喝咖啡聊專利 - Hot Cup Sleeve－智財狗 - Provide IPR Informations

小智：熱咖啡這麼燙手怎麼拿啊？

小財：阿，你是不會拿杯套套住喔。

小智：對捏。奇怪，這東西這麼好用，不知道有沒有專利呢？

小財：杯套上似乎有寫 Patent 字樣呢！來去瞭解看看吧。

沒錯，今天筆者就是要來講生活周遭實際好用的小物，星巴克 - 杯套。杯套的發展歷史筆者這邊就不再多做說明了，可以參考「咖啡、醬油小巧思配角也能征服世界」本文。

既然如此，隔熱杯套發展多年，不就是將熱杯與杯套之間形成空氣對流阻隔或排掉熱傳導嗎？星巴克的杯套到底有什麼差異呢？也許來看看專利，就能更清楚明瞭星巴克的杯套跟一般杯套有何差異囉！

筆者帶大家從（US 9,056,712 B1）專利範圍 Claim 1 中來看：

A double-layer sleeve, comprising:

an inner paper layer including a corrugated medium;

an outer paper layer attached to the inner paper layer and including a flat liner, where the inner paper layer and the outer paper layer form an air gap therebetween; and

a binder, the binder including an insulating material with thermally expandable micro-encapsulated particles, the binder applied between the corrugated medium and the flat liner to bind the outer paper layer to the inner paper layer.

從該專利權範圍中，我們可以發現該杯套技術重點在於：binder 粘合劑，該黏合劑是具有熱膨脹性質之微膠囊顆粒的絕緣材質，適用於波浪狀介質與扁平襯墊之間來貼合內層與外層。

而這樣的設計到底能使杯套達到怎樣的效果呢？進一步從專利說明書中查閱：

For example, the activation point of the expandable material may be greater than about 120° F. and/or less than 60° F., such that the expandable material may be activated only by the temperature of hot liquids, beverages, or food and not activated by ambient or body temperature. The activation may cause the expandable material to expand and “push back” the die cut blank 102 from the container 101 creating an increased air gap.

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