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).

Description

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. Tradition...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[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

Problems solved by technology

Such chocolate is prone to melting.

Yet, such chocolate may not melt if stored with a soda in a refrigerated soda bottle di

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