Bottle Stopper

Abstract

A bottle stopper includes a body and a cap. The body is made of a deformable material and has a body portion and a ring portion on two ends thereof, respectively. The cap has a top disk and an annular wall extending downwards from a bottom face of the top disk. The cap further includes an auxiliary annular wall extending downwards from the bottom face of the top disk such that an annular trough is formed between the annular wall and the auxiliary annular wall. The ring portion is inserted into the annular trough.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a bottle stopper and, more particularly, to a bottle stopper with a cap and a body securely coupled together to allow easy manufacturing of the bottle stopper.

2. Description of the Related Art

Referring to FIG. 1, Taiwan Patent Number M349386 discloses an airtight bottle stopper 8 which includes a body 81 and an enclosing member 82. The body 81 is cup-like and consists of an opening portion and a compartment integrally formed with the opening portion. The body 81 and the enclosing member 82 may be made of a plastic material, allowing easy manufacturing of the airtight bottle stopper 8. The body 81 and the enclosing member 82 are usually dyed in the same color such as red, green, black, golden, purple, etc. Here it is assumed that an N number of colors are available for the body 81 and the enclosing member 82. Based on this, inconsistent color between the body 81 and the enclosing member 82 may be avoided when the body 81 and the enclosing member 82 are coupled with an opening of a bottle. In addition, since different kinds of bottles may have different openings with different diameters, an X number of sizes of the body 81 might be required. In total, an N by X number of types of the body 81 are required for manufacturing, raising the need for huge storage space for storing so many types of the body 81. Moreover, the huge number of types of the body 81 may lead to an increase in cost for manufacturers.

Referring to FIG. 9, Japanese Patent Number 2005-15013 discloses a bottle stopper 9 consisting of a body 91 and a head 92. The body 91 is made of a resin and the head 92 is made of a metal plate. The head 92 includes a sleeve portion 93 whose terminal 94 may be deformed by a punching process, allowing the terminal 94 of the sleeve portion 93 to be folded into a labyrinth portion 95 of the body 91. Thus, the body 91 and head 92 are combined together.

For the bottle stopper 9 shown in FIG. 2, it is required to produce merely the X number of sizes of the body 91 in a single color rather than N colors. This reduces manufacturing costs of the bottle stopper 9. Based on the metal head 92, however, extra punching equipments are required in order for the terminal 94 of the sleeve portion 93 to be folded into the body 91. This relatively increases manufacturing costs. Furthermore, it will be very difficult to separate the body 91 from the head 92 during the recycling process of the discarded bottle stopper 9, making recycling the bottle stopper 9 uneconomical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the primary objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper made of a plastic material, in which a cap of the bottle stopper may be dyed into different colors and a body portion of the bottle stopper may be produced in various sizes in a single color to save costs.

It is therefore another objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper in which only a cap of the bottle stopper is exposed outside an opening of a bottle when the opening of the bottle is stopped by the bottle stopper, thus achieving better visual effect.

It is yet another objective of this invention to provide a bottle stopper for easy processing and recycling.

The invention discloses a bottle stopper which includes a body and a cap. The body is made of a deformable material and has a body portion and a ring portion on two ends thereof, respectively. The cap has a top disk and an annular wall extending downwards from a bottom face of the top disk. The cap further includes an auxiliary annular wall extending downwards from the bottom face of the top disk such that an annular trough is formed between the annular wall and the auxiliary annular wall. The ring portion is inserted into the annular trough.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional airtight bottle stopper.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of another conventional bottle stopper.

FIG. 3 shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the bottle stopper according to the first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 shows an exploded diagram of a bottle stopper according to a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 shows a bottle having an opening stopped by the bottle stopper of the third embodiment of the invention.

In the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the term “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, “inner”, “outer” “top”, “bottom” and similar terms are used hereinafter, it should be understood that these terms refer only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings and are utilized only to facilitate describing the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a bottle stopper consisting of a body 1 and a cap 2 coupled with the body 1 is disclosed according to a first embodiment of the invention. The body 1 is made of a deformable material in a specific color. The deformable material is preferably chosen as a rubber, a polypropylene (PP) or a polyethylene (PE). The body 1 includes a body portion 10 capable of radial shrinkage and expansion. The specific color of the body 1 may be any color consistent with the color of the cap 2, such as the original color of the deformable material, a white color or a cork-like color. The body 1 has substantially the same shape as a cross section of an opening of a bottle using the bottle stopper, with the commonest round shape being the case in the embodiment for illustration purposes. The body portion 10 has an outer diameter substantially larger than a diameter of the opening of the bottle, allowing the opening of the bottle to be stopped by the body 1.

In the embodiment, the body portion 10 includes a ring portion 11 which may include a coupling portion 12 in a form of a protruding ring. The coupling portion 12 may be formed on an outer circumferential face of the ring portion 11. The body portion 10 includes a first air room 13 and a second air room 14 separated from the first air room 13 by a separation wall 15. The first air room 13 may sustain the pressure that is applied on the body portion 10. The second air room 14 may accommodate the air inside the bottle that can not be expelled from the bottle. Based on this, the first air room 13 and the second air room 14 may squeeze each other through the separation wall 15. The body portion 10 may further include a plurality of ribs 16 located in the first air room 13, allowing the body portion 10 to have a stronger mechanical intensity on an outer surface of the body portion 10. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the body portion 10 may be in closer contact with an opening of a bottle 3 when the opening of the bottle 3 is stopped by the body portion 10.

The cap 2 includes a top disk 21 and an annular wall 22 extending straight downwards from a periphery of a bottom face of the top disk 21. The annular wall 22 preferably extends in a length capable of covering the ring portion 11 of the body 1. The annular wall 22 includes a plurality of holding portions 23 on an outer circumferential face thereof, which may be in a form of string dents or protruding bars for easy holding of the cap 2 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The cap 2 further includes an auxiliary annular wall 25 extending straight downwards from the bottom face of the top disk 21, with the auxiliary annular wall 25 having a smaller diameter than the annular wall 22. In this way, an annular trough 26 may form between the annular wall 22 and the auxiliary annular wall 25. The annular trough 26 may allow secure coupling between the body 1 and the cap 2. The annular wall 22 may further include a coupling portion 24 on an inner circumferential face thereof for improving the coupling between the body 1 and the cap 2. The coupling portion 24 may be in a form of an annular dent and may be coupled with the coupling portion 12 of the body 1. The annular wall 22 may further include protruding sticks 27 on an inner circumferential face thereof. Similarly, the auxiliary annular wall 25 may also include protruding sticks 27 on an outer circumferential face thereof facing the annular wall 22. The protruding sticks 27 may have great sharpness so that they may destructively extend into the surface of the ring portion 11 to avoid relative rotation between the body 1 and the cap 2.

Referring to FIG. 5, the body 1 and the cap 2 are shown to be securely coupled with each other to form the bottle stopper. In FIG. 5, the ring portion 11 of the body 1 is shown to be securely coupled into the annular trough 26 of the cap 2, with the body 1 and the cap 2 being coupled with each other via the coupling portions 12 and 24. Since the protruding sticks 27 are destructively extended into the surface of the ring portion 11 as described above, best coupling between the body 1 and the cap 2 is therefore achieved. As shown in FIG. 5, only the cap 2 is exposed outside the bottle 3 when the opening of the bottle 3 is stopped by the body portion 10 of the bottle stopper. Thus, the bottle stopper may appear in only a single color of the cap 2 for better visual effect.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, a bottle stopper consisting of a body 4 and a cap 2 is disclosed according to a second embodiment of the invention. The cap 2 has been described above. In the embodiment, the body 4 includes a body portion 40 on one end thereof, and a ring portion 41 and a coupling portion 42 on another end thereof. The ring portion 41 and the coupling portion 42 may be respectively coupled with the annular trough 26 and the coupling portion 24 to attain secure coupling between the body 4 and the cap 2. In the embodiment, the body 4 is a filled-up elastomer so that the opening of the bottle 3 can be better closed by the body portion 40 when stopped by the body portion 40. Also, the bottle stopper may appear in only the color of the cap 2 for better visual effect.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, a bottle stopper consisting of a body 5 and a cap 2 is disclosed according to a third embodiment of the invention. The cap 2 has been described above. In the embodiment, the body 5 is a hollow elastomer. The body 5 includes a body portion 50 on one end thereof, and a ring portion 51 and a coupling portion 52 on another end thereof. Based on this, the ring portion 51 and the coupling portion 52 may be respectively coupled with the annular trough 26 and the coupling portion 24 to attain secure coupling between the body 5 and the cap 2. Furthermore, to improve mechanical intensity of the body portion 50, the body portion 50 may have an inner circumferential wall 53 which comprises a plurality of ribs 54 extending from the inner circumferential wall 53. Based on this, the opening of the bottle 3 can be better closed by the body portion 50 when stopped by the body portion 50. Also, the bottle stopper may appear in only the color of the cap 2 for better visual effect.

The bottle stopper of the invention may be made of a plastic material. Since the body of the bottle stopper may be in a single color, it is merely required to manufacture different-sized bodies. In addition, since the bodies may be used with various caps of different colors, manufacturing costs are therefore reduced.

In the invention, only the cap of the bottle stopper is exposed outside an opening of a bottle when the opening of the bottle is stopped by the bottle stopper. Thus, better visual effect is achieved.

Since the bottle stopper of the invention may be made of a plastic material, easy processing and recycling of the bottle stopper are attained.

Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to its presently preferable embodiment, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A bottle stopper, comprising:

a body made of a deformable material, and having a body portion and a ring portion on two ends thereof, respectively; and

a cap having a top disk and an annular wall extending downwards from a bottom face of the top disk, wherein the cap further includes an auxiliary annular wall extending downwards from the bottom face of the top disk such that an annular trough is formed between the annular wall and the auxiliary annular wall, and the ring portion is inserted into the annular trough.

2. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ring portion includes a coupling portion on an outer circumferential face, the annular wall includes a coupling portion on an inner circumferential face thereof, and the coupling portion of the annular wall is coupled with the coupling portion of the ring portion.

3. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular wall includes protruding sticks on an inner circumferential face thereof, and the auxiliary annular wall includes protruding sticks on an outer circumferential face thereof facing the annular wall.

4. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein body portion of the body is a filled-up elastomer.

5. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein body portion of the body is a hollow elastomer.

6. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 5, wherein the body portion has an inner circumferential wall which comprises a plurality of ribs extending from the inner circumferential wall.

7. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body portion includes a first air room and a second air room separated from, and not linked to, the first air room.

8. The bottle stopper as claimed in claim 7, wherein the body portion further includes a plurality of ribs located in the first air room.