Beverage container lid
AssigneeEnterprise Express, Inc.
InventorMichael Milan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage container lid includes an interior cover, an exterior cover, and a hinge connecting the interior cover to the exterior cover. The beverage container is versatile in that it may be adapted for use with a beverage container containing a cold beverage, a hot beverage, or a foamy or creamy beverage. The beverage container lid preferably includes a spout, straw perforations, an elevated portion, a reservoir bottom, a well portion, and a pair of retaining walls preventing direct flow of beverage from a pair of openings in the interior cover to the spout. Methods of use and methods of making a beverage container lid are also described.
Claims9
1-12. (canceled)
A method of use of a beverage container lid comprising an interior cover, an exterior cover, and a hinge connecting the interior cover to the exterior cover, the interior cover having a pair of openings to allow passage of a beverage in a beverage container through the interior cover, the interior cover comprising a reservoir bottom, a well portion extending downward and outward from an edge of the reservoir bottom to form a well, a pair of retaining walls, each retaining wall extending upward and outward from the reservoir bottom and flanking a side of the well portion and a side of one of the pair of openings, each retaining wall extending inward past an edge of the opening, an outer lip extending around an outer edge of the reservoir bottom, the well portion, and the retaining walls and formed to receive a rim of the beverage container, and an inner lip extending inward from the outer edge of the interior cover;
- the exterior cover having an outer edge sized to be received by the inner lip of the interior cover, the exterior cover comprising a flat portion extending inward from the outer edge of the exterior cover, a spout extending upward from the flat portion, and an elevated portion extending upward from an edge of the flat portion;
- the method comprising:
- a) filling the beverage container with the beverage;
- b) attaching the outer lip of the interior cover around the rim of the beverage container;
- c) folding the hinge to orient the exterior cover over the interior cover;
- and
- d) inserting the outer edge of the exterior cover under the inner lip of the interior cover such that:
- the spout is located above the well portion;
- and
- each retaining wall contacts the flat portion of the exterior cover, thereby preventing a beverage in the beverage container from flowing directly from the openings to the spout.
A process for forming a beverage container lid, the beverage container lid being prepared from a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer composition comprising a lactic acid-based polymer having a molecular weight of at least 10,000, the process comprising:
- a) pre-forming the thermoplastic polymer composition into a pre-form at a pre-form temperature in a range of 180° C. to 300° C.;
- and
- b) drawn blow-molding the pre-form to form the beverage container lid at a molding temperature in a range of 20° C. to 125° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.