Pre-fillable and disposable sippy cup

Abstract

A pre-fillable and disposable sippy cup includes a one piece main body and a dispensing spout that can be easily configured for use by either toddlers or older children.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to the general art of liquid containers and dispensers, and to the particular field of child and infant feeding cups.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The history of baby and toddler liquid feeding systems has remained essentially unimproved over a long period of time. The major improvement in baby bottles and toddler cups, formerly manufactured of glass, or other breakable materials, is the replacement of the breakable liquid housing, relatively recently, by plastic, or other non-breakable materials.[0003]In the prior art baby bottle systems, the liquid storage “bottle”, or liquid housing, is usually sealed with a flexible latex or silicone rubber nipple. The nipple is usually removably-attached to the bottle by means of a threaded collar, which is designed to squeeze the nipple flange against the rim of the bottle. As the baby sucks on the nipple, the liquid in the bottle is removed by the baby's sucking. As the mi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The above-discussed disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by a pre-fillable and disposable sippy cup which includes a one piece main body having thereon a dispensing spout that can be easily configured for use by either toddlers or older children.

[0011]Using the sippy cup embodying the present invention will permit sale of a filled cup in a store and then disposal of the cup after use. This avoids the need for an adult to fill a cup before leaving on a trip, while trying to drive, or the like, and then for the adult to clean the cup after use.

Problems solved by technology

The history of baby and toddler liquid feeding systems has remained essentially unimproved over a long period of time.

One of the major problems inherent with the prior art liquid feeding system, is that the baby also ingests a very large amount of air during the difficult process of sucking the milk out of the bottle against the increasing pressures being developed in the bottle.

This then results in a “bloating” of the baby's stomach, with the likelihood of concomitant vomiting of the mixture of ingested milk and large amounts of air.

However, this has proved to be an expensive alternative, having, as well, its own major problems.

Aside from its greater costs, when a bottle utilizing a liner is held upside down, it drips or leaks profusely—the amount being essentially proportional to the size of the nipple liquid outlet.

This major drawback, has led to the need for another, more suitable solution, to the vexing air-liquid ingestion problem.

Another major problem inherent with the use of the conventional prior art baby bottles, capped by the conventional latex nipple, has been the often uncontrolled spilling or dripping, of large quantities of milk during its use.

However, this prior art design generally also has resulted in the dripping or ‘leaking’ of large volumes of liquid, when the liquid outlet is not located in the child's mouth.

However, traditional valve youth drinking cups are difficult and / or time consuming to clean such that the valve can potentially become unsanitary and / or not fully functional.

This problem is compounded by the fact that some mothers forget or are too busy to spend the time necessary to thoroughly clean the valve, or do not realize how important a thorough cleaning is.

Another problem is that, in many existing cups having valves, it is difficult to tell if or when their valve(s) is properly cleaned, particularly when the valve is positioned inside of a concave region in their cap where it is difficult to see and reach.

There are also numerous additional functional requirements that are difficult to achieve simultaneously.

However, this valving arrangement increases the number of pieces, doubles the sanitation and misfunction problems, and adds significant expense to the product.

Another problem is that these known valving arrangements do not work properly if either of the valves becomes plugged or partially inoperative, which is more likely to occur with two valves than with a single valve.

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