Vibrating Bottle Liner

DESCRIPTION:

Blended drinks such as protein shakes, smoothies and other types of mixed beverages have become very popular with health-conscious individuals in the last few decades. The protein shake is usually associated with bodybuilders for help in building and recovering muscles. The protein shake and some other types of shakes can contain a huge number of calories as well as essential nutrients and are intended for athletes in training. The intent of these types of beverages is to replace the calories burned in training.

Smoothies and other blended health shakes can contain a wide variety of ingredients including powered nutrients, bee pollen, peanut butter, coconut oil, bean powder, clover sprouts to name a few. The components involved are mostly up to the consumer and what they consider using in these beverages to supplement their diets. Popular smoothies contain fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein. The varieties are endless, and people can enjoy changing the mixtures to keep it interesting. Modern conveniences such as blenders, juice mixers, and other similar products intended purposely for mixing and blending fruits and vegetables have become popular in the consumer market.

Regardless of the type of mixed beverage that is consumed, the issue of transporting and containing the beverage of choice becomes paramount when trying to live a busy lifestyle. Whether enjoying a delicious fruit smoothie, a healthful vegetable blend, a calorie-packed protein shake or any of the other blended and mixed drinks one thing that they all have in common is keeping the ingredients blended and mixed long enough to finish the drink. Many of these types of mixtures have tendencies to separate and thicken towards the bottom of the drinking container. It is not always desired to consume the beverage all at once. Many people prefer to take their beverage of choice with them during their active day and if they do, keeping their mixed beverage stirred and shaken is not that convenient. It can be very unpleasant to take a sip of a favorite beverage on to discover all of the ingredients have settled to the bottom of the bottle. Parents of young children face a similar dilemma keeping the formulas and mixtures for the child stirred and blended.

The Vibrating Bottle Liner presents an innovative and unique solution to keeping blended and mixed beverages from separating and settling. The Vibrating Bottle Liner is a drink bottle or cup liner that will fit in commercially available drink containers. The volume of the bottle or cup is a sleeve that fits snugly inside the container. The sleeve contains at its base a battery-operated mechanism that is set to vibrate at a preset velocity. The sleeve is removable, and access to the vibrating mechanism is acquired through a waterproof seal at the base of the sleeve protecting the inner works of the vibrating device although, the seal on the upper portion of the insert will prevent any fluids from encroaching on the mechanical section. The mechanism can use either a rechargeable battery or a standard conventional one. The seal is easily removed and replaced when a new battery is needed, or a recharging unit can be plugged into the base for re-energizing re-chargeable batteries. The Vibrating Bottle Liner will keep a beverage stirred and mixed for hours or until the user decides to switch it off. Parents will appreciate the child size version that will keep formulas and mixes blended for suitable times for the child to consume the beverage. The Vibrating Bottle Liner will eliminate the waste and build-up of ingredients that settle to the bottom of a blended beverage keeping if fresh and blended. The Vibrating Bottle Liner helps in cleaning the container also since the clumps and separated ingredients maintain their suspension in the liquid.

SPECIFIC, UNIQUE FUNCTIONS OF INVENTION:

• Fits most commercially available drink bottles and cups
• Light-weight and easy to carry
• Easy access to the base and control mechanism
• Keeps beverages blended for hours
• Insulated outer container
• Vibrating device at base of removable sleeve
• Available for child size “sippy” cups
• Standard batteries or rechargeable
• Prevents settling and separation of blended drinks
• Easy cleaning
• Waterproof mechanism compartment
• Different sizes and colors available

PRODUCT COMPONENT CLARIFICATION:

The “Vibrating Bottle Liner” is an innovative food consumption product that has been designed to keep all the ingredients in a blended drink in suspension until it is fully consumed. The inexpensive food grade plastic product has an electronic vibration module attached to the base of the liner (cup). This low frequency, large amplitude vibration motor injects waves of energy into the liquid smoothie (meaning any blended drink) and stirs it with enough vigor that all the ingredients remain in suspension until the smoothie is fully consumed. After use, the waterproof unit is turned off and can be immersed for cleaning or can be placed on the top shelf of the dishwasher for cleaning.

Currently, once the smoothie is blended and poured into the glass for consumption, the heavier ingredients begin to separate out of the drink and in a few minutes, have accumulated on the bottom of the glass/bottle. This condition occurs more severely if the smoothie is made up some time before consumption. There are several options available to keep the ingredients in solution, but most of them are ineffective and if one is driving, can be as dangerous as texting. These are stirring with a straw, vigorously swirling the cup/bottle, or shaking the cup’/bottle. If the cup/bottle is not sealed, the smoothie can be spilled on the person or vehicle if they are driving. Both are irritating and can be very hard to clean up.

The “Vibrating Bottle Liner” resolves most of these irritating problems and will keep almost any smoothie in solution until fully consumed. The food grade cup shaped liner slips down into the cup/bottle. At the base of the liner is a waterproof electronic module. This simple module consists of a battery, a switch, and a vibrational motor. These high amplitude, low frequency waves are injected into the liner’s contents, setting up wave like movement that keeps all the different density ingredients in suspension until the user has consumed the contents. The result is a more homogeneous mixture, keeping all of the different texture and flavor ingredients dispersed until they can be fully consumed. The dispersion takes no effort from the user, allowing them to safely concentrate on the things going on around them, rather than concentrating on trying keep the ingredients in suspension.

The inexpensive product is constructed employing 2 basic components, #1-the liner and, #2-the vibrational module. These are constructed with, but are not limited to, the following components.

The liner: This liner is injection molded from food grade translucent polypropylene plastic. This plastic is very durable, is highly resistant to household chemicals and food stuffs, and is typically used in this type of application. The translucent housings can be supplied in almost any tinting color, so a distinctive color may be chosen to enhance the product recognition factor, which can dramatically improve the market adoption of the product. After molding, the liner is ink jet printed with the logo and text, and then joined with the electronic module. While the 24-ounce version is described in this text, various sizes can be manufactured and distributed to meet defined marketing targets.

The vibrational motor housing: This housing is also injection molded from food grade polypropylene plastic. This plastic contains mounts for the replaceable AA battery, the vigorous vibrational motor, and the sealing cap, which is screwed into the base of the module. This action compresses the O-ring and completely seals the internal elements of the electronics module from immersion in any liquid, yet allows removal for battery replacement. The tactile membrane switch is sealed into the side of the vibrational module and wired into the PCB to make the circuit. After assembly, it is adhesively bonded to the liner.

The printed circuit board (PCB): The PCB for the device is fabricated to the final assembler’s requirements in a world class contract electronic assembler facility. The standard thickness, double sided FR4 circuit board material is populated with the battery mounts, the motor and its connections, and the switch connections. After assembly, the PCB is protected with a moisture adsorption preventive conformal coating.

• As an option: The electronic module can be constructed using a microprocessor, sensors, and a Qi wireless charging module. This will allow the electronics module to be sealed and will not have to opened to replace the battery. To engage the vibration motor, the user would just shake the drink vigorously, which would alert the microprocessor that the user wanted the vibrating action to begin. Shaking again, after consuming the drink, would shut off the vibration. To charge the liner, it would be placed on the wireless charging station until it was fully recharged.

The Vibrating Bottle Liner is designed to be aesthetic and effective in the application. The relative ease of manufacture and the moderately inexpensive components provide good marketability for the manufacturer. The user benefits from a more homogeneous and delicious smoothie style drink, which should provide considerable market interest in the product.

The invention is illustrated in the following drawings of the essential points as explained to us in the documentation.

Drawing 1, Block 1: Vibrating Bottle Liner – Being Inserted In Larger Drinking Glass

(1) Normally the smoothie with various fruit and vegetable ingredients will separate over time because the viscosity of the drink is not large enough to support the heavier items in the fluid.

(2) The user can stir the drink with a straw or swirl the cup to reduce the ‘fallout’ as they consume the smoothie but these actions are not very effective.

(3) As an alternative, a vibrating cup liner can be placed in the drink bottle and the low frequency, high amplitude vibrations keep all the fruit and vegetable ingredients in suspension.

(4) After use, the food quality inner liner can be removed from the drink bottle, the vibration action turned off, and the liner washed.

(5) The liner is safe to immerse and hand wash or can be placed on the top shelf of the dishwasher and can be machine washed.

(6) The food grade plastic can be safely used on all foods, whether they are hot or cold, or acidic or basic.

(7) The standard vibrating liner is designed to fit a 24-ounce drinking bottle but can be supplied to fit is almost any size bottle or glass.

(8) The robust vibrating liner is easy to use and operates using a standard replaceable AA battery, which will last for several weeks with normal home use.

Drawing 1, Block 2: Vibrating Bottle Liner – Installed On Insert

(9) The food grade molded base unit is intimately and securely bonded to the base of the liner cup to transmit the vibrations into the drink and not have them attenuated by the adhesive join.

(10) The tactile membrane switch has a very long product life and is sealed so it can be used in a liquid solution without leaking.

(11) The simple system does not require the use of other components, like a microcomputer, to control the use of the vibrating motor.

Drawing 1, Block 3: Vibrating Bottle Liner – Electronic Module Detail

(12) The screw on lid allows access to the replace the battery when it is depleted and the O-ring seal prevents liquid intrusion when seated.

(13) The low frequency, offset weight Dc operated motor runs at 150 Hz and produces a very vigorous vibrating action.

(14) The single AA battery has 1,800 mAHr capability, which provides an acceptable operating life for this application.

(15) The very simple circuit and inexpensive components provides a very cost-effective solution to the smoothie separation problem. While use for smoothies is the prime application, there are several other drinks that could benefit from some vibration to keep them homogeneous over the time taken to consume them.

Although a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the above detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment developed herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications,
substitutions of parts and elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

This document has been prepared for the manufacturer’s elucidation. The manufacturer’s decision makers should consider this product for licensing (providing intellectual property protection for their sales of the product in return for a royalty payment for a period of years) or an outright purchase of the patent for a negotiated fee. The inventor and his team are standing by to consider offers for
licensing or outright purchase of the patent.