by a substantially part-circulaa cylindrical wall 18.

S 20 For that purpose the said bottom region is formed by a base portion projecting beyond the flat recessed wall portion 7 of the container side wall. The base portion 8 forms a pedestal-like formation of circular cross-section. The top of the base portion 8 joins a dome-shaped bulge 9 which, in turn intersects a bottom section 10 the flat wall portion.

The drinking straw 11 rises almost straight upwards from the bulge, right next to the base portion 8 and at a slight distance from the flat wall portion 7, almost to the top of the vessel, where the straw 11 carries a closure cap 12.

4 As may be seen in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the drinking straw 11 has a concertina-like flexible section 17 to facilitate drinking the contents of the vessel.

Referring now to Figure 3, the far end of the drinking straw 11 is sealed closed by means of a pierceable closure membrane 16. The closure member 12 and the straw 11 are provided with mating screw threads 13 and 14, respectively, so that the closure member 12 can be screwed onto the end of the straw 11.

The closure member 12 is provided with a spike In the position shown in Figure 3, the closure member 12 is only partially screwed onto the straw 11, as shown, so that the spike 15 does not penetrate or pierce the membrane 16.

V o o If the closure member 12 is screwed down further, the spike penetrates the membrane,' thus piercing a hole in it -so that a liquid may be drunk from the straw 11 when the closure member 12 is removed.

Various alternatives are possible. Instead of screw threads,, a pair of circumferential recesses may be provided on the straw 11 and a circumferential projection on the inside of the closure member 12.

When the projection on the closure member l 4is engaged with the top recess, the spike 15 does not fracture the membrane 16. When the closure member 12 is pressed down so that it engages with the second recess, the membrane 16 is fractured and a liquid may be drunk from the straw 11 when the closure member A- jis removed.

'In accordance with yet another alternative, the closure of the far end of the straw 11 is formed by clamping and heating the straw 11 at a position a short distance from its free end. The heating causes the material from which the straw is manufactured to seal the straw and at the same time causes some embrittlement of this material. Thus the closure may easily be removed by bending it and fracturing the heat sealed portion.

The container is scld full of a drinking liquid such as a fruit juice with the filling orifice 4 sealed with the closure 6 and a drinking straw 11 in the position alongside the re~so 7 as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2..

The contents of the vessel may simply be removed by opening the straw 11 and applying suction.

The invention thus provides a container for liquids such as milk, fruit juices and other drinks which may be filled and sealed and the contents of which may be easily consumed. As the straw of the container is integral therewith there is no danger of the straw becoming mislaid.

Other embodiments are envisaged within the scope of the invention including other applications, other designs, and other materials of manufacture.

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Claims

1. A blow moulded beverage container suitable for drinking liquid therefrom comprises a vessel with a sealable filling orifice and an integral external straw communicating with the interior of the vessel near the bottom thereof, wherein the vessel has a base portion and a major body portion extending upwardly therefrom, the body portion being defined partly by a substantially flat sidewall, the flat sidewall being located inwardly of the base portion with a bulge ccnnecting the bottom end of the flat sidewall to the base portion, the straw rising from the bulge alongside said flat sidewall towards the top of the vessel and being connected only to the bulge. S2. A container as claimed in Claim 1, in which the base portion is circular and the remainder of the body portion is part-circular cylindrical.

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3. A container as claimed in Claim 1, in which the body portion terminates in a neck portion which defines the sealable filling orifice.

4. A container as claimed in Claim 1, in which the straw has a concertina- like flexible section intermediate its ends.

A container as claimed in Claim 1, further including a closure member, in which the straw is sealed at its far end by means of a fracturable membrane, the closure member is located over said far end of the straw to cover the membrane, the closure member including means for fracturing 'the membrane when the closure member is moved towards the membrane.

6. The container as claimed in Claim 5, in which the closure member and the straw are, respectively, provided with mating formations so that the closure member can be located on said far end of the straw in a first position in which 8 the closure member covers the membrane but the membrane is not pierced and a second position in which the membrane is pierced. DATED this 1st day of March, 1993 WILLEM JOHANNES SMITH WATERMARK PATENT TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS THE ATRIUM 290 BURWOOD ROAD HAWTHORN VICTORIA 3122 AUSTRALIA e