US2997195A - Drinking straws - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 22, 1961 YAT CHUEN YQUEN DRINKING STRAWS Filed May 18, 1960 2,997,195 DG STRAWS Yat Chuen Yuen, 214A Des Voeux Road, Central Ground Floor, Hong Kong Filed May 18, 1960, Ser. No. 29,871 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 16, 1959 2 Claims. (Cl. 215100) This invention relates to drinking straws used in drinking appliances which consist of a beverage container, a closure therefor, and a straw normally held down in the container by the closure.

A drinking straw made in accordance with the invention is characterised by the feature that it is of telescopic construction, one of the parts forming a mouthpiece and being formed with a sealed outer end and with an apertured side wall through the aperture or apertures of which a beverage can be sucked through the straw from a container, when the mouthpiece has been extended into a drinking position. In the closed or contracted state of the telescopic straw, the mouthpiece aperture is closed by the main part of the straw. The length of the straw may be substantially equal to the axial length of the container, the telescopic construction permitting the mouthpiece to be extended to uncover the aperture in its side wall while the opposite end of the straw remains close to the bottom of the container.

The straw thus is made of two parts, that is, the main relatively long body part and the relatively short mouthpiece part which is slidably mounted on the main part. The straw may be made of any suitable material but in the preferred embodiment it is made of synthetic plastic.

In the accompanying drawing,

FIG. 1 shows a drinking straw made in accordance with the invention packed in a bottle containing a carbonated beverage, and

FIG. 2 shows the same bottle with the closure cap removed and the straw in the drinking position.

The reference numeral denotes a bottle containing a beverage, the bottle being sealed in known manner by a closure 11 of a Well known type and having packed therein, before the closure is applied, a drinking straw.

The straw is shown to be composed of two parts, one part 12 constituting the body or main length of the straw and another part 12 which constitutes the mouthpiece and which is preferably about one-fourth of the length of the body, the latter having a length a little less than the axial length of the bottle. The mouthpiece is arranged to slide telescopically on the body of the straw on the end thereof adjacent the mouth of the bottle. The outer end of the mouthpiece is closed by an integral end wall 12 and the side wall of the mouthpiece adjacent the closed end or wall is formed with, preferably, two oppositely disposed apertures 13, 13

As shown in FIG. 1, the straw is packed in the closed or contracted state in the bottle and is retained therein against the pressure of the air trapped in the straw by the closure 11. When so packed the closed end 12 of the mouthpiece seats against the outer open end of the body 12 and the other side against the inner surface of the closure cap 11, against which it is held by the said air pressure. After removal of the cap 11 the air trapped in the straw projects the mouthpiece through the mouth of the bottle. The consumer then withdraws the mouthpiece sufiiciently from the straw body, for example as shown in FIG. 2, to uncover the apertures 13, 13 which apertures were previously covered or closed by the Wall of the said body. The beverage can then be sucked from the bottle through the straw by way of the apertures 13, 13

I claim:

1. In combination, a beverage container having a removable closure thereon and a drinking straw normally held down in the container by the closure, the straw being of telescopic construction and consisting of a main body part and an outer mouthpiece part slidably mounted on one end of the main body part, said mouthpiece part having the outer end thereof sealed and having the side wall thereof apertured in a portion thereof near but spaced from said outer end thereof, the length of the straw being slightly less than the axial length of the container, the aperture in the mouthpiece being closed by the body portion when the mouthpiece has been slid down upon the body portion to a position wherein the sealed end of the mouthpiece engages the upper end of said body portion, the straw being urged upward against the closure by air trapped under said sealed end of the mouthpiece so that upon removal of the closure the trapped air will cause the straw to rise in the beverage to position the mouthpiece above the top of the container.

2. A telescopic drinking straw consisting of a tubular body and a tubular mouthpiece having an internal diameter equal to the external diameter of said body slidably mounted on one end of the body, the mouthpiece having at least one aperture through the tubular wall thereof, a wall blocking the passage through the mouthpiece positioned on that side of said aperture which is remote from the longitudinally inner end of the mouthpiece, said lastnamed wall providing a limit to the downward movement of the mouthpiece over said body, the aperture being closed by the body when the mouthpiece is so positioned longitudinally on the body that the aperture has a portion of the Wall of the tubular body aligned therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,392,479 Humbert Ian. 8, 1946

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