Collapsible bottle

Abstract

A collapsible bottle is particularly useful as a beverage bottle such as a water bottle or soda bottle which can be collapsed after its contents are emptied in order to reduce its volume whereby the collapsed bottle takes up less space in trash receptacles, recycling bins and so forth. Grooves are formed in the bottle to facilitate its collapse and visual indicators on the bottle suggest to the user the need to collapse the bottle. These visual indicators may include arrows, fingertip indentations, outwardly projecting ridges or other structures. In one embodiment, annular groove walls define annular grooves in which interruption members are disposed to interrupt the continuity of the grooves. Break spaces may be provided which interrupt the continuity of the groove walls to facilitate collapse of the bottle.

1 . A collapsible plastic bottle comprising:
 a plastic bottom wall;   a plastic annular sidewall which has a top and a bottom, which is connected at its bottom to the bottom wall and extends upwardly therefrom, and which has expanded and collapsed positions;   an interior chamber defined by the bottom wall and sidewall;   a top entrance opening of the interior chamber defined by the top of the sidewall;   a plurality of grooves formed in the sidewall which facilitate movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position in response to a manual force applied to the sidewall to cause one of the top and bottom of the sidewall to move toward the other of the top and bottom of the sidewall; and   a visual indicator on the bottle suggestive of a need to apply the manual force.   
   
   
       2 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the sidewall comprises a plurality of annular groove walls which substantially circumscribe the interior chamber and respectively define the grooves; and further comprising at least one break space in each of the groove walls which interrupts the annular continuity of the respective groove wall and facilitates radially inward movement of a portion of the respective groove wall during movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position. 
   
   
       3 . The bottle of  claim 2  further comprising at least one interruption member in each of the grooves which defines the at least one break space and interrupts the annular continuity of the respective groove. 
   
   
       4 . The bottle of  claim 3  wherein the at least one interruption member comprises left and right walls which bound the at least one break space. 
   
   
       5 . The bottle of  claim 4  wherein the left and right walls are folding walls which fold relative to one another during movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position. 
   
   
       6 . The bottle of  claim 3  wherein each groove wall comprises an upper segment which extends over the respective groove and a lower segment which extends below the respective groove; and the at least one interruption member extends between and is connected to the upper and lower segments. 
   
   
       7 . The bottle of  claim 3  wherein the at least one interruption member has an inner end and an outer opposed end radially outward of the inner end; and the outer end has a vertical dimension which is greater than that of the inner end. 
   
   
       8 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the visual indicator comprises a first arrow which is one of (a) adjacent the top of the sidewall and pointing downwardly and (b) adjacent the bottom of the sidewall and pointing upwardly. 
   
   
       9 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the visual indicator comprises a set of circumferentially spaced fingertip indentations which are formed in the sidewall and sized to receive therein a fingertip. 
   
   
       10 . The bottle of  claim 4  wherein the fingertip indentations are disposed above the grooves. 
   
   
       11 . The bottle of  claim 4  wherein each fingertip indentation has top and bottom edges; each fingertip indentation is bounded by a lower surface which extends from adjacent the bottom edge toward the top edge and against which the first manual force is to be applied; each fingertip indentation has an upper surface which extends from adjacent the top edge toward the lower surface; and each lower surface extends radially inwardly adjacent the bottom edge at a sharper angle than does the upper surface adjacent the top edge. 
   
   
       12 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the visual indicator comprises a set of circumferentially spaced radially extending concavely curved fingertip grip surfaces on the sidewall. 
   
   
       13 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the visual indicator is disposed above the grooves. 
   
   
       14 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the sidewall adjacent its top comprises a shoulder section which tapers downwardly and outwardly; and the visual indicator is disposed on the shoulder section. 
   
   
       15 . The bottle of  claim 1  wherein the sidewall circumscribes a vertical axis; the grooves facilitate movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position in response to a manual vertical force applied to the sidewall and a manual rotational force applied to the sidewall in a rotational direction about the vertical axis to cause relative rotation between the top and bottom of the sidewall; and the visual indicator is suggestive of a need to apply the manual vertical force and the manual rotational force. 
   
   
       16 . The bottle of  claim 1  further comprising a label connected to the sidewall and covering a portion of the grooves. 
   
   
       17 . The bottle of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of permanent irregular creases formed in the sidewall in response to movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position. 
   
   
       18 . The bottle of  claim 1  further comprising a cap which is removably attached to the sidewall and forms an airtight and watertight seal therewith between the interior chamber and atmosphere external to the bottle. 
   
   
       19 . A collapsible plastic bottle comprising:
 a plastic bottom wall;   a plastic annular sidewall which has a top and a bottom, which is connected at its bottom to the bottom wall and extends upwardly therefrom, and which has expanded and collapsed positions;   an interior chamber defined by the bottom wall and sidewall;   a top entrance opening of the interior chamber defined by the top of the sidewall;   a plurality of annular groove walls of the sidewall which substantially circumscribe the interior chamber and respectively define a plurality of annular grooves which facilitate movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position in response to a manual force applied to the sidewall; and   at least one break space in each of the groove walls which interrupts the annular continuity of the respective groove wall and facilitates radially inward movement of a portion of the respective groove wall during movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position.   
   
   
       20 . A collapsible plastic bottle comprising:
 a plastic bottom wall;   a plastic annular sidewall which has a top and a bottom, which is connected at its bottom to the bottom wall and extends upwardly therefrom, and which has expanded and collapsed positions;   an interior chamber defined by the bottom wall and sidewall;   a top entrance opening of the interior chamber defined by the top of the sidewall;   a plurality of annular grooves formed in the sidewall which facilitate movement of the sidewall from the expanded position to the collapsed position in response to a manual force applied to the sidewall; and   at least one interruption member in each of the grooves which interrupts the annular continuity of the groove.