EP0444385A1

EP0444385A1 - A container for drinks having a drinking-straw incorporated therein

Info

Publication number: EP0444385A1
Application number: EP90830240A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Luca Antonio Sartori
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-02-27
Filing date: 1990-05-29
Publication date: 1991-09-04
Also published as: IT9084919A1; CA2017663A1; IT9084919A0; JPH03256861A; AU5701690A; BR9002790A

Abstract

The invention relates to a container (1) for drinks, of the type provided with a removable element (2) for causing the "pop-opening" of the container (1), and having a drinking-straw (5) housed inside the container itself and associated with said removable element through an appropriate fastening means (6). In this manner when the removable element (2) is torn up causing the container to be opened, the straw (5) comes out of said container (1) and, by separating it from the removable element (2), can be used for drinking the liquid held in the container (1).

Description

The present invention relates to a container for drinks having a drinking-straw incorporated therein.
Such a container can be a battle provided with a cap at the top or more particularly a pop-top can for soft and/or effervescent drinks in which the opening system is represented by a tab ending in a ring.
While the invention in question can be referred to any type of containers for drinks, hereinafter for the sake of simplicity reference will be made to the only case of containers for soft drinks.
It is known that after the consumer has opened a can containing a soft drink, most of times he tends to drink its contents by directly bringing the can to his mouth. In this manner his lips come into contact with the outer upper part of the can which can be dirty. In addition the consumer also swallows the small amount of liquid which has come into contact with the outer part of the flat top of the can, close to the outlet thereof. Obviously this is very antihygienic.
This drawback can be overcome either by pouring the can contents into a glass (but in this case as well the liquid outflowing from the can slightly touches the peripherical outer edge of the latter) or, which is better, by using a straw.
It may however happen that the straws the consumer is supplied with are not individually sealed in suitable paper envelopes. Often they are distributed from a common vessel where they are held without any protection and therefore they are antihygienic too.
At all events drinking-straws are not always available and therefore the consumer often tends to drink the can contents by bringing the can to his mouth, as previously said.
If we take into consideration the fact that most of the soft drink consumers are children we can easily understand how dangerous this fact can be.
The main object of the present invention is therefore to eliminate the above drawbacks by providing a container for soft drinks allowing the liquid to be drinken in a quite hygienic manner.
Another object of the present invention is to enable the consumer to have a straw always at his disposal so that he may take the liquid directly from the container.
The foregoing and further objects are attained by the container for drinks in accordance with the present invention; which has a drinking-straw incorporated therein, the main features of which are set forth in the accompanying claims.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given hereinafter by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a can for soft drinks having a drinking-straw incorporated therein in accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the removable element for opening the can shown in Fig. 1, having a straw associated therewith;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the upper part of the can shown in Fig. 1 during the opening step.

With reference to the drawings, 1 denotes a can for soft drinks. At the upper part thereof the can is provided with the traditional removable element 2 for "pop-opening" it, which consists of a tab 3 ending in a ring 4.
Housed at the inside of the can 1 is a drinking-straw 5 which is plunged in the can liquid (not shown). The upper end of the straw 5 is associated with the removable element 2 through a fastening means 6. In greater detail, the upper end of the straw 5 is fastened to the tab 3 through a projection substantially of truncated conical form used as the fastening means and identified by 6 as well, which is located on the tab 3 and faces the inner part of the can 1.
As particularly shown in Fig. 2, the upper end of the drinking-straw is detachably fitted on the frustoconical projection 6 so that it is secured to the tab 3.
By tearing up the removable element 2 the straw 5 will be withdrawn from the can 1, as it has been secured to the tab 3. After this opening step, the consumer will easily separate the straw 5 from the projection 6 by exerting a slight pulling action in an axial direction. In this manner the drinking-straw 5 becomes quickly available for use.
Obviously the straw is perfectly hygienic as it has been sealed at the inside of the can 1.
It will be recognized that the drinking-straw 5 is preferably of the bending type (see Fig. 1) so that its length may be greater than that of the can 1 in order to enable the consumer to drink the product to exhaustion when the straw is withdrawn from the can itself.
The invention attains the intended purposes.
Obviously in actual practice the invention may also take forms different from the the one disclosed above without however departing from its protection scope. In particular the fastening means 6 can be of any nature depending upon the construction requirements, all of them falling within the scope of the inventive idea.

Claims

A container (1) for drinks provided with a removable element (2) for causing the opening of said container (1) characterized in that a drinking-straw (5) is associated with said removable element (2) through a fastening means (6) and is disposed inside said container (1).
A container (1) for drinks according to claim 1, characterized in that said fastening means (6) consists of a projection substantially of truncated conical form provided on said removable element (2) and facing the inside of said container (1), on which projection the end of said drinking-straw (5) is fitted.
A container (1) for drinks according to claim 1, characterized in that said removable element (2) consists of a tab (3) provided with a ring (4) enabling the pop-opening of the container, said straw (5) being detachably fixed to said tab (3).
A container (1) for drinks according to the preceding claims, characterized in that a drinking-straw (5) is housed at the inside thereof.