US20110155744A1

US20110155744A1 - Structure of crystal-bead-contained glass

Info

Publication number: US20110155744A1
Application number: US12/647,534
Authority: US
Inventors: Yen Pin Su
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-12-27
Filing date: 2009-12-27
Publication date: 2011-06-30

Abstract

A crystal-bead-contained glass has a circumferential wall in which a hermetical hollow chamber is formed. The glass forms a filling opening in communication with the hollow chamber for receiving crystal beads and water that are mixed according to a given ratio into the hollow chamber. The crystal beads, after mixed with water, expand and fill up the hollow chamber to form a sparkling visual effect. The crystal beads are mixed with water in a ratio of 7 gram of crystal beads added with 240 cc water, which provides the best resiliency and toughness. The crystal beads can be made with various colors to provide a colorful vision after mixed with water to attract the attention of consumers. The glass can be deposited in a freezer chamber to freeze the crystal beads so as to extend the time period of cold-keeping in using the glass to enjoy beverages.

Description

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a structure of crystal-bead-contained glass, which comprises a circumferential wall forming therein a hollow chamber into which a mixture of crystal beads and water in a given ratio is filled to provide a sparkling glass structure.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A conventional container, such as glass, is decorated by adding patterns and textures on an outside surface thereof to make the container distinctive for attracting consumers. Containers with a function of cold keeping are also available in the market, of which an example is shown in FIG. 1 of the attached drawings, wherein a glass 1 has a circumferential wall 10 in which a hollow chamber 100 is formed. The glass forms a filling hole 101 in communication with the hollow chamber 100. Water is filled through the filling hole into the hollow chamber 100 and then the filling hole 101 is closed by fitting therein a plug 11, or alternatively the filling hole 101 is directly sealed. To use, the glass 1 is first positioned into a freezer chamber to freeze the water into ice. When the glass is removed from the freezer chamber, the glass can be used to receive and hold therein beverage or drink. The ice that forms inside the hollow chamber 100 may take up external heat transferred into the glass to provide a long time cold keeping effect, and this is particularly good for enjoying beverage in hot time. However, it takes quite a long time for freezing the water inside the hollow chamber 100 into ice and due to high rate of heat absorption of water, when beverage is poured into the glass, the ice inside the hollow chamber 100 may quick melt, losing the effect of cold keeping and turning the cold-keeping glass into a regular glass.
Another type of container is also available in the market and the container has a hollow chamber formed in the wall thereof for receiving therein “magic ball” that is made of a chemical composition capable of water absorption and cold keeping, and can shorten the time required for getting frozen and reduces the rate of defrosting and thus elongates the time of cold keeping. Although such a container has improved effects, but still shows the following drawbacks:
(1) When the magic ball is mixed with water in an improper ratio, the magic ball will absorb an excessive amount of water, making the magic ball over-expanding and thus breaking, eventually leading to a reduced effect of freezing.
(2) Over absorption of water not only leads to over expansion and breaking of the magic balls, but also makes the color of magic ball fading and colorless, affecting the visual effect of the container and reducing the intention of using the container.
In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a container that overcomes the drawbacks of the conventional glasses and cups.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a structure of a crystal-bead-contained glass, wherein the glass has a circumferential wall in which a hollow chamber is formed and the glass forming a filling opening in communication with the hollow chamber for receiving crystal beads and water into the hollow chamber. The filling opening is then closed by fitting a plug therein or is directly sealed. The crystal beads and the water are mixed inside the hollow chamber and expand to form a sparkling visual effect on a surface of the glass. The crystal beads can be made with various colors to provide a colorful vision. The crystal beads are made of a composition of polymer of acrylic acid, sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide (this being similar to the composition of paper diapers). The mixture ratio is 7 grams of crystal beads for 240 cc of water. When frozen, the crystal beads produce a sparkling vision on an outside surface of the glass and with the expansion of the crystal beads that absorb water, the crystal beads may completely fill the whole space of the hollow chamber to provide an effect of accelerating freezing, shortening the time for getting frozen. Further, the expanded and thus puffed iced objects inside the hollow chamber slow down heat transfer, namely the rate of absorbing heat from the glass is reduced. Thus, the time in which cold of the beverage inside the glass is kept is extended.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional cold-keeping glass.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a container according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically shows mixture of crystal beads and water according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates expansion of crystal beads according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 schematically shows filling water into the container of the present invention.

FIG. 6 schematically shows filling crystal beads into the container of the present invention.

FIG. 7 schematically shows fitting a plug to seal a filling opening of the container of the present invention.

FIG. 8 schematically shows the crystal beads after mixed with water start to expand.

FIG. 9 schematically shows the process of the expansion of the crystal beads as being mixed with water according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 schematically shows the crystal beads according to the present invention in a fully expanded condition.

FIG. 11 shows a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Referring to FIG. 2, which shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a container, such as a glass, generally designated at 2, according to the present invention, the glass 2 has a circumferential wall 20 in which a hollow chamber 200 is formed. The hollow chamber 200 can be of any desired shape and configuration and is hermetically sealed, but is in communication with a filling opening 201 formed in the glass at a suitable location. A sealing plug 21 is removably fit into the filling opening 201 for sealing the opening. Also referring to FIG. 3, which schematically illustrates mixture of crystal beads 3 and water 4 according to the present invention, the crystal beads 3 are made of a composition of polymer of acrylic acid, sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide, which is similar to the composition of paper diapers. The crystal beads 3 have a diameter of about 1-2 mm and possess excellent water absorbability, so that when mixed with water, the crystal beads 3 quickly absorb water and expand.
Further illustration of the expansion of the crystal beads 3 due to absorption of water after being mixed with will be given with reference to FIG. 4. The crystal beads 3, which have an original diameter of about 1-2 mm, will expand due to absorption of water after being mixed with water for one to two hours. For crystal beads 3 of 7 grams mixed with water 4 of 240 cc, the crystal beads 3 will expand to a diameter of about 6-8 mm, which features excellent resilience and toughness and has a vivid color. However, if an excessive amount of water is added, the crystal beads 3 will continuously absorb the excessive amount of water and get further expanded to have the diameter thereof as great as more than 20 mm. Due to the limited amount of space of the hollow chamber 200, the excessively expanded crystal beads 3 will be compressed and get broken, and the color thereof fades, making it very ugly.
Referring to FIG. 5, which schematically shows how the present invention is assembled, first, the crystal beads 3 and water 4 are mixed in such a ratio that each 7 gram of crystal bead added with 240 cc water and a total amount of the mixture is determined according to the volume of the hollow chamber 200 of the glass 2. The sealing plug 21 is removed off the filling hole 201 and a portion of the water 4 is first filled through the filling hole 201. Then, the crystal beads 3 are deposited into the hollow chamber 200 through the filling hole 201 (as shown in FIG. 6), so that the water 4 that has already been filled into the hollow chamber 200 is mixed with the crystal beads 3 received in the hollow chamber 200 (as shown in FIG. 7). Slight shaking is carried out to have the water and the crystal beads uniformly mixed and then the remaining portion of water 4 is completely filled into the hollow chamber 200. Afterwards, the sealing plug 21 is put back into the filling hole 201 to seal the hole, or alternatively, other measures can be taken to directly seal the filling hole 201 to prevent the crystal beads 3 and/or water 4 from leaking out of the hollow chamber 200.
Referring to FIG. 8, when the crystal beads 3 and water 4 are mixed according to the desired ratio, the crystal beads 3 gradually takes up the water and expands absorbs. During the course of expansion, the beads increase the total volume thereof, which causes the beads to gradually creep upward (as shown in FIG. 9) until the water 4 is completely absorbed and the beads completely fill up the hollow chamber 200 of the glass (as shown in FIG. 10).
When the crystal beads 3 are mixed with water 4, the crystal beads absorb water and the volume expands by several times. According to the ratio given in the embodiment, the beads will eventually get a diameter of about 6-8 mm and become semi-solid spheres that completely fill up the hollow chamber 200 of the glass 2. Based of the ratio of 7 gram crystal beads mixed with 240 cc water given in the embodiment of the present invention, the crystal beads 3 will expand to such a size that gives excellent resiliency, strength, and toughness, which make the beads hard to break. If an excessive amount of water is added, the crystal beads 3 will excessively expand, which leads to poor strength and being easy to break and the color of the beads fades, get blurred, and is not vivid. When positioned in a freezer chamber, the crystal beads 3 absorb and disperse water so that time for getting frozen is shortened. Further, the crystal beads 3 can be selectively made with various colors, providing a colorful vision after being mixed. Particularly, the crystal beads 3, after absorbing water, become translucent, such translucent beads and the glass, which can be made transparent, induce a fantastic refraction of light, giving a vision of sparkling. Consequently, besides the original function of containing, the glass 2 is added with a unique visual effect.
Further, when the crystal beads 3 completely absorb water 4 and expand, the water is spread with the crystal beads 3 in the whole space of the hollow chamber 200 of the glass 2. This not only shortens the time for getting frozen, but also reduces the rate of heat transfer so that the beads have a reduced rate of taking up heat from the glass 2. Consequently, the crystal beads 3 inside the hollow chamber 200 have a low rate of defrosting, which helps keeping the drink inside the glass in low temperature in a longer time.
FIG. 11 shows a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a beer glass 5 forms a hollow chamber 50 therein and crystal beads 3 and water 4 mixed in accordance with a given ratio are filled into the hollow chamber 50, so that the crystal beads 3 that are translucent provide a sparkling visual effect, making the beer glass 5 more beautiful and attractive and also providing an effect of cold keeping.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A container assembly comprising a container, crystal beads, and water, the container having a circumferential wall forming therein a hollow chamber and defining a filling hole in communication with the hollow chamber and sealed by a removable plug, the crystal beads being of a diameter of approximately 1-2 mm and being made of polymer of acrylic acid, characterized in that the beads and water are filled through the filling hole into the hollow chamber in such a ratio of every 7 gram of crystal beads is added with 240 cc of water.

2. The container assembly according to claim 1, wherein the crystal beads are made with various colors.

3. The container assembly according to claim 1, wherein the crystal beads absorb water and expand to a diameter of approximately 6-8 mm having excellent resiliency and toughness.