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AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorBryant Edwards
Estimating the term…
A plastic cup is provided of the thin wall variety having inner and outer spaced walls with an insulating air space therebetween. Successive cups in a telescoped stack seal effectively together so that a food concentrate or the like placed in the bottom of each cup will be protected against contamination and spoilage. To this end, the cups are provided with stacking rings and cylindrical sealing surfaces whereby a certain degree of movement between adjacent telescoped cups is permissible without allowing the entrance of air into the space between such adjacent cups. The inner and outer walls of each cup are spaced apart in the stacking and sealing ring area to allow pivotal movement of an inner cup wall with regard to its corresponding outer cup wall, whereby a telescoped stack of nested cups can flex, i.e., the axis of the stack can go from straight to arcuate, without breaking the seal between adjacent telescope cups which would lead to contamination or spoilage of the food ingredient therein.
A double-wall thin wall plastic cup comprising inner and outer cup members each having a bottom transverse wall and a sidewall diverging upwardly therefrom to an open outer end, the sidewalls of said cup members being joined together adjacent said upper outer end and the inner cup member thereby being suspended substantially freely within said outer cup member, said inner cup member from its joinder with said outer cup member on down throughout a major portion of the vertical height thereof being substantially laterally spaced from and thereby being laterally substantially unrestrained by said outer cup member, said inner cup member having a circumferential sealing area of predetermined inner diameter and an adjacent inwardly projecting locking ring section above said sealing area and spaced a substantial distance down from said joinder, said outer cup member likewise having a circumferential sealing area spaced below said inner cup member sealing area and having an outer diameter substantially equal to said predetermined inner diameter and an adjacent inwardly projecting locking ring section above said outer cup member sealing area, the outer cup member locking ring section being substantially complimentary to the inner cup member locking ring section of a subjacent telescoped cup but projecting inwardly a greater distance than the locking ring section of said inner cup member to lock telescoped cups together with the sealing ring section of axially adjacent cups in sealing surface engagement providing a substantially sealed storage compartment at the bottom of an inner cup member of a subjacent pair of cups for receipt of a soluble substance, the suspension of said inner cup member and the absence of lateral restraint thereof by the outer cup member permitting deformation of the axis of a stack of cups and canting or pivoting of an inner cup member relative to an outer cup member without breaking of the seal between axially adjacent cups.
A double-wall thin wall plastic cup comprising inner and outer cup members each having a bottom transverse wall and a sidewall extending upwardly therefrom to an open outer end, said outer cup member having a circumferential section extending upwardly of the sidewall a certain distance from the junction of the sidewall to the bottom wall thereof, a radially inwardly extending shoulder formed on the upper end of said circumferential section of said outer cup member, and said sidewall of said outer cup member diverging generally upwardly from said shoulder to said open outer end, said inner cup member having a circumferential section extending from adjacent the junction of the sidewall to the bottom wall thereof upwardly of the sidewall a certain distance greater than said certain distance of said circumferential section of said outer cup member and sufficiently great to define a storage space for a soluble substance within said inner cup member below the upper end of said circumferential section thereof, a radially outwardly extending shoulder formed on the upper end of said circumferential section of said inner cup member, a second circumferential section on the radially outward end of said shoulder of said inner cup member and extending upwardly therefrom, said second circumferential section having a height substantially equal to the height of said circumferential section of said outer cup member and an internal diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of said circumferential section of said outer cup member, a radially inwardly extending circumferential groove formed on the upper end of said second circumferential section of said inner cup member and being circumferentially interrupted, said radially inwardly extending groove having a depth sufficient to produce a releasable interlock over said shoulder on said outer cup member when an outer cup member is axially inserted in said inner cup member, and said sidewall of said inner cup member diverging generally upwardly from said circumferential groove to said open outer end thereof, said inner cup member being positioned within said outer cup member and the upper ends of the sidewalls of said cup members being outwardly rim rolled together to support said inner cup member within said outer cup member from the upper end of said outer cup member, said bottom wall of said outer cup member being devoid of any axial interlock with the bottom wall of said outer cup member which permits relative axial and radial shifting of the bottom walls of said inner and outer cup members, and said sidewall of said inner cup member being devoid of any radial overlap with the sidewall of said outer cup member below the rolled rims which permits relative axial and radial shifting of said sidewalls of said inner and outer cup members below the rolled rims thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.