US20160029824A1

US20160029824A1 - Environmental friendly paper cup lid

Info

Publication number: US20160029824A1
Application number: US14/486,067
Authority: US
Inventors: Chap-Chung Yiu
Original assignee: Eco-Material Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Eco-Material Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2014-08-01
Filing date: 2014-09-15
Publication date: 2016-02-04
Also published as: TWM491639U

Abstract

The present invention is an environmental friendly paper cup lid which is made integrally of botanic fiber pulp, and is used to overcome the defect that the conventional disposable paper cup lids made of plastic that is less environmental friendly, the paper cup lid has a covering lid which is extended downwards from the totally surrounding periphery on its top and is extended outwards to form a continuous circling wall; when in use, the paper cup lid can be directly engaged in the opening of the cup, and by that the sealed circling wall is abutted and leaned on the inner periphery of the opening of the cup to avoid dropping down of the paper cup cover; and can overcome the defect that the conventional techniques make the paper cup lid tend to be jammed on a curved rim on the upper outer periphery of the opening of the cup.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper cup lid, and especially to a paper cup lid made by a kind of botanic fiber pulp; when in use, once cup lid been pushed into the paper cup, the friction between cup lid and cup will hold the cup lid tightly in paper cup.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable beverage foods in present days most are packed in disposable paper cups or plastic cups; when loading with hot coffee or cocoa etc. in such cups, people will choose to use paper cups. Normally, hot drinks paper cups are used with plastic cup lids, the plastic cup lids each has a covering plate to cover a cup opening, the covering plate is provide on its top surface with an opening for drinking, and has an engaging rim on its outer periphery; when a cup lid covers the top of a paper cup, the cup lid is jammed by an engaging rim thereof on a curved rim on the upper outer periphery of the paper cup, as is the way of the prior techniques U.S. Pat. No. 8,490,818 B2, US20,050,242,096 A1, CN102,028,376A etc. these all belong to such kind of products.
Plastic cup lids can be made of various materials; normally we can see no. 5 polypropylene material (in abbreviation: PP), or no. 6 polyethylene material (in abbreviation: PS). The heat durability of the no. 6 plastics are only about 70-90 degrees, if any kind of hot beverage is over such temperature limit, small quantity of phenyl ethylene monomer will be released, drinking such beverage for a long time can induce a worry of getting cancer, in view of this, no. 6 normally is used on cold drinks. While no. 5 plastic is a most served material for using on food containers, its heat durability can be as high as 212 degrees F.; it will not release materials inducing cancer when it meets hot things. However, the cost of the no. 5 plastic is higher than that of the no. 6 plastic, and people will not certainly remember to check the code number of plastic of a cup lid when they buy a hot beverage, this can make people absorb overly large quantity of chemical materials in lack of awareness.
Moreover, used plastic cup lids has the problem of contaminating environment, therefore some people developed “biodegradable plastics”, they mainly include starch, poly lactic acid, fiber protein etc. as materials which are able to be resolved by micro-bacteria. But the environment to make this kind of biodegradable plastic needs to control the temperature, humidity and the content of oxygen etc. in order to be totally resolved by micro-bacteria ; and its production cost is quite high. By using pulp based paper cup lid, as it is natural product, it can be easily biodegrade in backyard and less expensive than these biodegradable plastics. Therefore, if the paper cup lids are made of botanic fiber pulps (such as paper pulps), it not only will eliminate the risk of plastic contamination on food, but also will largely lower the extent of environmental contamination, for instance, a conventional case CN202807367U is a design of such kind.
Although the above mentioned CN202807367U uses botanic fiber pulps to make paper cup lids and can make contribution on the subject of environmental friendly, however, as stated above, the normal engaging structures between the cup lids and the paper cups all are provided at the outer peripheries of cup lids with circling engaging rims, and take advantages of the engaging rims for engaging with the curved rims on the outer peripheral on the tops of the paper cups; if the cup lids still uses the engaging structures for engaging with the curved rims on the paper cups, when in use, the botanic fiber pulps will become loose and soft by absorbing the water, in this case, the paper cup lids are unable to steadily engaged on the paper cups, especially when they are loaded with hot beverages, the hot beverages will continuously generate steam which can more easily invade into the paper cup lids to make the engaging rims become loose and soft and make deformation to render them unable to be continuously fixed on the paper cups. Therefore, it is a problem that the inventor of the present invention wanted to overcome for the purpose that the paper cup lids made of botanic fiber pulps can be fixed on the paper cups after the cup lids touch steam.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide an environmental friendly paper cup lid which is made integrally of botanic fiber pulp and is engaged with the inner periphery of a paper cup by the friction between botanic fiber pulp and paper cup; thus overcomes the defect that the conventional disposable paper cup lids made of plastic that is less environmental friendly and the defect that paper cup lids are unable to be firmly engaged with paper cup.
For the purpose of achieving the above object, the environmental friendly paper cup lid is made of botanic fiber pulp, it has a covering lid adapted to obstruct an upper opening of the paper cup, the covering lid is extended downwards from the totally surrounding periphery on its top and is extended outwards to form a continuous circling wall, the bottom end of the continuous circling wall is folded and turned upwards to extend outwards and to form a sealed circling wall to be abutted against the inner periphery of the opening of the cup, the top end of the sealed circling wall is bended outwardly to form a stop portion lapping and jointing with a curved rim on the periphery of the opening; the sealed circling wall has an elastic function towards the outer direction, plus the friction of the material botanic fiber pulp itself, thus the paper cup lid can avoid dropping down off the paper cup after the paper cup lid is directly engaged in the opening of the cup, and when the paper cup is loaded with hot beverage, the steam of the hot beverage will be seeped slightly into a filled gap between the sealed circling wall and the opening of the cup, and this renders the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid to inflate slightly to thereby increase tightness of the sealed circling wall with the inner periphery of the opening of the cup being abutted and leaned.
With the above structure, the sectional view of the continuous circling wall and the sealed circling wall of the paper cup lid form a “V” shape. And the outer surfaces of the continuous circling wall and the sealed circling wall are designed to render the sealed circling wall to have an elastic function towards the outer direction, plus the friction of the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid itself, thus the paper cup lid can avoid being dropped down off the paper cup after the paper cup lid is directly engaged in the opening of the cup, and when the paper cup is loaded with hot beverage, the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid will inflate slightly after it absorbs steam to thereby increase tightness of the sealed circling wall with the inner periphery of the opening of the cup being abutted and leaned.
The followings further describe the way of practice of the components of the present invention:
In practice, the continuous circling wall is provided thereon with a plurality of dented portions for exerting force by a user, the user can exert force at the dented portions to pull up the paper cup out from the opening of the cup.
In practice, the stop portion is extended at its rim to be provided with at least a lifting ear for a user exerting force to lift and open the paper cup cover.
And in practice, the stop portion is in a circle shape, and surrounds the totally surrounding periphery of the top end of the sealed circling wall.
And in practice, the stop portion in a circle shape has thereon a lot of arc like recesses alternately arrayed on the top end of the sealed circling wall.
And in practice, the top of the covering lid is provided at a position near to the continuous circling wall with a protruding obscuring sheet, the obscuring sheet is provided at its periphery with a plurality of non-continuous cutting lines, when the obscuring sheet is bended rearwards along the cutting lines, an opening for drinking for a user is formed on the top of the covering lid.
And further in practice, the top of the covering lid is provided behind the obscuring sheet with a hollow to allow the obscuring sheet to be bended rearwards and engaged in position.
In comparison with the conventional techniques, the sectional view of the continuous circling wall and the sealed circling wall of the paper cup lid form a “V” shape; and the outer surfaces of the continuous circling wall and the sealed circling wall are designed to render the sealed circling wall to have an elastic function towards the outer direction, plus the friction of the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid itself, thus the paper cup lid can avoid being dropped down off the paper cup after the paper cup lid is directly engaged in the opening of the cup, and when the paper cup is loaded with hot beverage, the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid will inflate slightly after it absorbs steam to thereby increase tightness of the sealed circling wall with the inner periphery of the opening of the cup being abutted and leaned; thereby to overcome the defect that the conventional disposable paper cup lids made of plastic that is less environmental friendly and the defect that paper cup lids are unable to be firmly engaged with paper cups.
The present invention will be apparent according to its technical measures after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the present invention is provided on a paper cup;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective sectional schematic view showing the structure of the present invention which is provided on the paper cup;

FIG. 4 is a perspective sectional view showing an obscuring sheet of the present invention is bended rearwards to form on the top of a covering lid with an opening for drinking;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the present invention is an environmental friendly paper cup lid 100 which is made integrally of botanic fiber pulp and has a covering lid 10 adapted to obstruct an upper opening 201 of a paper cup 200, the covering lid 10 is extended downwards from the totally surrounding periphery on its top and is extended outwards to form a continuous circling wall 20, the bottom end of the continuous circling wall 20 is folded and turned upwards to extend outwards and to form a sealed circling wall 30 to be abutted against the inner periphery of the opening 201, the top end of the sealed circling wall 30 is bended outwardly to form a stop portion 40 lapping and jointing with a curved rim on the periphery of the opening 201.
The sectional view of the continuous circling wall 20 and the sealed circling wall 30 of the paper cup lid 100 forms a “V” shape. And the outer surfaces of the continuous circling wall 20 and the sealed circling wall 30 are designed to render the sealed circling wall 30 to have an elastic function towards the outer direction, plus the friction of the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid 100 itself, thus the paper cup lid 100 can avoid being dropped down off the paper cup 200 after the paper cup lid 100 is directly engaged in the opening 201, and when the paper cup 200 is loaded with hot beverage, the steam of the hot beverage will slightly permeate into a crevice for filling up it between the sealed circling wall 30 and the opening 201, and makes the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid 100 inflate slightly to thereby increase tightness of the sealed circling wall 30 with the inner periphery of the opening 201 being abutted and leaned.
When in practice, the sealed circling wall 30 turned upwards to extend outwards from the bottom end of the continuous circling wall 20 has an outwardly extending angle being mated with the angle design of the paper cup 200 sold in the markets, as shown in FIG. 1 for instance, the angle that the peripheral wall plate of a paper cup 200 sold in the market outwardly extends from its bottom end is about 5-6 degrees, while the angle that the sealed circling wall 30 extends outwards must be larger than 5-6 degrees, in this case, the sealed circling wall 30 can be tightly abutted on the inner periphery of the opening 201. Therefore, when in practice, the angle that the sealed circling wall 30 extends outwards can be designed, as is shown in FIG. 3, to be 7-15 degrees; and the sealed circling wall 30 can thus be tightly abutted on the inner periphery of the opening 201.
And more, the length (deepness) of the sealed circling wall 30 also can be designed to be mated with the volume of the paper cup 200; for example, the volume of a normal paper cup 200 we see is about 6-30 ounces, thereby the sealed circling wall 30 can be designed in a size of 4-20 millimeter to mated with various different paper cups 200.
Please refer together to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the top of the covering lid 10 is provided near to a position connecting with the continuous circling wall 20 with a protruding obscuring sheet 50, the protruding obscuring sheet 50 is provided at its periphery with a plurality of non-continuous cutting lines 51, when the obscuring sheet 50 is bended rearwards along the cutting lines 51, an opening 52 for drinking for a user is formed on the top of the covering lid 10.
In the drawings, the top of the covering lid 10 is provided behind the obscuring sheet 50 with a hollow 53 to allow the obscuring sheet 50 to be bended rearwards and engaged in position. And more, the top of the covering lid 10 is provided at its appropriate position with at least an air hole 54 in order when the paper cup 200 is loaded with hot beverage, the pressure of steam generated therein will be leaked outwards.
As shown in FIG. 5, the stop portion 40 is extended at its rim to be provided with at least a lifting ear 41 for a user exerting force to lift and open the paper cup lid 100.
As shown in FIG. 2, the stop portion 40 is in a circle shape, and surrounds the totally surrounding periphery of the top end of the sealed circling wall 30. Or as shown in FIG. 6, the stop portion 40 in a circle shape has thereon a lot of arc like recesses alternately arrayed on the top end of the sealed circling wall 30.
And as shown in FIG. 7, the continuous circling wall 20 is provided thereon with a plurality of dented portions 21 for exerting force by a user, the user can exert force at the dented portions 21 to pull up the paper cup 100 out from the opening 201 of the cup, or can exert force downwards to make the paper cup lid 100 directly engage in the opening 201.
With the above structure, the sectional view of the continuous circling wall 20 and the sealed circling wall 30 of the paper cup lid 100 forms a “V” shape. And the outer surfaces of the continuous circling wall 20 and the sealed circling wall 30 are designed to render the sealed circling wall 30 to have an elastic function towards the outer direction, plus the friction of the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid 100 itself, thus the paper cup lid 100 can avoid being dropped down off the paper cup 200 after the paper cup lid 100 is directly engaged in the opening 201 of the cup 200, and when the paper cup 200 is loaded with hot beverage, the material botanic fiber pulp of the paper cup lid 100 will inflate slightly after it absorbs steam to thereby increase tightness of the sealed circling wall 30 with the inner periphery of the opening 201 of the cup 200 being abutted and leaned.
The above specification and drawings are only for illustrating the present invention and not for giving any limitation to the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various modifications or changes without departing from the spirit, structure, devices and characteristic etc. of this invention, shall also fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An environmentally friendly paper cup lid adapted to obstruct an upper opening of a paper cup, said covering lid extending downwards from a totally surrounding periphery of the lid from a top thereof and extending outwards to form a continuous circling wall, a bottom end of said continuous circling wall turned upwards to extend outwards to form a sealed circling wall to abut against an inner periphery of said opening, a top end of said sealed circling wall extending outwardly to form a stop portion lapping and jointing with a curved rim on a periphery of said opening; said sealed circling wall elastically biased towards an outer direction, said paper cup lid adapted to avoid dropping down off said paper cup after said paper cup lid is directly engaged in said opening.

2. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said continuous circling wall is provided thereon with a plurality of dented portions for exerting force by a user.

3. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 2, wherein said stop portion is in a circle shape, and surrounds a totally surrounding periphery of a top end of said sealed circling wall.

4. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 2, wherein said stop portion in a circle shape has thereon a a plurality of recesses alternately arrayed on said top end of said sealed circling wall.

5. The environmental friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 2, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided a protruding obscuring sheet, said obscuring sheet is provided at a periphery thereof with a plurality of perforations, wherein when said obscuring sheet is bent rearwards along said perforations, an opening for drinking for a user is formed on said top of said covering lid.

6. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 5, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided behind said obscuring sheet with a depression to allow said obscuring sheet to be bent rearwards and engage with the depression.

7. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 6, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided with an air hole.

8. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said stop portion further comprises at least a lifting ear for a user to exert a force to lift and open said paper cup cover.

9. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 8, wherein said stop portion is in a circular shape, and surrounds a totally surrounding periphery of a top end of said sealed circling wall.

10. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 8, wherein said stop portion in a circular shape has thereon a plurality of recesses alternately arrayed on said top end of said sealed circling wall.

11. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 8, wherein said top of said covering lid comprises a protruding obscuring sheet, said obscuring sheet comprising a plurality of perforations, wherein when said obscuring sheet is rearwards along said perforations, an opening for drinking for a user is formed on said top of said covering lid.

12. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 11, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided behind said obscuring sheet with a depression to allow said obscuring sheet to be bent rearwards and engage with the depression.

13. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 11, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided with an air hole.

14. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said stop portion is in a circular shape, and surrounds a totally surrounding periphery of a top end of said sealed circling wall.

15. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said stop portion in a circular shape has thereon a plurality of recesses alternately arrayed on said top end of said sealed circling wall.

16. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 1, wherein said top of said covering lid includes a protruding obscuring sheet, said obscuring sheet is provided at its periphery with a plurality of perforations, wherein when said obscuring sheet is bent rearwards along said perforations, an opening for drinking for a user is formed on said top of said covering lid.

17. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 16, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided behind said obscuring sheet with a depression to allow said obscuring sheet to be bent rearwards and engage with the depression.

18. The environmentally friendly paper cup lid as claimed in claim 16, wherein said top of said covering lid is provided with an air hole.