Bottled water cooler air filter
AssigneeElkay Manufacturing Company
InventorsWilliam L. Schroer, Kraig S. Kniss
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bottled water cooler has a bottle inverted into a cooling reservoir, and a double lipped gasket seals the bottle to the reservoir. Air is admitted, to permit water flow, through a conduit ending in a housing. The housing supports a removable, and replaceable, filter element carrying an extremely fine porosity filter medium. A check valve in the housing blocks the conduit unless the filter element is in place. The housing and conduit is mounted on the cooler cabinet in a shielded, but conveniently accessible, location.
Claims10
An air filtering system for permitting clean air intake to an otherwise air sealed region comprising, in combination, a gasket forming a portion of what defines said air sealed region, a valve and filter housing, a conduit connecting the interior of said housing to and through said gasket for transmitting air from the housing to said region, a filter element carrying a filter medium removably fitted on said housing so as to otherwise close the interior of the housing except for said conduit, a normally closed valve in said housing for sealing said conduit from the interior of said housing, and means on said filter element for opening said valve when the element is fitted on said housing, whereby air can pass through said filter medium, through said conduit and into said region, said valve being closed when the filter element is removed from the housing.
An air filtering system for permitting clean air intake to an otherwise air sealed region comprising, in combination, sealing means for closing said air sealed region including a gasket forming a portion of what defines said air sealed region, a valve and filter housing, a conduit connecting the interior of said housing to and through said sealing means for transmitting air from the housing to said region, a filter element carrying a filter medium removably fitted on said housing so as to otherwise close the interior of the housing except for said conduit, a normally closed valve in said housing for sealing said conduit from the interior of said housing, and means on said filter element for opening said valve when the element is fitted on said housing, whereby air can pass through said filter medium, through said conduit and into said region, said valve being closed when the filter element is removed from the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.