Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
3262
BACKGROU~I) OF THE I~VENTIO~
-
This invention relates to a bottle cooling
device. More particularly, the invention is directed
to a device for cooling liquld-filled bottlesj such
as beer bottles.
Many bottled beverages are better drunk
cold, especially beer, and while it is conventional
to cool them in a refrigerator, it has usually been
the practice when going outdoors to place the bottles
in a portable ice cooler containing one or more ice
packs so as to keep the contents of the bottles cold.
Such ice coolers are generally heavy and awkward to
carry around, in addition to taking considerable
space.
Various devices have already been proposed
for cooling bottles. For example, in U.Su Patent No.
3,365,911, there is described a bottle cooling device
comprising a stand provided with an inclined tray of
W-like cross-section supporting a pair of hollow
capsules containing a liquid refrigerant material.
Each capsule has an lnner arcuate surface adapted to
engage a circumferential portion of the bottle to be
cooled, which extends from the bottom of the bottle
to its neck. Such a cooling device is particularly
suited for wine bottles since the arrangement of the
capsules enables the label on the front of the bottle
to be displayed.
U.S. Patent ~o. 4,324,111, on the other
hand, proposes a freezing gel containment structure
comprising a plurality of adjacent tubes secured
together in edgewise relationship and each separately
~k
,73,Z6~
filled with freezing gel. In one embodiment, this
structure is sandwiched between two sheets of flexible
material which are sealed together adjacent their
edges to form a refrigerant panel. Two such panels
may then be secured to a circular base for receiving
therebetween a bottle to be cooled.
Thus, the bottle cooling devices proposed
so far can only be applied to one bottle at a time.
It would of course be highly desirable to have a
bottle cooling device designed for a pack of bottles,
such as a 6-pack of beer bottles contained in a case,
and which could also be conveniently fitted in the
case itself for easy transportation thereof while
; keeping the bottles cold at any time.
SUMMARY OF_THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present
invention to provide a device for cooling a plurality
of liquid-filled bottles, particularly bottles con-
tained in a receptacle, and which can also be fitted
in the receptacle without taking extra space.
In accordance with the invention, there :is
provided a device for cooling a plurality of liquid-
filled bottles, comprising a container made of a
rigid pressure-expandable plastic material and having
therein a refrigerant material. The container has top
and bottom surfaces and is formed with a plurality of
through-holes which extend between the top and
bottom surfaces and are each associated with a
respective one of the bottles to be cooled. Each
through-hole is adapted to ~eceive the neck of its
associated bottle and has an inner peripheral wall
~ ~32~
with at least a surface portion thereof adapted to
contact an upper portion of the associated bottle
for the cooling thereo~.
According to a preferred embodiment of the
invention which is designed for bottles having a
shoulder adjacent the neck thereof, the inner wall
of each through-hole has upper and lower peripheral
surface portions merging with each other, the lower
surface portion being enlarged relative to the upper
surface portion and adapted to fit over the shoulder
of the bottle so as to rest thereon. This enables
the container to be dimensioned so as to fit in a
receptacle containing the bottles disposed in an
upright position, whereby to be positioned in overly-
ing relationship to the bottles while resting onthe shoulders thereof. Owing to such an arrangement,
the air surrounding the bottles below the container
is also efficiently cooled and since cold air has a
greater density it tends to descend along the outer
walls of the bottles, thus contributing to the
efficient cooling of the latter.
Preferably, the lower peripheral surface
portion has a truncated hemispherical shape whereas
the upper peripheral surface portion is circular
in cross-section. Through-holes with such a confi-
guration can accommodate the majority of the bottles
on the market, whe-ther being of the short- or long-
necked type~
The container can be made of any suitable
plastic material which is rigid but yet expandable
under pressure at freezing temperatures so as to pre-
,~ 473~6~
. ,
vent the container from burs-ting when the refrigerant
material contained therein changes Erom liquid state
to solid state and increases in volume. Examples of
such plastic material are polyethylene and poly-
propylene.
The bottle cooling device of the inventioncan be fabricated according to the well known blow-
molding and rotational molding techniques, at a
relatlvely low cost.
Where the cooling device of the invention
is used for cooling beer bottles contained in a
cardboard case, it conveniently fits over the tops
of the bottles inside the case while allowing the
lid to be closed thereover. Since the cardboard
lid has thermal insulating properties, the coldness
is thus efficiently kept inside the beer case. It
has been found in practice when using a freezing gel
as refrigerant material that at an ambiant air tem-
perature of about 22C, the device of the invention
can efficiently keep a pack of bottles cold for a
period of about 12 hours. At an ambiant air tempera-
ture of about 30C (dry conditions), the bottles can
be kept cold for about 6 hours whereas at about 32C
and 100% relative humidity the period is reduced to
about 3 hours.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
,, , ,, _ . .
Further features and advanta~es of the
invention will become more readily apparent from the
following description of preferred embodiments there-
of as illustrated by way of examples in the accompany-
in~ drawings, in which:
32~
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bot-tle
cooling device according to a preferred embodiment
of the invention,
Figure 2 is another perspective view of the
bottle cooling device shown in Fig. 1,
Figure 3 is a further perspective view
showing how -the device of Fig. 1 can be positioned
inside a case of bottles for ~eeping the contents
of the bottles cold,
Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along
line 4-4 of Fig. 3;
Figure 5 is a sectional view similar to
Fig. 4, but showing how the device of Fig. 1 can be
used to cool long-necked bottles,
Figure 6 which is on the same sheet of
drawings of Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle
cooling device according to another preferred embo-
diment of the invention; and
Figure 7 which is also on the same sheet
of drawings as Fig. l is a fragmentary sectional
view taken along line 7-7 of Fig. 6.
DESCRIPTIO~ OF PREFERRED EMBODIME~TS
Referring ~irst to Figs 1 and 2, there is
shown a bottle cooling device 10 for cooling a
plurality of bottles, which cornprises an elongated
plastic container 12 of rectangular configuration
having top and bottom surfaces ~,16 which extend
in planar parallel relationship, as well as lateral
sidewalls 18,20 and end walls 22,24. The container
12 is formed with a plurality of identical throu~h-
holes 26 which exter-d normal to the top and bottom
1 ~ ~326~
surfaces 14,16 and are each associated with a
respective one of the bottles to be cooled. In the
embodiment shown, there are 6 through-holes 26
arranged in pairs along the length of the container
12 and the device 10 is thus adapted for a 6-pack
of bot-tles.
The inner peripheral wall of each through-
hole 26 has an upper surface portion 28 and a lower
surface portion 30 which merge with each other~ The
upper peripheral surface portion 28 is circular in
cross~section whereas the lower peripheral surface
portion 30 has a truncated hemispherical shape~ The
surface portion 28 tapers towards the top surface 14,
as best shown in Fig. 4.
The end sidewall 22 of the container 12 is
formed with an opening 32 through which a refrigerant
material capable of being frozen may be inserted.
Water may be used as refrigerant material, but the
conventional freezing gels are preferred. A
threaded neck 34 is provided so that a removable
screw cap 36 may be fitted thereover for closing the
opening 32 to retain the refrigerant material inside
the container 12.
A pair of spaced-apart blind-holes 38
serving as finger gripping means extend inwardly
of the container 12 from the top surface 1~. In
order to prevent the bottom walls 40 of the blind-
holes 38 from deforming when the refrigerant mate-
rial inside the container 12 is subjected to freezing,
a pair of projections 42 are provided which extend
inwardly of the container 12 from -the bottom surface
~ ~,q32SZ
16 and are each secured to the bottom wall 40 of a
blind-hole, as best shown in Fig. 4. The projections
42 thus serve as wall restraining means for restrain-
ing each bottam wall 40 against deformation.
In use, -the bottle cooling device 10 is
firstplaced in a refrigerator so that the refrigerant
material contained therein undergoes freezing. As
shown in Figs 3 and 4, it may thereafter be fitted
over the tops of the bottles 44 to be cooled, such
that the necks 46 of the bottles are slipped through
the holes 26. In the case of the short-necked bottles
44, the lower peripheral surface portion 30 of the
through-hole 26 fits over the bottle shoulder 46 so
as to rest thereon. The bottle cooling device 10
conveniently fits inside the cardboard case 50
containing the bottles 44 and is thus positioned
- in overlying relationship to the bottles while
resting on the shoulders thereof. Since the device
10 takes no extra space, the lid 52 of the case 50
may closed thereover, as shown in Fig. 4. Due to
the thermal insulating properties of the cardboard
lid 52, the coldness can thus be efficiently kept
inside the case 50.
In the case of long-necked bottles 44'
such as shown in Fig. 5, the lid 52 can still be
closed since the device 10 is disposed at a lower
position over the bottles 44'. As shown, not only
does the lower peripheral surface portion 30 of the
through-hole 26 rests on the bottle shoulder 48'
bu~ the upper peripheral surface portion 28 also
contacts the neck 46' of the bottle, thus contribut-
ing to the efficient cooling of the latter.
-- 8 --
1 ~3262
Turning to the embodiment 100 illustrated
in Figs 6 and 7, the container 102 has an elonga-ted
narrow configuration with top and bottom surfaces
104,106 extending in planar parallel relationship,
lateral sidewalls 108,110 and end sidewalls 112,114.
me through-holes 116 which extend normal to the
top and bottom surfaces 104,106 are arranged in a
single row along the length of the container 102
As shown in Fig. 7, the upper peripheral surface
portion 118 of each through-hole 116 is circular
in cross-section but of constant diameter, whereas
the lower peripheral surface portion 120 has a
truncated hemispherical shape. The lower surface
portions 120 of the holes 116 intersect the side-
walls 108, 110, 112 and 114 to form a series of
arcuate recesses 122 along the lower peripheral
edge 124 of the container 102. A pair of plugs
126 are provided on the lateral sidewa~1 108, which
are sealed in place after the con-tainer has been
filled with a refrigerant material. The lateral
sidewalls 108 and 110 of the container 102 are
each formed with an arcuate cavity 128 which
extends between the top and bottom surfaces 104,106.
me cavities 128 are arranged opposite one another
and serve as finger gripping means.
The bottle cooling device 100 is parti-
cularly adapted for beer cases having a partition
wall extending lengthwise of the case and dividing
the beer bottles in two rows of 6 bottles-each.
The bottle cooling device 10 shown in
Figs 1-5 is intended to be fabricated primarily
i ~ 73Z~2
by ro-tational molding, whereas the device 100
illustrated in Figs 6-7 can be produced by blow-
molding as well as by rotational molding, blow-
molding being preferred due to its low cost. As
it is apparent to those skilled in the art, the
bottle cooling device 10 can also be produced by
blow-molding, in which case it would be formed
with arcuate recesses similar to the recesses
122 of the device 100 shown in Figs 6-7.
_ 10 --
