Bottle cap with selectable additives

Abstract

A cap for bottles that allows a user to select additives. A base has an axis with a coaxial cavity, typically threaded, for attachment to the bottle. A housing rotates and reciprocates on the axis between a selecting position where the housing and base are pulled apart and an operative position where the housing and base are pushed together. Compartments with additives and one or more vacant locations are arranged in a circle around the axis inside the housing. An opening in the compartment bottom is covered by a frangible seal. As the housing rotates, the compartment openings or vacant location align with an aperture in the base that extends into the cavity. Spikes extending from the aperture puncture the compartment opening seal when the housing is pushed to the operative position, allowing the additive to flow into the bottle. The vacant locations provide positions for storage and transportation.

Claims

1. A cap for a bottle with an opening, the cap comprising: (a) a base having an axis, a top surface, a bottom surface, a cavity in the bottom surface designed to attach to the bottle opening, and an aperture extending from the top surface to the cavity; (b) a housing mounted to the base so as to rotate about and reciprocate on the axis and having a bottom surface, and an operative surface, the housing having a plurality of compartments and at least one vacant location arranged in a circle around the axis inside the housing, each compartment having an opening in the operative surface covered by a frangible seal, at least one of the compartments containing an additive, the at least one vacant location not containing an additive; (c) at least one spike extending toward the operative surface from the aperture; (d) the housing rotatable on the axis such that the compartment openings and the at least one vacant location can align with the aperture; (e) the housing reciprocating on the axis between a selecting position wherein the housing operative surface is pulled away from the base top surface and the frangible seal associated with a compartment aligned with the aperture is intact, and an operative position wherein the housing is pushed toward the base and the at least one spike pierces the frangible seal associated with the compartment aligned with the aperture, thereby allowing the additive to flow downwardly into the aperture and into the cavity.

2. The cap of claim 1 wherein the housing reciprocates relative to the base against friction.

3. The cap of claim 1 wherein the cavity is threaded for attachment to a screw-top bottle.

4. The cap of claim 1 wherein the cavity has a snap-on attachment for the bottle.

5. The cap of claim 1 further comprising a ratchet mechanism that permits rotation of the housing in only one direction.

6. The cap of claim 1 wherein the base is mounted within a recess in the housing bottom.

7. The cap of claim 6 wherein the base is retained in the housing recess by fingers extending radially into the recess from adjacent the housing bottom surface.

8. The cap of claim 1 wherein the frangible seal is a thin sheet attached to the housing operative surface by an adhesive.

9. The cap of claim 1 wherein the housing is composed of a housing material and the frangible seal is a thin sheet of the housing material.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) For a fuller understanding of the nature and object of the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first configuration of the cap of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second configuration of the cap of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third configuration of the cap of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 1 in the selecting position;

(6) FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 2 in the selecting position;

(7) FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 3 in the selecting position;

(8) FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view between the base and housing;

(9) FIG. 8 is a side cross-sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 1 in the selecting position with a tube from the aperture to the cavity;

(10) FIG. 9 is a bottom cross-sectional view of a ratchet of the configuration of FIG. 3; and

(11) FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view of the configuration of FIG. 3 in the operative position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(12) The present invention is a cap 10 for bottles or other containers (collectively, bottle) that permits the user to select one or more of a number of additives to add to the contents of the bottle. Additives can include sugar, artificial sweetener, caffeine, vitamins, electrolytes, flavorings, medicines, etc. The additives can be any materials that flows easily by gravity. Examples include liquids and/or solids such as powders. Additives can be components of multi-part compounds, such as a two-part epoxy.

(13) The cap 10 has a base 14 and a housing 12.

(14) The base 14 has a coaxial cavity 20 in the bottom 24 for attachment to the bottle. The size of the cavity 20 depends on the size of the bottle opening for which the cap 10 is intended to be used. It can be small for soda bottles or large for large-mouth jars.

(15) Typically, the cavity 20 will be threaded, as in FIG. 6, so that the cap 10 can be screwed on to a threaded bottle opening. However, the present invention contemplates that the cavity 20 can be designed with other means of attachment that depend on the type of bottle the cap 12 is designed to be used with. In FIG. 4, the cavity 20 has opposed openings 120 with a ball bearing 116 biased outwardly by a spring 118. An annular wall 122 retains the ball bearing 116 in the hole 120. When the cap 10 is pushed onto the bottle, the ball bearings 116 are pushed into the hole 120 against the spring 118 and then snap out when the rim of the bottle passes. In FIG. 5, the cavity 20 has an annular ring 126 that can compress. When the cap 10 is pushed onto the bottle, the ring compresses and then snaps back when the rim of the bottle passes.

(16) The housing 12 is attached to the base 14 so that it rotates about and reciprocates on the axis 16.

(17) FIGS. 1-6 show three different configurations of the housing 12 and base 14 with three different attachment mechanisms 22. Any of the attachment mechanisms 22 can be used with any of the configurations. In the configuration of FIGS. 1 and 4, the bottom surface 26 of the housing 12 and the top surface 28 of the base 14 are shown as having the same size, but can be different sizes. In the configuration of FIGS. 2 and 5, the diameter of the top surface 28 of the base 14 is smaller than the bottom 26 of the housing 12 and the top portion of the base 14 fits within a recess 30 in the housing 12. In the configuration of FIGS. 3 and 6, the diameter of base 14 is smaller than the bottom 26 of the housing 12 and the entire base 14 fits within a recess 30 in the housing 12.

(18) The attachment mechanism 22 of FIG. 4 has a coaxial hole 102 in the operative surface 62 of the housing 12 with an annular protrusion 104 at the opening. At least three fingers 106 extend into the hole 102 from the top surface 28 of the base 14. The fingers 106 are evenly distributed around the hole 102. Each finger 106 has an upper beveled surface 108 that allows the housing 12 to be snapped onto the base 14 and a radial lower surface ledge 110 that prevents the fingers 106 from coming out of the hole 102 by abutting the hole protrusion 104.

(19) In the attachment mechanism 22 of FIG. 5, the housing 12 is attached to the base 14 by a cylindrical axle 92 extending upwardly from the top surface 28 of the base 14 into a cylindrical hole 94 in the operative surface 62 of the housing 12. At least two fingers 96 extending radially inwardly from the hole 94 fit into an annular groove 98 in the surface of the axle 92. The groove 98 is wide enough and the fingers 96 narrow enough to permit the housing 12 to reciprocate on the axle 92.

(20) In the attachment mechanism 22 of FIG. 6, the housing 12 is attached to the base 14 by at least two fingers 86 extending radially from the bottom 26 of the housing 12 or, as shown in FIG. 6, the wall 76 of the recess 30 adjacent to the bottom 26 of the housing 12. The fingers 86 are distributed evenly around the perimeter of the recess 30. Each finger 86 has an outer beveled surface 88 that allows the base 14 to be snapped into the recess 30 and a radial upper surface ledge 90 that prevents the base 14 from coming out of the recess 30 by abutting the bottom 24 of the base 14. Alternatively, instead of separate fingers 86, an annular ring extends radially from the wall 76 of the recess 30 at the bottom 26 of the base 14. Like the fingers 86, the annular ring has an outer beveled surface and radial upper surface ledge. References to the fingers 86 in the claims is intended to include the annular ring.

(21) When the housing 12 and base 14 are pushed together, the cap 10 is in the operative position and, as explained below, the housing 12 cannot rotate relative to the base 14. When the housing 12 and base 14 are pulled apart, the cap 10 is in the selecting position and the housing 12 can rotate relative to the base 14.

(22) Optionally, the design of the attachment mechanism 22 produces friction that acts against the cap 10 inadvertently moving between the selecting position and the operative position and/or against rotating the housing 12 on the base 14 without manual intervention. Friction helps prevent undesired additives from being inadvertently added to the bottle. The present invention contemplates that any method of producing friction can be incorporated. Possible methods include sizing the components of the attachment mechanism 22 so that it takes some manual force to move one against the other, adding a components such as an annual ring to the axle 92 that rubs against the surface 100 of the hole 94 of FIG. 5.

(23) Inside the housing 12 are several compartments 32 that are filled with additives that the user may wish to add to the contents of the bottle. The compartments 32 and one or more vacant locations 46, described below, are arranged in a circle around the axis 16, as in FIG. 7. Each compartment 32 has a shape and size to hold a predetermined amount of an additive.

(24) The top 34 and side 36 of the compartment 32 are closed and the bottom has an opening 38 in the operative surface 62 of the housing 12. In one configuration, shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the entire bottom is the opening 38. In another configuration, shown in FIG. 6, the bottom is partially closed as at 44 with an opening 38.

(25) The opening 38 is covered by a frangible seal 40, such as a foil or plastic sheet that can be pierced by a sharp object. Alternatively, the seal 40 can be a thin sheet of the same material as the housing 12. The seal 40 should be designed so that, when pierced as described below, it does not break into pieces that end up in the additive.

(26) In the figures, a single foil seal 40 is shown for each compartment 32. However, the present invention contemplates that there may be a single sheet of seal material that covers all of the compartments 32 in use. The seal 40 is attached to the operative surface 62 of the housing 12 by whatever means is appropriate, for example, by a ring of adhesive 42, as in FIG. 7. Prior to attaching the seal 40, the compartments 32 are filled with the additives.

(27) One or more locations around the perimeter either do not have a compartment 32 or the compartment 32 is empty and without a seal 34. This are the vacant locations 46.

(28) The housing 12 rotates relative to the base 14 when the cap 10 is in the selecting position. In one configuration, shown in FIGS. 4-6, the top surface of the base 14 has an aperture 50 that extends into the cavity 20. In another configuration, shown in FIG. 8, if the aperture 50 is not aligned enough with the cavity 20, a tube 56 extends between the aperture 50 and cavity 20 to provide a conduit for the additive to the cavity 20. References in the present specification and claims to the aperture 50 are intended to encompass both configurations.

(29) As the housing 12 rotates, each compartment 32 or vacant location 46 becomes aligned with the aperture 50.

(30) Optionally, a ratchet mechanism permits the housing 12 to rotate in only one direction. A ratchet mechanism for the present invention is shown in FIG. 9. Paraxial grooves 72 extend around the perimeter surface 70 of the base 14. One or more beveled fingers 74 extend radially from the perimeter surface 76 of the housing recess 30. In the ratchet mechanism of FIG. 9, the bevel 78 of the finger 74 permits the housing 12 to rotate clockwise. However, when trying to rotate the housing 12 counterclockwise, the finger surface 82 hits the groove wall 80, preventing rotation. The present invention contemplates that the ratchet mechanism can be reversed, with the grooves 72 on the housing 12 and the fingers 74 on the base 14.

(31) Optionally, mechanical detents stop the housing 12 when a compartment 32 is aligned with the aperture 50. A detent mechanism can operate similarly to the ratchet mechanism, where the grooves 72 are only aligned with the compartments 32.

(32) Extending upwardly from the aperture 50 is a one or more sharp spikes 52 that are designed to puncture and open the seal 40. When in the selecting position, the seal 40 is intact. When the housing 12 is pushed to the operative position, the spikes 52 puncture the seal 40, as in FIG. 10. The spikes 52 create a hole 54 through which the additive flows into the cavity 20 and ultimately into the bottle.

(33) The spikes 52 also prevent the cap 12 from rotating freely on the base 14. The spikes 52 extend into the compartment 32 and when the cap 12 is rotated, the compartment wall 36 hits the spikes 52, preventing further rotation.

(34) When a vacant location 46 is aligned with the aperture 50 and the cap 12 is pushed to the operative position, the spikes 52 extend into the vacant location 46 where none of the additives can be added to the bottle. At this point, the cap 10 is in the closed position for transportation and storage.

(35) The present invention contemplates several ways in which the additive can flow into the aperture 50. In one, the spikes 52 have passages through which the additive flows. Alternatively, the spikes 52 can produce a ragged hole 54 in the seal 40 so that the additive flows around the spikes 52. Alternatively, the spikes 52 produce and block the holes 54 so that the housing 12 must return to the selecting position to unblock the holes 34 so that the additive can flow into the aperture 50.

(36) Optionally, there is a guard 130 that reduces or prevents splashing as the additive moves from the compartment 32 to the cavity 20. In one configuration shown in FIG. 4, the guard 130 is a flexible wall 132 extending downwardly from the operative surface 62 that encircles the compartment opening 38. When the housing 12 is pushed to the operative position to pierce the seal 40, the wall 132 abuts the top 28 of the base 14 around the aperture 50 to prevent splashing. In another configuration shown in FIG. 5, the guard 130 is a flexible wall 134 extending upwardly from the base top 28 that encircles the aperture 50. When the housing 12 is pushed to the operative position to pierce the seal 40, the wall 134 abuts the operative surface 62 of the housing 12 around the compartment opening 38 to prevent splashing. In another configuration shown in FIG. 6, a flexible wall 136 fits between the base top 28 and the operative surface 62 around the perimeter. The present invention contemplates that any configuration of the guard 130 can be implemented in any configuration of the cap 10.

(37) Thus it has been shown and described a bottle cap with selectable additives. Since certain changes may be made in the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the present invention, it is intended that all matter described in the foregoing specification and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.