CUP

Abstract

A cup including a main body is provided. The main body has a bottom, an outer side surface and an inner side surface. The outer side surface is smooth and arcuate. The inner side surface has plural protruding portions extending longitudinally and arranged on the inner side surface annularly. The inner side surface has plural concave portions extending longitudinally. Each of the concave portions is formed between two protruding portions. The inner side surface is arranged with at least one reinforcing rib integrally protruding thereon and extending radially. The reinforcing rib divides at least parts of the protruding and concave portions into two material-reduced areas. Whereby, the usage of material of the main body can be reduced, and the reinforcing rib provides excellent structural strength of the main body.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cup.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A cup is used generally for receiving liquid. Regarding to a disposable cup, for weight lighting and cost saving, the disposable cup usually be made of plastic materials such as PET, high-density PE (HDPE), PVC, low-density PE (LDPE) or PP.

Besides, to enhance structural strength, an increase of thickness is usually taken to avoid deformation of the cup due to hand grab or break of the cup due to dropping on the ground, which, however, results in an increase of the used plastic material and production, and is not environment-friendly.

A heat-isolating cup as disclosed in TW M360639 is provided with an inner layer is wave-shaped and an outer annular shell disposed around the outer surface thereof. There exists gap between the inner layer and the outer annular shell so that the heat can whereby be isolated and the structural strength of the cup can also be minorly enhanced. However, the above conventional structure requires plenty of raw materials, and the inner layer and the outer annular shell have to be manufactured individually, thus increasing the production cost and being unable to cater for market requirements.

The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a cup which has better structural strength and is uneasily deformed and broken.

To achieve the above and other objects, a cup includes a main body. The main body includes a bottom, an outer side surface and an inner side surface. The bottom and the inner side surface define a receiving space, and the outer side surface is smooth and arcuate. The inner side surface includes plural protruding portions extending longitudinally, and the protruding portions are arranged on the inner side surface annularly. Every two adjacent protruding portions define a concave portion extending longitudinally therebetween. The inner side surface has at least one reinforcing rib integrally protruding therefrom and extending radially, and the reinforcing rib divides at least parts of the protruding portions and at least parts of the concave portions into two material-reduced areas.

In the invention, every two adjacent protruding portions define one of the concave portion therebetween, which can reduce the usage of material and weight of the cup. Besides, since the inner side surface is configured to have the reinforcing rib(s), the structural strength of the cup can be enhanced. As such, the cup is light and strong in structure, and it is cost-saving in production.

The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing an annular arcuate surface according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view showing a reinforcing rib according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing another annular arcuate surface according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a top cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cup according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10. The main body 10 includes a top edge 20, a bottom 30, an outer side surface 40 and an inner side surface. The outer diameter of the top edge 20 is greater than that of the bottom 30 so that the main body 10 is shaped as a part of a conical shell body. The bottom 30 and the inner side surface define a receiving space for receiving thing(s) such as liquid or particles. The outer side surface 40 is preferably smooth and arcuate so as to facilitate printing or adhesion of a film thereon. The inner side surface includes plural protruding portions 51 extending longitudinally, and the protruding portions 51 are arranged on the inner side surface annularly. Every two adjacent protruding portions 51 define a concave portion 52 extending longitudinally therebetween. Preferably, the amount of the protruding portions 51 is within a range from 45 to 60, and the amount of the concave portions 52 is equal to that of the protruding portions. In this embodiment, each protruding portion 51 is convex, the curvature of each concave portion 52 is equal to that of the outer side surface 40 so that the protruding portions 51 and the concave portions 52 form a visually plausibly non-continuous wave appearance, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In an alternative embodiment, the curvature of each concave portion 52 may be smaller than that of the outer side surface 40 so that each concave portion 52 is shaped as a concave chamfer, and the protruding portions 51 and the concave portions 52 form a visually continuous wave appearance.

Tops of the protruding portions 51 and tops of the concave portions 52 are connected to form an annular top portion 53, and bottoms of the protruding portions 51 and bottoms of the concave portions 52 are connected to form an annular bottom portion 54. The inner side surface is formed with two smooth annular arcuate surface 55, 55′. The smooth annular arcuate surface 55 is disposed between the top edge 20 and the annular top portion 53 (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3), and the smooth annular arcuate surface 55′ is disposed between the bottom 30 and the annular bottom portion 54 (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5).

The thickness of the bottom 30 is greater than distances between the respective vertexes of the protruding portions 51 and the outer side surface 40.

The inner side surface has at least one reinforcing rib 56 integrally protruding therefrom and extending radially. In this embodiment, the inner side surface has a plurality of the reinforcing ribs 56, the reinforcing ribs 56 integrally extend from and are annularly arranged on the inner side surface, as shown in FIG. 2. In an alternative embodiment, the reinforcing ribs 56 may include a plurality of chunk members separately arranged around the inner side surface. Preferably, the reinforcing ribs 56 and the main body 10 are coaxial, as shown in FIG. 6. Additionally, the reinforcing ribs 56 are convex, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

The reinforcing ribs 56 divide at least parts of the protruding portions 51 and at least parts of the concave portions 52 into two material-reduced areas. Practically, the inner side surface of the main body 10 is configured to have more than one reinforcing ribs 56 at suitable locations thereof according to the extent of the main body 10, wherein the amount of the reinforcing ribs 56 follows the condition: the diameter of the annular bottom portion 54 is R, a distance from the annular bottom portion 54 to the annular top portion 53 is defined as H, the integer portion of the ratio of H/R is N, and N represents the amount of the reinforcing ribs 56. N of the reinforcing ribs 56 divide the protruding portions 51 and the concave portions 52 into N+1 of the material-reduced areas 57, 57′, 57″. As shown in FIG. 2, as N is equal to 2, the amount of the reinforcing ribs 56 is 2, the two reinforcing ribs 56 divide the protruding portions and the concave portions into three material-reduced areas 57, 57′, 57″. Preferably, the inner side surface is configured to have one of the reinforcing rib 56 per unit interval distance D from the annular bottom portion 30, and the unit interval distance D follows the following condition: D−1≦H/(N+1)≦D+1.

In the invention, every two adjacent protruding portions 51 define one of the concave portion 52 therebetween, which can reduce the usage of material and weight of the cup.

To enhance the structural strength of the cup which is reduced in material usage and weight, the inner side surface is configured to have the reinforcing rib(s) 56 and the smooth annular arcuate surface 55, 55′.

Additionally, according to various requirements of the arrangement of the protruding portions 51 and concave portions 52 on the inner side surface, the amount of the reinforcing rib(s) 56 can be definitely, precisely and sufficiently defined and chosen. Adequate amount of the reinforcing rib(s) 56 can significantly enhance the structural strength and anti-deformability of the cup. Therefore, the waste of usage of material for making the cup due to the redundancy of the reinforcing rib(s) 56 is prevented, and the insufficient structural strength of the cup due to the inadequacy of the reinforcing rib(s) 56 is prevented.

It is noted that, under either of a condition that the cup has one reinforcing ribs 56 and a condition that the cup has more than one reinforcing ribs 56, the upper and lower sides of each of the material-reduced areas 57, 57′, 57″ are arranged with reinforcing structures as the condition D−1≦H/(N+1)≦D+1 is met. As such, each of the material-reduced areas 57, 57′, 57″ of the cup can still have sufficient structural strength and anti-deformability in an instance that the cup is reduced in material usage and weight. Thus, the cup will not have some weak portion which is easily broken or seriously deformed.

Moreover, the bottom 30 may be provided with a thickness greater than distances between the respective vertexes of the protruding portions 51 and the outer side surface 40. As such, the relatively thick bottom 30 is sufficient to bear an external impact thereon and thus not easily be broken.

Additionally, since the reinforcing rib 56 is convex and the vertex thereof is arcuate, each outer side surface 40 of each main body 10 will not be scratched by the reinforcing rib 56 as numbers of the main bodies 10 are stacked.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cup, including:

a main body, including a bottom, an outer side surface and an inner side surface, the bottom and the inner side surface defining a receiving space, the outer side surface being smooth and arcuate, the inner side surface including plural protruding portions extending longitudinally, the protruding portions being arranged on the inner side surface annularly, and every two adjacent protruding portions defining a concave portion extending longitudinally therebetween;

wherein the inner side surface has at least one reinforcing rib integrally protruding therefrom and extending radially, and the reinforcing rib divides at least parts of the protruding portions and at least parts of the concave portions into two material-reduced areas;

wherein tops of the protruding portions and tops of the concave portions are connected to form an annular top portion, bottoms of the protruding portions and bottoms of the concave portions are connected to form an annular bottom portion, the diameter of the annular bottom portion is R, a distance from the annular bottom portion to the annular top portion is defined as H, the integer portion of the ratio of H/R is N, N represents the amount of the reinforcing rib(s), and N of the reinforcing rib(s) divides the protruding portions and the concave portions into N+1 of the material-reduced areas;

wherein the inner side surface is configured to have one of the reinforcing rib per interval D from the annular bottom portion, and the interval D follows the following condition: D−1≦H/(N+1)≦D+1;

wherein the cup is integrally made of plastic material in one piece, the cup is tapered from a top edge thereof to the bottom, and each reinforcing rib is entirely solid.

2. The cup of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib integrally extends from and is annularly arranged on the inner side surface.

3. The cup of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib includes a plurality of chunk members, and the chunk members are circumferentially and separately arranged on the inner side surface.

4. The cup of claim 2, wherein the reinforcing rib and the main body are coaxial.

5. The cup of claim 3, wherein the reinforcing rib and the main body are coaxial.

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. The cup of claim 1, wherein the curvature of each concave portion is equal to that of the outer side surface.

9. The cup of claim 1, wherein the main body includes a top edge, tops of the protruding portions and tops of the concave portions are connected to form an annular top portion, the inner side surface is formed with at least one annular arcuate surface, and the annular arcuate surface is disposed between the top edge and the annular top portion.

10. The cup of claim 1, wherein bottoms of the protruding portions and bottoms of the concave portions are connected to form an annular bottom portion, the inner side surface is formed with at least one annular arcuate surface, and the annular arcuate surface is disposed between the bottom and the annular bottom portion.

11. The cup of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the bottom of the main body is greater than distances between the respective vertices of the protruding portions and the outer side surface.

12. The cup of claim 1, wherein viewed in a longitudinal cross-section an inner surface of each reinforcing rib is shaped in a single convex inwardly and smoothly connected with the inner side surface of the main body without transition point.

13. The cup of claim 1, wherein the inner side surface is formed with a smooth annular arcuate surface extending upwardly from the bottom of the main body.