Patent Application
20220371810
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The disclosure relates to food container devices and more particularly pertains to a new food container device for keeping food warm for prolonged periods of time. The present device includes heating coils throughout a bottom side and a sidewall of the container. These heating coils are powered by solar panels on a removable lid.
The prior art relates to food container devices. Known devices typically have power sources within the container that may be supplemented by a solar panel. When the solar panel is on the lid, the lid is not fully separable from the container.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a container body having a container sidewall, a container bottom, and an open container top side. The container body is configured to store warm food. A plurality of heating coils is coupled within the container body. A lid is engaged with the container body. The lid has a lid top side and a lid bottom side. The lid bottom side is selectively engageable with the container sidewall to selectively seal the container top side. The lid is fully separable from the container body. A solar panel is coupled to the lid top side. A converter is coupled within the lid. The converter is in operational communication with the solar panel. The converter is in operational communication with the plurality of heating coils when the lid is engaged with the container body. A power switch is coupled to the container body. The power switch is in operational communication with the plurality of heating coils to selectively turn on or off the heating coils when the converter is supplying power to the plurality of heating coils.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A plurality of heating coils 30 is coupled within the container body 12. The plurality of heating coils 30 is coupled between the outer shell 26 and the inner shell 28. The plurality of heating coils 30 coupled within the container bottom 16 may be concentric circles and the plurality of heating coils 30 coupled within the container sidewall 14 may be evenly spaced horizontal circles.
A lid 32 is engageable with the container body 12. The lid 32 has a lid top side 34 and a lid bottom side 36. The lid bottom side 36 may have a threaded central lid protrusion 38 and a perimeter lip 40. The lid 32 may have a lid divider wall 42 extending from the perimeter lip 40 and defining a lid interior 44 between the lid divider wall 42 and the lid top side 34. The threaded central lid protrusion 38 may be filled with an insulation 46 up to the lid divider wall 42.
The threaded central lid protrusion 38 is threadably engageable with the inner threaded portion 22 of the container sidewall. The perimeter lip 40 rests against the container top side 18 when the lid 32 is engaged with the container body 12. The lid 32 thus selectively seals the container top side 18. A sealing ring 48 may be coupled to the container body 12 the around the outer recessed portion 24 to create a watertight seal between the lid 32 and the container body 12. The lid top side 34 may have a planar top portion 50 and a filleted lid perimeter portion 51. The lid 32 is fully separable from the container body 12.
A solar panel 52 is coupled to the lid 12. The solar panel 52 is coupled to the lid top side 34. The solar panel 52 may be positioned flush with the planar top portion 50. A converter 54 is coupled within the lid 32 and is in operational communication with the solar panel 52. The converter 54 may be coupled to the lid divider wall 42 within the lid interior 44. The converter 54 is in operational communication with the plurality of heating coils 30 when the lid 32 is engaged with the container body 12. The converter 54 may have a plurality of top contact leads 56 extending through the perimeter lip 40 of the lid bottom side in operational communication with a plurality of bottom contact leads 58 extending through the container top side 18 and connected to the plurality of heating coils 30.
A power switch 60 is coupled to the container body 12. The power switch 60 is in operational communication with the plurality of heating coils 30 to selectively turn on or off the heating coils 30 when the converter 54 is supplying power to the plurality of heating coils 30. The power switch 60 may be coupled to the container sidewall 14.
In use, food is placed within the container body 12 and the lid 32 is engaged. The power switch 60 is then used to power the plurality of heating coils 30 with the solar panel 52, helping to keep the food warm for extended periods of time. The lid 32 is then removed to enjoy the hot food and the power switch 60 may be turned off while the container body 12 is empty.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
