Apparatus for dispensing a substance in a liquid beverage

• US 5,711,420 A
• Filed: 02/20/1996
• Issued: 01/27/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canning Concepts Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Canning Concepts Incorporated
• Inventors: Spring, Robert E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sewell, Paul T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lam, Nhan T.
• Application Number:
  US08/603,979
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 206/219, 206/222, 206/568, 206/217, 220/277, 220/528, 220/501, 220/505, 220/269, 220/906
• US Class Current: 206/222
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 17/4012 for opening partially by means of a tearing tab
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 17/521 Attached can-cutting devices
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3205 Separate rigid or semi-rigid containers joined to each other at their external surfaces B65D81/3288 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3216 Rigid containers disposed one within the other
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3222 with additional means facilitating admixture

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing a substance in a liquid beverage contained in a container includes a receptacle containing the substance formed in the interior of the container and a tab attached to the top of the container for bursting the receptacle to dispense the substance and for opening a pour panel in the top of the container so that the liquid beverage container be drunk from the container. The receptacle can be formed in the top of the container such that it is upwardly openable so that a dispenser containing the substance to be dispensed can be added to the receptacle after the container has been manufactured.

Claims

1. An apparatus for dispensing a substance in a liquid beverage comprising:

a container for containing a liquid beverage, the container including a body and a top defining an interior;

a well formed in the top comprising a breakable lower portion and an unbreakable side wall and having an open top; and

a dispenser containing a substance to be dispensed including an unbreakable top, an unbreakable side, and a breakable lower portion, the dispenser sized to fit in the well,

wherein the dispenser is fitted in and held by the well with the lower portion facing downward, so that when pressure is applied to the top of the dispenser, the lower portion of the dispenser and the lower portion of the well break open, thereby dispensing the substance in the beverage.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a tab attached to a top of the container wherein the tab applies the pressure to the top of the dispenser.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the well is adjacent an opening in the top for dispensing the beverage.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the well is located within an opening in the top for dispensing the beverage.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container is cylindrical.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a slot formed in the side wall of the well; and

a lock rim protruding from the side of the dispenser, the lock rim fitting in the slot when the dispenser is inserted in the well.