Patent Application
20150362244
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to coolers for beverage containers, and more particularly to a cooling sleeve for a beverage container which sleeve includes a liquid absorbing material to enhance cooling of the beverage within the container.
2. Background
Portable beverage containers, such as aluminum cans, are widely used to hold beverages in a tremendous variety of settings. For instance, consumers may drink directly from a can in a home setting while lounging in front of the television, when outside at a party, when attending indoor or outdoor functions away from the home, when at the beach, when boating on the water, and in many other instances in which a beverage is desired when on-the-go without glassware. In such instances, it is often common for the consumer to use an insulating sleeve to help to keep the beverage cool as it is being consumed. Those sleeves are often formed of a foam material that wraps around the beverage container, at least partially insulating the container against thermal conductivity, and thus delaying warming of the beverage (that presumably was refrigerated before its placement within the sleeve) within the container as it is consumed. As such beverage containers are often formed of aluminum, without such a sleeve, the beverage inside of the container will quickly warm simply from the consumer's own body heat, and the warming only accelerates with warm outdoor temperatures.
While a number of insulating sleeves have previously been provided to delay the warming of a beverage within a can, there is ongoing desire among consumers to keep portable beverages as cold as possible for as long as possible. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a cooling sleeve for a portable beverage container that is easy to use and to manufacture, but that is capable of maintaining the beverage at a cold temperature for a longer period than previously known insulating sleeve constructions.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of prior art methods and devices for extending the period in which a beverage is maintained within a desired temperature range by providing a sleeve having liquid absorbing material contained therein, which liquid absorbing material provides a cooling effect on a beverage container positioned within the sleeve as it absorbs liquid. The sleeve is configured with an internal wall formed of a wicking fabric material that draws moisture from the beverage container and to the liquid absorbing material.
According to preferred embodiments, the invention may be used to maintain an already cooled beverage can at a cool temperature simply by placing the cooled beverage can into the sleeve. Further, the invention may be used to actively cool a beverage can by doing the same, and even further actively cool the beverage can by first submerging the sleeve in water and thereafter chilling the sleeve for a period of time, after which a beverage container may be placed into the sleeve, resulting in the sleeve actively cooling the beverage container.
According to various embodiments, the sleeve of the invention may be formed with an interior wall formed of polyester stretch, wicking fabric, and exterior wall formed of nylon or polyester fabric, and fill material comprising a liquid absorbing material. The liquid absorbing material may comprise a polymer, and more particularly polyacrylamide beads that absorb a liquid such as water to form a gel, which may be used at ambient temperatures or selectively chilled or frozen to provide a cooling effect.
Various features and advantages of the disclosure will become more apparent by the following detailed description of several embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, of which:
The contents of all references cited herein are to be considered to be incorporated within this disclosure by this reference.
Disclosed is an insulating and cooling sleeve for a beverage container that is configured to extend the amount of time that a cooled beverage container will maintain a cool temperature. The sleeve includes an exterior fabric wall, an interior wicking fabric wall, and a liquid absorbing material between the exterior wall and the interior wall, which liquid absorbing material absorbs a liquid, such as water, to provide a cooling effect.
Sleeve 10 also includes an interior wall 14 that generally forms an interior cylinder on the inside of exterior wall 12, and is joined to exterior wall 12 at top and bottom edges of exterior wall 12 and interior wall 14, such as by stitching seams 13, so as to define an open pocket 18 between exterior wall 12 and interior wall 14. Interior wall 14 is preferably formed of moisture-wicking polyester stretch fabric. It is important that the interior wall 14 be moisture permeable so as to allow condensation that is formed on the exterior of a container positioned in the sleeve to pass through interior wall 14 and into the liquid absorbing material between exterior wall 12 and interior wall 14, as will be described in greater detail below. Further, interior wall 14 is preferably a stretch material so that the interior of sleeve 10 will easily grip and hold onto a beverage container when it is placed within sleeve 10. Many moisture-wicking polyester stretch fabrics are readily commercially available, as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
While not critical to the invention, a circular bottom wall 16 may be provided which forms a base for the sleeve 10. Circular bottom wall 16 may be joined to sleeve 10 such as by sewing a seam 17 along the edges of bottom wall 16 to the bottom, outer edge of exterior wall 12. Circular bottom wall 16 is preferably formed of the same durable fabric of exterior wall 12. Optionally, a top layer (not shown) formed of moisture-wicking polyester stretch fabric may be joined to circular bottom wall 16 to form an additional pocket into which additional liquid absorbing material may be provided to further increase the cooling effect of sleeve 10.
Inside of pocket 18 is a liquid absorbing material 20 that is capable of absorbing a liquid, such as water, in order to provide a cooling effect. With regard to certain aspects of an embodiment of the invention, the liquid absorbing material is a polymer that absorbs water and expands in the pocket 18 as it absorbs water. The cooling effect may be facilitated by the non-impervious properties of interior wall 14 (which again is formed of moisture-wicking polyester stretch fabric) that permits evaporation. When water or another liquid is absorbed by the liquid absorbing material 20, a gel-like substance is formed within pocket 18. In certain embodiments of the invention, the liquid absorbing material comprises polyacrylamide beads that absorb a liquid such as water to form a gel, which may be used at ambient temperatures or selectively chilled or frozen to provide a cooling effect. Suitable polyacrylamide beads are commercially known as anionic polyacrylamide powder and have a chemical name of copolymer of potassium acrylamide and potassium acrylate, which beads are commercially available from JRM Chemical of Cleveland, Ohio. The beads of liquid absorbing material 20 are preferably 1 mm to 2 mm in size and are insoluble in water, but swell in water to a gel consistency that is many times the dry weight size. The bead size may, however, be larger or smaller than the 1 mm to 2 mm range in certain applications.
Optionally, an elastic band 22 may be stitched along an attachment pad 24 to the interior face of interior wall 14. Elastic band 22 preferably has a diameter smaller than a standard 12 ounce aluminum can, and is made of flexible, elastic material that will allow the band to stretch around the top portion of an aluminum can placed within sleeve 10 to provide greater stability for the can.
A sample product formed according to the above dimensions with the noted amounts of liquid absorbing material (including within bottom wall 16) was formed. Two aluminum cans that had been within a refrigerator for equal amounts of time were removed from the refrigerator, and one of the cans was placed within the sample product, while the remaining can was left standing alone. Within two minutes after positioning the cans, the temperature of the can placed within the sample product was observed to fall by two degrees. Thereafter, temperature measurements were taken with the following results:
The above data shows a significant cooling effect provided by a sleeve configured as described above.
In use, in order to benefit from the cooling effect of sleeve 10, a user may simply place a beverage container into sleeve 10, preferably through elastic strap 22, and open the beverage can to consume the product inside. Condensation and moisture that forms on the outside of the beverage can will be absorbed through interior wall 14 and into pocket 18 and will contact liquid absorbing material 20. This will both prevent a water ring from forming on a surface on which the can would be placed if not within sleeve 10 while providing the cooling effect caused by drawing moisture off of the beverage can and into the liquid absorbing material 20.
To further enhance the cooling effect of sleeve 10, sleeve 10 may be submerged into an ice chest or other vessel filled with water and ice, and allow the sleeve 10 to rest in the vessel for 15 to 20 minutes. Sleeve 10 may then be removed from the ice chest, allowing excess water to drain away, and then lightly squeezed to remove any additional excess water. The beverage can may then be placed into sleeve 10 to further enhance the cooling effect on the beverage can.
Likewise, to even further enhance the cooling effect of sleeve 10, sleeve 10 may again be submerged in water for 15 to 20 minutes (warm water in this case will speed the process), remove the sleeve 10 from the water bath, drain excess water from the sleeve 10, and again lightly squeeze sleeve 10 to remove any additional excess water. Sleeve 10 may then be placed into a freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, after which it may be removed so that a beverage can may be placed into sleeve 10 to even further enhance the cooling effect on the beverage can.
While the above methods of using sleeve 10 particularly describe applications for use with an aluminum beverage can, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that alternate containers may likewise be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, when placing sleeve 10 into a freezer as described immediately above, a drinking glass may be placed inside of sleeve 10 before it is placed into the freezer, and filled directly with a beverage when it is removed from the freezer to provide a cold drink that will maintain a cool temperature for an extended period.
Still further, while the forgoing applications particularly describe cooling applications, it would also be possible to utilize sleeve 10 to keep a warm beverage warm. For example, after submerging sleeve 10 into water and draining away excess water, the sleeve 10 could be placed in a microwave, e.g. for approximately one minute, after which a warm/hot drink in a suitable container may be placed into sleeve 10 to extend the time that such drink is kept warm.
The specific description herein is intended as an example only and is not intended to limit the invention. Other embodiments falling within the scope of the claims herein are considered to fall equally within the scope of this invention.
