JP2009233310A - Dripper - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dripper capable of easily dripping a drink even if it requires two kinds of ingredients such as caffe latte. <P>SOLUTION: The dripper is placed on a circumferential edge part 5a of the opening of a cup 5 for use. The dripper includes an upper chamber 20 and a lower chamber 30, vertically continuous through an intermediate filter sheet 40. A bottom wall part 31 of the lower chamber has an opening 35 covered with a removable film member 36. The top surface of the upper chamber 20 is covered with an upper permeable sheet 50, and a circumferential wall 25 is raised along its circumference. For dripping, the film member 36 closing the opening 35 provided on the bottom wall part of the lower chamber is removed, and milk powder is dropped into the cup. Then, with the upper chamber, hot water is poured to a water sump surrounded by the circumferential wall 25. Dripped coffee is mixed with the milk powder in the cup 5, and by stirring the mixture, caffe latte is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a dripper that is used to drip a beverage that requires two kinds of materials such as latte on a top of a coffee cup or the like.

  Many simple drippers that are placed on a coffee cup in a state of containing powdered coffee and drip the coffee into the cup have been commercially available, for example, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

However, any coffee dripper only contains the coffee powder alone. For this reason, in the case of a beverage containing foamy cream (for example, latte), a bag containing milk is separately prepared and sold together as a set with a dripper.
That is, the consumer drip the coffee as usual, then break the bag containing milk, put in the milk, whisk with a spoon or the like, and enjoy a latte.

  As described above, if the coffee drip and the milk are charged separately, it is not convenient as a simple beverage, which is troublesome for consumers. In addition, there is room for improvement because it is possible to lose the milk-containing bag.

JP 2002-306344 A JP-A-9-206216

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a dripper that can easily drip a beverage that requires two types of ingredients such as the latte.

The present invention provides a dripper having the following features. The dripper of the present invention is a dripper that is used by being placed on the peripheral edge of the opening of the cup, and includes an upper chamber and a lower chamber that are connected in an up-and-down manner via an intermediate filtration sheet.
The bottom wall of the lower room has an opening covered with a removable lid.
The top surface of the upper room is covered with an upper transmission sheet, and a peripheral wall is erected around it.

According to the dripper of the present invention having the above configuration, one of the two types of materials constituting the beverage can be accommodated in the upper room and the other in the lower room. Since two kinds of materials can be individually stored in the upper and lower rooms, in the case of a latte, there is no need to separately prepare a bag containing milk. That is, even if it is a drink which requires two types of ingredients, it is not necessary to prepare a separate storage bag or the like, and a dripper alone is sufficient.
In the dripper of the present invention, after removing the lid covering the opening provided in the bottom wall portion of the lower room and dropping the contents into the cup, the dripper is placed on the opening peripheral edge of the cup and in the upper part of the upper room. When the hot water is poured into the space surrounded by the surrounding wall (“hot water pool”), the drip beverage is mixed with the contents dropped in the cup. Thus, the drip operation is simple and the consumer only has to stir it with a spoon or the like.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, an example will be described in which two types of materials, coffee powder and powdered milk, are accommodated and the latte is drip.

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a dripper 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view seen from below.
Moreover, the side sectional view of FIG. 3 shows a state where the dripper 10 is placed on the opening peripheral edge 5 a of the coffee cup 5.

  The dripper 10 of the present invention is characterized in that it has two upper and lower rooms for storing contents. In the illustrated example, coffee powder is stored in the upper chamber 20, and powdered milk is stored in the lower chamber 30 (FIG. 3A).

≪Upper room 20≫
The upper chamber 20 stores the coffee powder in a storage space surrounded by the bottom wall 21 and the peripheral wall 22 and is sealed from above with an upper transmission sheet 50 (FIG. 3B). From the upper end of the peripheral wall 22, the flange portion 23 extends outward, and the upper transmission sheet 50 is fixed to the flange portion 23. Fixing is performed by using a heat seal or an adhesive.
A peripheral wall 25 is erected from the outer peripheral edge of the flange portion 23 over the entire periphery, and a space surrounded by the peripheral wall 25 functions as a “hot water pool” during drip.

≪Lower room 30≫
A lower room 30 is connected to the bottom wall 21 of the upper room 20. The lower room 30 stores the powdered milk in a storage space surrounded by the bottom wall 31 and the peripheral wall 32. The lower chamber 30 is entirely open on the bottom wall 21 of the upper chamber 20, but the opening is closed by the intermediate filtration sheet 40. The intermediate filter sheet 40 is also fixed to the bottom wall 21 using a heat seal or an adhesive.
The bottom wall 31 of the lower chamber 30 has an opening 35, which is closed with a removable lid material such as a film material 36.

  As a removable cover material covering the opening 35, aluminum foil or the like may be used in addition to the film. These removably cover the opening 35 using a heat seal or adhesive. Moreover, according to the kind of content, appropriate | suitable materials, such as providing gas barrier property, are employable. A removable cap may be employed.

≪Drip method≫
FIG. 3 (a) exemplarily shows a typical procedure for dripping a latte using the dripper 10 of the present invention. In addition, FIG.3 (b) has shown the dripper 10 in the state which abbreviate | omitted the content.
(1) The film material 36 that closes the bottom opening 35 of the lower chamber 30 is peeled off, and the milk powder is dropped into the coffee cup 5.
(2) After placing the dripper 10 on the opening peripheral edge 5 a of the cup 5, hot water is poured into a space (“hot water pool”) surrounded by the peripheral wall 25 in the upper part of the upper chamber 20.
Since the bottom surface of the “hot water pool” is composed of the upper transmission sheet 50, the poured hot water passes through the upper transmission sheet 50 and steams the coffee powder in the upper chamber 20.
(3) The coffee poured out through the intermediate filtration sheet 40 enters the lower room 30 (because the powdered milk in the lower room 30 has already dropped, the lower room 30 becomes empty. )
(4) The poured coffee passes through the empty lower room 30 and falls into the cup 5 from the opening 35 provided in the lower room bottom wall 31, and is mixed with the powdered milk. The consumer stirs this with a spoon or the like to create a latte.

≪Modification≫
In the illustrated dripper 10, the upper chamber 20 is placed on the opening peripheral edge 5 a of the cup 5 on the bottom wall surface 21 thereof, and the lower chamber 30 is located in the cup 5 at that time. In such a form, when the dripper 10 is placed on the cup 5, the whole fit is good and the appearance is smart. Further, the presence of the lower chamber 30 protruding into the cup can effectively prevent the dripper 10 from being displaced.
However, in the present invention, the overall form of the dripper 10 is not limited to that illustrated. For example, a cylindrical body having a constant cross-sectional shape may be divided into upper and lower rooms to constitute an upper room and a lower room and placed on the opening peripheral edge 5a of the cup 5 on the bottom wall of the lower room. In that case, an appropriate means for fixing the entire dripper to the cup 5 is provided.

≪Dripper manufacturing method≫
The dripper 10 of the present invention can be manufactured by various manufacturing methods, but the case of sheet forming will be briefly described as an example.
(1) A sheet-like raw material made of plastic is heated and sandwiched from above and below by a mold material to form a dripper main body.
(2) After the bottom opening 35 is closed with the film material 36 with respect to the dripper main body, the powdered milk is accommodated in the lower chamber 30 and the upper part thereof is sealed with the intermediate filter sheet 40.
(3) After the coffee powder is stored in the upper chamber 20 whose bottom wall surface is sealed with the intermediate filtration sheet 40, the coffee powder is sealed with the upper transmission sheet 50.

The dripper body can be made by injection molding in addition to sheet molding, but sheet molding is more advantageous in terms of cost.
Alternatively, paper may be used as a raw material, and the dripper body may be made by deep drawing. According to deep drawing using paper, a two-stage structure including an upper room and a lower room can be easily made. In that case, after a thermoplastic resin layer is laminated on at least one surface of the paper base material, deep drawing is performed by a hot press so that the thermoplastic resin layer is positioned on the inner surface side. By making the inner surface a thermoplastic resin layer, it is possible to prevent the poured hot water from penetrating into the paper substrate.

<< Intermediate filtration sheet 40 and upper transmission sheet 50 >>
The intermediate filter sheet 40 is not particularly limited in the present invention as long as it is a material having a filtration function. However, in consideration of workability, the material itself has thermal adhesiveness, or the innermost layer is heated. What has adhesiveness is preferable. For example, a non-woven fabric having water permeability such as polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or polyester, or an innermost layer having a layer containing a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, such as olefin or polyester. A filter paper having a layer structure can be exemplified.
The upper transmission sheet 50 only needs to be able to pass hot water and does not necessarily have a filtration function.

<< Second Embodiment: FIG. 4 >>
FIG. 4 is an upper perspective view showing the dripper 11 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Similarly to the case of the first embodiment, the dripper 11 also has the intermediate filter sheet 40 fixed to the bottom wall 21 of the upper chamber and the upper filter sheet 50 fixed to the flange portion 23, respectively. In FIG. 4, these sheets 40 and 50 are not shown in order to clarify the structure of the dripper 11.

The dripper 11 of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that an air flow path 23 is provided in the flange portion 23 and an inclined wall 22a is provided in a peripheral wall (room peripheral wall) 22 constituting the upper room 20. It is a point. Hereinafter, these points will be described.

≪Air channel 23a≫
An upper surface of the upper chamber 20 is closed by fixing the upper filtration sheet 50 to the flange portion 23. The upper chamber 20 is closed at the bottom by fixing the intermediate filtration sheet 40 to the bottom wall 21. Thus, since the upper room 20 is a room where the upper and lower sides are sealed, there is a problem that it is difficult to remove hot water during drip.
In order to solve this problem, an air flow path 23 a is formed in the flange portion 23. The air flow path 23 a is configured by a concave groove, one end opens on the peripheral wall 22, and the other end extends to the peripheral wall 25. As a result, even after the upper transmission sheet 50 is fixed to the flange portion 23, the upper chamber 20 communicates with the outside air.

  In the illustrated example, the air flow path 23a is formed in an elongated and complicated shape so that the coffee powder that is the contents does not leak. However, in the present invention, the specific shape and number of the air flow passages 23a are not limited to specific ones, and after the upper transmission sheet 50 is fixed to the flange portion 23, It suffices if the outside air can be communicated.

≪Inclined wall 22a≫
A peripheral wall (room peripheral wall) 22 constituting the upper room 20 is protruded at two opposing positions to constitute an inclined wall 22a. Thereby, the ground coffee accommodated in the upper room 20 is brought to the central region in the upper room 20, and can be dripped efficiently and without waste.
The specific shape and number of the inclined wall 22a are not limited to specific ones as long as the contents can be brought to the central region.

The upper perspective view which shows the dripper which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The lower perspective view of the dripper of FIG. FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view for explaining how to use the dripper of FIG. 1. The upper perspective view which shows the dripper which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

5 Coffee cup 5a Opening edge of coffee cup 10, 11 Dripper 20 Upper room 21 Bottom wall 22 Peripheral wall (room peripheral wall)
22a Inclined wall 23 Flange part 23a Air flow path 25 Peripheral wall 30 Lower room 31 Bottom wall 32 Peripheral wall 35 Opening 36 Film material (lid)
40 Intermediate filtration sheet 50 Upper transmission sheet

Claims (4)

A dripper that is used on the opening peripheral edge (5a) of the cup (5),
Comprising an upper room (20) and a lower room (30) connected to each other vertically through an intermediate filtration sheet (40);
The bottom wall (31) of the lower room has an opening (35) covered with a removable lid,
A dripper comprising a peripheral wall (25) erected around the top surface of the upper chamber (20) with an upper transmission sheet (50).   The upper chamber (20) is placed on the opening peripheral edge (5a) of the cup (5) on its bottom wall surface (21), at which time the lower chamber (30) is located in the cup (5). Item 1. A dripper according to item 1. An upper transmission sheet (50) is fixed to a flange portion (23) extending outward from the upper end of the room peripheral wall (22) of the upper room (20),
An air flow path (23a) constituted by a concave groove is formed in the flange portion (23), and the upper transmission sheet (50) is fixed to the flange portion (23) by the air flow path (23a). The dripper according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the upper chamber (20) is in communication with the outside air even after the operation.   The dripper according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an inclined wall (22a) is provided on the room peripheral wall (22) of the upper room (20) to bring the contents to the central region in the upper room.

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