| Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
  Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containersUSPTO Application #: 20060151414Title: Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers Abstract: A bottle is provided with a cap. The cap includes a container that may be externally opened while the cap seals material inside the bottle. Thus, a user may retrieve items from inside the cap (e.g., dietary supplements or candy such as mini M&Ms) before opening the bottle (by removing the cap) and using the material inside of the bottle (e.g., a water or a soft drink). (end of abstract)
Agent: Jeffrey D. Mullen - New York, NY, US Inventor: Jeffrey D. Mullen USPTO Applicaton #: 20060151414 - Class: 215227000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Bottles And Jars, Closures, With Structure For Removably Holding An Article Or Material The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060151414. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/643,991, filed on Jan. 13, 2005 and entitled "Bottle Cap with Container" (Docket No. JDM/009 PROV) and Provisional Patent Application No. 60/718,831 filed on Sep. 19, 2005 and entitled "Bottles, Cans, and Other Storage Structures Having Secondary Storage Compartments" (Docket No. JDM/009 PROV2) which are both hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to bottles, cans, and other types of storage structures. [0003] FIG. 1 shows traditional bottle 100 that includes bottle housing 110, bottle cap portion 120, and bottle cap portion 130. Bottle cap portion 120 and bottle cap portion 130 are removably attached such that a twist of bottle cap portion 120 removes bottle cap portion 120 from bottle cap portion 130 so long as bottle cap portion 130 is anchored to traditional bottle 100. Traditional cap portion 130 include guides that allow the cap portion to screw onto, and off from, the mouth of bottle housing 110. Such a guide is shown as guides 132 on traditional cap 131. A traditional bottle cap has a rigid top made of hard plastic such that the bottle cap seals soda, or water, into a bottle's housing. Such a rigid hard plastic top housing is shown as top surface 134 of cap 133. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0004] A bottle cap is provided with a secondary container that is operable to store secondary objects, such as a secondary material, separate from primary material stored in a bottle that the bottle cap is attached to. The bottle cap is also operable to seal the primary material (e.g., a liquid, solid, or gas) in a bottle as well as separately store the secondary objects. The cap container may extend into the bottle and the cap container may be accessible from an aperture located in the top surface of the bottle cap. As a result, a bottle may hold two types of material while still being operable to be dispensed from, for example, a bottle dispensing machine. [0005] Numerous whimsicle and festive combinations of primary and secondary materials may be stored in a bottle with a bottle cap having a bottle cap container. For example, a bottle may house a liquid such as a water or soda (e.g., a carbonated beverage such as a cola or lemon and/or lime carbonated beverage) while the bottle cap houses a candy or other edible substance (e.g., pieces of chocolate, bits of peanut butter, miniature marshmallows, hard candy, soft candy, or other confectionary product). Doing so may provide a complete snack in one simple, easily distributable package. Similarly, the bottle may house a nutritional liquid such as water, juice, or a beverage including vitamins, while the container holds vitamins, food, nutritional pills, or rations (e.g., a day worth of rations). Such a nutritional combination provides an emergency nutritional package in one easily distributable bottle. Thus, if a emergency victim is in need of nurishment, the emergency victom only has to receive a bottle having a bottle cap container to fully nourish that victim. Additionally, a milk (e.g., a milk, milk-tasting substance, or milk substitute) may be stored in a bottle, while cookies or a syrup (e.g., chocolate syrup) are stored in the bottle cap's container. Prizes, advertising materials, trading cards, or any type of object can be stored in a bottle cap's container. [0006] One benefit resulting from the inclusion of a container in a bottle cap bottle cap is realized if the bottle cap is on a bottle distributed through a soda machine. The soda machine may cool not only any liquid stored in the bottle, but also anything stored in the cap's container. Thus, if a candy (like a chocolate candy or other confectionary) is stored in the cap's container, the candy may also be cooled by the soda machine. The melting point of some chocolate may be between 98 degrees and 99 degrees. Such chocolate is prone to melting. Yet, such chocolate may not melt if stored with a soda in a refrigerated soda bottle dispensing machine. [0007] A cap container may open and close from the exterior of the cap. Thus, a user can open a cap's container without having to remove that cap from a bottle. An additional benefit of having the ability to open the cap's container from the external of the bottle is that opening the cap's container is not very messy--any liquid stored in the primary storage container (e.g., the bottle's housing) may not exit the bottle when the bottle cap container is opened. If the bottle cap has never been removed from the bottle (after it was attached to the bottle during manufacturing), then the seal between the cap and the container may not be disturbed when the container is externally opened. Thus, none of the material stored in the bottle, if any, can escape when the external container is opened. Additionally, none of the primary material stored in the bottle may start to spoil as no air may come into contact with the primary material when the bottle cap container is opened. [0008] A cap container may open and close from the interior of the cap (e.g., a portion of the cap that extends into a bottle when used to seal that bottle). Such a cap container may provide, among many things, security for those objects stored in the cap's container. For example, a prize may be stored in the caps container. Prizes having different rarity may be distributed into the cap containers such that prizes having different rarity have different odds of being located in any particular cap container. To help prevent someone from searching bottles, the cap container may be provided such that the bottle may have to be opened, allowing the primary material to be accessed, in order to retrieve the contents of the container. Additionally, abricating the cap's container in a non transparent color (e.g., a black) may keep the identity/characteristics of the prize hidden until the cap's container is opened. [0009] A cap's container may be provided such that the cap's container extends into the bottle, protrudes from the mouth of the bottle (e.g., substantially protrudes from the mouth of the bottle), or both. The cap's container can extend down over the mouth of a bottle on the exterior side of the mouth. The cap's container can take on any form such as, for example that of an action figure, sports figure, celebrity figure, or other shape. For example, a bottle cap container may be produced to promote a movie. The cap container can take the form of the shape of a character in the movie and extend down into the bottle (or protrude out from the mouth of the bottle). If extending into the interior of the bottle, the shape of may not be recognizable until the bottle is opened because of the primary material stored in the bottle. Thus, not only may secondary objects be stored in the container (e.g., a prize or candy), but the container itself may be collectible and may provide improve the whimsicle and festive nature of a capped bottle. [0010] Any type of container may be used in conjunction with a cap container. Any type of cap container can be used. For example a cap container may be a screw-on cap, a pop-top cap, a peel-off top (that has a container attached to the peel-off top), a plastic lid (e.g., a plastic milk lid), or any other type of container. A container may be, for example, a bottle such as a plastic, glass, tin, ceramic, or aluminum bottle. [0011] Such containers may also include, for example, cans such as an aluminum or tin soda/beverage cans. Such cans can hold any substance or material. For example, the can may be a golf can and cap container may take the form of a removable metal lid (or a plastic lid) with a container formed in, or attached to, the lid. The lid may include, for example, golf tees while the can includes golf balls. Such cans may also be metal cans operable to hold soda. A container may be formed in a metal lid to the soda can. The lid may also have an opening, or be able to provide an opening, for accessing the contents of the soda (e.g., a soda can's mouth). Such a lid container may be accessible from the exterior surface of the lid. Thus, a user may not only access the contents of the soda can (e.g., the soda), but the contents of the lid's container (e.g., materials such as peanuts, fruit slices, flavoring, prizes, collectibles such as collectible tokens/coins, or any other object). The lid's container may include a removable seal (e.g., a peel off piece of plastic or a thin bendable metal) to seal objects into the lid's container. The lids container may extend into the interior of the can, extend from the exterior surface of the lid, or both. [0012] Cap containers may be filled remotely from bottling plants. Thus, for example, regional bottling plants may have regional bottle cap containers. A cap container filling plant may fill a particular number of caps (e.g., the number specified from a bottle plant) with a particular type of substance/object (e.g., the number specified from a bottle plant), seal the substance/object in the bottle cap container (e.g., by providing a cap container lid in/across the opening of the cap's containing area, and then ship the filled cap containers to the requesting bottling plant. An online website may be provided (or a graphical user interface on an intranet) to assist in the ordering process. For example, an online website may be provided with a number of filling options (where particular fillings can have different prices) such that any person or organization can order filled bottle cap containers. The bottle cap containers may have numerous sizes to hold different amounts of a substance. If, for example, the cap's container extends into a primary housing (e.g., a bottle interior or can interior) then the size and shape of the portion extending into the container may affect the amount of substance that can be stored in the primary housing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013] The principles and advantages of the present invention can be more clearly understood from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which the same reference numerals denote the same structural elements throughout, and in which: [0014] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a prior art bottle; [0015] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a bottle with a bottle cap having a container constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; [0016] FIG. 3 is an illustration of bottles with bottle caps having containers constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; [0017] FIG. 4 is an illustration of a bottle and bottle caps having containers constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; [0018] FIG. 5 is an illustration of a can, having a secondary container, constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; [0019] FIG. 6 is an illustration of fabrication alternatives for a can having a secondary container constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; [0020] FIG. 7 is an illustration of a bottle having a secondary storage compartment constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; Continue reading... Full patent description for Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Security device for use with a drinks receptacle Next Patent Application: Pull-tab sealing member with improved heat distribution for a container Industry Class: Bottles and jars ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Bottles, cans, and other storage structures with secondary storage compartments such as cap containers patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.4751 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Canon USA , Celera Genomics , Cephalon, Inc. , Cingular Wireless , Clorox , Colgate-Palmolive , Corning , Cymer , |
||
