WO2014170240A1

WO2014170240A1 - Bottle with drip catcher device

Info

Publication number: WO2014170240A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/057453
Authority: WO
Inventors: Massimo TOTI; Peppino PELLONARA
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-04-19
Filing date: 2014-04-12
Publication date: 2014-10-23
Anticipated expiration: 2015-10-19
Also published as: EP2986521A1; ITAN20130076A1

Abstract

A bottle (1) comprising a base (2), a body (3), a neck (5) having an upper edge (6) and a drip catcher device (10) immovably fixed to the neck (5) of the bottle; the drip catcher device (10) having the shape of a cylindrical sleeve having an lower edge (11) and an upper edge (12), said drip catcher device (10) being disposed on the external surface of the neck (5) of the bottle, so that the upper edge (12) of the drip catcher device is flush with the upper edge (6) of the bottle neck; the upper edge (12) of the drip catcher device (10) having a thickness (s) less than 1.5 mm.

Description

Bottle with drip catcher device

The present patent application refers to a bottle with drip catcher device and it refers to the field of the glass bottle intended to contain wine or oil, but such a type of bottle can be used in other field with the same advantages.

Also if the following description refers to a wine bottle, wherein for bottle is intended a recipient having an upward tapered shape with a narrowed mouth, the invention is not limited to recipient having said shape or containing only wine. Therefore the invention extends to recipient intended to contain fluid food products or fluid chemical products.

It is know that a bottle comprises a base, a body and a neck ending with a circular upper edge called mouth for input and output of the liquid. A drawback of such a type of bottle is that, as the beverage is poured, some drops tends to not detach from the neck and to adhere to the bottle near the mouth.

As the bottle is disposed vertical on the base, the drops tends to slide on the external surface of the bottle reaching the base. As a result, the drops are deposited on the support plane of the bottle and they can damage the support plane. This depends on the liquid contained in the bottle, the material of the support plane and the permanence of the liquid on the support plane. The red wine can irremediably stain a table cloth and a corrosive liquid can damage the surface whereon the bottle is positioned.

Said drip is more frequent when the bottle is full. Since when the bottle is full, it is less tilt for purer the liquid in a glass.

If the bottle is not tilt with the mouth downward, some drops are deposited on the mouth without detaching from the mouth with the aforementioned drawback.

Said drawback is solved by device removably applied on the bottle and suitable to obtain the detachment of the drops from the bottle mouth, in order to avoid that the drops are deposited on the bottle mouth and slides on the external lateral surface of the bottle.

Devices suitable to absorb the drops are known in order to avoid that the drops reach the bottle base.

A first type of device is intended to be inserted into the bottle mouth.

Said device has a reduced output section or a shape suitable to avoid the drops to deposit on the bottle mouth. Said device has the drawback that, if the drop is deposited on the device mouth, said drop slides along the device and reaches the bottle mouth and continues to slide downward toward the bottle base. Therefore such a type of device reduces the drip, but the drip is not eliminated.

A second type of device comprises an absorbent ring or collar to be fit on the bottle neck. However said device are subjected to wear and after a time they don't adhere to the bottle neck. When the bottle is tilted downward such a device can fall out form the bottle neck.

Furthermore said adsorbent rig or collar on the bottle neck reduces the ergonomics of the bottle which is handled with difficult; the user can inadvertently grab the collar, and the collar can slide on the bottle neck.

Said two type of device have the drawback that they do not fit on any type of bottle, since they are to be shaped according to the neck of the bottle on which they are to be applied.

Furthermore said removable device are frequently subjected to break and loss.

FR1 105956 discloses a drip catcher device comprising a cylinder applied on the external of the bottle neck. Said cylinder has an upper edge comprising an annular plate abutting against the upper edge of the bottle neck. Said annular plate has a width (in radial direction) equal or greater than the thickness of the upper edge of the bottle neck. Therefore the width of the annular plate is about 4-5 mm. Such an annular palate is too wide for break the liquid drops. As a result, the liquid drops tend to slide on the annular plate and they tend to drip on the external surface of the bottle neck. Object of the present invention is to solve the drawbacks of the prior art providing a bottle with drip catcher device which is effective, practical, versatile, chipper and simple to make.

This object is achieved according to the invention with the features listed in the appending independent claim 1 .

Advantageous embodiments are evident from the dependent claims.

The bottle according to the invention comprises a base, a body, a neck having an upper edge and a drip catcher device immovably fixed to the neck of the bottle;

the drip catcher device having the shape of a cylindrical sleeve having a lower edge and an upper edge;

said drip catcher device being disposed on the external surface of the neck of the bottle, so that the upper edge of the drip catcher device is flush with the upper edge of the bottle neck;

the upper edge of the drip catcher device having a thickness less than

1 .5 mm.

The advantages of the bottle according to the invention are evident, since said bottle is provided with a drip catcher device which breaks the liquid drops, avoiding that the drops drip on the external surface of the bottle.

Further features of the invention are clearer from the following detailed description referring to the attaching drawings which are exemplificative and not limitative, wherein:

Figure 1 is an axial sectional view of a bottle according to the invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged detail of the bottle of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the detail of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view as Figure 2, but showing a second embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 is an exploded view of the detail of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a view as Fig 3, but showing a bottle neck of the "Bordeaux" type, which is milled in order to fit the drip catcher device of the invention; Figure 7 is a view as Figure 6, but showing a neck bottle provided with a labrum extending to the upper edge of the bottle neck, which is milled in order to fit the drip catcher device of the invention.

The bottle according to the invention is disclosed with the aid of Figures and it is wholly indicated with the reference number (1 ).

The bottle (1 ) comprises:

- a base (2),

- a body (3) substantially cylindrical which extends from the base and forms a chamber containing the liquid,

- a neck (5) having a diameter less than the diameter of the body,

- a shoulder (4) tapered with decreasing diameter joining the body to the neck; and

- an upper edge (6) of the neck forming a mouth trough which the liquid enters into the bottle and exits from the bottle.

The bottle mouth is intended to accommodate a cork.

Optionally the bottle (1 ) can comprise a collar or labrum (7) radially protruding outward from the bottle neck (5) near the upper edge (6) of the neck.

The labrum (7) generally acts as abutment for a corkscrew to remove the cork from the bottle.

According to the invention a drip catcher device (1 0) is fitted to the bottle (1 ).

The drip catcher device (1 0) has the shape of a cylindrical sleeve and it has a lower edge (1 1 ) and an upper edge (1 2).

The drip catcher device (1 0) is fitted to the bottle neck so as the upper edge (1 2) of the drip catcher device is flush with the upper edge (6) of the bottle.

The drip catcher device (1 0) is fixed to the external surface of the bottle neck in a non-removably manner, for example by means of adhesive glue (1 00) or by means of press fitting. However, in the case of a glass bottle, the drip catcher device (1 0) can be built-in into the glass of the bottle neck (5). If the bottle (1 ) is provided with the labrum (7), the drip catcher device (1 0) is disposed on the bottle neck (5) above the labrum (7). I. e. the lower edge (1 1 ) of the drip catcher device (1 0) abuts above the labrum (7).

With reference to Fig. 3, in this case the drip catcher device (1 0) has a height (h) equal to the height of a section of the bottle neck extending from the labrum (7) to the upper edge (6) of the bottle neck.

With references to Figure 3, the upper edge (1 2) of the drip catcher device has a thickness (s) less than the average diameter of a liquid drop. Therefore the thickness (s) of the drip catcher device is minor than 1 .5 mm, preferably minor than 0.5 mm. In this manner the liquid drop is break, when the drop reaches the upper edge (1 2) of the drip catcher device and the drop does not remain on the upper edge (1 2) of the drip catcher device and therefore the drop does not drips on the external surface of the bottle. In particular, the upper external corner of the drip catcher device (in axial section) is not rounded, but it is substantially equal to 90 °, said shape of the corner of the drip catcher device allows that the drop is break and avoids that the drop drips as in bottle having a rounded upper edge of the neck.

Preferably the drip catcher device (1 0) has a constant thickness (s). Furthermore the thickness (s) of the drip catcher device is less than the thickness of the labrum (7). It is to be noted that minor is the thickness of the drip catcher device better are the performances of the drip catcher device.

Advantageously the drip catcher device (1 0) is made of metal, preferably aluminum for foods or brass or stainless steel. Preferably the external surface of the drip catcher device (1 0) is covered with material (1 5) having low friction coefficient, such as poly-tetra-fluorine-ethylene (PTFE), known with the commercial name of Teflon.

Furthermore, in order to avoid drops on the upper edge (6) of the bottle neck, advantageously the upper edge (6) of the bottle neck can be flared, i. e. the upper edge (6) of the neck has a tapered section (60) having a thickness decreasing towards the top. In this manner the upper edge of the neck has a minimum thickens that allows the liquid drop is break. However if the drip catcher device is sufficiently thin, it performs is function to break the drop also with traditional bottles having a rounded upper edge of the neck.

With references to Figure 4 and 5, a second embodiment of the invention is disclosed, wherein elements equal o correspondent to the ones described are indicated with the same references number and the detailed description thereof is omitted.

In this second embodiment, the labrum (7) has been removed from the bottle neck (5), for example by means of milling, so that an upper portion (50) of the bottle neck is obtained having a minor diameter and the upper portion (50) forms an abutment step (51 ).

In this case, the drip catcher device (1 0) has the shape of a cylindrical sleeve having a non-constant thickness. The drip catcher device (1 0) has a collar (1 3) radially protruding outwards. The collar (1 3) of the drip catcher device has the same dimension of the labrum (7) typical of the bottle neck. The collar (1 3) of the drip catcher device is situated in correspondence with lower edge (1 1 ) of the drip catcher device.

In this manner, the lower edge (1 1 ) of the drip catcher device abuts angst the abutment step (51 ) of the bottle neck and the collar (1 3) of the drip catcher device simulates the labrum (7) typical of the bottle neck.

Figure 6 shows a bottle neck (5) with a traditional labrum (7). In this case the bottle neck is drilled on the external surface, in a portion (50) evidenced in dots, above the labrum (7). A thickness (s) of glass is removed by means of drilling. The thickness (s) of removed glass is equal to the thickness (s) of the drip catcher device (1 0). In this manner, when the drip catcher device (1 0) is fitted to the bottle neck, the esthetic appearance of the early bottle is not altered. The drilling of the bottle neck gives a further advantage to obtain a seat to accommodate the drip catcher device (1 0) with a friction coupling.

Figure 7 shows a bottle neck (5) having a labrum (70) extending to upper edge (6) of the bottle neck. In this case, the labrum (70) is drilled on the external surface thereof, in a portion (71 ) evidenced in dots, so that an abutment step (72) is formed. The lower edge (1 1 ) of the drip catcher device (10) abuts against the abutment step (72). A thickness (s) of glass is removed by means of drilling. The thickness (s) of removed glass is equal to the thickness (s) of the drip catcher device (10). In this manner, when the drip catcher device (10) is fitted to the bottle neck, the external surface of the drip catcher device (10) is flush with the external surface of the labrum (70) and the esthetic appearance of the early bottle is not altered. The drilling of the labrum (70) of the bottle gives a further advantage to obtain a seat to accommodate the drip catcher device (10) with a friction coupling.

Claims

1 . Bottle (1 ) comprising a base (2), a body (3), a neck (5) having an upper edge (6) and a drip catcher device (10) immovably fixed to the neck (5) of the bottle

said drip catcher device (10) having the shape of a cylindrical sleeve having an lower edge (1 1 ) and an upper edge (12), said drip catcher device (10) being disposed on the external surface of the neck (5) of the bottle

characterized in that

the upper edge (12) of the drip catcher device is flush with the upper edge (6) of the bottle neck,

the upper edge (12) of the drip catcher device (10) having a thickness

(s) less than 1 .5 mm.

2. Bottle (1 ) of claim 1 , wherein the upper edge (1 2) of the drip catcher device (10) has a thickness (s) less than 0.5 mm.

3. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said bottle comprises a labrum (7) radially protruding toward the exterior from the neck of the bottle and said drip catcher device (10) is disposed on the bottle neck above the labrum (7).

4. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said drip catcher device (10) has a constant thickness (s).

5. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the claims 1 to 3, wherein said drip catcher device (10) has a collar (13) protruding outwardly and said drip catcher device (10) is fixed to a upper portion (50) of the bottle neck having an external diameter less than the external diameter of the bottle neck.

6. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said drip catcher device (10) is made of Aluminum for food use or brass or stainless steel.

7. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said drip catcher device (10) has an external surface covered with material (15) having low friction coefficient, such as poly-tetra-fluorine-ethylene (PTFE).

8. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said top edge (6) of the bottle neck has a tapered portion (60) having a thickness decreasing going upward.

9. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein said drip catcher device (10) is fixed to the exterior surface of the bottle by adhesive glue (100) or by press-fitting.

10. Bottle (1 ) of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the neck (5) of the bottle or a labrum (70) of the neck bottle is drilled on the external surface thereof, so that a seat is obtained to accommodate the drip catcher device.