Many different beverages are provided in various containers. Of particular use by small children are small beverage containers which are accessed by a straw. Typically, the straw is removably attached to the outside of the container and is separately wrapped. Thus, the straw can be lost, making the beverage hard to consume. In addition, the loose straw and wrapper for the straw are potential problems with small children who might accidentally try to swallow them. These loose items are also a trash nuisance as they tend to be dropped. Further, many of these small beverage containers are made from multi-ply laminates which include paper, foil and plastic and are therefore not easily recyclable.
A beverage container made of a synthetic resin and having a sipping tube or straw connected to the container bottom is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,854 (Ichimiya). A middle portion of the sipping tube is provided with a flexional bellows and the sipping tube is fitted into a longitudinal groove formed on the container body. Filling is accomplished by an inlet provided in a concave portion of the bottom with supporting feet on either side. This inlet is subsequently covered by an adhesive film.
Another plastic beverage container including an attached straw is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,286 (Hashimoto). With this beverage container, a filling tube is disclosed which extends from a bottom of the container. After filling, this filling tube may be crimped, sealed or otherwise closed off and excess filling tube material removed. The remaining filling tube may then be inverted into the container body in order to provide a bottom surface which is free from projections.
A container with an embedded filling and drinking pipe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,401 (Nataf). This pipe is provided between two recesses dividing the container into two halves and connected at the bottom. Exhaust pipes are also provided at the top of each half which are closed after filling.
Other patents have also disclosed various integral sipping tubes or straws and filling conduits. Among these are the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,765,144 (Schiesser), 4,607,755 (Andreozzi), 4,573,631 (Reeves), 4,830,204 (Lin), and 5,054,631 (Robbins, III). Other containers of general interest including various straw mounting means are shown in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,005,717 (Oilar), 3,332,567 (Pugh, Sr.), 4,669,608 (Thompson), and 4,712,702 (Ayabe et al.).
Of general interest concerning the sealing of containers using heat are the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,957,581 (Jahrig et al.), 4,511,426 (Linner), 4,394,204 (Hutcheson), 4,350,003 (Greenawait et al.), 4,019,946 (Greisman), 3,997,385 (Osborne), 3,980,515 (Reil et al.), 3,825,408 (Farfaglia), 3,765,144 (Schiesser), and 3,140,571 (Dorper et al.).