WO2017019745A1

WO2017019745A1 - Insulated filtered beverage device

Info

Publication number: WO2017019745A1
Application number: PCT/US2016/044212
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sacha POLAKOFF; Louis Busick
Original assignee: LVD Acquisition LLC
Current assignee: LVD Acquisition LLC
Priority date: 2015-07-30
Filing date: 2016-07-27
Publication date: 2017-02-02
Anticipated expiration: 2018-01-30

Abstract

A beverage being stored in an insulated container is filtered at the point of dispensing. The device has a housing in which the beverage is retained and a spout portion in which a filter element is received. The beverage is maintained at temperature by thermal insulation in the housing. A manually-operated pump raises the beverage from the housing into a head of the device, where the beverage flows through the filter. In some embodiments, the filter element is in a sealed cartridge such that placing it into operative position in the device pierces the seal, allowing all of the beverage being dispensed to flow through the cartridge.

Description

INSULATED FILTERED BEVERAGE DEVICE

Cross-Reference to Related Applications

[0001] This application is a non-provisional patent application filed under provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty and makes a priority claim to US provisional application 62/198,932, filed on 30 July 2015, which is incorporated by references as if fully recited herein.

Technical Field

[0002] The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to an insulated vessel for dispensing a beverage, where the conduit that dispenses the beverage contains a filter element. More particularly, the embodiments relate to an insulated vessel in which a hand operated pump or bellows dispenses the beverage through a spout. In many embodiments, the filter is contained in a cup, so that the materials removed by the filter element are contained within the cup.

Background of the Art

[0003] United States Patent 4,359,174 to Ikunosuke teaches a product that is generally known as an "air pot." Devices of this type are commonly used to contain hot and cold beverages.

[0004] Water that is used in the beverages dispensed from these devices can contain a variety of contaminants, such as microbes and heavy metals. In this situation, treatment agents, such as chemicals that give rise to chlorine or fluorine ions in the water, can be considered undesirable contaminants that may affect the taste.

[0005] As noted in US Patent 7,507,338 to Bommi, much of the known art for filtering water deals with gravity filtration. The air pot, with its bellows to pressurize the water in dispensing it, provides additional pressure for pushing the water through the

decontaminating step. However, among other things, the '338 patent uses an upflow system through the filter, in which the pressure drop of the filter is increased by the head needed to lift the liquid out of the vessel.

[0006] It is therefore an unmet advantage of the prior art to provide an insulated vessel for dispensing a filtered beverage. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This and other unmet advantages are provided by a device for filtering and dispensing a beverage. Such a device has a housing, a spout portion, a fluid conduit, a head and a filter element.

[0008] The housing has a shell with a walled vessel contained therein. The walled vessel defines a reservoir for holding a quantity of a beverage. A means for thermally insulating the reservoir is arranged between the shell and the walled vessel.

[0009] The housing also has a spout portion that is attached to, or integral with, the housing at an open end of the shell. The spout portion has a receptacle adapted for removably receiving a filter element and a lower end of the receptacle has a spout, through which filtered beverage is dispensed.

[0010] The fluid conduit provides a path for the beverage from the bottom portion of the reservoir to the spout portion.

[0011] The head is attached at an open end of the shell for movement between an open positon, in which access is provided to the walled vessel and the receptacle, and a closed, operative position. The head has a tube stub, arranged on an inner surface of the head to distribute beverage over the filter element positioned in the receptacle when the head is in the closed position, the tube stub removably attachable to the second end of the removable tube. The head also has a means for manually applying pressure to the liquid in the walled vessel when the head is in the closed position, the pressure applied through a pump lever arranged on a surface of the head.

[0012] The filtration is achieved by a filter element, sized and adapted to fit into the receptacle.

[0013] In some embodiments, the filter element is contained in a sealed cartridge, such that closing the head of the device with the cartridge inserted in the receptacle results in piercing of the cartridge by both the spout and the tube stub, so that all of the beverage being dispensed flows through the cartridge. Brief Description of the Drawings [0014] A better understanding of the disclosed embodiments will be obtained from a reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein identical reference characters refer to identical parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive concept;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view, showing the Fig.1 embodiment with a pump handle lowered;

FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the Fig. 1 embodiment with the pump handle raised into an operative position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the Fig. 1 embodiment showing a release button that allows the pump handle to be deployed to the operative position of Fig. 2B; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the Fig. 1 embodiment to show a release latch to allow the head of the device to be opened for filling, cleaning and the like. Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

[0015] FIGURE 1 shows a side sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of an insulated filtered beverage dispensing device 10 that incorporates the inventive concept disclosed herein. The device 10 has a body 20 and a head 50. In Fig. 1 , the head 50 is depicted in an "open" position in which a reservoir 22 for containing water or the like can be accessed. Reservoir 22 is internal to a walled vessel 25. Surrounding the vessel 25 is a means for thermally insulating the reservoir 22 and a shell 24 that contains both the reservoir and the thermal insulation means. In general, the structure of the body 20, the vessel 25 and the shell 24 will be typically as known in the prior art. In some instances, the thermal insulation means will be provided by forming a closed chamber 26 between the reservoir vessel 25 and the shell 24 and drawing a vacuum on the closed chamber. In other instances, the thermal insulation means will be provided by an insulating material, typically a closed cell material, that is placed in the closed chamber 26. In another case, the vessel 25 may be double-walled to further insulate the reservoir 22. In this case, the internal space between the walls of the vessel 25 can have a vacuum drawn on it, as in a conventional thermos-type vessel. For a variety of reasons known to those of skill, the vessel 25 will typically have a neck portion 28 with a restricted flow area near the top of the reservoir, where it joins the shell 24, but this feature is not required.

[0016] Towards the top of the body 20, it would be typical to provide a means for connecting the body to the head 50. An especially preferred means would be a hinged connection 30, and in an especially preferred embodiment, the hinged connection would be in two complementary and separable parts, one of which is connected to the head 50 and the other of which is connected to the body 20. This allows the head 50 to be removed from the body 20 to facilitate cleaning of the body and head in a separated condition. It is preferred that the head pivot about the connection means 30.

[0017] Another part of the body 20 shown in Fig. 1 is a spout portion 40, which also is positioned on the top of the body 20, preferably opposite the connection 30, as the head 50 will engage the spout portion when the head is closed. Between the spout portion 40 and the connection 30 at the top of the neck 28, the head 50 and body 20 will typically be provided with a means for forming an air-tight seal for the reservoir 22. In a typical application, this sealing means will be provided by a silicone or urethane ring 32.

[0018] Directing attention now to the spout portion 40, a spout 42 on a lower side thereof will extend through a wall of the spout portion into a filter receptacle 44 provided therein. Inside the filter receptacle 44, the spout 42 may have one or more piercing elements. These elements, when used, would be positioned so that when a filter cartridge 100 is used by being placed in the filter receptacle 44, the piercing elements will pierce a lower surface of the cartridge, establishing fluid communication between the interior of the cartridge and the spout 42. As shown in Fig. 1 , the head 50 is opened in order to place a filter cartridge 100 into the cartridge receptacle 44 or to remove an expended filter cartridge after it has been used. A latch 64 (not shown in Fig. 1 , but shown in Fig. 4) is used to hold the head 50 in the closed position with the body 20 when the latch is engaged. A tube stub 54 may be arranged on a lower surface of the head 50, so that closing the head 50 onto the body 20 and the spout portion 40 establishes a fluid connection for the tube stub 54 with the filter receptacle, preferably with a filter cartridge positioned in the filter receptacle. Tube stub may, in some embodiments, serve to distribute fluid across the top of filter cartridge 100. [0019] Inside the head 50, a means for establishing a fluid communication between the tube stub 54 and a bottom portion of the reservoir 22 is provided. In a typical embodiment, this means is a dip tube 56, which would typically be a length of flexible polymeric tubing. However, it may be useful in some applications to use a more rigid channel formed in the head and the body to establish this fluid communication. Dip tube 56 terminates in tube stub 54.

[0020] Before moving onto the other drawings, it is useful to consider the construction of the filter used. While it may be very useful to contain the filter in a filter cartridge 100 that may be inserted and removed from the filter receptacle 44 in a modular manner, it may also be useful in many cases to insert separate filter elements into the filter receptacle. The preferred filter is likely to comprise two or more elements, each of which is directed at removing a specific type of contaminant. In many cases, each filter element will be a reticulated polymeric foam that has been selectively coated or impregnated for the purpose, such as with a material for capturing heavy metals, such as lead mercury or cadmium. The filter element may also be directed at removing other chemicals, such as chlorine, or retaining biological contaminants, such as bacteria.

[0021] Two particular advantages of using the filter cartridge 100 are that the amount of liquid that bypasses the filter elements can be minimized and that the contaminants removed by the filter elements are retained inside the filter cartridge and can be taken out for disposal with a minimal amount of contamination of the filter cartridge receptacle 44 or the user. Unlike the '338 patent, where the filter elements are constantly exposed to the liquid in the reservoir 22, the system described here has no backwash of the liquid that has been filtered. The individual filter elements can be more tightly packed into the filter cartridge, from which they do not need to be subsequently removed, that they can be individually fitted into the filter receptacle. This accomplishes the goal of minimizing bypass. When the filter elements are used without the filter cartridge 100, it is an important consideration that the filter elements closely engage the filter receptacle 44, to substantially eliminate liquid bypass.

[0022] Located on the top of the head 50 is a pump lever 60. This pump lever 60 is shown in a closed position in Fig.1 , as well as in Fig. 2A, but it is shown in a deployed or open position in Fig. 2B. As shown even further in Fig. 3, a release button 62 normally secures the pump lever 60 in the closed position. When the release button 62 is activated by a user, a biasing means (not shown in the drawings) located inside the head 50 urges the pump handle to pivot away from the closed position into the open position. Operatively connected to the pump handle 60, and preferably located inside the head 50 is a means for applying pressure to the liquid inside the reservoir. In this manner, the body 20 and head 50 operate in a manner similar to the operation of an "air pot" type of beverage carafe. A typical means for applying this pressure is a bellows, but other means will be known to those of skill in this art.

[0023] A further latch means 64, shown in Fig. 4, is used to hold the head 50 down onto the body in the operative condition. A further feature, also seen in Fig 4, is an optional handle means, shown as a bail 66. The bail 66 is retracted in Figs. 3 and raised in Fig. 4.

[0024] As will be understood, the beverage contained in reservoir 22 for dispensing can be cold, hot and in between, with the insulation assisting in maintaining the temperature. It can be a pre-brewed beverage, such as a coffee or tea, a pre-mixed beverage, such as an instant tea or a KOOL AID-type beverage, or it can be water. In any case, the filter element is available to provide a final "clean-up" of the beverage as dispensed.

[0025] Having shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention and still be within the scope of the claimed invention. Thus, many of the elements indicated above may be altered or replaced by different elements which will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed invention. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims.

Claims

What is claimed is: Claim 1. A device for filtering and dispensing a beverage, comprising:

a housing, comprising:

a shell;

a walled vessel, contained within the shell, the walled vessel defining a reservoir for holding a quantity of a beverage;

means, arranged between the shell and the walled vessel, for thermally insulating the reservoir; and

a spout portion, attached to, or integral with, the housing at an open end of the shell, the spout portion comprising a receptacle adapted for removably receiving a filter element, a lower end of the receptacle having a spout;

a fluid conduit, comprising a removable tube that extends from a first end at a bottom portion of the reservoir to a second end at the spout portion;

a head, attached at an open end of the shell for movement between an open positon, in which access is provided to the walled vessel and the receptacle, and a closed, operative position, the head comprising:

a tube stub, arranged on an inner surface of the head to distribute beverage into the receptacle when the head is in the closed position, the tube stub removably attachable to the second end of the removable tube; and

means for manually applying pressure to the liquid in the walled vessel when the head is in the closed position, the pressure applied through a pump lever arranged on a surface of the head; and

a filter element, sized and adapted to fit into the receptacle.

Claim 2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the walled vessel is a double-walled vessel with a vacuum drawn between the walls thereof.

Claim 3. The device of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the head is pivotably attached to the shell.

Claim 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the pivotable attachment is provided by a hinged connection means comprising separable parts such that the head is removable from the shell.

Claim 5. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a release button that secures the pump lever in a closed position in the head.

Claim 6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a latch means that secures the head to the shell in the closed operative position.

Claim 7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the filter element is contained in a sealed cartridge, such that closing the head of the device with the cartridge inserted in the receptacle results in piercing of the cartridge by both the spout and the tube stub, so that all of the beverage being dispensed flows through the cartridge.