GB2371469A

GB2371469A - Scoop having closeable bottom opening

Info

Publication number: GB2371469A
Application number: GB0102256A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jen Chien Wang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-01-29
Filing date: 2001-01-29
Publication date: 2002-07-31
Also published as: DE20101563U1; GB0102256D0; FR2820022A3

Description

SCOOP HAVING CLOSEABLE BOTTOM OPENING

The present invention relates to a scoop and, more particularly, to a scoop having a closeable bottom opening that can be opened or closed by manually operating a push member provided on a handle of the scoop to facilitate easy dispensing of liquid or particles into a desired container.

A conventional scoop typically includes a bowl portion defining an open-topped receiving space, and a handle extending outwardly from one side of a top edge of the bowl portion. A user holds the scoop at the handle to scoop liquid, powder or granules with the bowl portion, and then moves the scoop to a desired container and transfers the liquid, powder or granules into the desired container.

A problem often exists in using the conventional scoop. That is, not all the liquid, powder or granules could be accurately transferred from the scoop into the

desired container, particularly when the container has a small mouth. Some of them would be spilt or sprinkled when the scoop is tilted. For instance, when the scoop

is used to scoop milk powder and transfer the same to a milk bottle that usually has a reduced mouth, it is not always easy to align the scoop with the small bottle mouth. As a result, some of the milk powder may fall outside the milk bottle to cause unnecessary waste and additional cleaning to remove the sprinkled milk powder.

It is therefore an aim of the inventor to develop an improved scoop to eliminate the above-mentioned problem in using the conventional scoop.

An object of the present invention is to provide a scoop having a closeable bottom opening that can be manually closed to facilitate scooping of liquid or solid substance with the scoop and opened to facilitate accurate transferring of the scooped liquid or solid substance into a desired container without resulting in spilt liquid or sprinkled solid particles.

To achieve the above and other objects, the scoop according to the present invention mainly includes an open-topped bowl portion that is provided at a bottom with a closeable opening and a handle portion that is

provided along a full length with an internal slide way that also extends across the bottom of the bowl portion. An elongated strip is received in the slide way and has an expanded seal head. A push member is connected to an end of the elongated strip opposite to the seal head. When the push member is fully pushed toward the bowl portion, the seal head of the elongated strip is moved to close the bottom opening of the bowl portion. And, when the push member is fully pushed away from the bowl portion, the seal head of the elongated strip is moved out of the bottom opening to open the same. It is possible for substance received in the bowl portion to directly fall into a desired container by pushing the push member and accordingly the elongated strip backward to open the bottom opening.

Risk of spilt or sprinkled substance when the scoop is otherwise tilted to transfer the substance into the desired container can therefore be eliminated.

In order that the present invention may be more readily understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which :

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective of a scoop according to the present invention having a closeable bottom opening.

Fig. 2 is an assembled perspective of the scoop of Fig.

1; Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of the scoop of Fig.

1 with the bottom opening in a closed state; and Fig. 4 is a sectional side view of the scoop of Fig.

1 with the bottom opening in an opened state.

As shown in Figs 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, the scoop mainly includes a bowl portion 1 defining an open-topped receiving space 11 therein, and a handle 2 extending outwardly from one side of a top edge of the bowl portion 1. The bowl portion 1 is provided at a bottom thereof with an opening 12. The handle 2 is provided inside it with a slide way 21 that not only extends a full length of the handle 2 but also extends from the handle 2 into a wall of the bowl portion 1

adjacent to the handle 2 and across the bottom opening 12 of the bowl portion 1. A guide slot 22 is formed on a top surface of the handle 2 to expose a part of the slide way 21 that is immediately below the guide slot 22. An elongated strip 3 is movable forwards and backwards in the slide way 21. The elongated strip 3 is provided at a first end with an expanded seal head 31 that is adapted to seal the bottom opening 12 when the elongated strip 3 is fully moved forward in the slide way 21. A push member 4 is connected to a second end of the elongated strip 3 opposite to the first end, such that the push member 4 has an upper side slightly higher than the top surface of the handle 2 and moves only within the guide slot 22. A stopper 5 is fixed to a free end of the slide way 21 on the handle 2 to prevent the elongated strip 3 from separating from the scoop via the free end of the slide way 21.

With the above-described arrangements, it is possible to manually operate the push member 4 to slide the elongated strip 3 backward in the slide way 21 and thereby open the bottom opening 12 for substance in the receiving space 11 to directly fall into a desired container via the opened bottom opening 12.

Referring to Fig-3 which is a sectional side view of the scoop of the present invention with the bottom opening in a sealed state, when, the push member 4 is fully pushed toward the bowl portion 1 of the scoop, the elongated strip 3 connected to the lower side of the push member 4 is slid forward with the expanded seal head 31 completely covering the bottom opening 12. Thus, the space 11 in the bowl portion 1 is maintained in an open-topped state for receiving liquid or solid particles therein.

Fig. 4 is a sectional side view of the scoop of the present invention with the bottom opening 12 in an opened state. When the push member 4 is fully pushed away from the bowl portion 1, the elongated strip 3 is-slid backward and the expanded seal head 31 is completely moved out of the bottom opening 12, making the space 11 communicable with external space via the bottom opening 12 of the bowl portion 1. Liquid or particles received in the bowl portion 1 can therefore directly fall into a desired container via the opened bottom opening 12.

With the manually controllable bottom opening 12, it is easy to align the bottom of the bowl portion 1 of the scoop with a top opening or mouth of a desired

container and then open the bottom opening 12 to release the liquid or particles in the bowl portion 1 into the container via the bottom opening 12. There no need to tilt the scoop to transfer the liquid or particles in the bowl portion 1 into the container. The risk of spilt liquid or sprinkled particles during transferring of the liquid or particles into the container can therefore be eliminated. For instance,

when the scoop is used to scoop an amount of milk powder, the push member 4 is first pushed forward for the elongated strip 3 to close the bottom opening 12; thereafter, the bowl portion 1 is aligned with a mouth of a milk bottle and the push member 4 is pushed backward for the elongated strip 3 to move out of the bottom opening 12, allowing the milk powder in the bowl portion 1 to fall directly into the milk bottle without being sprinkled outside the milk bottle.

The provision of the closeable bottom opening 12 on the bottom of the scoop to allow liquid or particles in the scoop to fall directly into a desired container and the provision of the elongated strip 3 and the push member to allow easy opening and sealing of the bottom opening 12 makes the scoop of the present invention novel in structure and more practical for use and therefore superior to the conventional scoops.

Claims

1. A scoop having a closeable bottom opening, comprising a bowl portion defining an open-topped receiving space therein, and a handle extending from one side of a top edge of said bowl portion, wherein said bowl portion is provided at a bottom thereof with the opening and said handle has a slide way which extends from said handle into a wall of said bowl portion adjacent to said handle and across said bottom opening of said bowl portion; and wherein a strip is movable forwards and backwards in said slide way and has a seal head at one end to seal or open said bottom opening, and a push member at an opposite end, whereby manual operation of said push member causes said strip to slide in said slide way and said seal head to seal or open said bottom opening in said bowl portion of said scoop.

2. A scoop as claimed in claim 1, wherein said handle is provided on the top surface with a guide slot which exposes a part of said slide way immediately below said guide slot, and said push member slightly projects from said guide slot to move only within said guide slot.

3. A scoop as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said slide way in said handle is provided at a free end with a stop to prevent said elongated strip from separating from the scoop via the free end of said slide way.

4. A scoop having a closeable bottom opening constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.