Cup body for use in both of 'cup-in-cup' and 'cup-on-cup' multi-cup bodies

Abstract

A cup body for use in both of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup bodies is provided. The cup body of the current application is comprised of 1) a staged cup wall, 2) an open mouth, 3) a bottom wrinkled with concentric circles, 4) a straw guide developed on the wrinkled bottom, 5) an upper snap on cup developed along the perimeter of the open mouth, 6) a lower snap on cup developed along the perimeter of the wrinkled bottom, and 7) a bowl shape lid having a large center hole. The length of the straw guide is longer than the height of the upper cup. The upper end of the straw guide almost reaches to the large center hole of the bowl shape lid. The straw guide is developed on the wrinkled bottom of the cup to allow the straw guide lean aside freely. The center hole on the bowl shape lid is large enough to allow another straw put into the upper cup through the gap between the straw guide and the center hole.

Description

The current application relates to a cup body for use in multi-cups for carrying snacks on drinks or drinks on drinks with one hand securely.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most of combined cups for carrying drinks and snacks with one hand have bulky upper cup for snacks and long and narrow lower cup for drinks. A major drawback of the previous combined cups is that the straw guide is rigid. Therefore, the user must lean the cup to drink the soft drink in the bottom of the lower cup or should be provided with a straw that has wrinkles in the middle thereof to fold the straw. If the user wants to hold another soft drink in the upper cup, he/she cannot finish a soft drink in the lower cup without spill the soft drink in the upper cup because the user has to lean the cup to finish the last drop of the soft drink in the lower cup. It is the primary purpose of the current application to provide a cup body that enables the multi-cup that holds two different soft drinks or snack and soft drink at the same time and finish the soft drink in the lower cup without leaning the cup.

1. Field of the Invention

The current application relates to a cup body that enables multi-cup of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ for carrying different soft drinks or soft drink and snack with one hand.

2. Description of the Prior Art

U.S. Patent Application No. 2001/0032791 to Hudson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,480 to Krueger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,417 to Ferraro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,131 to Krueger et al., U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 397,911 to Waldmann, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,131 to Beijis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,700 to Dumke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,079 to Jeng, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,283 to Patterson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,373 to McKee, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,344 to Woollen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,740,575 to Fontaine, U.S. Pat. No. 2,503,045 to Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 2,287,610 to Guidry, U.S. Pat. No. 2,275,293 to Foley, U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,289 to Weaver and U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,961 to Shepard illustrate various kind of cup on/in cup combinations.

Before the ‘U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,344’ of 1965 most combined cups is cup in cup type. They were not so popular because the volume of lower cup is decreased when the upper cup is inserted into the lower cup. However, most customers want to put more drinks into one cup.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,079 go Jeng illustrates a combined cup an upper cup body and a lower cup body joined together by a connecting body; in the center of the connecting body, there is a formed nozzle sticking upward to be received into the nozzle sleeve formed on the upper cup so as to keep both cup bodies firmly connected. The nozzle conical nozzle and nozzle sleeve are solid. The user must lean the cup to finish the soft drink in the lower cup.

None of the prior art illustrates a multi-cup equipped with a flexible straw guide as shown in the current application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a cup body that can be used for both of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup bodies that are designed for carrying two different soft drinks in one multi-cup or a soft drink and a snack in one multi-cup. The cup body of the current application for such multi-cups is comprised of 1) a staged cup wall, 2) an open mouth, 3) a bottom wrinkled with concentric circles, 4) a straw guide developed on the wrinkled bottom, 5) an upper snap on cup developed along the perimeter of the open mouth, 6) a lower snap on cup developed along the perimeter of the wrinkled bottom, and 7) a bowl shape lid having a large center hole. The length of the straw guide is longer than the height of the upper cup. The upper end of the straw guide almost reaches to the large center hole of the bowl shape lid. The straw guide is developed on the wrinkled bottom of the cup body to allow the straw to guide freely lean aside. The upper snap on cup is formed to receive the bowl shape lid and a lower cup body at the same time when the multi cup is assembled as in a ‘cup-in-cup’ form. The lower-snap on cup is formed to receive a lower cup body when the multi cup is assembled in a ‘cup-on-cup’ from. The center hole on the bowl shape lid is large enough to allow another straw put into the upper cup through the gap between the straw guide and the center hole. It is the primary purpose of the current application to provide a cup body that enables a user finish the soft drink in the lower cup body of multi-cups without leaning the multi cups. The flexible straw guide and secured structure supported by the snap on cups realize the target of the current application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1-a is a cross-sectional view of the cup body of the current application for ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup body.

FIG. 1-b is a bottom view of the cup body of the current application.

FIG. 1-c is a schematic drawing of the first application of the cup body of the current application showing a straw leaned aside to reach the bottom of the lower cup of a ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup.

FIG. 1-d is a schematic drawing of the second application of the cup body of the current application showing a straw leaned aside to reach the bottom of the lower cup of a ‘cup-in-cup’ multi-cup.

FIG. 2-a is a side view of a first lower cup body for the multi-cups introduced in the current application.

FIG. 2-b is an over view of the first lower cup body for the multi-cups introduced in the current application.

FIG. 3-a is a side cross sectional view of a second lower cup body for the multi cups introduced in the current application.

FIG. 3-b is an over view of the second lower cup body of the multi cups cup introduced in the current application.

FIG. 4-a is an over view of the bowl shape lid of the current application having a large center hole.

FIG. 4-b is a side view of the bowl shape lid of the current application having a large center hole.

FIG. 5-a is a perspective view of a combined multi-cup of ‘cup-on-cup’ utilizing the cup body of the current application,

FIG. 5-b is a perspective view of the combined multi-cup of ‘cup-in-cup’ utilizing the cup body of the current application,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1-a is a cross-sectional view of the cup body (1) of the current application for ‘cup-on-cup’ (18) and ‘cup-in-cup’ (18′) multi-cup body. The cup body (1) of the current application is used for both of the ‘cup-on-cup’ (18) and ‘cup-in-cup’ (18′). FIG. 1-b is a bottom view of the cup body (1) of the current application for multi cups (18) and (18′). The bottom (2) of the cup body (1) is wrinkled (3) with concentric circles along the radii thereof. FIG. 1-c and FIG. 1-d shows the application of the cup body (1) to a ‘cup-on-cup’ and ‘cup-in-cup’ respectively. A snap-on-cup, the upper snap-on-cup (6), for receiving a bowl shape lid (7), is developed along the brim of the upper end (8) of the cup body (1). Another snap on cup, the lower snap on cup (4) is developed along the perimeter of the bottom of the cup body (1) for receiving a lower cup body (5) of a ‘cup-on-cup’. For a ‘cup-in cup’, another lower cup body (5′) is engaged to the upper snap-on-cup (6). The outer surface of the upper cup is staged (9) to prevent locking when stacked for storage. A straw guide (10) of conical shape is developed on the wrinkled bottom (2) of the cup body (1). The height (11) of the straw guide (10) is about 1.5 times of the height (12) of the cup body (1). The diameter (13) of the upper end of the straw guide (10) is 10 mm and the other diameter (14) of the lower end of the straw guide is 30 mm. Four vertical ribs (15) are developed upper inside of the straw guide (10) to prevent sticking while stacked to store. The bottom (2) of the cup body (1) is wrinkled (3) along the radii thereof.

FIG. 2-a is a side view of a first lower cup body (5′) for the multi-cups of (18), and (18′) introduced in the current application. FIG. 2-b is an over view of the first lower cup body (5′) of the current application. A rounded lip (19) is developed along the upper end of the lower cup body (5′) to engage the lower cup body (5′) to the lower snap-on-cup (4) of the upper cup body (1). The upper part (20) of the lower cup body (5) is staged twice to prevent sticking while stacked for storage.

FIG. 3-a is a side cross sectional view of a second lower cup body (23) for the multi cups of (18) and (18′) introduced in the current application. FIG. 3-b is an over view of the second lower cup body (23) of the current application.

A rounded lip (24) is developed along the upper end of the lower cup body (23) to engage the lower cup body (23) to the lower snap-on-cup (4) of the cup body (1). The lower part (25) of the second lower cup body (23) is straight.

FIG. 4-a is an overview of the bowl shape lid (7) having a large center hole (27) of the current application. The shape of the large center hole (27) is one of a circle, a triangle, a square, a pentagon, and a hexagon depends on the decorative purpose. A snap-on-lid (28) is developed along the brim of the lid (7) to receive the upper snap-on-cup (6) and secure the connection between the lid (7) and the cup body (1).

FIG. 5-a and FIG. 5-b are perspective views of the combined multi-cup (18) of ‘cup-on-cup’ and another multi-cup (18′) of ‘cup-in-cup’ respectively. These assemblies of the cups can be applied to many other combinations easily without significant modifications.

Claims

1. A cup body for use in both of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup bodies is comprised of 1) a staged cup wall, 2) an open mouth, 3) a bottom wrinkled with concentric circles, 4) a cone shape straw guide developed on the wrinkled bottom for free leaning aside, 5) an upper snap-on-cup developed along the perimeter of the open mouth for receiving a bowl shape lid and lip of a lower cup body when assembled in a ‘cup-in-cup’ multi-cup, 6) a lower snap-on-cup developed along the perimeter of the wrinkled bottom for receiving lip of a lower cup body when assembled in a ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup, and 7) a bowl shape lid having a large center hole.

2. A cup body for use in both of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup bodies of claim 1, wherein the length of the straw guide is longer than the height of the cup body and the upper end of the straw guide almost reaches to the large center hole of the bowl shape lid.

3. A cup body for use in both of ‘cup-in-cup’ and ‘cup-on-cup’ multi-cup bodies of claim 1, wherein the center hole on the bowl shape lid is large enough to allow another straw put into the upper cup through the gap between the straw guide and the center hole.