Drinking Straw

Abstract

A drinking straw having a tubular member made of a plastic, having an interior passage that provides fluid communication between an inlet end for immersing into a beverage and a draw end for placing between the lips of a user; and a multipore member, disposed within the tubular member along a portion of the length of the tubular member, having a plurality of passageways extending from an inlet end to the draw end of the multipore member. The multipore member is typically plastic and formed of a plurality of individual flow tubes that communicate between the inlet end and draw end of the multipore member.

1 . A drinking straw consisting of:
 a tubular member made of a plastic, having an interior passage that provides fluid communication between an inlet end for immersing into a beverage and a draw end for placing between the lips of a user; and   a plastic multipore member, disposed within and across the entire interior cross section of the interior passage tubular member along a portion of the length of the tubular member, having a plurality of passageways through which the beverage flows, extending from the inlet end to the draw end of the multipore member.   
   
   
       2 . (canceled) 
   
   
       3 . The drinking straw of  claim 2  wherein the multipore member comprises a plurality of individual flow tubes that communicate between the inlet end and draw end of the multipore member. 
   
   
       4 . The drinking straw of  claim 6  wherein the multipore member comprises a microporous structure that communicates between the inlet end and draw end of the multipore member. 
   
   
       5 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member is in cylindrical form, to be inserted within the passage of the tubular straw member. 
   
   
       6 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member is formed integrally with the tubular member. 
   
   
       7 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member further comprises a non-porous portion disposed within the cross section of the tubular member. 
   
   
       8 . The drinking straw of  claim 7  wherein the multipore member comprises a plurality of individual flow tubes that communicate between the inlet end and draw end of the multipore member. 
   
   
       9 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member comprises a microporous plastic structure that communicates between the inlet end and draw end of the multipore member. 
   
   
       10 . The drinking straw of  claim 3  wherein the multipore member comprises at least three passageways. 
   
   
       11 . The drinking straw of  claim 8  wherein the multipore member comprises at least three passageways. 
   
   
       12 . The drinking straw of  claim 10  wherein the multipore member comprises at least ten passageways. 
   
   
       13 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member comprises at least ten passageways. 
   
   
       14 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the multipore member comprises a plurality of confronting, closely-spaced plates. 
   
   
       15 . (canceled) 
   
   
       16 . (canceled) 
   
   
       17 . The drinking straw of  claim 1  wherein the tubular member has an outer surface that is cylindrical. 
   
   
       18 . The drinking straw of  claim 17 , wherein the effective diameter of the plurality of passageways is less than 25% the diameter of the tubular member. 
   
   
       19 . The drinking straw of  claim 18 , wherein the effective diameter of the plurality of passageways is less than 10% the diameter of the tubular member. 
   
   
       20 . (canceled) 
   
   
       21 . The drinking straw of  claim 4 , wherein the effective diameter of the plurality of passageways is less than 25% the diameter of the tubular member. 
   
   
       22 . The drinking straw of  claim 21 , wherein the effective diameter of the plurality of passageways is less than 10% the diameter of the tubular member.