DISCHARGING CONTENTS FROM A CONTAINER WHILE FILLING THE SAME WITH GAS

Abstract

Disclosed is a bottle for containing liquid content including a body portion, at least part or the entire portion of an upper portion of which is provided with a plurality of guides which protrudes inward from an inside surface thereof and is in a spiral pattern so that the liquid content can be guided towards an opening of a neck portion of the bottle while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/741,869, filed on May 7, 2010, which is a national stage of PCT/KR2008/007261, filed Dec. 9, 2008, which claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 10-2008-0123344, filed Dec. 5, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a bottle for containing liquid contents therein, and more particularly to a bottle which can stably discharge liquid contents through an opening by making the contained liquid contents smoothly flow along a plurality of guides arranged in a spiral pattern.

2. Description of the Related Art

At present, beverages, such as water and colas, liquors, or liquid-type food, are contained in various kinds of containers. Examples of such liquid containers are paper bottles, PET bottles, glass bottles, and metal bottles (aluminum cans).

Of these containers, the PET bottle is the most popular liquid container thanks to its many advantages, such as that it can contain contents for a relatively long time, i.e. contents in the PET bottle barely decay after a long time of storage because gas transmittance of the PET bottle is very low compared with other kinds of containers, it hardly breaks when it is dropped in a state in which it is filled with contents, it does not produce broken pieces even when it is ruptured, and it is convenient to carry and keep the PET bottle because the PET bottle is lighter than a glass bottle.

The known PET bottle having the above advantages is generally composed of a neck portion which has an opening at an end and threads on an outer surface thereof for sealing when the neck portion is combined with a cover, and a body portion extending from the neck portion and containing contents therein. The body portion may be of various sizes and forms according to the type of contents.

There are ways of discharging the contents of the PET bottle. For example, when a user tilts the PET bottle to pour the contents into a vessel, such as a cup, or to directly drink the contents from the PET bottle, the contents are discharged from the PET bottle.

In such a case, there is a possibility that the contents contained in the body portion of the PET bottle are not smoothly discharged but are abruptly discharged at excessive pressure, so that the contents are likely to gush out of the PET bottle and to splatter on a user's clothes or the surrounding area. In particular, when the user directly drinks the contents from the bottle, the user may choke or his or her clothes or body may get splashed.

Further, since the bottles have large volumes even when they are empty, it is difficult to deal with the empty bottles or it is required to install additional equipment in households to reduce the volume of the empty bottles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to accomplish the above and other advantages there is provided, in one exemplary aspect of the invention a bottle for containing liquid contents including a body portion, at least part or the entire portion of an upper portion of which is provided with a plurality of guides which protrudes inwardly from an inside surface of the body portion in a spiral pattern so that the liquid contents can be guided toward an opening of a neck portion of the bottle while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the entire body portion of the bottle is provided with the plurality of guides which protrudes inwardly from the inside surface of the bottle in a spiral pattern. In another exemplary aspect of the invention, a section of each of the plurality of guides has a shape of the letter ‘C’ or a reversed letter ‘C’ when each guide is cut across its width, and a curvature of each guide be uniform over a portion of its length or change in a manner such that a curve of a leading portion is relatively gentle and a curve of a back portion is relatively tight.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the plurality of guide lines have four or eight lines of spiral patterns. In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the bottle can be a paper bottle, a PET bottle, a metal bottle, or a glass bottle. In another exemplary aspect of the invention, each of the plurality of guides takes a form in which a width of a lower portion is larger than that of an upper portion. In another exemplary aspect of the invention, each of the plurality of guides has a uniform width at the upper portion and the lower portion.

As described above, according to another exemplary aspect of the invention, the bottle is provided with a plurality of guides having a spiral pattern winding around the body portion of the bottle so that liquid contents in the bottle can be stably guided toward and discharged through the opening of the bottle while spirally revolving inside the bottle. Since the abrupt gushing of the liquid content is prevented, it is possible to safely pour and drive the liquid contents from the bottle and to prevent splattering of the liquid contents attributable to the abrupt discharge of the liquid contents from occurring.

In the case in which the bottle is used to contain a beverage, such as water, cola, or juice, since the flow of the beverage is moderate, it is possible to prevent accidents such as the user choking. In the case in which the bottle is a PET bottle, it is possible to reduce the volume of the empty bottle by applying external force to the empty bottle after the contents have been emptied so that the bottle is twisted as the plurality of guides is compressed. Accordingly, it is easy to dispose and recover the empty bottles.

It is an advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of the invention that a bottle is provided with a body portion provided with a plurality of guides arranged in a spiral pattern so that liquid contents can be smoothly and stably discharged through an opening of the bottle, while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

It is another advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of the invention to provide a bottle which can prevent liquid contents from gushing out of the bottle so that a user can safely pour or drink the liquid contents, and it is possible to prevent contamination attributable to a violent gushing of the liquid contents from occurring.

It is a further advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of the invention to provide a bottle provided with a body portion which can be easily twisted by external force when all of the contents have been emptied, so that the volume of the bottle is reduced to the maximum.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to one exemplary aspect of the invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to another exemplary aspect of the invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to a further exemplary aspect of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view and a section-enlarged view for explaining a curvature of a guide of the bottle; and

FIG. 7 is a comparative view illustrating a procedure of disposing of the bottle according to various exemplary aspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

As described above, when the user tilts a prior art bottle, the liquid contents are discharged out of the prior art bottle and gas (such as, e.g., ambient air) flows into such a bottle in order to fill a gap created by the discharged liquid contents. When the user slightly tilts the prior art bottle, the liquid contents tend to not block the opening of the bottle and gas flows into the bottle smoothly and stably. In contrary, when the user tilts the prior art bottle more and pours the liquid contents out of the prior art bottle more, the liquid contents tend to block the opening of the bottle and, as a result, the gas cannot easily flow into the bottle. As more liquid contents are discharged, the pressure inside the prior art bottle keeps decreasing. And as the pressure inside the prior art bottle decreases down to an excessive pressure, the gas gushes into the bottle due to the excessive pressure, thereby causing the liquid contents to be unstably and not smoothly discharged out of the bottle and resulting in abrupt gushing of the liquid contents.

Accordingly, various bottles of various exemplary aspects and embodiments of this invention are designed to stably and smoothly discharge liquid contents out of the bottles, thereby preventing such abrupt gushing of the liquid contents out of the bottle.

To this end, various bottles of the present invention are provided with multiple guides on their inside surfaces and allow the liquid contents to be discharged along such guides in order to prevent the liquid contents from blocking the opening. In other words, such guides can facilitate the gas to stably and smoothly flow into the interior of the bottle and to stably and smoothly fill the empty space left behind by the discharged liquid contents. Accordingly, such guides can prevent such abrupt gushing of the liquid contents.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to exemplary aspects of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Hereinafter, exemplary aspects of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings through which like elements are referenced by like numbers. In describing the invention, details on the structure or function of related arts are omitted if they may obscure the subject of the invention.

Terms in the description are defined considering functions of elements of the invention, so that the terms must be construed with reference to the contents of the present specification as a whole because such terms can be differently defined according to the intents of people skilled in their arts or customs.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to one exemplary aspect of the invention, FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views illustrating a section of the bottle taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to another exemplary aspect of the invention, and FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views illustrating a section of the bottle taken along line IV-IV.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the bottle of the exemplary aspects of the invention includes a neck portion 110 and a body portion 120. The neck portion 110 has an opening 111 and a thread 112 to be combined with a cover 113 in a screwed manner. Alternatively, the neck portion may be combined with the cover 113 in manners different from the screwed manner for ensuring sealing of the bottle. For example, the cover 113 can be attached to or detached from the neck portion 110. The body portion 120 extends from the neck portion 110 and contains liquid contents therein.

The bottle 100 having the above-mentioned structure can contain a beverage, such as water or cola, a liquor, a saline solution, or a liquid-type food, and may be made of various materials.

The bottle 100 may be a paper bottle, a PET bottle, a metal bottle, or a glass bottle. According to the aspect of the invention, the bottle 100 may be a polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET) bottle.

As shown in the exemplary aspects of the invention in FIGS. 1 to 3, the body portion 120 takes a form in which a plurality of guides 121 is provided in a spiral pattern and protrude inwardly from the inside surface of the entire or part of an upper portion of the body portion 120 which is on the upper side of the middle of the body portion 120 in a length direction so that the liquid contents proceed toward the opening 111 of the neck portion 110 while spirally revolving inside the bottle 100 and are then discharged out of the bottle 100. With such a structure, the outer surface of the body portion 120 with the plurality of guides 121 is depressed in the form corresponding to the plurality of guides 121.

As the plurality of guides 121 is provided to the upper portion of the body portion 120 in the spiral pattern, the body portion 120 is wavelike in appearance. Further, a sectional view of the body portion 120 shows that each of the plurality of guides 121 has the shape of a letter ‘C’ or a reversed letter ‘C.’ When the section of the body portion 120 is viewed in the direction in which the contents proceed, the curvature of a leading portion is relatively loose but the curvature of the back portion is relatively tight. Alternatively, the body portion may take a form in which the curvature is maintained constant.

When the liquid flows in the above-mentioned manner, the curvature of a portion with which the liquid makes earlier contact must be relatively loose and the curvature of a portion to which the liquid contacts later must be relatively tight. The portion having the relatively tight curvature hinders the flow of the liquid primarily and then the portion having the relatively loose curvature makes the flow of the liquid slower. The border between the portion with the relatively tight curvature and the portion with the relatively loose curvature takes a streamlined shape so that the friction with the liquid is reduced. In the case in which the curvature is constant at every portion, it is also possible to attain the same advantage of controlling the speed of flow of the liquid in the above-mentioned manner.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the plurality of guides 121 take a form composed of four or eight spiral lines, but the form is not limited thereto. That is, the form may be composed of other than eight spiral lines. Further, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 are narrower at a relatively upper area and broader at a relatively lower area.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 gradually decrease toward the upper area and increase toward the lower area, but do not change from a midpoint to the bottom of the body portion in length. Alternatively and in another exemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of the guides 121 may be uniform over their lengths.

The exemplary aspect of FIG. 1 shows the PET bottle 10 having the above-described structure. In FIG. 1, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 in a spiral pattern are uniform over their lengths. FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of the upper part of the body portion of the PET bottle 100, which are taken along II-II of FIG. 1 and viewed from the bottom side. FIG. 2A shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is eight, and FIG. 2B shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

The exemplary aspect of FIG. 3 shows the PET bottle 100 having a form in which the widths of the plurality of guides 121 decrease toward the upper end but are gradually increased toward the middle point of the bottle from which the widths are uniform. FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3 and viewed from the bottom side of the PET bottle 100. FIG. 4A shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is eight and FIG. 4B shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a PET bottle according to another aspect of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the PET bottle 100 according to this aspect of the invention basically is similar in form and function to the PET bottle shown through FIGS. 1 to 4B. Accordingly, repetitive description will be omitted and only the differences therebetween will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, the entire body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100 has a plurality of guides 121 protruding inward from the inside surface of the body and making a spiral pattern. Accordingly, the entire body portion 120 is wavelike in appearance. FIG. 6 is a perspective view and a section-enlarged view illustrating the PET bottle 100 and for explaining the curvature of the guides 121 provided to the PET bottle 100.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention and as shown in FIG. 6, when tilting and pouring the liquid contents, for example cola, in the PET bottle 100, the liquid contents revolve along the plurality of guides 121 inside the PET bottle 100 and therefore the liquid contents are discharged with uniform flow through the opening 111. As shown in FIG. 6, a curvature of a portion (b) of each guide 121 which is on the leading side of a midpoint (c) in the direction of the liquid contents flowing out is tighter than a curvature of a portion (a) which is on the back side of the center (c). That is, the portion (a) has a gentle curve and the portion (b) has a tight curve. As a result, this form prevents the liquid from being abruptly discharged. FIG. 7 is a comparative view for illustrating a procedure of disposing of the PET bottle according to the aspect of the invention.

In order to more efficiently prevent such abrupt gushing, the guides of various aspects of the present invention are preferably provided in a spiral pattern along a longitudinal axis of the bottles. As a result, the liquid contents tend to be pushed onto such guides due to centrifugal force while being discharged out of the bottle. Therefore, such spiral guides can preferentially guide the liquid contents closer to the inside surface while maintaining the opening open or unblocked by the liquid contents, thereby facilitating the creation of air paths for the ambient air during discharge.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, some of the plurality of guides may be arranged to have asymmetrical shapes or cross-sections. In particular, each of such asymmetrical guides may be arranged to form a shallow portion and a deep portion. As a result, the deep portion may guide more liquid contents than the shallow portion. Accordingly, by arranging the asymmetrical guides in such a way that the liquid contents driven by the centrifugal force are preferentially guided by such deep portions of the guides, more liquid contents are discharged closer to the inside surface and away from a center of the longitudinal axis of the bottles while maintaining the opening open or unblocked by the liquid contents, thereby further facilitating the creation of air paths for the ambient air during discharge.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the PET bottle 100 is crushed and distorted by twisting and compressing along the plurality of guides 121 formed in the body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100. When a compressing force is applied to the PET bottle 100, the middle point or a border between the large-curvature portion and the small-curvature portion of each guide 121 having the letter “C” shape or the reversed letter “C” shape is folded over a portion of the length of the spiral pattern, so it is possible to reduce the volume of empty bottles. For this reason, it is possible to make recovering empty bottles easier.

Although the bottle of the invention has been described in terms of various aspects, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, the scope of the invention must be defined by the appended claims and it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method of stably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle which includes a body portion and a neck portion, wherein said body portion defines an enclosed interior space and has an inside surface and wherein said neck portion extends from one end of said body portion and then terminates at an opening through which said liquid contents are discharged when said bottle is tilted, said method comprising the steps of:

extending a plurality of guides along a longitudinal axis of said bottle by protruding inwardly into said body portion from said inside surface;

arranging said guides in a spiral pattern around said axis;

tilting said bottle; and

discharging said liquid contents out of said bottle through said opening while guiding said liquid contents along said guides, thereby allowing gas to stably flow into said interior of said bottle through said opening and away from said guides during said discharging for said stably discharging.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said allowing includes the step of allowing ambient air to flow into said interior of said bottle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said stably discharging includes one of the steps of:

minimizing abrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

preventing abrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

minimizing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

preventing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

facilitating said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior; and

maximizing said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said extending includes one of the steps of:

starting said extending from another end of said body portion wherein said another end is opposite to said one end;

starting said extending from about a middle of said body portion; and

starting said extending from a location of body portion, said location closer to said one end than said another end.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said terminating includes one of the steps of:

ending said extending on said opening;

ending said extending proximate to said opening; and

ending said extending in a preset distance from said opening.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of.

performing said protruding in such a way that cross-sections of at least some of said guides have asymmetrical shapes each having a shallow portion and a deep portion; and

performing said guiding in such a way that more amount of said liquid contents are guided by said deep portion than said shallow portion, thereby enhancing said stably discharging.

7. A method of stably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle which includes a body portion and a neck portion, said body portion defining an inside surface, while said neck portion extending from one end of said body portion and terminating at an opening through which said liquid contents are discharged, said method comprising the steps of:

extending a plurality of guides along a longitudinal axis of said bottle by protruding into said body portion from said inside surface;

arranging said guides in a spiral pattern around said axis; and

discharging said liquid contents out of said bottle through said opening while guiding said liquid contents toward said opening along said guides, thereby allowing gas to stably flow into said bottle through said opening during said discharging for said stably discharging.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said allowing includes the step of allowing ambient air to flow into said interior of said bottle.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes one of the steps of:

minimizing abrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

preventing abrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;

minimizing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle; and

preventing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes one of the steps of:

facilitating said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior; and

maximizing said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said extending includes one of the steps of:

starting said extending from another end of said body portion wherein said another end is opposite to said one end;

starting said extending from about a middle of said body portion; and

starting said extending from a location of body portion, said location closer to said one end than said another end.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said terminating includes one of the steps of:

ending said extending on said opening;

ending said extending proximate to said opening; and

ending said extending in a preset distance from said opening.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes the steps of:

discharging said liquid contents along said guides and closer to said inside surface; and

preventing said opening from being blocked by said liquid contents, thereby creating a gas path for said gas to stably flow into said bottle.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes the steps of:

discharging said liquid contents along said guides in said spiral pattern;

subjecting said liquid contents to a centrifugal force; and

preventing said opening from being blocked by said liquid contents under said centrifugal force, thereby creating a gas path for said gas to stably flow into said bottle.

15. The method of claim 7 further comprising the steps of.

performing said protruding in such a way that cross-sections of at least some of said guides have asymmetrical shapes each having a shallow portion and a deep portion; and

performing said guiding in such a way that more amount of said liquid contents are guided by said deep portion than said shallow portion, thereby enhancing said stably discharging.

16. A method of stably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle and simultaneously allowing gas to flow into said bottle which includes a body portion and a neck portion, said body portion defining an inside surface and said neck portion extending from one end of said body portion to terminate at an opening for said discharging and for said allowing, said method comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of guides by protruding into said body portion from said inside surface;

extending said guides in a spiral pattern around a longitudinal axis of said bottle;

tilting said bottle for said discharging said liquid contents proximate to said guides; and

allowing said gas to flow into said bottle away from said guides during said discharging for said stably discharging.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said gas is ambient air.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said discharging includes the step of:

subjecting said liquid contents to a centrifugal force created by said spiral pattern, thereby pushing said liquid contents closer to said inside surface and minimizing said opening from being blocked by said liquid contents.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said flowing includes the step of:

creating a gas path for said gas extending from said opening to an interior of said bottle and away from said inside surface for said stably discharging.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of.

performing said protruding in such a way that cross-sections of at least some of said guides have asymmetrical shapes each having a shallow portion and a deep portion; and

performing said guiding in such a way that more amount of said liquid contents are guided by said deep portion than said shallow portion, thereby enhancing said stably discharging.