US3596795A

US3596795A - Nestable cups and holders

Info

Publication number: US3596795A
Application number: US786975A
Authority: US
Inventors: Giacinto C D Ercoli
Original assignee: Solo Cup Co
Current assignee: Solo Cup Co
Priority date: 1968-12-26
Filing date: 1968-12-26
Publication date: 1971-08-03
Anticipated expiration: 1988-08-03

Abstract

Thin-walled, expendable cups are formed to nest within one another and to have a snap fit interlock with a reusable cup holder. The cup holders may also be formed to nest within one another to provide a reduced overall height for a plurality of stacked cup holders.

Description

United States Patent Giacinto C. D'Ercoli Park Forest, 111. 786,975

Dec. 26, 1968 Aug. 3, 1971 Solo Cup Company Chicago, 111.

[72] Inventor [21 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73] Assignee [54] NESTABLE CUPS AND HOLDERS 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52) US. CL 220/97, 1344/10 (13), 220/85, 229/15, 248/1453 [51] Int. Cl. B65d 21/02, A47g 19/23,A47g 19/03 Field 01 Search 220/85 H, 97 B.97 C.97 F: 229/].5 H: 248/1453: D44/l0(13), 9.1; 09/220 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,123,273 3/1964 Miller 3,139,213 6/1964 Edwards 3,207,461 9/1965 Holzwarth.. 3,232,512 2/1966 Wanderer PrimaryExaminer-George E. Lowrance 220/97 C X 220/97 C D44/ 13 UX 229/ 1 .5 H

A lmrney- Anderson. Luedeka. Fitch. Even & Tabin ABSTRACT: Thin-walled, expendable cups are formed to nest within one another and to have a snap fit interlock with a reusable cup holder. The cup holders may also be formed to nest within one another to provide a reduced overall height for a plurality of stacked cup holders.

PATENTEDAUG awn 3,596,795

' snmaorz FIG.3

NESTABLE CUPS AND HOLDERS This invention relates to thin-walled, plastic cups or con-I tainers of the expendable kind for receiving hot or cold its nested and stacked position. Failure of the holder and cup to readily and tightly interlock necessitates'several thrusts of the holder on the cup. Such failure to interlock is time consurning and irritating to the user.

Occasionally several of the uppermost cups of the stack cling together and lift with the holder from the stack, whereas only a single cup is desired to be lifted. .This necessitates separation of the extra nested cup or cups, which is not only time consuming, but defeats the desired sanitary 1 end of removal of the cups from the stack without touching with the hands. Y

The nature of the interlock between the cup and holder'at the time of use by the consumer is also important, for if the" cup is loose in the holder, the cup may tip or separate from the holder spilling its contents. Compounding the problem of providing the suitable interlock between thecup and the holder .is the fact that the contents in the cup maybe quite cold or quite hot and, hence, cause swelling or shrinking of the cup'relative to the holder. Such a changein'dimension may result in a loose interlock, if the cup and holder areonly marginally interlocked. While, the interlock must be sufficiently strong to prevent separation of the cup from the holder during use and with dimensional changes due to thermal changes, this interlocking should not be so strong that the cup cannot be readily separated from the holder and thrown away after use,

In addition to meeting the various requirements as to interlocking, the cup must be designed so that-it can bereadily mass-produced and at tolerances commonly accepted "for plastic molding of such cups.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved, as contrasted with the prior art, cup or container which will interlock with the holder and alleviate the shortcomings of conventional cups and holders of this kind. Y

. .Other objects and advantages of the-invention will become apparent from the detailed description taken in'connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the cup embodying the inv vention with the holder being shown in section toexpose the cup to view;

FlGJZ is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of interlocking portions of the cup and holder shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, elevational view of the cup of FIG. 1; I

FlG.'4 is the top, plan view of the cup shown in FIG. 3;'and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of stacked and nested holders. Generally, as shown in the drawings for purposes-of illustration, the invention is embodied in a container or cup 1 1 which is generally a truncated cone having an open top 13, an

inclined sidewall 15, and a bottom'wall 17 which is integrally joined to the lower end of the inclined sidewall 15.Thecup 1 1 is of the thin-walled, expendable and nestable'. kind for'use with a reuseable holder 19 and is formed with a series of relatively' narrow, flexible, reversely tapered locking rings 21 in a Proceeding now with a more detailed description, the cup sidewall 15' inclines outwardly and upwardly at a relatively constant'slope from the bottom wall 17 to a rolled rim 25 at the top of the cup, although the cup maybe formed with portions of different taper. The cup is one piece, seamless and is preferably molded from a suitable plastic material such as polystyrene, but other materials may also be used for the cup and fall within the purview of the present invention-The cup is a "thin-walled cup with its sidewalls being of a uniform thickness throughout and within the range of 0.006 and 0.025 inch with a 0.0 l S inch wall thickness being preferred.

The cup wall 15 is thin and formed of flexible material and, as the locking rings are disposed considerably above its more rigid bottom section at the bottom wall 17, the locking rings '21 are capable of flexing inwardly toward a central, longitudinal axis as the locking rings engage .the wall of the holder 19. In the illustrated cup, a plurality of locking rings 21, six in this instance, are spaced longitudinally along a central section of the cup wall 15 for interlocking with an equal number of locking seats 23in the holder. While the number of locking rings 21 may be varied from the six illustrated, sufficient locking rings 21 are provided between the cup and holder to provide relatively'la'rge and longitudinal spaced areas of interlocking engagement. By providing these large and spaced interlock'ed areas, relatively shallow grooves or seats 23 may be used in contrast to the single deep groove in prior art cup and holder arrangements. As shallow grooves require less flexing of the cup sidewalls to accomplish snap f t interlocking of the cup to the holder, the holder'19 telescopes into interlocking relationship with the top one of an inverted stack of cups with a minimum of force.

In the'illustrated embodiment of the invention, the locking rings 21 are identical in configuration although the diameters of the locking rings increase progressively in size from the lowest to highest ring. Each locking ring is formed with an annular or ring wall 27 whichis tapered reversely to the taper of the cup sidewall 15 as a whole. That is, the diameter at a lower edge 29 of each ring wall27 is equal to or slightly larger than the diameter at its upper edge whereas the remainder of the cup sidewall 15 is formed with progressively increasing diameters from the bottom wall 17 upwardly to the rim 25. For example, in a l4-ounce capacity cup of the kind illustrated, the diameter for the lower edge 29 of each ring wall 27 is about 0.034 inch larger than the diameter for its upper edge 31. For a l4-ounce cup, each ring wall 27 extends approximately 0.090 inch in the longitudinal direction, i.e., parallel to'the longitudinal'axisfor the cup. Between adjacent ring walls is formed a generally transversely extending wall or shoulder 32.

For the purpose of facilitating telescoping of the cup 11 into the holder 19 and the inward flexing of the transversely extending, shoulder wall 32 of a cup, the holder 19 is formed with sloped supporting walls 33 which slope downwardly and inwardly toward the center of the holder. These sloped supporting walls 33 function in the manner of cam surfaces which gradually cam the shoulder walls 32 inwardly toward the cup axis' as the latter abut and slide therealong. ln this way, the

shoulder wall 32 of each locking ring 21 is flexed inwardly until it slides down past the lower edge 35 of the engaged sloped supporting wall 33 and expands into an annular seat or groove defined by an annular wall 37 which extends upwardly and inwardly also at a reverse taper from an upper edge of one sloped supportingwall 33 to a lower edge 41 of the next above sloped supporting wall 33. Having expanded into the groove defined by the annular wall 37, the cup shoulder wall 32 abuts 'the next lower sloped supporting wall 33 of the holder and rests thereon.

The illustrated sloped supporting wall 33 slopes downwardly at a 45" angle to a plane normal to the axis of the cup, i.e., a horizontal plane. Whilethis angle may be varied, it is preferred to provide sufficient slope to cause gradual inwardly flexing of the cup sidewall 15 rather than a sharp abrupt flexing. For the illustrated l4-ounce cup, the diameter at the lower edge of seat wall 37 is about 0.034 inch larger than the diameter of the upper edge thereof; andthe wall is sloped downwardly and outwardly from the longitudinal or vertical direction at an angle of about 3. In the illustrated holder each of the locking seats 21, which includes both a therein and prevent the full telescoping of one cup within another to the extent that the bottom walls 17 thereof would abut. A full telescoping of the cups would result in tightly engaged sidewalls and increased friction between the cup sidewalls 15 retarding the free release of the topmost cup from a second cup of a stack of nested cups. Quick release and removal of a single cup 11 is aided by the venting of air through openings or spaces 45 between the adjacent stacking ribs 43. The sidewalls 15 of adjacent telescoped cups remain spaced from each other throughout including the locking rings 21 so that air may pass readily down through adjacent locking rings 21 of adjacent, telescoped cups. Thus, air may flow through an annular space between the spaced sidewalls of telescoped cups and through the venting openings 45 into the expanding space between the respective bottom walls 17 of the cups 1 1 as one is being removed.

In this instance, six stacking ribs 43 are in the form of angularly spaced protrusions which are integral with and extend inwardly from the cup sidewalls 15 to provide surfaces 47 for abutting the bottom wall 17 of an inserted cup. In the illustrated cup, the stacking ribs 43 are spaced equidistantly from each other by aboutthree-eights of an inch with the top surfaces 47 of each rib disposed about 0.13 inch above outside surface of the bottom wall 17. Thus, the rim 25 of each nested cup 11 extends approximately 0. l 3 inch above the rim of next below nested cup. The stacking ribs 43 project inwardly from the inclined wall for a suitable distance, in this instance for about 0.024 inch, to provide a support for the bottom wall 17 of an inserted cup.

As the cup 11 is to'be used with the holder 19, the bottom wall 17 of the cup may be pointed and in this instance it tapers downwardly and inwardly to the axis of the cup at an angle of about 5 to the horizontal. It is preferred that the 5 taper for the wall 17 begin at a point 51 spaced inwardly (FIG. 2) from the cup sidewall 15 at about one-sixteenth of an inch. This leaves a flat annular ring 53 around the pointed portion of the bottom wall 17 to abut the stacking ribs 43 of another cup.

The holder 19 may be made of any suitable molded plastic material which has good strength, heat resistance, chemical resistance and abrasion resistance; and a suitable plastic such as polypropolene, polyamides or polyoxymethylene may be used. Because the holder 19 is used repetitively for long periods of time, it is made of much heavier and more rigid construction. Thus, the sidewalls of the holder are considerably thicker than the sidewalls 15 of the cup 1 l. The illustrated holder 19 is open at both a top opening 55 and at a lower opening 57 which is of a smaller diameter than the diameter of the top opening 55. A suitable handle 59 may be integrally formed on a sidewall of the holder for grasping by the user. Preferably, the handle is located generally at the location of the interlocking rings 21 and seats 23 to provide increased stability.

The holders 19 are also formed with a substantially truncated conically shaped wall and can be telescoped and nested one inside the other to reduce the cumulative height for a given number of holders (FIG. 5). When nesting the holders 19, handles 59 of adjacent holders are angularly displaced so that a bottom web 60 of one handle does not strike a top web 61 of another handle and interfere with'the full telescoping of the inserted holder.

When a holder is fully inserted into stacked position in another holder, it abuts its bottom ring wall 63 on means defining a transverse support wall which, in this instance, is.

defined by transversely extending shoulders 65 forming the top of ribs 67 extending vertically in and along the lower portion of the interior wall of the holder 19. The shoulders 65 are aligned in a horizontal plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the holder to define the support wall for stacking. The

ribs 67 are spaced angularly about the inner wall of the holder and project inwardly toward the axis of the cup from a cup vertical wall surface 69 to an inner rib vertical wall 71. This rib wall 71 will be spaced slightly from the inclined wall 15 of a cup 11 (FIG. 1) but will intersect and support thebottom ring wall 61 of another inserted holder 19. The ribs extend vertically from the bottom wall 63 to'the shoulders 65 and this height is sufficient to pennit the handle 59 of the inserted holder 19 to clear, i.e., be spaced from, the top rim wall of its supporting holder 19. By forming a lower portion 75 of the holder wall more nearly cylindrical and at a small diameter than its top portion 76, the inserted holder is able to be telescoped relatively deeply into another holder and still space its top portion 76 from the locking seats 23 in its supporting holder. Preferably, the ribs 67 extend upward to a plane 80 at which the lower more vertically tapered portion of the holder is integrally joined to the upper portion of the holder.

From the foregoing it will be observed that both the holders l9 and the cups 11 may be telescoped and stacked for reducing the overall height needed for storage thereof. Also, the cu and holders are readily interlocked by a snap fit at a location which provides for good stability for the cup and the liquid contents therein. The cups and holders are particularly suited for achieving low cost, mass production economies.

Various of the features of the invention are set forth in the following claims.

What I claim is:

' 1. A cup of a thin-walled, expendable, nestable kind, said cup being of substantially truncated conical shape having an open top and being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a sidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to said longitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewall reinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wall integrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, said bottom wall including an outer ring portion and inner, downwardly tapering, pointed portion projecting below said sidewall, a series of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower locking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, and an internal stacking ring formed in the lower section of said sidewall to engage said outer ring portion of the bottom wall of a telescoped cup nesting therein.

2. A combination comprising a cup and a holder therefor, said combination including a thin-walled, expendable, nestable cup of substantially truncated conical shape having an open top and being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a sidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to said longitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewall reinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wall integrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, a series of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower locking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, a substantially, truncated conically shaped'wall on said holder disposed closely adjacent to the inclined sidewall of said container, a plurality of locking seats in said holder wall for snap fit interlocking with said locking rings, said locking seats having transverse support walls each of which slopes downwardly and inwardly toward the longitudinal axis of said cup to abut and flex one of the cup shoulder walls inwardly and to support the next above shoulder wall, said locking seats including a ring wall joining adjacent ones of said transverse support walls and defining a space into which a shoulder wall may expand after being flexed whereby the locking rings may be interlocked with said locking seats.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse supporting walls of said holder are inclined downwardly and inwardly to facilitate camming of said flexible container ring walls inwardly during the snap fit interlocking.

4. The combination of claim 2 in which said ring walls of said holder are inclined to the longitudinal axis of said holder with a larger diameter at the lower edge than the upper edge thereof..

5. The combination of claim 2 in which locking rings and seats in said cup and holder are located above the midpoints of their respective sidewalls.

6. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse sup- 7. A molded, one-piece, plastic, nestable holder for thinwalled, expendable cups comprising, a substantially truncated conically shaped wall inclined upwardly and outwardly to a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a lower portion of said conical wall having a diameter smaller that that of the portions thereof above and serving as a base for the holder, a plurality of rigid, transverse shoulder walls formed in the upper and interior portion of said truncated, conically shaped wall to provide locking seats for snap fit interlocking with an inserted cup, a handle extending outwardly from adjacent the top of said truncated conically shaped wall, the lower portion of said conically shaped wall having a plurality of ribs spaced angularly along the interior of the lower portion of said truncated conically shaped wall, said ribs extending upwardly from said base, shoulders formed at the tops of said ribs to support the base of another nested holder, said shoulders being spaced upwardly from the base of said holder by a distance greater than the distance said handle extends downwardly from the top of the upper portion of said holder to prevent said handles from interfering with insertion of a base to a position in abutment with said shoulders.

8. A holder in accordance with claim 7 in which said transverse shoulder walls for snap fit interlocking with an inserted cup are sloped downwardly and inwardly toward said longitudinal axis to cam inwardly portions of a cup being inserted therein.

Claims

1. A cup of a thin-walled, expendable, nestable kind, said cup being of substantially truncated conical shape having an open top and being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a sidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outWardly to said longitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewall reinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wall integrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, said bottom wall including an outer ring portion and inner, downwardly tapering, pointed portion projecting below said sidewall, a series of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower locking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, and an internal stacking ring formed in the lower section of said sidewall to engage said outer ring portion of the bottom wall of a telescoped cup nesting therein.

2. A combination comprising a cup and a holder therefor, said combination including a thin-walled, expendable, nestable cup of substantially truncated conical shape having an open top and being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a sidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to said longitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewall reinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wall integrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, a series of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower locking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, a substantially, truncated conically shaped wall on said holder disposed closely adjacent to the inclined sidewall of said container, a plurality of locking seats in said holder wall for snap fit interlocking with said locking rings, said locking seats having transverse support walls each of which slopes downwardly and inwardly toward the longitudinal axis of said cup to abut and flex one of the cup shoulder walls inwardly and to support the next above shoulder wall, said locking seats including a ring wall joining adjacent ones of said transverse support walls and defining a space into which a shoulder wall may expand after being flexed whereby the locking rings may be interlocked with said locking seats.

4. The combination of claim 2 in which said ring walls of said holder are inclined to the longitudinal axis of said holder with a larger diameter at the lower edge than the upper edge thereof.

6. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse support walls of said holder are inclined downwardly and inwardly to facilitate camming of said flexible container ring walls inwardly during the snap fit interlocking.

7. A molded, one-piece, plastic, nestable holder for thin-walled, expendable cups comprising, a substantially truncated conically shaped wall inclined upwardly and outwardly to a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, a lower portion of said conical wall having a diameter smaller that that of the portions thereof above and serving as a base for the holder, a plurality of rigid, traNsverse shoulder walls formed in the upper and interior portion of said truncated, conically shaped wall to provide locking seats for snap fit interlocking with an inserted cup, a handle extending outwardly from adjacent the top of said truncated conically shaped wall, the lower portion of said conically shaped wall having a plurality of ribs spaced angularly along the interior of the lower portion of said truncated conically shaped wall, said ribs extending upwardly from said base, shoulders formed at the tops of said ribs to support the base of another nested holder, said shoulders being spaced upwardly from the base of said holder by a distance greater than the distance said handle extends downwardly from the top of the upper portion of said holder to prevent said handles from interfering with insertion of a base to a position in abutment with said shoulders.