Beverage Container Cap Matching With Unique Graphics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage containers lack a practical means to identify individual containers within a group, leading to confusion and waste due to untracked usage and disposal.
Innovation Solution
Implementing unique identifying indicia on the neck or cap of each container, such as rotatable rings or stickers with distinct graphics, allowing users to align and match containers to personal identifiers or dates, ensuring each container is uniquely identifiable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiple identical beverage containers are used in a group, then the containers are uniform and easy to manufacture, but there is no way to track or identify individual containers leading to confusion and waste
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by placing unique identifying indicia (such as stickers, printed graphics, or embossed markers) on specific locations of otherwise identical containers. This allows the containers to remain uniform in manufacture while having distinct local features for identification. The identifying features are applied only where needed on the container surface, maintaining overall uniformity while providing individual distinction.
2Loss of information
If identifying indicia are added to each container, then individual container tracking is enabled, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs inexpensive identifying indicia such as stickers, printed graphics, or simple embossed markers that can be easily applied to disposable beverage containers. These identification elements are designed to be low-cost and simple, matching the disposable nature of the containers themselves. The identification system avoids complex electronics or mechanisms, using instead simple visual or tactile markers that are cheap to produce and apply.
3Ease of operation
If rotatable rings with identifying indicia are used on the container neck, then users can align and match containers to personal identifiers, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the identifying indicia directly into the cap assembly or ring structure that is already part of the container closure system. The cap or ring serves dual functions: it closes the container and provides the identification feature. This eliminates the need for separate identification components, as the closure element itself carries the unique identifier through stickers, printing, or embossing on its surface.
Data Source
AI summary
A group of beverage containers that are each uniquely identified within the group, each having a container label and a removable cap. There are a plurality of beverage containers removably held together in a group such that a consumer is able to remove one or more containers from the group. There are the same plurality of separate identifying graphics, each graphic of the plurality of graphics unique from all other graphics of the plurality of separate identifying graphics. Each container has one of the plurality of separate identifying graphics applied to both its cap and its label, wherein each container of the group is thus uniquely identified relative to all other containers of the group. If a cap is removed from a container of the group it can be matched up to its original container by matching the unique identifying graphic that is applied both to the container and to the cap.