Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02358267 2001-10-04
11241-003/H RH
BERESKIN & PARR CANADA
TITLE: JUG COOLER
INVENTORS: Jeremy Parsons and Travis Schneider
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Title: JUG COOLER
FI LD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus and methods for cooling
beverages, and more particularly to cooling beverages served in pitchers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Beverages can be served in a wide variety of containers. It is
often the case in restaurants, bars and taverns, that beverages such as
water, beer (especially draft beer), soft drinks and cocktails are served in
large pitchers suitable for sharing among a group of customers of the
establishment. This method of serving these beverages allows a group of
customers to share a beverage, each customer pouring as much or as little
of the beverage as they desire into their own glass. Depending on the size
of the glass and the number of customers sharing the beverage, their
glasses may be refilled from time to time from that pitcher.
Generally, the liquid served from the pitcher is best
consumed when it is cold. Quite often, ice cubes are placed in the liquid in
order to maintain the liquid's low temperature when the patron chooses
to refill their glass from the pitcher. For some types of beverages,
however, the use of ice cubes is inappropriate. After a certain amount of
time has passed, the ice cubes will melt into water thus changing the
flavour and concentration of the beverage. This change of flavour is often
detrimental. As well, ice cubes generally float on the top of the liquid.
When the liquid is poured the ice cubes surge forward towards the spout
of the pitcher causing the beverage to splash in an unexpected manner,
potentially causing the beverage to spill outside of the glass. The ice will
float in most beverages due to the fact that water is at its greatest density
in
its liquid phase at 4 °C. As the water freezes it expands, resulting in
the ice
having a lower density than the surrounding liquid, causing the
floatation.
Frequently, the restaurant or tavern will serve the beverage
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in a pitcher which has a logo or trade mark imprinted on the outside of
the pitcher. The pitcher may be a promotional item provided for the
purposes of advertising, or it may be purchased by the restaurant, bar or
tavern. Frequently, however, the restaurant, bar or tavern may wish to
change the pitcher to one with a different logo or slogan. In order to
accomplish this, however, the establishment would have to maintain
separate entire sets of pitchers, each with different slogans or logos. This
is
costly for the establishment, because they have to purchase entire sets of
pitchers with the various messages. As well, the establishment would
have to keep the unused pitchers in storage. These pitchers can take a
great deal of space and are often not stackable. Finally, should the trade
mark logo or slogan become outdated, the establishment would have to
throw out the pitchers with the old logo, slogan or trade mark resulting in
a great deal of waste.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a device for cooling
liquids in a pitcher which would allow the beverage to be poured without
splashing and which allows for the use of interchangeable and
inexpensive advertising.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is accordingly directed to a cooling
device which is to be inserted into a jug containing a beverage. The
cooling device is reusable, removable, inhibits splashing when the
beverage is poured and does not alter the composition of the beverage.
The subject cooling device comprises a housing having an
internal and an external surface, a fixation device, a sealable opening for
adding and removing fluid from the cooling device, and a closure for
sealing the sealable opening.
In a preferred embodiment, the fixation device may be a
suction cup affixed to the housing. The suction cup could be affixed to an
inner surface of the jug to hold the cooling device in the jug.
In a preferred embodiment, visual images such as
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advertisements are placed on the external surface of the housing. This
allows a restaurant or bar manager to impart advertising messages to
patrons who view a beverage in a jug or pitcher. As well, the bar or
restaurant manager may alter the advertising messages by simply replacing
the cooling device.
In a further preferred embodiment, the cooling device may
comprise a cup and lip arrangement for adding and removing fluid from
the device.
In an alternative embodiment, the cooling device may have a
sealable aperture for adding and removing fluid from the device and a
suction cup having a stem designed to seal the aperture.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described, by way of example only,
with reference to the following drawings which illustrate a preferred
embodiment, in which:
Figure 1, is a front-view of an embodiment in accordance
with the invention in partial section.
Figure 2, is a sectional view at line 2-2 from Figure 1.
Figure 3, is a front-view of the embodiment of Figure 1 when
installed in a pitcher.
Figure 4, is a front-view of an alternative embodiment of the
invention.
Referring to Figure 1, illustrated therein is a cooling device 10
comprising housing 12 and suction cup 14. Suction cup 14 is affixed to the
base of housing 12.
Housing 12 is generally cylindrically shaped, having an
internal surface 16 and an external surface 18. External surface 18
comprises bottom surface 20, side-wall surface 22, and top surface 24.
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Internal surface 16 comprises bottom surface 26, side-wall surface 28 and
top surface 30. Surfaces 20, 24, 26 and 30 are circular while surfaces 22 and
28 are cylindrical.
Housing 12 is composed of cup 32 and screw lid 34. Cup 32
has a sealable opening 33 at the upper end of cup 32. Cup 32 has external
screw threads 36 at the upper end of cup 32 suitably adapted for receiving
screw lid 34. Screw lid 34 has an annular lip 38 along the circumference of
screw lid 34. Annular lip 38 has internal screw threads 40 suitably adapted
to allow screw lid 34 to be screwed onto the top of cup 32. Screw lid 34 is a
closure designed to seal sealable opening 33. When screw lid 34 is screwed
onto cup 32, internal surfaces 26, 28 and 30 define cylindrical cavity 42. A
fluid 44 is placed inside the cylindrical cavity up to fluid level 46. Fluid
level 46 is preferably lower than the top surface 30 to allow for fluid 44 to
expand upon freezing.
Suction cup 14 is affixed to bottom surface 20. In the preferred
embodiment, suction cup 14 is affixed to bottom surface 20 by means of a
non-soluble adhesive. Suction cup 14 is a standard suction cup suitable for
use in liquid environments such as those available from Duraline, Inc. of
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
A visual message 48 is placed on side-wall 22 as shown in
Figure 3. Optionally, a visual message may be placed on top surface 24 (not
shown here). Visual message 48 may be in the form of an adhesive sticker
or in' the form of prepatterned ink applied to external surface 18 of cooling
device 10. Prepatterned ink may be applied using a silkscreening process.
Visual message 48 may be an advertisement, a logo, a slogan, a trade mark,
or any image that a restaurant or bar owner would wish to put on display.
In order to use cooling device 10 to cool a beverage, the
following procedure may be used. First screw lid 34 is unscrewed from cup
32. Fluid 44 is poured into cup 32 up to fluid level 46. Screw lid 34 is then
screwed onto cup 32 creating a sealed enclosure from which fluid 44
cannot escape. Cooling device 10 is then placed in a freezer. Fluid 44
freezes after a time, after which cooling device 10 is removed from the
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freezer.
Cooling device 10 is then placed in jug 50 as shown in Figure
3. Jug 50 comprises a handle 52, a bottom jug wall 54, a cylindrical side-
wall 56 and an opening 58. Cooling device 10 is then pushed down such
that suction cup 14 affixes to bottom jug wall 54. Preferably, suction cup 14
forms a seal with bottom jug wall 54 to keep cooling device 10 in a fixed
position within jug 50. A beverage such as beer or water is then poured
into jug 50 through opening 58. If jug 50 is transparent or translucent,
visual message 48 may be viewed through cylindrical side-wall 56. If jug
50 is opaque, a visual message on top surface 24 will be visible when
viewed through opening 58. Cooling device 10 then acts to keep the
beverage in jug 50 cool through the transfer of heat from the beverage in
jug 50 through housing 12 to the frozen fluid 44. When some of the
beverage in jug 50 is poured, the cooling device remains affixed to bottom
jug wall 54 by means of suction cup 14. This serves to inhibit splashing of
the beverage in jug 50 while pouring.
Housing 12 and suction cup 14 are preferably composed of
materials such as HDPE that have been approved by a governmental
authority such as the United Stated Food and Drug Administration for use
in contact with drinking fluids. As well, visual message 48 should also be
approved by a similar governmental authority for contact with drinking
fluids.
The material used to form housing 12 is preferably conducive
for heat transfer from the beverage in jug 50 to fluid 44.
Fluid 44 is preferably water although other liquids may be
used as appropriate. It is preferable that fluid 44 is capable of freezing at
or
above the temperatures commonly found in freezers. This allows for a
greater transfer of heat from the fluid to the beverage as some of the heat
energy will be absorbed by fluid 44 in its change of state from solid to
liquid.
Housing 12 need not be cylindrical but may be any shape
provided that a suitable means for placing fluid 44 into the housing is
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provided. This may be by means of a sealable aperture. In another
alternative embodiment of the present invention, the housing may be
generally cubical with a circular upper portion of the main cups designed
for receiving a screw lid 34.
As well, jug 50 may be of any shape. The cooling device need
not be affixed to the bottom surface but may be affixed to a side surface of
jug 50.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention
shown in Figure 4, cooling device 10 comprises housing 60 and suction
cup 62. Housing 60 is generally cylindrically shaped having an internal
surface at 64 and an external surface 66. Housing 60 has a bottom wall 68, a
side-wall 70 and a top wall 72. Bottom wall 68 has a sealable opening 74
which is preferably circular although any shape may be used. Suction cup
62 comprises a suction portion 76 and a stem 78. Stem 78 is designed to fit
snugly into sealable opening 74 and to act as a closure to sealable opening
74. In this embodiment of the invention, fluid 44 is poured through
sealable opening 74 into housing 60. Stem 78 is then fitted into sealable
opening 74 creating a sealed enclosure.
It is to be understood that what has been described are
preferred embodiments to the invention. It should be understood that
various changes can be made without departing from the subject
invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.
