Patent Application
20140252046
This invention relates generally to the dispensing or other extraction of fluids from within a container, e.g., in the dispensing of wine from a wine bottle.
One or more embodiments in accordance with aspects of the invention allow a user to withdraw or otherwise extract a beverage, such as wine, from within a container that is sealed by a cork, plug, elastomeric septum or other closure without removing the closure. In some cases, removal of liquid from such a container may be performed one or more times, yet the closure may remain in place during and after each beverage extraction to maintain a seal for the container. Thus, the beverage may be dispensed from the bottle multiple times and stored for extended periods between each extraction with little or no effect on beverage quality. In some embodiments, little or no gas, such as air, which is reactive with the beverage may be introduced into the container either during or after extraction of beverage from within the container. Thus, in some embodiments, a user may withdraw wine from a wine bottle without removal of, or damage to, the cork, and without allowing air or other potentially damaging gasses or liquids entry into the bottle. However, not all embodiments require the ability to remove an extraction device from a cork or other closure such that the closure reseals the bottle.
In one aspect of the invention, a beverage extraction device includes a base for supporting components of the beverage extraction device, and a body mounted to the base. The body may be movable relative to the base, or be made fixed. At least one needle having at least one lumen may be attached to the body and extend from a proximal end to a distal end. The proximal end of the needle may be mounted to the body, and the needle may be arranged to be inserted through a closure at an opening of a beverage container with movement of the body relative to the closure. For example, the body and needle may be moved relative to the base, which may be clamped or otherwise engaged with the container, so that the needle is inserted through the closure. A gas source may be mounted to the body, be fluidly coupled to the needle and arranged to deliver pressurized gas to the at least one lumen at the proximal end of the needle. A valve may be fluidly coupled to the gas source and the at least one needle, and have a control portion that is movable between three flow states including a gas flow state, a beverage flow state and an off state. In the gas flow state, the valve permits gas flow from the gas source to the at least one needle and prevents flow of beverage out of the container via the at least one needle. In the beverage flow state, the valve prevents gas flow from the gas source to the at least one needle and permits flow of beverage out of the container via the at least one needle, e.g., to a beverage outlet on the body. In the off state, the valve prevents gas flow from the gas source to the at least one needle and prevents flow of beverage out of the container via the at least one needle.
In some embodiments, the control portion may be movable along a linear path between the three flow states, e.g., a lever movably mounted to the body may be used to move the control portion between the three flow states. The valve may include a spring that biases the control portion to move to the beverage flow state, e.g., so that the user may dispense beverage without touching the valve. The control portion of the valve may be movable linearly from the beverage flow state, to the off state, and then to the gas on state, allowing for easy operation of the valve by a user.
The device may include a pair of clamp arms mounted to the base and movable relative to each other to clamp a beverage container neck and support the base on the beverage container. For example, the clamp arms may be spring biased to clamp a bottle neck, and/or may include a locking mechanism to lock the arms in engagement with the neck. The body may be movably mounted to the base such that movement of the body relative to the base moves the needle relative to the base. This may be convenient when inserting the needle through a cork or other closure since the base may be clamped to the bottle.
The gas source may include a compressed gas cylinder and a regulator to regulate a pressure of gas provided to the at least one needle. Thus, when the valve is put into the gas on state, gas may be provided to the container interior, but at a regulated pressure so the user does not need to control gas input closely. As noted above, the at least one needle may include a single needle arranged for insertion through a cork of a wine bottle, for delivery of gas into the wine bottle, and for delivery of wine from the bottle.
The valve may include a valve body with a stepped inner surface, and the control portion may include a spool with a plurality of seals arranged to interact with the stepped inner surface of the valve body to control flow through the valve. For example, the stepped inner surface may include a first section having a first diameter, a third section having a third diameter, and a second section between the first and third sections and having a second diameter. The first diameter may be larger than the second and third diameters, and the second diameter may be larger than the third diameter. The control portion may include first, second and third seal elements arranged to contact and form a seal with each of the first, second and third sections, respectively. Thus, by moving the control element, the seals may engage/disengage with respect to a respective section of the valve, controlling flow in the valve. In one arrangement, a gas port may be in fluid communication with the first section, and a needle port may be in fluid communication with the second section so that the second seal element controls flow between the gas port and the needle port.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for extracting wine from a wine bottle includes inserting at least one needle through a closure at an opening of a beverage container, operating a valve into a gas flow state in which the valve permits flow of gas from a pressurized gas source through the at least one needle and into the wine bottle, operating the valve into a wine flow state in which flow of gas through the at least one needle is stopped and wine flows from the bottle through the at least one needle and to a beverage outlet, and operating the valve into an off state in which flow of gas through the at least one needle is stopped and flow of wine from the bottle through the at least one needle is stopped.
As noted above, the needle may be arranged for insertion through a cork of a wine bottle and for delivery of a gas into the wine bottle, and/or for delivery of wine from the bottle. For example, the system may include a gas source, such as a compressed gas cylinder, fluidly coupled to the needle and arranged to deliver pressurized gas to the at least one lumen at the proximal end of the needle. Delivery of gas to the container may allow beverage to be extracted from the container, e.g., by having the pressurized gas drive beverage to exit through a lumen of the needle, or otherwise allow beverage to flow from the container.
The needle may be arranged to be used with closures that include a material capable of resealing upon withdrawal of the needle from the closure. For example, typical wine bottle corks may allow a needle to be passed through the cork to extract wine from the bottle, and then reseal upon removal of the needle such that gas and/or liquid are prevented from passing through the cork after needle removal.
Various exemplary embodiments of the device are further depicted and described below.
Aspects of the invention are described with reference to various embodiments, and to the figures, which include:
Aspects of the invention are described below with reference to illustrative embodiments, but it should be understood that aspects of the invention are not to be construed narrowly in view of the specific embodiments described. Thus, aspects of the invention are not limited to the embodiments described herein. It should also be understood that various aspects of the invention may be used alone and/or in any suitable combination with each other, and thus various embodiments should not be interpreted as requiring any particular combination or combinations of features. Instead, one or more features of the embodiments described may be combined with any other suitable features of other embodiments.
In this embodiment, the body 3 also includes a valve 300 operable to control the flow of gas from the regulator 600. The valve 300 may be a 3-way toggle valve that includes a single operation button and functions to selectively introduce pressurized gas into the container 700 and extract beverage 710 (such as wine) from the container 700 via a needle 200. Details regarding the operation of such a valve 300 are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,225,959, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, other valve arrangements for controlling pressurized gas and beverage flow are possible, including those described below and which incorporate aspects of the invention.
To introduce gas into the container 700 and extract beverage, a needle 200 attached to the body 3 is inserted through a cork or other closure 730 that seals an opening of the container 700. This illustrative system 1 uses a pencil-tip non-coring needle 200 with a needle opening 220 along a sidewall of the needle near the needle tip. While the needle 200 may be inserted into the cork or other closure 730 in different ways, in this embodiment, the system 1 includes a base 2 with a pair of channels 21 that receive and guide movement of respective rails 31 of the body 3. Thus, movement of the body 3 and attached needle 200 relative to the container closure 730 may be guided by the base 2, e.g., the body 3 may slide relative to the base 2 to move the needle 200 into/out of the closure 730. In addition, movement of the needle 200 may be guided by a needle guide 202 that is attached to the base 2 and positioned over the closure 730. Other arrangements for guiding movement of the body 3 relative to the base 2 are possible, such as providing one or more rails on the base 2 which engage with a channel or other receiver of the body 3, providing an elongated slot, channel or groove on the body or base which engages with a corresponding feature (e.g., a tab) on the other of the body or base and allows for sliding movement, a linkage that connects the body and base together and allows for movement of the body to insert the needle into the closure, and others. In yet other embodiments, the body 3 need not be movable relative to the base 2, but may be fixed to each other. In this case, needle insertion may be performed by moving the body and base together relative to the container.
In some embodiments, the base 2 may be fixed or otherwise held in place relative to the container 700, e.g., by a clamp, sleeve, strap or other device that engages with the container 700. Clamp arrangements may be used to temporarily or releasably secure the device 1 to a wine bottle neck or other container 700. By restraining movement of the base 2 relative to the container 700, such an arrangement may help guide motion of a needle 200 relative to the container 700 when penetrating a closure 730, or when being withdrawn from the closure 730. Alternately, the container 700 may be manipulated by grasping and manipulating the device 1 since the clamp engaging the device 1 to the container 700 may securely hold the device 1 and container 700 together.
To insert the needle 200 through the closure 730, a user may push downwardly on the body 3 while maintaining the base 2 and the container 700 at least somewhat stationary relative to each other. The needle 200 will pass through the closure 730, guided in its motion, at least in part, by the guided motion of the body 3 relative to the base 2 (e.g., by the rails 31 and channels 21). With the needle 200 suitably inserted as shown in
Also included in this embodiment is a clamp 4 having a pair of clamp arms 41 that are arranged to support the device 1 in an upright orientation on a flat, horizontal surface 10, such as a table or counter top. In this embodiment, a lowermost portion of the clamp arms 41 contacts the surface 10 along with a lowermost portion of the body 3, which in this example is a lower end of gas cylinder cover 101. Thus, the clamp arms 41 and cover 101 may provide three points of contact with the surface 10, although additional points of contact may be provided. Note that in this embodiment, the lowermost portions of the clamp arms 41 that contact the surface 10 are located proximally, relatively near the cover 101, and the lower surfaces of the clamp arms 41 form an angle with the surface 10 such that distal ends of the lower surfaces are uplifted from the surface 10. This arrangement may help prevent tipping of the device 1 forward. For example, if the device 1 is contacted while standing upright so that the device 1 begins to tip forward, the lower surfaces of the clamp arms 41 may contact the surface 10 and help arrest movement of the device 1 and complete tipping over. Also, the cover 101 need not contact the surface 10, and instead other portions of the body 3 or the base 2 may contact the surface 10 to support the device 1 in an upright orientation. In another arrangement, the clamp arms 41 alone may contact the surface 10 and support the device 1. For example, the clamp arms 41 may include “feet” or other structure that contacts the surface 10 to suitably support the device 1 without assistance from other parts of the device 1.
In this embodiment, the clamp arms 41 are arranged to support the device 1 in an upright orientation when the body 3 is in an uppermost position relative to the base 2, i.e., when the body 3 is moved upwardly as far as possible relative to the base 2. However, the clamp arms 41 may be arranged to support the device 1 in the upright orientation for other positions of the body 3 relative to the base 2, such as for upper positions of the body 3 relative to the base 2 (where the body 3 is positioned in an upper half of its range of movement relative to the base 2) or for any suitable position of the body 3 relative to the base 2. Thus, the clamp arms 41 may be arranged to help hold the device 1 in an upright position when the body 3 is in two or more positions relative to the base 2.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a single valve may be operable to control flow of gas to the needle, and control flow of beverage from the needle to the beverage outlet. In one embodiment, the valve may have three flow states:
In one embodiment, the valve may include a control portion that moves along a linear path to control flow of gas and beverage. Such an arrangement may make for simplified operation and assembly of the valve, as well as provide for more reliable operation. In one embodiment, the valve body may include a stepped inner surface with three sections having different diameters. The control portion may have three seal elements, such as an o-ring, that each contact and form a seal with a respective section of the stepped inner surface. This arrangement may provide for a higher tolerance for manufacturing variation than other valve constructions, such as those that have a stepped inner surface with two working sections. For example, the stepped inner surface in one embodiment may accommodate for variations in distance between seal elements on the control portion, allowing for the use of a plastic material or other less creep-resistant or deformation resistant material.
In this embodiment, the valve body 81 includes a stepped inner surface with a first section 81a, a second section 81b, and a third section 81c. These sections 81a-81c are working sections in that they contact and form a seal with a seal element on the control portion 82 to control flow. The first section 81a has a larger diameter than the second section 81b and the third section 81c, and the second section has a larger diameter than the third section 81c. A gas port 88 is in fluid communication with the first section 81a and with a gas supply line 601, which is connected to the regulator 600. Thus, the gas port 88 can provide pressurized gas to the valve 8 at the first section 81a. A needle port 89 is in fluid communication with the second section 81b and with the needle 200, and thus the needle port 89 can conduct gas flow from the valve 8 to the needle 200, and conduct flow of wine or other beverage from the needle 200 to the valve 8.
Although in this embodiment, a single needle 200 is used to provide pressurized gas to the container 700 and to conduct beverage from the container 700, two or more needles may be used, and the needles may be arranged to carry only gas flow or beverage flow. For example, in one embodiment, two needles may be used and fluidly coupled to the needle port 89. However, one needle may include a check valve in its flow path from the needle port 89 that only permits flow into the container (i.e., for gas flow), whereas the other needle may include a check valve that only permits flow out of the container (i.e., for beverage flow). Thus, the valve 8 shown in
When moving between flow states, the control portion 82, which has a spool configuration, slides along a linear path in the valve body 81. A spring 83 biases the control portion 82 to move to the left as shown in
Upon movement of the lever 32 from the position A to the off position B, the control portion 82 slides to the right in
Further movement of the lever 32 from the off position B to the gas flow position C causes the second seal element 85 to move to the right such that the seal element 85 enters the first section 81a and loses contact with the second section 81b. As a result, flow between the gas port 88 and the needle port 89 is opened, allowing pressurized gas to flow from the gas source (regulator 600 and cylinder 100) into the container 700 via the needle 200. Although the third seal element 86 moves to the right in the third section 81c, the third seal element 86 maintains contact with the third portion 81c when the lever is in the gas flow position C (and the control portion 82 is in the gas flow state), preventing flow from the needle port 89 to the beverage outlet 301. Complete release of the lever 32 by a user allows the spring 83 to bias the control portion 82 to move to the left as shown in
A user may therefore operate the device to dispense a beverage, such as wine from a corked wine bottle, by first inserting at least one needle through a cork or other closure at an opening of a beverage container. As described above, this may involve clamping the extraction device to the neck of the wine bottle, and pushing down on the device body to insert the needle(s) through the cork. Next, the device valve may be moved to a gas flow state in which the valve permits flow of gas from a pressurized gas source, such as a gas cylinder and regulator, through the needle(s) and into the wine bottle. In the example above, this may be done by moving the lever 32 to the gas flow position C.
With the bottle suitably pressurized, the valve may be operated (e.g., moved) into a wine flow state in which flow of gas through the needle(s) is stopped and wine flows from the bottle, through the needle(s) and to a beverage outlet of the device. Again, in the example above, this may be done by moving the lever 32 to the beverage flow position A. Since the valve is moved from the gas flow position C to the off position B prior to achieving the beverage flow position A, release of gas from the bottle may be reduced, e.g., as the user tilts the bottle to pour the wine into a glass, since flow from both the gas port and the needle port is blocked as the valve shifts between flow states.
After a desired amount of wine is dispensed, the valve may be operated into the off state in which both flow of gas through the needle(s) and flow of wine from the bottle through the needle(s) is stopped. For example, while pouring wine into a glass, the user may press the lever 32 to the off position B, stopping wine flow into the glass when desired. The user may then turn the bottle upright and release the lever 32, which allows the valve to move to the beverage flow state and vent any gas pressure in the bottle. Alternately, the valve 8 may remain in the off state, trapping gas pressure in the bottle until the user purposefully vents the bottle.
It has been found that needles having a smooth walled exterior, pencil point or Huber point needle of 16 gauge or higher are effective to penetrate through a wine bottle cork or other closure, while sealing effectively with the cork to prevent the ingress or egress of gases or fluids during beverage extraction. Moreover, such needles allow the cork to reseal after withdrawal of the needle, allowing the container and any remaining beverage to be stored for months or years without abnormal alteration of the beverage flavor. Further, such needles may be used to penetrate a foil cover or other wrapping commonly found on wine bottles and other containers. Thus, the needle may penetrate the foil cover or other element as well as the closure, eliminating any need to remove the foil or other wrapping prior to beverage extraction. Other needle profiles and gauges are also usable with the system.
While in the above embodiments the needle guide 202 and needle are positioned to have the needle penetrate the center of the closure 730, the lower opening or through hole of the guide 202 could be arranged to introduce the needle at a location offset from the center of cork 730. This may decrease the chances that a needle penetrates the closure 730 in a same location if the system 1 is used to dispense beverage from the container several times and may allow the closure 730 to better reseal upon needle withdrawal.
While in the above embodiments, a user moves the body 3 in a linear fashion relative to the base 2 to insert/remove a needle with respect to a container closure, a manual or powered drive mechanism may be used to move a needle relative to a closure. For example, a rail 31 may include a toothed rack, while the base 2 may include a powered pinion gear that engages the rack and serves to move the body 3 relative to the base 2. The pinion may be powered by a user-operated handle, a motor, or other suitable arrangement. In another embodiment, the needle may be moved by a pneumatic or hydraulic piston/cylinder, e.g., which is powered by pressure from the gas cylinder 100 or other source.
A needle used in a beverage extraction device may be a smooth exterior walled, cylindrical needle with a non-coring tip that can be passed through a cork without removing material from the cork. One non-coring tip is a pencil-tip that dilates a passageway through the cork, although deflected-tip and stylet needles have also been found to work properly and could be used in alternative embodiments. The pencil-tip needle preferably has at least one lumen extending along its length from at least one inlet on the end opposite the pencil-tip and at least one outlet proximal to the pencil-tip. As shown above, a needle outlet may be positioned in the side-wall of the needle at the distal end of the needle, although proximal of the extreme needle tip.
With the correct needle gauge, it has been found that a passageway (if any) that remains following removal of the needle from a cork self-seals against egress or ingress of fluids and/or gasses under normal storage conditions. Thus, a needle may be inserted through a closure to extract beverage, and then be removed, allowing the closure to reseal such that beverage and gas passage through the closure is prevented. While multiple needle gauges can work, preferred needle gauges range from 16 to 22 gauge, with an optimal needle gauge in some embodiments being between 17 and 20 gauge. These needles gauges may offer optimal fluid flow with minimal pressures inside the container while doing an acceptably low level of damage to the cork even after repeated insertions and extractions.
Multiple needle lengths can be adapted to work properly in various embodiments, but it has been found that a minimum needle length of about 1.5 inches is generally required to pass through standard wine bottle corks. Needles as long as 9 inches could be employed, but the optimal range of length for some embodiments has been found to be between 2 and 2.6 inches. The needle may be fluidly connected to the valve directly through any standard fitting (e.g. NPT, RPT, Leur, quick-connect or standard thread), via a custom fitting or thread arrangement, or alternatively may be connected to the valve through an intervening element such as a flexible or rigid tube. When two or more needles are used, the needle lengths may be the same or different and vary from 0.25 inches to 10 inches. Creating distance between the inlet/outlets of the needles can prevent the formation of bubbles.
In some embodiments, a suitable gas pressure is introduced into a container to extract beverage from the container. For example, with some wine bottles, it has been found that a maximum pressure of between around 40 and 50 psi may be introduced into the bottle without risking leakage at, or ejection of, the cork, although pressures of between around 15 and 30 psi have been found to work well. These pressures are well tolerated by even the weakest of cork-to-bottle seals at the bottle opening without causing cork dislodging or passage of liquid or gas by the cork, and provide for relatively fast beverage extraction. The lower pressure limit in the container during wine extraction for some embodiments has been found to be between about 0 and 20 psi. That is, a pressure between about 0 and 20 psi has been found needed in a bottle to provide a suitably fast extraction of beverage from the bottle. In one example using a single 17 to 20 gauge needle, a pressure of 30 psi was used to establish an initial pressure in a wine bottle, and rapid wine extraction was experienced even as the internal pressure dropped to about 15-20 psi.
The source of pressurized gas can be any of a variety of regulated or unregulated pressurized gas containers filled with any of a variety of non-reactive gasses. In a preferred embodiment, the gas cylinder contains gas at an initial pressure of about 2000-3000 psi. This pressure has been found to allow the use of a single relatively small compressed gas cylinder (e.g., about 3 inches in length and 0.75 inches in diameter) for the complete extraction of the contents of several bottles of wine. Multiple gasses have been tested successfully over extended storage periods, and preferably the gas used is non-reactive with the beverage within the container, such as wine, and can serve to protect the beverage oxidation or other damage. Suitable gases include nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, helium, neon and others. Mixtures of gas are also possible. For example, a mixture of argon and another lighter gas could blanket wine or other beverage in argon while the lighter gas could occupy volume within the bottle and perhaps reduce the overall cost of the gas.
The embodiment above, a single needle with a single lumen is used to introduce gas into the container and extract beverage from the container. However, in other embodiments two or more needles may be used, e.g., one needle for gas delivery and one needle for beverage extraction. In such an embodiment, the valve may operate to simultaneously open a flow of gas to the container and open a flow of beverage from the container. The needles may have the same or different diameters or the same or different length varying from 0.25 to 10 inches. For example, one needle delivering gas could be longer than another that extracts wine from the bottle. Alternately, a two lumen needle may be employed where gas travels in one lumen and beverage travels in the other. Each lumen could have a separate entrance and exit, and the exits could be spaced from each other within the bottle to prevent circulation of gas.
Multiples of these components could be combined into single parts or components serving multiple functions. For example, the needle guide may be made part of a container clamp.
While aspects of the invention have been shown and described with reference to illustrative embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
