This invention relates to an insulated retainer having a thermometer for a beverage container.
Beverages housed in cans or bottles are widely consumed, as cold beverages or as hot beverages. Exemplary beverages include soft drinks, juice, cpffee. tea. beer, wine and liquor. Some societies prefer their beverage to be warm. In any event, there is a need for providing the consumer of the beverage with information regarding beverage temperature prior to consuming the beverage.
In addition, consumers prefer that their beverage maintain their desired temperature over the time the beverage in the container is completely consumed.
At the present time, a wide variety of temperature insulation retainers for retaining a beverage container include fixed retainers and flexible retainers. Included in such retainers are collapsible retainers which, when the beverage container is removed therefrom can be compressed and carried in a pocket. This permits the retainer user to utilize it as the consumer travels over time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,196 discloses a retainer for a beverage carton such as for juice or milk. The retainer can include a thermometer that measures the temperature for the beverage in the carton. In order to view the thermometer, the retainer must be transparent. No collapsible beverage containers are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,373 discloses a temperature indicator for a beverage container. The temperature indicator can be applied directly to the container or can be positioned frictionally into the wall of an insulating retainer that retains the beverage container. The wall of the beverage retainer must be sufficiently inflexible as to retain the thermometer in place by friction forces. No collapsible beverage retainers are disclosed.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a collapsible insulating beverage retainer with a means for measuring temperature, such as a thermometer in a beverage container. Such a retainer would provide the beverage consumer with desired temperature information and ease of portability. In addition, such a retainer would provide ease of securing the temperature sensing means to the retainer by first securing it to an outside surface of the retainer thereby providing easy access to the retainer surface to which it is secured. The retainer then could be turned inside out so that the temperature sensing means would be adjacent to or in contact with the beverage container during use.
In accordance with this invention, a retainer formed of a thermal insulating material for a beverage container is provided. The retainer includes a temperature sensing means, such as a thermometer which is positioned on the retainer at a position such that it can measure the temperature on the outside surface of the beverage container. The retainer has a top wall surface surrounding an open top surface and a bottom wall surface surrounding an open bottom such that it can be turned inside out when desired. The wall tapers from the open top toward the open bottom. This permits the temperature sensing means to be initially secured to an easily accessible outside surface of the retainer. The retainer then can be turned inside out so that the secured temperature sensing means is positioned on a newly formed inside surface of the retainer adjacent to or in contact with the beverage container positioned in the retainer. The temperature sensing means is attached peripherally by stitching it directly to the retainer or stitching a web to the retainer which holds the temperature sensing means on the retainer.
The retainer of this invention having a temperature sensing means attached thereto is configured to retain a beverage container having a tapered wall such as a hot beverage container for coffee or tea. The retainer is formed of a material and is configured so that it can be turned inside out prior to use. The temperature sensing means is secured to a wall of the retainer such as by stitching. The temperature sensing means can be directly attached to the retainer or can be held in place by a retaining wall that is directly attached, such as by stitching to the retainer. The temperature sensing means, such as a conventional liquid crystal temperature indicating material is preferably positioned adjacent to or in contact with the beverage container. When the temperature sensing means initially is attached to or retained in an outside surface of the retainer, it is preferred to turn the retainer inside out to thereby position the temperature sensing means as close as possible to the beverage container so as to provide more accurate temperature measurement. When the temperature sensing means is in position to be viewed by the user, and a retaining web is interposed between the user and the temperature sensing means, the retaining web must be transparent, or at worse, translucent to permit the user to view the temperature sensing means. For ease of producing the retainer of this invention, it is preferred to secure the temperature sensing means to an initial outside surface of the retainer and then turning the retainer inside out. Although more difficult, it is possible to secure the temperature sensing means to an initial inner surface of the retainer.
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This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/803,096, filed May 14, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11803096 | May 2007 | US |
Child | 11891014 | US |