Agitating – Stirrer within stationary mixing chamber – Mounted in removable mixing chamber closure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-12
2001-09-04
Cooley, Charles E. (Department: 1723)
Agitating
Stirrer within stationary mixing chamber
Mounted in removable mixing chamber closure
C366S332000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283627
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to an improved drink mixer, and more particularly to a drink mixer which may be used by adults and children to make a wide variety of mixed drinks; including but not limited to milk shakes or smoothies, a drink including fruit and yogurt, and frothed milk.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Drink mixers are well known in the art. Typical examples run from the hand-operated egg beater, electrical powered mixers with two egg beaters, or a dough hook, an electrically powered blender such as the type shown in British patent 1,378,240. Devices for making milk shakes or smoothies which have been designed for children include the Baskin-Robbins Shake and Smoothie Swirler, made by Wham-O, this device resembling the blender of the aforementioned British patent. Other variations include the HogWild Mr. Twister, the Easy Bake Smoothie Maker and the Easy Bake Blender. Other prior art mixers include a single shaft mixer of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,263, or a simple shaker of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,555.
In addition to the mixers set forth above, there is another class of mixers which essentially contains a cylindrical container having a lid, there being a reciprocal shaft passing through the lid, the shaft carrying at its lowermost end an apertured disc. Examples of this form of construction are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,590,831, 2,291,708, 3,589,685, 4,737,036, 4,946,286, 5,327,816, 5,939,122, U.S. design Pat. Nos. 181,143 and 405,642, and British patent GB 237,668. In addition to these drink mixers, butter churns are also known of a similar construction, typical examples being shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 85,187 and 993,130. In addition to the prior art mentioned above, other devices are known for the purpose of mixing milk with air to form a froth, and these milk frothing devices typically require heating means, usually in the form of steam. An exception is U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,122 which does not require heat.
While the foregoing devices are generally satisfactory for their intended design purposes, they are somewhat limited in their application. Many require electrical power. Others require steam for their operation. Others are too limited in their application. Many of the devices are not robust enough to chop a product such as a banana or melon, and to mix the chopped product with a liquid, such as yogurt. Other devices also lack the required strength for making milk shakes from milk and ice cream or similar products such as frozen yogurt, ice milk, sherbets, or frozen tofu/soy desserts. Other devices are not suitable for use with children because they are easily broken and require a degree of manual dexterity not present in children. Furthermore, these devices may be easily tipped over and their contents spilled.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,122 discloses a manually operated milk frothing apparatus which does not require steam, which is required by most prior art milk frothing devices. While this device is suitable for adult use, it has several disadvantages for use with children. Initially, the container is made of glass, which may not be a suitable material for use with children. In addition, the container top can be easily dislodged from the container, and even when in place it will not fully retain the contents of the container if the container should happen to be accidentally knocked on its side. In order to operate the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,122 it is necessary to grasp the handle assembly and manually reciprocate it first down and then up. This requires a certain degree of manual dexterity that all children may not possess. The plunger of the above prior art device includes a number of parts which may be disassembled for cleaning, these parts including a bottom plate, a top plate, an annular spring, and a wire mesh screen which is cup shaped. When these parts are disassembled these parts may easily become lost or misplaced. In addition, the wire mesh screen may become bent or distorted in shape to such an extent that it may be difficult to reassemble. Furthermore, the wire mesh screen has fine apertures which easily become clogged, and which does not make the device suitable for a number of products.
Other products have other disadvantages which are overcome by the present invention.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drink mixer capable of mixing a liquid such as but not limited to milk with a wide variety of other ingredients which may be air, another liquid, frozen confections such as ice cream, or even solids, such as Nesquik® flavored powders, or fruits such as bananas, strawberries, kiwis, blueberries, and watermelons.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drink mixer which can be operated by children as well as by adults without potential adverse consequences.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drink mixer which is of low cost, and which is easy to operate and manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drink mixer which will have play value for children by permitting the children to view the action of the liquid as it is mixed with other ingredients and by seeing it splash against a dome shaped top.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a drink mixer which is easy to disassemble, clean, and reassemble.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a drink mixer which may avoid spills.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a drink mixer which is made of sturdy parts, which parts may not become broken if the device is dropped.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drink mixer which will allow a greater variety of ingredients to mix in milk, for example yogurt, protein powders, syrups, off the shelf flavored drinks such as Nesquik® Banana milk, or which will allow non-traditional milk liquids to be frothed, for example soy milk.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drink mixer which has temperature indicating indicia to indicate when ingredients such as milk and ice cream have been properly mixed.
The foregoing objects of this invention as well as others are accomplished by providing a drink mixer has a tapered container having an open top, a bottom, and sidewalls extending upwardly from the bottom to the top, the top of the container being wider than the bottom of the container; a container top assembly which may be secured onto the top of the container to close the top of the container, the container top assembly including a top having a centrally located opening and a pour opening located to one side of the centrally located opening, and a cover lid for opening and closing the pour opening; a handle assembly which may be secured into the centrally located opening in the dome shaped top to close the centrally located opening, the handle assembly including a support element which passes through the centrally located opening and which may be interconnected thereto for reciprocal movement; and a mixing disk carried by the lower end of the support element, the mixing disk having a plurality of apertures through which liquid may pass when movement of the support element causes the mixing disk to be moved up and down, thereby mixing the liquid with other ingredients. In the illustrated embodiment the cover lid is part of a pour spout assembly including a pour spout which in received in the our opening, the cover lid being a flip top pour spout cover lid secured to the pour spout by a hinge for movement between open and closed positions. This construction is shown in the following drawings and is described in greater detail below.
REFERENCES:
patent: 85187 (1868-12-01), Sweeney
patent: D. 181143 (1957-10-01), Gundelfinger
patent: D. 405642 (1999-02-01), Toriba
patent: 586470 (1897-07-01), Widder
patent: 612110 (1898-10-01), Isham
patent: 623668 (1899-04-01), Holt, Jr
patent: 722833 (1903-03-01), Furlong
patent: 833656 (1906-10-01), Wynne
patent: 964291 (1910-07-01), M
Cooley Charles E.
Thompson John C.
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