CHILD'S CUP
A child's cup including a bladder within the cup and separated from the contents of the cup, and a valve between the contents of the cup and the exterior of the cup and closed when the cup is not in use to prevent spillage from the cup.
The present invention relates to a child's cup and more particularly to such a cup provided with a straw and means to store the straw in a protected position when not in use as well as means to make the cup spill proof in any orientation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONA child's straw cup is a cup commonly used by children 1 to 4 years old as a transition between a nipple fitted bottle and an open cup. Previous child's straw cups have generally included a straw or mouthpiece, a sanitary cup to protect the straw or mouthpiece, and a vent to equalize pressure between the outside and inside of the bottle or cup to allow easy liquid flow from the straw or mouthpiece. Generally, attempts to make the cup spill proof in any orientation of the bottle or cup and still provide for equalized pressure to provide easy flow of the contents of the cup have not been totally successful.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides a child's cup which includes a bladder within the cup that inflates slightly as liquid is withdrawn from the cup and which deflates slightly when suction stops. Unlike the construction of Sippy cups and baby bottles, the bladder does not contain liquid and the liquid contents of the bottle are within the bottle or cup but exterior to the bladder. The bladder is constructed of a flexible material such as Mylar or the like and provides a material to contain advertising or the like which becomes fully visible as the bladder inflates.
A valve or vent is provided and is opened as the bladder inflates and liquid is removed from the bottle and which is closed and held closed when liquid is no longer removed from the bottle. The valve or vent thus closes when the cup is not in use to close communication between the liquid in the cup and the outside of the cup so that the cup is spill proof in any orientation when suction stops and the cup is no longer in use.
The child's cup of the present invention includes a cap which would be difficult for a child to remove and which includes sanitary means for storing a mouthpiece when it is not in use.
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It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that although a preferred child's cup has been described featuring a cup that is virtually spill proof in any orientation that changes and modifications could be made to the preferred embodiment which has been shown and described without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. A child's cup comprises: said valve being operable upon closing to maintain the pressure in the inflated bladder.
- a) a bottle and a cap for said bottle;
- b) a mouthpiece retained by said cap and opening to the interior of said bottle; and
- c) a valve between the contents of the bottle and the mouthpiece and operable to close upon the interior of bottle being opened to atmospheric pressure to seal the contents of the bottle from the mouthpiece and,
- d) a bladder disposed in the interior of said bottle and having an interior open to the atmosphere exteriorly of said bottle:
2. (canceled)
3. The child's cup as defined in claim 1 and in which the contents of said bottle are disposed in the interior of said bottle and exteriorly of said bladder.
4. The child's cup as defined in claim 1 and further comprising said bladder having an interior separated from the contents of said bottle and open to atmosphere.
5. The child's cup as defined in claim 1 and further comprising a cap for closing said bottle and a mouthpiece extending exteriorly from said cap
6. The child's cup as defined in claim 1 and further comprising a straw extending from the interior of said bottle and connected with said mouthpiece.
7. The child's cup as defined in claim 6 and said valve being disposed between said mouth piece and said straw.
8. The child's cup as defined in claim 7 and in which said cap is rotatable with respect to said bottle to capture and house said mouthpiece.
9. The child's cup as defined in claim 7 and in which said cap is rotatably attached to said bottle and rotation of said cap permits removal of said cap from said bottle.
10. The child's cup as defined in claim 9 and including means requiring downward movement of said cap toward said bottle to permit removal of said a cap from said bottle.
11. (canceled)
12. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 19, 2012
Publication Date: Oct 24, 2013
Applicant: IT'S A BRAND NEW DAY, LLC (Sarasota, FL)
Inventors: Marty DeFelice (Sarasota, FL), Lisa Marie Fitzgerald (Sarasota, FL)
Application Number: 13/450,785
International Classification: B65D 23/00 (20060101); B65D 50/04 (20060101); B65D 51/24 (20060101);