FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a child's cup and more particularly to such a cup provided with a straw and means to store the straw in a protected position when not in use as well as means to make the cup spill proof in any orientation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A child's straw cup is a cup commonly used by children 1 to 4 years old as a transition between a nipple fitted bottle and an open cup. Previous child's straw cups have generally included a straw or mouthpiece, a sanitary cup to protect the straw or mouthpiece, and a vent to equalize pressure between the outside and inside of the bottle or cup to allow easy liquid flow from the straw or mouthpiece. Generally, attempts to make the cup spill proof in any orientation of the bottle or cup and still provide for equalized pressure to provide easy flow of the contents of the cup have not been totally successful.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention provides a child's cup which includes a bladder within the cup that inflates slightly as liquid is withdrawn from the cup and which deflates slightly when suction stops. Unlike the construction of Sippy cups and baby bottles, the bladder does not contain liquid and the liquid contents of the bottle are within the bottle or cup but exterior to the bladder. The bladder is constructed of a flexible material such as Mylar or the like and provides a material to contain advertising or the like which becomes fully visible as the bladder inflates.

[0004] A valve or vent is provided and is opened as the bladder inflates and liquid is removed from the bottle and which is closed and held closed when liquid is no longer removed from the bottle. The valve or vent thus closes when the cup is not in use to close communication between the liquid in the cup and the outside of the cup so that the cup is spill proof in any orientation when suction stops and the cup is no longer in use.

[0005] The child's cup of the present invention includes a cap which would be difficult for a child to remove and which includes sanitary means for storing a mouthpiece when it is not in use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] Fig. 1 is a side perspective view of a child's cup of the present invention;

[0007] Fig. 2 is a top perspective view of the child's cup shown in Fig. 1; [0008] Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating a mouthpiece being moved toward a protected position;

[0009] Fig. 4 is a view similar to Figs. 2 and 3 but illustrating the mouthpiece having been moved into a protected position;

[0010] Fig. 5 is a top elevational view substantially as seen from the top of Fig. 4;

[0011] Fig. 6 is a top elevational view of the child's cup of the present invention substantially as seen from the top of Fig. 7;

[0012] Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the child's cup of the present invention illustrating the mouthpiece in a position to be used;

[0013] Fig. 8 is a view as seen from the bottom of Fig. 7;

[0014] Fig. 9 is a view of the child's cup substantially as seen from the right side of Fig. 7;

[0015] Fig. 10 is a view of the child's cup similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating the flow from the mouthpiece;

[0016] Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the child's cup of the present invention substantially as seen from line 11- 11 of Fig. 10;

[0017] Fig. 12 is a view of a child's cup of the present invention substantially as seen from the right side of Fig. 10;

[0018] Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the child's cup substantially as seen from Fig. 13-13 of Fig. 12 and illustrating the configuration of the bladder when the cup is not in use;

[0019] Fig. 14 is an enlarged fragmentary view partially in section of the valve shown in Fig.15.

[0020] Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the valve utilized in the child's cup of the present invention.

[0021] Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 13 but illustrates the mouthpiece in a storage position;

[0022] Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the child's cup taken substantially at line 17-17 of Fig. 16;

[0023] Fig. 18 is an exploded view of the child's cup of the present invention and

[0024] Fig. 19 is a view similar to Fig. 18 showing the parts of the child's cup of the present invention in a reverse position of the cup shown in Fig. 18. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0025] Referring to Fig. 1, a child's cup 1 consists of a bottle 2 closed by a cap 8. Also referring to Fig. 11, a free-spinning cover 4 is snapped onto the cap 8 by means of a cover ring 38 in the cap groove 40. The cover 4 is retained in the cap groove 40 by a top stop 44 and a bottom stop 46. As best seen in Fig. l a mouthpiece 6 protrudes from the cap 8 exiting from a slot defined by the gap between a ramp 12 on each side of a mouthpiece 6. The cap 8 is retained on the bottle 2 by a cap thread 51 (Fig. 13) screwed to a bottle thread 50.

[0026] Referring to Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17 and 18, the free-spinning cover 4 is held in rotational position by means of three detent cavities 60 on the cap 8 and spaced 120 degrees apart and a detent pawl 62 on the cover 4. The home detent position holds the cover 4 in a position to fully expose the mouthpiece 6 as shown in Fig. 1. As the cover 4 is rotated in counterclockwise rotation 5, the mouthpiece 6 folds by means of an inside retainer surface 14 on the cover 4, to position the mouthpiece 6 in a mouthpiece groove 16 on the cap 8. As the cover 4 continues to turn, as indicated by the cover rotation 5, an inside retainer surface 14 folds the mouthpiece 6 at pinch points 10 between this surface and the ramp 12 on the cap 8. Mouthpiece 6 is made from an elastomer that allows the pinched inside portion to completely fold against itself to create a seal. This seal is held by the detent position two, which is 120 degrees from the home position. The cover 4 also seals the mouthpiece 6 if the cover 4 is rotated clockwise in a symmetrical stowed position as retained by detent position three.

[0027] Referring to Figs. 11 and 13, a mouthpiece body 58 is held in the cap 8 by an interference fit creating a mouthpiece body seal 56. A low-pressure area in the mouthpiece 6 is created by the user. This low-pressure area is translated through a suction straw 28. The low-pressure area in the mouthpiece 6 relative to the internal cavity 26 bottle pressure causes the valve 54 to open, allowing liquid to outflow 22. As liquid is consumed from the mouthpiece 6, the outflow 22 creates a low-pressure area in internal cavity 26 of the bottle 2. A bladder 30 is connected to the outside atmosphere through atmosphere vent 20 in bladder retainer 32 on the cap 8. This low pressure inflates the bladder 30 slightly by means of air inflow 24 through the atmosphere vent 20 in the direction of expansion 25.

[0028] As best seen Figs. 14 and 15, a valve 54 is provided and includes a flap 55 which opens to the position shown in Fig. 15 in response to increases in the pressure differential across the valve flap 55 and is closed by a hinge 57 constructed of resilient material biased to close the valve 54 when the pressure differential across the flap 55 equalizes. When the user stops sucking on the mouthpiece 6, the internal vacuum within the bottle 2 is lost, the pressure across the valve flap 55 equalizes and the valve hinge 57 moves the valve flap 55 to a closed position.

[0029] As best seen in Fig. 13 the air 72 in the bladder 30 is allowed to escape through the atmosphere vent 20. The internal cavity 26 and the suction straw 28 are then substantially equal to atmospheric pressure. The seal provided by the closed valve flap 55 is broken if the cap 8 is unscrewed from the bottle 2. With the valve 54 closed and the cap 8 in place, the interior of the bottle 2 is sealed from the exterior of the bottle 2 and the child's cup is virtually spill proof in any orientation. [0030] Referring to Figs. 17 and 19, a childproof cap 8 is formed by the free-spinning cover 4 not providing enough torque to unscrew the cap 8 from the bottle 2. To defeat this mechanism, the cover 4 must be pressed down in the cap engagement direction 74 hard enough to deform section 76 at the center of the cap 8 under boss 42 on the cover 4. This deformation moves cover ring 38 on cover 4 to bottom stop 46. This engages an interference between a plurality of pawls 34 on the cover 4 and splines 36 on the cap 8. This interference allows the cover 4 to unscrew the cap 8 from bottle 2. Requiring downward pressure on the cap 8 to permit it to be rotated for removal insures that a child will not be able to remove it to expose the contents of the bottle 2 as well as reach the bladder 2.

[0031] As shown in Figs. 14 and 15 the flap 55 is movable between an open position and a closed position by the hinge, 56 which is formed to urge the flap 56 to a closed position. The force imposed on the flap 55 by the hinge 56 must be sufficiently weak to permit the child sucking on the bottle 2 to create a reduction of pressure in the bottle 2 sufficient to overcome the force created by the hinge 56 to permit the valve 54 to open. When the child stops sucking, the atmospheric pressure that is permitted to return to the bottle 2 and in combination with the force created by the hinge 56 causes the valve flap 55 to close. As long as there is substantially atmospheric pressure in the bottle 2 the valve 54 will be held in a closed position by the biased hinge 57 to keep the bottle 2 from leaking in any orientation of the bottle.

[0032] It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that although a preferred child's cup has been described featuring a cup that is virtually spill proof in any orientation that changes and modifications could be made to the preferred embodiment which has been shown and described without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.