Soft-sided cooler with soft-sided freeze pack
OwnerCharles E. Jonesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A soft-sided cooler is disclosed having a pivotably fastenable lid and a soft-sided coolant pack dimensioned to fit snugly within the underside region of the lid. The underside region is defined by a plurality of generally opposing, inwardly facing sidewalls that extend downward towards the cooler body for fastening thereto when the lid is closed. The cooling pack comprises a matrix of coolant cells integrally formed within a compliant plastic sheet, and inserted within a fabric envelope. The envelope, in turn, bears Velcro fastening material which releasably retain the envelope within the underside of the lid by mating with VELCRO surfaces on at least a generally opposing pair of the sidewalls.
Claims19
A soft-sided cooler comprising:
- a thermally insulated body having a cavity defining an open-ended storage region;
- a lid pivotably fastenable to said body to close the open end of the cooler cavity, the lid having an underside region defined by a plurality of generally opposing, inwardly facing sidewalls which extend downward towards the body for fastening thereto when the lid is in the cavity-closing position;
- a coolant pack including a coolant cell matrix formed of a compliant material, said cell matrix having at least one cell holding a cooling medium,
- said coolant pack further including an outer fabric envelope holding said matrix, the envelope being sized to fit snugly within the underside region of the lid;
- and
- VELCRO fastening means including a pair of pressure-sensitive, adherent fastening surfaces, one of the fastening surfaces being affixed to each of at least two generally opposing sidewalls of said sidewall plurality, and the other of the fastening surfaces being secured to the envelope to contact the first surfaces so that the coolant pack is removably secured against movement into the storage region when the lid is in the cavity-closing position.
A coolant pack for use in a portable cooler and comprising:
- a coolant cell matrix formed of a compliant material, said cell matrix having at least one cell holding a cooling medium;
- and
- an outer fabric envelope for holding said matrix, said envelope having an internal matrix-holding cavity defined between major opposing faces and a circumferentially extending edge region disposed between the major faces when the envelope is inserted within the cooler,
- the envelope further including VELCRO fastening means material disposed along at least portions of the edge region oppositely positioned about the circumference of the envelope to reversibly adhere to complementary VELCRO fastening means surfaces within the portable cooler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.