US 10,520,009 B2 · Consumer product suction cup ensemble

Abstract

A consumer product or toy suction cup ensemble includes a housing, a suction cup formation, and a relief valve formation. A collar element may be included in certain embodiments. The housing includes a stem-letting aperture. The suction cup formation includes a collapsible cup portion and a stem portion. The stem portion includes a valve-letting passage. The stem-letting aperture receives the stem section. The relief valve formation includes a valve stem and a valve upper portion. The valve stem includes opposed valve stem grooves that extend from a valve stem end and have a groove length lesser than the valve stem thereby forming a valve-sealing portion. The valve stem is receivable in the valve-letting passage. The collar element of certain embodiments includes an outer collar periphery and an inner slot portion. The inner slot portion accepts the collar-receiving stem section and the outer collar periphery is wider than stem-letting aperture.

A consumer product suction cup ensemble, the consumer product suction cup ensemble comprising:

a housing, the housing having an upper housing section and a lower housing section, the lower housing section comprising a stem-letting aperture, the stem-letting aperture having an aperture diameter;
a suction cup formation, the suction cup formation comprising a collapsible cup portion and a stem portion, the collapsible cup portion comprising inner cup surfacing, the stem portion comprising a lower stem section, an upper stem section, an intermediate stem section intermediate the lower and upper stem sections, and a valve-letting passage, the lower stem section comprising a lower stem height and a lower stem diameter, the upper section comprising an upper stem height and an upper stem diameter, the intermediate stem section comprising an intermediate stem height and an intermediate stem diameter, the lower and upper stem diameters being equal in magnitude, the intermediate stem diameter being lesser in magnitude relative to the lower and upper stem diameters, the stem-letting aperture for receiving the lower stem section;
a relief valve formation, the relief valve formation comprising a valve stem, a valve stop portion, and a valve upper portion, the valve stem comprising a valve stem end, a valve stem height, a valve stem diameter, and opposed valve stem grooves, the opposed valve stem grooves extending from the valve stem end toward the valve stop portion and each comprising a groove length lesser than the valve stem height thereby forming a valve-sealing portion in adjacency to the valve stop portion, the valve stop portion comprising a stop portion height and a stop portion diameter, the valve upper portion comprising an upper portion height and an upper portion diameter, the valve stem being receivable in the valve-letting passage;
and
a C-shaped collar element, the C-shaped collar element comprising an outer collar periphery, an inner slot portion, and a collar element thickness, the outer collar periphery having an outer collar diameter, the inner slot portion comprising an inner slot width, the inner slot width for accepting the intermediate stem diameter of the intermediate stem section, the outer collar diameter being greater than the aperture diameter, the collar element thickness being lesser than the intermediate stem height;
the housing being directable toward the suction cup formation such that the upper housing section engages the valve upper portion for driving the valve stop portion into engagement with the upper stem portion and the valve-sealing portion into sealing engagement within the valve-letting passage, the collar element for retaining the upper stem section inside the housing, the collapsible cup portion being collapsible against a smooth attachment surface for creating a vacuumed chamber at the inner cup surfacing, the vacuumed chamber for retaining the consumer product suction cup ensemble upon the smooth attachment surface, the housing being directable away from the suction cup formation such that the lower housing section engages the valve upper portion for removing the valve-sealing portion from the valve-letting passage thereby letting air to enter the opposed stem grooves for equalizing pressure at the inner cup surfacing and releasing the consumer product suction cup ensemble from the smooth attachment surface.

3 more elements

Consumer product suction cup ensemble

Life of this patent

Consumer product suction cup ensemble

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20