Flexible lid designed to fit and seal on various beverage containers

Abstract

A reusable, flexible beverage lid designed to fit various beverage containers includes a drink through cover portion having a generally circular periphery and a flexible sidewall with a profile enabling sealing against varying dimensioned beverage containers. The shape of the sidewall profile allows the lid to reliably seal and be easily assembled against various beverage containers and is generally consistent circumferentially. The lid design is such that it can be scaled radially to fit a further amount of beverage containers.

1 . A reusable, flexible beverage lid comprising: a cover portion having a generally circular periphery comprising: a drink opening adjacent to the periphery; and a general pooling feature to capture and allow drainage of any fluids not drank by the user; general vent holes to allow steam to escape and drainage from the pool feature; and a flexible outer sidewall which is homogeneously integrated with the cover portion and generally consistent circumferentially, wherein its profile enables easy assembly and sealing against varying dimensioned beverage containers, against the generally consistent outer rim surface of various sizes of beverage containers, consisting of: a surface area sufficient to comfortably and confidently push the lid onto beverage containers; a sidewall cross section which translates the vertical force into horizontal deflection and tensile stress into a sealing radial force without excessively collapsing vertically before establishing a seal; at least one rib which is longitudinally offset from the underside of the lid allowing further flexibility as the offset increases. The generally circular cross section of the rib allows for easy assembly and resistance to unseating of the lid during or after assembly due to tensile stress within the stretched profile of the lid; a sidewall with an outer profile which has a relief feature accommodating collapse of the outer wall which allows further flexibility of the inner sealing rib within acceptable assembly efforts; a guide feature enabling centering during assembly and an inherently obvious feature for the user to grasp during assembly; a rim seat where the lid sits onto the rim of the beverage container; an inner wall which provides circumferential and radial stiffness when the outer sidewall is being stretched during assembly consisting of: an inner seating feature that enables centering during assembly and an additional sealing surface; an inner baffle that minimizes beverage splash against the sealing surfaces. This lid can be scaled radially to allow further versatility 
     
     
         2 . A lid of  claim 1  which has retention features for a circumferential band wrapping around the purely cylindrical portion of the cover portion. 
     
     
         3 . A lid of  claim 1  which has a sufficient depression on the top face of the cover to allow for flush assembly of a separate personalized flat piece. 
     
     
         4 . A reusable flexible elastomer lid of  claim 1 ,  2 , or  3 .