Insulating enclosure for a necked beverage bottle

#This invention relates to an insulator for beverage bottles, and more particularly, to an insulating enclosure for a beverage bottle of the type of the so-called “long necked” construction.

#Over the years, there have been a variety of proposals for insulators for beverage containers. A fairly common example is found in the type that is a cylindrical enclosure having an open top and which has a cylindrical side wall and a bottom wall of approximately ¼ inch in thickness and which is made out of a pliable foam. The same includes a generally cylindrical recess whose diameter is about or ever so slightly less than the diameter of a conventional beverage can (2⅝ inches) and a depth of about ¾ inch less than the height of a conventional beverage can, i.e., approximately 4 inches. A beverage can or bottle can be snugly received within the cylindrical recess and have its bottom wall and in the case of a can, most of its side wall enclosed by the insulator. Because the same is made of a pliable foam material, the cells in the foam provide dead air spaces that serve to provide the insulator with insulating qualities. The pliable nature of the foam allows the same to expand somewhat so that a beverage container may be snugly received in it, with the insulator itself frictionally gripping the sides of the beverage container.

#Other types of insulators may include a rigid or semi-rigid cylindrical containing having a cylindrical recess and insulated side and bottom walls. In this case, the open top may be ringed with a plurality of relatively short, resilient, radially inward directing fingers which serve to engage the side wall of a conventional beverage container and frictionally hold the same in place.

#FIG. 1 is a vertical, exploded sectional view of an insulating enclosure for a necked beverage bottle made according to the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view from above of the top of the insulator; and

#FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of part of the major base of the top of the insulator.

#An insulator for a necked beverage bottle, part of which may be also useful as an insulator for a conventional beverage can, is illustrated in FIG. 1 and is seen to include a generally cylindrical container, generally designated 10, and a removable, frustoconical top, generally designated 12. Referring to the container 10, the same includes a cylindrical outer liner 14, preferably provided with a decorative outer surface. Inwardly of the outer liner 14 is an inner liner 16. In the usual case, the liners 14 and 16 will be made of the same material which can include a metal, such as stainless steel or a plastic.

#It is to be noted that the inner liner 16 is spaced from the outer liner by an insulating space 18 that extends about the side walls of the liners 14 and 16 and between the bottom walls 20 and 22 of the liners 14 and 16. The insulating space 18 is sealed and may be formed by pulling a vacuum on the space 18 in a conventional fashion or, in the alternative, may be filled with an insulating material such as foam or simply constitute a dead air space.

#At its upper end, the inner liner 16 includes a radially outwardly directed neck 24 whose outer diameter is the same as the inner diameter of the outer line 14 and which is bonded metallurgically, as by welding or the like, to the outer liner 14 to seal the insulating space 18.