US20250242971A1

US20250242971A1 - Beverage Container with a Retractable Strap

Info

Publication number: US20250242971A1
Application number: US18/429,278
Authority: US
Inventors: Dean Berger
Original assignee: Sand/e Bag LLC
Current assignee: Sand/e Bag LLC
Priority date: 2024-01-31
Filing date: 2024-01-31
Publication date: 2025-07-31
Also published as: WO2025166145A1

Abstract

A beverage container may have a canister for containing liquid, a canister lid, and a strap for holding the beverage container. The strap may be retractable from a storage configuration within a housing to an extracted in-use configuration. The strap may be biased toward a position within the housing by a biasing member such as a coil spring, for example. The housing may be integral with, permanently connected, or removably connected to the canister.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Beverage containers, especially insulated beverage containers with lids, are used for conveniently carrying a beverage with a person as they jog, walk, or travel by car or plane, for example. Most conventional beverage containers must be carried in a hand and occupy that hand of the person from performing other activities. Embodiments of the beverage container comprise a handle or strap that may be extended into an in-use configuration or retracted into a storage configuration.

BACKGROUND

Beverage container carrying devices are designed to provide means for carrying a beverage container without using your hands. There are different types of devices used to assist in carrying beverage containers including handles, belts, backpacks, and chest carriers, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,903 discloses a carrier designed that extends over a person's shoulders and around the person's neck and to support a beverage container next to a user's chest and free their hands for other uses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,835 describes a belt for attaching a beverage container at a user's waist to support the beverage container when not in use.
Carrying devices, including those discussed above, are not convenient and require a separate support device to be worn. There is a need for a beverage container that includes a convenient self-contained carrying system.

SUMMARY

Beverage containers for carrying beverages are in wide use for carrying beverages while jogging, walking, or otherwise traveling by car or plane, for example. Embodiments of a beverage container may comprise a canister for containing a liquid and, in some embodiments a lid for closing the canister. The beverage container may be a tumbler, cup, insulated beverage container, insulated beverage cover for a container such as a koozie or other insulation cover, or other container for a beverage. Embodiments of the beverage container may further comprise a strap assembly. The strap assembly comprises a retractable strap that may be held directly by the user, formed into a loop to be carried over a shoulder, as a belt, across the chest, or hung from a stroller or other object, for example.
Embodiments of a strap assembly comprise a housing having an exit port wherein the strap extends from within the housing through the exit port. The strap may comprise a strap connector for connecting to the beverage container or other object to form a carrying loop for a user or connecting to another object such as a stroller. The strap connector may be connected to a container connector, looped around part of the container, or otherwise connected to the canister or other part of the container. The strap is moveable through the exit port between an in-use configuration, wherein at least a portion of the strap extends outward from the housing through the exit port to form the handle and a storage configuration wherein at least a portion of the strap is retracted within the housing. In this way, the strap does not interfere with use of the beverage container when it is not needed and another device is not required to be carried, worn, or attached to another object to carry the beverage container. In some embodiments, the strap is biased toward the storage configuration by a biasing member. The biasing member may be a coil spring, for example. In other embodiments, the strap may be manually wound up on a spool within or exterior to the housing.
In some embodiments, the strap assembly may be reversibly connected to the canister or the beverage container such that the cannister may be used with or without the strap assembly. The strap assembly may be reversibly connected by any connection that may be attached, disconnected, and reattached without damaging the beverage container or the strap assembly. In other embodiments, the strap assembly may be permanently connected or formed integrally with the canister or beverage container. In other embodiments, the strap assembly may be permanently connected or formed integrally with a lid of the canister. The strap assembly may reversibly connected to the canister, beverage container, or the lid by at least one of a threaded connection, a magnetic connection, a friction fit connection, a biased button and aperture connector, a snap connector, quick connector, twist and lock connector.
The strap assembly may further comprise a lock that restrains the movement of the strap against the biasing force of the biasing member. The lock may be movably disposed in the housing and operative to selectively inhibit retraction of the strap via selective engagement with the strap. The lock may be automatic or manually operated. The lock may be engaged when the strap is deployed at different lengths thus the strap may have a plurality of in-use configurations and the lock is configured to inhibit retraction of the strap in each in-use configuration.
The strap connector may be configured to reversible or permanently connect to the container, canister, container connector on the container, a connector on the lid, and/or to the top of a bottle by a loop, for example.
In order to make the above objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, many specific details are explained in order to fully understand the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar improvements without departing from the connotation of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited by the specific embodiments disclosed below.
In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms “center”, “longitudinal”, “transverse”, “length”, “width”, “thickness”, “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “Back”, “Left”, “Right”, “Vertical”, “Horizontal”, “Top”, “Bottom”, “Inner”, “Outer”, “Clockwise”, “Counterclockwise”, “Axial”, “Radial”, “Circumferential”, etc. indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying the pointed device or the element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention.
In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms “installed”, “connected”, “attached”, “fixed”, “removably”, “permanently” and other terms should be understood in a broad sense, for example, ‘retained,” it can be a fixed connection or a detachable connection. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meaning of the above-mentioned terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.
Aspects of the beverage container are presented in various embodiments, however one skilled in the art will understand various variation and interchangeability of the components of the various embodiments which are intended to be included in the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of the beverage container comprising a canister and a strap assembly integrated or permanently connected together;

FIG. 1A depicts an embodiment of the biasing member that provides a biasing force on the strap toward the storage configuration;

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of the beverage container comprising a canister with a lid comprising a strap assembly;

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of the beverage container comprising a canister and a strap assembly removably connected to the canister and a container connector attached to the lid;

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of the beverage container comprising a threaded removable connection between the canister (male threads) and strap assembly (female threads);

FIG. 5 depicts a snap on removable connector between the canister and the strap assembly comprising a rib on a male extension from the canister and groove on a female portion of the strap assembly;

FIG. 6 depicts a magnetic removable connector between the canister and the strap assembly comprising a magnet on one of the male extension from the canister and the female portion of the strap assembly; and

FIG. 7 depicts a strap assembly permanently connected to the canister with the strap connector permanently attached to the canister.

DESCRIPTION

Beverage containers are in wide use for carrying beverages for people that are jogging, walking, or otherwise traveling by car or plane, for example. However, conventional beverage containers require the user to hold the beverage container in their hand or to use a belt, backpack, or other device attached to their body to carry the beverage container. Embodiments of the beverage container comprise a readily available strap that can be reversibly moved from a storage configuration within a housing to an in-use configuration.
Embodiments of a beverage container comprise a canister for containing a liquid and, in some embodiments, a lid for the canister to reduce spilling of the liquid. In other embodiments, the beverage container comprises an insulated cover for holding a can or bottle of liquid. Thus, the beverage container may be a tumbler, cup, insulated beverage container, insulated beverage covers such as a koozie, or other container for a beverage. Embodiments of the beverage container may further comprise a strap assembly. The strap assembly comprises a retractable strap that may be held directly by the user, formed into a loop to be carried over a shoulder, worn as a belt, across the chest, or hung from clothing, a stroller, or other device, for example.
Embodiments of a strap assembly comprise a housing having an exit port wherein the strap extends through the exit port. As described above, strap may comprise a strap connector for connecting to the beverage container to form a carrying loop for a user or connecting to another object. The strap is moveable through the exit port between an in-use configuration, wherein at least a portion of the strap extends outward from the housing through the exit port to expose more of the carrying strap and a storage configuration wherein at least a portion of the strap is retracted within the housing. The strap may be retracted by being wound onto a spool, for example. In this way, the strap does not interfere with use of the beverage container when the strap is not needed and the user does not need another device to be carried, worn, or attached to another object to help carry the beverage container. In some embodiments, the strap is biased toward the storage configuration by a biasing member. The biasing member may be a coil spring, for example. As the strap is retracted, the coil spring is tightened resulting in a biasing force on the strap toward the storage configuration.
In some embodiments, the strap assembly may be reversibly connected to the canister such that the cannister may be used with or without the strap assembly. The strap assembly may be reversibly connected by any connection that may be attached, disconnected, and reattached without damaging the beverage container. In other embodiments, the strap assembly may be permanently connected or formed integrally with the canister. In other embodiments, the strap assembly may be permanently connected or formed integrally with a lid of the canister. The assembly strap assembly may be reversibly connected to the canister or the lid by at least one of a threaded connection, a magnetic connection, a friction fit connection, a biased button and aperture connector, a snap fit, a quick connect, or twist and lock connector, for example.
The strap assembly may further comprise a lock that restrains the movement of the strap to retain the strap in the in-use configuration against the biasing force of the biasing member. The lock may be movably disposed in the housing and operative to selectively inhibit retraction of the strap via selective engagement with the strap. The lock may be engaged when the strap is deployed at any length thus the strap may have a plurality of in-use configurations and the lock is configured to inhibit retraction of the strap in each in-use configuration. Such locks and restraining members are known in the art.
The strap connector may be configured to be reversibly connected or permanently connect to a container connector on the container, a connector on the lid, and/or to the top of a bottle, for example. The container connector may be configured to connect to the strap connector. The strap connector may either be reversibly connectable or permanently connected to the container connector.
FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a beverage container 10 comprising a strap assembly. This embodiment of beverage container 10 comprises a canister 11 defining a reservoir for receiving a liquid and a lid 15 with a drinking nozzle. The embodiment also comprises a strap assembly that comprises a retractable strap 12 that may be used to conveniently carry the beverage container 10 and store the strap 12. The shown strap assembly comprises a housing 17 defining an exit port 16. The strap assembly is configured such that the strap is moveable between an in-use configuration wherein at least a portion of the strap extends outward from the housing through the exit port to form a handle and a storage configuration where at least a portion of the strap is retracted within the housing.
The strap is biased to the retracted or storage configuration by a coil spring 30 (shown in FIG. 1A). In FIG. 1A, the biasing member is the coil spring but other biasing members such as an elastic member or other may be used. The biasing member is configured to bias the strap toward the retracted configuration. A locking member 14 is configured to prevent retraction of the strap 12 against the biasing force provided by the coil spring 30. A locking member may provide sufficient friction to retain the strap in the extended or in-use configuration or otherwise lock rotation of the strap in the in-use configuration such as known in the art. These locks are used on retractable tape measures and retractable leashes.
The strap 12 may be connected to a strap connector 13. The strap connector 13 is configured to connect to another connector or object. In this embodiment, the strap connector 13 may also be sized relative to the size of the exit port 16 to prevent the strap and strap connector from being fully retracted into housing 17 through the exit port 16. The strap connector 13 may be reversibly connected to container connector 18 to form a loop with the strap 12 in the in-use configuration. The embodiment of the beverage container 10 also defines a recess that is configured to receive the strap connector 13.
FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of a beverage container 10 comprising a strap assembly incorporated into the lid 15 of the canister 11. The lid 15 comprises the housing 17, the retractable, strap 12, and strap connector 13. The biasing member (not shown in FIG. 2 ) is connected within housing 17. As in other embodiments, the strap assembly may comprise a locking assembly 14. In this embodiment, container connector 18 is connected to canister 11. Both the lid 15 and the strap assembly are reversibly connected to canister 11.
In any embodiment, the strap assembly may be reversibly connected to the canister. For example, the strap assembly may be connected to the bottom, top, middle, side of the canister, or other portion of the canister. In such embodiments, the strap assembly may be reversibly connected to the canister by at least one of a threaded connection, a magnetic connection, a friction fit connection, a biased button and aperture connector, a snap connector, quick connector, twist and lock connector, or other reversible connection, for example.
The canister defines an inlet on a top portion of the canister for receiving the liquid into the reservoir and the container may comprise a lid for closing the inlet.
The strap assembly comprises a lock movably disposed in the housing and operative to selectively inhibit retraction of the strap via selective engagement with the strap. The lock is configured to restrain the strap in an in-use configuration. The strap may be restrained or locked in a plurality of in-use configurations and the lock is configured to inhibit retraction of the strap in each in-use configuration.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 depict an embodiment of the beverage container with the removable strap assembly. In this embodiment, the canister 11 comprises a male threaded connector 20. The strap assembly comprises a female threaded connector 21 on an inside surface of the housing 17. FIG. 3 depicts the strap assembly connected to the canister 11 with strap 12 extracted from the storage configuration to an in-use configuration with strap connector 13 connected to the canister connector 14. In this in-use configuration, strap 12 forms a loop that may be used by the user to carry the beverage container over the shoulder, around the neck, held in the hand, or by other means.
FIG. 5 depicts another embodiment of a beverage container wherein the strap assembly is reversibly connected with a snap connector. In this embodiment, the canister 11 comprises a male connector 22 with a rib 24B and the strap assembly comprises a female connector 23 comprising a circumferential groove 24A for receiving the rib 24B to retain the strap assembly connected to the canister 11. FIG. 5 depicts the strap 12 partially extracted from the storage configuration to an in-use configuration that may be connected to a stroller or other object.
FIG. 6 depicts another embodiment of a beverage container wherein the strap assembly is reversibly connected with a magnetic connector. In this embodiment, the canister 11 comprises a male connector 22 with magnet 24B wherein the male connector 22 is received within a female connector 23 comprising another magnet or a magnetic material 24B. In other embodiments, the magnetic/magnetic material configuration may be reversed.
FIG. 7 depicts another embodiment of a beverage container wherein the strap assembly is permanently connected to canister 11. In this embodiment, the strap connector 13 is permanently connected to container connector 14.
It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrative examples and that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiments and examples be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

1. A container, comprising:

canister defining a reservoir for receiving a liquid; and

a strap assembly, wherein the strap assembly comprises:

a housing defining an exit port;

a strap comprising a strap connector, wherein the strap is moveable between an in-use configuration wherein at least a portion of the strap extends outward from the housing through the exit port to form a handle and a storage configuration where at least a portion of the strap is retracted within the housing; and

a biasing member configured to bias the strap toward the retracted configuration.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein the canister is an insulated beverage container.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the strap assembly is reversibly connected to the canister.

4. The container of claim 3, wherein the strap assembly is reversibly connected to a bottom of the canister.

5. The container of claim 3, wherein the strap assembly is reversibly connected to the canister by at least one of a threaded connection, a magnetic connection, a friction fit connection, a biased button and aperture connector, a snap connector, quick connector, twist and lock connector.

6. The container of claim 1, wherein the canister defines an inlet on a top portion of the canister for receiving the liquid into the reservoir and the container comprises a lid for closing the inlet.

7. The container of claim 6, wherein the strap assembly is connected to a lid of the canister.

8. The container of claim 6, wherein the strap assembly is connected to the canister.

9. The container of claim 1, wherein biasing member is a coil spring.

10. The container of claim 1, wherein the strap assembly comprises a lock movably disposed in the housing and operative to selectively inhibit retraction of the strap via selective engagement with the strap.

11. The container of claim 10, wherein the strap comprises a plurality of in-use configurations and the lock is configured to inhibit retraction of the strap in each in-use configuration.

12. The container of claim 1, wherein the strap is partially wrapped around the coil spring in the storage configuration.

13. The container of claim 1, comprising a container connector configured to connect to the strap connector.

14. The container of claim 13, wherein the strap connector is reversibly connectable to the container connector.

15. The container of claim 14, wherein the strap container is permanently connected to the container connector.

16. A method of using a strap for a beverage container, comprising:

extracting a strap from a storage configuration within a housing;

locking the strap in the extracted in-use configuration; and

carrying the beverage container by the strap.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein extracting the strap comprises pulling the strap against a biasing member.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the biasing member is a coil spring.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the housing is reversibly connected to the beverage container.