Patent Application
20220412633
The disclosure of the present patent application relates to devices for the storage and transport of food and beverages, and particularly to a multi-compartment cooler having stacked cylindrical compartments mounted on wheels and an inductive charging pad for charging electronic devices.
When spending a day at the beach, lake, or other outdoor spot, a family or group generally has many items that they wish to take with them to the beach. Such items may include towels, chairs, umbrellas, games, lotions, sunscreen products, food, beverages, and the like. Coolers or thermos bottles are often used to bring along refreshments, including cold drinks or salads and cold cuts that must be kept chilled. However, most coolers do not have separate compartments for carrying a beverage dispenser and packaged foods. Consequently, the user has to carry two separate containers, one for dispensing cold beverages, and one for carrying packaged foods.
Along with those items, people also like to have a collection of electronic devices on hand to make sure that while they are accessible or to further heighten their experience. Such devices could include smartphones, eBooks, tablets, MP3 players, portable speakers, and the like. However, use of those devices would require a proximal power source on hand to charge up the devices when the battery power is depleted. Otherwise, the user would have to return to their vehicle and try and use it to charge their devices, thus saddling the user with periodic and annoying trips to the parking area just to maintain the operability of their electronic devices. Over the course of an extended outdoor stay, this process becomes tedious and diminishes enjoyment of the planned outdoor activity. Thus, a multi-compartment cooler solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The multi-compartment cooler has stacked coolers mounted on a wheeled supporting carrier having a telescoping handle. The wheeled carrier has at least two rear wheels mounted on a common axle, a platform extending forward from the axle, and a central handle base extending upward from the rear of the platform. A telescoping handle with a rearward extending hand grip is mounted in the handle base. The front end of the platform may be supported on a single caster wheel, or may be supported on a rigid cradle. The top of the platform includes a centrally located mounting disk. The lower cooler compartment is a cylindrical, insulated container having a spigot for dispensing a chilled or hot liquid stored in the container, the bottom of the container having a circular recess defined by an annular, downwardly extending flange for slidable mounting on the platform's mounting disk, the top of the container having a circular, upwardly extending cover. The upper cooler compartment is a cylindrical, insulated container adapted for storing packaged foods that must be kept warm or chilled, such as salads, cold cuts, sandwiches, etc. The bottom of the upper cooler container has a circular recess defined by an annular, downwardly extending flange for slidable mounting on the cover of the lower cooler compartment. The upper cooler compartment may be secured to the lower cooler compartment by releasable side latches during transport of the cooler. The top of the upper cooler compartment may have a circular cover having a hinged, rectangular lid mounted thereon. The hinged lid may incorporate a power bank and an inductive charging pad for recharging the batteries of cell phones, smart watches, tablets, and other electronic devices.
These and other features of the present subject matter will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
The lower thermally insulated compartment 14 may have a double wall 38 defining a hollow interior adapted for holding a beverage, such as water, coffee, soda, lemonade, etc. The double wall 38 may have foam or other thermal insulation between the inner and outer walls. Alternatively, the compartment 14 may have a silvered glass envelope housed in a metal external wall, the glass envelope being evacuated in the manner of a thermos to prevent gain or loss of heat by heat transfer, thereby keeping hot beverages warm or preventing ice used to cool a beverage from melting. As shown in
The upper compartment 16 also may have a double wall 54 defining a hollow interior adapted for holding packaged foods and beverages, such as salads, cold cuts, sandwiches, bottled or canned beverages, etc. The double wall 54 may have foam or other thermal insulation between the inner and outer walls. Alternatively, the compartment 16 may have a silvered glass envelope housed in a metal external wall, the glass envelope being evacuated in the manner of a thermos to prevent gain or loss of heat by heat transfer, thereby keeping hot foods warm or permitting the use of ice packs to cool foods or beverages. As shown in
The cover 60 of the upper compartment 16 may have an opening 64 defined therein. As shown in
In use, the lower compartment 14 is filled with a beverage (either hot or cold) and loaded onto the wheels platform 12. The upper compartment 16 is loaded with a packaged food (either warm or chilled), stacked on the lower compartment 14, and secured by the releasable latches 22. The wheeled platform 12 is tilted rearward using the handle 18 and handgrip 20 to support the weight of the cooler 10 on the rear dolly wheels 24 and wheeled to its destination or to a vehicle for transport. After arrival at the destination, the latches 22 may be released and the two compartments 14, 16 may be placed on a table or bench and used independently. The multi-compartment cooler 10 will prove to be of great value on trips to the beach, on picnics, for construction workers, travelers, and other persons when there is no nearby vendor, or when the traveler has special dietary needs.
It is to be understood that the multi-compartment cooler is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.
