METHOD FOR ATTACHING A THERMOMETER TO A BEVERAGE CONTAINER LID

Abstract

A container is provided with a lid having a removable thermometer for measuring the temperature of liquids in the container. A gasket is provided to secure the thermometer to the lid and maintain a hermetic seal between the thermometer and the gasket and between the gasket and the lid. The gasket is resilient to maintain the hermetic seal when the thermometer is subjected to torque or other stresses such as may occur when the lid is attached or detached from the container.

Claims

1. A beverage container, comprising: a container body having an open end, an interior space and a perimeter edge surrounding the open end; a lid comprising: a perimeter side wall configured to engage the perimeter edge of the body and form a hermetic seal between the lid and the body; a top surface extending inwardly from the perimeter side wall; an opening in the top surface, the opening spaced inwardly from the perimeter side wall, a first surface extending from the opening toward the interior space of the container when the lid is secured to the container, the first surface terminating in an annular surface having a first aperture; a channel formed in the top surface, the channel circumscribing the opening; a first aperture in the top surface configured to dispense liquid from the body; a resilient gasket having a domed portion, the domed portion defining an inner edge and an outer edge, a downwardly depending outer side wall extending from the outer edge and configured to seat within the channel, a downwardly depending inner wall extending from the inner edge, a body portion extending from the inner wall, an aperture extending through the body portion and a groove formed in the body portion and adapted to engage the annular surface of the lid.

2. The container of claim 1, further comprising a thermometer having a face and an elongate stem extending from the face, the stem positioned in the aperture of the gasket.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the first surface of the lid comprises a conical surface.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein the body portion of the resilient gasket comprises a cylindrical portion and a conical portion, and wherein the groove is positioned between the cylindrical portion and the conical portion.

5. The container of claim 2, wherein the inner side wall of the gasket comprises a shoulder and the thermometer comprises an edge, and the shoulder is configured to secure the edge of the thermometer.

6. The container of claim 1, wherein the perimeter side wall of the lid includes an outwardly projecting gasket to form a seal with an inside surface of the container.

7. The container of claim 1, wherein the perimeter side wall of the lid threadably engages the container body.

8. The container of claim 1, wherein the lid is formed from a thermoplastic material.

9. The container of claim 8, wherein the thermoplastic material is polypropylene or polyester.

10. The container of claim 2, wherein the thermometer comprises a bimetallic dial face.

11. The container of claim 2, wherein the downwardly depending outer side wall comprises a projecting bead and the channel comprises first and second opposed channel side walls, at least one of the channel side walls comprising a groove configured to receive the projecting bead.

12. A container, comprising: a body having a generally cylindrical side wall, a base closing one end of the cylindrical side wall, and an open end opposite the base; a lid configured to close the open end of the body, the lid comprising a top surface, an opening centrally located on the top surface, the opening defining an annular edge, a channel in the top surface surrounding the opening and a first aperture extending through the lid and configured to allow liquid to be removed from the body; a thermometer having a body portion and a stem extending from the body portion, the body portion including a display for displaying a temperature, and a flexible gasket configured to secure the thermometer to the lid, the gasket having a body portion, the body portion having an outer surface with a circumferential groove in the outer surface and an aperture extending through body portion, an annular surface extending from one end of the body portion, the annular portion having an outer portion and an inner portion, the outer portion terminating in a downwardly depending lip; wherein, the stem of the thermometer is configured to form a hermetic seal with the aperture of the body portion of the gasket, the annular edge of the centrally located opening in the lid is configured to form a hermetic seal with the groove in the outer surface of the body portion of the gasket, and the lip of the gasket is configured to form a hermetic seal with the channel of the lid.

13. The container of claim 12, wherein the gasket comprises a shoulder located between the outer portion and inner portion of the annular surface, the shoulder configured to frictionally engage the body of the thermometer.

14. The container of claim 12, wherein the body portion of the gasket comprises a cylindrical portion and a tapered portion, and the tapered portion is configured to extend through the centrally located opening in the lid.

15. The container of claim 12, wherein the thermometer may move between a first unstressed position where the stem is normal to the lid, and a second stressed position where the stem is not normal to the lid, wherein, when a lateral force is applied to the stem of the thermometer and the stem moves from the first position to the second position the gasket distorts without breaking the seal between the lip and the channel, and when the force is removed the gasket returns the thermometer to the first position.

16. The container of claim 12, wherein the lip comprises an outwardly projecting bead and the channel comprises first and second opposed channel walls with a groove formed in at least one of the channel walls, and wherein the bead engages the groove to form a hermetic seal.

17. The container of claim 12, wherein the thermometer comprises a bimetallic dial face.

18. The container of claim 1, wherein the lid is formed from a thermoplastic material.

19. The container of claim 12, wherein the body portion of the gasket comprises a cylindrical portion and a conical portion, and wherein the circumferential groove is positioned between the cylindrical portion and the conical portion.

20. The container of claim 12, wherein the gasket is made of thermoset silicon.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the general description of the disclosure given above and the detailed description given below, explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0031] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a tumbler and lid with an attached bimetallic dial face thermometer and elastomeric gasket.

[0032] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the top side of the tumbler lid with an attached bimetallic dial face thermometer and elastomeric gasket illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a bimetallic dial face thermometer.

[0034] FIG. 4 is a section view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

[0035] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the elastomeric gasket illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0036] FIG. 6 is a centerline section view of the elastomeric gasket of FIG. 5.

[0037] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the tumbler lid of FIG. 1.

[0038] FIG. 8 is a section view of the tumbler lid of FIG. 7.

[0039] FIG. 9 is a section view of the tumbler and lid with an attached bimetallic dial face thermometer and elastomeric gasket of FIG. 4, further showing the thermometer and gasket in a pivoted position.

[0040] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of one embodiment of an insulated bottle with a sip through cap that has an attached bimetallic dial face thermometer.

[0041] FIG. 11 is a section view of the embodiment of FIG. 10.

[0042] It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the disclosure or that render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood, of course, that the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] With reference to FIG. 1, a beverage container 1, such as a tumbler, is shown. A bimetallic dial face thermometer 2 is affixed to the lid 4 of the beverage container 1 such that a hermetic seal is maintained as temperatures vary from boiling point to the freezing point of water, and as pressures vary above and below ambient conditions. A hermetic seal is also maintained while absorbing shock that occurs due to the bimetallic dial face thermometer stem 3 protruding from the tumbler lid 4 or bottle lid 4, as illustrated in FIGS. 2, 10 and 11. As also seen in FIG. 2, the tumbler lid 4 has an oblong opening 5 from which to drink the beverage contents and a small vent opening 6 to allow air to enter the container in reaction to negative pressures that arise when the liquid leaves the container during the activity of drinking. The lid 4 also has a compressible elastomeric ring 7 that acts as a low pressure hermetic seal and the mechanical means by which to secure the lid 4 to the tumbler 1. In FIG. 4, the seal is shown interfacing with an interior surface of the container 1. It should be appreciated that the lid may alternatively overlap the rim of the container 1 and seal against an exterior surface of the container. In a preferred embodiment, the tumbler lid 4 is made from a thermoplastic that is generally considered safe to contact food at temperatures near the boiling temperature of water such as polypropylene or a polyester. In one embodiment, the lid is substantially rigid, such that it does not flex when being detached or attached to the container. In other embodiments, the lid may be flexible such that it distorts in shape when attached or detached from the container.

[0044] FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a bimetallic dial face thermometer 2. A bimetallic dial face thermometer has advantages over electronic thermometers in that it does not require batteries, is reliable, is designed to be in contact with food and is commercially available within the temperature range applicable to beverages. Furthermore, the face 8 is easily recognizable and readable to the public. Also, the face 8 is generally perpendicular to the stem 3 of the thermometer such that the face 8 is easily nested within a beverage container lid 4. The length of the thermometer stem or probe 3 is sized to extend almost the complete length or height of the internal beverage container space 25 to measure the temperature of varying volumes of liquid, including small volumes of liquid that are present as the beverage is consumed over time. The stem 3 is made of a hard thermally conductive material like stainless steel.

[0045] In FIG. 4 the bimetallic dial face thermometer 2 is nested in an elastomeric gasket 9 that forms a hermetic seal 10 and 11 between the tumbler lid 4 and bimetallic dial face thermometer stem 3. The hermetic seal is accomplished by sizing the elastomeric gasket sealing diameter 12 (shown in FIG. 5) larger than the mating hole 13 (shown in FIG. 7) of the tumbler lid and sizing the hole 14 of the elastomeric gasket 9 smaller than the bimetallic thermometer stem 3. The net result is that there is an interference fit between hole 13 of lid 4 and sealing diameter 12 of elastomeric gasket 9; as well as, between the bimetallic dial face thermometer stem 3 and elastomeric gasket hole 14 that causes the soft flexible elastomeric gasket to deform and actively press against the harder mating surfaces 3 and 29 (shown in FIGS. 4 and 9 and to form hermetic seals 10 and 11. Furthermore, hole 13 (shown in FIG. 7) is dimensionally shallow so as to not create a sizeable distance between pressure points that act on the thermometer stem 3 at the top surface and bottom surface of hole 13 and thereby cause resistance to the pivoting motion of the dial face thermometer within the hole 13. Additionally, the thermometer 8 has an external edge 30 that frictionally nests in the shoulder 31 of the surface 32 of gasket 9 that extends between the cylinder 15 and the domed portion 18.

[0046] Due to the protruding length of stem 3, the thermometer is subject to impulsive forces while removing the lid from the tumbler with a peeling motion. This is more likely with a rigid lid. The flexible elastomeric gasket 9 of FIG. 5 is intended to absorb the shock from the impulsive forces acting on the stem 3 (shown in FIG. 9) by pivoting within opening 13 of the tumbler lid 4 while maintaining hermetic seals 10 and 11 during the pivoting motion. The soft flexible nature of the elastomeric gasket 9 material and geometry of said elastomeric gasket allow the bimetallic dial face thermometer to pivot under load and return to its original unloaded position as shown in FIG. 4 through the bottom face 27 (shown in FIG. 5) of the cylindrical portion 15 interacting with the rigid annular ring 28 surrounding the opening 13 of the lid 4. The cylinder 15 of the elastomeric gasket 9 acts as a spring to provide the force to return the bimetallic dial face thermometer stem 3 to its unstressed position as shown in FIG. 4. Furthermore, cylinder 15 of the elastomeric gasket 9 acts as a locating feature to contain the sealing surface 12 of said gasket in the hole 13 of the tumbler lid 4. In addition, the cylinder 15 of the elastomeric gasket 9 shown in FIG. 4 determines the position of the dial face 8 of the bimetallic dial face thermometer 2 relative to the tumbler lid 4 such that said dial face properly nests within the original unstressed form of the elastomeric gasket.

[0047] In FIG. 5 the conical end 16 of the elastomeric gasket 9 traps the sealing diameter 12 within the tumbler lid hole 13 and keeps elastomeric gasket cylinder surface 12 of the elastomeric gasket 9 against surface 29 of the hole 13 of the tumbler lid 4 (shown in FIGS. 4, 7 and 8) as the bimetallic dial face thermometer rotates from a pivoted position of FIG. 9 to an unstressed state within hole 13 of said tumbler lid as shown in FIG. 4.

[0048] The outer side wall or vertical lip 17 extending from the domed surface 18 of the elastomeric gasket 9 engages the tumbler lid side walls 19 and 20 of channel 21 of the tumbler lid 4 to form a low pressure seal that keeps beverages from pooling in the tapered cavity 22 below the elastomeric gasket 9 that accommodates the pivoting motion of the bimetallic dial face thermometer 8. When the bimetallic dial face thermometer pivots, the elastomeric gasket deforms to accommodate the travel of the dial face 8. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, as the dial face 8 pivots in a clockwise direction, the right side of the elastomeric gasket 9 sweeps downward and to the right which fully engages the lip 17 into the right-side channel 21 of the tumbler lid 4. As shown, the domed surface 18 on the right side distorts and compresses. The left side of the dial face 8 sweeps upward and to the right as it rotates clockwise. On the opposite side of the gasket, this motion engages lip 17 into the channel side wall 19 thereby engaging the bead 23 of elastomeric gasket 9 (shown in FIGS. 6 and 8) into a mating groove 24 of side wall 19 of channel 21. The engagement of bead 23 into groove 24 acts to resist the upward pull on lip 17 of the elastomeric gasket 9 as the dial face 8 pivots clockwise. After the rebound of the dial face to its home position as shown in FIG. 4 the lip 17 of the elastomeric gasket 9 will be fully engaged with said channel 21 of the tumbler lid as intended in FIG. 4. It is preferable that the elastomeric gasket is made from a thermoset silicon. Silicon has the advantage of maintaining its resilient mechanical properties and resisting a permanent compression set in the hermetic seals 10 and 11 at freezing and boiling temperatures. This is particularly important when the thermometer pivots within the shallow round hole 13 of the tumbler lid 4. The amount of interference between mating surfaces 12 and 13, and 3 and 14 that form the hermetic seals 10 and 11 is sized to accommodate compression set and thermal linear expansion.

[0049] Of course, the method of attaching a bimetallic dial face thermometer can be used or applied to other container lids. FIG. 10 shows a vacuum insulated bottle with a drink through lid that has a bimetallic dial face thermometer 3 and elastomeric gasket 9 attached. FIG. 11 shows a centerline section view that reveals the duplicate geometry of FIGS. 4 and 9 incorporated into container lid 4 shown in FIG. 11. The lid 4 has an oblong opening 5 from which to drink the liquid from the container and a small vent opening 6 to allow air to enter the contain in reaction to negative pressures created during the act of drinking. A channel 21 is formed in the upper surface of the lid 4 to receive the vertical lip 17 of the elastomeric gasket 9. The thermometer 8 is nested in a gasket 9 that is shaped to form a hermetic seal with the lid 4 as described in connection with the prior embodiment. The gasket 9 includes a cylindrical body 15 with a conical end 16. A reduced diameter cylindrical portion 12 between the cylindrical body 15 and the conical portion 16 traps the sealing diameter of the hole 13 of the lid 4. Rather than a friction fit between the lid 4 and the container body, the illustrated lid 4 threadably engages the container body. Here, the threads 40 are internal to the lid 4 and external to the container body, but those of skill in the art will appreciate the location of the threads 40 may be reversed.

[0050] Although the present disclosure has included description of one or more embodiments and certain variations and modifications, other variations and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter. It is noted that the examples shown and described are provided for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting.

[0051] While various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it is apparent that modifications and alterations of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, the trailing edge 32 may have a different profile or shape. The ability of the bottle to roll on its leading edge does not directly involve the shape or contour of the trailing edge 32. Rather than being curved and providing the body with a generally cylindrical shape, the trailing edge 32 may comprise a straight portion, multiple straight portions, a differently curved portion, i.e., differently curved compared to the front portion 30, or multiple differently shaped portions. However, it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and alterations are within the scope and spirit of the present invention, as set forth in the following claims. Other modifications or uses for the present invention will also occur to those of skill in the art after reading the present disclosure. Such modifications or uses are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention.