An Insulated Cover for a Drinking Vessel

Field of the Invention.

This invention is directed to an insulated cover that can be easily placed about a beverage container such as ( but not limited to) a cup ( coffee cup, tea cup etc), mug and the like to keep the contents hot while drinking. The insulated cover can also have other benefits including a better gripping surface (particularly for older people) and less chance of the cup breaking if accidentally dropped. The invention will be described with reference to a cover for a beverage container for drinking , but it should be appreciated that no particular limitation is meant thereby, and the cover can be used to insulate other types of containers, and especially container with handles.

Background Art. There is an advantage in being able to keep the contents of a hot drink from cooling too rapidly during consumption. One way to achieve this is to have a thick insulated cup or mug but these do not find great commercial success. It is found that many consumers have their own "favourite" cup or mug which they like to use for drinking/consuming coffee, tea, hot soup, noodles, and other food or drink products that can be consumed in a mug, cup or similar type container. Also, many commercial outlets (e.g. cafes, coffee shops, etc.) like to have a standard type cup or mug shape which can be easily cleaned, stacked in a dishwasher and the like.

Therefore, it is known to provide an insulating sleeve that can extend around a drink container. One well-known type of sleeve is used for cans such as beer or soft drink cans and is typically a cylindrical sleeve which can be made of insulating material such as polystyrene, or "wetsuit" material and the like. However, these types of sleeves are not particularly suitable for hot drinks as hot drinks are usually consumed in a cup or similar container that has a handle, the handle being necessary to enable the container to be held without burning.

It is also known to provide various types of paper or paper like sleeves that can fit around a coffee cup. These cups are typically disposable cups, or the cups

that comprise a hard outer plastic holder in which is placed in a disposable plastic cup. The sleeves are not particularly suitable as they do not insulate very well, can easily tear, and the cup is prone to falling out of the sleeve which can cause scalding.

Another disadvantage with other cups/mugs etc. is that these can leave a stain or "ring" on a surface on which the cup is placed. To prevent this, it is well- known to use a coaster or similar device.

Insulated sleeves for drink bottles etc. are known and United States Patent 5,915,580 is an example of such a product. However, the sleeves are not suitable for use with a coffee cup or similar product that is provided with a handle.

Also, the sleeves do not face the problem which is that coffee cups/mugs come in a relatively large and diverse ranges of sizes, cup shapes, handle shapes and the like, and there would be an advantage if it were possible to provide an insulating cover that could accommodate a range of sizes, shapes and the like. There would also be an advantage if the insulating cover could also obviate the need to use a coaster.

Many older people take longer to consume a hot beverage (for instance a cup of tea) and there would be an advantage if it were possible to provide an insulating cover that could keep the beverage hotter for a longer period of time. There would also be an advantage if the cover could provide better grip for the person to minimise breakage of the cup should the cup be accidentally knocked off the table, or dropped, etc.

Our earlier international patent application PCT/AU2004/001605 is directed to insulating sleeves which are particularly directed for use with wine glasses to keep the wine cool. The sleeves needed to have a particular configuration to allow them to be easily fitted to the particular shape of a wine glass (having a bowl and a stem) and to "grip" the wine glass. However the design of the sleeve is not very suitable to coffee cups which have a handle.

It will be clearly understood that if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part

of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

Object of the Invention.

It is an object of the invention to provide an insulated cover, typically for use with a cup or mug or other similar container and typically having a handle (although other uses are also envisaged) and which may overcome at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages or provide a useful or commercial choice.

hi one form there is provided an insulated cover for a container of the type having a side handle, the cover comprising a substantially tubular side wall having an open top, a handle slot in the side wall, and fastening means to trap the handle in the slot.

The fastening means, when fastened, makes it difficult for the cover to slip off the container, and especially if the container is held by the handle. The fastening means may be adjacent the handle slot ( see for instance figures 1-5, 10, 13,

14), or may be at some distance from the handle slot ( see for instance figures 6-9, 15), or may even comprise a friction grip of the cover to the container.

In a more particular form, the invention resides in an insulated cover for use with a container such as a cup or mug of the type having a side handle, the cover comprising a substantially closed base wall, a substantially tubular side wall having an open top, a handle slot in the side wall, the slot having one closed end and extending to an open top such that the slot has an open upper end, the open top containing fastening means which can be closed to close the open upper end of the slot to trap the handle in the slot.

hi another form, the invention resides in an insulated cover for use with a container such as a cup or mug of the type having a handle, the cover comprising a substantially tubular side wall having an open top, a handle slot in the side wall and opening means in the side wall which can at least partially open the side wall to facilitate attachment of the cover around the container.

The cover may have a substantially closed base wall, or an open base.

In this form of the invention, the insulated cover has a slot for a handle, and also has another opening to make it easier to attach the insulated cover about the cup/mug etc. The opening means may comprise a zip opening or the use of Velcro, studs and the like. The opening typically extends from adjacent the bottom of the side wall up to the open top which means that the size of the open top can be made much larger. It is preferred that the opening does not extend entirely to the bottom which means that the bottom retains its original size.

An advantage of this arrangement is that the cover is very versatile and can be used for a variety of different shaped handles by ensuring that the slot through which the handle passes initially has an open upper end such that the cup/mug, etc. can be quite easily inserted into the sleeve with the handle passing through the open upper end of the slot and into position in the slot, and the open upper end can be closed with the fastening means. Also, this means that the cover does not need to be excessively pulled out of shape to try to "stretch" over the handle. This can damage the material of the cover and can be quite difficult to do and therefore consumers will be reluctant to do this.

The term "cup" or "mug" is not meant to be limiting to the invention and is meant only to illustrate a preferred type of container to which the cover can be attached. Typically, the cover will find use with coffee/tea cups or mugs, beer mugs etc, but the cover may also find use with other types of containers which contain hot food or drink such as soups, noodles, tea, other types of hot drinks or beverages and the like, and also chilled or frozen products.

It is also considered that the term "cup" and the term "mug" can be used interchangeably and a typical difference between the two is size with a cup typically being considered a smaller type of container and a mug typically being considered a larger type of container.

The insulated cover is preferably made of stretchable material. A suitable type of stretchable material is "wetsuit" material which is known and which

has been used previously to insulate bottles, beer cans and the like. Neoprene (trade mark) is one suitable material, but other flexible insulating materials can also be used.

The insulated cover can be made of several panels which can be attached together. The panels may be made of similar or different material. One or more of the panels may be made of harder material or material which does not insulate. For instance, the bottom portion of the insulating cover may be made of hard plastic or other material if desired. If separate panels are used, these can be attached by any suitable method including stitching, gluing, the use of fasteners and the like.

The cover typically contains a substantially closed base wall ( see, for example Figures 1-9, and 16). An advantage of this is that the base wall can function as a "coaster", and by being substantially closed, any liquid that might run to the bottom of the cup or mug when in the sleeve, will be contained by the sleeve and will not stain the table, etc. The substantially closed base wall is preferably made of stretchable, or resilient, or "wetsuit" type material. An advantage of this is that it can improve the insulating efficiency, but can also provide a "soft" or "cushioning" base to the cover. It is considered most likely that the base wall will be substantially circular, although if need be, the base wall may have other shapes such as oval, rectangular or even irregular shapes. The base wall, if circular, will have a diameter to enable a cup/mug, etc. to be fitted inside the sleeve. Thus, it is considered that the base wall will typically have a diameter of between 8-20 cm. The base wall may have a thickness of between 1-10 mm.

The sleeve contains a substantially tubular side wall. The side wall is typically attached to the base wall and extends upwardly therefrom. The side wall will typically be substantially cylindrical although under some circumstances (for instance, particular cup designs), the side wall may be rectangular, polygonal or have irregular shapes. The side wall will typically have a length to enable it to substantially cover the side of the cup/mug and therefore it is envisaged that the side wall will have a length of between 5-15cm. It is also envisaged that the side wall will have a diameter or cross-section similar to that of the base wall to enable a cup/mug to be pushed into the sleeve or enable the sleeve to be wrapped about the container (e.g. mug, cup). The

tubular side wall can be made of a single panel of material that can be sewn or otherwise attached to the base wall.

In the first form of the invention, the side wall has a handle slot which has one closed end and an open end which can be closed by fastening means. The fastening means may comprise a tab, a finger, or other types of means which can close the upper end of the slot. The closure may be assisted using Velcro, a stud, a clasp, and the like.

The cover may comprise a somewhat fiat piece of insulating material that is adapted to wrap about the container having a side handle, the material having one edge and an opposed edge, these edges, in use extending to each side of the side handle, one edge having at least one tab extending therefrom which is adapted to extend through the handle and be attached adjacent the other edge to fasten the cover to the container. An example of this is illustrated in figures 13 and 14.

The tab may form an extension to the edge. The tab will typically be sized and shaped to enable it to pass through the handle and attached to the other side of the cover and usually proximate to the other edge area.

The attachment of the tab to the other side may be achieved using Velcro, clips, press studs, press stick adhesive and the like.

Both edges may be provided with a tab portion or tab portions and if so, these may need to be designed to not conflict with each other when used.

In another form, the cover may be formed in such a way that it can be packed flat, doesn't require glue in the manufacturing process and it strong and durable. An example of this is illustrated in figure 16

Brief Description of the Drawings.

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which:.

Figures 1-5 illustrate a first embodiment of the invention comprising a handle slot having an open end which can be closed.

Figures 6-9 illustrate a second embodiment of the invention which has a closed handle slot and a separate zip opening to make it easier to fit the cover to a cup.

Figures 10-12 illustrate a third embodiment of the invention which has a handle slot with an open end which can be closed and a separate zip opening to make it easier to fit the cover to the cup.

Figures 13A-C illustrate a forth embodiment of the invention.

Figures 14 A-c illustrate a fifth embodiment if the invention.

Figures 15A-C illustrate a sixth embodiment of the invention.

Figures 16 A-c illustrate a seventh embodiment of the invention.

Best Mode.

Referring to the drawings and initially to the first embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1-5, there is illustrated an insulated cover 10 which in the particular embodiment as illustrated has been fitted to a coffee cup 11 but it should be appreciated that no particular limitation is meant thereby. Cover 10 is made of a stretchable insulated "wetsuit" ( example is Neoprene) type material having a thickness of between 2-5 mm. The cover has a substantially closed base wall 12 which is best illustrated in Figure 5. Base wall 12 is made of "wetsuit" type material having a thickness of between 2-5mm. Base wall 12 is substantially circular and has a diameter of about 70mm. This can of course vary to suit. Extending upwardly from base wall 12 is a substantially circular side wall 13 which, in the particular embodiment, has a height of about 80mm. The bottom of the side wall 13 is attached to base wall 12 via a band 14. The band can have a width of about 10mm and

basically comprises material that extends over the lower edge of side wall 13 and is stitched to the lower edge of side wall 13. The base wall 12 can be attached (for instance by gluing) to band 14.

The side wall has an open top 15 and the top of side wall 13 also has a band 16 similar to that described with reference to the lower band 14. Band 16 contains a tab member 17 formed with a Velcro strip 18. The side wall 13 contains a handle slot 19 which extends from adjacent base wall 12 to an open top such that the open top 15 can be made larger (see, for instance, Figure 5) by pulling. As the handle slot 19 has an open top (see Figure 5), it makes inserting a cup 11 much easier. That is, the handle 20 of the cup can be simply slid through the open top and into position. The tab member 17 can then be fitted either over the top of handle (see Figure 2) or through handle (see Figure 3) to secure the cover in place. A complimentary Velcro strip 21 is positioned on band 16 (see Figure 5) to enable tab member 17 to be releasably attached in place (see Figures 2-4). In this embodiment, the size and shape of the handle does not matter as virtually every type of handle can be accommodated due to the design of the handle slot and the open top. Once the cup is in position, tab member 17 makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the cover to be inadvertently removed.

Referring to the second embodiment of the invention, this is illustrated in Figures 6-9. This embodiment also has an insulated cover 30 which can be made of material identical or similar to that with reference to the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, insulated cover has a handle slot 31 (see Figure 8 and Figure 9) but handle slot 31 is closed by the upper band 32 and the lower band 33 (see Figure 9). Therefore, to accommodate different sized cups and handles, the diametrically opposed part of the side wall 34 contains a zip opening 35. The opening 35 can be zipped from an open position (see Figure 8 and Figure 9) to a closed position (see Figure 6 and Figure 7) and, in the closed position, cup 11 can be securely held. The handle 20 of cup 11 extends through slot 31 and is strapped between the upper band 32 and the lower band 33 and therefore once the cover has been fitted, it cannot be inadvertently removed. Zip opening 35 goes from an entirely open top position (see Figure 8) where the open top of the cover can be made larger by pulling and this

makes it much easier to fit different types of cups/mugs/containers and the like. However, zip opening 35 does not extend entirely to the base wall 12 and the bottom of zip opening is positioned a few millimetres above the base wall. This can function to keep any leakage inside the cover and prevents small amounts of liquid on the base wall 12 from leaking out when the cup and cover are placed on the table.

Figures 10-12 illustrates a third embodiment of the invention which is basically a combination of the first embodiment and the second embodiment. In the third embodiment of the invention, cover 40 contains both the open ended handle slot 41 which can be closed by a tab 42 (this tab being less elongate and more rounded than tab 17 illustrated in the first embodiment) and the zip opening 43 which is similar to that described with reference to the second embodiment.

Referring to figure 13, there is illustrated a fourth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, a flat piece of insulating material (for instance neoprene or something else) is substantially rectangular and comprises a first edge 50 and a second edge 51. The length of the insulating material is such that when it is wrapped around a drinking vessel 52 (see figure 13 b) the edges 50 and 51 are adjacent each side of the handle 53. A small extensions piece (tab 54) extends from edge 51, and passes through the handle 53 and can be attached to the other side of the insulating material, hi this particular non-limiting embodiment, tab 54 contains a VeI cro patch and there is a corresponding Velcro patch 55 on the other side of the insulating material. Of course, other types of attachments may also be used.

Referring to figure 14, there is illustrated a fifth embodiment of the invention. This invention is similar to the fourth embodiment except that the tab 56 has a slightly different design and the positioning of Velcro patch 57 is also slightly different.

Referring to figure 15, there is illustrated a sixth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the insulating material 58 comprises a slot 59 and adjacent each edge 60, 61 is a Velcro patch or other type of connecting means. The attachment of the cover of the sixth embodiment is illustrated in figure 15 b and 15 c.

Referring to figure 16, there is illustrated a seventh embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, binding 66 is sewn down the side and continues right around the base and up the opposite seam so that the base looks like a semicircle laying flat. The benefit is that the insulating cover can be packaged flat, it does not require gluing in the manufacturing, is less labour intensive, is stronger and more durable. The base conforms to the shape of the mug once the mug is inserted. The cover has a slot 65 through which the handle can project.

Each embodiment of the invention provides a quality insulating cover for a container, hi each embodiment, the handle of the container can be accommodated without needing to stretch or otherwise damage the cover by trying to push it over the handle. When in position,, the cover is difficult to inadvertently remove. The cover can also function to provide better grip to the container as the cover material is fairly tactile and grippable. The base wall can also function as an "inbuilt" coaster and by being fairly cushioning and soft, may also provide greater stability on uneven surfaces. The cover can also provide protection against breakage should the container and cover be accidentally dropped.

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to apply the inclusion of the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "substantially" or "about" will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to any embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.