Foods and beverages: apparatus – Beverage – Infusors
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-24
2002-11-12
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Beverage
Infusors
C099S297000, C099S299000, C099S306000, C099S323000, C099S495000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06477942
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a beverage infusion container having two divisions. The two divisions are respectively designed with communicating tube and ventilating tube for easy convection of the air and liquid respectively contained in the two divisions.
FIGS. 5 and 6
show a conventional tea infusion cup
7
. A partitioning board
71
is disposed in the tea infusion cup
7
to divide the interior of the cup into a first division
78
and a second division
79
. The first and second divisions
78
,
79
respectively have two covers
77
a
,
77
b
. The partitioning board
71
is formed with a central draining hole
711
communicating the first and second divisions
78
,
79
with each other.
A mesh rack
72
is disposed above the partitioning board
71
. A filtering mesh
721
is paved over the mesh rack
72
. The center of the mesh rack
72
has an upward extending tube
73
in which a pull rod
74
is fitted. The top end of the pull rod
74
extends out of the tube
73
and is formed with a holding section
741
. The bottom end of the pull rod
74
downward extends out of the tube
73
and is fitted with a spring
75
. A valve body
76
is connected with the bottom end of the pull rod
74
. In normal state, the valve body
76
is pushed downward by the spring
75
to block the draining hole
711
.
In use, the tea is placed into the first division
78
and infused with hot water. After a period of time, the holding section
741
is pinched to pull up the pull rod
74
. At this time, a locating plate
742
of the pull rod
74
is separated from a locating slot
731
of top end of the tube
73
. Then the pull rod
74
can be turned to move the locating plate
742
to a locating notch
732
.
When the pull rod
74
is pulled upward, the valve body
76
is moved upward to compress the spring
75
and unblock the draining hole
711
. Under such circumstance, the tea in the first division
78
is permitted to flow through the draining hole
711
into the second division
79
. Then, the user can turn the pull rod
74
to make the valve body
76
again block the draining hole
711
. Thereafter, the cover
77
a
is closed and the cup
7
is turned upside down. Then, the other cover
77
b
is opened for drinking the made tea.
However, when the tea flows from the first division
78
into the second division
79
, the air in the second division
79
must be exhausted therefrom. The filtering mesh
721
is formed with multiple fine meshes. Due to the surface tension of the tea water, the fine meshes will be blocked by the tea water so that the air can not pass through the filtering mesh
721
into the first division
78
. In addition, the gap between the pull rod
74
and the inner face of the tube
73
is very small so that the air in the second division
79
can hardly pass through the gap to leave the second division
79
. Therefore, the tea cannot flow down into the second division
79
.
In order to allow the tea water to flow into the second division
79
, the user must again close the upper cover
77
a and then tilt the cup
7
to a state in which the filtering mesh
721
is not totally sunk in the tea water. Under such circumstance, the air in the second division
79
can pass through the emerged part of the filtering mesh
721
into the first division
78
. At this time, the tea water
78
is allowed to flow from the first division
78
into the second division
79
. However, the draining hole
711
is positioned at the center of the partitioning board
71
. Therefore, after the tea water gradually flows from the first division
78
into the second division
79
, the water level in the first division
78
will descend to a height lower than the draining hole
711
. At this time, it is necessary to gradually turn the cup
7
to an upright position to keep the level in the first division
78
higher than the draining hole
711
so that the tea water can flow from the first division
78
into the second division
79
. Such operation is quite troublesome.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a beverage infusion container in which the tea water in the first division can smoothly flow into the second division. A communicating tube is formed on the partitioning board adjacent to the circumferential wall of the container for communicating the first division with the second division. The mesh rack is formed with a ventilating tube corresponding to the draining hole of the partitioning board. The ventilating tube extends toward the opening of the first division. The communicating tube and the ventilating tube serve as two air flow ways for convection of the air between the first and second divisions. Therefore, the tea water in the first division can more smoothly flow into the second division. In addition, multiple downward extending posts are arranged under the bottom face of the mesh rack. The posts serve to destruct the surface tension of the tea water on the bottom face of the filtering mesh. Therefore, the tea water in the first division can more easily flow down into the second division.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
REFERENCES:
patent: 3631793 (1972-01-01), Bednartz
patent: 3724359 (1973-04-01), Masters et al.
patent: 5125327 (1992-06-01), Winnington-Ingram
patent: 5632193 (1997-05-01), Shen
patent: 5632194 (1997-05-01), Lin
patent: 5813317 (1998-09-01), Chang
patent: 5913964 (1999-06-01), Melton
patent: 5924354 (1999-07-01), Court et al.
patent: 5943946 (1999-08-01), Chen
patent: 5947004 (1999-09-01), Huang
patent: 6164190 (2000-12-01), Tien Lin
patent: 6279460 (2001-08-01), Pope
patent: 6327965 (2001-12-01), Lin Tien
Rosenberg , Klein & Lee
Simone Timothy F.
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