Container with a suction pipe contained therein

Abstract

 A container includes a body (50) having an open end portion formed with a mouth (51) and a closed end portion, a lid (512) removably mounted on the mouth, a suction pipe (10) received in the body and having a first end portion located adjacent to the mouth, a mediate portion, and a second end portion located adjacent to the closed end portion of the body, a first float (20) mounted on the mediate portion of the suction pipe, and a second float (24) mounted on the second end portion of the suction pipe.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a container with a suction pipe contained therein.

[0002] A conventional container in accordance with the prior art is shown in Fig. 6 and comprises a body 60 formed with a mouth 61, and a lid 62 removably mounted on the mouth 61. A user has to take a suction pipe 40 from a cover 41 and insert it into the body 60 via the mouth 61 after the lid 62 has been removed from the mouth 61 such that the user can drink the beverage contained in the body 60 by means of the suction pipe 40.

[0003] By such an arrangement, however, the user's hand tends to touch the suction pipe 40, thereby causing a sanitary problem. In addition, the container and the suction pipe 40 are separately designed such that the user has to hold the container and the suction pipe 40 simultaneously with his two hands, thereby causing an inconvenience in carrying the container and the suction pipe 40.

[0004] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container comprising a body including an open end portion formed with a mouth and a closed end portion, a lid removably mounted on the mouth, a suction pipe received in the body and including a first end portion located adjacent to the mouth, a mediate portion, and a second end portion located adjacent to the closed end portion of the body, a first float mounted on the mediate portion of the suction pipe, and a second float mounted on the second end portion of the suction pipe.

[0005] In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front plan cross-sectional view of a container according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the container shown in Fig. 1 with a lid being removed;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view showing a suction pipe and two floats;

Fig. 4 is an operational view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a further operational view of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is an exploded view of a conventional container co-operating with a suction pipe in accordance with the prior art.

[0006] Referring now to the remaining drawings, and initially to Figs. 1-3, a container according to the present invention comprises a body 50 including an open end portion formed with a mouth 51 and a closed end portion, a lid 52 removably mounted on the mouth 51, a suction pipe 10 received in the body 50 and including a first end portion located adjacent to the mouth 51, a mediate portion, and a second end portion located adjacent to the closed end portion of the body 50, a first float 20 mounted on the mediate portion of the suction pipe 10, and a second float 24 mounted on the second end portion of the suction pipe 10.

[0007] The suction pipe 10 has a length substantially equal to a distance between a top face of the lid 52 and a bottom face of the closed end portion of the body 50 when it is fitted to the body 50.

[0008] The first float 20 defines a first hole 200 receiving the mediate portion of the suction pipe 10 therein, and the second float 24 defines a second hole 240 receiving the second end portion of the suction pipe 10 therein. Each of the first float 20 and the second float 24 is preferably made of polystyrene material. Each of the first float 20 and the second float 24 has a tetragonal shape or a square shape whose diagonal length is nominally larger than an inner diameter of the mouth 51.

[0009] In operation, referring to Figs. 1 and 4, the suction pipe 10 together with the first and second floats 20 and 24 is initially received in the body 50 with the first end portion abutting on the lid 52 as shown in Fig. 1.

[0010] When the lid 52 is removed from the mouth 51 of the body 50, the suction pipe 10 can be lifted by means of the buoyant force exerted on the first float 20 and the second float 24 until the first float 20 is moved to abut on a bottom portion of the mouth 51 while the first end portion of the suction pipe 10 can extend outward of the mouth 51 as shown in Fig. 4 such that a user can drink the beverage contained in the body 50 of the container by means of the suction pipe 10.

[0011] Referring to Fig. 5, when the level of the beverage contained in the body 50 is gradually lowered, the first end portion of the suction pipe 10 is always kept outward of the mouth 51 due to the second float 214 floating above the level of the beverage, thereby ensuring that the drinker can drink the beverage constantly without interruption by means of the first end portion of the suction pipe 10.

[0012] By such an arrangement, when the lid 52 is removed from the mouth 51, the first end portion of the suction pipe 10 can extend outward of the mouth 51 synchronously such that the user can drink the beverage contained in the body 50 directly without a possibility of touching the suction pipe 10 by his/her hands, thereby achieving a sanitary effect.

[0013] In addition, the suction pipe 10 is received in the body 50 of the container, thereby increasing the portability of the container.

Claims

1. A container comprising a body (50) including an open end portion formed with a mouth (51) and a closed end portion, and a lid (52) mounted on said mouth (51), characterized in that said container further comprises:

a suction pipe (10) received in said body (50) and including a first end portion located adjacent to said mouth (51), a mediate portion, and a second end portion located adjacent to said closed end portion of said body (50);

a first float (20) mounted on said mediate portion of said suction pipe (10); and

a second float (24) mounted on said second end portion of said suction pipe (10).

2. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that said suction pipe (10) has a length substantially equal to a distance between a top face of said lid (52) and a bottom face of said closed end portion of said body (50).

3. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that said first float (20) defines a first hole (200) receiving said mediate portion of said suction pipe (10), and said second float (24) defines a second hole (240) receiving said second end portion of said suction pipe (10).

4. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first float (20) and said second float (24) is made of polystyrene material.

5. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first float (20) and said second float (24) has a tetragonal shape.

6. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first float (20) and said second float (24) has a square shape.

7. The container according to claim 6, characterized in that said first float (20) has a diagonal length nominally larger than an inner diameter of said mouth (51).

8. The container according to claim 6, characterized in that said second float (24) has a diagonal length nominally larger than an inner diameter of said mouth (51).

Drawing