Glass bottle for containing liquid

Abstract

Disclosed is a bottle for containing liquid content including a body portion, at least part or the entire portion of an upper portion of which is provided with a plurality of guides which protrudes inward from an inside surface thereof and is in a spiral pattern so that the liquid content can be guided towards an opening of a neck portion of the bottle while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

Claims

1. A bottle for containing liquid, the bottle comprising: a single-piece glass body comprising a base, a cap-engaging portion and a neck; the cap-engaging portion defining an opening of the bottle and configured to engage with a bottle cap; the neck comprising a top end and a bottom end, the top end of the neck being adjacent the cap-engaging portion; the neck further comprising an inner surface that defines a channel between the top end and the bottom end; the base extending from the bottom end of the neck and comprising a liquid-containing space therein; and at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide formed on the inner surface of the neck and configured to guide at least part of liquid to spirally flow through the channel when discharging liquid from the liquid-containing space, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide generally spirally extends about a central axis of the bottle that passes through the channel and the liquid-containing space, wherein a cross-section of the base taken in a plane perpendicular to the central axis is generally circular and has an inner diameter, wherein the base has a level at which the inner diameter is largest, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide continuously extends from the top end of the neck to the base passing the level at which the inner diameter is largest.

2. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the neck with the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide includes a general shape of a letter “C” or a reversed letter “C” in a cross-section taken in a plane parallel to the central axis.

3. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 180° or more.

4. An article comprising: the bottle of claim 3; and liquid contained in the liquid-containing space of the base.

5. A method of discharging liquid contained in a bottle, the method comprising: providing the article of claim 4; tilting the bottle to discharge at least part of the liquid out of the bottle; wherein the at least one inwardly-protruding spiral guide causes at least part of the liquid to at least in part spirally flow along the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide when passing through the channel.

6. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 270° or more.

7. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 360° or more.

8. The bottle of claim 1, wherein in a cross-section taken in a plane parallel to the central axis, the at least one inwardly-protruded prial guide provides multiple peaks and multiple valleys, which comprise a leading valley, a trailing valley and a first peak interposed between the leading valley and trailing valley, the trailing valley being located closer to the base than the leading valley, there being no intervening peak or valley between the first peak and the leading valley, there being no intervening peak or valley between the first peak and the trailing valley, wherein in the cross-section, the first peak is defined with a leading slope, a trailing slope and a tip connecting the leading and trailing slopes, the leading slope being defined between the tip of the first peak and the bottom of the leading valley, the trailing slope being defined between the tip of the first peak and the bottom of the trailing valley, wherein in the cross-section the leading slope is longer than the trailing slope.

9. The bottle of claim 8, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 270° or more.

10. The bottle of claim 8, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 360° or more.

11. The bottle of claim 1, wherein in a cross-section taken in a plane parallel to the central axis, the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide provides multiple peaks and multiple valleys, wherein in the cross-section, the first peak is defined with a leading slope and a trailing sloop, the trailing slope being closer to the base than the leading slope, the leading slope comprising a portion generally defined with a first radius of curvature, the trailing slope comprising a portion generally defined with a second radius of curvature, wherein in the cross-section the first radius of curvature is greater than the second radius of curvature.

12. The bottle of claim 11, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 180° or more.

13. The bottle of claim 11, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends circumferentially about the central axis about 270° or more.

14. A method of discharging liquid contained in a bottle, the method comprising: providing the bottle of claim 11, in which liquid is contained, wherein the bottle comprising an opening at the top end; tilting the bottle to discharge at least part of the liquid out of the bottle through the opening; wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide causes at least part of the liquid to at least in part spirally flow along the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide when passing through the channel, wherein the liquid being discharged does not block the opening such that ambient air flows into the bottle, which facilitates discharging of the liquid out of the bottle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein as the liquid is discharged out of the bottle, vapor pressure inside the bottle decreases, which in turn causes ambient air to flow into the bottle, which further facilitates discharging of the liquid out of the bottle.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the spirally flowing liquid forms an air path inside the neck of the bottle.

17. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the single-piece glass body further comprises a rim at the top end of the neck, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide extends between the top end and the bottom end.

18. The bottle of claim 1, wherein in a cross-section taken in a plane parallel to the central axis the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide provides multiple peaks and multiple valleys, wherein two immediately neighboring ones of the multiple peaks have a generally uniform distance.

19. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide comprises two immediately neighboring peaks that generally spirally extend with a gap therebetween, wherein the gap is maintained generally uniformly over the extension thereof.

20. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide is recognizable in a perspective view of the glass body from the outside.

21. The bottle of claim 1, wherein the neck comprises an outer surface and at least one depression on the outer surface that spirally extends and corresponds to the at least one inwardly protruded spiral guide.

22. The bottle of claim 1, wherein with the presence of the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide, the neck comprises an undulating cross-sectional portion when the cross-section is taken in a plane parallel to the central axis.

23. The bottle of claim 1, wherein a cross-section of the base taken in a plane perpendicular to the central axis is generally in a circular shape and has an inner diameter, wherein the base has a level at which the inner diameter is the largest, wherein the at least one inwardly-protruded spiral guide does not extend to the level at which the inner diameter is the largest.

24. The bottle of claim 23, wherein the base comprises a portion in which the inner diameter of a cross-section of the base gradually increases along the central axis away from the neck.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other objects, features and advantages of various exemplary aspects of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to one exemplary aspect of the invention;

(3) FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to another exemplary aspect of the invention;

(5) FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

(6) FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to a further exemplary aspect of the invention;

(7) FIG. 6 is a perspective view and a section-enlarged view for explaining a curvature of a guide of the bottle; and

(8) FIG. 7 is a comparative view illustrating a procedure of disposing of the bottle according to various exemplary aspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(9) As described above, when the user tilts a prior art bottle, the liquid contents are discharged out of the prior art bottle and gas (such as, e.g., ambient air) flows into such a bottle in order to fill a gap created by the discharged liquid contents. When the user slightly tilts the prior art bottle, the liquid contents tend to not block the opening of the bottle and gas flows into the bottle smoothly and stably. In contrary, when the user tilts the prior art bottle more and pours the liquid contents out of the prior art bottle more, the liquid contents tend to block the opening of the bottle and, as a result, the gas cannot easily flow into the bottle. As more liquid contents are discharged, the pressure inside the prior art bottle keeps decreasing. And as the pressure inside the prior art bottle decreases down to an excessive pressure, the gas gushes into the bottle due to the excessive pressure, thereby causing the liquid contents to be unstably and not smoothly discharged out of the bottle and resulting in abrupt gushing of the liquid contents.

(10) Accordingly, various bottles of various exemplary aspects and embodiments of this invention are designed to stably and smoothly discharge liquid contents out of the bottles, thereby preventing such abrupt gushing of the liquid contents out of the bottle.

(11) To this end, various bottles of the present invention are provided with multiple guides on their inside surfaces and allow the liquid contents to be discharged along such guides in order to prevent the liquid contents from blocking the opening. In other words, such guides can facilitate the gas to stably and smoothly flow into the interior of the bottle and to stably and smoothly fill the empty space left behind by the discharged liquid contents. Accordingly, such guides can prevent such abrupt gushing of the liquid contents.

(12) Reference will now be made in greater detail to exemplary aspects of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

(13) Hereinafter, exemplary aspects of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings through which like elements are referenced by like numbers. In describing the invention, details on the structure or function of related arts are omitted if they may obscure the subject of the invention.

(14) Terms in the description are defined considering functions of elements of the invention, so that the terms must be construed with reference to the contents of the present specification as a whole because such terms can be differently defined according to the intents of people skilled in their arts or customs.

(15) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to one exemplary aspect of the invention, FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views illustrating a section of the bottle taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to another exemplary aspect of the invention, and FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views illustrating a section of the bottle taken along line IV-IV.

(16) As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the bottle of the exemplary aspects of the invention includes a neck portion 110 and a body portion 120. The neck portion 110 has an opening 111 and a thread 112 to be combined with a cover 113 in a screwed manner. Alternatively, the neck portion may be combined with the cover 113 in manners different from the screwed manner for ensuring sealing of the bottle. For example, the cover 113 can be attached to or detached from the neck portion 110. The body portion 120 extends from the neck portion 110 and contains liquid contents therein.

(17) The bottle 100 having the above-mentioned structure can contain a beverage, such as water or cola, a liquor, a saline solution, or a liquid-type food, and may be made of various materials.

(18) The bottle 100 may be a paper bottle, a PET bottle, a metal bottle, or a glass bottle. According to the aspect of the invention, the bottle 100 may be a polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET) bottle.

(19) As shown in the exemplary aspects of the invention in FIGS. 1 to 3, the body portion 120 takes a form in which a plurality of guides 121 is provided in a spiral pattern and protrude inwardly from the inside surface of the entire or part of an upper portion of the body portion 120 which is on the upper side of the middle of the body portion 120 in a length direction so that the liquid contents proceed toward the opening 111 of the neck portion 110 while spirally revolving inside the bottle 100 and are then discharged out of the bottle 100. With such a structure, the outer surface of the body portion 120 with the plurality of guides 121 is depressed in the form corresponding to the plurality of guides 121.

(20) As the plurality of guides 121 is provided to the upper portion of the body portion 120 in the spiral pattern, the body portion 120 is wavelike in appearance. Further, a sectional view of the body portion 120 shows that each of the plurality of guides 121 has the shape of a letter ‘C’ or a reversed letter ‘C.’ When the section of the body portion 120 is viewed in the direction in which the contents proceed, the curvature of a leading portion is relatively loose but the curvature of the back portion is relatively tight. Alternatively, the body portion may take a form in which the curvature is maintained constant.

(21) When the liquid flows in the above-mentioned manner, the curvature of a portion with which the liquid makes earlier contact must be relatively loose and the curvature of a portion to which the liquid contacts later must be relatively tight. The portion having the relatively tight curvature hinders the flow of the liquid primarily and then the portion having the relatively loose curvature makes the flow of the liquid slower. The border between the portion with the relatively tight curvature and the portion with the relatively loose curvature takes a streamlined shape so that the friction with the liquid is reduced. In the case in which the curvature is constant at every portion, it is also possible to attain the same advantage of controlling the speed of flow of the liquid in the above-mentioned manner.

(22) In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the plurality of guides 121 take a form composed of four or eight spiral lines, but the form is not limited thereto. That is, the form may be composed of other than eight spiral lines. Further, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 are narrower at a relatively upper area and broader at a relatively lower area.

(23) In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 gradually decrease toward the upper area and increase toward the lower area, but do not change from a midpoint to the bottom of the body portion in length. Alternatively and in another exemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of the guides 121 may be uniform over their lengths.

(24) The exemplary aspect of FIG. 1 shows the PET bottle 10 having the above-described structure. In FIG. 1, the widths of the plurality of guides 121 in a spiral pattern are uniform over their lengths. FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of the upper part of the body portion of the PET bottle 100, which are taken along II-II of FIG. 1 and viewed from the bottom side. FIG. 2A shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is eight, and FIG. 2B shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

(25) The exemplary aspect of FIG. 3 shows the PET bottle 100 having a form in which the widths of the plurality of guides 121 decrease toward the upper end but are gradually increased toward the middle point of the bottle from which the widths are uniform. FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3 and viewed from the bottom side of the PET bottle 100. FIG. 4A shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is eight and FIG. 4B shows the case in which the number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

(26) FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a PET bottle according to another aspect of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the PET bottle 100 according to this aspect of the invention basically is similar in form and function to the PET bottle shown through FIGS. 1 to 4B. Accordingly, repetitive description will be omitted and only the differences therebetween will be described.

(27) As shown in FIG. 5, the entire body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100 has a plurality of guides 121 protruding inward from the inside surface of the body and making a spiral pattern. Accordingly, the entire body portion 120 is wavelike in appearance. FIG. 6 is a perspective view and a section-enlarged view illustrating the PET bottle 100 and for explaining the curvature of the guides 121 provided to the PET bottle 100.

(28) In another exemplary aspect of the invention and as shown in FIG. 6, when tilting and pouring the liquid contents, for example cola, in the PET bottle 100, the liquid contents revolve along the plurality of guides 121 inside the PET bottle 100 and therefore the liquid contents are discharged with uniform flow through the opening 111. As shown in FIG. 6, a curvature of a portion (b) of each guide 121 which is on the leading side of a midpoint (c) in the direction of the liquid contents flowing out is tighter than a curvature of a portion (a) which is on the back side of the center (c). That is, the portion (a) has a gentle curve and the portion (b) has a tight curve. As a result, this form prevents the liquid from being abruptly discharged. FIG. 7 is a comparative view for illustrating a procedure of disposing of the PET bottle according to the aspect of the invention.

(29) In order to more efficiently prevent such abrupt gushing, the guides of various aspects of the present invention are preferably provided in a spiral pattern along a longitudinal axis of the bottles. As a result, the liquid contents tend to be pushed onto such guides due to centrifugal force while being discharged out of the bottle. Therefore, such spiral guides can preferentially guide the liquid contents closer to the inside surface while maintaining the opening open or unblocked by the liquid contents, thereby facilitating the creation of air paths for the ambient air during discharge.

(30) In another exemplary aspect of the invention, some of the plurality of guides may be arranged to have asymmetrical shapes or cross-sections. In particular, each of such asymmetrical guides may be arranged to form a shallow portion and a deep portion. As a result, the deep portion may guide more liquid contents than the shallow portion. Accordingly, by arranging the asymmetrical guides in such a way that the liquid contents driven by the centrifugal force are preferentially guided by such deep portions of the guides, more liquid contents are discharged closer to the inside surface and away from a center of the longitudinal axis of the bottles while maintaining the opening open or unblocked by the liquid contents, thereby further facilitating the creation of air paths for the ambient air during discharge.

(31) In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the PET bottle 100 is crushed and distorted by twisting and compressing along the plurality of guides 121 formed in the body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100. When a compressing force is applied to the PET bottle 100, the middle point or a border between the large-curvature portion and the small-curvature portion of each guide 121 having the letter “C” shape or the reversed letter “C” shape is folded over a portion of the length of the spiral pattern, so it is possible to reduce the volume of empty bottles. For this reason, it is possible to make recovering empty bottles easier.

(32) Although the bottle of the invention has been described in terms of various aspects, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, the scope of the invention must be defined by the appended claims and it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention.