Collapsible bottle
OwnerRobert G. Dickieinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible bottle is particularly useful as a beverage bottle such as a water bottle or soda bottle which can be collapsed after its contents are emptied in order to reduce its volume whereby the collapsed bottles take up less space in trash receptacles, recycling bins and so forth. Diagonal and typically spiraling grooves are formed in the bottle to facilitate its collapse. Visual indicators on the bottle are intended to suggest to the user the need to collapse the bottle. These visual indicators may include arrows. Fingertip indentations or other grip surfaces are typically provided for rotating the bottle to facilitate its collapse.
Claims20
A collapsible plastic bottle comprising:
- a plastic bottom wall;
- a plastic annular sidewall which has a top and a bottom, which circumscribes a vertical axis, which is connected at its bottom to the bottom wall and extends upwardly therefrom, and which has expanded and collapsed positions;
- an interior chamber defined by the bottom wall and sidewall;
- a top entrance opening of the interior chamber defined by the top of the sidewall;
- a plurality of diagonal grooves formed in the sidewall each having an upper end and a lower end;
- wherein the grooves facilitate movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position in response to a first manual force applied to the sidewall in a first rotational direction about the vertical axis to cause relative rotation between the top and bottom of the sidewall;
- and
- a visual indicator on the bottle suggestive of a need to apply the first manual rotational force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.