Convertible cup holder
The convertible cup holder presents a novel solution to a problem experienced by all beverage drinkers—an entire hand is required to hold a beverage container. The convertible cup holder is a convertible, disposable or reusable insulator, holder and cup-carrier that surrounds a beverage container. In its initial condition, the holder provides thermal insulation against the hot or cold temperature of the beverage. The cup holder can be used to improve the grip on the beverage or to make the beverage more comfortable to hold. If a user requires the use of the hand holding the beverage, the user is able to pull handles disposed within the holder into a deployed position, such that the user can now easily grip the beverage by using only one's finger. With handles deployed, the convertible cup holder allows the average beverage to be suspended and held by a single finger, thereby freeing up the majority of one's hand for other tasks. The beverage could also be suspended by a hook or other nearby object until the user is ready to resume consuming the beverage. The present invention enables a single individual to carry multiple beverages at the same time using only a single hand or finger.
This application claim priority to U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/842,260 filed on Sep. 2, 2006 and 60/777,034 filed on Feb. 27, 2006 each by the same inventor and each bearing the same title.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for holding containers of liquids or other materials, and more particularly to method and apparatus for holding a container of a liquid or other material that is hot, such as a coffee cup, which holder is disposable, inexpensive, easy to store, and safe for all users. In addition, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an apparatus for holding containers of liquids or other materials, such as coffee.
BACKGROUNDAmericans consume an estimated 300 million cups of hot coffee each winter day. When a consumer purchases a beverage at a fast food outlet, deli or coffee house, they are usually handed the beverage in a disposable cup of some type. Holding any type of such beverage requires that the beverage be maintained upright or it will spill. Thus, the consumer must use his or her entire hand to support the beverage and maintain it in an upright position. Unfortunately, this monopolizes the use of an entire hand, thereby making it difficult to carry the beverage and other things. Many consumers often purchase coffee on their way to work, school or when traveling. In these situations the consumer is typically carrying other things.
If the consumer has something else to carry beyond what they can carry in their other hand, they often struggle to find a means to keep from spilling the beverage. Furthermore, if the consumer wishes to purchase more than two or three of the beverages at a time it is nearly impossible to carry them all at one time without some type of separate carrying device or tray. These trays are currently available in different forms and styles, but also require the use of at least one entire hand to keep the tray level. Furthermore, this requires the provider of these beverages to purchase, ship and store inventory of trays just for these purposes.
Additionally, if the beverage is hot, the user's fingers will often become uncomfortable holding the beverage unless there is some type of insulation available around the beverage or the beverage has some type of handles to separate the cup wall from the user's fingers. Currently, there are several different types of cup-holder insulators or cups with handles to attempt to solve the insulation problem; however, each of these fails from the problems set forth above.
Still further, sometimes the user has a beverage and cannot find a flat or stable surface upon which to set his or her cup. Many automobile manufacturers have developed self-stabilizing cup holders to support cups during travel, while many commercial seats (e.g., movie theaters) and commercial strollers, wheel chairs, etc., have developed cup holders of different types to provide a place for the consumer to place their drinks. Of course, these are not helpful if you are not located in them.
Finally, in certain social settings such as cocktail parties, guests may be faced with the difficult problem of trying to balance their hors d'oeuvres plate and a drink while still having a free hand to eat, socialize and shake hands with others.
The following references disclose various methods and apparatuses for holding coffee or other hot liquids.
While each of these may suffice for holding beverages, none of the above cited references solves the above mentioned problems related to carrying hot beverages.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a method and apparatus for enabling one to hold a cup of a liquid or other material without requiring use of the entire hand while doing so without increasing the cost of such cups.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention solves these and other problems by providing a cup holder that serves both as an insulating layer between the outer wall of the cup and the user's fingers, which cup holder can be easily carried with ones' finger.
According to one aspect of the present invention, if the consumer needs to gain substantial use of one hand—to carry other objects (e.g., newspapers, bags, phones, etc.) or to carry multiple cups or to place the object in an area devoid of a stable, flat surface, a cup holder of the present invention is simply and easily converted into a balanced beverage holder by deploying string (or other material) handles located within the insulating layer of the device.
In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, two simple pulls of string handles deploys the handles and allows the user to drape the string handles over a single finger, hook or edge to maintain a beverage or beverage holder upright while using the other fingers or hand as desired, for example, to grasp other objects. In this fashion, multiple beverages can be safely carried simultaneously by grasping all of the handles in one hand. This can be accomplished without much effort to maintain the cups upright and balanced.
The present invention comprises a novel, inventive technique for providing a consumer of hot beverages with a layer of protection from the hot surface of the cup while providing a rapidly available, simple means of carrying the beverage with a single finger. More importantly, the cup holder can be inexpensively produced and easily utilized, thereby increasing its ability to be placed into commerce.
It is worthy to note that any reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Turning to
As shown in
In
Note the location of the handle tabs 11, 12 in embodiment 10. The flattened cup holder 10 (
In
If the need for improved carrying ability develops, the user then converts the cup holder 10 into the configuration shown in
As the user continues to pull upward, the handles break through and separate from the cup holder 10 at perforation regions (see
In the embodiments of
Once the handles 111, 112, are deployed, the consumer can now easily carry the beverage via the handles 111, 112, as shown in
The string handles 223, 225 are fixed to the cup holder 210 at point 222 and 219 and secured with reinforcement 211 and 218, respectively, with tape or other securing means, for example. The string 223 is coiled between the flap 219 and the main section of the holder. Perforations 212, 214, 215, 217 enable the string to be pulled out of the space between the flap and main section.
Referring to
Referring to
In
The cup holder is removed from the packaging in its flattened configuration, as shown in
While the above description contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Many other variations are possible. For example, the material used in the handles may be of any reasonable material, such as metal, plastic, paper or fiber.
Yet another embodiment could involve the direct incorporation of the deployable handles into the design of a beverage container itself, without the need for a separate, detachable sleeve. In this embodiment, the container would consist of an inner and outer surface layer with the handles stored in-between the layers until deployed by the user.
As mentioned above, the system could have any number of handles depending on the size of the beverage container it will be used with.
Further possibilities are the novel integration of the sleeve and handle concept into a system that could be used with cocktail glasses/containers, such that the consumers at a cocktail party could hold their beverage suspended by the handles and a plate in the same hand, leaving a free hand to eat the food and socialize with other guests.
The sleeve is then folded once 176 and glued in two steps as shown. One flap is first created and then the second flap 177 is folded onto the first flap and fixed with some connection method. This sleeve is then ready for use. When the user is ready, the user peels one set of handles in one direction and the other set of handles in the opposite direction along the perforations. This allows for the deployment of the two handles to carry the beverage container.
Fold line 185 allows the edge of the sleeve to be folded over as shown in
Yet another embodiment could involve the direct incorporation of the deployable handles into the design of a beverage container itself, without the need for a separate, detachable sleeve. In this embodiment, the container would consist of an inner and outer surface layer with the handles stored in-between the layers until deployed by the user.
As mentioned above, the system could have any number of handles depending on the size of the beverage container it will be used with.
Further possibilities are the novel integration of the sleeve and handle concept into a system that could be used with cocktail glasses/containers, such that the consumers at a cocktail party could hold their beverage suspended by the handles and a plate in the same hand, leaving a free hand to eat the food and socialize with other guests.
The above embodiments represent additional embodiments of the fundamental principles demonstrated in this provisional patent.
CONCLUSIONThe convertible cup holder is a novel invention designed to improve the comfort and convenience of beverage consumption for consumers. By incorporating the deployable handles into the sleeve concept, the users of this invention can benefit from a new freedom of hands. With Americans consuming over 300 million cups of hot coffee on average per day, this invention clearly has significant industrial applications.
Although various embodiments are specifically illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the invention are covered by the above teachings and are within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention. For example, while one and two handle embodiments are shown, other numbers of handles are possible. Moreover, while the embodiments herein are depicted as sleeves, cups with the handles formed directly on them would be possible as well. Furthermore, these examples should not be interpreted to limit the modifications and variations of the invention covered by the claims but are merely illustrative of possible variations.
Claims
1. An apparatus for holding a container comprising:
- a sleeve to slide around the container; and
- one or more deployable handles disposed on the sleeve, each handle being extendable above the container.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said one or more deployable handles comprises a string that is coiled inside the sleeve and when pulled on unfurls to a predetermined length.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said one or more deployable handles comprises a section of the sleeve that when pulled on separates from the sleeve to form the handle that opens to a predetermined length extendable above a top of the container.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said sleeve comprises an outside layer and an inside layer.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of said one or more deployable handles comprises a perforated section of the outside layer of the sleeve having a series of perforations cut into the outside layer in a shape of a handle and a tab formed in the outside layer.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when pulled on, the tab separates the perforated section from the sleeve to form the handle, which is extendable over the top of the container.
7. An apparatus for holding a container comprising:
- a sleeve to slide around the container; and
- a single deployable handle being extendable above the container.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7, single deployable handle comprises a string that is coiled inside the sleeve and when pulled on unfurls to a predetermined length.
9. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said single deployable handle comprises a section of the sleeve that when pulled on pulls away from the sleeve to form the single deployable handle that opens to a predetermined length extendable above a top of the container.
10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said sleeve comprises an outside layer and an inside layer.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said single deployable handle comprises a perforated section of the outside layer of the sleeve having a series of perforations cut into the outside layer in a shape of a handle and a tab formed in the outside layer.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when pulled on, the tab separates the perforated section from the sleeve to form the single deployable handle, which is extendable over the top of the container.
13. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the sleeve is comprised of an insulating material.
14. An apparatus for holding a container comprising:
- a circumferential wrap to encompass the container, said wrap including at least one layer of an insulating material; and
- one or more handles formed in the circumferential wrap by a series of perforations cut in the wrap in a shape of the handle, each of said one or more handles extendable above the container.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the one or more handles deploy by detaching from the circumferential wrap along the perforations.
16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the circumferential wrap comprises a plurality of layers and an adhesive, which holds the plurality of layers and each of the one or more handles is formed on an outside layer of the circumferential wrap.
17. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the circumferential wrap comprises a paper stock.
18. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the circumferential wrap comprises a plastic polymer.
19. A method for manufacturing a cup holder comprising:
- forming a first template from a blank material, said first template having a first tab disposed in a predetermined position and a series of predetermined cuts in an outer layer of the blank material in a shape of a handle to form an extendable handle;
- forming a second template from the blank material, said second template having a second tab disposed in a predetermined position and a series of predetermined cuts in an outer layer of the blank material in a shape of a handle to form an extendable handle;
- reversing an orientation of the second template relative to the first template;
- affixing the first template to the second template to form a combined template;
- folding a predetermined portion of the combined template to form a deployable handle and gluing the folded portion; and
- folding a second predetermined portion of the combined template to form a second deployable handle and gluing the second folded portion.
20. A method for manufacturing a cup holder comprising:
- forming a template from a blank material, said template having a first tab disposed in a predetermined position and a series of predetermined cuts in an outer layer of the blank material in a shape of an S to form an extendable handle;
- folding a predetermined portion of the combined template to form a first part of a deployable handle and gluing the folded portion; and
- folding a second predetermined portion of the combined template to form a second part of a deployable handle and gluing the second folded portion.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 19, 2007
Publication Date: May 21, 2009
Inventor: Allison M. Whittaker (Potomac, MD)
Application Number: 11/986,229
International Classification: B65D 25/28 (20060101);