Recyclable, thermally insulated plastic container

Abstract

A two-piece thermoformed, thermally insulated container such as a hot drink cup comprising a tapered cup body with vertical ribs on the outer body surface thereof and a sleeve attached to the cup on and overlying the top surfaces of the ribs. This forms a series of parallel air gaps between the sleeve and the cup over substantial portion of the length thereof. The sleeve may be printed with appropriate logos or other indicia. The cup and sleeve are both preferably made of polypropylene so that they may be recycled as a unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A recyclable, thermally insulated container comprising:
 an open top plastic cup having a generally cylindrical sidewall and an integral floor;   said cup having a circular top rim of a first diameter and, immediately below but contiguous to said rim, a smooth annular band, said cup sidewall below said band being generally of a diameter less than the diameter of the band to form a step, said sidewall having formed therein a plurality of parallel vertical outwardly projecting ribs defining therebetween recesses having tops spaced below said step and separated from one another by said ribs;   all of said ribs extending on said sidewall to a circumferential location near but spaced upwardly from said floor; and   an outer label layer overlying said ribs, the vertical length of said label layer being such as to extend from said step to the lower ends of said ribs so as to create air spaces between said label layer and said recesses, which air spaces are open at the bottoms thereof.   
     
     
         2 . The recyclable, thermally insulated, container defined in  claim 1  wherein said cup and label layer are made of the same plastic material so as to be recyclable as a unit. 
     
     
         3 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container defined in  claim 2  wherein the material is polypropylene. 
     
     
         4 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container defined in  claim 1  wherein the label layer abuts said step. 
     
     
         5 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container as defined in  claim 1  wherein the label layer has a butt seam overlying a rib. 
     
     
         6 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container as defined in  claim 1  wherein the smooth annular band has a reverse taper to prevent full telescoping of said containers when stacked. 
     
     
         7 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container as defined in  claim 1  wherein the container has a fill capacity of between 4 and 32 fluid ounces. 
     
     
         8 . The recyclable, thermally insulated container as defined in  claim 1  wherein the material thickness of the label layer is between about 0.005 and 0.030 inches. 
     
     
         9 . The container defined in  claim 1  wherein the ratio of the width of said recesses to the width of said ribs is about 6:1.