GB1585191A

GB1585191A - Disposable drinking cup

Info

Publication number: GB1585191A
Application number: GB2208177A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Mono Containers UK Ltd
Current assignee: Mono Containers UK Ltd
Priority date: 1977-05-25
Filing date: 1977-05-25
Publication date: 1981-02-25
Also published as: FR2391923B2; FR2391923A2; DE2822772A1

Description

(54) DISPOSABLE DRINKING CUP (71) We, MONO CONTAINERS LIMITED, a Company organised under the laws of England, of Malt House, Field End Road.

Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to disposable drink ing cups of seamless plastic sheet material preferably high impact sheet polystyrene but possibly also foam sheet polystyrene material and one object is to provide a suitable design enabling a cup to be stacked with identical cups, leaving a space between the bottoms of a pair of nested and nesting cups in which a metered amount , of an ingredient such as powdered coffee for subsequently making a drink can be stored while the stack of nested cups is being delivered to the machine or is in the.machine waiting for a cup to be dispensed when a drink is purchased by a cus- tomer.

The invention is a modification of the invention, the subject of British Patent Specification No. 36269/75 (Serial No.

1,564,097) in which the statement of invention reads as follows: According to the present invention the cup comprises a disposable drinking cup comprising a bottom and side wall which has means defining upper and lower stacking surfaces and has a projection arranged around the side wall substantially normal to the axis of the cup so that when two such cups are nested together the lower stacking surface on the upper cup sits on the upper stacking surface of the lower cup and the projection on one cup engages with slight interference a substantially plain portion of the side wall of the other cup to resist frictionally the separation of the two cups.

That specification describes as one possibility, the establishment of a seal between the space between the bottoms of the two nested cups, and the outside of the nested cups in which space the ingredient will be housed, and that seal is described as being possible either where the stacking surfaces locate one another, or where the circumferential projection engages the side wall, or both.It has now been discovered that in some applications it is preferable not to have a seal other than at the stacking surfaces immediately above the space for the ingredients, so that when a pair of nested cups are to be separated ready for making a cup of coffee, there will be no delay or danger of sticking due to there being a space between two seals which is not in communication with the outside air, nor any problem when stacking cups. of, building up a pocket of pressurised air what might distort the wall materials.

Accordingly the present invention provides a disposable drinking cup comprising: a bottom and a side wall which has means defining upper and lower stacking surfaces and has a projection arranged around the side wall substantially normal to the axis of the cup so that when two such cups are nested together the lower stacking surface on the upper cup sits on the upper stacking surface of the lower cup and the projection on one cup engages with slight interference a substantially plain portion of the side wall of the other cup to resist frictionally the separation of the two cups, the ring projection or the part of the side wall which is to be, engaged by the ring projection of the other cup, or both, being circumferentially discontinuous to prevent a seal being established by the ring proJection.

Preferably the circumferential projection is an external projection rather near the mouth of the cup, which engages in a downwardly convergent part of the side wall of the cup in which it is nested, and the projection is cir cumferentially discontinuous by having a ring of vertically extending flutes.

Ihe invention may be carried into practice in various ways, and one embodiment will be briefly described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an elevation of a drinking cup: and Figure 2 is a detail to an increased scale of a section showing how two cups, as shown in Figure 1 co-operate with each other when nested.

In the cup of Figure 1, the bottom 11 is generally flat with a very shallow central recess and the side wall 12 is generally frustoconical diverging upwards. At the bottom there is a ring 13 which converges upwards at an angle of 2" to the axis, leading to an outward narrow horizontal shoulder 23. Above the shoulder 23 a short wall portion 24 diverges upwards at an angle of 15 , and leads to the main part of the side wall 12 which is at an angle of 40 and leads to a curled over drinking rim 15 at the top.

The central part of the wall 12 has a number of strengthening ribs 25 formed by narrow horizontal shoulders and vertical cylindrical rings.

The uppermost cylindrical ring terminates in- an outward step 26 and above that an upwardly convergent ring 27 at a shallow angle of 2" to the vertical axis.

The shoulder 23 defines a stacking- surface for the lower corner 17 of an upper, nestedcup as shown in Figure 2. The outward ring 14 on the upper cup where the step 26 and ring 27 meet makes frictional contact with the side wall of the lower cup above the ring 27 and slightly deforms that. side wall as shown in Figure 2 to locate the- cups against relative tilting and to provide sufficient friction to prevent the cups being separated without a reasonable axial pull on- them.

The side wall above the ring 27 is formed with a ring of circumferentially space flutes 31 for the passage of air around the outside of the ring 14 to prevent a seal being formed between the outside of the nested pair, and the space between the middle part of the height of the two side walls. The ffutes extend from halfway up- the ring 27 to the top of a band 33 parallel with the side wall 12 but of smallèr radius than the part above and below it That ensures that the contact with the ring 14' will' occur in the height of the band; 33, even if the thickness of the sheet material varies locally from cup tocup. Thus the necessary movement to release a pair of cups cannot be more than the height of the band 33--'.

Coffee powder is included in- the- space between the bottoms 1:1 of the two cups and is effectively sealed from- the atmosphere by a seal at the surfaces 23 and 17. The cup can be conventionally vacuum formed from sheet high-inpact polystyrene material top be of cheap seamless construction suitable for throwing away after use.

The inside of the ring 14 can be used for a lid after the drink has been made or indeed' for the upper cup of a stack to prevent the ingredient in that upper cupsbeing in contact with the external air before the. drink. is mad.

The cup- is suitable for use in automatic vending machines where known mechanism can pull the lower cup from a stack before hot water is poured in to make the drink.

It is to be noted that the cup could be a single-walled cup as shown, or could be a double-walled cup with the outer surface of the outer formed with the ring 14 and the inner surface of the inner formed with the flutes 31.

The side wall of the cup may have upper and lower radially projecting latch means so that when two cups are stacked together on the stacking surfaces the latch means on the upper cup engages with the latch means on the lower cup to hold them positively engaged in good sealing contact by means of elastic deformation of the wall material of the cup.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A disposable drinking cup comprising a bottom and a side wall which has means defining upper and lower stacking surfaces and has a projection arranged around the side wall substantially normal to the axis of the cup so that when two such cups are nested together the lower stacking surface on the upper cup sits on the upper stacking surface of the lower cup and the projection on one cup engages with slight interference a substantially plain portion of the side wall of the other cup to resist frictionally the separation of the two cups, the ring projection or the part of the side wall which is to be engaged by the ring projection of the other cup, or both, being circumferentially discontinuous: to prevent a seal being established' by the ring projection.

2. A cup as claimed in Claim 1 in which a seal is provided between the space between the bottoms of the two cups and the outside of the nested pair.

3. A cup as claimed in Claim 2 in which the seal is provided where the stacking sur- faces which are circumferentially continuous surfaces, locate one another.

4. A cup as claimed in any preceding claim in which the ring projection and said part of the side wall-engaged by the projection are both discontinuous.

5. A cup as claimed in Claim 4 in which the part of the side wall engaging the projection has generally vertically-extending circumferentially-spaced flutes.

6. A cup as claimed in any preceding claim in which the upper and lower stacking surfaces are at top and bottom respectively of an upwardly convergent local part of the side wall.

7. A cup as claimed in any of Claim 1-6 in which the projection is an external projection.

8. A cup as~ claimed in any preceding.

claim in which the said part of the side wall is of a diffèrent diameter from the parts of the side wall above and below the saidpart;

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. section showing how two cups, as shown in Figure 1 co-operate with each other when nested. In the cup of Figure 1, the bottom 11 is generally flat with a very shallow central recess and the side wall 12 is generally frustoconical diverging upwards. At the bottom there is a ring 13 which converges upwards at an angle of 2" to the axis, leading to an outward narrow horizontal shoulder 23. Above the shoulder 23 a short wall portion 24 diverges upwards at an angle of 15 , and leads to the main part of the side wall 12 which is at an angle of 40 and leads to a curled over drinking rim 15 at the top. The central part of the wall 12 has a number of strengthening ribs 25 formed by narrow horizontal shoulders and vertical cylindrical rings. The uppermost cylindrical ring terminates in- an outward step 26 and above that an upwardly convergent ring 27 at a shallow angle of 2" to the vertical axis. The shoulder 23 defines a stacking- surface for the lower corner 17 of an upper, nestedcup as shown in Figure 2. The outward ring 14 on the upper cup where the step 26 and ring 27 meet makes frictional contact with the side wall of the lower cup above the ring 27 and slightly deforms that. side wall as shown in Figure 2 to locate the- cups against relative tilting and to provide sufficient friction to prevent the cups being separated without a reasonable axial pull on- them. The side wall above the ring 27 is formed with a ring of circumferentially space flutes 31 for the passage of air around the outside of the ring 14 to prevent a seal being formed between the outside of the nested pair, and the space between the middle part of the height of the two side walls. The ffutes extend from halfway up- the ring 27 to the top of a band 33 parallel with the side wall 12 but of smallèr radius than the part above and below it That ensures that the contact with the ring 14' will' occur in the height of the band; 33, even if the thickness of the sheet material varies locally from cup tocup. Thus the necessary movement to release a pair of cups cannot be more than the height of the band 33--'. Coffee powder is included in- the- space between the bottoms 1:1 of the two cups and is effectively sealed from- the atmosphere by a seal at the surfaces 23 and 17. The cup can be conventionally vacuum formed from sheet high-inpact polystyrene material top be of cheap seamless construction suitable for throwing away after use. The inside of the ring 14 can be used for a lid after the drink has been made or indeed' for the upper cup of a stack to prevent the ingredient in that upper cupsbeing in contact with the external air before the. drink. is mad. The cup- is suitable for use in automatic vending machines where known mechanism can pull the lower cup from a stack before hot water is poured in to make the drink. It is to be noted that the cup could be a single-walled cup as shown, or could be a double-walled cup with the outer surface of the outer formed with the ring 14 and the inner surface of the inner formed with the flutes 31. The side wall of the cup may have upper and lower radially projecting latch means so that when two cups are stacked together on the stacking surfaces the latch means on the upper cup engages with the latch means on the lower cup to hold them positively engaged in good sealing contact by means of elastic deformation of the wall material of the cup. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A disposable drinking cup comprising a bottom and a side wall which has means defining upper and lower stacking surfaces and has a projection arranged around the side wall substantially normal to the axis of the cup so that when two such cups are nested together the lower stacking surface on the upper cup sits on the upper stacking surface of the lower cup and the projection on one cup engages with slight interference a substantially plain portion of the side wall of the other cup to resist frictionally the separation of the two cups, the ring projection or the part of the side wall which is to be engaged by the ring projection of the other cup, or both, being circumferentially discontinuous: to prevent a seal being established' by the ring projection.

8. A cup as~ claimed in any preceding.

9. A cup as claimed in any preceding claim in which the side wall has upper and lower radially projecting latching means so that when the two cups are stacked together on the stacking surfaces the latch means on the upper cup engages with the latch means on the lower cup to hold them positively engaged in good sealing contact by means of elastic deformation of the wall material of the cup.

10. A cup arranged substantially as herein specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A stack of two or more cups each as claimed in any preceding claim which with the possible exception of the upper cup, include an ingredient for making a drink in the space between the bottom of a nested pair of cups.