Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates to an apparatus for rapid filling of a tray of communion cups with liquid.
Many churches serve communion on a weekly or monthly basis. Typically, these chuches utilize a communion tray that holds approximately forty individual communion cups. Each communion cup would hold approximately ⅓ fluid ounce of liquid. To manually fill each communion cup is a time consuming process.
An example device to fill an entire tray with one pour is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,196,909, entitled “Communion Glass Filler”, issued Jul. 27, 1965. This device includes a substantially flat distributing pan with circular grooves that match the communion cup pattern. It also includes a plurality of radially extended grooves to interconnect the circular grooves. Formed in the trough of each of the concentric circular grooves are recesses which contain a hole to match the communion cup pattern.
Another example device to fill an entire tray with one pour is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,378, entitled “Communion Cup Filler”, issued Mar. 3, 1992.
An example device to divide liquid equally among multiple containers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,493, entitled “Liquid Apportionment Device”, issue Jul. 2, 2013.
The disclosure of each of the above-cited U.S. patents is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention is an improved filler apparatus. The improvements include ease of usage to align the tray with the distributor, ease of usage to fill the tray, less variation in amount of liquid per cup, and ease of cleaning of the apparatus after all the filling is completed.
The present invention includes a distributor with three support legs and a circular shape. The distributor includes holes matched to the communion cup tray pattern. Each distributor hole is centered within an inclined plane polygon.
The base includes a stepped rail to provide alignment for the tray. The tray includes a short notch in the front and a deep notch in the rear. The combination of these features properly aligns the tray with the distributor holes.
The distributor shape with inclined plane polygons eases cleaning. Hand or machine washing is effective due to the smooth surfaces and gentle angle transistions.
The base (13) includes a stepped rail (21) to provide alignment for the tray (14). The rail (21) increases in height midway to the rear of the base (13). The tray (14) includes a short notch (20) in the front and a tall notch (23) in the rear. The rail (21) interaction with the short notch (20) and tall notch (23) provides angular alignment of the tray (14) to the base (13). The rail (21) includes a step (25) to prevent the tray (14) being inserted in a reveresed front to rear manner. The tray (14) is inserted to the base (13) until the tray (14) contacts the rear post. This assures that the tray (14) is fully inserted.
The grid (22) pattern on the base (13) provides an area to collect fluid drips, keep them off the tray (14) and keep them off the counter or table.
It is important for proper filling that the distributor (12) is reasonably level. Due to counter or table variation, the base (13) may be somewhat off level when placed on the counter or table. An off level of over 1 degree would cause excessive cup to cup liquid variation. To compensate, the user would adjust the thumbscrews (11) as needed until the bubble level (19) is visually centered. With the bubble level (19) visually centered, the distributor (12) off level would be less than 1 degree.
The user is instructed to pour the liquid into the distributor (12) in a moderately quick manner. This causes the liquid to quickly spread over the distributor (12) and cover all the holes (16) in a short period of time. Having all the holes (16) covered simultaneously is an important parameter toward equal liquid being dispensed into all the cups.
When the liquid is poured into the distributor (12) in this moderately quick manner, some wave action or slight splashing is normal. The wall (17) contains the liquid during this wave action or slight splashing.
The holes (16) in the distributor (12) match the pattern of cup receptacles on the tray (14). The pattern of polygon shapes arranged around the holes (16) causes an equal amount of fluid to flow into each cup and assures that all the fluid exits the distributor (12). This equal flow is caused by each polygon shape having the same area and all of the holes (16) having the same diameter. In the example distributor (12) shown, the wall (17) has a diameter of approximately 10.5 inches and the holes (16) have a diameter of approximately 0.086 inches.
At the bottom of the distributor (12), each hole (16) is surrounded with a protrusion (24). This feature reduces dripping and causes the exiting fluid to take a more vertical laminer flow path toward the cup.
The apparatus would be operated as follows:
a. The user would place the assembly (10) on a counter top or table. The tray (14) would not be inserted into the assembly (10) at this time.
b. The user would observe the indication of the level (19).
d. The user would rotate the thumb screws (11), (CW or CCW) as needed, to center the indication of the bubble level (19).
e. The user would fill all the openings in the tray (14) with individual serving cups.
f. Orienting the tray (14) so that the tray (14) will install completely along the step (25) of the alignment rail (21), the user would fully insert the tray (14) into the base (13).
g. The user would fill a graduated container with fluid (typically 14 ounces of fluid for a tray with 40 openings.)
h. The user would pour the fluid into the distributor (12) in a moderately quick manner.
i. The user would wait for the fluid to exit the distributor (12) via the holes (16) and fill the cups.
j. The user would slide the tray (14) out from the base (13).
k. The user would repeat steps (e) thru (j) with as many trays (14) as needed.
Although the invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments and applications, persons skilled in the art can, in light of this teaching, generate additional embodiments without exceeding the scope or departing from the spirit of the claimed invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the drawings and description in this disclosure are provided to help the reader understand the invention, and do not limit the scope of the claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/698,336 filed Jul. 16, 2018, titled “Communion Cup Filler Apparatus and Method”, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein, both bodily and by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1612383 | Lepeshkin | Dec 1926 | A |
1709771 | Brady | Apr 1929 | A |
2872953 | Duncan | Feb 1959 | A |
3196909 | Monk | Jul 1965 | A |
3664387 | Cates, Jr. | May 1972 | A |
4453576 | Burns | Jun 1984 | A |
4733680 | Mosier | Mar 1988 | A |
5092378 | Dunham | Mar 1992 | A |
6158484 | Greenlee | Dec 2000 | A |
8474493 | Coker | Jul 2013 | B2 |
9162864 | Wickramasinghe | Oct 2015 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200017350 A1 | Jan 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62698336 | Jul 2018 | US |