Refrigeration – Portable – commodity-containing
Patent
1999-03-31
2000-08-29
Bennett, Henry
Refrigeration
Portable, commodity-containing
62480, 62294, 62293, 624573, F25D 308
Patent
active
061090573
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cooling and/or gassifying a liquid stored in a container and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to such an arrangement suitable for treating a liquid beverage prior to dispensing.
GB-A-2280886 discloses a carbonated beverage container including a hollow insert having a one way valve through which gas is jetted into the beverage causing nucleation of fine bubbles which separate out to form a close-knit creamy head. The insert itself is designed to float on top of the beverage and may be made of plastic or metal. Such a system, whilst being able to gassify the liquid, is unable to provide a significant cooling effect. An alternative arrangement is shown in GB-A-2183592 in which a chamber is charged with a gas which is releasable into the beverage upon opening the ring-pull of the can. Once released, the gas acts to form a head of froth on the beverage before and during dispensing. Again, this arrangement is unable to provide a significant degree of cooling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of cooling as well as gassifying a liquid stored in a container.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus for cooling and/or gassifying a liquid stored in a container having an outlet, said apparatus comprising an absorbent, for receiving and adsorbing under pressure a quantity of gas; sealing means, for sealing said adsorbed gas in said adsorbent; and releasing means, for releasing adsorbed gas from said adsorbent in a controlled manner and directly into said liquid such that the released gas passes through the liquid thereby cooling and/or gassifying said liquid. It will be appreciated that the chilling effect is produced as a result of the desorption process.
The present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example only with reference to the following drawings, in which:
FIGS. 1-3 are cross-sectional views of the present invention and illustrate the operating sequence;
FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrows A--A in FIG. 1; and
FIGS. 5A, B and C are views taken in the direction of arrows B--B and illustrate the various steps involved in the operation of the cap.
Referring now to the drawings in general but particularly to FIGS. 1-3, the present invention comprises a container 10 for storing a quantity of liquid 12 to be cooled and/or gassified before being dispensed, an adsorbent 14 for adsorbing gas such as, for example, carbon dioxide to be used during said cooling and/or gassifying process and a re-sealable cap shown generally at 17. The Adsorbent 14 is encased in an outer casing 16 formed of, for example plastic material. The casing 16 is provided with an outlet 18 and a releasing means in the form of re-sealable valve 20 for allowing or inhibiting the flow of adsorbed gas from the adsorbent. Valve 20 is operably connected to cap 17 via linking member 22 which extends through the body of liquid 12 within the container.
The cap itself comprises a first inner portion 24 releasably connected to the container by, for example, screw thread 26 and a second outer portion 28 operably connected to the first portion 24 in a manner to be described in detail later herein and moveable relative thereto between first, second and third positions illustrated by FIGS. 5A to 5C respectively. In more detail, the inner portion 24 includes a plurality of axially projecting and circumfrentially spaced detents 30 projecting from an outer surface 32 and a central aperture 34 the function of which will be described in detail later herein. The first detents 30 are spatially positioned for operable connection with corresponding second detents 36 projecting from an inner surface 38 of outer portion 28. The second detents 36 are moveable with the second portion of the cap between said first position (FIG. 5A) in which they lie between the first detents and are not engaged therewith, said second position (FIG. 5B) in which they are axially displaced relative to the first detents 30 and are engaged with
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patent: 5732569 (1998-03-01), Sanada et al.
Garrett Michael Ernest
Shervington Evelyn Arthur
Bennett Henry
Pace Salvatore P.
Shulman Mark
The BOC Group plc
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