Refrigeration – Processes – Treating an article
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-20
2001-08-28
Doerrler, William (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Processes
Treating an article
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279327
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a flushing apparatus for drinking vessels and/or for vessels suitable for the storage of liquid, and in particular for glasses, the dais apparatus having a space to receive at least one drinking vessel.
It is frequently required to have drinks which are cooled or are at the right temperature. In order to keep the drink cooled for as long as possible after it has been poured into a drinking vessel, substantially three methods have been used up to now, both privately and in businesses, particularly in gastronomy.
On the one hand, there is the possibly of keeping the drinks cold by the use of ice cubes. However this often has the disadvantage that the drink becomes watered down when the ice cube melts, and there is a negative effect on the desired, i.e., original taste of the drink. The warmer the glass already was at the time the drink was poured in, the faster the melting of the ice cube takes place. Such a case often occurs, for example, in gastronomic businesses when a large throughput of glasses takes place during rush hours or high volume business, and glasses which have been rinsed or cleaned with warm or hot water have to be again filled with drinks and put to use afresh while still in the warmed state.
On the other hand, the possibility exists of storing the drinking vessels in refrigeration for a given time before re-using them. This admittedly prevents the pre-cooled glasses giving up their own heat to the drink; however, the cooling process itself is particularly time-consuming and, in the case of a high throughput of required glasses as already mentioned, can be carried out only to a limited extent. Furthermore, normal refrigerators or conventional cooling devices have a tendency to become contaminated.
A further possibility consists of using closed ice cube bags or containers for cooling the drink. Thus a watering-down of the drink when the ice melts is admittedly prevented by means of the enclosed ice cubes. Particularly in gastronomic establishments, however, when such ice cube bags are used, a reliable and thus very intensive cleaning of the bag after use is required, not least because of health regulations, in order to remove or kill substantially all germs from the bag before it is re-used.
The invention consequently has as its object to insure the cooling of drinks in the most simple manner, with a saving of cost and time, while avoiding the problems mentioned hereinabove. It would also be of the greatest advantage to efficiently attain a drink temperature which remains constant and is effectively maintained for as long a time as possible.
The object is attained in a surprisingly simple manner by a flushing apparatus for drinking vessels with the features of claim
1
.
If drinking vessels are flushed with a flushing apparatus according to the invention, which provides space to receive at least one drinking vessel and/or at least one vessel suitable for the storage of liquid, and which includes a duct system with which a cryotechnical medium can be conducted directly into the space for receiving drinking vessels, it is possible for the first time to cool drinking vessels down to a desired temperature in a very short time, substantially independently of the present drinking vessel temperature, and thus to insure a long-lasting cooling, which remains constant, for a drink which is subsequently poured in.
The glasses which are shock-cooled in this manner advantageously no longer give up their own heat to the drink, and a watering down such as is the consequence of cooling with ice cubes is effectively prevented. A further advantage is that by the saving of the refrigerators heretofore required for the time-consuming cooling of glasses, a substantial reduction can otherwise be attained, for example, due to the costs for the consumption of current.
In practice, the technical gases nitrogen and carbon dioxide have been found to be suitable media for the cryotechnical applications according to the invention. Among other things, this is because these gases are colorless, odorless, and tasteless. According to the field of use of the flushing apparatus according to the invention and therefore relating to the present ambient conditions, particularly relating to the provision of the pressure and the temperature, it is provided to make possible the supply of the cryotechnical media in a gaseous or liquefied state.
If the flushing apparatus according to the invention advantageously includes a control device, preferably with at least one operating device, a defined control of the pressure, the intensity, and/or the temperature of the medium to be supplied can be insured, according to the kind of glass to be flushed with the cryotechnical medium. Cooling free from damage can hereby always be insured during the flushing process in dependence on the different thermal expansion coefficients of different drinking vessels or kinds of glass.
In order further to increase the gentleness of the action on the drinking vessel and/or vessel suitable for storing liquid, it is appropriately provided to constitute nozzle-like outlet openings of the supply system reaching into the receiving space, in order to obtain as uniform cooling as possible of the whole drinking vessel.
In a particularly preferred development, it is provided to constitute the receiving space in a shape of a cylinder, open upward, in particular in the form of a cup with therein a coaxially aligned guide element for the drinking vessel, and to arrange radially aligned outlet nozzles on the inner wall of the cylinder and/or on the guide element, in order to insure a controlled outflow of the cryotechnical medium, uniformly distributed over the drinking vessel.
A release device which is connected to the duct supply with the use of a valve is appropriately associated with the guide element arranged in the interior, and releases the flushing process, and thus the supply of the cryotechnical medium, upon a predefinable pressure being exceeded which can be produced by putting a drinking vessel in place over the guide element.
In an alternative, equally preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided, for the receipt of drinking vessels which are preferably arranged in a loadable rack, to arrange a completely closable space with inward-directed outlet nozzles of the duct system supplying the cryotechnical medium on the inner walls, the cover, and/or the floor. In practice, the use has been found appropriate here of at least one propeller-like rotary body on which outlet nozzles are arranged.
In a further advantageous development of the invention, it is provided that the flushing apparatus according to the invention for the cooling of drinking vessels is provided with a further supply system for the supply of water. In this way it is possible to carry out both a cleaning rinse with water and also the flushing with the cryotechnical medium, in one and the same flushing apparatus. For this purpose, the flushing apparatus appropriately has a changeover device with which a predefined activation of the water supply system can be controlled. Thus, for example, a water rinsing process can be advantageously operated before, or even in parallel with, the flushing process with the cryotechnical medium.
Another embodiment of the flushing apparatus according to the invention contains a water supply system which can be associated with the inner wall of the receiving body, the guide element, and/or a further, rod-shaped or coil-shaped, guide element provided with at least one outlet opening.
Further developments of the flushing apparatus according to the invention are preferred in which the water supply system and the duct system for the supply of the cryotechnical medium have a region of contact so that water supplied during a flushing process can already be cooled by means of the duct system for the supply of the cryotechnical medium and/or directly by means of the cryotechnical medium.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2470228 (1949-05-01), Aksomitas
patent: 2470245 (1949-05-01), Green
patent: 3602008 (1971-08-01), Kelle
Doerrler William
Drake Malik N.
Rintelen Gregor vom
LandOfFree
Flushing apparatus for drinking vessels does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Flushing apparatus for drinking vessels, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Flushing apparatus for drinking vessels will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2494764