Patent Application
20140117055
The present invention relates generally to food product dispensers and, more particularly, to a syrup dispenser.
Syrup dispensers are frequently employed in food service operations, such as at restaurants, to allow customers to dispense a selected volume of syrup on their food. Typical conventional dispensers generally comprise a receptacle or jar-like portion that holds the syrup and a dispensing top portion or collar. A horizontally retractable sliding tab is typically provided to seal the dispenser, thereby keeping the syrup from spilling in the event that the dispenser is knocked over or falls. The sealing tab also reduces the likelihood of contamination versus an uncovered opening. The sealing tab is biased into the closed position with a spring member. The user presses a lever to overcome the spring bias, thereby retracting the tab to allow the syrup to flow. Such dispensers can and are also used to dispense other highly viscous liquid food substances, including sauces, gravy, chocolate syrup and dressings.
There are several drawbacks to these conventional dispensers. The overall collar assembly comprises several separate parts that can easily break, such as the spring and the guides that retain the tab through its sliding motion. Syrup also tends to enter the slide tracks of th3e tab, thereby reducing or preventing the closure of the tab by the spring member. The multiple parts are difficult or impossible to separate for cleaning purposes, and then reassemble after cleaning. Also, the multiple components and complexity of the collar assembly creates significant manufacturing and component costs. Therefore, there is a need for a syrup dispenser that addresses some or all of these noted deficiencies of the conventional dispensers.
The present invention addresses certain deficiencies in the prior art by providing for a device, method and system of dispensing syrup or other highly viscous liquid food product. The dispenser in certain embodiments includes a receptacle having a threaded portion for receiving a dispenser collar. The dispenser collar comprises a base portion and a lever portion. The base portion includes a recessed threaded portion for receiving the threaded portion of the receptacle. The base portion also includes an aperture in communication with the interior of the receptacle. A biasing member extends outward from the lever portion and is securably disposed in a recess in the base portion. The aperture is closed by the lever portion when the biasing member is in the relaxed state. The lever portion is opened by a pivotal motion when a force is applied to an opposing end of the lever, thereby placing the biasing member in a biased state. Releasing the lever causes the lever portion to seal the aperture to cut off flow of syrup.
The dispenser can be used with a variety of food products, such as syrups, sauces, gravy, dressings and other highly viscous liquids or flowable substances.
The above summary is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, or describe each embodiment, aspect, implementation, feature or advantage of the invention. The detailed technology and preferred embodiments for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention. It is understood that the features mentioned hereinbefore and those to be commented on hereinafter may be used not only in the specified combinations, but also in other combinations or in isolation, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular example embodiments described. On the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
In the following descriptions, the present invention will be explained with reference to various example embodiments; nevertheless, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to any specific example, environment, application, or particular implementation described herein. Therefore, descriptions of these example embodiments are only provided for purpose of illustration rather than to limit the present invention.
Referring to
Referring to
The outer perimeter shape of the receptacle can take many forms without departing from the scope of the invention. For example the receptacle can be rounded, square or oval or polygonal-shaped. The outer surface can be faceted and provided with flattened sections 122 (shown in
The receptacle 102 can be formed of any suitable food-container material such as glass, plastic, rubber and stainless steel. In one example embodiment, the receptacle 102 and its various features are a singular or unitarily-molded plastic component. Preferably the material and its thickness are selected to be cleansed in conventional automatic dish washing machinery.
The collar base portion 106 and lever portion 108 of the dispensing collar assembly 104 are each preferably single-piece or unitarily-molded plastic components. However, multi-piece components are within the scope of the invention unless specifically restricted by the language of the claims. These components can alternatively be formed of other materials such as stainless steel, rubber and glass. Mixed materials are also contemplated. Preferably the material and its thickness are selected to be cleansed in conventional automatic dish washing machinery.
The collar base portion 106 comprises a neck-receiving recess 124 defined in a portion therein and configured to receive at least a portion of the neck of the receptacle. The recess is provided with corresponding securement means such as grooves or threads 126 corresponding to the threads or grooves 120 of the neck 116 of the receptacle 102. In one preferred example, the grooves provide for a half-turn securement and release of the collar to the receptacle. Half-turn threads provide for quick securement and release of the components for filling and cleaning operations. Half-turn threads also allow the user to quickly align the respective components to achieve proper rotational alignment or registration of the collar assembly 104 with respect to the receptacle 102, if desired.
The collar base portion 106 also can include a protruding handle portion 128. The handle portion 128 extends rearward and generally downward and is spaced away from the receptacle sidewalls 112 so that a users with a wide range of hand sizes can easily and comfortably grasp the assembled dispenser 100 in one hand. As can be seen by comparing
A dispensing edge 130 is defined in the collar base portion 106 opposite the handle 128. The dispensing edge 130 can form a generally U-shaped channel to provide a well controlled flow of liquid from the dispenser. In particular, the angle and spacing width of the sides of the U-shaped channel shape the flow stream, thereby mitigating drip potential.
A flow aperture 132 is defined in the collar base portion 106, which is positioned in communication with the opening 118 in the top of the receptacle. The flow aperture 132 permits the contents of the receptacle to flow out of the receptacle 102. An internal channel 134 defined in the collar base portion 102 spans between the flow aperture 132 and the dispensing edge 130. The internal channel controllably guides the contents of the receptacle from to the dispensing edge 130. A vent aperture 136 can be optionally defined in the base portion 106 to allow air to flow into the receptacle as contents is poured out, so that a temporary vacuum is not formed in the receptacle that would intermittently interrupt the pouring and possibly cause difficult flow control.
The collar base portion 106 also defines a biasing member receiving cavity 138 or aperture. The receiving aperture 138 is sized to receive a securing flange portion 166 of the biasing member 150 to securely maintain the lever portion 108 in place throughout operation. The securing flange portion 166 of the lever portion 108 can also be accessed by the user from the recessed portion of the collar base 106 so that the biasing member 150 can be released from the collar base member 150.
The collar base portion 106 further includes a first pivot member 140. The first pivot member 140 extends generally vertically upward from the collar base 106 to provide an elevated pivot surface against which the lever portion 108 can pivot between closed and open positions.
The lever portion 108 includes an elongated body 141 having a dispensing end 142 and an actuating end 144. The elongated body 141 has a top surface 146 and a bottom surface 148. A biasing member 150 extends generally downwardly from the bottom surface 148. A second pivot member 152 also extends generally downwardly from the bottom surface 148. The second pivot member 152 defines a downwardly protruding pivot surface, which pushes against the upwardly protruding elevated pivot surface of the collar base portion to provide a generally arcuate pivot motion to the lever portion 108.
The dispensing end 142 of the lever portion 108 defines a cutoff edge 154. The cutoff edge 154 contacts the opposing dispensing edge 130 of the collar base portion 106 to quickly break or cut the flow of syrup or other contents, thereby minimizing any surfaces that might retain the syrup to produce drips and stringy connections of syrup spanning between the dispenser 100 and the user's food or plate. Thus, the potential for mess and waste is minimized. Correspondingly, the frequency of cleaning needed is lessened.
An actuating surface 156 is defined adjacent the actuating end 144 of the lever portion 108. A thumb grip feature 158 such as ridges, a pad or a recess can be defined in or provided to actuating surface 156 to guide the user's hand to the correct placement and to facilitate confident actuation of the lever portion 108. The thumb grip feature is sized and located on the actuating portion such that it is in proximity to the thumb of the user when the handle portion of the collar base portion is grasped with one hand.
The respective pivot surfaces 140 and 152 can be angled with respect to the horizon, as is shown in
The biasing member 150 is generally planar and has a sideways width greater than its front-to-back thickness or depth. Thus, a generally planar front surface 160 and a generally planar back surface 162 are defined, with side edge surfaces 164 spanning therebetween. A securing flange 166 extends forwardly from the front surface 160 in order to provide an upwardly facing interlocking or abutting surface 168 that resists vertical movement of the lever portion 108 with respect to the collar base portion 106.
As can be seen in
The vertical height (i.e. length) dimension of the biasing member 150 and/or its width, taper gradient and thickness dimensions can be varied to define and adjust the closure or bias force that attempts to maintain the collar in the closed position. The horizontal distance between the interface of the respective pivot members 140 and 152, and the point at which the actuating force is applied to the actuating end can also be varied to adjust the force necessary to open the collar for dispensing.
Referring to
Disassembly is accomplished generally in the reverse of that described in the preceding paragraph. In particular, the securing flange 166 of the lever portion 108 is pushed backwards relative to the collar base portion 106 by the user's finger by at least the depth of the abutting surface 168 to release the lever portion 108 from the collar base portion 106.
To dispense the contents contained within the receptacle portion, the user grasps the handle portion 128, elevates the dispenser 100 above the target location where the contents is to be dispensed and tilts or pivots the dispenser 100 forwardly (or rotates it about a side-to-side axis through a portion of the receptacle portions body) until the contents exit the receptacle 102 and enter the collar assembly. The user presses generally vertically downwards on the thumb grip feature 158 (or if not present, adjacent to the actuation end) of the lever portion 108, thereby rotationally pivoting the lever portion 108, until the cutoff edge 154 rises above the corresponding dispensing edge 130 of the collar base portion 106, thus allowing the contents to flow out of the dispenser 100. Releasing the actuation portion 144 causes the biasing member 150 to automatically return the lever portion 108 to the closed state such that the cutoff edge 154 pinches off the flow of fluid.
The cutoff edge mitigates the potential for dips forming. Also, the user's ability to adjust flow rate by controlling the size of the dispensing orifice defined between the dispensing edge 130 and cutoff edge 154 further mitigates the potential for drips and the like. The user can thus also easily control the flow rate of product.
The use of the biasing member 150 instead of the separate spring used in conventional dispensers saves component cost, enhances reliability and ease of cleaning. Also, by reducing the number of components to only three (receptacle, collar base and lever portion), costs are reduced, reliability is enhanced and cleaning is easier. The components can also be easily and quickly assembled and disassembled for cleaning and operation, thus saving costs for performing these activities.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments. It will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications and equivalent arrangements can be made thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, such scope to be accorded the broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all equivalent structures and products. Moreover, features or aspects of various example embodiments may be mixed and matched (even if such combination is not explicitly described herein) without departing from the scope of the invention.
