Liquid storage container with adjustable internal volume

Abstract

A liquid storage container having an adjustable internal volume for the removal of vacant air space is disclosed. The liquid storage container comprises a tubular sleeve having a top lid portion and a bottom plunger having an outer gasket housed within the sleeve. In use, liquid from a first container is added or liquid is removed from the liquid storage container wherein the bottom plunger is sized and shaped to facilitate manual movement of the plunger either up or down within the sleeve. During the plungers movement the outer gasket engages the interior of the sleeve for providing a liquid tight arrangement while simultaneously allowing the bottom plunger to telescopically move up or down within the sleeve in response to applied forces adjusting the liquid storage containers internal volume for the removal of vacant air space or for allowing a liquid to be added to the liquid storage container.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to a storage container for receiving liquids and more particularly relates to adjusting based on the amount of liquid the internal volume of the storage container.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Retail supermarkets and stores are selling carbonated sodas in increasingly large volumes. Typically, these large volumes are offered in plastic bottles having volumes of up to 2 liters or more. With respect to offering carbonated soda in bulk, such as 2 liter bottles, a consumer will buy these types of bottles due to the reduction in sales price of the carbonated soda in comparison to buying the same product in smaller containers. Bulk or large containers are easier to handle and cheaper to make than the large number of small bottles or cartons used to hold a similar volume of product.[0003]However, a problem exists when buying carbonated sodas in large containers in that once the container has been opened and a quantity of the soda is rem...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]A liquid storage container having an adjustable internal volume for the removal of vacant air space is disclosed. The liquid storage container comprises a tubular sleeve having a top lid portion and a bottom plunger having an outer gasket housed within the sleeve. In use, liquid from a first container is added or liquid is removed from the liquid storage container wherein the bottom plunger is sized and shaped to facilitate manual movement of the plunger either up or down within the sleeve. During the plungers movement the outer gasket engages the interior of the sleeve for providing a liquid tight arrangement while simultaneously allowing the bottom plunger to telescopically move up or down within the sleeve in response to applied forces adjusting the liquid storage containers internal volume for the removal of vacant air space or for allowing a liquid to be added to the liquid storage container.

Problems solved by technology

However, a problem exists when buying carbonated sodas in large containers in that once the container has been opened and a quantity of the soda is removed, the quality i.e. the “effervesce” of the soda remaining in the container deteriorates over a relatively short period of time.

Eventually, the quality deteriorates to the point where there is only a negligible amount of carbon dioxide remaining in the soda, the majority of the carbon dioxide being in the gaseous atmosphere of the bottle.

Therefore, despite saving money through the buying of sodas in a bulk container, if all of the soda is not completely consumed in a short period of time, the remaining soda in the container becomes undrinkable and is subsequently thrown out.

Hence, by throwing away the unused soda portion, all of the money saved by buying in bulk is lost because all of the soda was not used quickly enough.

However, bottle makers would need to provide bottles collapsible by thinning the bottles midsection wall structure and in doing so would run the risk of weakening the sealed soda bottles from the factory which must withstand up to 120 psi.

This might cause the products to burst from shipment or heat stress while in transport.

However, this limits reducing the bottles volume to predetermined set points.

However, the techniques or apparatus disclosed above in the prior art suffer from one or more disadvantages in adjusting the internal volume of a container, such as the compressible container which requires a manufacturer to provide a bottle construction which may not be able to provide the required pressure necessary to transport carbonated sodas.

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