Drinking glass with cushioning base

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Design Application No. 29/610,564, filed Jul. 13, 2017; which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates generally to the field of drinking glasses, and more particularly to methods and systems for glasses with a cushioning base.

Drinking glasses made of glass are ubiquitous and are made in a wide variety of styles and shapes, for both everyday and formal use. Drink coasters are often used to protect a table surface from scratching and condensation.

However, it is not always convenient or desirable to use drink coasters, and users may therefore at times risk impacting a table too hard when placing a drinking glass thereon, potentially causing damage to the table.

As such, considering the foregoing, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for novel and improved designs for drinking glasses.

The foregoing needs are met, to a great extent, by the present invention, wherein in aspects of this invention, enhancements are provided to the existing model of drinking glasses.

In an aspect, a drinking glass, can include:

• • a) a glass member, which comprises an interior configured to contain a beverage; and
  • b) a base member;
  • such that the base member is connected to a bottom portion of the glass member;
  • wherein the base member has a flat bottom, such that the drinking glass is configured to be positionable on a flat surface, such that the base member is stably positioned on the flat surface.

In a related aspect, the glass member can have a ring-shaped indentation, which is positioned around an outer periphery of an upper part of the bottom portion; and wherein the base member comprises a ring-shaped protrusion that protrudes inward in an inner periphery of an upper part of the base member; such that the ring-shaped indentation is configured to match with the ring-shaped protrusion, such that the ring-shaped protrusion is configured to snap into the ring-shaped indentation, such that the base member is removably attachable to the glass member.

In another related aspect, the base member is bowl-shaped and comprises a base bottom and a base sidewall, which encircles a periphery of the base bottom, such that the bottom portion of the glass member fits into an inside of the base member.

In yet a related aspect, the base bottom can include a dampening structure, which protrudes upwards on an inner side of the base bottom, such that the dampening structure functions as a dampener, which is configured to deform when the drinking glass is positioned on the flat surface.

In a related aspect, the dampening structure can be configured as a convex uniform tiling.

In a related aspect, the convex uniform tiling can be a hexagonal tiling.

In a related aspect, the dampening structure can be configured as parallel raised walls.

In another related aspect, the base member can be made of a rubber material.

In another related aspect, the rubber material can be a silicone rubber.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Before describing the invention in detail, it should be observed that the present invention resides primarily in a novel and non-obvious combination of elements and process steps. So as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art, certain conventional elements and steps have been presented with lesser detail, while the drawings and specification describe in greater detail other elements and steps pertinent to understanding the invention.

The following embodiments are not intended to define limits as to the structure or method of the invention, but only to provide exemplary constructions. The embodiments are permissive rather than mandatory and illustrative rather than exhaustive.

In the following, we describe the structure of an embodiment of a drinking glass 100 with reference to FIG. 1, in such manner that like reference numerals refer to like components throughout; a convention that we shall employ for the remainder of this specification.

In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a drinking glass 100 can include:

• • a) a glass member 110, which comprises an interior 112 configured to contain a beverage 113; and
  • b) a base member 120;
  • wherein the base member 120 is connected/attached to a bottom portion of the glass member 110;
  • wherein the base member has a flat bottom 328, as shown in FIGS. 3 such that the drinking glass 100 can be positioned on a flat surface 150, such that the base member 120 rests/can be stably positioned on the flat surface 150.

In a related embodiment, the base member 120 can be removably attached to the bottom portion of the glass member 110;

In related embodiments, FIGS. 2A and 2B, shows alternative sizes and shapes for drinking glasses 200a 200b. FIG. 3A shows a side view of the drinking glass 200a shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 3B, shows a cross-sectional view of the drinking glass 200a taken along section line 3B-3B of FIG. 3A.

In a related embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3B, 5A, and 6C, the glass member 210a and the base member 120 can be configured with interlocking portions 319329, such that the interlocking portions 319329 are configured to snap together, such that the base member 120 can be removably/detachably attached to the glass member 210a. The interlocking portions 319329 can including first and second interlocking portions 319329 of respectively the glass member 210a and the base member 120.

In a related embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3B, 5A, and 6C, the glass member 210a can be configured with a ring-shaped indentation 319, which is positioned around an outer periphery of an upper part of the bottom portion, which ring-shaped indentation 319 is configured to match with a ring-shaped protrusion 329 that protrudes inward in an inner periphery of an upper part of the base member 120, such that the ring-shaped protrusion is configured to snap into the ring-shaped indentation, such that the base member 120 is removably/detachably attached to the glass member 210a. Alternatively, the glass member 210a can be configured with a ring-shaped protrusion and the base member 120 can be configured with a ring-shaped indentation, such that the ring-shaped protrusion is configured to snap into the ring-shaped indentation, such that the base member 120 can be removably/detachably attached to the glass member 210a.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C, show perspective views of the glass members 210a 210b 110 of the glasses 200a 200b 100, shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 1, respectively.

In a related embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6C, the base member 120 can be bowl-shaped, comprising a base bottom 622 and a base sidewall 626, encircling a periphery of the base bottom 622, such that the bottom portion of the glass member 110 fits into an inside 628 (also called interior 628) of the base member 120.

In a further related embodiment, the base bottom 622 can include a raised pattern 623, also referred to as a dampening structure 623, which protrudes upwards on an inner side of the base bottom 622, such that that the dampening structure 623 functions as a dampener (which can also be described as a cushion), which can deform slightly when the drinking glass 100 is positioned on a flat surface 150, such as a table 150. The dampening structure 623 may be directly adjacent to or in contact with a bottom of the glass member 110. Alternatively, there may be a gap between the dampening structure 623 and the bottom of the glass member 110. The dampening structure 623 can be an integral part of the base bottom 622, or alternatively the base bottom 622 can comprise a bottom portion and a dampening structure 623, such that the dampening structure is positioned on and connected to a top of the bottom portion.

In yet further related embodiments, the dampening structure 623 can be configured in with a repeating pattern 623 or regular tiling 623, such as a repeating pattern 623 of regular n-polygons, including a hexagonal raised pattern 623, as shown in FIG. 6A, square tiling, etc. In general, a raised pattern 623 can be configured as the edges of a convex uniform tiling 623. Other raised patterns 623 can have various shapes, such as linear, i.e. composed of parallel raised walls/lines 823, such that the dampening structure 623 is configured as parallel raised walls 823, as shown in FIG. 8, showing a base member 820 with a base bottom 822 with parallel raised walls 823.

In a further related embodiment, the base bottom 622 can be made of a rubber material, including natural rubber and elastomers, including silicone rubber.

In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a drinking glass system 700, can include:

• • a) a plurality of glass members 210a 210b 110, such as at least two glass members 210a 210b 110;
  • wherein each glass member 210a 210b 110 can be different other glass members 210a 210b 110 in the plurality of glass members 210a 210b 110, such as of different size, shape, and/or color;
  • wherein each bottom portion of bottom portions of the plurality of glass members 210a 210b 110 is similar; and
  • b) at least one base member 720, which is configured to be attachable to each bottom portion of the glass members 210a 210b 110 in the plurality of glass members 210a 210b 110. The base member 720 is here shown attached to the glass member 210b to form a drinking glass 200b. The base member can be detached/removed from the glass member 210b and instead attached to either glass member 210a or glass member 110.

Here has thus been described a multitude of embodiments of the drinking glass 100, the drinking glass system 700, and methods related thereto, which can be employed in numerous modes of usage.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention, which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Many such alternative configurations are readily apparent and should be considered fully included in this specification and the claims appended hereto. Accordingly, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, the invention is not limited to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and thus, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.