AU716629B3

AU716629B3 - A cup carrying and cooling device

Info

Publication number: AU716629B3
Application number: AU53595/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Colin Woodfield
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-10-09
Filing date: 1999-10-11
Publication date: 2000-03-02
Anticipated expiration: 2005-10-11

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant(s): Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: COLIN WOODFIELD COLIN WOODFIELD CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, QId. 4000, Australia.

A CUP CARRYING AND COOLING

DEVICE

Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Nos. PP6410 09.10.98 The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 A CUP CARRYING AND COOLING DEVICE This invention relates to a cup carrying and cooling device which allows a number of beverage filled cups to be carried and cooled. The invention finds particular application at sporting venues where there is a prohibition on the sale of closed bottles or cans of beer and other beverages.

Closed bottles and cans of beer and soft drink can readily be kept cool and carried using insulated containers such as eskys. The insulated containers can be partially filled with ice, an ice water mixture, freezer bricks, or other forms of coolants. These known containers are unsuitable where open containers must be used which is the case in many sporting venues where beverages can only be dispensed in plastic cups in order to prevent full bottles and cans of beverages from being thrown. Plastic cups cannot easily be transported and. kept cool in an esky as the cups are prone to tipping.

The present invention is directed to a device which can carry a number of beverage filled cups and which can keep the beverage cool in the cups for a period of time.

It is an object of the invention to provide a cup carrying and cooling device which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provides the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a cup carrying and cooling device which comprises an insulated box-like body adapted to hold a coolant the box having an open top, the inside of the box having a plurality.of cup supports which can hold beverage-containing cups thereby allowing the beverage-containing cups to be transported with reduced spilling.

In another form, the invention resides in a cup carrying and cooling device which comprises an insulated box-like body adapted to hold a coolant, the box having a top wall formed with a plurality of openings through which beverage containing cups can pass, the inside of the box having a plurality of cup supports which hold the cups when passed through the openings.

In another form, the invention resides in a cup carrying and cooling device which comprises an insulated box like body adapted to hold a coolant, the box having a top wall formed with a plurality of openings through which beverage containing cups can pass, the inside of the box having a plurality of cup supports which hold the cups when passed through the openings, the cup supports comprising tubes having a closed bottom, and an open top such than the coolant in the box is unable to pass into the tubes.

The device allows a number of plastic cups, typically about 4 to 6 to be carried with minimal spillage and which can keep the cups cool for an extended period of time.

The insulated box can be formed of various materials and can be of various shapes and sizes providing that it does not become too large, bulky or heavy to easily carry. For instance, the box can be substantially rectangular when viewed in plan and side and can be approximately 200 to 600mm long and wide and between 100 to 300mm high. The box can be formed from various suitable materials to allow the box to be fairly rigid, knock resistant, able to be easily cleaned, resistant to mould and algae and a person skilled in the art will readily be able to establish suitable materials from which the box can be manufactured. The box is typically insulated using foam and the thickness of the foam can vary to suit. Other types of insulating materials are also envisaged. Typically, the box has an outer wall, and an inner wall which can be readily cleaned, with the spacing between the outer and the inner wall being filled with insulating materials such as foam or air (it being appreciated that air is itself a fairly good insulator).

The box-like body need not be rectangular in shape and may be curved, oval, cylindrical or any other shape which will allow the device to be carried without too much difficulty, which allows the device to hold a coolant such as ice, and which will allow at least two cups to be supported and cooled.

The box has a top wall formed with a plurality of openings through which the cups can pass. The size and shape of the openings can vary to suit the size the shape of the cup. However, as most cups are circular in cross section, the openings are typically circular and have a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the cup. The cup diameter can vary depending on the size of the cup but typically the cup diameter will be between 50 to 150mm, and therefore the openings will be correspondingly sized. The top wall can have a suitable number of openings which will depend upon the number of cups which are to be carried by the device. If the device is to carry larger sized cups, there may be a lesser number of cups to be carried in order to keep the weight of the device suitable for carrying.

Conversely, if fairly small cups are to be carried, a larger number of openings can be present in the top wall. Although the invention is directed to the lo openings being formed in the top wall of the box like body, it should be appreciated that openings could be elsewhere as long as the result is that the cups are supported in a generally vertical orientation to avoid spillage of the contents of the cup.

Typically, the top wall is removable and therefore can be seen as a lid. This allows the inside of the box to be accessed for instance to add more coolant or for cleaning. It is envisaged that a portion of the top wall can be removed or opened to allow the inside of the box to be accessed, with the remainder of the top wall being fixed in place. If a portion of the top wall comprises a lid or other type of removable portion, this portion may or may not have at least one opening extending through it depending on the size of the lid portion and its suitability to hold the cup. For instance, it is envisaged that the top wall has the plurality of openings, and that the device has a lid or other removable portion which does not support a cup and which allows-the interior of the box to be replenished with coolant.

The inside of the box has a plurality of cup supports which hold the cups as the cups are passed through the openings in the top wall. This will assist in holding the cups in place to prevent spillage or inadvertent dropping of the cup entirely within the body. If the coolant comprises ice water, ice slush and the like, there.is an advantage in separating the coolant from the cup wall. This can prevent or at least reduce water dripping from the cup body as the cup is removed from the device for the purposes of drinking.

Therefore, in one form the cup. supports comprise tubes or sleeves having a closed bottom, a continuous side wall and an open top such that the coolant in the box cannot pass into the tube or sleeve and thus cannot directly contact the cup. In a simple form, the tube can itself be a cup of larger diameter which can be glued or otherwise secured to the box body, preferably to the bottom of the box with the top of the cup being positioned just below the top wall. By having the coolant unable to pass through the tube or sleeve, there is a greater amount of insulation in the device which can maintain the low temperature inside the box for a longer period of time than might be otherwise possible if the coolant was allowed to pass into the tube so therefore be directly in contact with ambient air temperature.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 shows a cup carrying and cooling device with the top wall removed.

Figure 2 is an assembled version of the cup carrying and cooling device of Figures 1.

Referring to the drawings there is shown an insulated cup carrying and cooling device 10 which can carry 4 plastic cups and keep the plastic cups cool for a sufficient period of time to allow the contents of the cup to be drunk.

The device has a box like body 11 which in the embodiment is square in shape and has a bottom wall and 4 side walls. Each side wall is 300mm long and 140mm high but it should be appreciated that this can vary to suit. The box of the embodiment is made from 9mm craftwood outer case with a polystyrene lining to the inside of the box. Inside box 11 are 4 cup supports 12-15. The cup supports are identical and-each consist of a larger cup which is glued to the bottom of the box to act as a tube or sleeve to put a full cup of drink into. In the embodiment, supports 12-15 are closed in the sense that any ice or water inside the box cannot pass into-the supports. The top open mouth of supports 12-15 seal against, or are closely spaced from the top wall.

The top wall 16 is illustrated in Figure 2 and consists of a removable lid which is sealingly engaged with the side walls of the box and which can be held against the side walls by 2 metal clasps 17, 18 (only 1 clasp being shown in Figure Thus, top wall can be unclipped from the remainder of the box to allow party ice or 'other coolant to be inserted into box. Top wall 16 is also formed from a craftwood outer case with a polystyrene lining. Top wall 16 is formed with 4 openings which align with the open top of supports 12 to 15 when top wall 16 is fitted to the remainder of the box. Figure 2 illustrates that the openings in the top wall extend over and seal or are closely spaced from the open tops of supports 12-15. A cup 20 is l0 shown being supported by supports and its upper end protruding through an opening in top wall 16.

Once assembled and filled with party ice the device is as illustrated in Figure 2. Four cups of beverage can be placed through the openings which allows 4 cups to be carried while maintaining the beverage in the cups cool for an extended period of time. A handle 22 is provided to assist in the carrying action with the handle being fastened to top wall 16 such that when top wall 16 is removed, the handle forms no obstruction to filling or cleaning of the contents of box 11.

The device is superior to current arrangements where plastic cups of beverage are placed into a cardboard carrier which soon gets wet and hard to hold and does not cool the drinks.

The device may have additional compartments to hold straws, serviettes, or other item and these additional compartments may be latchable or lockable to suit.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, the device can be used without a lid such that the cup holders can be attached to the base thereby allowing a plurality of beverage-containing cups to be transported. In another version, a totally sealed unit can be provided having a water inlet to allow the unit to be filled with water and placed inside a freezer prior to use.

Claims

1. A cup carrying and cooling device which comprises an insulated watertight open topped box-like body adapted to hold a water/ice cooling mixture, the body having a plurality of cup supports, the supports comprising vertically orientated open topped tubes which are fixed to the body and are watertight such that the ice/water cooling mixture in the body is unable to flow into the tubes, and a lid which overlies the open top of the body, the lid having openings which align with the open topped tubes when the lid is attached to the body, the openings being such that a cup can pass through the opening lo and into the tube.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein cups, passing into the tubes, are also supported by the peripheral edge of the openings in the lid.

3. The device of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the figures. DATED this 20' day of December 1999 Colin WOODFIELD By his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.