Beverage container stopper and pressurization system
AssigneeCoravin, Inc.
InventorsOtto DeRuntz, Michael Rider
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stopper for closing sparkling and other non-pressurized beverage containers. A stopper body may have a carrier member and lip engagement member arranged for sliding movement relative to each other and relative to the stopper body. The lip engagement member may be arranged to engage with a lip of a container neck, and be resiliently biased to move toward the carrier member to provide a seal-forming force on a sealing surface of the stopper body. The stopper may be arranged to introduce gas into the container, e.g., to re-pressurize the container to keep a carbonation level of beverage during storage.
Claims47
A stopper for use with a beverage container having a neck, an opening at the neck to access an interior space of the container, and a lip on an outer surface of the neck, the stopper comprising:
- a stopper body having a sealing surface arranged to contact and form a seal with a portion of the neck around the opening;
- a carrier member mounted for sliding movement relative to the stopper body;
- and
- a lip engagement member including a pawl mounted for pivotal movement between a lip engaging position for engaging with the lip on the container neck and a release position, the lip engagement member being mounted for sliding movement relative to the stopper body and relative to the carrier member, the lip engagement member being resiliently biased for movement toward the carrier member by a first resilient element.
A stopper for use with a beverage container having a neck, an opening at the neck to access an interior space of the container, and a lip on an outer surface of the neck, the stopper comprising:
- a stopper body having a sealing surface arranged to contact and form a seal with a portion of the neck around the opening;
- a lip engagement member including a pawl mounted for pivotal movement between a lip engaging position for engaging with the lip on the container neck and a release position, the lip engagement member being mounted for sliding movement relative to the stopper body;
- and
- a handle pivotally mounted about a horizontal axis to the stopper body and movable between a closed position, an intermediate position and an open position, the intermediate position being between the open and closed positions, movement of the handle relative to the stopper body causing movement of the lip engagement member toward and away from the stopper body, wherein with the handle in the open position, the lip engagement member is positioned away from the stopper body and the pawl is in the release position to receive the container neck, wherein with the handle in the closed position the pawl is in the lip engaging position and the lip engagement member is positioned toward the stopper body to urge the sealing surface to engage with the portion of the neck around the opening to form the seal, and wherein movement of the handle from the closed position to the intermediate position causes the lip engagement member to move away from the stopper body such that the seal is broken but the pawl remains in the lip engaging position to prevent removal of the stopper from the container.
The stopper of claim 31, wherein the pawl is spring biased to move toward the lip engaging position and movement of the lip engagement member away from the stopper body causes a portion of the sidewall at the opening to contact the pawl and move the pawl to the release position against the spring bias.
A stopper for use with a beverage container having a neck, an opening at the neck to access an interior space of the container, and a lip on an outer surface of the neck, the stopper comprising:
- a stopper body having a sealing surface arranged to contact and form a seal with a portion of the neck around the opening;
- a lip engagement member including a pawl configured to engage with the lip on the container neck;
- and
- a first resilient element to cause the sealing surface to resiliently engage with the portion of the neck around the opening;
- wherein the stopper is configured to seal the interior space of the container closed when the stopper body is at a rest position and the first resilient element causes the sealing surface to resiliently engage with the portion of the neck around the opening, and is configured to at least partially disengage the sealing surface from the portion of the neck around the opening and vent the interior space in response to manipulation of the stopper body from the rest position relative to the container while the first resilient element causes the sealing surface to resiliently engage with the portion of the neck around the opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.