US2290102A - Method of producing bent sippers - Google Patents

Description

July 14, 1942.

c. HAMILTON METHOD OF PRODUCING BENT SIPPERS Filed Jan 2]., 1939 v INVENTOR FRANCIS C HAMILTON BY WWW- AT TORN EY Patented July 14, 1942 f METHOD OF PRODUCING EENT 'SIPPERS Francis C. Hamilton, Evanston, 111., assignor of one-half to L. Ray Schuessler, St.ILouis, Mo.

Application January 21, 1939, Serial No. 252,057

6 Claims.

This invention relates generally to sippers of the type employed as an aid in drinking liquids from receptacles, and more specifically to a sipper of this type which is provided with a bend in its length so as to make more convenient the use of such sippers, the predominant object of the invention being a bent sipper that is inexpensive and is capable of very convenient use.

As is quite generally known to the average person, the familiar sippers, or straws as they are ordinarily called, are straight, and because of this fact such straight sippers are not entirely convenient to use. This is so because the straight sipper makes it necessary that a user of such a sipper lean forwardly so as to bring his mouth to, or close to, a position immediately above the receptacle with which the sipper is being used when the receptacle is supported on a table or counter. In the case of a grown person the forward leaning posture described may be assumed with some inconvenience and perhaps with a certain sacrifice of dignity, but in the case of a child, or an unusually short person, the inconvenience is substantial, usually requiring that the receptacle be held in the hands below the elevation of the table or counter, or that the child kneel on his chair or stool to bring his mouth to the proper elevation.

In the use of the improved bent sippers disclosed herein the users thereof, whether children or grown persons, may assume substantially natural, upright postures at tables or counters and thereby eliminate the inconveniences mentioned above.

Another inconvenience in connection with the ordinary straight sipper has to do with the use thereof by a person in a reclining position, a sick person, for instance, in which situation the ordinary straight sipper is practically useless. I am aware that hospital patients are supplied with glass drinking tubes which are provided with a bend in the lengths thereof, but the repeated use of such tubes is unsanitary. Additionally the glass drinking tubes referred to are relatively expensive when compared with the sipper disclosed herein, and said glass drinking tubes are subject to breakage. By providing a sick person with a supply of the bent sippers disclosed herein the matter of sanitation in connection with the sippers is completely taken care of because of the fact that each sipper is used only once and then disposed of. Also the question of breakage of the glass drinking tubes heretofore used is entirely eliminated by the use of the improved bent sipper, and the cost of supplying the sippers will be very slight due to the fact that the bent sippers of the present invention will cost very little more than the familiar ordinary straight straws.

1 is an elevation of the improved bent sipper, a portion thereof being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a perspective of an apparatus for producing the improved bent sipper,

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawing, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration, merely, one embodiment of the improved sipper, and one method of producing same, A designates the improved sipper generally. The sipper A is preferably formed of a thermo-plastic material resembling Celluloid, which material is reduced to tissue thinness, said sipper preferably, though not necessarily, being formed by winding a narrow strip of the material spirally to produce a sipper of the required length. At a suitable point in the length of the sipper, for instance, approximately one-fourth of the length of the sipper measured from one end thereof, a bend B is placed in the sipper, and this bend will provide the sipper with a longer sipper portion A which is adapted to be introduced into a receptacle from which liquid is to be drawn with the aid of the sipper, and a shorter sipper portion A which is extended at an angle with respect to the sipper portion A and is the sipper portion to which a users mouth is applied when the sipper is in use.

It is obvious that in the use of a bent sipper made as illustrated in Fig. 1 the sipper portion A may be introduced into a drinking glass, bottle, or other receptacle, and that when the sipper is so disposed the sipper portion A will extend at an angle with respect to the sipper portion A toward the position of the mouth of a person seated in a reasonably upright position. Thus the inconveniences recited above as being attached to the use of the ordinary straight sipper are entirely eliminated, and a sipper is provided which is capable of performing its intended function in a highly eflicient manner.

One method of producing the improved bent sippers is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 wherein is illustrated an apparatus that includes an endless belt I mounted for traveling movement, in the direction indicated by the arrow, over opposed pulleys 2. The pulleys 2 are supported on shafts 3 and rotary movement is imparted to one or both of said shafts by suitable means (not shown). Suitably supported above the traveling belt I is a hopper 4 which is adapted to receive a supply of straight sippers, said hopper being provided with an opening at its bottom of such shape and dimensions that one sipper at a time may pass through the opening and be discharged on the top flight of the belt I to move therewith in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. The apparatus illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 includes a second belt 5 which is disposed at an angle with respect to the belt I; that is to say the plane of the top surface of the upper flight of the belt 5 is disposed at an angle of approximately forty-flve degrees with respect to the plane of the top surface of the upper flight of the belt I. The belt 5 is supported for traveling movement over pulleys 6 and these pulleys are mounted on shafts I, one or both of said shafts I being subjected to rotary movement by suitable means (not shown). The belt 5 travels in the same direction as does the belt I and said belts I and 5 travel at the same rate of speed.

Supported between the belts I and 5 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is a burner tip 8 to which a combustible medium is conducted from a source of supply by a pipe 9. The burner tip 8 has associated with it a heat absorbing hood II] which is suitably supported in its proper position, said hood being in the form of an elongated metallic member of approximately inverted U-shaped formation in cross section. The hood Ill is so disposed that a flame burning at the burner tip 8 is directed against the lower face of the curved upper portion of the hood at a point close to the end of the hood which is remote from the hopper 4. Because of this arrangement the end portion of the hood I which is remote from the hopper will be heated by the flame at the burner tip to a high temperature. Also some of the heat imparted by the flame to the hood will be distributed by conduction throughout the length of the hood, the intensity of the heat gradually diminishing as the end of the hood which is closer to the hopper 4 is approached.

In the operation of the apparatus illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 the straight sippers are fed one at a time onto the upper flight of the belt I through the opening at the bottom of the hopper, and said sippers are carried by saidbelt in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. During such travel of the sippers with the belt I the sippers overhang the hood 8 and the belt 5, as suggested at S in Fig. 2, the lower portion of said sippers passing in close proximity to the top of the hood. As the sippers move longitudinally of the hood the heat thereof will gradually soften the thermo-plastic material of which the sippers are formed at one point of each thereof, and as each sipper moves in proximity to the hottest portion of the hood Ill the weight of the overhanging portion of the sipper will cause said overhanging sipper portion to sag downwardly until the outer portion of the overhanging sipper portion contacts with the belt as suggested at S in Figs. 2 and 3. This sagging of the overhanging portions of the sippers occurs just prior to the passage of the sippers beyond the end of the hood, and after such passage of the sippers beyond the end of the hood II] the softened material at the bends of the sippers will quickly cool and set. After the sippers have passed beyond the end of the hood I0 they are carried by the belts I and 5 to the discharge 'end of the apparatus from which they pass into a suitable receptacle (not shown).

I claim:

1. The method of producing a bent sipper which comprises causing a substantially straight sipper formed of thermo-plastic material and a heat-- producing means to travel bodily one relative to the other, causing heat to be applied by said heatproducing means to said sipper only at a predetermined point thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that a relatively long section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at one side of the heated point thereof and a shorter section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at the opposite side of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means, bending the sipper at the point of application of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sipper to cool and set at the bend formed therein so that it will permanently retain its bent form.

2. The method of producing a bent sipper which comprises causing a substantially straight sipper formed of thermo-plastic material to travel bodily relative to a heat-producing means, causing heat to be applied by said heat-producing means to said sipper only at a predetermined point thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that a relatively long section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at one side of the heated point thereof and a shorter section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at the opposite side of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means, bending the sipper at the point of application of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sipper to cool and set at the bend formed therein so that it will permanently retain its bent form.

3. The method of producing a bent sipper which comprises causing a substantially straight sipper formed of thermo-plastic material to travel bodily relative to a heat-producing means, causing heat to be applied by said heat-producing means to said sipper, as said sipper moves relative to said heat-producing means, only at a predetermined point thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that a relatively long section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at one side of the heated point thereof and a shorter section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at the opposite side of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means, bending the sipper at the point of application of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sipper to cool and set at bend formed therein so that it will permently retain its bent form.

4. The method of producing bent sippers which comprises supporting a plurality of substantially straight sippers formed of thermo-plastic material for traveling movement relative to a heatproducing means, causing heat to be applied by said heat-producing means successively to said plurality of sippers, as said sippers move relative to said heat-producing means, only at a predetermined point of each thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that a relatively long section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at one side of the heated point thereof and a shorter section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at the opposite side of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means, bending said sippers at the points of application of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sippers to cool and set at the bends formed therein so that they will permanently retain their bent forms.

5. The method of producing bent sippers which comprises supporting a plurality of substantially straight sippers formed of thermo-plastic material for traveling movement relative to a heatproducing means, causing heat of gradually increased intensity to be applied by said heatproducing means successively to said plurality of sippers, as said sippers move relative to said heatproducing means, only at a predetermined point of each thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that a relatively long section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at one side of the heated point thereof and a shorter section of the longitudinal length of the sipper at the opposite side of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means,

6. The method of producing a bent sipper which comprises causing a substantially straight sipper formed of thermo-plastic material and a heatproducing means to travel bodily one relative to the other, causing heat to be applied by said heat-producing means to said sipper only at a predetermined point thereof intermediate of the ends of the sipper so that sections of the sipper at opposite sides of the heated point thereof are not directly heated by said heat-producing means, bending the sipper at the point of application of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sipper to cool and set at the bend formed therein so that it will perbending said sippers at the points of application 15 manently retain its bent form.

of heat thereto by said heat-producing means, and allowing the sippers to cool and set at the bends formed therein so that they will permanently retain their bent forms.

FRANCIS C. HAMILTON.

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