|Publication number||US5326019 A|
|Application number||US 08/055,255|
|Publication date||Jul 5, 1994|
|Filing date||May 3, 1993|
|Priority date||May 3, 1993|
|Publication number||055255, 08055255, US 5326019 A, US 5326019A, US-A-5326019, US5326019 A, US5326019A|
|Inventors||Steven K. Wolff|
|Original Assignee||Wolff Steven K|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (16), Referenced by (52), Classifications (6), Legal Events (4)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The invention relates to the field of beverage containers and in particular to paper cups. There are no double-walled beverage receptacles made of paper that the applicant is aware of. It is believed that the use of a double wall is novel in the context of paper cups. It is also believed that using double walled paper cups offers advantages over other evacuated containers that have not been seen in the prior art.
It is believed that the invention will find utility among the large companies that supply hot beverage's such as coffee. Fast food franchisees in particular, usually provide a great deal of coffee and need a supply of cheap receptacles for such beverages. Usually, such companies simply supply the coffee in paper cups without giving thought to the need to keep such beverages warm for a period of time. Other companies provide receptacles for beverages made of styrofoam. Styrofoam may be used as an insulator for beverages however, it is not environmentally safe. That is, styrofoam is not biodegradable and will pollute the environment if a styrofoam cup is simply thrown away.
The invention is a paper cup having inner and outer walls made of paper. The inner and outer walls are spaced apart from one another by means of a spacer or insert located between the two layers. This spacer may be merely a paper member having a thickness of about 1/8-1/2" and wound in spiral fashion between the inner and outer wall. Between the layers a pocket of air is created and this acts as an insulator for cold and warm beverages. The spiral member also provides structural rigidity. The bottom of the cup may be one layer. The cups may be made with a relatively narrow width, the air space between the inner and outer walls being about 1/8-1/2".
It is an object of the invention to provide a paper cup that is environmentally safe and is able keep warm beverages warm for a reasonable time period.
Another objective is to provide an insulated beverage cup that is environmentally safe, and is degradable.
Another objective of the invention is to provide an insulated beverage cup that will prevent the user's hands and fingers from being burnt by the heat from the beverage.
Still another objective is to provide an insulated beverage container that is inexpensive to produce and will keep cold beverages cold for a reasonable time.
Other objective will become known to those skilled in the art once the invention is shown and described.
FIG. 1 Shows the overall construction of the invention.
The invention is shown with a removed section in FIG. 1. Each cup is comprised of an inner wall A and an outer wall B. The cup may be constructed in various ways including making blanks of the inner and outer wall and then connecting them together to form a cylindrical shape. Usually a third member E is added to walls after they are rolled up. This member functions as the bottom of the cup. It is thought that the walls should be spaced about 1/8-1/2" apart and thus the inner wall should be made accordingly a little shorter than the outer wall.
The space D between the walls will create an air barrier that offers some insulation for both warm and cold beverages. Air is a relatively effective barrier to heat and the space required to insulate warm beverages is not great, probably an air space of as little as 1/8" would be enough to insulate the hot coffee or other beverage in order to keep it from burning the hands of the user.
This size air space is also sufficient to keep the beverage cold or warm for a reasonable amount of time considering the relatively inexpensive nature of the cup. In other words, one could construct a cup with a larger air space with added expense going into making such a cup structurally sound. By the same token, the air space could be made smaller but with less effectiveness as insulation.
It is preferred that the insert C be placed between the walls in a spiral fashion seen in FIG. 1. The insert would generally run in a spiral fashion along the outer surface of the inner wall and also along the inner surface of the outer wall. In other words, it is in connection with both walls and serves to keep them a short distance apart. The general direction of the spiral pattern that the insert undertakes is shown in FIG. 1.
Of course other configurations of the insert are possible without violating the spirit of the invention. For instance, the insert could be laid out as horizontal ribs running across the walls or the insert could be randomly spaced bumps in the walls. The spacer may be of square or rectangular cross section in order to align flush with each wall. Other shapes such as round, etc. could be also be used for the spacer.
In addition to creating the air space, the spacer also provides structural rigidity to the cup itself. It is preferred that this member may be made of paper e.g. the walls themselves.
The bottom of the cup may also be made of paper. It is not believed necessary that this member be a double wall e.g. the side walls, a single wall or layer should be sufficient. It is also preferred that the bottom wall be somewhat above the level of the very bottom edges of the walls. This so that the bottom wall does not burn the fingers as it has only one wall. In other words, it is preferred that the bottom wall not be flush with the surface the cup is resting upon.
|Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US2266828 *||Jan 5, 1939||Dec 23, 1941||Milwaukee Lace Paper Company||Paper cup|
|US2591578 *||Dec 20, 1947||Apr 1, 1952||Glassman Jacob A||Insulated container|
|US2661889 *||Jul 20, 1948||Dec 8, 1953||Delbert E Phinney||Thermal coffee cup|
|US2853222 *||Apr 20, 1953||Sep 23, 1958||John P Gallagher||Insulated foil lined paper cup|
|US3082900 *||Jul 21, 1959||Mar 26, 1963||Foster Grant Co Inc||Multi-wall insulating receptacle|
|US3141913 *||Dec 10, 1959||Jul 21, 1964||Illinois Tool Works||Method of making a container|
|US3456860 *||Jan 9, 1968||Jul 22, 1969||Illinois Tool Works||Double wall cup|
|US3908523 *||Nov 5, 1973||Sep 30, 1975||Dainippon Printing Co Ltd||Method of making liquid-tight cup|
|US4261501 *||Oct 31, 1979||Apr 14, 1981||Hallmark Cards Incorporated||Laminated insulated hot drink cup|
|US4993580 *||Apr 16, 1990||Feb 19, 1991||Smith Glen R||Insulated beverage container|
|US5092485 *||Mar 8, 1991||Mar 3, 1992||King Car Food Industrial Co., Ltd.||Thermos paper cup|
|US5205473 *||Mar 19, 1992||Apr 27, 1993||Design By Us Company||Recyclable corrugated beverage container and holder|
|DE1912705A1 *||Mar 13, 1969||Oct 9, 1969||Mono Containers Ltd||Trinkbecher|
|GB1366310A *||Title not available|
|JPH046036A *||Title not available|
|NL291640A *||Title not available|
|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US5660326 *||Apr 30, 1996||Aug 26, 1997||Sherwood Tool Incorporated||Multi-layered insulated cup formed from folded sheet|
|US5839653 *||May 23, 1997||Nov 24, 1998||Zadravetz; Robert B.||Container with corrugated wall|
|US5964400 *||Jun 13, 1997||Oct 12, 1999||Sherwood Tool Inc||Multi-layered insulated cup formed from folded sheet|
|US6085970 *||Nov 30, 1998||Jul 11, 2000||Insulair, Inc.||Insulated cup and method of manufacture|
|US6126584 *||Oct 14, 1998||Oct 3, 2000||Zadravetz; Robert B.||Method for forming a container with corrugated wall|
|US6152363 *||May 3, 1999||Nov 28, 2000||Westvaco Corporation||Sleeve construction for improved paperboard cup insulation|
|US6196454||Jun 6, 2000||Mar 6, 2001||Insulair, Inc.||Insulated cup and method of manufacture|
|US6224954||Mar 25, 1998||May 1, 2001||Fort James Corporation||Insulating stock material and containers and methods of making the same|
|US6253995||May 16, 2000||Jul 3, 2001||Burrows Paper Corporation||Insulated containers and sidewalls having laterally extending flutes, and methods|
|US6257485||Aug 7, 2000||Jul 10, 2001||Insulair, Inc.||Insulated cup and method of manufacture|
|US6267837||Aug 12, 1999||Jul 31, 2001||Fort James Corporation||Method of making container with insulating stock material|
|US6378766 *||Mar 5, 2001||Apr 30, 2002||Insulair, Inc.||Insulated cup and method of manufacture|
|US6422456||Jan 23, 2002||Jul 23, 2002||Insulair, Inc.||Three-layered insulated cup and method of manufacture|
|US6586075 *||Aug 12, 1999||Jul 1, 2003||Fort James Corporation||Insulated stock material and containers and methods of making the same|
|US7290679||Jun 11, 2003||Nov 6, 2007||Laurent Hechmati||Foldable air insulating sleeve|
|US7380685||Feb 19, 2004||Jun 3, 2008||Simmons Michael J||Containers, sleeves and lids therefor, assemblies thereof, and holding structure therefor|
|US7458504||Oct 12, 2006||Dec 2, 2008||Huhtamaki Consumer Packaging, Inc.||Multi walled container and method|
|US7537136||Sep 10, 2004||May 26, 2009||Laurent Hechmati||Foldable air insulating sleeve|
|US7699216||Nov 4, 2004||Apr 20, 2010||Solo Cup Operating Corporation||Two-piece insulated cup|
|US7717325||Oct 1, 2007||May 18, 2010||International Paper Company||Double wall container with internal spacer|
|US7726551||Apr 18, 2008||Jun 1, 2010||Shamrock Cups, Llc||Container with folding lid|
|US7767049||Oct 12, 2006||Aug 3, 2010||Dixie Consumer Products Llc||Multi-layered container having interrupted corrugated insulating liner|
|US7922071||Aug 5, 2008||Apr 12, 2011||Huhtamaki, Inc.||Multi walled container and method|
|US7993254||Oct 26, 2007||Aug 9, 2011||Huhtamaki, Inc.||Multi walled container and method|
|US8371471||Feb 12, 2013||Alex I. Khowaylo||Thermally broken beverage container and method of fabrication|
|US8529723||Aug 26, 2011||Sep 10, 2013||Lbp Manufacturing, Inc.||Process of expediting activation of heat-expandable adhesives/coatings used in making packaging substrates|
|US8708880||Nov 14, 2007||Apr 29, 2014||Pactiv LLC||Three-layered containers and methods of making the same|
|US8960528||Jul 14, 2005||Feb 24, 2015||Dixie Consumer Products Llc||Insulating cup wrapper and insulated container formed with wrapper|
|US9022251||May 26, 2009||May 5, 2015||Laurent Hechmati||Foldable air insulating sleeve|
|US9056712||Mar 27, 2007||Jun 16, 2015||Lbp Manufacturing, Inc.||Thermally activatable insulating packaging|
|US9290312||Aug 14, 2013||Mar 22, 2016||Dart Container Corporation||Double-walled container|
|US20030186605 *||Apr 2, 2003||Oct 2, 2003||Fort James Corporation||Insulating stock material and containers and methods of making the same|
|US20040251262 *||Jun 11, 2003||Dec 16, 2004||Laurent Hechmati||Foldable air insulating sleeve|
|US20050029273 *||Sep 10, 2004||Feb 10, 2005||Laurent Hechmati||Foldable air insulating sleeve|
|US20050115975 *||Nov 4, 2004||Jun 2, 2005||Smith Stephen A.||Two-piece insulated cup|
|US20060196923 *||Feb 28, 2006||Sep 7, 2006||Tedford Richard A Jr||Insulated container|
|US20070228134 *||Mar 27, 2007||Oct 4, 2007||Cook Matthew R||Thermally activatable insulating packaging|
|US20070262129 *||May 15, 2006||Nov 15, 2007||Zadravetz Robert B||Method for forming a container with corrugated wall and rolled lip|
|US20080041860 *||Aug 20, 2007||Feb 21, 2008||Pactiv Corporation||Three-layered containers and methods of making the same|
|US20080078825 *||Oct 1, 2007||Apr 3, 2008||Puls Craig R||Double wall container with internal spacer|
|US20080087715 *||Oct 12, 2006||Apr 17, 2008||Robertson Ronald D||Multi walled container and method|
|US20080090711 *||Oct 26, 2007||Apr 17, 2008||Robertson Ronald D||Multi walled container and method|
|US20080121681 *||Nov 14, 2007||May 29, 2008||Wiedmeyer Warren G||Three-layered containers and methods of making the same|
|US20080290103 *||Aug 5, 2008||Nov 27, 2008||Robertson Ronald D||Multi walled container and method|
|US20090261152 *||Oct 22, 2009||Abbott Phillip G||Container with folding lid|
|US20090261153 *||May 13, 2008||Oct 22, 2009||Abbott Phillip G||Insulating sleeve for containers|
|US20090261156 *||Apr 2, 2009||Oct 22, 2009||Abbott Phillip G||Round top cup with folding closure|
|US20090321508 *||Dec 31, 2009||Thomas Fu||Insulating packaging|
|US20100108693 *||Nov 4, 2009||May 6, 2010||The Coca-Cola Company||Insulated double-walled disposable plastic cup|
|US20100187296 *||Mar 31, 2010||Jul 29, 2010||International Paper Company||Double wall container with internal spacer|
|US20140103103 *||Dec 13, 2013||Apr 17, 2014||Lbp Manufacturing, Inc.||Insulating container|
|USRE35830 *||Aug 16, 1996||Jun 30, 1998||Insul-Air Holdings, Inc.||Multi-layered insulated cup formed of one continuous sheet|
|U.S. Classification||229/403, 229/103.11, 229/4.5|
|Jan 5, 1998||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Jan 30, 2002||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Jul 5, 2002||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|Sep 3, 2002||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20020705