EP0005605B1 - Drinking cup - Google Patents

Drinking cup Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0005605B1
EP0005605B1 EP79300771A EP79300771A EP0005605B1 EP 0005605 B1 EP0005605 B1 EP 0005605B1 EP 79300771 A EP79300771 A EP 79300771A EP 79300771 A EP79300771 A EP 79300771A EP 0005605 B1 EP0005605 B1 EP 0005605B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
collar
cup
wall
cups
shoulder
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP79300771A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0005605A1 (en
Inventor
Robert Edward Coles
Alec Thomas Newman
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Foods Inc
Mondelez UK Ltd
Original Assignee
General Foods Inc
General Foods Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by General Foods Inc, General Foods Ltd filed Critical General Foods Inc
Publication of EP0005605A1 publication Critical patent/EP0005605A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0005605B1 publication Critical patent/EP0005605B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D1/00—Containers having bodies formed in one piece, e.g. by casting metallic material, by moulding plastics, by blowing vitreous material, by throwing ceramic material, by moulding pulped fibrous material, by deep-drawing operations performed on sheet material
    • B65D1/22—Boxes or like containers with side walls of substantial depth for enclosing contents
    • B65D1/26—Thin-walled containers, e.g. formed by deep-drawing operations
    • B65D1/265—Drinking cups

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to nestable cups, particularly those cups in which hot beverages, such as coffee are drunk, and to stacks of such cups, each cup containing one or more beverage ingredients.
  • cups have been provided with holders or ear-like handles.
  • the present invention provides a nestable cup which can be held by the user when it contains hot water or hot beverage and which is simple and economic to manufacture.
  • a nestable cup formed of thermoplastics material and comprising a base, a wall integral with and upstanding from the base to define therewith a reservoir for liquid, and a turned-over, downwardly extending collar circumjacent the wall and spaced therefrom; wherein the collar includes an outwardly and downwardly extending shoulder which is disposed between an upper portion and a lower portion (9) of the collar and which increases the transverse rigidity of the collar such that when the collar is normally gripped by a user it remains spaced from the upstanding wall, the collar is between 20 and 30 mm deep below the lip of the cup and there is at least 5 mm between the lip and the shoulder.
  • thermoplastics material Whilst any thermoplastics material may be used to form the cup, currently commercially suitable materials include polystyrene, acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene, and polypropylene resins, optionally filled with, for example, talc or chalk for additional strength.
  • barrier resins or laminates/coextrusions is preferred since they improve the shelf life of beverage ingredients. Because of the relatively low softening point polyvinyl chloride and some acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrenes cannot be used for cups from which very hot beverages are to be drunk, although they can be used for warm beverages.
  • the top cup When the cups are stacked the top cup can be fitted with a plug or snap-on cap to retain the beverage ingredient in the cup. Alternatively, a "dummy" cup which does not contain any ingredient may be useful.
  • a plug is to be preferred to a snap-on cap when the stack is wrapped since the plug allows the enveloping film to be drawn into the top aperture region of the stack of cups and enables adequate top pressure to be obtained.
  • the wrapped stack should be under a top to bottom pressure sufficient to prevent seepage of the beverage ingredients from the cups. Preferred methods of wrapping are described in United Kingdom Patent No. 1,539,729.
  • Figure 1 shows the cup generally indicated at 1 having a generally cylindrical base 2 with an upstanding integral wall formed around its periphery. The free end of the wall 3 is turned over to form a lip 5 and an outwardly and downwardly extending collar 6 which has a depth below the lip of 20 to 30 mm.
  • the collar 6 extends circumjacent the top of the upwardly extending portion of the wall 3 and is spaced therefrom.
  • the collar 6 is provided with a ring of vertically extending ribs 7 extending around its centre portion to increase the rigidity of the collar 6.
  • the shape and thickness of the collar may be considerably varied from that shown in Figures 1 and 2 and that the rib 7 may be omitted.
  • the essential requirement for the collar 6 is that when it is gripped by a user it remains spaced from the upwardly extending portion of the wall 3.
  • the collar 6 has an upper portion 8 which extends downwardly parallel to the upwardly extending portion of wall 3 and a flared skirt portion 9 which diverges away from the upwardly extending portion of wall 3.
  • the collar 6 has an outwardly extending and downwardly inclined shoulder 13 between the upper portion 8 and lower portion 9. It will be noted in this case that the lower portion 9 extends vertically.
  • the provision of the shoulder 13 increases the rigidity of the collar and indeed the provision of such a shoulder alone, without the ribs 7, can provide sufficient rigidity in the collar 6.
  • the lower portion 9 of the collar may be provided with indents, not shown, which provide gripping points for the user's fingers and increase the rigidity of the lower portion 9 of the collar 6.
  • the cup 1 is further provided with an inwardly extending annular internal shoulder 10, which is shown in Figure 1, for supporting a like cup in a nesting relationship.
  • the base 2 of the cup 1 has a central dome shaped portion (not shown) which is provided both to give strength to the cup 1 and to resist inversion of the base 2, which inversion can occur when a hot liquid is poured into the cup 1.
  • This space can contain one or more ingredients, such as coffee powder, for a beverage when the cup is stacked.
  • the flared portion 9 of the collar 6 allows the upper cup to be nested in the lower cup in such a way as to readily allow the lower cup to be withdrawn from the stack.
  • a hot liquid is poured into the cup 1 to make a beverage from the dried ingredient, not shown, contained in the cup.
  • the user can then grip the cup by means of the collar 6.
  • the arrangement of the shape and rigidity of the collar is such that when the cup is gripped under normal pressures the collar remains spaced from the upwardly extending portion of the wall 3.
  • the air within this space is a reasonably good heat insulator and thus to all intents and purposes heat is only conveyed from the hot beverage to the user's fingers by conduction of the heat from the liquid up the upwardly extending portion of the wall 3, through the lip 5 and down the collar 6.
  • the lip 5 offers an improved drinking surface over that of many known cups, in particular because there is no need when making the cups to roll the rim as is normally an additional operation in those cups which are manufactured by thermoforming.
  • the drinking surface can be further improved if the ribs 7 are omitted.
  • Figures 3 and 4 show a method of thermoforming the cups of Figures 1 and 2.
  • a sheet of thermoplastics material 14 is positioned under a heater 15 which heats the sheet 10 radiantly. This is shown in position A.
  • the sheet of material 10 is then gripped at its edges by means not shown, projected forward into a position above a water cooled female mould 1 6 (position B).
  • a clamp 17 is then applied around the cavity 18 of the moult 16.
  • the position of clamp 17 in relation to mould 16 depends on whether the material from an area of sheet larger than that of the mould aperture is required to make the forming.
  • the mould 16 is then moved upwardly towards the sheet material 14 and during this operation air is blown from both inside and outside the mould 16.
  • Air vents, not shown, are provided in the mould 16 for this purpose.
  • the air pressure forces the sheet of material 14 into a position shown at C.
  • a heated mechanical punch (not shown) shaped to the interior of the mould forces the material 14 down into the moult 16 where it adopts the shape of the interior of the mould. Air is expelled from the mould to the air vents (not shown). If desired, the explusion of air can be assisted by the use of vacuum exhaustion.
  • stage D the forming 19 is cut from the sheet 14 and the remaining part can be reprocessed.
  • the process described is an intermittent process and whilst one part of a sheet of material is being heated another part is being thermoformed and in another part form- ings are being cut from the sheet.
  • the cups can be formed by injection moulding or injection blow moulding.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Ceramic Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Table Devices Or Equipment (AREA)
  • Containers Having Bodies Formed In One Piece (AREA)
  • Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)
  • Materials For Medical Uses (AREA)
  • Wrappers (AREA)
  • Packages (AREA)
  • Stackable Containers (AREA)
EP79300771A 1978-05-16 1979-05-04 Drinking cup Expired EP0005605B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1996978 1978-05-16
GB19969/78A GB1602258A (en) 1978-05-16 1978-05-16 Insulated drinking cups

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0005605A1 EP0005605A1 (en) 1979-11-28
EP0005605B1 true EP0005605B1 (en) 1982-06-30

Family

ID=10138134

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP79300771A Expired EP0005605B1 (en) 1978-05-16 1979-05-04 Drinking cup

Country Status (10)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0005605B1 (no)
JP (1) JPS54150277A (no)
AU (1) AU528933B2 (no)
CA (1) CA1161404A (no)
DE (1) DE2963222D1 (no)
DK (1) DK148173C (no)
ES (1) ES250507Y (no)
FI (1) FI71476C (no)
GB (1) GB1602258A (no)
NO (1) NO151277C (no)

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS6397610U (no) * 1986-12-17 1988-06-24
GB2201581B (en) * 1987-03-03 1991-01-09 Plastici Articoli Special Ind Cup for coffee, or similar drinks, formed of synthetic thermoplastics material
GB2204478B (en) * 1987-05-15 1991-02-13 Mono Containers Ltd Insulated cups
FI20020286A (fi) * 2002-02-13 2003-08-14 Stora Enso Oyj Juomakuppi ja menetelmä sen valmistamiseksi
ITMI20090005A1 (it) * 2009-01-08 2010-07-09 Novacart Spa Contenitore in materiale cartaceo per alimenti, ad esempio liquidi, in particolare bevande, quale un bicchiere per bevande calde
FR2956963B1 (fr) * 2010-03-06 2012-04-20 Shivedutt Rughoobur Recipient pour boissons a paroi mince, equipe d'une languette d'accrochage et de maintien et procede de fabrication correspondant
GB2563819A (en) * 2017-05-16 2019-01-02 Aegg Ltd Containers for food products

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2493633A (en) * 1946-06-03 1950-01-03 Leon T Mart Double-walled container
FR1376764A (fr) * 1963-09-23 1964-10-31 Illinois Tool Works Récipient et couvercle
BE703364A (no) * 1967-09-01 1968-02-01
GB1267351A (en) * 1968-03-08 1972-03-15 Calmec Extruform Ltd Improvements in plastics containers, methods of producing them and tooling apparatus therefor
JPS523980B2 (no) * 1972-01-13 1977-01-31
GB1325230A (en) * 1972-07-14 1973-08-01 Jacobs S A Drinking cups
US4024951A (en) * 1975-05-12 1977-05-24 Compact Industries, Inc. Cup and package of cups
JPS523980U (no) * 1975-06-23 1977-01-12
JPS5217271A (en) * 1975-07-31 1977-02-09 Iwai Tsusho Kk Molding device of paper made container

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DK199179A (da) 1979-11-17
NO151277C (no) 1985-03-13
DK148173B (da) 1985-04-22
ES250507U (es) 1980-07-16
DK148173C (da) 1985-10-07
NO151277B (no) 1984-12-03
CA1161404A (en) 1984-01-31
NO791615L (no) 1979-11-19
FI791535A (fi) 1979-11-17
AU4697379A (en) 1979-11-22
FI71476C (fi) 1987-01-19
EP0005605A1 (en) 1979-11-28
GB1602258A (en) 1981-11-11
AU528933B2 (en) 1983-05-19
JPH0347843B2 (no) 1991-07-22
JPS54150277A (en) 1979-11-26
ES250507Y (es) 1981-01-16
DE2963222D1 (en) 1982-08-19
FI71476B (fi) 1986-10-10

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