US20120261416A1

US20120261416A1 - Container cap

Info

Publication number: US20120261416A1
Application number: US13/305,769
Authority: US
Inventors: Cheng-Chi Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-04-18
Filing date: 2011-11-29
Publication date: 2012-10-18

Abstract

A container cap includes: a first cap body formed with at least one first perforation and sealedly connectable to an opening of a container; a second cap body rotatably mounted on the first cap body and formed with at least one second perforation; and a sealing member positioned between the first and second cap bodies and formed with third perforations. The number of the third perforations is equal to the number of the first perforations. The third perforations are aligned with the first perforations of the first cap body respectively. The first and second cap bodies can be relatively rotated to unseal or seal the container for a user to select a desired mode for drinking a beverage contained in the container. For example, a user can directly drink a hot beverage with his/her mouth or insert a straw into the container to drink a cold beverage.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a container cap, and more particularly to a container cap including a first cap body, a second cap body and a sealing member positioned between the first and second cap bodies. The first and second cap bodies can be relatively rotated to unseal or seal the container for a user to select a desired mode for drinking a beverage contained in the container. For example, a user can directly drink a hot beverage with his/her mouth or insert a straw into the container to drink a cold beverage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many beverage stores selling various beverages to consumers, such as bubble tea, milk tea, cola, etc. In general, the beverages are contained in paper cups or plastic cups and sold to the consumers together with the containers. After the beverage is drunk off, the paper cups or plastic cups are often randomly discarded. This leads to pollution of the environment. Moreover, for manufacturing numerous paper cups or plastic cups, very tremendous precious resources in the earth are consumed. In the meantime, it costs very much precious resources and energy sources in the earth for the environmental protection institutes to process the numerous paper cups or plastic cups. Recently, global pollution and carbon dioxide discharge problems have become more and more serious. The popular use of the paper cups or plastic cups is one of the major causes responsible for global pollution and global warming.
When drinking a beverage contained in a container outdoors, a user often uses a straw to suck and drink the beverage to avoid leakage of the beverage. Currently, only the paper cup or plastic cup provides a use mode for insertion of a straw. However, when using the straw, it is impossible to temporarily seal the straw to avoid leakage.
Various stainless thermoses are currently available in the market. The stainless thermos has the function of warmth-keeping. However, such stainless thermos still has some shortcomings in use as follows:
1. In order to keep warmth, the stainless thermos is sealed with a cap. The cap has no insertion hole for a straw to insert therein. Therefore, a user cannot use a straw to suck the beverage contained in the stainless thermos sealed with the cap.
2. When a user opens the cap and inserts a straw into the stainless thermos to suck and drink the beverage, in case of interruption of drinking, it is impossible to seal both the opening of the stainless thermos and the straw. As a result, the beverage in the stainless thermos is likely to spill or leak out to cause sanitary problem.
3. Each time a user desires to drink the beverage in the stainless thermos, it is necessary to open the cap. Therefore, the warmth-keeping effect of the stainless thermos will be quickly deteriorated or even lost.
The conventional stainless thermos has so many defects so that a user is often unwilling to carry the stainless thermos and use the stainless thermos outdoors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a container cap including: a first cap body formed with at least one first perforation and sealedly connectable to an opening of a container; a second cap body rotatably mounted on the first cap body and formed with at least one second perforation; and a sealing member positioned between the first and second cap bodies and formed with third perforations. The number of the third perforations is equal to the number of the first perforations. The third perforations are aligned with the first perforations of the first cap body respectively. When the second cap body is rotated to a specific position, at least one of the second perforations of the second cap body is aligned with one of the third perforations of the sealing member to unseal the container. Under such circumstance, a user can drink the beverage contained in the container through the second perforation in alignment with the third perforation. When the second cap body is rotated to another specific position, none of the second perforations of the second cap body is aligned with any of the third perforations of the sealing member or any of the vents. Under such circumstance, the container is in a sealed state.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above container cap in which the second cap body is further formed with an insertion cavity in which a secondary functional article such as a thermometer or a compass can be inlaid. In case of a thermometer, the secondary functional article has a probe extending through the sealing member and the first cap body into the container. By means of the secondary functional article, a user can know the temperature of the liquid in the container to avoid burn in drinking the liquid.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above container cap in which the second cap body is marked with symbols beside the second perforations to indicate the drinking modes provided by the second perforations, for example, hot beverage drinking opening, small straw insertion opening and large straw insertion opening. The outer circumference of the first cap body is marked with a mark radially directed to one of the first perforations. Accordingly, when a user rotates the second cap body to align the symbol with the mark of the first cap body, the user will be aware of the current use function of the container cap that is provided for the user. Accordingly, the container can be diversely used.
In practical use of the above container cap, a user can insert a straw into one of the second perforations of the second cap body and extend the straw through the third perforation of the sealing member and the first perforation of the first cap body into the liquid contained in the container for drinking the cold liquid therein. When temporarily not drinking the liquid, the user can rotate the second cap body to misalign the first and second cap bodies from each other. Under such circumstance, the straw between the first and second cap bodies is bent and tightly clamped and blocked to avoid spill of the liquid contained in the container.
In the above container cap, the first and second cap bodies can be relatively rotated to unseal or seal the container for a user to select a desired mode for drinking a beverage contained in the container. For example, a user can directly drink a hot beverage with his/her mouth or insert a straw into the container to drink a cold beverage. Moreover, the first and second cap bodies can be relatively rotated to bend and block the inserted straw so as to avoid leakage of the liquid contained in the container. In addition, annular leakproof rib sections are disposed along the circumferences of the third perforations of the sealing member for tightly attaching to the bottom face of the second cap body. After the straw is bent, the annular leakproof rib section serves to bind the straw to provide a leakproof effect so as to avoid leakage of the liquid contained in the container.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective assembled view of the present invention in a sealed state;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective partially exploded view of the present invention in a use mode for insertion of a straw;

FIG. 6 is a perspective assembled view according to FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a partially sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a perspective partially exploded view of the present invention in a use mode for a user to directly drink a hot beverage;

FIG. 10 is a perspective assembled view according to FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a partially sectional view taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2. The container cap of the present invention includes a first cap body 40, a second cap body 50 and a sealing member 60. The first cap body 40 is formed with at least one first perforation 42, 42 a and is sealedly connectable to an opening 21 of a container 20. The second cap body 50 is rotatably mounted on the first cap body 40 and is formed with at least one second perforation 53, 53 a, 53 b. The sealing member 60 is positioned between the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 and is formed with third perforations 61, 61 a. The number of the third perforations 61, 61 a is equal to the number of the first perforations 42, 42 a. The third perforations 61, 61 a are aligned with the first perforations 42, 42 a of the first cap body 40 respectively. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 12, the second cap body 50 can be rotated to align at least one of the second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b of the second cap body 50 with one of the third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60 to unseal the container 20. Under such circumstance, a user can drink the liquid in the container 20 through the aligned second perforation 53, 53 a or 53 b and third perforation 61 or 61 a. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the second cap body 50 can be rotated to misalign all the second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b of the second cap body 50 from any of the third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60 to seal the container 20.
Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. In the container cap of the present invention, the first cap body 40 includes a base seat section 40 a and an upper seat section 40 b. The upper seat section 40 b is tightly affixed to a top end of the base seat section 40 a. The top end of the base seat section 40 a and the upper seat section 40 b together define a receiving space 40 c for receiving the sealing member 60 therein. The base seat section 40 a is formed with two first perforations 42, 42 a and a vent 43. The diameter of one first perforation 42 a is larger than the diameter of the other first perforation 42, whereby different diameters of straws can be passed through the first perforations 42, 42 a. The base seat section 40 a and upper seat section 40 b of the first cap body 40 can be integrally formed and connected with each other. Alternatively, the base seat section 40 a and upper seat section 40 b can be fixedly connected with each other by means of, but not limited to, high-frequency bonding or locking or the like.
The sealing member 60 is made of such as a heat-resistant soft material. The sealing member 60 has sleeve sections 611, 611 a axially protruding from the circumferences of bottom ends of the third perforations 61, 61 a. The sleeve sections 611, 611 a are respectively correspondingly fitted in the first perforations 42, 42 a of the first cap body 40. In addition, the sealing member 60 is formed with a vent 62 in communication with the vent 43 of the first cap body 40.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 8, an outer circumference of the first cap body 40 is formed with a threaded section 45 for correspondingly locking with the opening 21 of the container 20. In addition, a leakproof gasket 44 is fitted around the outer circumference of the first cap body 40 to avoid gap between the container 20 and the outer circumference of the first cap body 40.
Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 8. An annular groove 52 is formed along outer circumference of the second cap body 50. The first cap body 40 has a flange 46 corresponding to the annular groove 52, whereby the flange 46 can be inlaid in the annular groove 52 to freely rotatably connect the second cap body 50 with the first cap body 40.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an arcuate slot 47 is formed on a top face of the first cap body 40 and centered at a rotational axis of the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 by equal radiuses. A locating boss 51 is disposed under a bottom face of the second cap body 50. The locating boss 51 of the second cap body 50 extends into the arcuate slot 47, whereby the second cap body 50 is restricted to only rotate within a range of angle contained between two ends of the arcuate slot 47.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bottom face of the second cap body 50 is formed with an elastic arm 54. A protrusion key 541 is disposed on the elastic arm 54. A locating recess 48 is formed on the top face of the first cap body 40 in a rotational movement path of the protrusion key 541. When the protrusion key 541 of the elastic arm 54 of the second cap body 50 is correspondingly latched in the locating recess 48, none of the second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b of the second cap body 50 is aligned with any of the third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60 or any of the vents 62, 56. Under such circumstance, the container 20 is in a sealed state.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, in the container cap of the present invention, the second cap body 50 is composed of a bed section 50 a and a cover section 50 b. The bed section 50 a and the cover section 50 b can be integrally formed and connected with each other. Alternatively, the bed section 50 a and the cover section 50 b can be connected with each other by means of, but not limited to, high-frequency bonding or bolting or the like. The second cap body 50 further has an insertion cavity 55 in which a secondary functional article 70 such as a thermometer or a compass can be inlaid. The secondary functional article 70 has a probe extending through the sealing member 60 and the first cap body 40 into the container 20. In addition, the second cap body 50 is formed with a vent 56. In a drinking state of the container 20, the vent 56 communicates with the vent 62 of the sealing member 60 and the vent 43 of the first cap body 40, whereby the liquid contained in the container 20 can successfully flow out of the container 20.
Referring to FIGS. 9 to 12, the second cap body 50 is formed with three second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b. When the second cap body 50 is rotated to a first specific position, one second perforation 53 is aligned with one third perforation 61 of the sealing member 60. At this time, a user can drink a warm/hot liquid contained in the container 20 through the second perforation 53. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, when the second cap body 50 is rotated to a second specific position, the other two second perforations 53 a, 53 b of the second cap body 50 are aligned with the two third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60. At this time, a user can drink the liquid contained in the container 20 through the two second perforations 53 a, 53 b. For example, the user can insert a straw into the second perforation 53 a or the second perforation 53 b and extend the straw through the third perforation 61 or the third perforation 61 a of the sealing member 60 and the first perforation 42 or the first perforation 42 a of the first cap body 40 into the liquid contained in the container 20 for drinking the cold liquid therein.
The sealing member 60 is made of soft material. Therefore, when a user inserts a straw into the third perforation 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60, the sleeve section 611, 611 a protruding from the circumferences of the bottom ends of the third perforations 61, 61 a can tightly hold the outer circumference of the straw.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 8, annular leakproof rib sections 612 are disposed along the circumferences of the third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60 for tightly attaching to the bottom face of the second cap body 50. When the second perforation 53, 53 a or 53 b of the second cap body 50 is aligned with the third perforation 61, 61 a, the annular leakproof rib section 612 surrounds the circumference of the corresponding second perforation 53, 53 a or 53 b to avoid leakage of the liquid contained in the container 20.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 6 and 10, the cover section 50 b of the second cap body 50 is marked with symbols 531 beside the second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b to indicate the drinking modes provided by the second perforations 53, 53 a, 53 b, for example, hot beverage drinking opening, small straw insertion opening and large straw insertion opening. The outer circumference of the first cap body 40 is marked with a mark 41 radially directed to one first perforation 42. Accordingly, when a user rotates the second cap body 50 to align the symbol 531 with the mark 41 of the first cap body 40, the user will be aware of the current use function of the container cap that is provided for the user. Accordingly, the container 20 can be diversely used.
Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8, in practical use of the container cap of the present invention, a user can rotate the second cap body 50 to align two second perforations 53 a, 53 b with the two third perforations 61, 61 a of the sealing member 60. Under such circumstance, the user can insert a straw P through the second perforation 53 a or 53 b and through the third perforation 61 or 61 a and through the first perforation 42 or 42 a of the first cap body 40 into the liquid contained in the container 20 to drink the liquid. When temporarily not drinking the liquid, as shown in FIG. 4, the user can rotate the second cap body 50 to misalign the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 from each other. Under such circumstance, the straw P between the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 is bent and tightly clamped to avoid spill of the liquid contained in the container 20.
According to the above arrangement, the container cap of the present invention is characterized in that the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 can be relatively rotated for a user to select a desired mode for drinking the beverage contained in the container 20. For example, a user can directly drink a hot beverage with his/her mouth or insert a straw into the container to drink a cold beverage. Moreover, the first and second cap bodies 40, 50 can be relatively rotated to bend and block the inserted straw so as to avoid leakage of the liquid contained in the container 20. The present invention is further provided with a secondary functional article 70 such as a thermometer. Therefore, a user can know the temperature of the liquid in the container to avoid burn. Also, the thermometer serves to remind the user to drink the liquid such as a hot coffee at a temperature within an optimal range.
The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiment can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A container cap comprising:

(a) a first cap body formed with at least one first perforation and sealedly connectable to an opening of a container;

(b) a second cap body rotatably mounted on the first cap body and formed with at least one second perforation; and

(c) a sealing member positioned between the first and second cap bodies and formed with third perforations, the number of the third perforations being equal to the number of the first perforations of the first cap body, the third perforations being aligned with the first perforations of the first cap body respectively.

2. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first cap body includes a base seat section and an upper seat section, the upper seat section being tightly affixed to a top end of the base seat section, the top end of the base seat section and the upper seat section together defining a receiving space for receiving the sealing member therein.

3. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first cap body is formed with two first perforations and a vent, the diameter of one of the two first perforations being larger than the diameter of the other of the two first perforations.

4. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sealing member has sleeve sections axially protruding from circumferences of bottom ends of the third perforations, the sleeve sections being respectively correspondingly fitted in the first perforations of the first cap body, the sealing member being also formed with a vent.

5. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outer circumference of the first cap body is formed with a threaded section for correspondingly locking with the opening of the container, a leakproof gasket being fitted around the outer circumference of the first cap body.

6. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein an annular groove is formed along outer circumference of the second cap body, the first cap body having a flange corresponding to the annular groove, whereby the flange can be inlaid in the annular groove to freely rotatably connect the second cap body with the first cap body.

7. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein an arcuate slot is formed on a top face of the first cap body and centered at a rotational axis of the first and second cap bodies by equal radiuses, a locating boss being disposed under a bottom face of the second cap body, the locating boss of the second cap body extending into the arcuate slot.

8. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom face of the second cap body is formed with an elastic arm, a protrusion key being disposed on the elastic arm, a locating recess being formed on the top face of the first cap body in a rotational movement path of the protrusion key, whereby when the protrusion key of the elastic arm of the second cap body is correspondingly latched in the locating recess, none of the second perforations of the second cap body is aligned with any of the third perforations of the sealing member or any of the vents.

9. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second cap body is composed of a bed section and a cover section.

10. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second cap body is formed with three second perforations, when the second cap body is rotated to a first specific position, one of the second perforations being aligned with one of the third perforations of the sealing member, when the second cap body is rotated to a second specific position, the other two of the second perforations of the second cap body being aligned with the two third perforations of the sealing member.

11. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein annular leakproof rib sections are disposed along the circumferences of the third perforations of the sealing member for tightly attaching to the bottom face of the second cap body, whereby when the second perforation of the second cap body is aligned with the third perforation, the annular leakproof rib section surrounds the circumference of the corresponding second perforation.

12. The container cap as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second cap body is marked with symbols beside the second perforations to indicate drinking modes provided by the second perforations, the outer circumference of the first cap body being marked with a mark radially directed to one of the first perforations.

13. The container cap as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second cap body is further formed with an insertion cavity in which a secondary functional article can be inlaid.

14. The container cap as claimed in claim 13, wherein the secondary functional article is a thermometer having a probe extending through the sealing member and the first cap body into the container.

15. The container cap as claimed in claim 13, wherein the secondary functional article is a compass.