Beverage dispensing urn with surface-covering member and method
AssigneeFood Equipment Technologies Company, Inc.
InventorZbigniew G. Lassota
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A beverage dispensing urn (10) with a body (12) having a double-walled vacuum insulation construction with a movable insulation assembly (28) having a hollow movable insulating member (30, 30′) made of an annular or cylindrical envelope of stainless steel that floats upon the surface (36) of the beverage (18) within the interior of the body (12) to insulate it from the portions of the body above the surface (36) and the air contained within the body and is slideably guided by the interior surface (34) of the body (12) and, in the case of the annular envelope, by a hollow guide member (42) that conveys beverage (18) from the inlet (16) to a portion (48) of the body (12) beneath the movable insulation member through an opening (44) in the movable insulating member.
Claims28
In a beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and a dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a surface covering assembly, comprising:
- a relatively rigid, substantially air impermeable, movable surface-covering member with a perimeter slightly smaller than that of an interior surface of the hollow body and which generally conforms to a cross sectional shape of the interior surface;
- and
- means for mounting the movable surface-covering member within the body and on top of a top surface of the beverage within the hollow body to reduce contact of air within the body with the surface of the beverage, the mounting means including a vertical guide member located within the body, and the surface-covering member including an opening for snug sliding receipt of the vertical guide member.
In a beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and a dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a surface covering assembly, comprising:
- a relatively rigid, substantially air impermeable, movable surface-covering member with a perimeter slightly smaller than that of an interior surface of the hollow body and which generally conforms to a cross sectional shape of the interior surface;
- means for mounting the movable surface-covering member within the body and on top of a top surface of the beverage within the hollow body to reduce contact of air within the body with the surface of the beverage;
- and
- means for passing beverage from the inlet to a portion of the body beneath the surface covering members, the passing means including an elongate hollow tube extending from the inlet and through an opening in the relatively rigid, movable surface-covering member.
In a beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and a dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a method of reducing heat transfer of the beverage, comprising the steps of:
- insulating the body;
- insulating a top surface of the beverage with a movably mounted insulating member that covers in contact with at least a significant portion of the entire surface by floating the movable mounted insulating member on top of the beverage within the body,
- passing beverage received at the inlet into a portion of the body beneath the movably mounted insulating member through an opening in the movably mounted insulating member, the step of passing including the step of passing the beverage from the inlet through an elongate tube that slideably extends through the opening in the movably mounted insulating member.
In beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and a dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a method of reducing heat transfer of the beverage, comprising the steps of:
- insulating the body with a vacuum contained within a double-walled construction of the body;
- insulating a top surface of the beverage with a movably mounted insulating member that covers and is in contact with at least a significant portion of the entire surface;
- and
- passing the beverage through a gap between the surface-covering member and an interior surface of the body.
In a beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and a dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a surface covering assembly, comprising:
- a relatively rigid, substantially air impermeable, movable surface-covering member with a perimeter slightly smaller than that of an interior surface of the hollow body and which generally conforms to a cross sectional shape of the interior surface;
- and
- means for mounting the movable surface-covering member within the body and on top of a top surface of the beverage within the hollow body to reduce contact of air within the body with the surface of the beverage;
- means for passing beverage from the inlet to a portion of the body beneath the surface-covering member including an elongate hollow tube extending from the inlet and through an opening in the relatively rigid, movable surface-covering member, said passing means also including an opening in the relatively rigid movable insulating member for the passage of beverage from the inlet to a location beneath the surface-covering member.
In a beverage dispensing urn having a hollow body, a top with an inlet for receipt of beverage, a bottom, a base for supporting the bottom above a support surface, and dispensing faucet adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage from the bottom, the improvement being a surface covering assembly, comprising:
- a relatively rigid, substantially air impermeable, movable surface-covering member with a perimeter slightly smaller than that of an interior surface of the hollow body and which generally conforms to a cross sectional shape of the interior surface;
- and
- means for mounting the movable surface-covering member within the body and on top of a top surface of the beverage within the hollow body to reduce contact of air within the body with the surface of the beverage;
- and
- means for passing beverage from an inlet to a portion of the body beneath the surface covering means including a gap between interior sides of the body and sides of the surface-covering body, and in which
- the surface-covering member provides a continuous covering surface between perimeter edges of the surface covering member, and
- the gap provides the only passageway for beverage to be passed to the portion of the body beneath the surface-covering member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.