Teakettle with closure inside spout
AssigneeHelen of Troy Limited
InventorsEric Chan, Jeff Miller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A teakettle has a vessel defining a storage chamber with a spout, a handle connected to the vessel and including a hollow portion communicating with the chamber, a closure member disposed within the spout and movable for opening and closing the spout, an actuator on the handle, and a linkage assembly extending through the hollow portion of the handle and coupling the actuator to the closure member for opening the closure member inwardly of the spout in response to actuation of the actuator.
Claims18
A portable liquid container comprising:
- a vessel defining a liquid storage chamber and having a spout communicating with the chamber,
- a handle assembly connected to the vessel and including a hollow portion communicating with the chamber,
- a closure member disposed within the spout and capable of movement between a closed position closing the spout and an open position accommodating flow of liquid through the spout,
- a bias structure resiliently urging the closure member to the closed position,
- an actuator carried by the handle assembly and capable of movement between actuating and release positions, and
- a linkage assembly extending through the hollow portion of the handle assembly and coupling the actuator to the closure member for moving the closure member disposed within the spout to its open position in a direction inwardly of, and maintained within the spout in response to movement of the actuator to its actuating position.
A portable liquid container comprising:
- a vessel defining a liquid storage chamber and having a spout communicating with the chamber,
- a handle assembly including a hollow metal tube connected to the vessel and communicating with the chamber,
- the handle assembly including a thermally insulating sleeve assembly enclosing a portion of the tube and having an actuator portion movable between actuating and release positions,
- a closure member disposed within the spout for movement between a closed position closing the spout and an open position accommodating flow of liquid through the spout,
- a bias structure resiliently urging the closure member to the closed position, and
- a linkage assembly extending through the tube and coupling the actuator portion to the closure member for moving the closure member disposed within the spout to its open position in a direction inwardly of, and maintained within the spout in response to movement of the actuator portion to its actuating position.
A method of opening and closing a spout of a kettle having a storage chamber and a hollow tubular handle communicating with the chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
- disposing a closure member within the spout and an actuator on the handle,
- concealing a linkage assembly within the chamber and the handle for coupling the actuator to the closure member, and
- moving the actuator in response to grasping of the handle by a user's hand to move the closure member disposed within the spout inwardly of the spout to an open position which maintains the closure member within the spout.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.