U.S. patent application number 11/818932 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-18 for cooling insert for a container.
Invention is credited to George John Botich.
Application Number | 20080307824 11/818932 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40131085 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080307824 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Botich; George John |
December 18, 2008 |
Cooling insert for a container
Abstract
A cooling inserted into a regular cooling chest as a unit. The
cooling insert consists of a multiple of hollow panels that are
hinged together at their edges by adhesive tapes or extruded layers
on panels that are continued between adjacent panels. The hollow
panels are constructed of thin walled plastic materials. A
freezable substance is inserted into the hollow panels constituting
a cooling medium that will permeate through the thin walls of the
hollow panels to keep food and/or drinks in a cooled state.
Inventors: |
Botich; George John;
(Naples, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
George John Botich
107 Blue Ridge Dr.
Naples
FL
34112
US
|
Family ID: |
40131085 |
Appl. No.: |
11/818932 |
Filed: |
June 18, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/457.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25D 2331/804 20130101;
F25D 2303/0832 20130101; F25D 2303/085 20130101; F25D 3/08
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/457.2 |
International
Class: |
F25D 3/00 20060101
F25D003/00 |
Claims
1. A cooling insert to be inserted into a regular cooling chest and
snugly fitting therein, said cooling insert consisting of a
multiple of hollow panels that have means thereon to be hinged to
each other, said hollow panels being filled with a cooling
medium.
2. The cooling insert of claim 1, wherein said means for hinging
consists of adhesive tapes placed at respective edges of said
hollow panels.
3. The cooling insert of claim 1, wherein said hollow panels are
subdivided into at least two hollow panels, said subdivided hollow
panels having means thereon to be hinged to each other.
4. The cooling insert of claim 1, wherein there is a bottom hollow
panel, a hollow panel on each side, a front hollow panel. A rear
hollow panel and a top cover hollow panel.
5. The cooling insert of claim 4, wherein said bottom hollow panel
has a thicker dimension than the remainder of said hollow
panels.
6. The cooling insert of claim 4, wherein said bottom hollow panel
has upstanding ledges at each lateral side thereof, the height of
said upstanding ledges is at least twice the thickness of each of
said hollow panels.
7. The cooling insert of claim 1, including magnets placed at
various edges of said hollow panels to enhance the stability of
said cooling insert once it is fully deployed.
8. The insert cooling device of claim 1, wherein each of said
hollow panels has a further insulating layer placed on an outside
of said hollow panels facing an inside wall of said cooling
chest.
9. The insert of claim 9, wherein said further insulating layer is
a hollow layer.
10. The insert of claim 1, wherein said means for hinging includes
a continuous layer on said panels between adjacent panels.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a container assembly, and more
particularly to an insert to be inserted into an insulated
container. An item which is included in virtually all outdoor
activities, whether it be boating, camping, fishing, spending a day
on the beach, or going on a picnic, or construction sites, is a
cooler to keeps drinks and perishable foods cold and safe to eat.
Although a few types of coolers are available which use electricity
to provide chilling air, the vast majority rely on supplies of ice
or reusable gel packs placed within the cooler to keep the interior
cold. Drawbacks encountered when ice is used is that the ice
occupies a lot of space in the cooler when it if frozen and when it
melts the food placed into the container can become soggy. Another
drawback is, when placing cold gel packs into the container, is the
gel packs also take up a certain amount of space. There are known
cooling containers or chests that have hollow side walls that are
being filled with a cooling gel to keep the food and/or drinks in a
cooled state. However, in such containers the cooling medium stays
remote from the items to be cooled in the container.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The inventive concept eliminates the above drawbacks by
placing another substitute container made up of hollow side walls
which are filled with a cooling gel or dry ice. The inserted
container complements the shape of the cooler. The various panels
that make up the container consists of hollow and foldable panels
that can be collapsed into a compact package when the not in use.
The hollow panels can be made of thin plastic walls that allow the
cooling medium to easily permeate through the thin walls into the
interior of the cooler. The various panels are hinged together to
allow an easy deployment when needed or desired. The hollow panels
are useful for inserting a plurality of slim gel packs therein or
for injecting dry ice into the same.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] FIG. 1 illustrates a multiple of hollow panels in a
collapsed state;
[0004] FIG. 2 shows the collapsed state of FIG. 1 in a partially
opened state;
[0005] FIG. 3 shows the collapsed state of FIG. 1 in an almost open
state;
[0006] FIG. 4 shows the panels in their construction;
[0007] FIG. 5 Shows the hollow panel of FIG. 4 with in additional
insulating layer on its exterior;
[0008] FIG. 6 shows a foldable lid being placed over a collapsed
insert;
[0009] FIG. 7 shows a collapsed insert being double folded in a
collapsed state;
[0010] FIG. 8 shows the insert of FIG. 7 in a compact and totally
collapsed And compact state;
[0011] FIG. 9 illustrates the steps of opening and erecting the
collapsed state Of FIGS. 7 and 8;
[0012] FIG. 10 shows the insert in a fully erected state;
[0013] FIGS. 11, 12 and 14 show how magnets are applied as an aid
to keep The erected panels in their proper position;
[0014] FIG. 13 shows a fully assembled insert with a lid
thereon;
[0015] FIG. 15 is a perspective view made up of a small single
panel insert;
[0016] FIG. 16 is a perspective view of FIG. 15 in a fully
assembled state;
[0017] FIG. 17 is a side view of an assembled insert;
[0018] FIGS. 18 and 19 show the use of magnets as an aid to keep
the panels In their proper position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] FIG. 1 shows the cooling insert in a collapsed state or
condition. The cooling insert, once assembled, will fit snugly
within a regular cooling box or chest. The various panels, from
which the insert is made up, are hollow, as will be explained
below, so that a cooling medium may be inserted or injected
therein. This will be further explained below. In FIG. 1 there is a
bottom panel 1 which is hollow, of course, but somewhat thicker
than the rest of the panels. The bottom panel 1 on each side has an
upstanding ledge 2 having a height of two individual panel so that
when the front panel 7 including the cover panel 7a which is hinged
thereto are folded down and the two panels 7 and 7a will be
assimilated or fitted within the upstanding ledges 2 and be hidden
therein. The side panels 5 and 6 are hinged to the upstanding
ledges 2 and can be collapsed onto the hidden panel and will be
flush thereon. Finally, there is a rear panel 4 which is hinged to
yet another upstanding ledge 3 which has a height of the collapsed
panels 5 and 6 and the panel 4 is hinged to the upstanding ledge 3
and when the panel 4 is folded down or collapsed onto the panels 5
and 6, the whole structure takes on a compact package which can
stored until further use is desired. The compact structure, in its
collapsed state is shown in FIG. 1A.
[0020] In FIG. 2, the rear panel 4 is first raised to a vertical
position. Thereafter, both side panels 5 and 6 are raised and then
the front panel 7 including the cover panel 7 are raised to
complete the cooling insert which can now be inserted in a cooling
chest. It is preferred that the cover panel 7 is made in at least
twice the thickness of the other upstanding panels. This enhances
the insulating quality of the cover layer 7 against a frequent
opening of the container cover or lid.
[0021] FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the structure of the hollow panels.
The hollow interior is shown at 9. The panels should be made of
thin walls to be able to transmit the cooling medium into the
interior of the cooling chest. The material used could be selected
from various substances such as polyethylene, PVC, Acrylic
substances and many others. The hollow panels could be extruded or
assembled from thin walls with a spacer there between. It also
contemplated to add an extra insulating layer 9 to the hollow
panel. The insulating layer 9 should be applied to an outer surface
of the panel that would face the interior walls of the cooling
chest. This extra layer would prolong the life of the cooling
medium in the hollow panels. Another layer is shown at 10 in FIG.
5. This layer could consist of a hollow layer 10 that could be
injected with a cooling medium.
The various panels could be hinged together by using adhesive tapes
like packing tapes having fiber reinforcements therein or tapes
known as duct tapes. In either application, the adhesive should be
strong enough so that they cannot become unglued when being handled
numerous times. A preferred way of making the hinges at the edges
of the panels is to form the hinges during an extrusion of the
panels, whereby an outer layer of the panels is extended onto an
adjacent panel which forms a layer thereon. Thereby, a layer
between the panels forms a reliable hinge.
[0022] FIG. 6 shows a lid that could be folded or collapsed onto
itself by two panels 17 and 17a that are hinged together.
[0023] In FIG. 7, in this embodiment, the individual panels are
subdivided one more time. Thus, the bottom panel is subdivided into
two panels 12 and 12a and they are hinged together so that they can
be folded upon themselves. The two side panels are 14 and 14a are
hinged to the upstanding ledges 13 and 13a which can folded into
the two bottom panels 12 and 12a. Then there are two rear panels 15
and 15a which can also be folded into bottom panels 12 and 12a.
There is a cover lid which also consists of two hinged panels 17
and 17a which is stored separately from the main structure. Once
all the hinged panels are collapsed into each other, they form a
compact structure, shown in FIG. 8, which can easily be stored or
could be placed into a freezer compartment or a freezer chest to
freeze the medium in the hollow panels before being placed into the
cooler chest for its intended purpose.
[0024] FIG. 9 illustrates the structure of FIG. 7 including the
steps of unfolding the various panels.
[0025] FIG. 10 shows the unit of FIG. 7 in its fully assembled
state. It is advantageous to give the assembled structure some
stability.
[0026] FIG. 11 shows the use of magnets to give the assembled
structure some stability. As an example, a magnet 22 has been
attached to panel 16a and a magnet 23 has been attached to panel
14a. The particular location of the magnets is immaterial as long
as they are placed in strategic locations to aid in holding the
panels together.
[0027] FIG. 13 shows a fully assembled panel structure with a
hinged cover consisting of two panels 17 and 17a.
[0028] FIG. 14 again shows the location of magnets placed, for
example, one magnet 21 placed on the upstanding panel 16a and
another magnet 20 placed on the other upstanding panel 16. This
will hold the two panels in a stable state.
[0029] FIG. 12 shows the placement of magnets between the cover 17
and the upstanding panel 14. Thus, there is a magnet 18 on the
upstanding side panel 14 and a magnet 19 on the cover panel 17. The
use of magnet greatly enhances the handling of an assembled
structure while placing the same into a cooler chest or even after
the assembled structure has been placed into the cooler chest
because it will prevent the various panels from collapsing upon
themselves while drinks or foods are placed into the chest.
[0030] FIG. 15 shows an embodiment that is simpler in its
construction and is smaller than the previous illustrated
embodiments. The smaller version is useful when carrying a twelve
pack of drinks in a specially designed canvas bag for that purpose.
The structure is made up of a bottom panel 30 which again has
upstanding ledges 31 on either side to accommodate the front panel
36 with its top cover 37 when folded down. There are two side
panels 33 and 34, and a rear panel 35 which is connected to another
upstanding ledge 32 by way of a hinge.
[0031] FIG. 16 shows the structure of FIG. 15 in a fully assembled
state.
[0032] FIG. 17 shows the assembled state of FIG. 16 in a side view.
At 40 are indicated hinges that consist of adhesive tapes as was
explained above.
[0033] FIG. 18 again shows magnets to stabilize the various panels.
Thus, there is a magnet 41 on the upstanding side panel 33 and
there is a magnet 42 on the cover panel 37.
[0034] FIG. 19 shows further two magnets 43 and 44 that can be
placed anywhere on the foldable structure where stability is
desired.
[0035] At this point it is reiterated again that all panels
described in the above described specification are hollow to
receive a re-freezable material therein. The medium can be the well
known gel packs. Suitable cold thermal media can include a high
molecular weight silicone and water mixture, for example. In some
embodiments, the thermal media can be a "unigel" comprising a
mixture of about 98.2% water and 1.8-2.1% solids, wherein the
solids can comprise 80-85% sodiumcarboxymethylcellulose, 10-16%
sodium benzoate, and 4.6% cross-linkers. In other embodiments, the
thermal generator can comprise two or more chemicals which when
mixed together create an endothermic reaction. The chemicals can be
kept segregated by a known encapsulating technique until it is
desired to generate cold thermal energy. This would bc the case
when a cooling chest is to be filled with food items or drinks. The
assembled cooling insert would be inserted into the cooling chest
first and then the encapsulated chemicals would be released whereby
the cold medium could permeate through the thin wall of the hollow
panels to the interior of the cooling chest. The hollow panels
could also be pre-filled with a freezable gel that remains cold for
several hours.
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