Drinking Straw Holder

Abstract

A drinking straw holder cut and formed from flat sheet material comprising a means for securely grasping a straw and a means for securely positioning the straw with respect to a beverage container.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention is a straw holder for securely positioning and retaining a drinking straw in a beverage container.

2. Description of Prior Art

The prior art teaches two general types of straw holders: those that are formed from flat sheet material and those that are molded to a more complex three dimensional shape.

Straw holders cut from flat sheet material, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,671,863, 5,671,863, 5,046,628 and 5,823,493, all suffer from the same deficiency, namely that the straw is restrained at only a single point thus allowing the straw to rotate or swing with respect to said restraining point, thereby failing to fulfill the primary functional requirement of any straw holder.

Straw holders formed as complex molded articles, for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,070,495, may function adequately but are significantly more expensive to manufacture than straw holders cut from sheet material.

Furthermore, some molded straw holder designs such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,495 fail to adequately restrain a straw.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Note: The section headings below are provided for convenience only and do not limit the content or meaning of said sections.

The invention is a drinking straw holder comprising a thin flat strip of flexible resilient material shaped to provide when manipulated into its functional form (herein called the straw holder), a means for securely grasping a conventional tubular drinking straw (herein called a straw) and a means for securely holding the straw in a fixed position with respect to a beverage container such as a glass or cup (herein called a container).

OBJECTIVES AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive straw holder.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that securely grasps a straw with respect to every axis of movement to restrict all unwanted motion of said straw.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a straw holder with no moving parts.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that can be manufactured by a simple operation such as punching or die-cutting.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that may be supplied as a flat, unassembled device for efficient shipping and storage.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that may alternatively be supplied as a fully assembled device for efficient deployment by end-users.

It is another objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that can be embodied for use with any type of container.

It is another objective of the invention to provide a straw holder that can be embodied to suit straws of various diameters.

It is a further objective to provide a straw holder that can be easily operated by users who have impaired dexterity or vision.

As is shown by the prior art, and as is shown by current commercial practice, no known straw holder satisfactorily fulfills these objectives while the present invention does fulfill all these objectives to obvious advantage.

Note: The major functional elements and various embodiments of the invention are described in some detail below to facilitate a complete understanding of the objectives and advantages of the invention. The invention is described in the context of the preferred embodiment, but it should be understood that the functionality of the invention is identical in all other embodiments.

The Straw Holder

The straw holder is formed from a thin strip of resilient flexible material. The straw holder is shaped to provide a means for securely grasping a straw such as to prevent all undesired movement of said straw, and to provide a means for securely attaching the assembly comprising the straw holder and straw to a container.

Assembly of the Straw Holder

The straw holder is manipulated from its initial flat form into its functional form by pushing one end of the straw holder strip through a slot in the other end of itself thus forming a loop part and a projecting clip part. The projection of the clip is limited to a predetermined length by a clip insertion limiter device.

Use of the Straw Holder

A straw is assembled to the straw holder by inserting said straw into the provided straw-holes such that a portion of the straw is positioned to lie across the projecting clip part. The assembly comprising the straw holder and straw is clipped to a container by positioning said assembly such that the straw falls inside the container & such that the clip falls outside the container. The end of the clip may be formed with a portion bent away from the straw to facilitate slipping the clip over the rim of the container.

General

The straw holder may be manufactured from a suitable flexible resilient material such as plastic sheet by conventional punching or die-cutting techniques, or be otherwise formed or molded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts and in which different embodiments of the same parts are indicated by the same reference numeral with an alphabetic suffix.

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the straw holder 1 in its functional form that illustrates a straw 2 that has been inserted into the straw holder 1, and the resulting assembly of the straw holder 1 and straw 2 that has been clipped into place on the rim of a container 3.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of the straw holder 1 in its flat form illustrating straw-holes 11a & 12a with straw-hole apertures 111 & 121 and a slot 13 with a slot aperture 131.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another embodiment of the straw holder 1 in its flat form illustrating straw-holes 11a & 12a with straw-hole apertures 111 & 121 and a closed slot 13.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of another embodiment of the straw holder 1 in its flat form illustrating closed straw-holes 11 & 12 and a slot 13 with a slot aperture 131.

FIG. 5 is close-up plan view of clip insertion limiter 18 of the straw holder 1 of FIGS. 2, 3 & 4.

In the drawings, preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. Other further advantages and features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description thereof and the accompanying drawings.

It is expressly understood that the description and drawings are illustrative of certain embodiments of the invention, but the invention itself is defined by the accompanying claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Note: the straw 2 and container 3 shown in FIG. 1 are for functional reference only, and are not part of the invention.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 & 4, the straw holder 1 in its flat form comprises a strip of thin sheet material with a slot 13 near one end, straw-holes 11 & 12 separated by an inter-hole strip 14, a middle strip 15, a clip insertion limiter device 18, and a clip 16 that is terminated by a clip tip 17.

The straw holder 1 is manipulated into its functional form by inserting the clip tip 17 into the slot 13 and pushing the clip 16 through the slot 13 until the clip insertion limiter 18 reaches the slot 13. The resulting functional form of the straw holder 1 is illustrated in FIG.1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the clip insertion limiter device 18 comprises a central part 181 that has the same or less width as the slot 13, a wider part 182 positioned away from the clip tip 17 with respect to part 181, that is sufficiently wider than the slot 13 to preclude being pushed through the slot 13, and a part 183 positioned towards the clip tip 17 with respect to part 181, that is slightly wider than part 181 such that part 183 may be pushed through the slot 13 by means of sufficient force to elastically deform said part 183 and the slot 13, thereby providing a snap-fit locking mechanism that maintains the straw holder 1 in its functional form.

In the preferred embodiment of the straw holder 1, the insertion of the clip tip 17 into the slot 13 is facilitated by providing a slot aperture 131 through which the clip tip 17 may be easily inserted by pressing a narrow part of the clip tip 17 against the open part of the slot 13 through the slot aperture 131 and subsequently pushing the clip 16 through the slot 13.

In the preferred embodiment of the straw holder 1, the straw holder 1 is induced to bend in a fair (smooth) curve during manipulation from its flat form to its functional form by providing suitably widened parts of the straw holder 1, for example at part 1 22 near straw hole 12.

To use the straw holder 1, a straw 2 is assembled to the straw holder 1 by inserting said straw 2 into the straw-holes 11 & 12 such that a portion of the straw 2 is positioned to lie across the clip 16. The assembly comprising the straw holder 1 and straw 2 is clipped to a container 3 by positioning said assembly such that the straw 2 falls inside the container 3 & such that the clip 16 falls outside the container 3.

The distance between the straw-hole 11 and the slot 13 is such that the distance between a straw 2 in the straw holder 1 and the clip 16 near the clip insertion limiter 18 is slightly greater than the width of the rim of the container 3.

The lengths of the inter-hole strip 14 and middle strip 15 are similar, and will vary according to the stiffness of the strip material used to form the straw holder 1, but will always be such that when a straw 2 is inserted into the straw-holes 11 & 12, the straw 2 will lie across a part of the clip 16 & will either be in contact with the clip 16, or exert some pressure on the clip 16 or be near the clip 16.

As shown in FIGS. 2 & 3, in some embodiments the straw-holes 11 & 12 may be positioned away from the longer axis of the straw holder 1 but the positions of the straw-holes 11 & 12 will always be such that when a straw 2 is inserted into the straw-holes 11 & 12, the straw 2 will lie across a part of the clip 16 & will either be in contact with the clip 16, or exert some pressure on the clip 16 or be near the clip 16.

In the preferred embodiment the straw holder as illustrated in FIG. 1, a straw 2 may be inserted into the straw holder 1 of FIGS. 2 or 3 by pressing the straw 2 against the straw-hole apertures 111 & 121 of straw-holes 11a & 12a.

In another embodiment, a straw 2 may be inserted into the straw holder 1 of FIG. 4 by inserting the straw 2 directly into the straw-holes 11 & 12.

In another embodiment of the straw holder 1, the straw-holes 11 & 12 may be elongated or otherwise be formed with narrower and wider parts to facilitate grasping straws 2 of various diameters. One specific embodiment provides elliptical straw-holes 11 & 12 such that the major axis of the ellipse is perpendicular to the longer axis of the straw holder 1. In said embodiment, a straw 2 of diameter greater than the minor axis of said straw holes 11 & 12 is elastically deformed to fit within the minor axis of the straw holes 11 & 12 while the deformed portion of the straw 2 is accommodated within the major axis of the straw holes 11 & 12.

The length of the clip 16 is such that when the straw holder 1 is clipped to a container 3, there is sufficient pressure between the straw 2 and the clip 16 to securely hold the straw 2 in a selectable position with respect to the container 3.

In another embodiment of the straw holder 1, the clip 16 may be stiffened by forming a grooved or raised area in said clip 16.

In another embodiment of the straw holder 1, to facilitate slipping the clip 16 over the rim of a container 3 when mounting the assembly of a straw holder 1 and straw 2 to a container 3, the end of the clip 16 near the clip tip 17 may be induced to bend or be bent by providing one or more of: reduced width of a part of the clip 16, or reduced thickness of a part of the clip 16, or a hole formed in the clip 16, or one or more slits cut into the clip 16, or a groove or raised area formed in the clip 16, or by mechanically or thermally deforming the clip 16.

The straw holder 1 may be manufactured from a suitable resilient flexible material such as thin plastic sheet by conventional punching or die-cutting techniques, or by other forming or molding techniques.

Modifications, variations and alterations to the straw holder 1 according to the present invention are contemplated and fall within the scope of the invention as claimed in the accompanying claims.

Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A drinking straw holder device comprising:

a thin strip of flexible material;

wherein one end of said strip is provided with a slot device such that the other end of the strip may be inserted into said slot and pushed through the slot to a predetermined position; and

wherein the strip is provided with at least two straw-holes sized to permit a straw to be inserted through said straw-holes; and

wherein said straw-holes are aligned such that a straw inserted through the straw-holes is aligned to lie over a portion of the strip that has been pushed through the slot.

2. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein a straw inserted through the straw-holes is one of: in contact with the portion of the strip that has been pushed through the slot, or exerts pressure on the portion of the strip that has been pushed through the slot, or is positioned near the portion of the strip that has been pushed through the slot.

3. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein one or more of the straw-holes are partially open to an edge of the strip to permit a straw to be inserted into the straw-holes from said edge.

4. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein one or more of the straw-holes in the strip are elongated or otherwise shaped with wider or narrower parts to facilitate securely grasping straws of various diameters.

5. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein the slot is partially open to an edge of the strip to facilitate insertion of another part of the strip into the slot.

6. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein a part of the strip is widened with respect to the slot such as to limit the length of the other end of the strip that can be pushed through the slot.

7. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein a part of the strip is slightly widened with respect to the slot such as to allow said slightly widened portion to pass through the slot by means of the elastic deformation of the strip and slot by a force greater than that required to push the rest of the strip through the slot, and thus resist the withdrawal of the strip from the slot.

8. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein the strip is induced to bend in a fair curve by means of locally varying the width or thickness of the strip.

9. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein a portion of the strip is stiffened by means of a grooved or raised area formed into the strip.

10. A straw holder of claim 1 wherein the strip is induced to bend or is bent near the end of the strip away from the slot by providing one or more of: reduced width of the strip, or reduced thickness of the strip, or a hole formed in the strip, or one or more slits cut into the strip, or a groove or raised area formed into the strip, or mechanical or thermal deformation of the strip.