GB2369106A

GB2369106A - A font which provides a view of a vessel being filled

Info

Publication number: GB2369106A
Application number: GB0116623A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Iain Wallace Anderson; Wendy Gladys Box; Peter Thomas Foster; Rachel Joanna Galt; Stuart William Molzahn; David Edwin Quain; Stephen Paul Smith; Robert Alan Wright
Original assignee: Bass Machine Holdings Ltd; Brandbrew SA
Current assignee: Bass Machine Holdings Ltd; Brandbrew SA
Priority date: 2000-07-08
Filing date: 2001-07-09
Publication date: 2002-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2021-07-09
Also published as: GB0016721D0; GB2369106B; GB0116623D0

Abstract

A font 2 to be mounted on a counter of a drinks bar to dispense draught beverage has a cantilever shaped body 6 with two ascending legs 8 which are either side of a through opening 4 and rise from a base 16 to an overhanging head 9 provided with a beverage dispenser nozzle 10 through which the beverage issues upon operation of lever 12. The base 16 has a rotatably driven platform 14 on which a drinking glass 20 stands to be filled. The font can have various lights to illuminate the glass which can be seen by a customer looking in direction A through the opening 4 from a side of the font remote from the platform 14.

Description

A FONT

This invention relates to a font to dispense draught beverage.

According to a first aspect of the invention a font to be mounted on a drinks bar counter to dispense draught beverage comprises beverage dispensing nozzle means mounted on a body adapted to allow a view from immediately in front of the font of a glass or other drinking vessel when positioned, in use, to the rear of the body and under the nozzle means to receive beverage therefrom.

According to a second aspect of the invention a font mountable in a drinks bar to dispense draught beverage comprises a body, a location provided in relation to the body for a glass or other drinking vessel to stand to receive delivered draught beverage from nozzle means disposed above said location and mounted on the body, and substantially coincident with said location said body comprising a window or through opening whereby the glass or vessel receiving delivered beverage can be seen through the body from a side remote from said location.

Said location may be a platform. The platform may be rotatably driven.

The font may comprise one or more lights. One or more of said lights may be light emitting diodes.

The body may be of cantilever form having the nozzle means on an overhanging part of the body.

The body may have a base mountable on a counter of a drinks bar. The body may have an ascending part with at least one window or through opening allowing the drinking vessel being filled to be seen from the front

of the body remote from the platform. The opening may be wholly or partly covered by transparent material.

The dispensed beverage may be non-alcoholic or alcoholic, for example a beer, lager, ale, stout or porter, or cider.

Attention is drawn to two International patent applications, namely International Patent Application No. PCT/GB99/03824 (published under No. WOOl/36582) and International Patent Application No.

PCT/GB99/01551 (published under No. WO 99/60092). Any individual feature or any combination of such features of any beverage disclosed in either of those International applications, and any method or apparatus or part of any method or apparatus disclosed in either of those International Applications may be utilised in the dispense of beverage using a font which is the subject of this current application.

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing showing a perspective view of a font formed according to the invention to fill a glass with draught beverage.

In the drawing a font 2 is viewed along direction A by a customer at a front of a drinks bar so that the customer can see an opening or window 4 in the body 6 of the font square on. The body 6 has two ascending legs 8 either side of opening 4 and meeting cantilever fashion in a head 9 provided with a beverage dispenser nozzle 10 with an operating lever 12 over a platform 14 in a base 16 of the front. The platform 14 can be driven by an electric motor 18, for example a stepper motor, whilst supporting a glass 20 being filled with beverage. The glass and anything of interest occurring therein can be readily viewed by the customer,

through the opening 4, from the opposite side of the body 6 to the platform 14. It can be seen that the height of opening 4 is commensurate with that of intended glass 20 which may in parts have a width commensurate in at least part with that of the opening.

The head 9 of the font is provided with a light source 22 which is downwardly directed and can be a spot-light.

The opening 4 is illuminated or adorned by another light source, for example one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) at a region X being a side of the head 9 demarcating the upper end of the window 4.

A further light source 24, which may be in the form of a fixed annular array of LEDs, is provided within the base 16 and below the platform 14 so as to direct illumination upwardly in the region of the platform into the glass 20.

Claims

1. A font to be mounted on a drinks bar counter to dispense draught beverage comprising beverage dispensing nozzle means mounted on a body adapted to allow a view from immediately in front of a glass or other drinking vessel when positioned, in use, to the rear of the body and under the nozzle means to receive beverage therefrom.

2. A font mountable in a drinks bar to dispense draught beverage comprising a body, a location provided in relation to the body for a glass or other drinking vessel to stand to receive delivered draught beverage from nozzle means disposed above said location and mounted on the body, and substantially coincident with said location said body comprising a window or through opening whereby the glass or vessel receiving delivered beverage can be seen through the body from a side remote from said location.

3. A font as claimed in Claim 1, provided with a platform on which the drinking vessel is to stand under the nozzle means.

4. A font as claimed in Claim 2, in which said location comprises a platform.

5. A font as claimed in Claim 3 or in Claim 4, in which the platform is rotatable.

6. A front as claimed in Claim 5 in which the platform is rotatably driven.

7. A font as claimed in any one preceding claim, in which said body comprises a cantilever form having said nozzle means on an overhanging part of the body.

8. A font as claimed in Claim 3 or Claim 4 or in any one of Claims 5 to 7 when appended to either Claim 3 or Claim 4, in which said body has an ascending part with at least one said window or through opening allowing a drinking vessel being filled to be seen from a front of the body remote from the platform.

9. A font as claimed in Claim 2 or in any of Claims 4 to 7 when appended to Claim 2 or as claimed in Claim 8, in which said window or opening is wholly or partially covered by transparent material.

10. A font as claimed in any one preceding claim further comprising one or more lights.

11. A font as claimed ion Claim 10, in which the light or at least one of said lights is a light emitting diode.

12. A font as claimed in any one preceding claim, in which said body has a base mountable on a or on the counter of said drinks bar.

13. A font mountable in a drinks bar to dispense draught beverage, said font being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

14. A drinks bar comprising a font as claimed in any one preceding claim.