US20080196443A1

US20080196443A1 - P.R.O. cooler or the perfectly re-engineered omni cooler

Info

Publication number: US20080196443A1
Application number: US11/706,813
Authority: US
Inventors: George Arthur Footer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-02-16
Filing date: 2007-02-16
Publication date: 2008-08-21

Abstract

The manner in which you use this cooler is you first remove the lid, then remove the inner tray. You then add ice (as much or as little as desired), water (enough to cover ice), a hand full of rock salt and the desired beverage containers. If traveling reinsert inner tray and lid and that's it, But if you are where your going and you want a drink fast just simply mix water with your hand and set timer to Cold, Ice Cold, Arctic Cold, or Liquid Ice and when bell rings your drinks are ready.

You can also reverse the lid and put ice and drinks in it as a serving cooler. The inner tray has four equal compartments for storing cold foods or for serving from. The Timer is also a great tool for grilling or as a reminder, when set, to keep an eye on the grill.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates specifically to the field of coolers or ice chests, i.e., generally rectangular containers with insulated walls and having a hinged or removable top lid, typically portable, into which items to be cooled or chilled, such as cans or bottles, are placed along with ice and water.
Coolers used in chilling and maintaining at reduced temperature beverage containers such as bottles or cans are well known. Usually composed of insulated plastic walls. Portable coolers are common for use in transporting bottles or cans of beverages to be consumed at chilled temperatures. In the most common scenario, a large number of cans or bottles are placed into the interior of the cooler and a large amount of relatively small ice cubes or crushed ice is then placed on top of the containers. As the heat is drawn from the cans or bottles by the ice, the ice melts to create a slurry of chilled water and ice surrounding, the beverage containers. Individual beverage containers are removed by simply reaching into the chilled water and ice mixture.
Because the quantity of beverage containers able to be chilled at any one time is limited by the size of the cooler, circumstances often arise, such as at a party, where it is desirable to restock or replenish the cooler with un-chilled cans or bottles for cooling. The problem that arises as to how long to wait and how can they be cooled faster than the ice and water method. By adding rock salt to the ice and water slurry a continuous quantity of chilled containers will always be available for consumption in a matter of minutes.
A cooler loses its usefulness after a drink is cooled. Because at parties and functions there is usually grilling, fishing, or some type of eating being done a cooler with multi functions was inevitable. To be more specific a cooler that not only cooled drinks in a faster than normal method but also could be a seat, have a serving bowl of nice per portion, include a reversible lid to serve as a means to hold ice, water and drinks while cooler is cooling more, and while grilling it would have a timer to sound off for set times or just as a reminder to check the food.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A cooler with the standard four walls and lid for use as a means to cool down below ambient temperatures containers such as bottles or cans for consuming. The lid on one side is a molded seat and on the other side is a bowl for serving purposes. The lid seals the cooler in either position. The cooler has an inner-bowl also for serving but while in cooler with lid in seat position makes a water tight cold storage bowl. A timer is located on the front of cooler with settings marked for cooling a drink to a desired range of temperatures. The cooler also has a drain or spout for draining water from cooler. This cooler was designed to be used with ice, water, and rock salt to cool down items but the rock salt is not a must. The rock salt is the key to faster cooling and lower water temperatures however.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Description of cooler is as follows:
The Cooler it's self;
1: Four walls and bottom are molded plastic to form a square with foam as an insulator for thermal properties to retain cooler than ambient temperatures inside when ice, water, and rock salt are added. An inner plastic liner over the insulating liner.
2: Inside cooler walls half way from bottom has a ½″ molded plastic rim that goes all the way around all four sides to make a complete ridge for the purpose of sitting and stopping a square bowl. About ¾ of an inch above ridge on all four sides is a ¼ inch wide by ¼ inch deep grove that goes all the way to the top of cooler on inside walls as for means to release air pressure when inserting inner square bowl and to release air pressure when installing lid in it's upright position.
3: A square bowl that fits snugly inside cooler sits on ½″ ridge to form a dry storage bowl that serves as dry but cooled storage space. Bowl is divided into four equal parts by two molded plastic dividers running perpendicular to each other. From corner to corner and corner to corner. At center of bowl where dividers cross, in each of the divider walls is a hole in divider to form four holes one in each compartment near center for means if inserting fingers to remove bowl from cooler. Bowl doubles as a four compartment serving bowl for cooled or room temperature foods. Bowl sides taper in as they go up and at the top one inch tapers in almost to a inward curl to allow lid-bowl to slide over top and form a seal with lid when lid is installed.
4: A lid that is foam filled for insulating properties that is rigid when closed to form a means as to be a seat. Lid has a slight impression to fit a persons bottom to make a comfortable seat. Lid on seat side has a ridge around outside edge for reversible sealing of cooler lid. Lid when removed and flipped over seals cooler and has molded on square bowl which serves as a serving bowl, salad bowl or meat platter or any means as to hold food that is not to be kept hot. Bowl is ideal for any cold or room temperature storage and serving. Bowl also serves as a wash basin or rinse basin. When lid is removed and returned to upright position and returned to cooler the lid forms a water tight cold storage space by sliding over the inner bowel and locking in air.
5: A drain spout with knob or push button located in the bottom corner of cooler front to drain liquid from inside.
6: A wind up timer with bell and dial ranging from zero (0) to sixty (60) minutes is located on the front side of cooler ¾ way up from bottom. The timer is glued into cooler body and sits flush with cooler outside. At the ten (10) minute mark it reads COLD, at the twelve (12) minute mark it reads ICE COLD, at the fifteen (15) minute mark it reads ARCTIC COLD, and at the eighteen (18) minute mark it reads LIQUID ICE. When set to desired minute, timer will ring when time has elapsed and indicate that time has elapsed. Timer is for the purpose of counting down a preset time from room temperature drinks to be cooled to a predetermined temperature setting. Timer also doubles as a sixty (60) minute grilling timer. Cooler will double as a water cooler when rock salt and inner-bowl are not used and drain spout will be used to dispense water.

Claims

1) The multi function cooler that cools faster by using water, ice, and rock salt and a timer with a bottom and four walls that each wall having a molded ridge going from left to right half way up (for stopping purposes) and a small groove in center of each wall going from top of wall to ¾ of an inch from ridge (for pressure relieving purposes), and also said cooler has a molded reversible lid which has a seat on one side and a molded plastic bowl on the other side; further more said cooler has an inner bowl that fits snugly to the inside walls of cooler and the sides of inner bowl slope in-ward as they go up as to have the lid bowl fit over it when lid is installed on cooler and cooler also has a sixty (60) minute timer with four distinct settings of COLD at ten (10) minutes, ICE COLD at twelve (12) minutes, ARCTIC COLD at fifteen (15) minutes, and LIQUID ICE at eighteen (18) minutes with the timer doubling as a grill timer and cooler also having a drain spout with valve to open and close to also double as a water dispenser.