Importance

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Abstract

An elongated sheet (10) is used to form a thermally insulated cup (30). The sheet includes a pair of spaced apart smooth portions (12, 13) connected by a middle portion (11). The smooth portions are folded on opposite sides of the middle portion. The middle portion is corrugated or otherwise distorted to create air space. The folded sheet is wound around a mandrel to form a cylinder. The ends of the smooth portions are joined together, and a bottom closure (14) is attached to form the cup. The finishell cup includes a smooth outer shell (12S), a smooth inner shell (13S), and a middle layer (11L) sandwiched therebetween. The middle layer forms many air spaces between the shells to thermally insulate the contents of the cup, and also provide structural strength. The cup can be constructed of paper, which makes it biodegradable and recyclable, and its simple construction method makes it easy and inexpensive to manufacture using standard, conventional machinery. In an alternative embodiment (FIG. 5A), the starting blank may have the insulating portion (34) at one end instead of the middle, and it is suitably folded so that the insulating layer comes out as a middle layer (FIG. 6A). In another embodiment, the starting blank has just two sections (FIG. 7A) and it is similarly folded and wound so that the cup has two layers, an outer corrugated layer (34) and an inner smooth layer (32).

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First Claim