Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw

Abstract

A disposable or reusable collapsible safety drinking straw consisting of a plurality of tubular segments fabricated to nest within one another with a friction fitting wherein the male end of each segment is dimensioned with an opening whose edge is rounded outwardly to a curved/rolled edge and the female end of each segment is dimensioned correspondingly with an opening whose edge is rounded inwardly to a curved/rolled edge. The male and female ends of each tubular segment are designed by dimensioning and material selection such that the tubular segments join together in a liquid-tight junction with other segments so as to be extendable to different lengths, collapsible, packable, and sterilizable, wherein the junction improves safety by separating when a designed amount of force is applied (yield and/or break strength). Tubular segments can be made from any suitable material such as food grade plastic, biodegradable matter, metal, glass, ceramic, composites, concrete, nano-material, and polymers.

Claims

1. I claim, a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw comprising a plurality of tubular segments connected together end to end, said tubular segments having one inwardly rolled over end edge on one end of said tube, and one outwardly rolled over end edge on the opposing end of said tube, said tubular segments dimensioned and made of any material suitable for use by humans as a drinking straw so as to provide a predetermined yield and/or break strength in the resulting friction fitted liquid tight connection between one male connector end (outwardly rolled edge) on one tubular segment and one female connector end (inwardly rolled edge) on another tubular segment of two like dimensioned tubular segments.

2. I claim, a male connector end cap for any tubular segment of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw of claim one that closes and seals the female connector of said Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw, comprising a tubular segment having one end of said tubular segment filled in closing it, and an one outwardly rolled over end edge on the opposing end of said tube dimensioned and made of any material suitable for use as an end cap for said tubular segment so as to provide a predetermined yield and/or break strength in the resulting friction fitted liquid tight connection between said male connector end cap and the female connector end of said Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw or any tubular segment thereof.

3. I claim, a female connector end cap for any tubular segment of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw of claim one that closes and seals the male connector of said Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw, comprising a tubular segment having one end of said tubular segment filled in closing it, and an one inwardly rolled over end edge on the opposing end of said tube dimensioned and made of any material suitable for use as an end cap for said tubular segment so as to provide a predetermined yield and/or break strength in the resulting friction fitted liquid tight connection between said female connector end cap and the male connector end of said Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw or any tubular segment thereof.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] FIG. 1. Male Connector End Type (Female Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Female Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube.

[0028] FIG. 2. Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube, single piece.

[0029] FIG. 3. Female Connector End Type (Male Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Male Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube.

[0030] FIG. 4. Expanded View of Two Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes as shown in FIG. 2, shown with the end caps of FIGS. 1, and 3 at their respective ends of the assembly.

[0031] FIG. 5. Embodiment of an example drinking straw assembled from five Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes connected together to form a straw.

[0032] FIG. 6. Half Section View of Male Connector End Type (Female Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Female Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube.

[0033] FIG. 7. Half Section View of Female Connector End Type (Male Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Male Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube.

[0034] FIG. 8. Half Section View of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube, single device/piece/element/segment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] FIG. 1. Male Connector End Type (Female Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Female Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. This end cap is the male connector end of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube only, with the balance of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube removed and replaced with a solid cap placed just above the male connector end such that a closing of the female receiver end of the tube is accomplished by placing this end cap into the female connector end of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. The male connector end of this partial tube end cap has the appropriate dimensions as designed for closing the particular Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube female end such that it is sealed.

[0036] The outwardly rolled end of the tube is curved or rolled over towards the center of the tube into a curve or roll shape dimensioned as needed in order to provide a friction fitting between the end cap and the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube such that the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube is closed to the flow of fluid through that end when the cap is in place. The dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends, thus, enabling this to be an engineer-able design (by alteration of the individual dimensions and of the proportional and direct physical relationship between dimensions) element for predetermining the yield and/or break strength of the connection resulting between two mate-able ends of two Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes.

[0037] FIG. 2. The Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube, single device/piece/element/segment is shown. This a single element tube which is the main body element of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube that when used in multiple produces a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw assembled from multiple single element tubes of the same dimension so as to provide a predetermined yield and/or break away force to collapse the drinking straw providing a resultantly safer drinking straw.

[0038] The outwardly rolled end of the tube and the inwardly rolled end of the tube are curved or rolled over towards or away the center of the tube into a curve or roll shape as needed in order to provide a friction fitting between the two different ends of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube such that the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube is extended in length by the next Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube fitted into place female end to male end and designed or programmed to collapse under a pre-determined amount of impact force through design by material selection and device dimension. As above, the dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends.

[0039] FIG. 3. Female Connector End Type (Male Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Male Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. This end cap is the female connector end of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube only, with the balance of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube removed and replaced with a solid cap placed just above the female connector end such that a closing of the male receiver end of the tube is accomplished by placing this end cap onto the male connector end of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. The female connector end of the partial tube end cap has the appropriate dimension as designed for closing the particular Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube male end such that it is sealed.

[0040] The inwardly rolled end of the tube is curved or rolled over towards the center of the tube into a curve or roll shape dimensioned as needed in order to provide a friction fitting between the end cap and the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube such that the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube is closed to the flow of fluid through that end when the cap is in place. As above, the dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends.

[0041] FIG. 4. An Expanded View of Two Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube devices/pieces/elements/segments (as shown in FIG. 1) shown with the end caps at the appropriate ends of the assembly. This figure includes both end caps as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 and two of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes as shown in FIG. 2. This figure shows an embodiment of the invention comprised of the two Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes with end caps as appropriate for each end opening of the two element assembled straw to seal or close the ends of the straw.

[0042] FIG. 5. Embodiment of an example drinking straw assembled from five Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube segments connected together to form a single straw. This figure shows an embodiment of the invention comprised of five Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes connected together using the appropriate friction fitting (with predetermined yield and/or break force) to construct a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw of length equal to about five times the length of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube alone. As an example, given a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube length of about two inches (2.54 cm), five such elements fitted together would provide a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw of approximately ten inches (25.4 cm) in length.

[0043] The material that the tube is made from combined with the appropriate dimension and arc length of the curved/rolled edge determines the amount of force required to break the connection between Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes. Materials with larger coefficients of drag, and designs with dimensions that provide tighter connections between male and female ends, and through longer rolled edges or minor differences in resulting dimensional size provide the ability to engineer into a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw any suitable yield and/or break strength desired to achieve the rigidity and collapsible force required for a particular application.

[0044] The number of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw single tube elements used in a particular length Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw will impact the material and dimensional design and must be considered when engineering the desired end yield and/or break strength and length desired for a particular Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw application.

[0045] FIG. 6. The Half Section View of Male Connector End Type (Female Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Female Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. This is the same male connector type end plug designed to close the female connector type end of a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube that is shown in FIG. 1.

[0046] Note that rolled end edge is rolled over outwardly to whatever length of curve or roll is necessary to achieve the desired yield and/or break strength of the connection, which in the case of an end cap may be less than the break strength of the overall Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw that this end cap closes. Also note that the curved/rolled edge may or may not be left separated (i.e. whether it is curved/rolled over enough to touch) from the material it was rolled over from after it is rolled over. This separation length/contact after the curve/roll over can be used to engineer the yield and/or break strength desired of the resulting connection between corresponding mate-able ends of two connected Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes. As above, the dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends.

[0047] FIG. 7. Half Section View of Female Connector End Type (Male Receiver End-Plugging Type) with curved/rolled end dimensioned for closing Male Receiver End of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube. This is the same female connector type end plug designed to close the male connector type end of a Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube that is shown in FIG. 3.

[0048] Note that rolled end edge is curved or rolled over inwardly to whatever length is necessary to achieve the desired yield and/or break strength of the connection, which in the case of an end cap may be less than the break strength of the overall Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw that this end cap closes. Also note that the curved/rolled edge may or may not be left separated (i.e. whether it is curved/rolled over enough to touch) from the material it was rolled over from after it is rolled over. This separation length/contact after the curve/roll over can be used to engineer the yield and/or break strength desired of the resulting connection between corresponding mate-able ends of two connected Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes. As above, the dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends.

[0049] FIG. 8. Half Section View of Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube, single tubular segment/device, as shown in FIG. 2, is shown here in half cut away view.

[0050] Note that rolled end edges are curved/rolled over inwardly or outwardly to whatever length is necessary to achieve the desired yield and/or break strength of the connection, which in the case of an end cap may be less than the break strength of the overall Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw that this end cap closes. Also note that the curved/rolled edge may or may not be left separated (i.e. whether it is curved/rolled over enough to touch) from the material it was rolled over from after it is rolled over. This separation length/contact after the curve/roll over can be used to engineer the yield and/or break strength desired of the resulting connection between corresponding mate-able ends of two connected Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tubes.

[0051] Where the ends of the tube are curved/rolled inwardly or outwardly more than 360 degrees of rotation providing an open ring of material around the end of the tube inside the curved/rolled edge, may or may not be rolled tightly enough for the more inwardly material to be in contact with proceeding material in the roll. The tightness of the fitting between the female and male ends can be adjusted in part by varying the length, tightness of fit, and/or the length/amount of the curving/rolling over of the material at the end of the Collapsible Safety Drinking Straw tube so as to vary the amount of material in contact that will provide friction between connector ends. As above, the dimensions of this device can be varied with respect to each other so as to engineer in any desired tightness of fit between ends.