DRINKING CUP

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a drinking cup that a user can conveniently hold regardless of whether the substance is contained therein is cold or hot. In detail, the present invention relates to a drinking cup that can be easily formed and can be more firmly assembled because the upper portion of a cup holder does not spread from a cup body. Further, the present invention relates to a cup that does not become hot or cold even if it is continuously used for a long time because heat is discharged through the lower portion.

BACKGROUND

In general, when people unconsciously hold a container with a very hot substance such as coffee, they may drop the container because the container is hot. Alternatively, it is difficult to hold very cold containers with one hand, so napkins, corrugated cardboards, or empty cups over the container are used, which is disadvantageous in terms of the manufacturing cost, reduction of wastes, and in terms of saving.

In order to solve these problems, protrusions are formed at the portion of a cup or a container to be held with a hand to prevent heat from directly conducting from the substance in the cup or container to the portion to be held so that a user can easily hold the cup or container for long periods of time regardless of the temperature of the substance.

In the past, cups that prevents a user from feeling coldness or heat from a beverage in the cup body when drinking a cold or hot beverage are arranged by fitting a cup holder close to an opening of the cup body.

In another embodiment, the upper portion of a cup holder is fitted on a holder top seat and the lower portion of the cup holder is seated in a cup holder bottom seat so that the cup holder is firmly fitted on the upper portion of the cup body.

Cups can be constructed with the containing part inclined such that the diameter decreases downward. However, a holder top seat and a vertical inner wall portion are vertically formed, so the upper portion of the cup holder can be firmly fixed without spreading when the cup holder is fitted on the cup body.

Paper cups can be made in a variety of embodiments. The inner cup of the low-capacity paper cup does not need to include an inner shoulder because the drinking rim for the small cup opening is sufficiently stable in the radial direction. For large paper cups, it is recommended to provide an internal shoulder that supports the stacking stop. The provision of an internal shoulder increases the radial stability of the stack stop. In addition, the surface temperature of the outer portion of the cup can be changed by applying a shoulder. The inner shoulder increases the gap between the inner cup and the outer sleeve, thereby further increasing the thermal insulation effect of the double wall design. There is also a relatively wide selection of support positions for the entrainment edges.

In order to achieve an economical, material-saving production of paper cups, the entrainment edge support can be located several millimeters above the bottom of the cup without changing the stacking properties. If maximum stability of the paper cup is required, then the entrainment edge support should be located just at the bottom of the cup. In this embodiment, the paper cup has its greatest appeal visually, resulting in the highest possible sale.

Thus, it is possible to form the inner and outer components so that when an upper cup nests in a lower cup, a lower stacking surface on the upper cup, for example at the bottom rim of the side wall, or at the lower side of a shelf in the side wall, can be seated on an upwardly facing surface perhaps in the inner wall of the inner component, to effect an approximate seal to protect the space within the recess from atmosphere which could degrade the ingredient powder. It is also possible to design the cup so that another part of the surface of the upper cup comes against another part of the surface of the lower cup to effect a second seal.

The two side walls of the two components may be plain and possibly in contact with each other over part of the height of the cup, for example to provide a fairly rigid surface on which descriptive matter can be printed, but then there may be an insulating portion formed in a part only of the side wall, so that the user will not burn his fingers when the cup is holding a hot drink. That may be formed by having a greater space between the side walls of the two components at a localised part of the height of the side wall, or could perhaps be formed by forming the outer component with a folded portion in its side wall which is spaced from the rest of the side wall and provides a finger gripping ring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A doublewalled, throw-away, drinking cup having the outer sidewall extending from a rolled top edge down to the bottom edge of the cup on which the cup can stand. An inverted cup has walls extending around a recessed bottom surface. An inner side wall is secured to the outer sidewall and formed with a rolled top edge at the upper end and a bottom projection at the lower end which is hemmed up around the upstanding sidewall of the inverted cup so as to engage the recessed bottom surface. The outer sidewall has an outer sidewall extension at the lower end which is hemmed up about the bottom projection of the inner sidewall to engage the recessed bottom surface of the inverted cup. The rolled top edge of the cup has a diameter of 90 mm. which conforms to the size of typical drinking cup tops.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure, operation, and advantages of the present invention will become further apparent upon consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures (Figures). The figures are intended to be illustrative, not limiting.

Certain elements in some of the figures may be omitted, or illustrated not-to-scale, for illustrative clarity. The cross-sectional views may be in the form of slices, or near-sighted cross-sectional views, omitting certain background lines which would otherwise be visible in a true cross-sectional view, for illustrative clarity.

Often, similar elements may be referred to by similar numbers in various figures (Figures) of the drawing, in which case typically the last two significant digits may be the same, the most significant digit being the number of the drawing figure (Figure).

FIG. 1 is a three dimensional view of a doublewalled, drinking cup, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial side, cross sectional view of a drinking cup, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a three dimensional view of a bottom cup of a doublewalled, drinking cup, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a doublewalled, drinking cup prior to rolling into a cup shape, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a group of stacked doublewalled, drinking cups, in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the description that follows, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations of these specific details are possible while still achieving the results of the present invention. Well-known processing steps are generally not described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obfuscating the description of the present invention.

In the description that follows, exemplary dimensions may be presented for an illustrative embodiment of the invention. The dimensions should not be interpreted as limiting. They are included to provide a sense of proportion. Generally speaking, it is the relationship between various elements, where they are located, their contrasting compositions, and sometimes their relative sizes that is of significance.

In the drawings accompanying the description that follows, often both reference numerals and legends (labels, text descriptions) will be used to identify elements. If legends are provided, they are intended merely as an aid to the reader and should not in any way be interpreted as limiting.

The cups being described by way of example are vacuum formed from a high inpact sheet polystyrene although other plastics materials could be used.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a doublewalled, throw-away, drinking cup 10 having an outer side wall 12 leading to a bottom rim 14 on which the cup can stand, and a recessed bottom surface 16. An outer sidewall 12 extends from a rolled top edge 20 down to the bottom edge of the cup 10, as shown in FIG. 3, formed with an upstanding sidewall 24 and a closed bottom 16. The inner side wall 18 hems around the upstanding sidewall 24 of the cup 22 with an extension 18a of the inner sidewall.

An extension 12a of the outer side wall 12 hems up and over the outer sidewall 12 which is hemmed about the inner surface of the sidewall 24 of the cup 22. The inner and outer sidewalls 12 and 18 are secured together with a series of hot glue bead disposed between the inner and outer sidewalls 12 and 18. The glue beads are spaced from each other.

The cup 22 and inner and outer sidewalls 12 and 18 are joined together by hot sealing with a machine.

The inner and outer sidewalls 12 and 18 are formed into a flat layout 26 as shown in FIG. 4. Then, the layout 26 is folded so that the bottom edge of the layout wraps around the cup 22 as shown in FIG. 2. The open edge 23 of the cup, is located at the to a bottom rim 14 of the cup. The layout 26 of the cup 22 and the inner and outer sidewalls 12 and 18 are then inserted into a machine and hot sealed together with a longitudinal seam extending from the rolled top edge 20 down to the bottom rim 14 of the cup 22.

The diameter of the rolled top edge 20 is preferably 90 mm. which conforms to the size of typical tops. An important aspect of the present invention is that the top edge of the cup is sized to receive a top with a 90 mm diameter. At the same time, the height of the cup 22 from the rolled top edge 20 to the bottom rim 14 is the same while allowing for the cups to be preferably stacked into each of other as shown in FIG. 5 without squashing the cups into each other.

The upper portion of the side wall 12 is doubled back upon itself and bent slightly inward so as to form at the upper edge 20 an inwardly projecting annular rib. When, therefore, two similar containers are nested, as shown in FIG. 5, an insulating chamber 6 is formed between the bottoms of the two containers, and with this form of construction there is formed in addition, two auxiliary bottom insulating chambers by the spaces between the two plies of each container.

In order to improve the sealing and to already, for example, achieve a certain attachment of the inner cup with respect to the outer cup or at least a fixing in the relative position, the inner edge flange can at least partially circumferentially grip the outer edge flange. The circumferential gripping effect can be realised in various ways. In one embodiment the outer edge flange is relatively loosely gripped circumferentially by the inner edge flange so that the mutual support of the edge flanges essentially only serves the positioning of the inner cup in the outer cup.

If the container is of frusto-conical shape, then when the receptacle is formed by the nesting of the containers, an insulating chamber is formed between the bottoms of the two containers. The receptacle of this invention thus thermally insulated at the side walls, and of the frusto-conical shape also at the bottom is preferably closed by a cover containing an insulating chamber and thus the receptacle is well thermally insulated at the sidewalls, at the bottom, and at the top.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a certain preferred embodiment or embodiments, certain equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (assemblies, devices, etc.) the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiments of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more features of the other embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.