Beverage container with extendable drinking straw

• US 5,520,304 A
• Filed: 06/02/1995
• Issued: 05/28/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Shing Hong Industrial Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Shing Hong Industrial Company Limited
• Inventors: Lin, Bang H.
• Primary Examiner(s): MOY, JOSEPH MAN
• Application Number:
  US08/458,116
• Time in Patent Office: 361 Days
• Field of Search: 220/705, 220/707, 220/708, 220/709, 220/710, 215/1 A, 215/229, 229/75
• US Class Current: 220/707
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 19/2211 Lip- or moustache-protecting devices for drinking glasses; Strainers set in a movable or fixed manner in the glasses
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 47/2043 the separate element being formed by an overcap which constricts a spout, the spout being either pushed into alignment with, or pushed through, an opening in the overcap upon rotation of the latter

Abstract

A beverage container is equipped with a rotatable cover and an automatically extendable drinking straw. The container includes an open ended body closed by a removable cap, a straw unit inserted through a conduit on the cap, a cover member rotatably fitted on the cap for rotational movement relative to the cap between a first position allowing the straw to extend through a slot of the cover member and a second position folding the straw unit and closing the slot. A groove formed on the cap engages a raised spot formed on the inner edge of the cover member for indicating when the cover member is rotated to either the first or second position. The straw unit includes a first straw made of elastomeric material and a second straw made of rigid material and sized so that the first straw is held between the conduit and the second straw in a coaxial relation without the use of fastening elements.

Claims

1. A combination of a cap and a straw unit for a beverage container closed by the cap, the cap having an upper wall and a cylindrical conduit projecting from the upper wall, the conduit opening at both ends and communicating with an internal volume of the container, wherein the straw unit is inserted through the conduit and includes a first straw made of elastomeric material and a second straw made of rigid material, wherein the first and second straws are sized so that the first straw is held between the conduit and the second straw in a coaxial relation without the use of fastening elements.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first straw has an inner diameter slightly less than an outer diameter of the second straw, the first straw having at least one outward flange at a first end thereof.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conduit projects from an inclined portion of the upper wall of the cap.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conduit projects from a horizontal portion of the cap.

5. A combination comprising:

a cap, wherein the cap includes an upper wall, and an open cylindrical conduit is defined in the upper wall; and

a straw unit attached to the cap, wherein the straw unit includes a first straw member made of an elastomeric material and a second straw member made of a rigid material, wherein the first straw member extends through the conduit of the cap and is held between a wall of the conduit and the second straw member in a coaxial relation without using fastening elements.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first straw member has an inner diameter slightly less than an outer diameter of the second straw member, the first straw member having at least one outwardly extending flange at a first end thereof.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6, wherein the conduit projects from an inclined portion of the upper wall of the cap.

8. The combination as claimed in claim 6, wherein the conduit projects from a horizontal portion of the cap.

9. The combination as claimed in claim 5, wherein the conduit projects from an inclined portion of the upper wall of the cap.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 5, wherein the conduit projects from a horizontal portion of the cap.