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US 2015/0034587 A1Published application
Collapsible bottle and related systems, components and methods
OwnerDonald W. Thomson, Lee Lovelandinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A collapsible plastic bottle is provided which is movable from an expanded configuration for storing liquid for consumer use to a collapsed configuration for forming a tile for use in tiled building structures and the like. Related systems, components and methods are also provided.
Claims29
A collapsible bottle movable between an expanded configuration and a collapsed configuration, the bottle comprising:
- a neck;
- and
- a main body extending between an upper end adjacent the neck and a lower end opposite the neck, the main body defining a fluid cavity to store fluid when the collapsible bottle is in the expanded configuration, and the main body including a primary indentation proximate the lower end of the main body to assist in collapsing the bottle in a predetermined manner, a portion of the lower end of the main body moving in a direction toward the neck as the main body bends, folds and/or collapses in a region of the primary indentation when the collapsible bottle transitions from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration.
A tile system, comprising:
- a plurality of bottles in a collapsed configuration;
- and
- an elongated mounting structure for securing at least some of the plurality of bottles to a foundation.
A building component made by a process, comprising:
- obtaining a thin shell vessel that includes at least one indentation or groove positioned to assist in reconfiguring the thin shell vessel from an expanded configuration into a predefined collapsed configuration;
- and
- reconfiguring the thin shell vessel from the expanded configuration to the predefined collapsed configuration with the aid of the at least one indentation or groove to make the building component.
A method, comprising:
- obtaining a plurality of thin shell vessels that each include at least one indentation or groove positioned to assist in reconfiguring the thin shell vessel from an expanded configuration into a predefined collapsed configuration;
- and
- reconfiguring each of the plurality of thin shell vessels from the expanded configuration to the predefined collapsed configuration with the aid of the at least one indentation or groove to form building components.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.