Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47G—HOUSEHOLD OR TABLE EQUIPMENT
  • A47G19/00—Table service
  • A47G19/22—Drinking vessels or saucers used for table service
  • A47G19/2205—Drinking glasses or vessels
  • A47G19/2211—Lip- or moustache-protecting devices for drinking glasses; Strainers set in a movable or fixed manner in the glasses
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47G—HOUSEHOLD OR TABLE EQUIPMENT
  • A47G19/00—Table service
  • A47G19/22—Drinking vessels or saucers used for table service
  • A47G19/2205—Drinking glasses or vessels
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47G—HOUSEHOLD OR TABLE EQUIPMENT
  • A47G2400/00—Details not otherwise provided for in A47G19/00-A47G23/16
  • A47G2400/02—Hygiene

Definitions

• This invention relates to improvements in the structural configuration of a vessel selected from the group consisting of a drinking glass, goblet, beverage cup or bowl from which a beverage or other pourable food can be directly consumed by a user.
• a vessel selected from the group consisting of a drinking glass, goblet, beverage cup or bowl from which a beverage or other pourable food can be directly consumed by a user.
• Such vessels can be used to serve beverages or pourable foods in a bar or dining area of a private residence, or in an institutional food service facility or public restaurant.
• the subject improvements impart functional benefits not achievable through use of previously known devices. Such benefits can include, for example, improved cleanliness; reduced likelihood of transferring pathogenic contaminants during use or during handling prior to use; user comfort and reduced likelihood of spillage while drinking; and more rapid atmospheric drying when inverted on a towel, storage shelf or drain rack after washing.
• any minimal vertical space between the top rim of the inverted glass and an underlying support surface is usually insufficient to permit the air circulation needed to dry the inside of the glass, particularly in a humid kitchen environment. Any moisture retained inside the glass can even promote the undesirable growth of mold to an extent that is not visually apparent to a subsequent user.
• conventional drinking glasses and beverage cups typically have a circumferentially extending sidewall with a top edge or rim defining a level, circular opening into an interior portion defined by the sidewall and a contiguous bottom portion configured to sit on an underlying support surface.
• a user is often indifferent as to a particular spot around the circumference or periphery of the top rim from which one drinks or pours the contents during use.
• beverage cups or bowls having one or more fixed handle on the outside wall that influence the position from which a user drinks and usually varies according to whether the user is left- or right-handed.
• any portion of the top rim of a conventional drinking glass or beverage cup that is contacted either purposefully or inadvertently by the fingers, thumb or palms of food preparation or service personnel potentially carrying a contagious pathogen presents a risk of transferring the pathogen to the mouth of a consumer by direct contact or by a beverage or other pourable foodstuff flowing over a contaminated portion of the dish or vessel prior to being ingested by the user.
• the structural configuration and functionality of the present invention are readily differentiated from measuring cups used in cooking, from those of beverage serving pitchers having a singular, outwardly projecting pour spout from which users do not ordinarily drink, and from children’s drinking cups having a removable lid with an upwardly or outwardly projecting drinking spout configured to avoid liquid spills during use by a toddler or young child.
• Dishes or vessels such as drinking glasses and beverage cups are disclosed here that each comprise a continuous bottom and a contiguous, upwardly extending sidewall having a top rim, often circular, that is substantially level relative to the bottom and to an underlying support surface except that the top rim also comprises at least one recessed section having a width, depth and edge configuration sufficient to permit convenient drinking from the recessed section without incurring accidental spillage of a beverage.
• Such protection is desirably provided in combination with one or more structural elements or features that passively influence a user drinking from such a glass or cup to orient it so that the recessed rim portion is proximal to and appropriately aligned with mouth of a user when it is grasped by the user and raised upwardly toward a drinking position.
• a beverage cup having a sidewall with a single fixed-position handle is desirably provided with two recessed rim sections that are circumferentially spaced apart from the fixed handle and are diametrically opposed from each other to accommodate convenient use by either lefthanded or right-handed users.
• a drinking glass having a top rim with at least one recessed rim section also embodies a sidewall configuration that is shaped so as to passively influence a user to grasp the glass comfortably and in such manner that a sidewall section with a recessed top edge is proximal to and naturally oriented toward the mouth of the user when the glass is lifted upwardly off an underlying support surface.
• the top rim of a beverage cup or soup bowl with or without fixed handles is provided with at least one, and preferably two or three, sidewall sections having recessed top edges that are circumferentially spaced around the top rim positioned to facilitate drinking or consuming a beverage or food from either of two opposed sides of the dish.
• Articles made within the scope of the invention can selectively embody sidewalls having one or more sections that are vertical, inwardly or outwardly tapered, curvilinear, or a combination of those, provided that the subject article otherwise embodies the required elements of the invention as recited in the accompanying claims.
• the upwardly facing edge or surface portion of the sidewall section with a recessed top edge can lie inside the plane of a sidewall section of the subject dish or vessel but can also be made with a top edge portion that projects radially outward to a slight extent relative to the plane of the adjacent sidewall section(s), the radius of the top rim of the dish or vessel and/ or the arcuate width of the recess.
• a “substantially level” top rim of a drinking glass or cup is generally understood to be one that is, within ordinary and customary manufacturing tolerances, substantially parallel to the bottom-most surface of the glass or cup when the glass or cup is sitting on an underlying support surface.
• the sidewall is contiguous with the bottom of the fluid-containing portion of the glass, which is in turn supported by a stem or pedestal above a base (most often circular) that is configured to sit on an underlying support surface, in which case the base is desirably “substantially level” with the top rim of the glass.
• FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one preferred embodiment of a drinking glass of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the drinking glass of FIG. 1 ;
• FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3 — 3 of FIG. 2;
• FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the drinking glass of FIG. 1 ;
• FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the drinking glass of FIG. 1 ;
• FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional elevation view of the drinking glass of FIG. 1 taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 2;
• FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional elevation view of the drinking glass of FIG. 1 taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 4;
• FIG. 8 is an elevation view of another embodiment of a drinking glass of the invention.
• FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9 — 9 of FIG. 8;
• FIG. 10 is a front elevation view of a mug of the invention.
• FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 10;
• FIG. 12 is an elevation view of another embodiment of a drinking glass of the invention configured as stemware.
• FIG. 13 is an elevation view of another embodiment of the invention that is configured as a bowl.
• drinking glass 20 is disclosed that is illustrative of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• the term “drinking glass” is used as a generic characterization of a type of dish or vessel in which the defining elements of the invention can be embodied and is not intended to restrict the material from which any dish or vessel of the invention, or any part of it, is made or formed.
• Materials suitable for use in making or forming the articles of the invention can therefore include, for example, glass, plastic, metal, wood, ceramic, stone, combinations of such materials, and the like.
• drinking glass 20 comprises two principal features that are believed to differentiate the invention both structurally and functionally from the known prior art.
• glass 20 is provided with a top rim 22 having at least one sidewall section (24, 26) with a recessed top edge (32, 34) that offers several functional advantages over conventional, commercially available products.
• a user drinks liquid from a portion of top rim 22 having a recessed top edge 32, 34, the lips of the user are less likely to contact the other portions of top rim 22 that are also more likely to have been touched by the hands of other kitchen employees, wait staff or patrons who have handled glass 20 before the user.
• recessed top edges 32, 34 that are cooperatively configured and positioned with a desirable width and depth of recess enable a user to drink from glass 20 with less likelihood of inadvertent liquid spillage that often occurs when drinking from glasses having wide mouths without predefined drinking positions. This benefit can be further enhanced by providing the recessed top edges 32, 34 with a lip that is configured to be more comfortable and “user friendly” than drinking from top rim 22 of a glass.
• an added functional benefit is achieved when a drinking glass 20 or other dish or vessel is inverted and placed on an underlying surface or substrate to dry.
• a glass 20 has at least one recessed top edge 32, 34, drying of the interior walls of glass 20 is enhanced and accelerated by improved air circulation that is not available with glasses having a level top rim without any recessed sidewall section(s).
• a second principal benefit provided by drinking glass 20 as disclosed in relation to FIGS. 1-7 is attributable to the shape of the sidewall sections 24, 26, 46, 48 in relation to the cooperatively configured and aligned recessed top edges 32, 34. Because sidewall sections 24, 26 are “squeezed” inwardly (comparatively) relative to more widely separated sidewall sections 46, 48, a user naturally tends to grasp glass 20 between the thumb and fingers in such way that one of recessed top edges 32, 34 is positioned facing the mouth of the user as the user lifts glass 20 off an underlying support surface. Use of this preferred sidewall configuration is believed to further enhance the health and comfort benefits achieved by use of the invention. Referring to FIGS.
• mug 60 is configured for use by a right-handed user.
• mug 60 is also easily used by a left-handed user.
• tapered transition zones 40, 42 and 36, 38 are desirably provided between recessed top edges 32, 34 of sidewall sections 24, 26, respectively, and the adjacent sections of top rim 22.
• FIGS. 2 and 4 it is seen that the compound curvature of the sidewall sections of drinking glass 20 cause the vertical mid-line of sidewall sections 24, 26 to appear curved and relatively narrower at the vertical mid-point of glass 20 whereas the vertical mid-line of sidewall sections 46, 48 appear straight, outwardly inclined, and relatively wider at the vertical mid-point of glass 20.
• FIGS. 1 , 3 and 5 further illustrate the symmetry and eccentricities of the top, “waist” (28) and bottom sidewall portions of drinking glass 20.
• FIGS. 1 , 2 and 7 A comparison of FIGS. 1 , 2 and 7 with FIGS. 4 and 6 further demonstrates the relative placement and symmetry of recessed top edges 32, 34 relative to the respective sidewall sections.
• FIGS. 8 and 9 another embodiment of a drinking glass 50 of the invention is illustrated in which a continuous frusto-conical sidewall 58 extends between circular bottom 56 and outwardly flared top rim 52, with at least one outwardly curved recessed top edge 54 being provided adjacent to top rim 52 to provide the health and comfort benefits of the invention.
• an article of stemware 70 that comprises an interior volume (indicated by dashed line 75) bounded by sidewall 78 having top rim 72 with at least one sidewall section having a recessed top edge 74, with sidewall 78 being supported by tapered stem 77 projecting upwardly from circular base 76.
• bowl 80 that comprises a continuous curvilinear sidewall 88 supported on base 86.
• Bowl 80 comprises a top rim 82 and one visible recessed top edge 84.
• two additional sidewall sections having recessed top edges 84 can be provided with midpoints being circumferentially spaced 120° apart to provide three recessed top edge sections 84 to facilitate drinking or pouring liquid from bowl 80 no matter from what position bowl 80 is grasped by a user.

Landscapes

• Table Devices Or Equipment (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=80356081

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 2020
  • 2020-09-01 US US17/009,454 patent/US20220061560A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2021
  • 2021-06-02 WO PCT/US2021/035481 patent/WO2022051003A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2021-08-13 CN CN202121905786.3U patent/CN215874182U/zh active Active

Patent Citations (5)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events