LEAK PROOF BOTTLE LID

Abstract

A bottle with a lid mechanism to open and close both straw and air holes simultaneously. The preferred bottle features an external straw coupling which connects to both a mating internal straw coupling and an air hole coupling. Both the internal straw and air hole couplings preferably have spring-biased valves which simultaneously open to allow flow when the external straw coupling is connected to the bottle lid and simultaneously close to block flow when the external straw coupling is disconnected from the bottle lid. In this way, the bottle and bottle lid become leak proof when the external straw coupling is disconnected.

Description

This non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/136,388 filed Mar. 20, 2015 and entitled “Spring Loaded Air Vent For Leak Proof Bottle Lid With Removable Straw”, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to spill resistant water bottles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Water bottles with a straw are well known. Such water bottles usually require air holes built into their lids to work properly. Air holes are advantageous in lid design because they make it easier to draw fluid out of a bottle (by equalizing air pressure). The drawback to including air holes is that vented water bottles can get knocked over and create a mess when they spill through the air hole, straw or both. This can particularly be a problem if the user of the water bottle is a quadriplegic who cannot easily clean up the mess created by a spilled water bottle. Bussell's U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,583 discloses one attempt to create a water bottle for a quadriplegic. Bussell's water bottle features a segmented tube which bends the straw into a comfortable position for the quadriplegic. Nonetheless, the Bussell water bottle does not have a way of preventing water from spilling out if the water bottle gets knocked over.

Other patents and published patent applications disclose various mechanisms to prevent water bottles from spilling if they are knocked over. These patents and publications include Yoneoka's U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,065 (a pivoting cap is used to open straw and air holes), Noell's U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,231 (spring loaded shut off valve for straw hole), Chasteen's U.S. Published Application No. 2003/0213803 (hinged straw valve), Levy's U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,582 (hinged straw valve) and Panec's U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,311 (hinged straw valve). Nonetheless, none of these other patents and published patent applications provide a simple, easy-to-use mechanism for opening and closing both straw and air holes simultaneously.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a bottle with a mechanism to open and close both straw and air holes simultaneously. The preferred water bottle features an external straw coupling which connects to both a mating internal straw coupling and an air hole coupling. Both the internal straw and air hole couplings preferably have spring loaded valves which simultaneously open to allow flow when the external straw coupling is connected and simultaneously close to block flow when the external straw coupling is disconnected. In this way, the bottle and bottle lid become leak proof when the external straw coupling is disconnected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the preferred bottle of the present invention with its leak-proof lid.

FIG. 2 shows a exploded view of the lid and connector components of the bottle of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the external straw coupling prior to its attachment to the internal straw and air hole couplings.

FIG. 4 shows a side, cut-away view of the bottle lid before the external straw coupling is attached to the internal straw and air hole couplings.

FIG. 5 is a side, cut-away view of the bottle lid after the external straw coupling is attached to the internal straw and air hole couplings.

FIG. 6A shows a close-up, cut-away view of the air hole coupling when the external straw coupling is attached.

FIG. 6B shows a close-up, cut-away view of the air hole coupling when the external straw coupling is detached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a preferred form of bottle 10 of the present invention is shown. The bottle 10 includes a container 12 to hold water or other fluid, a lid 30, an external straw coupling 20, a segmented tube 14 and an external straw 16. The external straw coupling 20 preferably has an internal orifice through which the external straw 16 is inserted and an outer surface to which the segmented tube 14 is connected. When the bottle 10 is fully assembled, as shown in FIG. 1, the user can suck from the external straw 16 to draw water or other fluid from the container 12.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the components which create a leak proof lid for the bottle 10 of the present invention are shown in exploded form. In its preferred form, the external straw coupling 20 preferably includes a non-valved coupler , such as the ¼″ Flow by ¼″ MNPT PPL Nonvalved Coupler (“MNPT Nonvalved Coupler”) manufactured by Parker Hannifin Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota and available from U.S. Plastic Corporation of Lima, Ohio. This non-valved coupler is manufactured from thermoplastic and steel. It accepts the proximal end of external straw 16 to allow fluids to flow to the user in a sanitary manner. The MNPT Nonvalved Coupler has a cap base 23 which attaches to cap 24. Cap 24 functions to open an air valve 31 when the external straw coupling 20 is attached to the lid 30.

FIG. 2 also shows the components of the internal straw coupling 22 and air hole coupling 31. A preferred component of the internal straw coupling 22 is a valve coupler, such as the ¼″ Flow X ¼″ Panel Mount Hose Barb PPL Valved Nipple (“PMHB Valved Coupler”) manufactured by Parker Hannifin Corporation of Minneapolis, Minn. and available from U.S. Plastic Corporation of Lima, Ohio. This PMHB Valved Coupler is manufactured primarily from thermoplastic. In operation, the lower end of this PMHB Valved Coupler is inserted through the center lid hole 35 and then secured to the lid 30 by a nut 39 and washer 38 (i.e., when the nut 39 is screwed down onto the threads 21 of the PMHB Valved Coupler). The MNPT Nonvalved Coupler and PMHB Valved Coupler are preferred for the present invention because they are designed to fit together to create a leak-proof connection and, when they are properly connected, an audible snap can be heard. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottom of the internal straw coupling 22 attaches to the top of an internal straw 47, which is used to draw fluids from the bottom of the bottle.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the PMHB Valved Coupler features a nipple 25 on top. When the PMHB Valved Coupler is uncoupled from the external straw coupling 20, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the nipple 25 is biased upward by a spring (not shown) to close the valve and thereby prevent the flow of fluid through the internal straw coupling 22. By contrast, when external straw coupling 20 is snapped onto the internal straw coupling 22, as shown in FIG. 5, the nipple 25 is pressed downward by the external straw coupling 20 to open the valve and, thereby, allow flow of fluid through the internal straw coupling 22.

In addition to having a valve for the internal straw coupling 22, the present invention preferably also provides an air hole valve 31 (see, FIG. 2). An air hole 40 is included in the lid 30 of the present invention to address the basic physics problem that air has to rush into an enclosed container when one sucks on a straw to keep air pressure at equilibrium. Without an air hole 40, it becomes progressively more difficult to suck fluid out of a closed container. This can particularly be a problem for quadriplegics, who often experience reduced lung function.

As show in FIGS. 2 through 6B, the air hole valve 31 in the present invention preferably includes stop cone 32, plunger 34 and spring 36. The stop cone 32 (preferably made of silicone rubber) attaches to the plunger 34 by sliding over and locking onto a raised notch near the middle of the plunger 34. The spring 36 rests below the plunger 34 and provides upward force. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6B, when the external straw coupling 20 is disconnected from the lid 30, the spring 36 presses the plunger 34 and stop cone 32 upward so that the stop cone 32 blocks the upper entrance 42 of the air hole. In this closed position, the stop cone 32 prevents either air or fluid from passing through the air hole 40.

To allow the air hole valve 31 to open, the plunger 34 includes a plunger tip 37 which protrudes out of the upper entrance 42 of air hole 40 as shown in FIG. 3. When the external straw coupling 20 is connected to the lid 30, the plunger tip 37 is pressed downward as shown in FIG. 6A to lower the stop cone 32 and thereby open the air hole 40 for the flow of air or fluid. In the preferred embodiment, the cap 24 of the MNPT Nonvalved Coupler is used to press down on the plunger tip 37 and thereby open the air hole 40.

In one preferred embodiment, the air hole upper entrance 42 is 0.1″ in diameter, the tip 37 of the plunger is preferably formed in a hexagonal shape and the body 48 of the plunger is preferably formed in an octagonal shape (see, FIGS. 6A-6B). The hexagonal shape of the plunger's tip 37 and octagonal shape of the plunger's body 48 allows air to flow around the flat sides of these polygons while, at the same time, preventing the plunger 34 from wobbling inside the air hole 40, 42. A circular shape for the plunger tip 37 or body 48 is less preferred because less air would flow through when the air valve 31 is opened. As those of skill in the art will recognize, other polygonal shapes could be advantageously used for the plunger tip 37 and body 48.

An advantageous feature of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is that the straw hole and air hole are opened and closed simultaneously. Specifically, when the MNPT Nonvalved Coupler is snapped onto the PMHB Valved Coupler, the nipple 25 of the PMHB Valved Coupler is pressed downward to open fluid flow through the PMHB Valved Coupler at the same time the plunger tip 37 is pressed downward to open air flow through the air hole 40. Conversely, when the MNPT Nonvalved Coupler is disconnected from the PMHB Valved Coupler, the biasing spring in the PMHB Valved Coupler presses the nipple 25 upward to close fluid flow through the PMHB Valved Coupler at the same time the air hole spring 36 presses the stop cone 32 upward to close the top entrance 42 of the air hole. At the moment the MNPT Nonvalved Coupler is disconnected from the PMHB Valved Coupler, the bottle lid 30 becomes leak proof.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific preferred embodiments and methods. It will, however, be evident to those of skill in the art that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. For these reasons, the specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than restrictive sense; the invention being limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A leak-proof bottle assembly comprising:

a bottle;

a bottle lid with a straw hole and an air hole;

an external straw coupling;

an internal straw coupling inserted into said bottle lid; and, an air hole coupling inserted into said bottle lid;

wherein air and fluid can pass through said lid when said external straw coupling is connected to said internal straw and air hole couplings but air and fluid are blocked from passing through said lid when said external straw coupling is disconnected from said internal straw and air hole couplings.

2. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 1 wherein said internal straw and air hole couplings both have valves.

3. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 2 wherein said internal straw and air hole coupling valves are spring biased.

4. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 2 wherein said internal straw and air hole coupling valves both open simultaneously when said external straw coupling is connected to them and close simultaneously when said external straw coupling is detached from them.

5. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 1 wherein said external straw coupling is attached to a straw and a segmented tube.

6. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 1 wherein said air hole coupling includes a plunger, stop cone and spring.

7. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 6 wherein said stop cone is placed on top of said plunger and said spring rests below said plunger.

8. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 7 wherein portions of said plunger adjacent to said stop cone are polygonal in shape.

9. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 1 wherein said external straw coupling includes an MNPT nonvalved coupler.

10. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 9 wherein a cap is attached to said MNPT nonvalved coupler to open said air hole.

11. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 1 wherein said internal straw coupling includes a PMHB valved coupler.

12. A leak-proof bottle assembly comprising:

a bottle;

a bottle lid with a straw hole and an air hole;

an external straw coupling;

an internal straw coupling with a spring-biased valve inserted into said bottle lid; and, an air hole coupling with a spring-biased valve inserted into said bottle lid;

wherein said internal straw and air hole coupling valves open when said external straw coupling is connected to them and close when said external straw coupling is disconnected from them.

13. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 12 wherein said spring-biased valves each include a tip.

14. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 13 wherein said external straw coupling simultaneously presses down on the tips of the spring-biased internal straw and air hole coupling valves when the external straw coupling is connected to the internal straw and air hole couplings.

15. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 12 wherein said external straw coupling includes an MNPT nonvalved coupler.

16. The leak-proof bottle assembly of claim 12 wherein a cap is attached to said MNPT nonvalved coupler to open said air hole.