Dispensing – Nozzles – spouts and pouring devices – With separable attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-31
2001-03-20
Recla, Henry J. (Department: 3751)
Dispensing
Nozzles, spouts and pouring devices
With separable attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202904
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to containers. More particularly, the invention relates to a dry breakfast food portable storing and direct mouth feeding container apparatus.
BACKGROUND
When in search of a healthy, nutritious dry snack food one has a difficult time locating such a product on the supermarket snack food shelves which are replete with fat and salt laden snacks such as potato chips, corn chips, corn puffs, pretzels, etc. However, one glance at the cereal shelves reveals a host of healthy vitamin, mineral and fiber filled products in the form of flakes, grains, oats, puffed rice, etc. The only problem is that these nutritious products are intended for use as a breakfast food and may only be effectively consumed with a spoon after being placed in a bowl with milk added. Trying to ingest these cereals away from the breakfast table, in dry form, from a cup or glass or from one's hand is difficult and frustrating as much of the product is spilled onto your shirt and the floor. Thus, aside from incorporating these cereals into cookies, snack cakes or puddings, one must be resigned to obtaining his daily fiber requirement at breakfast and mixed with milk which for some, such as dairy-product-free vegetarians, is not practical.
This dilemma can be overcome through the use of a container specifically designed to conveniently store, transport and dispense such cereal products directly into a person's mouth. Unfortunately, at this time, no such container exists on the market. There are a multitude of jars, cups, pitchers and containers available for the storage and dispensing of water or liquid drinks either directly into the mouth or into other dispensers. The military canteen is probably the best known of the direct drinking containers and is the forerunner to several plastic containers presently available that serve a similar function. There are also large plastic containers on the market designed to store and dispense dry food products into bowls or other containers but definitely not directly into one's mouth. Thus, the invented container apparatus will provide a product and service which is currently unavailable, and one which will prove to have significant value to the presently nutrition conscious public.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invented container apparatus is a plastic container designed to efficiently receive, store, and transport dry food and to dispense it directly into a person's mouth for ingestion. The primary food types intended to be carried in the container would be those classified as breakfast cereals including various flakes, grains, oats (granola), puffed rice, muesli, etc. However, it is expected that other nutritious dry foods such as raisins, nuts, chopped dates and prunes, banana chips and those categorized as “trail mix” would be included to sweeten the mixture resulting in a more appetizing snack food.
This invention has the following primary characteristics which makes it unique and capable of carrying out its objectives. It essentially consists of two components:
(1) A cup or container capable of holding anywhere from ten (10) to fifty (50) fluid ounces of food when full, however an ideal capacity is about twenty (20) fluid ounces. It is extremely important that this container have sufficient diameter (if circular) or width (if rectangular) to permit it to have an opening on top, called the fill opening, which is large enough to conveniently allow cereal to be transferred into it without spillage from a cereal carton or other large container in which a custom mix was prepared. The minimum size of this opening is deemed to be seventy (70) millimeters. Since the container apparatus is a hand held dispenser the maximum diameter (or width) of this container is essentially limited by the grip capability of the human hand which is deemed to be about one hundred and twenty (120) millimeters maximum with the optimum, most comfortable size, at about eighty-five (85) millimeters. However, this maximum dimension could be increased if a handle were attached to the container directly. In such a case the maximum dimension would be limited only by the practical considerations related to packing and carrying this device in a back-pack, on a bicycle, boat or car as a personal snack dispenser. A diameter, or width, greater than one hundred and sixty (160) millimeters would be unwieldy.
(2) A cap or lid for the container which also functions as a spout to direct and dispense the snack food directly into the user's mouth. This cap is attached to the container by a threaded or snap-on fitting. This cap/spout has two critical qualities: it has a funnel or dome shape, and it has a capped second opening, called the pour opening or mouthpiece, which is designed and sized to insure that the food enters the person's mouth without spillage. The funnel or dome-shaped spout has three functions:
(a) It serves to insure that an air void exists in the volume enclosed by the container and spout combined once the container has been filled to the rim with food product. Such a void is critical to the effective dispensing of the granular cereal and flakes through the mouthpiece. The open space allows a free surface condition to be maintained when the container is tilted to allow gravity forces to direct the grains down and out through the opening. The free surface permits the food particles to slide and tumble individually and collectively down the slope. Whereas, without a void and free surface effect, particles of a size which would otherwise individually pass through the opening, tend to wedge together and create a “log jam” effect at the opening. This problem does not enter into the design of liquid dispensers.
(b) It prevents the user's nose from striking the cap during use. In order to initiate the flow of dry food particles, the container must be tilted at an angle sufficient to overcome the stability, or equilibrium, of the product. This angle from the horizontal that must be exceeded, called the angle of repose, depends upon the nature of the particles. For the food products in question this angle can easily be forty-five (45) degrees or more. For liquid products this angle is essentially zero. Thus the tilt angle required to dispense the dry product into one's mouth must generally exceed forty-five (45) degrees. With a flat container cap having a diameter exceeding seventy (70) millimeters and with the pour opening in one s mouth, one cannot tip the container even into a horizontal alignment without striking his nose on the cap. Thus, to compensate for this restriction, one must tilt his head back to uncomfortable positions to create an angle which exceeds the angle of repose. This problem is overcome by using a funnel or conical-shaped spout with a considerable taper.
(c) A tapered, funnel-type spout directs the flow of granular food product smoothly down the walls to the mouthpiece as opposed to a flat cap which is less effective in channeling the flow out the mouthpiece.
The spout can either be in the form of a funnel with constant sloped sides or dome-shaped with curved sides proceeding upward from the base. The funnel-shaped spout can either be of conical or pyramid form. The preferred shape to minimize nose interference is conical or pyramid and with a side slope of thirty (30) degrees or larger measured from the horizontal plane. The larger the slope of the spout the more effective it becomes with regard to this problem, toward providing the maximum void space per unit cup diameter, and toward decreasing the tilt angle required to dispense the food product when the container is approaching empty. However, the optimum angle for a uniformly tapered spout is deemed to be about sixty (60) degrees as the log jam effect can be exacerbated with very steep funnel angles. The spout should produce a void space equal to at least fifteen (15) per cent or more of the volume of food product in a full container, yet a larger void is more effective in promoting free flow.
In an alternative embodiment, the
Creighton Wray James
deVore Peter
Narasimhan Meera P.
Recla Henry J.
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