DISPOSABLE CUP WITH STRAW

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to cups, particularly to disposable cups.

2. Related Art

A disposable cup is a type of tableware and disposable food packaging. Disposable cup types include paper cups, plastic cups and foam cups. As they are produced for single use, disposable cups and other similar disposable products constitute a major source of consumer and household waste, such as paper waste and plastic waste. It has been estimated that the average household discards around 70 disposable cups every year. As a result, some disposable cups with a built-in straw are developed to appear in the market.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show one of them. It includes a cup body 10, a thermo-isolated pad 20, a drinking opening 30, a bottom 40, a built-in straw 50 formed in the cup body 10 and a filter 60 at a bottom end of the built-in straw 50. Such a cup is convenient to drink liquid without raising a user's head. However, this cup is hard to be mass-produced, especially for plastic cups with low cost.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show another one of cups with a built-in straw. It includes an outer cup body 1, an inner cup body 2 and a cap 3. A diameter of each of the outer cup body 1 and the inner cup body 2 tapers off downward to form a conic shape. Openings of the outer cup body 1 and the inner cup body 2 outward extend to form flanges 11, 21. The outside of the inner cup body 2 are formed with longitudinal troughs 22. When the inner cup body 2 is embedded in the outer cup body 1 to form a cup 5 with a drinking edge 4, the troughs 22 form built-in straws with openings 6 at the drinking edge 4. However, this cup requires high accuracy to manufacture the outer cup body 1 and the inner cup body 2. Thus its manufacturing cost is relatively high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a disposable cup with an integrated straw, which can be easily manufactured with low cost.

To accomplish the above object, the disposable cup of the invention includes a cup body and a straw. The cup body has a tube and a bottom connected to an end of the tube. The straw is directly connected to the tube at an outside position adjacent to the bottom, and communicating with the tube.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional cup with a built-in straw;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cup shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of another conventional cup with a built-in straw;

FIG. 4 is an assembled view of the cup shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Please refer to FIG. 5, which shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the invention. The disposable cup of the invention includes a cup body 7 and a straw 8, which are made of plastic. The cup body 7 is composed of a tube 71 and a bottom 72 connected to an end of the tube 71. The straw 8 is directly connected to the tube 71 at an outside position adjacent to the bottom 72 and the straw 8 communicates with the tube 72. As a result, the cup body 7 and the straw 8 can be integratedly formed to be one piece.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the straw 8 is a bendable straw (known in the industry as an “articulated straw”), which has a concertina-type hinge 81 near the top of the straw 8 for convenience.

Furthermore, the top of the straw 8 may be provided with a cap 80. The cap 80 may be made of plastic or paper. The cap 80 may cover the top of the straw 8 as shown in FIGS. 5-7 or cover the whole of the straw 8 as shown in FIG. 8.

Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting. The present invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto.