Abstract
The present invention relates to a novelty and educational drinking instrument for human beverage consumption consisting of a series of interlocking, interchangeable or inter-connectable three-dimensional receptacles of varying shapes, sizes, colors, materials and exterior or interior coatings. Each receptacle has at least one connector of a predetermined size and shape that will couple and decouple from another receptacle. Further, each receptacle individually and multiple receptacles coupled together will form an elongated cavity, allowing liquid to be drawn through it from a beverage container or multiple beverage containers to an end consumer. The multiple receptacles link together via their respective connectors to spell out words, phrases, symbols, numbers or combinations of for use as a drinking instrument.
Claims
1. A flexible drinking instrument system comprising: at least two three-dimensional receptacles of a predetermined shape, the first receptacle having at least one connector that can couple and decouple from a second three-dimensional receptacle of a second predetermined shape, the connector having an orifice wherein liquid can enter the first receptacle from the second receptacle or exit the first receptacle from the second receptacle, the second receptacle having at least one connector that can couple and decouple from the first receptacle, wherein the first receptacle has a cavity that is capable of containing a liquid without leaking, wherein the second receptacle has a cavity capable of containing a liquid without leaking, a coupling system attaching the first receptacle's connector to the second receptacle's connector having a cavity capable of containing a liquid without leaking.
2. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle's connector can be used as a mouthpiece for imbibing.
3. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second receptacle's coupling system attaching the at least first and second receptacles creates a seal to prevent a liquid from leaking and the first or second connector has at least one barb.
4. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be a letter from an alphabet, wherein the alphabet can be: Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarussian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chichewa, Cantonese, Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, lgbo, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Mandarin, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Scots Gaelic, Serbian, Sesotho, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba and Zulu.
5. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be a numeral.
6. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be an animal.
7. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be a food.
8. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be a geometric shape.
9. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the first or second receptacle can be a punctuation mark.
10. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the interior cavity of the first or second receptacle is coated with a hydrophobic or superhydrophobic coating.
11. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the interior cavity of the first or second receptacle is coated with hydrophobic nanoparticles such as manganese oxide polystyrene, zinc oxide polystyrene, precipitated calcium carbonate, carbon nano-tube structures, and silica nano-coatings.
12. The drinking instrument system according to claim 10, wherein each nanoparticle is between 1 and 10,000 nanometers.
13. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle each has at least one male coupling.
14. The drinking instrument system according to claim 14, wherein the at least one male coupling has at least one barb.
15. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle each has at least one female coupling.
16. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle is be made out of a material containing a thermoplastic color compound such as polypropylene or thermoplastic elastomer so the receptacle changes color depending on the temperature of the liquid inside of its cavity.
17. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle is made out of a recyclable material.
18. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle is made out of a reusable material.
19. The drinking instrument system according to claim 1, wherein the first or second receptacle contains at least one light-emitting diode.
20. A drinking instrument comprising a three-dimensional receptacle, a male connector, a female connector, wherein the receptacle, the male connector and the female connector all have a cavity wherein liquid can be contained, the receptacle capable of connecting to another three-dimensional receptacle with at least one male and at least one female connector.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0031] Embodiments of the invention are subsequently described in more detail based on drawing figures, wherein:
[0032] FIG. 1a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “a” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0033] FIG. 1b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “a” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0034] FIGS. 1c and 1d show a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “a” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0035] FIG. 2a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “b” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0036] FIG. 2b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “b” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0037] FIGS. 2c and 2d show a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the letter “b” from the Latin alphabet set.
[0038] FIG. 3a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “1.”
[0039] FIG. 3b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “1.”
[0040] FIG. 3c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “1.”
[0041] FIG. 4a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “2.”
[0042] FIG. 4b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “2.”
[0043] FIG. 4c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the number “2.”
[0044] FIG. 5a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an elephant.
[0045] FIG. 5b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an elephant.
[0046] FIG. 5c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an elephant.
[0047] FIG. 6a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a gingerbread person.
[0048] FIG. 6b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a gingerbread person.
[0049] FIG. 6c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a gingerbread person.
[0050] FIG. 7a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a telephone pound sign.
[0051] FIG. 7b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a telephone pound sign.
[0052] FIG. 7c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of a telephone pound sign.
[0053] FIG. 8a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an exclamation point.
[0054] FIG. 8b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an exclamation point.
[0055] FIG. 8c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of an exclamation point.
[0056] FIG. 9a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Spanish letter “ñ.”
[0057] FIG. 9b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Spanish letter “ñ.”
[0058] FIG. 9c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Spanish letter “ñ.”
[0059] FIG. 10a shows a top view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Mandarin character for plum.
[0060] FIG. 10b shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Mandarin character for plum.
[0061] FIG. 10c shows a side view of an embodiment of the receptacle in the shape of the Mandarin character for plum.
[0062] FIGS. 11a and 12a show a top view of an embodiment of two receptacles coupled together, the first in the shape of the Latin letter “a” and the second in the shape of the Latin letter “b.”
[0063] FIGS. 11b and 12b show a perspective view of an embodiment of two receptacles coupled together, the first in the shape of the Latin letter “a” and the second in the shape of the Latin letter “b.”
[0064] FIGS. 11c and 11d show a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of two receptacles coupled together, the first in the shape of the Latin letter “a” and the second in the shape of the Latin letter “b.”
[0065] FIG. 12c shows a side view of an embodiment of two receptacles coupled together with a connector, the first receptacle in the shape of the Latin letter “a” and the second receptacle in the shape of the Latin letter “b.”
[0066] FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of the drinking straw with multiple receptacles coupled together to form a drinking straw spelling the word “congrats.”
[0067] FIG. 14 shows a perspective view of the drinking system in use in a beverage container with multiple receptacles coupled together to form a drinking straw spelling the word “education.”
DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0068] Referring to FIGS. 1a,2a, 3a, 4a, 5a, 6a, 7a, 8a, 9a, and 10a they are top views showing various embodiments of the shape of the receptacles, with a female connector on the left and a male connector with two barbs on the right. The double lines around the shapes of the letters “a”, “b”, “1”, “2”, the elephant, gingerbread person, telephone pound sign, exclamation point, Spanish letter “ñ” and Mandarin character for plum show the beveled edges around the three dimensional receptacle.
[0069] Referring to FIGS. 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, 8b, 9b, and 10b they are perspective views showing various embodiments of the shape of the receptacles. In FIGS. 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, 8b, 9b, and 10b, the number denoted by 1 refers to the female connector, capable of connecting to a male connector on another receptacle. The number denoted by 6 refers to the three-dimensional receptacle. The number denoted by 2 refers to the top facet of the three-dimensional receptacle. The number denoted by 3 refers to the bottom facet of the three-dimensional receptacle 6. The number denoted by 4 refers to the male connector of the receptacle 6. The number denoted by 5 refers to the top facet of the three-dimensional receptacle 6.
[0070] Referring to FIGS. 1c and 2c, they are cross-sectional views of the receptacle 7 of the letter “a” shape and letter “b” shape, respectively. The female connector 8 is on one facet of the receptacle 7, the male connector 9 is on the opposite facet of the receptacle 7. The male connector 9 has two barbs 10 for insertion into another female connector on another receptacle. Referring to FIGS. 1d and 2d, the cavity of the receptacle 7 is hollow to allow for fluid to fill the space and flow from the female connector 8 through the receptacle 7 to the male connector 9 and into another female connector through another receptacle and eventually to the consumer.
[0071] Referring to FIGS. 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, 7c, 8c, 9c, and 10c they are side views showing various embodiments of the shape of the receptacles, with a female connector on the left and a male connector with two barbs on the right.
[0072] Referring to FIG. 11a, there is a beveled edge 9 around the shape of the receptacle. Referring to FIG. 11b, the first receptacle in the shape of the Latin letter “a” 10 is coupled with a coupling mechanism 11 to the second receptacle in the shape of the Latin letter “b.” Referring to FIG. 11c, the first receptacle 10 has a female connector 3, and a male connector 4 on an opposite facet. The second receptacle 12 has a female connector 5 and a male connector 7. The male connector 7 has two barbs 6 to help it couple and make a seal to prevent liquid from leaking from the drinking straw system 1 (in FIG. 11c). The beveled edge of the second receptacle 12 is seen at 2. Male connector 4 inserts into female connector 5 to form a coupling mechanism 11 (as seen in FIG. 11b). Referring to FIG. 11d, the entire cavity of the first and second female connectors 3, 5, first and second receptacles 10, 12, and first and second male receptacles 4, 7 is hollow 8 and liquid can flow through the entire drinking straw system 1 by a user applying minimal suction at a connector 3, 4, 5 or 7.
[0073] Referring to FIG. 12b, the receptacles 1 and 3 have a female connectors on either side. A connector piece 2 is of a different material of a higher density than receptacles 1, 3. Connector piece 2 has a male connector on either side that can insert into the female connectors of receptacles 1, 3 to form a leak proof seal. There is a hollow cavity in receptacles 1, 3 and connector piece 2, wherein liquid can flow from a beverage container to a consumer without leaking.
[0074] Referring to FIG. 13, the entire drinking straw is shown linked together to form a hollow cavity wherein liquid can enter at interior cavity 1 and exit at the opening of hollow tube 13. The interior cavity 1 with an opening can be inserted into beverage container or the consumer's mouth. There is a mouth piece 2, and receptacle 4 in the shape of the letter “c,” receptacle 6 in the shape of the letter “o,” receptacle 7 in the shape of the letter “n,” receptacle 8 in the shape of the letter “g,” receptacle 9 in the shape of the letter “r,” receptacle 10 in the shape of the letter “a,” receptacle 11 in the shape of the letter “t,” receptacle 12 in the shape of the letter “s.” The coupling system 5 linking receptacle 4 receptacle 6 creates a leak proof seal between the two receptacle pieces 4, 6.
[0075] Referring to FIG. 14, the entire drinking system with modular building block pieces 4. The building block pieces are coupled together to form straw 5 spelling the word “education” with the various shapes of their individual receptacles. A second drinking straw 2, spelling the word “sally,” with receptacles linked together is seen in beverage container 3. Drinking straw 2 has a female connector 1 on receptacle letter “s” that can be used as a mouthpiece for a user to consumer the liquid from beverage container 3.
[0076] Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, it should be understood that the present invention might be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, the present examples and embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.
