EP4108154B1 - Drinking straw holder - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a drinking straw holder for arrangement on a rinsing basket of a dishwasher.

Reusable drinking straws are increasingly being used instead of disposable straws. These can be made of plastic, glass or stainless steel.

After a reusable drinking straw has been used as intended, it must be cleaned before it is used again, including cleaning the inside. This is usually done manually using a small hand brush. This type of cleaning process is inconvenient and does not conserve resources, as the inside of a drinking straw is cleaned under a running jet of water.

In contrast to manual cleaning, cleaning a drinking straw in a dishwasher equipped with a conventional cutlery basket only leads to unsatisfactory results, as cleaning the inside of the drinking straw in particular is not guaranteed. This is because the drinking straw does not occupy a defined position in the cutlery basket, so it is not guaranteed that the spray device of a dishwasher will get rinsing liquid into the drinking straw to clean the inside of the drinking straw.

To counteract this disadvantage, drinking straw holders have already been proposed that are specially designed for cleaning reusable drinking straws. One such drinking straw holder is disclosed by EN 20 2020 100 262 U1 .

The one from the EN 20 2020 100 262 U1 The previously known drinking straw holder is modular in design and has individual components arranged one above the other in height. According to a preferred embodiment, these are a base, a first cage, a first plug-in grid, a second cage, a second plug-in grid and a drinking straw rinsing attachment with a water catchment. The plug-in grids arranged one above the other are equipped with aligned openings so that they can be When used as intended, it can hold a drinking straw in a vertical position, i.e. standing. In order to load the drinking straw holder with drinking straws, the drinking straw rinsing attachment arranged at the top is designed to be pivotable, so that the drinking straw holder can be loaded or unloaded with drinking straws when the drinking straw attachment is pivoted.

The disadvantage of this previously known drinking straw holder is in particular the comparatively complicated structure and the complex handling by the user.

The invention is therefore based on the object of proposing a drinking straw holder which, due to its design, enables simplified handling by the user.

To achieve the above object, the invention proposes a drinking straw holder for arrangement on a rinsing basket of a dishwasher, with a drinking straw basket and a handle arranged thereon, which is U-shaped and has two legs and a handle section arranged therebetween and positioned in the vertical direction above the drinking straw basket, wherein the handle section has a trough-shaped water collector which has outlet openings on the drinking straw basket side.

The drinking straw holder according to the invention has a drinking straw basket on the one hand and a handle on the other hand, which is arranged on the drinking straw basket. The drinking straw basket can be operated by the user using the handle, for example in order to be able to easily insert the drinking straw basket into or remove it from a dishwasher basket.

The drinking straw holder also has a water collector. When used as intended, this is used to supply drinking straws held securely in position by the drinking straw holder with rinsing liquid so that the inside of the drinking straw is cleaned.

According to the invention, the water collector is provided by the handle of the drinking straw holder. For this purpose, the handle is U-shaped and has two legs and a handle section. The handle section is arranged between the two legs, and is therefore supported by these worn.

The handle section is positioned vertically above the drinking straw basket, the handle section of the handle and the drinking straw basket are therefore arranged at a distance from each other in the vertical direction.

The handle section provides the water collector, which is designed in the shape of a tub. When used as intended, rinsing liquid collects in the water collector, which can then flow downwards under the force of gravity and be fed to the drinking straws. For this purpose, the water collector has outlet openings that are designed on the drinking straw basket side, so that rinsing liquid released by the water collector can flow out independently and reach the drinking straws located underneath.

The drinking straw holder according to the invention is characterized by its compact design. This is achieved in particular by integrating the water collector into the handle section of the handle. In contrast to the prior art, this results in simplified handling, since in contrast to, for example, EN 20 2020 100 262 U1 a pivoting straw rinsing attachment has been completely dispensed with. Drinking straws that need to be cleaned can be easily positioned underneath the handle section of the handle, so that no further steps are required to properly load the straw holder with drinking straws.

Last but not least, the handle also serves to operate the drinking straw holder in a simplified manner, especially for the purpose of inserting it into a dishwasher basket or removing it from it.

When used as intended, the drinking straws held by the straw holder are positioned below the handle section of the handle and between the supports of the handle. The handle thus protects the drinking straws from colliding with other items of crockery, such as can occur when loading the dishwasher. The handle therefore also ensures that drinking straws held in the exact position by the straw holder do not get mixed up and/or moved out of their position into an undefined position as a result of an unwanted collision with other items of crockery.

The result is a design that guarantees a reliable holding of different drinking straws and ensures that the drinking straws are filled with rinsing liquid as intended. The drinking straw holder according to the invention is compact in design and enables simplified handling by the user.

According to a further feature of the invention, it is provided that the water collector has a bottom section serving as a collection area, which is designed free of outlet openings.

The bottom of the tub-shaped water collector has two sections. The first section has the outlet openings, whereas the second bottom section is free of outlet openings. This bottom section, which is free of outlet openings, acts as an additional collection area to ensure that washing liquid splashing around in the dishwasher is collected and directed to the outlet openings. It is particularly advantageous to be able to position the drinking straw holder in a lower basket of a dishwasher in such a way that one or more wire crossing points of longitudinal and transverse wires of an upper basket are located directly above the water collector, in particular the collection area. Water dripping from the upper basket therefore goes directly into the water collector.

According to a further feature of the invention, it is provided that the floor section serving as a collection area has a first gradient pointing in the direction of the outlet openings.

The gradient provided by the floor section of the collection area ensures that flushing water collected by the collection area flows towards the outlet openings. This ensures that the outlet opening is continuously supplied with flushing liquid.

According to the invention, it is further provided that the floor section serving as a collection area has a second gradient running transversely to the first gradient.

The formation of the second gradient has the advantage that the individual outlet openings are evenly supplied with flushing liquid.

Preferably, the outlet openings provided by the water collector are arranged in a row. The second gradient therefore ensures that the outlet openings arranged in relation to the row design are also supplied with sufficient flushing liquid.

According to a further feature of the invention, it is provided that a cross brace extends in the vertical direction below the water collector between the legs of the handle.

This cross brace serves to make the handle more stable. In particular, it increases the torsional rigidity.

According to a further feature of the invention, the crossbar provides recesses that are open on one side for holding drinking straws. The crossbar and its recesses therefore represent a drinking straw holder. The drinking straws rest in the recesses on the outer circumference. The recesses are open on one end, which allows drinking straws to be easily fitted from the side. In contrast to the prior art, threading into the through-openings of a grid is not necessary, which ultimately supports simplified handling. This is because the design according to the invention allows a drinking straw to be inserted into the drinking straw basket at one end and then tilted by the user towards the handle until it dips into an associated recess and rests on the edge of the recess.

According to a further feature of the invention, the bulges each have an edge on the drinking straw side, the contour of which runs at least in sections along an ellipse or parabola.

This design essentially offers two advantages. Firstly, self-centering of a drinking straw within a recess is ensured. Secondly, an elliptical recess can be used equally for different drinking straw diameters, regardless of the diameter of a drinking straw. A design that makes it possible to accommodate drinking straws with a diameter between 5 mm and 13 mm is preferred.

According to a further feature of the invention, the legs of the handle are designed to be telescopic. This allows the size of the drinking straw holder to be adjusted to different drinking straw lengths. The telescoping of the legs enables the height of the handle to be adjusted and thus the distance between the drinking straw basket and the handle section to be changed. The height adjustment makes it possible to safely hold drinking straws with a length of 100 mm to 300 mm, for example. The height adjustment is also advantageous in that the outlet openings provided by the water collector can be positioned as close to the drinking straw as possible, which additionally supports the intended introduction of rinsing liquid into the drinking straws.

According to a further feature of the invention, the handle is arranged on the drinking straw basket in an exchangeable manner. If necessary, the handle can therefore be replaced, for example in the event of repair or cleaning.

The design according to the invention provides a drinking straw holder which is particularly characterized by the fact that the water collector is integrated into the handle. This ensures a compact structure and simplified handling. The handle is designed to be height-adjustable and provides elliptical bulges for supporting drinking straws on the circumference, which advantageously ensures that drinking straws of different diameters and lengths can be held equally safely and as intended by the drinking straw holder.

Fig. 1

in schematischer Draufsicht von vorn einen Spülbehälter einer Geschirrspülmaschine mit einem davon aufgenommenen Trinkhalmhalter nach der Erfindung;

Fig. 2

in schematisch perspektivischer Ansicht den Spülbehälter nach Fig. 1;

Fig. 3

in schematisch perspektivischer Darstellung ein Unterkorb einer Geschirrspülmaschine mit einem davon aufgenommenen Trinkhalmhalter nach der Erfindung;

Fig. 4

in schematischer Perspektivdarstellung ein erfindungsgemäßer Trinkhalmhalter;

Fig. 5

in schematisch perspektivischer Explosionsdarstellung der Trinkhalmhalter nach Fig. 4;

Fig. 6

in schematischer Draufsicht von oben einen Trinkhalmkorb eines Trinkhalmhalters nach der Erfindung;

Fig. 7

in schematischer Perspektivansicht den Trinkhalmkorb nach Fig. 6 mit montiertem Trinkhalmseparator;

Fig. 8

in schematischer Schnittdarstellung in erfindungsgemäßer Trinkhalmhalter;

Fig. 9

in schematischer Schnittdarstellung ein Trinkhalmkorb eines erfindungsgemäßen Trinkhalmhalters;

Fig. 10

in schematischer Schnittdarstellung ein erfindungsgemäßer Trinkhalmhalter mit einem endseitig abgewinkelten Trinkhalm;

Fig. 11

in schematischer Ausschnittsdarstellung den Griffabschnitt einer Handhabe;

Fig. 12

in geschnittener Ausschnittsdarstellung den Griffabschnitt einer Handhabe;

Fig. 13

in Draufsicht von oben den erfindungsgemäßen Trinkhalmhalter ohne Wassersammler-Abdeckung;

Fig. 14

in schematischer Schnittdarstellung von oben den erfindungsgemäßen Trinkhalmhalter;

Fig. 15

in schematischer Draufsicht den erfindungsgemäßen Trinkhalmhalter;

Fig. 16

in schematischer Perspektivdarstellung den erfindungsgemäßen Trinkhalmhalter und

Fig. 17

in schematischer Frontansicht zwei übereinander angeordnete Spülkörbe einer Geschirrspülmaschine mit einem vom unteren Spülkorb aufgenommenen Trinkhalmhalter nach der Erfindung.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description based on the figures.

Fig.1

in a schematic plan view from the front of a washing container of a dishwasher with a drinking straw holder according to the invention accommodated therein;

Fig. 2

in schematic perspective view the rinsing tank after Fig.1 ;

Fig.3

in schematic perspective view a lower basket of a dishwasher with a drinking straw holder accommodated therein according to the invention;

Fig.4

in schematic perspective view a drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig.5

in schematic perspective exploded view of the drinking straw holder according to Fig.4 ;

Fig.6

in a schematic plan view from above a drinking straw basket of a drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig.7

in schematic perspective view the straw basket after Fig.6 with mounted drinking straw separator;

Fig.8

in schematic sectional view of a drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig.9

in schematic sectional view a drinking straw basket of a drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig.10

in schematic sectional view a drinking straw holder according to the invention with a drinking straw angled at the end;

Fig. 11

in schematic detail representation the grip section of a handle;

Fig. 12

in a cut-out view the handle section of a handle;

Fig. 13

in plan view from above the drinking straw holder according to the invention without water collector cover;

Fig. 14

in schematic sectional view from above the drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig. 15

a schematic plan view of the drinking straw holder according to the invention;

Fig. 16

in schematic perspective view the inventive Straw holder and

Fig. 17

in a schematic front view of two rinsing baskets of a dishwasher arranged one above the other with a drinking straw holder according to the invention held by the lower rinsing basket.

A dishwasher not shown in detail in the figures has a washing container 1 as shown in the Fig. 1 and 2 is shown. When used as intended, the washing container 1 serves to hold items to be cleaned.

For the purpose of loading the washing container 1 with washware, washing baskets are typically provided which hold the washware and which can be moved out of or into the washing space provided by the washing container 1 by the user. Fig. 1 and 2 In this context, a rinsing basket serving as lower basket 3 can be seen.

As the Fig. 1 and 2 As can also be seen, a drinking straw holder 4 according to the invention is arranged in the lower basket. The drinking straw holder 4 serves to hold drinking straws and, thanks to its structural design, ensures both the intended external cleaning and the intended internal cleaning of the drinking straws removed from it. The drinking straw holder 4 according to the invention is securely fixed in position on the lower basket 3 and is moved out of the washing compartment or into it together with it when the basket is moved.

Fig.3 shows the lower basket 3 with the drinking straw holder 4 attached to it in an enlarged view. As can be seen from this, the drinking straw holder 4 is placed on the two front rows of spikes of the lower basket 3 and is attached to the Fig.3 left basket wall, for which the drinking straw holder 4 has corresponding fastening means 34 (cf. Fig. 13 and 14 ).

Fig.4 shows the drinking straw holder 4 according to the invention in a schematic perspective view. As can be seen from this illustration, the drinking straw holder 4 has a drinking straw basket 5 and a handle 6 which is arranged on the drinking straw basket 5. In the exemplary embodiment shown, a drinking straw 7 held by the drinking straw holder 4 is shown as an example.

The drinking straw basket 5 has three compartments 8, 9 and 10 arranged one behind the other in the width direction 11. The middle compartment 8 serves to hold the drinking straw. The two side compartments 9 and 10 serve to hold other items of tableware.

The compartments 8 and 9 on the one hand and 8 and 10 on the other hand are arranged at a distance from each other, forming a respective gap. In the final assembled state, spikes from the two rows of spikes of the lower basket 3 are located in these gaps, as can be seen from Fig.3 visible.

The handle 6 is U-shaped and has two legs 13 and 14 as well as a handle section 15 arranged between them, which is positioned in the height direction 12 above the drinking straw basket 5.

As can be seen particularly from the exploded view of Fig.5 the handle element 15 has a trough-shaped water collector 23, which has outlet openings 35 on the straw basket side, as is particularly the case with Figs. 11 and 12 can be recognized.

Furthermore, a drinking straw holder 17 extends between the two legs 13 and 14. This is a crossbar 42 which has bulges 22. The bulges 22 are open on one side and have an edge on the drinking straw side, the contour of which runs at least in sections along an ellipse, as can be seen in particular from the illustration according to Fig. 14 results.

The drinking straw basket 5 provides a first drinking straw holder 16 which, when used as intended, interacts with the second drinking straw holder 17, as can be seen in particular from a summary of the Figs. 6 and 7 results.

The first drinking straw holder 16 has a support contour 28 for receiving a drinking straw 7 at one end. The support contour 28 has a centering 29 in the form of a projection for each drinking straw 7 to be received, as is also the case with the Figs. 8 and 9 can be seen in detail.

Furthermore, the first drinking straw holder 16 has guide ribs 27, each of which provide a guide contour 30 running transversely to the height direction 12.

The guide contour 30 provided by the guide ribs 27 preferably merges into the support contour 28 in one piece, as is also shown in detail in the Figs. 8 and 9 show most clearly.

A drinking straw separator 18 is provided in the vertical direction 12 between the first and second drinking straw holders 16, 17. This drinking straw separator provides an opening 20 for each drinking straw 7 to be held. With reference to the drawing plane according to Fig.5 The drinking straw separator has hooks 19 on the left and right sides, which interact with a correspondingly designed counter contour 26 of the drinking straw basket 5 in the final assembled state, as shown in Fig.7 can be recognized.

To separate the individual receiving sections 32 provided by the first drinking straw holder 16, partition walls 31 are provided, which can be seen in particular from the illustration according to Fig.6 In the embodiment shown, five such receiving sections 32 are provided, whereby the drinking straw holder 4 is designed to be able to receive a total of five drinking straws 7. Accordingly, the drinking straw separator 18 also has five openings 20 and the second drinking straw holder 16 has five bulges 22.

As shown in particular in the Fig.8 As can be seen, the drinking straw holder 14 provides a device for the upright accommodation of a drinking straw 7, which has the first drinking straw holder 16 and the second drinking straw holder 17 spaced apart from it in the vertical direction 12, wherein the first and the second drinking straw holder 16, 17 are arranged offset from one another in a direction running transversely to the vertical direction 12. In the exemplary embodiment shown, this direction running transversely to the vertical direction 12 is the depth direction 33 of the drinking straw basket 5.

The offset arrangement of the first and second drinking straw holders 16, 17 results in an alignment of the drinking straw 7 inclined to the vertical, so that the angle of inclination α according to Fig.8 is greater than 90°.

As can be seen from a summary of the Figs. 8 to 10 This embodiment according to the invention enables particularly simple handling of the Drinking straw holder 4 by a user. To equip the drinking straw holder 4 with a drinking straw 7, the drinking straw 7 is to be positioned on the user side with reference to the drawing plane Fig.8 from the right to the drinking straw holder 4. With its end section on the drinking straw holder side, the drinking straw 7 is first guided through a corresponding opening 20 through the separator 18. As soon as the drinking straw 7 comes into contact with the drinking straw basket 5, it slides by itself along the guide contour 30 provided by the guide ribs 27 until it comes to rest with its one end on the support contour 28 following the force of gravity. The centering 29 ensures that the drinking straw 7 is positioned securely and precisely.

On the user side, the drinking straw 7 is then still with reference to the drawing plane according to Fig.8 to tilt to the left so that it also falls or slides into the corresponding recess 20 of the second drinking straw holder, following gravity. Since the recess is partially elliptical, automatic centering takes place. Overall, this ensures a reproducible and defined positioning of the drinking straw 7 within the drinking straw holder 4.

This position is also guaranteed with drinking straws 7 that are angled at the ends, as Fig.10 shows.

The handle section 15 of the handle 6 has a water collector 23 as already described. The exact structure of this water collector 23 is shown in the Figs. 11 to 13 presented in detail.

The water collector 23 is trough-shaped and has a bottom section 37 serving as a collection area 36, which is free of outlet openings 35. With reference to the drawing plane according to Fig. 12 On the left side of this bottom section 37, a bottom section of the water collector 23 is connected, which provides the outlet openings 35. In the embodiment shown, a total of five outlet openings 35 are provided, which are arranged one behind the other with respect to the width direction 11 of the drinking straw holder 4, as is particularly evident from the top view according to Fig. 13 can be recognized.

The floor section 37 serving as the collecting area 36 has a first gradient pointing in the direction of the outlet openings 35, as shown in the sectional view according to Fig. 12 This gradient ensures that flushing water collected in the area of the bottom section 37 flows according to gravity in the direction of the outlet openings 35.

The floor section 37 serving as the collection area 36 further has a second gradient running transversely to the first gradient, as shown in the illustration according to Fig. 11 The second gradient is in relation to the drawing plane according to Fig. 11 starting from the middle outlet opening 35, it is directed both to the left and to the right. This gradient serves to ensure that the outer outlet openings 35 with respect to the width direction 11 are supplied with flushing liquid in the same way as the other outlet openings 35. Overall, the gradient formation ensures that the outlet openings 5 are evenly supplied with flushing liquid.

In order to prevent overflow of rinsing liquid between the outlet openings 35, webs 39 are formed between the outlet openings 35, so that a chamber 38 is created for each outlet opening 35. Rinsing liquid can enter these chambers 38 via an inlet opening 48 on the collecting area side, as shown in the illustration according to Fig. 13 can be recognized.

The positioning of the second drinking straw holder 17 and the outlet openings 35 of the water collector 23 are coordinated with one another in such a way that a drinking straw 7, when properly held, comes to rest directly below an associated outlet opening 35, as is the case, for example, with the Fig. 8 and 15 This ensures that rinsing liquid released through the corresponding outlet opening 35 is released into the drinking straw 7 for the purpose of internal cleaning.

To ensure appropriate droplet formation, the outlet openings 35 are equipped with ribs 40 on the drinking straw side, which have a circular ring rib 41 on the drinking straw side. This rib design ensures defined droplet formation, which promotes precise introduction of rinsing liquid into the respective associated drinking straw 7.

Fig. 16 shows that the legs 13 and 14 of the handle 6 each consist of two sections 44 and 45, which are designed to be telescopic relative to one another. This allows the height of the handle 6 to be adjusted so that drinking straws 7 of different sizes can be accommodated equally by the drinking straw holder 4.

As already described at the beginning, the drinking straw holder 4 has fastening means 34 for secure positioning on the lower basket, as shown in Fig. 14 The positioning of a drinking straw holder 4 in the lower basket 3 is such that the water collector 23 is located directly below one or more wire crossing points 47 of the transverse and longitudinal wires of an upper basket 46 arranged above, as shown in the illustration according to Fig. 17 This ensures that rinsing water accumulating on the upper basket 46 and flowing or dripping off via the wire crossing point(s) 47 is transferred directly into the water collector 23. This ensures a constant flow of rinsing water into the drinking straws 7 accommodated by the drinking straw holder 4.

Reference symbols

1

Rinse container

2

Washing room

3

Lower basket

4

Straw holder

5

Straw basket

6

Handle

7

Drinking straw

8

Compartment

9

Compartment

10

Compartment

11

Width direction

12

Altitude direction

13

leg

14

leg

15

Handle section

16

first straw shot

17

second straw shot

18

separator

19

Hook

20

breakthrough

21

Connecting elements

22

bulge

23

Water collector

24

cover

25

Passage opening

26

Counter contour

27

Guide rib

28

Support contour

29

centering

30

Leading contour

31

partition

32

Recording section

33

Depth direction

34

Fasteners

35

Outlet opening

36

Collection area

37

Floor section

38

chamber

39

web

40

rib

41

Circular ring rib

42

Cross brace

43

contour

44

first section

45

second section

46

Upper basket

47

Wire crossing point

48

Entrance opening

Claims (12)

1. Drinking straw holder for arrangement on a dishwasher rack of a dishwasher, comprising a drinking straw rack (5) and a trough-shaped water collector (23), which has outlet openings (35) on the drinking straw rack side,
   characterised by
   a handle (6) arranged on the drinking straw rack (5), which is U-shaped and has two legs (13, 14) and a grip portion (15) arranged therebetween and positioned in the height direction (12) above the drinking straw rack (5), the grip portion (15) having the trough-shaped water collector (23).
2. Drinking straw holder according to claim 1, characterised in that the water collector (23) has a base portion (37) serving as a collection region (36), which is designed so as to be free of outlet openings (35).
3. Drinking straw holder according to claim 2, characterised in that the base portion (37) serving as a collection region (36) has a first gradient pointing in the direction of the outlet openings (35).
4. Drinking straw holder according to claim 3, characterised in that the base portion (37) serving as a collection region (36) has a second gradient running transversely to the first gradient.
5. Drinking straw holder according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the water collector (23) provides one chamber (38) per outlet opening (35), which chamber has an inlet opening (48) on the collection region side.
6. Drinking straw holder according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the water collector (23) bears a replaceable cover (24) equipped with through openings (25).
7. Drinking straw holder according to claim 6, characterised in that the cover (24) is designed at least partially as a sieve.
8. Drinking straw holder according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a transverse strut (42) extends in the height direction (12) below the water collector (23) between the legs (13) and (14) of the handle (6).
9. Drinking straw holder according to claim 8, characterised in that the transverse strut (42) provides recesses (22) which are open on one side for receiving the drinking straw.
10. Drinking straw holder according to claim 9, characterised in that the recesses (22) each have an edge on the drinking straw side, the contour (43) of which runs at least partially along an ellipse.
11. Drinking straw holder according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the legs (13, 14) of the handle (6) are designed to be telescopic.
12. Drinking straw holder according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the handle (6) is arranged replaceably on the drinking straw rack (5).

Images