Spill resistant container and method of manufacture

Abstract

The present invention is a spill resistant container apparatus that eliminates the need for pouring of liquid such as bubble solution into or out of the spill resistant container apparatus in order to use the spill resistant container apparatus. The apparatus, which is preferably provided with bubble solution sealingly contained within the apparatus, will, when opened, prohibit the pouring of liquid out of the apparatus regardless of the physical orientation of the apparatus. The apparatus is preferably of such low cost construction that the apparatus is readily disposable after the bubble solution contained within the apparatus is substantially consumed.

Claims

1. A container having an inner cavity and a piston-free funnel extending into said inner cavity, wherein said container having a piston-free funnel defines a single non-assembly discrete integral structural member, and wherein said container includes a frangible seal adhered to said container so as to substantially seal said inner cavity from the exterior of said container.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein said piston-free funnel is open and provides communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, and wherein when said container contains a non-gaseous fluid and is oriented in any orientation, at least a portion of said non-gaseous fluid is prevented from running out of said container.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein said container contains at least one of a quantity of bubble creation solution and a bubble creation device.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein said container contains a quantity of bubble creation solution and a bubble creation device.

5. The container of claim 1, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container that includes a bottom having a generally disked shaped trough formed therein, and a container wherein a cross-section of said piston-free funnel defines a substantially rectangular shaped cross-section.

6. The container of claim 1, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

7. A container having an inner cavity and at least one piston-free opening providing communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, wherein said container is adapted such that when said container contains a non-gaseous fluid and is oriented in any orientation, at least a portion of said non-gaseous fluid is prevented from running out of said container, and wherein said container having at least one piston-free opening defines a single non-assembly discrete integral structural member, and wherein said container includes a frangible seal adhered to said container so as to substantially seal said inner cavity from the exterior of said container.

8. The container of claim 7, wherein said container contains at least one of a quantity of bubble creation solution and a bubble creation device.

9. The container of claim 7, wherein said container contains a quantity of bubble creation solution and a bubble creation device.

10. The container of claim 7, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container that includes a bottom having a generally disked shaped trough formed therein, and a container having a funnel extending into said inner cavity wherein a cross-section of said funnel defines a substantially rectangular shaped cross-section.

11. The container of claim 7, wherein said container includes a funnel extending into said inner cavity.

12. The container of claim 7, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

13. A container apparatus comprising a container having a seal adhered thereto such that at least one of a bubble creation device and bubble creation solution is substantially watertightly sealed within said container, wherein said container includes an inner cavity and a piston-free funnel extending into said inner cavity.

14. The container apparatus of claim 13, wherein said piston-free funnel is open and provides communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, and wherein when said container contains a non-gaseous fluid and is oriented in any orientation, at least a portion of said non-gaseous fluid is prevented from running out of said container.

15. The container apparatus of claim 13, wherein said seal defines a frangible seal adhered to said container so as to substantially hermetically seal said inner cavity from the exterior of said container.

16. The container apparatus of claim 13, wherein said container defines at least one of a single non-assembly discrete integral structural member container and a non-destructively inseparable container.

17. The container apparatus of claim 13, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container that includes a bottom having a generally disked shaped trough formed therein, and a container wherein a cross-section of said piston-free funnel defines a substantially rectangular shaped cross-section.

18. The container apparatus of claim 13, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

19. A container having an inner cavity and at least one piston-free opening to provide communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, wherein said at least one piston-free opening includes a frangible seal sealingly connected thereto, and wherein said container is adapted such that said container inner cavity is sealed substantially watertight from the exterior of said container, and such that when said container contains a non-gaseous fluid and is oriented in any orientation and said frangible seal is broken, said non-gaseous fluid is prevented from running out of said container.

20. The container of claim 19, wherein said container defines at least one of a single non-assembly discrete integral structural member container and a non-destructively inseparable container.

21. The container of claim 19, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container that includes a bottom having a generally disked shaped trough formed therein, and a container having a funnel extending into said inner cavity wherein a cross-section of said funnel defines a substantially rectangular shaped cross-section.

22. The container of claim 19, wherein said container includes a funnel extending into said inner cavity.

23. The container of claim 19, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

24. The container of claim 19, wherein said container contains at least one of a quantity of bubble creation solution and a bubble creation device.

25. A container apparatus comprising a container having an inner cavity and a piston-free funnel extending into said inner cavity and an unobstructedly accessible bubble creation device removably contained at least partially within said container, wherein said bubble creation device does not extend beyond an outer surface of said container.

26. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said piston-free funnel is open and provides communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, and wherein when said container contains a non-gaseous fluid and is oriented in any orientation, at least a portion of said non-gaseous fluid is prevented from running out of said container.

27. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said container contains a quantity of bubble creation solution.

28. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said container includes a frangible seal adhered to said container so as to substantially seal said inner cavity from the exterior of said container.

29. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container that includes a bottom having a generally disked shaped trough formed therein, and a container wherein a cross-section of said piston-free funnel defines a substantially rectangular shaped cross-section.

30. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

31. The container apparatus of claim 25, wherein said container defines at least one of a single non-assembly discrete integral structural member container and a non-destructively inseparable container.

32. A container apparatus comprising a container having an inner cavity and a piston-free funnel extending into said inner cavity and a bubble creation device and bubble creation solution substantially hermetically sealed within said container.

33. The container apparatus of claim 32, wherein when said apparatus is unsealed, said bubble creation device and said bubble creation solution are accessible but said bubble creation solution is prevented from running out of said container regardless of the orientation of said container.

34. The container apparatus of claim 32, wherein said bubble creation device defines a bubble creation wand having at least one bubble ring.

35. The container apparatus of claim 32, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

36. A container apparatus comprising a container having an inner cavity and a piston-free opening to provide communication between said inner cavity and the exterior of said container, a bubble creation device, bubble creation solution, and a frangible seal, wherein said frangible seal is affixed to said container such that said bubble creation device and said bubble creation solution are substantially hermetically sealed within said container, and wherein said apparatus is adapted such that when said frangible seal is broken or removed, said bubble creation device and said bubble creation solution are accessible but said bubble creation solution is prevented from running out of said container regardless of the orientation of said container.

37. The container apparatus of claim 36, wherein said bubble creation device defines a bubble creation wand having at least one bubble ring, and wherein when said frangible seal is broken or removed, said bubble creation device is readily removable from said container.

38. The container apparatus of claim 36, wherein said container includes a funnel extending into said inner cavity.

39. The container apparatus of claim 36, wherein said container further defines at least one of a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially disassembling or assembling said container and a container adapted such that bubble creation solution may be spill resistantly accessed within said container without initially pouring bubble solution into or out of said container.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) In order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a first embodiment of the spill resistant container apparatus;

(3) FIG. 2 is an orthographic side section view a first embodiment of the spill resistant container apparatus taken substantially at the location of section arrows 2 shown in FIG. 1 and is shown in a pre-opened configuration with the bubble creation solution and bubble creation device sealed within the container and the lid threaded onto the container, and with the apparatus in an upright orientation with bubble solution shown positioned in the trough and bottom portion of the container;

(4) FIG. 3 is substantially identical to FIG. 2 except that in FIG. 3 the spill resistant container apparatus is shown in a post-opened configuration without the bubble creation device, seal, and lid, and with the apparatus shown in a sideways orientation with bubble creation solution shown positioned a side portion of the container;

(5) FIG. 4 is substantially identical to FIG. 2 except that in FIG. 4 the spill resistant container apparatus is shown in a post-opened configuration without the bubble creation device, seal, and lid, and with the apparatus shown in an upside-down orientation with bubble creation solution shown positioned in the top portion of the container;

(6) FIG. 5 is an orthographic side section view a first embodiment of the spill resistant container apparatus taken substantially at the location of section arrows 5 shown in FIG. 1 and is shown in a pre-opened configuration with the bubble creation solution and bubble creation device sealed within the container and the lid threaded onto the container, and with the apparatus in an upright orientation with bubble solution shown positioned in the trough and bottom portion of the container;

(7) FIG. 6 is substantially identical to FIG. 5 except that in FIG. 6 the spill resistant container apparatus is shown in a post-opened configuration without the bubble creation device, seal, and lid, and with the apparatus shown in a sideways orientation with bubble creation solution shown positioned a side portion of the container;

(8) FIG. 7 is substantially identical to FIG. 5 except that in FIG. 7 the spill resistant container apparatus is shown in a post-opened configuration without the bubble creation device, seal, and lid, and with the apparatus shown in an upside-down orientation with bubble creation solution shown positioned in the top portion of the container, and;

(9) FIG. 8 is an orthographic side section view a pre-form of the spill resistant container taken substantially at the location of section arrows 8 shown in FIG. 1 and is shown in a partially molded stage with the funnel protruding externally from the cavity of the spill resistant container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(10) Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment, an embodiment, or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases in one embodiment, in an embodiment, and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

(11) Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are included to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

(12) In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention in reviewing the drawings accompanying the specification, a feature table is provided below. It is noted that like features are like numbered throughout all of the figures.

(13) TABLE-US-00002 FEATURE TABLE # Feature 10 Spill resistant container apparatus 20 Spill resistant container 22 Container side 24 Container bottom 26 Container floor 28 Container stand 30 Container trough 32 Container top 34 Container neck 36 Container threads 38 Container seal surface 40 Container bowl 42 Container opening 44 Container funnel 46 Funnel upper opening 48 Funnel lower opening 60 Bubble creation wand 62 Wand handle 64 Wand stem 66 Wand ring 70 Seal 80 Lid 82 Lid top 84 Lid flange 86 Lid threads 90 Bubble creation solution 120 Spill resistant container pre-form 146 Container pre-form funnel

(14) Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 7, the first embodiment of the invention is a spill resistant container apparatus 10 for use in creating bubbles without the otherwise attendant spillage of bubble solution resulting in pouring bubble solution into or out of the apparatus comprising a spill resistant container 20, a bubble creation wand 60, a seal 70, a lid 80, and bubble creation solution 90. Spill resistant container 20 defines a generally cylindrical shaped preferably one-piece plastic container defining an inner cavity and having a side portion 22, a bottom portion 24, a floor 26, a stand 28, a trough 30, a top portion 32, a neck 34, threads 36, a seal faying surface 38, a bowl 40, a container opening 42, a funnel 44, a funnel upper opening 46, and a funnel lower opening 48. Spill resistant container 20 preferably defines a liquid tight container such that liquid contained within spill resistant container 20 may not run, leak or seep out of spill resistant container 20 except that liquid may enter or exit through opening 42. Funnel 44 preferably extends approximately to (funnel lower opening 48 is located approximately at) the volumetric and geometric center of spill resistant container 20 so as to provide a container having a spill resistant capacity (the capacity of liquid that will not run out of the container regardless of the orientation of the container) that approaches one-half of the overall capacity of spill resistant container 20. Spill resistant container 20 is preferably constructed so as to be of significantly low cost and preferably disposable after the bubble solution that is provided seal within spill resistant container 20 is consumed. More particularly, spill resistant container 20 preferably defines a blow molded plastic container. It is noted that blow molding is a process used to economically create plastic, typically hollow parts of generally uniform wall thickness, by extruding a unit of molten plastic, termed a parison, onto a nozzle and then blowing air through the nozzle and into the parison to cause the parison to expand and to form to the shape of a mold cavity such as is taught in appendix A which is incorporated herein in its entirety. Given the potential challenge of blow molding spill resistant container 20 (having an impending funnel 44) in a single step, spill resistant container 20 is optionally molded by first blow molding spill resistant container pre-form 120 which is substantially similar to spill resistant container 20 but instead of inwardly extending funnel 44, spill resistant container pre-form 120 includes an externally extending funnel 146 as shown in FIG. 8. In a secondary step, external funnel 146 is inverted into the inner cavity of spill resistant container pre-form 120 to result in spill resistant container 20. Bubble creation wand 60 defines a generally elongated wand preferably plastic injection molded wand having a handle 62, a stem 64, and at least one bubble ring 66. Bubble ring 66 preferably includes a plurality of fins extending from bubble ring 66 to increase the surface area of bubble ring 66 resulting in an increased bubble solution retention capacity. Seal 70 preferably defines an adhesively bondable disk shaped frangible metal foil seal but alternately may be of other shapes and may be of other seal material such as a non-metal seal. Seal 70 preferably includes a tab portion that may be grasped in order to break open or peel open seal 70. Lid 80 preferably defines conventional generally cylindrically shaped injection molded plastic lid having a top 82, a flange 84, and threads 86. Bubble creation solution 90 defines a conventional liquid bubble creation solution such as a glycerin based liquid bubble creation solution.

(15) Spill resistant container apparatus 10 is assembled by adding a predetermined quantity of bubble creation solution 90 (preferably a quantity such that bubble creation solution 90 will not run out of spill resistant container 20 regardless of the spatial orientation of spill resistant container 20) such as by metering the predetermined quantity of bubble creation solution 90 into spill resistant container 20 via a fill nozzle connected to a filling machine. Bubble creation wand 60 is then placed into spill resistant container 20 by inserting bubble creation wand 60 through opening 42 and into funnel 44 preferably such that bubble creation wand 60 does not extend beyond an outer surface of spill resistant container 20 substantially as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Seal 70 is then sealingly attached to spill resistant container 20 by adhesively bonding seal 70 to seal surface 38 such that the combination of spill resistant container 20 and bonded seal 70 preferably form a substantially hermetically sealed container assembly. Lid 80 is threadingly connected to spill resistant container 20 by engaging threads 86 and threads 36 and by rotating or screwing lid 80 onto neck 34 of spill resistant container 20.

(16) In practice, spill resistant container apparatus 10 is purchased as defined above with bubble creation solution 90 sealingly contained within spill resistant container 20. A user, such as a young child, detaches lid 80 from spill resistant container 20 by unscrewing lid 80 from neck 34 of spill resistant container 20. The user then breaks seal 70 and withdraws bubble creation wand 60, which is charged with bubble creation solution 90, from spill resistant container 20 by placing the users fingers within bowl 40, grasping handle 62, and pulling bubble creation wand 60 out of funnel 44. The user then creates bubbles by blowing into wand ring 66. Once bubble creation solution 90 is consumed from bubble creation wand 60, bubble creation wand 60 is again inserted into spill resistant container 20 by moving bubble creation wand 60 through funnel 44. The bubble creation process is then repeated until the user tires of creating bubbles or until bubble creation solution 90 contained within spill resistant container 20 is consumed. If bubble creation solution 90 contained within spill resistant container 20 is not consumed but the user tires of creating bubbles, lid 80 is replaced onto spill resistant container 20 so as to prevent debris ingress and evaporation and spill resistant container apparatus 10 is stored for subsequent use. If bubble creation solution 90 previously contained within spill resistant container 20 is consumed, the user merely discards spill resistant container apparatus 10. It is noted that spill resistant container 20 will prevent spillage of bubble creation solution 90 regardless of the orientation in which spill resistant container 20 may be positioned. It is further noted that short of destructively altering spill resistant container 20, the user is prevent from ever pouring bubble creation solution 90 out of spill resistant container 20, and that the user need never pour bubble creation solution into or out of spill resistant container 20 in order to use spill resistant container apparatus 10, thus furthering the spill resistant utility of spill resistant container apparatus 10.

(17) In an alternate embodiment of the spill resistant container apparatus, the spill resistant container apparatus is substantially identical to spill resistant container apparatus 10 except that rather than having the one-piece structure of spill resistant container 20, the alternate spill resistant container apparatus includes a spill resistant container having a multi-piece structure. Such multi-piece structure preferably defines a spill resistant container comprising a liquid-tight bonded assembly of non-destructively inseparable discrete pieces (i.e. as opposed to the prior art which typically includes at least a separable cup portion and funnel portion, the discrete pieces may not be separated or opened without permanently or destructively altering the spill resistant container).

(18) The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.