Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With means to move supply means and/or receiver to – from or... – Relatively receding filling tube and receiver engaging means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-24
2001-05-22
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With means to move supply means and/or receiver to, from or...
Relatively receding filling tube and receiver engaging means
C141S002000, C141S018000, C141S301000, C222S146600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234223
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the automated dispensing of a carbonated beverage into open containers.
The present invention arose during ongoing efforts by the inventor to improve carbonated beverage dispensing systems. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,363 entitled “Apparatus For Dispensing A Carbonated Beverage With Minimal Foaming”, issuing on Feb. 18, 1997, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,732 issuing on Oct. 22, 1996, both incorporated herein by reference, the inventor discloses systems for dispensing carbonated beverage, such as beer or soda, into an open container. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. 5,603,363 discloses the bottom filling of carbonated beverage into an open container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,732 discloses the use of a bar code reader to read indicia on the open container when placed beneath the nozzle that indicates the volume of the open container in order to automate the dispensing procedure, and preferably various aspects of on site accounting and inventory procedures. In these systems, the carbonated beverage is dispensed from a nozzle that has an outlet port placed near the bottom of the open container, i.e. the open container is bottom filled.
As discussed in the above incorporated patents, carbonated beverage often foams while being dispensed into the serving container using conventional filling dispensing systems. This is particularly true when ice and carbonated soft drinks are dispensed into an open container. As a consequence, personnel operating the dispenser must fill the serving container until the level of foam reaches the brim and then wait for the foam to settle before adding additional carbonated beverage. In some instances, several iterations of this process must occur before the container is filled with liquid to the proper serving level. “Topping Off” necessitated by the foaming of the beverage prolongs the dispensing operation and impedes the ability to fully automate the dispensing of the carbonated soft drink. Nevertheless, many establishments have push button activated taps that automatically dispense measured quantities of carbonated beverage. Normally, this automated equipment only partially fills the serving container and the user must still manually “top off” the container after the foam from the automated step settles in order to dispense the proper serving quantity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an automated carbonated beverage and ice dispensing system and method. The invention uses a bottom filling technique for the carbonated beverage, and also provides an efficient manner of adding ice to an open container of carbonated beverage.
In its preferred aspect, the invention involves the step of adding ice to the open container after the open container is placed underneath the nozzle such that the outlet port of the nozzle is proximate the bottom of the open container when the ice is being added to the container. Preferably, the ice is supplied to the open container through a funnel having a outlet through which the downwardly extending carbonated beverage nozzle extends. The ice is supplied circumferentially around the nozzle and into the open container. In order to reduce foaming, the carbonated beverage should be chilled prior to dispensing to a temperature that approximately matches the surface temperature of the ice. Preferably, the invention maintains the carbonated beverage in a pressurized state until immediately prior to dispensing the carbonated beverage, which is desirable in order to control the amount of carbonation within the beverage prior to dispensing the beverage.
Other features and advantages of the invention should be apparent to those skilled in the art upon inspecting the drawings and reviewing the following description thereof.
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Dispensing Systems, Inc.
Douglas Steven O.
Haas George E.
Quarles & Brady LLP
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