Patent Application
20080142470
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus, for preserving the contents of a partially filled bottle containing an oxygen sensitive liquid such as wine, which evacuates air from the bottle and then seals the bottle for future consumption.
Many liquids such as wine are susceptible to oxidation and should be protected against excessive oxidation to preserve its quality. When a bottle of table wine is opened and is only partially consumed, the portion remaining in the bottle deteriorates rapidly, even if the bottle is re-corked, because of oxidation by the oxygen that is present in the air.
A number of stopper devices are available to preserve the character of the remaining wine in the bottle that has been opened which are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,803 to Schneider, U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,401 to Angehrn et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,545to Larimer et al. With these conventional devices, air is withdrawn from the bottle through elaborate channels within the stopper which are then sealed. A separate pump mechanism, which is temporarily coupled to the stopper, removes air from the bottle. These prior art devices tend to be complicated and expensive.
The present invention is based in part on the development of a simple and easy to operate, manual wine vacuum device that evacuates air from a partially filled bottle of wine or other oxygen-sensitive liquid. Once the vacuum device is mounted on the opening of the bottle through which the liquid content is poured, air is de-aerated from the bottle before the opening is sealed to retard oxidation of the liquid. The evacuation mechanism of the wine vacuum device remains coupled to the bottle during storage thereby permitting further de-aeration as needed. In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a device that is suitable for preserving the contents of a partially filled beverage bottle that includes:
a body that defines a chamber with a first end and a second end;
a one-way de-aeration valve, having an inlet and outlet, which allows gaseous flow into the chamber;
a stopper configured and adaptable to be inserted into the interior of a bottle through the bottle's opening such that the interior of the bottle is in communication with the inlet of the one-way de-aeration valve which is configured so that gas can flow into the chamber when the pressure at the outlet of the one-way valve, which is in communication with the chamber, is lower than the pressure at the inlet of the one-way, which is in communication with the interior of a bottle that is coupled to the stopper, but gas does not flow in the reverse direction from the chamber through the outlet of the one-way valve when the pressure at the outlet is higher pressure than the pressure at the inlet;
means for coupling the opening of a bottle to the stopper;
means for removing gas from the interior of a bottle that is coupled to the stopper to establish a vacuum within the bottle; and
means for opening the one-way de-aeration valve to allow gas to flow into a bottle that is coupled to the stopper.
In another embodiment, the invention is directed to a device for retarding oxidation of wine or other liquid in a bottle that includes:
a housing that defines a hollow chamber that has a first end and a second end;
a biasing spring disposed within the hollow chamber;
a piston slidable disposed within the hollow chamber;
a handle that is operably connected to the piston such that operating the handle pulls the piston from the second end towards the first end of the hollow chamber;
a one-way de-aeration valve having an outlet that is in communication with the chamber and an inlet;
a stopper configured to be inserted into the interior of a bottle through its opening such that the interior of the bottle becomes in communication with the inlet of the one-way de-aeration valve; and
means for opening the one-way de-aeration valve.
Referring to
Positioned at the lower end of chamber 38 is a one-way de-aeration valve that is configured to allow unidirectional gas flow into chamber 38. A preferred one-way de-aeration valve is a duckbill-type valve that includes a base 6 and pair of elastomeric lips 28 that are formed in the shape of a duckbill which prevent backflow and allow forward flow. The direction of gaseous flow is from an inlet aperture (not shown) that is located at base 6 toward an outlet 26 that develops at the upper edges of lips 28 when the pressure in chamber 38 is lower than the pressure at the inlet aperture. As illustrated in
The one-way de-aeration valve can be manually opened to permit flow in the reverse direction which is employed to break the vacuum within the bottle. A spring-loaded elongated member or rod 2 is disposed on each side of the valve. The proximal end of each rod 2 is secured to one side of the two lips 28 while the distal end of each rod 2 is secured to a button 32 which is positioned in recess 44 in opposite sides of device 10. Manually pressing one or both buttons 32 causes the two lips 28 to spread apart and outlet 26 to form.
Wine vacuum device 10 further includes a stopper assembly which serves to maintain a seal on wine bottle 46 once a vacuum has been established within bottle 46 as illustrated in
In operation, an open bottle 46, such as a partially consumed wine bottle, is inserted into the stopper assembly of device 10 as illustrated in
The steps of pulling and releasing handle 18 can be repeated as needed to remove sufficient air from bottle 46 to generate the desired level of sub-atmospheric pressure inside. As is apparently, the amount of air that needs to be removed until an adequate vacuum is established within the bottle is inversely proportional to the amount of wine that is present. Typically, it is necessary to pull he handle 18 only a few times; indeed, as the pressure decreases in within the bottle, the stronger vacuum therein makes each successive pulling action more difficult which is an indication that a sufficient vacuum has been established.
The de-aerated wine bottle is stored until it is ready for consumption. If the bottle is stored over a long period of time, air may seep into the bottle. To maintain the desired vacuum level, it may be desirable to periodically activate the suction mechanism by pulling and releasing handle 18. One advantage of wine vacuum device 10 is that the stopper assembly is an integral part of the device so it is unnecessary to reattach the suction mechanism to the stopper assembly. When it is time to consume the wine, buttons 32 are pressed to open aperture 26 to effectively break the vacuum within the bottle as gas from the atmosphere flow through chamber outlets 52 and into the bottle. Once pressure equilibrium is established within the bottle, the bottle can be readily de-coupled from wine vacuum device 10.
The foregoing has described the principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed. Thus, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and it should be appreciated that variations may be made in those embodiments by workers skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
