US2458979A - Milk bottle indicator - Google Patents

Description

J. L. CHLFQCHLL MILK BOTTLE INbIcAToR Filed July 1^, 1947 m l A. ,n m l. A ,Smuf

HUFZCHJLL j l' y 223g? ATTORNEYS mmuwwmail @www f' J .i housewife.

Patented Jan. 11,* 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE e l 'e l 2,45asrzriu f l MILK BOTTLE INDICATOR .tseph ohnehin, seattle, Wash; e Application July 145194:?,y lSerial No.' '7i'd0,874;f1

My invention comprises a device which a housewife may apply to a standard milk bottle, such as vshe returns empty to the dairy, for the purpose of indicating to the deliveryman wh-at products, and how many of each, she desires leit Thus she need not write a note, or risk the subsequent loss of such a note, but can conveniently Y indicate, what sheV desires. From the deliveryv`the convenience with which-special delicacies can l be ordered.

Devices to the ends indicated have been-pro-l posed heretofore, but these have been, so far as I am aware, of `such character as to make it necessary either to apply them to the milk bottle while vholding `in indicating position `those indicators which it is desired to employ, which is awkward, or to move the indicating devices, after application to the bottle, into indicating position, and to secure them individually in such indicating position, which `also is tedious and diiicult.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a device of the general nature indicated, which can be merely dropped in place, or very simply applied to the bottle, and which after `application to the bottle will permit the several individual indicators vto be moved by a ngerto indicating position, and will automatically retain them in such indicating position, without the necessity of further action on the part of the It is a further object to provide a device of the general character indicated, which shall be simple and suiiciently cheap to permit it to be given away by the dairy to each customer as a premium or convenience, and which will yet pay` ioritself many times over by the convenience with which the housewife may indicate her desire for additional or special products, which otherwise she might not bother to order. e

It is a further object to provide a device -of this sort, which may be `stored at inl a drawer,

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or in ysimilar fashion, and which v will occupy little space. e

Another object is the provision of sucha device which is sufficiently .rugged that vit will last for anindenite period.\

With such objects in mind, and others as will appear hereinafter, the invention comprises the novel device for use in the manner indicated, such as is shown in a typical form in the accompanying drawings, and such as will be hereinafter more fully 'described and dened.

lligi-l-re l is an elevation of the device applied toa standard milk bottle, illustrating the initial nonindi-cating position-automatically assumed by all the tags, and the manner lof moving a tag into indicating position, andFigure 2 is a similar view .showing certain-tags in such indicating position, and others in nonindicating position, asv

they would appearto the ,deliveryman Figurge is an isometricview, illustrating the devicel detached from a milk bottle.

The -formof the standard milk bottle 9 is well known and widely used. It has, abulbous mouth y9 l ,asomewhat reduced neckar?, sloping shoulders 93, and a mainbody portion, 94, which is larger than any other partici the bottle, andwhich in particular is appreciablylargerthan the bulbous mouth Si `It is with this vtype of milk bottle that the present `device is intended to cooperate.

Ak plurality of tags, generally designatedl by the numeral l, but designated la, Ib, Ic, ldetc., `to distinguish them, differ from one another only in the nature of the indicia which they bear. The tag Ic,vfor instance, calls for an extra quart of milk, the tag tc f orya pint of crearn,e etc. Preferably they are printedon both sides, and may be otherwise distinguishable ata distance I' as by a characteristiccolor on one or both sides. These tags are oilightmateriah and may bemade of sheet metal,A or, as is preferred, they mayr be .molded from plastic vme Jte-rial. Each one is promaterial. Preferably -ithas sornelittle weight,

`as related tothe combined mass of the tags. Only a few tags have been illustrated, but in practice a largenumberwould ordinarily be employed. f The size of' ,should hegoi largeenough Vsize that it will slip ,ireelyfoverthe bulbous mouth Sil ofthe standard milk bottle 9, yetsmall enough that it will not slip vdown over Athe sloping shoulders ,-93, butlwill Vlodge onthe "latter, and bethereby supported.

Figure 3 shows the ringZ and its various tags l as the same would appearjwith the ring supported in a horizontal plane, detached from the bottle. All the tags, by reason ofthe fact that they are more greatlyweighted,byvtheir lon-ger end than by theirshorter end, will hangmore or less verticall'y downwardly,and` will swing freely upon the ring. In this condition the ring is slipped over'the mouth of a bottle and comes to rest the ring 2.is oi` importance. Itl

she wants, and inserting her finger beneath the lower end of this tag, she merely lifts it up and iiips it over.- In so doing the ring 2 irst rises, in the manner shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 1, and then settles back to its initial position, leaving the tag inverted, as are the tags la and Il) in Figure 2, so that each tilts upwardly, its longer end projecting above the ring and its shorter end extending below the ring. Oncethe tag has been tilted upwardly it is only necessary to permit it to slide downwardly along the sloping shoulders 93 of the bottle, and the weight and inward force of the ring holds the uptilted tag flatwise .against the bott1e,`thereby securing it in its uptilted indicating position. The engagement of the short end of the'tag below the ring, and' of its long end abovej the ring, withthe ring engaged with thev now outer face of the 'taginterinediate the two ends, serves to flatten the tag and hold it against the bottle, and nothing more is needed.

The deliveryman, upon1 arriving, notes which -tags are upturned, and from the written indicia thereon or by the characteristic color of each is informed what products are wanted. He brings -these products tothe door, removes the ring,

leaves it with theA delivered products, and carries port for the indicating device.

. While it has been indicated that the tags are Vpivoted nearer one end than the other, this is merely a simple manner of eitecting the weighting of one end so that it will naturally and normally ference in length as between the two ends. It must be'remembered, though, that the tag should be reasonably short at one end, at least, in order -that it may be tilted over, in the manner shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 1, without unduly raising the tags and ring rfrom the shoulders of the bottle. One' of the advantages of the present device is that it may be slipped in place with no tags whatever in indicating position, and thereafter such tagsas indicate wanted products may be moved into indicating position simply, and immediately left, without any special precautions being taken to secure them in their indicating position, so long as the device as a whole remains in place upon the milk bottle.

When the device is not in use all the tags can lie more or less in the plane of the ring, and the entire device may be laid in a drawer or hung on a hanger, where it will not occupy any particular amount of room, nor be conspicuous. or in the way. It is complete and unitary, and if the ends of the ring are permanently secured there is no likelihood that any tagwill be detached or lost. It serves as a constant reminder to the housewife of all the dairys products, and as a convenience whenever she'desires to order some special product, or to vary her normal order.`

I claim as my invention:

l. For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wanted dairy products, comprising a ring oi a size large enough to slip over the top of the bottle but too small to slip down over its sloping shoulders, a plurality of vtags independently pivoted upon said ring, andeach having its 4 mass located principally below the ring to hang normally pendant therefrom, but including a portion extending above the ring, the ring tilting upwardly as a tag is tilted from its normal pendant position to a reversed, uptilted position, and settling back to hold such uptilted tag in the latter position by pressure of ,the rings weight against thebottle, each Vtag bearing indicia identifying wanted products'.-

2. For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wanted dairy products comprising a ring oiasize large enough to slip over the top away the empty bottle which served as the supofthe bottle but too small to slip down over its sloping shoulders, a plurality of dat, elongated tags each bearing indicia indicating wanted products, transversely disposed pivot means on each tag lying in the `general plane of the tag, nearer one end than the other, but still spaced from theshort end to leave such short end projecting, said tags having their pivot means threaded upon and rotatable about the ring, to hang normally pendant therefrom, but retainable in'uptilted position by the inward pressure of the ring intermediate its ends, which are thereby urged against the bottle.

3.V For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wanted products comprising a support of a size to' extend about the neck of a bottle, but too small to slip down over its sloping shoulders, yet readily yieldable away from the bottle, -a plurality of tags mounted upon and for individual pivotal movement each relative to the support, and each weighted to hang normally pendant from the supportand each shaped, in its-plane of swing,l to `engage the bottle at points spaced above and below its pivot axis, whether in normalr pendant position or in uptilted posi- 'tion,'thereby to be self-retaining in either such position by inward pressure of the support, each such tag bearing indicia identifying an individual wanted product.

4. For u'se uponr a standard milk bottle, a support formed to extend more than half -way around the neck of such abottle, to be thereby supported upon, butV for movement relative to such bottle, a pluralityl of individual indicators supported vupon and separately movable relative to said support, from nonindicating to indicating position, each of said indicators having a generally ilattenedface engageable with the bottle and held `th'e'reagainst by the bottle-supported support, vfor retention in an indicating position, but

lly flattened` face engageable with the bottle and held there against bythe bottle-supported support, for retention inan indicating position, but being biased to remain, unless moved intov s uch engagement, in` nonindicatingposition, and each indicator having Aa second attenedjface likewise engageable with the bottle to hold theindicator innonindicating position so long as the support isA fully engagedwith the bottle.

, JOSEPI-IL; CHURCHILL.

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