The present invention relates to percolators for brewing a heated beverage.
Percolators may be positioned directly over a heat source to brew a heated beverage. Some percolators designed for home-use include a handle comprising a heat-resistant grip. A user may heat a home-use percolator over a stove-top heating element to brew a beverage and grab the heat-resistant grip handle to remove the percolator. Outdoor-use percolators, on the other hand, typically have an exposed metal handle instead of a heat-resistant grip. Outdoor-use percolators having the exposed metal handle may be placed directly into or over an open fire to brew a beverage. Thereafter, the user is required to grip the exposed metal handle with an insulator, such as a wet cloth, to remove the percolator from the fire. The heat-resistant grip handle of a home-use percolator is not designed to be placed directly into or over an open fire. The heat-resistant grip handle when placed into or over an open fire may still absorb enough heat to burn a user's hand. Additionally, exposure to open fire may damage, deteriorate and/or deform the heat-resistant grip. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a percolator having a handle equally adapted for heating with a stove-top heating element and an open fire.
A percolator 10 according to a first embodiment is shown in
The handle main body 22 has an elongated shape extending between the first connector member 16 and the second connector member 18. A removable grip 24 covers an exterior surface of the handle main body 22. The grip 24 is a resiliently deformable member molded into a shape facilitating handling of the handle main body 22 by a hand of a user. The grip 24 may be molded from an elastomer, polymer or rubber material having a durometer sufficiently high to return to its original shape after deformation by an external force. The grip 24 may be comprised of a material having a high specific heat capacity and a low thermal conductivity. For example, the specific heat capacity of the grip material may be between 1050-1760 J/kg-K, inclusive, and the thermal conductivity of the grip material may be between 0.09-2.5 W/m-K, inclusive. The material comprising grip 24 may be silicone rubber or neoprene, by way of non-limiting example.
The grip 24 of the present embodiment has a substantially cylindrical shape with an outer wall 26 having a circular or elliptical cross-sectional shape to facilitate a comfortable and secure grip by the user's hand. An inner wall 28 of the grip 24 has a cylindrical shape with a circular cross-sectional shape corresponding to a shape of the outer surface of the handle main body 22. The outer wall 26 and the inner wall 28 extend between an upper first end 30 of the grip 24 and a lower second end 32 opposite to the first end. The inner wall 28 defines an elongated cavity 34 extending along the length of the grip 24 for receiving the handle main body 22.
A plurality of protruding members 35 may project radially inward along the inner wall 28 of the grip 24, as shown in
A junction or seam 36 extends along the full length of the grip 24 from the first end 30 to the second end 32, as shown in
The interlocking portion of the first side edge 38 includes one or more first protruding portions 42 extending across a center line C of the seam 36 in a first transverse direction and one or more first recess portions 44 extending across the center line of the seam in an opposite second transverse direction. Conversely, the interlocking portion of the second side edge 40 includes one or more second protruding portions 46 extending across the centerline C of the seam 36 in the second transverse direction and one or more second recess portions 48 extending across the centerline of the seam in the first transverse direction. As shown in
Each of the correspondingly located interlocking portions (i.e., first and second protruding portions 42 and 46, and first and second recess portions 44 and 48) may have an angled side portion in locking engagement to help prevent one of the first side edge 38 and the second side edge 40 from sliding in the longitudinal direction (i.e. a direction parallel to the centerline C) relative to the other. Each of the interlocking portions may have a flat portion extending in parallel with the centerline C of the seam 36.
A user may separate the first side edge 38 and the second side edge 40 from each other, as shown in
The removable grip 24 makes the percolator 10 equally suited for heating/brewing over a stovetop heating element or an open flame. When the grip 24 is installed on the handle main body 22, the percolator 10 may be positioned on an active stovetop heating element to brew a heated beverage. When the beverage is sufficiently brewed, the user may safely grip the grip-covered handle portion 14 to remove the percolator 10 from the heating element. The grip 24 may be removed as described above for placement of the percolator 10 on an open fire (e.g., campfire). The percolator 10 with an exposed main handle body 22 may be positioned over or partially within the open fire to brew a heated beverage. When the beverage is sufficiently brewed, the user may grip the heated handle main body 22 with an insulator, such as a damp rag or pot holder, to remove the percolator 10 from the open fire. Once the percolator is removed from the open fire, the user may quickly and easily install the grip 24 on the handle main body 22 to safely grip the grip-covered handle portion 14 with a bare hand and handle the hot percolator 10 without burning the hand. Alternatively, the user may install the grip 24 on the exposed handle main body 22 when the percolator 10 is on or in an open fire if the handle main body 22 is not exposed to direct flames to safely grip the grip-covered handle portion 14 with a bare hand to remove the hot percolator from the fire and subsequently handle the percolator.
The handle main body 22 in the present embodiment has a cylindrical shape, but the shape of the handle main body 22 is not particularly limited. For example, the handle main body 22 may have other cross-sectional shapes, such as a rectangular shape or an elliptical shape. Accordingly, the inner wall 28 of the grip 24 preferably has a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the handle main body 22. The handle main body 22 may be attached to the beverage container portion 12 by only the first connector member 16. In such a configuration, the grip 24 may have a second end portion covering the cavity 34 at the second end 32.
The interlocking portions have polygonal shapes with straight edges in the present embodiment, but may have different shapes in other embodiments. For example, the complementary interlocking portions may have triangular shapes with straight edges or curved shapes with rounded edges. In some embodiments, the polygonal shapes may have rounded corners between the straight edges.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.).
It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.