Holder for inverted bottles

Abstract

This invention is an inexpensive and simple to manufacture holder for inverted bottles or containers of different sizes, shapes and material. The inverted bottle holder is intended to support closed or capped bottles that are inverted in the holder and will provided a stable position for viscous fluid in the bottle to drain into the neck under the force of gravity. The collection of fluid in the neck of the bottle will allow for easier and more rapid expulsion of the product from the bottle. The bottles themselves can be made from any type of material and may or may not have handles.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority of provisional No. 60 / 594,842, filed May 11, 2005BACKGROUND [0002] This invention relates to container draining devices. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus for holding in an inverted position different sizes and shapes of bottles containing fluids, particularly viscous fluids such as ketchup, salad dressing, honey, mustard, barbecue sauce, motor oils, glues, shampoos, soaps, dishwashing liquids and many more. [0003] Ever since the introduction of viscous products sold in containers or bottles, consumers have been frustrated trying to remove the last drop of product from the container. The desirability of draining the residue from near-empty bottles of ketchup, honey and other viscous liquids has long been recognized. Reasons for wanting to extract as much as possible of the product include reducing wastage, the immediate absence of a new bottle or container of product, or the desire to facilitate rinsing of the container...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0033] The current invention has a combination of all of the necessary features of a successful device, listed as (a-o) in the above section, together with additional novel features. These features are nestability, one-step manufacture such as injection moulding, and a compact solution of holding bottles with handles, all of which have not been considered in the prior art. Also comprised in the invention is a new way of providing extra stability to the holder.

Problems solved by technology

Ever since the introduction of viscous products sold in containers or bottles, consumers have been frustrated trying to remove the last drop of product from the container.

However, none of the existing designs are completely suitable for the purpose for which they were intended.

This is both inconvenient to use and expensive to manufacture.

This device is extremely limited in the range of bottles it can hold, as the bottles all must have substantially the same size and shape of cap.

Again, this is a complicated design and expensive to manufacture.

It is impractical to use because it has to be adjusted for differently sized bottles.

However, the drawbacks with this design are numerous.

It is of a large overall size, which means that storage of more than one of them and shipping is not efficient.

Its design comprises large volumes of solid material, so it is costly in its requirement of raw materials and each one will take a relatively long time to mould.

Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine how such a shape could be moulded to include the guide rails for the drip collecting drawers included in the design.

However, the non-nestability of the cube-shaped design acts as an impediment to efficient storage and shipping.

Furthermore, it is a complicated shape, which is not suited to economical one-step manufacture.

Another detriment to one of the designs in the patent is that bottles can project through the envelope of the holder onto the flat base, which may lead to the unsuccessful capture of drips from a lid, which is not properly closed.

In addition, the cap of the bottle may snag in the hole in the wall when lifting it out vertically.

However, it provides resistive engagement with a bottle, which may cause the bottle to stick to the holder.

It suffers from the fact that it is not nestable, so that storage of more than one unit within cabinets or refrigerators, or on shop shelves, or during shipping, is not efficient.

A further drawback in this design is that the projecting flexible legs are prone to damage.

While there are existing holders which hold bottles with handles, and which can fit inside a refrigerator, these holders are either bulky or inconveniently depend on gripping the cap tightly in order to maintain the bottle vertical.

Existing holders may be stackable on top of each other, which is a waste of storage space.

Compared to prior art, it will save time in extraction of the contents, money in product, possible personal injury, recycling material and human frustration by all ages.

Images