BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device which would provide a user with access to a fluid during strenuous activity such as bicycling or- jogging while enabling his hands to be f ee.

One of the major problems with exercising is the inability to conveniently carry a supply of liquid to replenish the fluids which are excreted by the body during exercise. Under certain condi¬ tions, a person exercising may- lose an excessive amount of fluids resulting in faintness, heat stroke, or on rare occasions, death. Because of the inconvenience of carrying a container of fluid in one's hand while exercising, people simply re¬ frain from carrying containers with them while engaging in exercise.

Previous devices have consisted of apparatus¬ es which fit either over a person's shoulders to be carried on the back, or around the waist. These devices are quite cumbersome and extremely impractical when used during exercise. The fluid is usually stored in a container located too far away from a user's mouth, requiring a great deal of suction to move the liquid to the user's mouth. Since the user is already expending con¬ siderable energy during exercise, such devices are considered hindrances rather than aids.

SUBST

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a container for fluid which is capable of being secured around a user's neck so as to provide the user with a ready supply of easily accessible fluid during ex¬ ercise. More specifically, the device comprises a generally U-shaped container having individual straps at each end of the container which are cap¬ able of being secured around the user's neck. The container will be relatively thin so as to be cap¬ able of holding a sufficient amount of liquid without causing discomfort to the user while exer¬ cising.

The container may either be rigid or flexi- ble, while the interior of the container is pref¬ erably insulated so as to minimize the thermal ex¬ change effects between the user's body and the container. The strap members may be secured to one another through a variety of means. One means would be a projecting member extending from one strap and capable of being inserted into a corres¬ ponding aperture member on the opposite strap. An alternative means for securing the straps would be a series of projections extending from the ends of each strap which would be capable of being insert¬ ed into the spaces formed between projecting mem¬ bers in an interlocking fashion when the straps are pressed together.

Still a third means of securing the strap members together would be by placing adhesive material at the ends of each strap, such as VELCRO ^® , which may be pressed together to form a secure means to hold a container. All three

securing means identified above may be readily locked and unlocked by the user.

Adhesive is formed on the back side of the container which, when pressed against the clothing of the user, will reduce the movement of the con¬ tainer during exercise. The adhesive will be formed on the back side of the container and will be covered by a strip of contact paper which may be readily removed by the user prior to exercise. A straw member will extend from the bottom center portion of the container up through the wall of the container to the user's mouth. When not in use, the user may fold the straw across the ridge of the container and secure it thereto with insertion of the straw between two inwardly- biased, upright projection members.

The straw member itself may have one or more accordion joint me ebrs in that portion of t ^' e straw extending from the container. The purpose of these accordion joints is to provide the user with flexibility during use at physical activity and to facilitate the folding of the straw when not in use into the slot formed by the extension members. As an alternative embodiment, the container may have a hollow threaded extension portion formed on the wall of the container so as to pro¬ vide communication with the interior of the con¬ tainer. A threaded cap member would be capable of being screwed onto the threaded extension member to form an air-tight, liquid-tight seal. When desired, the user would simply screw off the cap and insert a straw through the extension portion

into the container to remove the liquid.

It is an objective of this invention to pro¬ vide a user with a convenient means for storing and drinking liquid during physical activity. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the con¬ tainer in use .

Figure 2 is a front plan view of the contain¬ er. Figure 3 is a rear plan view of the contain¬ er.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional- view of the container along lines IV-IV of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the container along lines V-V of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the straw member of the container shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the container along lines VII-VII of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is an alternative embodiment of the securing means shown in Figure 7.

Figure 9 is an enlarged view of the securing means for the strap members. Figure 10 is a side view of the securing means shown in Figure 9.

Figure 11 is an alternative securing means for the strap members.

Figure 12 is a side view of the alternate securing means shown in Figure 11.

Figure 13 is an enlarged view of a threaded extension member formed on the container.

Figure 14 is an alternate embodiment of the

invention .

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a con¬ tainer 20 as it is intended to be used. The con- tainer 20, ordinarily made of plastic, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, is a generally ar¬ cuate or C-shaped configuration with a flared mid-portion and having a pair of strap members 22a, 22b, extending from the ends of said arcu¬ ate-shaped container 20 and secured to one another around a user's neck. A straw member 24 extends generally from the lowest mid-point of the con¬ tainer 20 through the wall of the container up to the user's mouth. Liquid may be extracted from the container by the user by sucking on the end of the straw 24.

Figure 2 is a more detailed perspective of the container 20. End portions 26a, 26b of strap members 22a, 22b have a self-adhesive substance 28a, 28b such as VELCRO® placed in such a manner so that when pressed together by the user, the end members 26a, 26b will adhere to one another with sufficient strength to support the container 20. The adhesive substance 28a, 28b will be of suffic- ient strength to support the container but will render the end members capable of being pulled apart without a great deal of. effort by the user. As shown in Figure 2, the straw 24 is not be- ing used. When not in use, it is intended that the straw member will lay along the upper ridge 30 of the container 20 and will be secured thereto by insertion between a pair of inwardly-biased

projection members, 32a, 32b. The straw 24 may be inserted and removed from the projection members 32a, 32b repeatedly without detrimental effect to the integrity of the straw 24. The projection members 32a, 32b are formed generally along the upper ridge 30 of the container 20.

In order to prevent excessive movement of the container 20 during exercise, Figure 3 shows a second adhesive substance 36 placed on a back side 38 of the container 20. This second adhesive 36 may also be VELCRO ^® . Prior to use, the second ad¬ hesive substance 36 is covered by a strip of tear-away contact paper 40. As shown in Figure 3, when required for use, the user will tear off the paper 40 and press the second adhesive substance against his or her clothing. In this manner, the container 20 will be secured primarily by strap members 22a, 22b, and secondarily, by the second adhesive substance 36 pressing against the user's clothing. The primary purpose of this second ad¬ hesive substance 20 is to prevent excessive move¬ ment of the container 20 during exercise.

As shown in Figure 4, insulating material 42 such as aluminum may be placed around center por- tion 43 of container 20 for the purpose of main¬ taining the liquid contained therein at a speci¬ fied temperature, and to minimize any thermal exchange which might occur between the liquid con¬ tained in the container 20 and the user's body. As an alternative insulation, a hollow space can be formed between the outer wall of the container 20 and the center portion 43.

Figure 5 shows the straw 24 extending

through a front wall 44 of the container 20. Fig¬ ure 6 shows an accordion joint member 46 is formed on straw member 44 to provide the user with maxi¬ mum flexibility in maneuvering the straw to his/ her mouth during physical activity. Additionally, the accordion joint member 46 provides a degree of safety to the user in that it would diminish seri¬ ous injury during a fall while the user is drink¬ ing. In Figure 7, the straw 24 is inserted between the two inwardly-biased projection members 32a, 32b. In this illustration, the projection members 32a, 32b are generally C-shaped . The straw 24 may be lifted out of a slot 48 formed between the projection members 32a, 32b repeatedly without any detrimental effect to the integrity of the straw 24. The inward bias of the projection members 32a, 32b will be sufficient merely to secure the straw without causing any damage to the straw 24 by repeated removal and replacement. It is con¬ templated that the projection members 32a, 32b will be formed directly on the front wall 44 of the container 20 in a one-piece construction.

An alternative embodiment to the projection members 32a, 32b is shown in Figure 8. A generally L-shaped member 50 is formed on the front wall 44 in a one-piece construction. The straw 24 may be inserted and secured between one side of the L-shaped member 50 and the front wall 44. As in the previous embodiment shown in Figure 7, it is contemplated that the L-shaped member 50 will be sufficiently inwardly-biased to secure straw 24 while permitting easy removal and inser-

tion without damage to the straw.

Figures 9 and 10 show one means to secure the strap members together so as to support the con¬ tainer in use. An outwardly-directed projection member 52 is formed on strap 22a while a corres¬ ponding aperture is formed on strap 22b. When use is desired, the user will insert a projection mem¬ ber 52 into the aperture 54 so as to secure straps 22a and 22b together, enabling the container 20 to be supported around the user's neck. When the user wishes to remove the container from around his/her neck, the user will merely push the pro¬ jection member 52 through the aperture 54, discon¬ necting the strap members 22a and 22b. An alternative means to secure the strap mem¬ bers is illustrated in Figures 11 and 12. Figure 11 shows a series of closely spaced, upwardly-dir- ected projection members 56 formed on strap 22a and a corresponding number of closely spaced, downwardly-directed projection members 58 on strap 22b. When the user desires to secure the straps together, he/she will compress the straps 22a and 22b together so that the series of upwardly-dir¬ ected, spaced projection members will be inserted into spaces 60 formed by the series of downward¬ ly-directed, spaced projection members 58 on strap 22b. Correspondingly, the series of downwardly- directed, spaced projection members 58 will be in¬ serted into spaces 62 formed by the upwardly-dir- ected, spaced projection members 56. In this man¬ ner, a grid will be formed capable of securing the container to the user's neck. When use is no longer required, the user will merely lift strap

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22b from strap 22a and the connection will be bro¬ ken.

One alternative to the present invention is shown in Figure 13. A threaded extension member 64 is formed on the upper ridge 30 of the contain¬ er 20. A threaded cap 66 is formed such that it may be screwed onto the threaded extension member 64 so as to form an air-tight, liquid-tight seal. When use is desired, the cap 66 may be unscrewed and the straw 24 may be inserted through the ex¬ tension member 24 into the container 20.

Figure 14 represents a second alternative embodiment to the present invention in which the container is secured around the user's neck by means of a ring 68 formed from the same material as the container 20. That is, container 20 and ring 68 are a one-piece device. The container is simply slipped over the user's head and may be re¬ moved in the same fashion. Variations and modifications of the present invention may be made and remain within the spirit of applicant's invention as defined herein.

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