Drinking straw

The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/124,244, filed Apr. 15, 2008, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/156,523, filed Mar. 1, 2009, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The invention relates to drinking straws, more particularly to a drinking straw with a safety feature to prevent easy removal from a beverage container.

As is commonly known, a drinking straw is a cylindrical tube having two open ends. One end is placed in a beverage and the other end is placed in a person\'s mouth. By applying suction through the straw, a small amount of the beverage is drawn up through the straw and into the person\'s mouth. Because a straw allows a person to drink without having to lift a full cup, straws are often provided to children who would have difficulty drinking from a cup or glass without spilling the contents.

For the same reason, drinking cups for children are often provided with removable lids to help prevent large spills. These lids typically have an opening through which a drinking straw can be inserted.

It is also common for children to drink beverages from liquid-containing cartons or pouches that provide single servings of noncarbonated beverages such as juice or milk. These containers are commonly referred to as juice boxes or juice pouches. (Hereinafter, the phrase “juice box” will be used to refer to any type of single serving drink container designed to be consumed with an attached straw.) Juice boxes typically come packaged with a straw for consuming the beverage. The straw is typically attached to and removable from the juice box. The attached straw typically has an angle-cut piercing end, while the other rigid section ends in a straight-cut drinking end. The piercing end is designed to pierce the beverage container, for example through a small foil-sealed opening located near the top of the juice box.

While the drinking lids and the construction of the juice boxes help prevent large spills, parents often struggle with preventing young children from pulling drinking straws out of drink containers at inopportune times and either spilling the drink liquid or throwing the straw down onto a table or floor. The result is often a mess to be cleaned up and/or a straw that is dirtied and soiled and no longer re-usable for its intended purposes. Further, the child is then left without a straw and may be unable to drink any more of the beverage. Beyond that, it is also environmentally unfriendly as the straw is no longer usable and a new, clean one has to be obtained and used.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,013 to Manganiello for “Straw for Drinking Cup” teaches a reusable straw and lid assembly where the straw is inserted through an opening in the lid from underneath and a retaining shoulder allows only a predetermined length of the straw to extend above the lid. The apparatus taught by Manganiello is not designed to be disposable. The apparatus is too complicated and difficult to manufacture to be suitable for a one time use. Further, the straw and lid are a complete assembly designed to work together. The straw would not be suitable for use with another lid, such as the typical disposable lids placed on drinks in fast-food restaurants. Finally, the Manganiello straw must be inserted from underneath the lid, making more difficult to use for drinking lids and making it impossible to use with juice boxes and the like.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,074 to Frauenthal et al. for “Retraction Resistant Straw” describes a straw with a flexible retaining tab secured to the outside of the straw and extending radially. However, to insert the straw into an opening, the tab must first be wrapped around the straw to allow it to pass through the opening in the lid or juice box. Frauenthal also describes an alternate embodiment where the straw is formed with a truncated cone midway up the length of the straw so that the base of the cone (which is significantly larger in diameter than the straw) is toward the top of the straw. Both of these embodiments, however, would be difficult to use and to manufacture. The tab embodiment requires the user to wrap the tab around the straw before inserting. This would obviously be difficult for an adult and nearly impossible for a small child. The cone embodiment as shown in Frauenthal would make a larger hole in the lid or juice container, requiring more effort to insert the straw and making it more likely that there would be leakage or spilling around the straw. The same would be true for the tab embodiment, especially for foil on beverage boxes or pouches because the tab would tend to slice through the foil unless pre-folded against the straw. Finally, both embodiments would be difficult and expensive to manufacture and could not be produced using the typical extrusion molders currently used in drinking straw manufacture.

Accordingly, there is a need for a straw designed to prevent easy removal from a beverage container. Finally, there is a need for such a drinking straw which is inexpensive and easy enough to manufacture so that it may be used as a free, disposable item.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a drinking straw assembly that can be easily inserted through a lid or into a beverage pouch or box but that cannot be easily removed by a child once the straw is in place. Preferred embodiments are also inexpensive to manufacture so that the products are suitable for use as single-use, disposable straws.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more thorough understanding of the present invention, and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B show preferred embodiments of drinking straws according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a straw sleeve mounted onto a straw according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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