Patent Application
20250198682
The present invention relates to thermally insulated containers and more particularly to portable containers adapted to manually transporting perishable goods that must be kept cool over short distances for personal or business uses.
Insulated containers used for temporarily storing perishable food, beverages, ice, and biological organs or tissue samples are available in many sizes and configurations ranging from insulated boxes having rigid walls insulated with materials such as polystyrene or polyurethane foam products or other materials characterized by low thermal conductivity. Portable insulated containers or coolers are convenient for traveling or transporting perishable goods because of their low weight in proportion to their volume. Small containers are typically equipped with carrying handles, while larger sizes are designed to be pulled along on wheels. The lids of portable coolers may include edges formed to provide a frictional fit to secure the lid and seal it to resist leaks from external, and usually warmer, air. Other lids are equipped with positive latching mechanisms to secure the lid to the cooler body and ensure a leak-proof closure. Portable coolers may also be configured as insulated, reusable bags having flexible panels intended to be carried by hand to keep certain kinds of foods or liquids from absorbing too much heat during transport from store to home, for example.
Portable coolers equipped with wheels may include wheels placed at each corner of the cooler, enabling them to be puled along like a wagon. Such coolers may be well-adapted to transporting relatively heavy loads. However, four-wheeled coolers tend to be harder to maneuver unless the front wheels are configured to enable steering the cooler along a curved path. Four-wheeled coolers may also be inconvenient to store when not in use because the wheels necessarily protrude from the body of the cooler. An alternative design that eliminates the two front wheels enables the cooler to be towed more readily but retains the difficulties of inconvenient storage because of the placement of the wheels when numerous coolers are stacked for shipment from manufacturer to distributor to warehouse or retailer.
One popular use of portable coolers is for transporting foods and refreshments for picnics or tailgating, often packed in ice, from a personal vehicle to a site selected for a picnic, for example in a state or city park, a beach, or a tailgating site or stadium at an athletic or other event attended by fans or members of the event sponsor. Portable coolers intended for such use need to have low weight in proportion to volume plus be highly maneuverable because they may be towed for some distance over widely varying types of terrain or surfaces. Conventional two-wheeled coolers are often not well-suited to such use because of maneuverability that may be suitable for smooth, hard surfaces but poorly adapted to rough or rocky terrain, or soft surfaces that are difficult to walk on, let alone tow a cooler full of food and beverages, ice, etc.
There is thus a need for a portable cooler that overcomes the problems of towing or pulling a loaded or empty cooler for more than a few yards over uneven, rough, or soft terrain, so that the cooler remains stable and unlikely to tip over, possibly spilling its contents or other calamity.
In one embodiment, a portable cooler is disclosed, comprising an insulated container formed by parallel opposing sides including front and back walls, first and second sides, and a lid and a floor; a first handle pivotally attached to the front wall of the container; a wheel recess formed in the lower portion of the rear wall of the container between the first and second sides of the container; and first and second wheels disposed on an axle extending between the first and second sides of the wheel recess; wherein the first and second wheels are configured with a wide tread profile such that when disposed side-by-side on the axle the wheels occupy substantially the entire space between the first and second sides.
In other aspects, the wide tread profiles of the first and second wheels include a textured tread surface to enable rolling without skidding while being towed along a surface; and the first and second wheels rotate independently on the axle, such that one wheel freely rotates along an arc while the other wheel may pivot in place when the portable cooler is being turned along its path.
In other aspects, the axle is positioned within the wheel recess between the first and second sides of the container such that the treads of the first and second wheels extend slightly below the bottom surface of the portable cooler or extend slightly aft of the outer surface of the rear panel of the portable cooler.
In another aspect, the wide tread profile of the first and second wheels allow the portable cooler to roll across a deep sand surface without sinking.
In another aspect the wheel recess is fully separated from the interior of the portable cooler by a partition between the wheel recess and the interior of the portable cooler.
In another embodiment, a portable cooler is disclosed, comprising an insulated container formed by parallel opposing sides including front and back panels, first and second sides, and a lid and a floor panel; a wheel recess formed in the lower, rear portion of the container between the first and second sides of the container; and first and second wheels each configured with a wide tread profile and disposed on a common axle within the wheel recess between the first and second sides.
In another embodiment, a portable cooler is disclosed, comprising an insulated container formed by parallel opposing sides including front and back panels, first and second sides, and a lid and a floor panel; a wheel recess formed in the lower, rear portion of the container between the first and second sides of the container; and a barrel-shaped wheel configured with a wide tread profile and disposed on an axle within the wheel recess between the first and second sides.
In an advance in the state of the art, a portable cooler is described that incorporates a combination of features heretofore not present in portable, wheeled coolers to provide adaptability to a wide variety of personal and business uses. In addition to handles attached or built in to the front and rear ends of the insulated container body, the wheels inset into the lower, rear corner of the body are configured for ease of use when being towed by the extended front handle over a wide variety of terrain such as paved surfaces, unpaved surfaces, bare ground, rocky surfaces, and soft terrain such as beach sand, lawn grass, etc.
The portable cooler design described herein provides several advantages including the following. (1) The wide-tread wheels roll easily over soft and uneven terrain such as sandy beaches and off-road campsites, etc. (2) The wheels are inset in a respective recess of the cooler body so that it remains stable on a flat surface during use, or whether stacked upright or on end. (3) The flat floor of the cooler body, which is parallel with the top of the cooler, allows maximum rectangular interior space and enables easier stacking of the cooler during transport and storage. (4) The wheels are positioned between the lower, rear corners of the side walls to ease storage. (5) The wheels extend just enough from the rear wall/floor of the container, i.e., the lower rear corner so that the cooler is easy to roll when the front end is raised to pull it along by the handle.
In the following description the structures and components of an embodiment of the invention are identified by reference numbers appearing in multiple views.
Perspective views of a preferred embodiment of a portable cooler 10 are shown in
The cooler 10 includes a U-shaped front handle 32 attached by pivots 38 at each open end of the handle 32 to the front panel 24. The pivots 38 are disposed in a handle support 34 molded into the front panel 24. The pivots 38 rotate on a pivot shaft 40 that passes through the handle support 34 located near the top of the front end 24. The cooler further includes a fixed rear handle 42 molded into the top of the rear panel 16 (see
The rectangular body 12 of the portable cooler allows for stacking multiple units as in shipping or storing. Stacking the units is facilitated by substantially recessing the wheels 50, 52 (
Referring to
Thus, to provide a portable cooler that overcomes the problems of towing or pulling a loaded or empty cooler for more than a few yards over uneven, rough, or soft terrain, the wheel configurations illustrated and described herein solve the maneuverability problem and improves the stability and handling ease of the portable cooler. In a preferred embodiment 80 illustrated in
As thus configured in
An alternate embodiment 100 of the wheel design shown in
In
While the invention has been shown and described in only a few of its forms, it is not thus limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the first and second wheels in the embodiment having two wheels may be configured with a barrel-shaped profile as described herein. Other modifications include tread patterns that differ from those illustrated in the drawings.
