Cup holder
A holder for a cup comprising a foamed plastic pliable sleeve having an open top and bottom for receiving said cup.
This invention relates to cup holders and in particular relates to a sleeve adapted to receive a cup in one position and foldable in another position. The invention also relates to the method of producing the holder.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONDisposable paper board cups are routinely used in fast food and restaurants to contain hot drinks. Such cups are generally of standardized size normally frusto-conical or tapered. Such cups are generally thin walled and may be difficult to handle particularly when the cups include hot coffee, tea, soup or the like.
Furthermore cold drinks may also be served in standardized frusto-conical cups and may also be difficult to hold in view of the cold temperature. Such prior art cups may be comprised of very thin plastic having little strength.
Accordingly a number of prior art cup holders or sleeves have heretofore been designed in order to insulate the user's fingers against extreme hot or cold temperatures as well as to add structural strength to the cup.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,473 relates to a corrugated beverage container and holders which provide fluted structures for containing insulating air.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,497 also relates to a cup holder in the form of a sheet with distal ends. A web is formed in one of the ends, and a corresponding slot is formed at the other end such that the ends interlock. The cup holder is assembled by rolling the sheet and interlocking the ends. The sheet can be an elongate band of pressed material preferably pressed paper pulp as preferably formed with multiple nubbins and depressions.
Yet another arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,786 which relates to a cup holder sleeve formed in pre-assembled, flat-folded form by die cutting a flat elongated band from blank stock material so as to have top and bottom edges concentric to and parallel with each other, fold lines scored into the band at spaced apart positions tapering toward each other, and side edges at opposite ends of the band.
Moreover U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,633 relates to a sleeve provided for a frusto-conical beverage cup, configured to fit around the outside of the cup, thus protecting the fingers of the user from excessive temperatures in the case of hot drink, and to provide a measure of insulation for the contents of the cup.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved cup holder which is easy to manufacture and produce.
It is an aspect of this invention to provide a holder for a cup comprising a foamed plastic sleeve having an open top and bottom for receiving said cup.
It is a further aspect of this invention to provide a holder for a tapered cup comprising an extruded foamed plastic sheet having spaced substantially concentric curved top and bottom and two opposite ends; said ends are overlapping and bonded to each other to define a sleeve; said extruded foam plastic sheet been pliable without breaking.
It is yet another aspect of this invention to provide a method of manufacturing a foamed polystyrene sleeve for a cup comprising extruding a sheet of foamed polystyrene; cutting said sheet to form spaced substantially concentric curved top and bottom and two opposite ends; forming at least two fold lines and a plurality of ribs to said cut sheet; folding said formed sheet so as to overlap and bond said ends together.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn object of one aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved insulating sleeve.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSA detailed description of the preferred embodiments are provided herein below by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings, in which:
In the drawings, preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood that the description and drawings are only for the purpose of illustration and as an aid to understanding, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTIn the description which follows, like parts are marked throughout the specification and the drawings with the same respective reference numerals. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated in order to more clearly depict certain features of the invention.
The foamed plastic is pliable and it is generally selected from the group of polystyrene, polypropylene and polyethylene. Generally speaking it has been thought that foamed polystyrene is not pliable, namely, that it will break when attempting to bend a flat sheet into a circular configuration. However, such foamed plastic has been found to be pliable when adding a plurality of depressions. More specifically by forming ribs into the foamed polystyrene it has been found that a pliable structure which can be manipulated into a sleeve without breakage. Alternatively in another embodiment, it is also been found that if the thickness of foamed polystyrene is selected to be thin enough to be pliable so as not to break when configured into a circular sleeve. A cup holder can be constructed, as described below.
The embodiment of the cup holder shown in
The embodiment shown in
During the thermo forming stage the sheet 20 of foamed polystyrene is embossed to produce a plurality of depressions (best seen in
Furthermore by forming the depressions 26 in the surface so as to produce the ribs 14 or other protrusions a natural air gap is produced between the surface of the depressions 26 and the ribs 14 so as to improve the insulating characteristics of the hot liquid contained in the cup 4. Moreover if any of the contents of the hot beverage in cup 4 is accidentally spilled over the surface of the cup holder the liquid will be naturally drained by gravity between the region bounded by the depressions 26 and protrusions or ribs 14.
Furthermore the foamed polystyrene is a naturally good insulating material and will insulate the user's fingers from the hot beverages contained in the cup 4.
Although it is possible that the cup holders 2 could be stacked one inside the other for shipment at least two fold lines 30, as seen in
Furthermore the ribs shown in
Optionally during the thermo forming stage indicia 40 may be added, as seen in
The invention described herein illustrates a method of manufacturing a foamed polystyrene sleeve for a cup comprising:
(a) extruding a sheet of foamed polystyrene;
(b) cutting the sheet to form spaced substantially concentric curved top and bottom and two opposite ends;
(c) forming at least two fold lines and a plurality of ribs to said cut sheet;
(d) folding the formed sheet so as to overlap and bond the ends together.
Furthermore the spacing of the ribs are accurately calculated so that even though the ribs 14 fan out as shown in
Furthermore the polystyrene has an improved co-efficient of friction as compared to a typically prior art sleeves so as to improve the gripping characteristics.
Also the sleeve adds structural strength to a flimsy cup as manufacturers of cups try to reduce their costs.
Various embodiments of the invention have now been described in detail. Since changes in and/or additions to the above-described best mode may be made without departing from the nature, spirit or scope of the invention, the invention is not to be limited to said details.
Claims
1. A holder for a cup comprising a foamed thermoplastic sleeve having an open top and bottom for receiving said cup.
2. A holder as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plastic is selected from the group of polystyrene, polypropylene, or polyethylene or other thermoplastic material.
3. A holder as claimed in claim 1 wherein the thickness of said foamed thermoplastic sleeve is selected to be pliable when formed in a loop.
4. A holder as claimed in claim 1 wherein said foamed plastic sleeve comprises foamed polystyrene having a plurality of ribs disposed between said top and bottom opening.
5. A holder as claimed in claim 4 wherein said sleeve includes at least two fold lines for flattening said sleeve.
6. A holder as claimed in claim 5 having a curved top and bottom opening.
7. A holder as claimed in claim 6 wherein said sleeve is pliable.
8. A holder as claimed in claim 7 wherein said sleeve includes two overlapping adhesively bonded ends.
9. A holder for a tapered cup comprising:
- (a) an extruded foamed plastic sheet having: (i) spaced substantially concentric curved top and bottom and two opposite ends; (ii) said ends are overlapping and bonded to each other to define a sleeve;
- (b) said extruded foam plastic sheet being pliable without breaking.
10. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein said extruded foamed plastic comprises foamed polystyrene.
11. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein said sheet includes a plurality of ribs on at least one surface thereof.
12. A holder as claimed in claim 11 wherein said sleeve includes at least two fold lines for:
- (a) flattening said sleeve in one position, and
- (b) opening said sleeve to define a substantially frusto-conical sleeve having open top and bottom adapted to receive said cup in another position.
13. A holder as claimed in claim 9 including a plurality of depressions.
14. A holder as claimed in claim 13 wherein said depressions define a plurality of ribs.
15. A holder as claimed in claim 14 wherein said plurality of ribs are disposed on an exterior surface of said sheet.
16. A method of manufacturing a foamed polystyrene sleeve for a cup comprising:
- (a) extruding a sheet of foamed polystyrene;
- (b) cutting said sheet to form spaced substantially concentric curved top and bottom and two opposite ends;
- (c) forming at least two fold lines and a plurality of ribs to said cut sheet;
- (d) folding said formed sheet so as to overlap and bond said ends together.
17. A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein said forming comprises thermo forming at approximately 140° C. and 250 bar.
18. A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein said sheet is extruded by an extruder in the extruded direction, and said ribs are formed generally parallel to said extruded direction.
19. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein said thermo forming embosses said ribs, fold lines and indicia to said cup holder.
20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein said depth of said embossed ribs are selected to control the pliability of said sleeve.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 1, 2004
Publication Date: Jan 5, 2006
Inventor: Raymond Darzinskas (Toronto)
Application Number: 10/880,737
International Classification: B65D 3/00 (20060101);