Title:

Wrap-around for a beverage container

United States Patent Application 20020179617

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

The invention pertains to a wrap-around attachment to be used as wrap for a beverage container. There is a main sheet of a water repellent styrene foam and an inner layer of an absorbent material in contact with the outer surface of the beverage container. At one edge of the inner layer there is an adhesive strip which will adhere to any location on the outside of the main layer to make the warp-around usable on differently sized containers. Adjacent to the adhesive strip is placed a protective non-stick strip. Prior to use, the adhesive strip is folded over the protective strip to make the wrap-around non-sticking until use. Because of the materials being used, the wrap-around is easily disposable.

Inventors:

Barthlow, Landra (Naples, FL, US)
Harvey, Kristin (Naples, FL, US)
Babka, Dina (Naples, FL, US)
Lanigan, Kim (Naples, FL, US)

Application Number:

09/871447

Publication Date:

12/05/2002

Filing Date:

05/31/2001

Export Citation:

Click for automatic bibliography generation

Assignee:

BARTHLOW LANDRA
HARVEY KRISTIN
BABKA DINA
LANIGAN KIM

Primary Class:

220/739

International Classes:

A47G23/02; (IPC1-7): B65D25/00

View Patent Images:

Download PDF 20020179617

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Primary Examiner:

CASTELLANO, STEPHEN J

Attorney, Agent or Firm:

JOHN T. MILLER, ESQ. (NAPLES, FL, US)

Claims:

What we claim is:

1. A wrap-around attachment for a beverage container including a main layer of a styrene foam, an inner layer of an absorbent material to be in contact with an outer surface of said beverage container, said absorbent material having at one edge thereof an adhesive strip attached thereto, a protective non-stick strip is placed adjacent to said adhesive strip, said adhesive strip is folded over said protective strip prior to the use of said wrap-around on a beverage container.

2. The wrap-around attachment of claim 1, wherein said absorbent layer consists of two sheets.

3. The wrap-around attachment of claim 1, including means for adjusting said warp-around to differently sized beverage containers.

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention pertains to a wrap-around attachment for a beverage container or more specifically to a wrap-around that completely surrounds the outer circumference of a beverage container in a snug fit. The beverage container can contain a hot or cold beverage. The container can be a regular soda can or a beer can. The container can be any glass of any size, whether cylindrical or fluted and the beverage container can be a bottle. It is a well known fact that when a cold beverage can is taken from a refrigerator or from an ice box or cooler chest, the can will form a condensation on its outer surface once the can is placed in an ambient atmosphere, especially in a hot and humid environment. The condensation will run down the outer surface of the can and form undesirable water puddles or rings wherever it is placed. Moreover, the condensation will drip on the clothing a person wears when drinking from the can which leaves undesirable spots on the clothing. The same is true for drinking glasses that contain a cold beverage such as are served in a bar, for example.

[0002] Various items are known that alleviate the above noted problems. For example, cylindrical containers are known that are made of a certain size and are made of foam rubber and are designed to mostly keep the content of the can in a cold or cooled state. The condensation will still form on the container, maybe to a lesser extent over a longer period of time, but the condensation is not absorbed by the thick wall of foam rubber and eventual will run down the surface of the can again creating the undesirable result of soiling the clothing or staining a surface. The foam rubber sleeve container is mostly designed to keep the beverage in the can at a cooled or lower temperature.

[0003] Wrap-arounds for beverage cans are also known that are made of cloth having a wadding inside, again to keep the beverage in a cooled state. The material of the sleeve is not designed to absorb any moisture. While this sleeve is designed to be initially wrapped around a beverage container and then fastened upon itself, it is not adjustable because of the use of VELCRO™ where certain loop and hook sections have to meet each other and cannot operate side-by-side. At best, the sleeve item mentioned above will act as an insulator.

[0004] The foam receptacle and the sleeve mentioned above are not designed to be disposable. Sure, everything is disposable because it can be thrown away and thereby be disposed of. But the items mentioned above are considered to be usable over and over again.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0005] An object of the invention at hand is to construct a low cost disposable wrap around for a beverage container which has a lining that absorbs the condensation on the surface of the container, keeps the content of the container hot or cold whatever the case may be, and is adjustable and can be applied to different size or different shapes of containers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a container wrap-around partially opened;

[0007] FIG. 2 shows the container wrap-around laid out flat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the wrap-around as it is installed on a container C. The outer layer 2 is a sheet of a polyurethane vinyl Styrofoam which is very light in weight and is water impervious. The reference character 3 indicates a liner which will be explained below with reference to FIG. 2. One edge of the wrap-around 2 has an adhesive strip 5 attached thereto which will stick to any location on the outer surface of the sheet 2. To prevent any sticking prior to use, there is a non-stick strip 6 provided next to the adhesive strip 5. Prior to use, the adhesive strip is folded back over the non-stick strip and kept there in place until use. This non-stick strip is similar to the well known peel-offs on other adhesive items. These peel-off strips could also be used on the invention at hand. But the present non-stick strip 6 adjacent to the adhesive strip 5 is preferred for environmental reasons, especially in the setting where the wrap-around cover most likely will be used, such as a bar or in an outdoor environment. This way, no single peel-off strips have to be contended with which could mar the environment.

[0009] Turning now to FIG. 2 which shows the overall wrap-around as 1 and like reference characters are applied to the same elements as in FIG. 1. Again, the outside cover sheet 2 is shown as laid out flat. As mentioned above, the inner surface of the cover sheet 2 is covered with an absorbent layer 3. The absorbent layer 3 is preferably made up of at least two layers, that is, 3 and an additional layer 4. It has been found that this arrangement will increase the absorbency of the inner layer both layers are lightly adhering to the main or outer layer 2. Again, the adhesive strip 5 is shown next to the non-stick or protective strip 6. In practice, the adhesive strip 5 is folded over the protective strip prior to a use to protect the same from sticking anywhere else. Because of this arrangement, it can now be seen that the wrap-around of the invention can be used on differently sized containers because the adhesive strip will stick to any location on the outside and along the surface of the main sheet. The wrap-around can be used on fluted beverage containers because the adhesive strip can be attached to the wrap-around in a slanted manner.

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