U.S. patent number 3,905,511 [Application Number 05/395,057] was granted by the patent office on 1975-09-16 for jacket for canned beverages.
Invention is credited to Bruce C. Groendal.
United States Patent |
3,905,511 |
Groendal |
September 16, 1975 |
Jacket for canned beverages
Abstract
An insulated jacket for cylindrical beverage containers utilizes
lower and upper cylindrical body portions of insulating material
wherein the upper body portion has an opening so shaped as to
enable a person to consume the beverage without previous removal of
it from the container. The body portions combine to form a
closed-top jacket and have a hinge opposite from the opening and a
latch below the opening for detachably holding the body portions in
a closed relationship. The jacket thermally insulates the beverage
and is reusable. Means are provided within the jacket to compensate
for tolerances in both the jacket and the container and still
retain the container firmly within the jacket.
Inventors: |
Groendal; Bruce C. (Muskegon,
MI) |
Family
ID: |
23561532 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/395,057 |
Filed: |
September 7, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
220/739; 220/703;
220/902; 220/906; 220/592.24; 220/740; 220/903; 220/23.87 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
81/3879 (20130101); Y10S 220/902 (20130101); Y02W
30/80 (20150501); Y10S 220/903 (20130101); B65D
2313/02 (20130101); Y10S 220/906 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65D
81/38 (20060101); A47G 019/22 () |
Field of
Search: |
;220/90.2,90.4,90.6,38.5,31.5,1BC,9F,335,334,337,339
;215/13R,12A,237 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Price; William I.
Assistant Examiner: Shoap; Allan N.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Price, Heneveld, Huizenga &
Cooper
Claims
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. An insulated jacket for removably receiving cylindrical beverage
containers of the type from which the contents can be consumed by
drinking directly from an opening in one end of the container, said
jacket comprising: a lower cylindrical body portion of insulating
material, an upper cylindrical body portion of insulating material,
said upper body portion having an opening therethrough having a
maximum width along the juncture of its side wall and top wall,
said opening extending into both said side and top walls and being
of a size to provide access for the user's mouth whereby the
contents of the container can be consumed without removal of said
jacket, said body portions combining to form a substantially
closed-top cylindrical jacket, hinge means for joining said upper
and lower body portions, said hinge means being opposite from said
opening; a latch for detachably holding said upper body portion in
closed relationship to said lower body portion.
2. The insulated jacket for cylindrical beverage containers of
claim 1 wherein the junction of the upper and lower cylindrical
bodies forms an angular plane through said insulated jacket, the
maximum spacing of said plane from the juncture of the side and top
walls of said upper portion being opposite from said hinge.
3. The insulated jacket for cylindrical beverage containers of
claim 1 wherein the lower cylindrical body portions contains a
resilient pad at the bottom thereof for pressing the container
against the upper body portion when said upper body portion is
closed and latched for holding the container against both
rotational and axial slipping.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to U.S. Patent Office Manual of
Classification, Class 215, subclass 13, relating to insulating type
bottles or jars.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Since one of the most common methods of packaging commercial
beverages is in cylindrical beverage containers, i.e., cans, there
is great demand for reusable individual insulators for these
beverage containers. Characteristic of reusable insulated devices
known in the art is a two piece insulated jacket taught in U.S.
Pat. No. 3 092 277 entitled THERMAL JACKET FOR BEVERAGE CONTAINER
issued June 4, 1963 to J. K. Brim, one piece of which can be
removed to permit replacement of the container. These and other
similar jackets now found in the prior art, however, do not permit
the beverage to be consumed from the container without either
removal of the jacket from the container or dispensing the beverage
into some type of holder such as a glass. In either case, the top
of the insulating jacket must be removed before the beverage is
accessible. The present invention teaches a jacket which permits
the consumption of beverage from the container without removal of
the insulated jacket by using upper and lower cylindrical body
portions of insulating material wherein the upper body portion has
an opening therethrough which permits consumption of the contents
without removal of the jacket. The jacket being separable enables
reuse of it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
1. general Statement Of The Invention
An insulated jacket for cylindrical beverage containers having an
opening in the upper portion thereof through which the contents of
the container can be consumed without previous removal from the
container comprises upper and lower cylindrical body portions
wherein the upper body portion has an opening of a size and shape
to permit access for the user's mouth whereby the contents of the
container can be consumed without removal of the jacket, the body
portions combine to form a closed top cylindrical jacket, a hinge
means for joining upper and lower body portions, the hinge means
being opposite from the opening and a latch for detachably holding
the upper body portion in closed relationship to the lower body
portion. This insulated jacket permits beverage consumption
directly from the beverage container without removal of the jacket.
The insulated jacket may be reused since the beverage container is
removable from the separable body portions of the jacket.
2. Utility Of The Invention
The container jacket of this invention is useful for allowing
consumption of beverages from cylindrical containers while at the
same time thermally insulating the beverage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the insulated jacket containing a
beverage can;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the jacket and beverage can;
FIG. 3 is a frontal vertical cross section of the insulating jacket
and beverage can along reference line III--III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a vertical cross section of the insulated jacket along
reference line IV--IV of FIG. 2 without the beverage can;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the latch shown in the
cross section of FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 is a side view of the insulated jacket showing the jacket in
the container loading or removing configuration.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of
the insulated jacket 1 wherein an upper body 10 rests on a lower
body 20 and forms a hollowed cylindrical shaped shell 1. The upper
body 10 and lower body 20 are made of thermally insulating
material, preferably expanded polystyrene. Beverage container 30
rests inside of the hollow shell or jacket 1. The means for
securing upper body 10 and lower body 20 consists first of
pivotally securing upper body 10 with hinge 40 to lower body 20. As
can be seen particularly in FIG. 6, hinge 40 allows pivotal, upward
rotation of upper jacket or cover 10 about hinge 40. Hinge 40 is
preferably made from some reinforced material, i.e., "Lamical"
belting which is an acetate product of Celanese Corporation of
America. The hinge can consist of a strip of any suitable material
which is flexible and has a high resistance to fatigue. It must
also be of a material which can be effectively bonded to the
jacket. The same material can be utilized for the hereinafter
described latch arm 51.
The hinge 40 is bonded to the lower body portion 20 and the closure
10 by a suitable adhesive compatible with both the hinge and jacket
materials. Such adhesives are commercially available and are well
within the skill of the art to select.
In the preferred embodiment of the jacket the rear wall of the
closure 10 at the hinge line is short. Therefore, to obtain an
adequate area of bonding between the hinge 40 and the closure 10,
the upper end of the hinge 40 is preferably extended over onto the
top surface of the closure. This provides a strong, strain
resistant bond to the top.
Opposite to hinge 40 on shell 1, latch 50 acts detachably to secure
upper body 10 to lower body 20 so that when latch 50 is engaged as
particularly shown in FIG. 4, pivotal rotation or opening of the
upper body 10 about hinge 40 is prevented. As seen in FIG. 4 and
more particularly in FIG. 5, the preferred embodiment of the latch
50 utilizes a flexible latch arm 51 which is attached to the
cylindrical wall of upper body 10. A strip or patch of flexible
material such as fabric equipped with a large plurality of loop
elements 52 is attached to that portion of arm 51 which extends
below junction 12, which is the innerface between upper body 10 and
lower body 20. A corresponding strip or patch of material
comprising a plurality of hook elements 53 is affixed to the
external surface of lower jacket 20. The loops 52 and hook elements
53 are resilient and deformable and when pressed together become
removably entangled, securing latch 50 and thus securing upper body
10 to lower body 20. Loops 52 and hooks 53 can be released from
entangled engagement by positively pulling on the hook elements
away from the loop element or vice versa. The loop and hook fabric
elements 52 and 53 are available under the trademark "Velcro", more
specific details of which may be had from U.S. Pat. No. 2 717 437
entitled VELVET TYPE FABRIC AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME issued
Sept. 13, 1955 to George de Mestral and U.S. Pat. No. 3 114 951
entitled DEVICE FOR JOINING TWO FLEXIBLE ELEMENTS issued Dec. 24,
1963 to George de Mestral. The material is hereinafter referred to
as "Velcro" loop material and "Velcro" hook material, a product of
American Velcro, Inc.
The patches 52 and 53 can be small since a small area of interface
between the loops and hooks will provide an adequate attachment
between the upper and lower body portions of the jacket. The
patches may be secured by any suitable adhesive. The particular
adhesive selected will depend upon the base material. For example,
if the latch arm is fabric, the adhesive for the patch would be
different from that which would be used if the latch arm is a
vinyl. If the jacket is of foamed polystyrene an adhesive
compatible with this material must be used. Such adhesives are
commonly available on the market and the choice of a suitable
adhesive requires only a review of technical data on adhesives.
In order to make the beverage container readily accessible to
insertion and removal and to facilitate proper meshing of upper
body 10 to lower body 20, a means for indexing the body portions to
each other is incorporated in this invention. In the preferred
embodiment, the line of separation 12 forms an angular plane
through shell 1, particularly shown in FIG. 4. By so doing, upper
body 10 and lower body 20 have a preferred alignment in which latch
50 and hinge 40 are opposite from one another, when the body
portions are meshed to form junction 12. Another means for
preferentially aligning the upper and lower jacket could also
incorporate the use of one or more indentions and projections
between upper body 10 and lower body 20.
Jacket opening 11 along the top of the insulator, as seen in FIG.
2, conforms generally with the pie-shaped container opening 31.
Jacket opening 11 also extends downwardly along the cylindrical
wall of upper jacket or closure 10 in general alignment with
container opening 31 so as to allow ready accessibility of the
opening 31 to the user's mouth. As seen in FIG. 1, the opening 11
is generally diamond-shaped. Such a generally diamond-shaped
opening may be used with almost any shape of presently commercially
available container opening, i.e., triangular, circular, etc. If
the container is the type requiring two openings in the top, i.e.,
one serving as a vent and the other for discharging the liquid, as
shown in FIG. 2 in phantom, the opening 32 would have air supply
because of the space created by the chime 33.
The air passage between container 30 and upper body 10 in the
embodiment shown, traps air which aids in thermally insulating the
beverage container. In another embodiment, seals might also be
utilized around container opening 11 and along junction 12 so as to
render the jacket essentially air tight when the container is
inserted and the jacket is closed.
The maximum width of the opening 11 is along the juncture 16
between the top and sidewalls of the closure. This arrangement
provides maximum access to the container opening 31 while exposing
a minimum area of the container surface, thus minimizing thermal
transfer. Jacket opening 11 in the preferred embodiment is
generally placed along the center plane of the insulator as formed
through latch 50 and hinge 40 shown by reference line IV--IV in
FIG. 2.
A disc of resilient padding 60 is mounted in the bottom of the
jacket. The disc may be of any suitable spongy material such as
foam rubber or urethane. It may be secured to the jacket by a
suitable adhesive or it may be left detached so it can be readily
removed to facilitate cleaning the jacket.
OPERATION
To insert or remove a beverage container from the insulated jacket
of the embodiment shown in the drawings, latch 50 is released by
disentangling of the Velcro loops 52 and Velcro hooks 53. As shown
in FIG. 6, the upper jacket 10 is then pivoted upwardly about hinge
40 to provide unobstructed access to the lower body 20 and
permitting removal of or replacement of container 30. The container
opening 31 in the beverage container 30 is approximately lined up
by the user along the center plane between hinge 40 and the Velcro
hooks 53. After approximate alignment of container 30 between hinge
40 and Velcro hooks 53, upper body 10 is pivoted downwardly about
the hinge 40 to close the jacket. Because of the angle of junction
12, the latch arm 51 will be automatically aligned with the Velcro
hooks 53. Pressure on arm 51 behind Velcro loops 52 will secure the
Velcro loops 52 with the Velcro hooks 53, thus securing upper body
10 and lower body 20.
The pad 60 forms a resilient biasing means which urges the
container upwardly. The space between the top of this pad and
bottom face of the closure is slightly less than the height of the
container 30. Thus, when the lid or closure 10 is closed the
container is pushed downwardly against the pad 60. This forces the
container to seat firmly against the closure 10 preventing the
container from shifting lengthwise of the jacket or rotating to
misalign the openings 31 and 11.
It will be understood that the various changes, details, materials,
steps and arrangements of the parts, which have been herein
described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the
invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the
principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended
claims.
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