Bottle cooler

Abstract

A bottle cooler comprising an upwardly opening chamber having a base upon which a bottle may be located, the neck of the bottle extending from an opening of the chamber, an upwardly opening reservoir adjacent the chamber, a pump, a passage from the reservoir communicating with the chamber so that water may be pumped in use from the reservoir to the chamber, the chamber including a further passage communicating with the reservoir arranged so that water may be circulated in use from the reservoir to the chamber and from the chamber to the reservoir, the cooler including a plurality of overflow conduits, a first conduit having an inlet from the reservoir and an outlet to the chamber, and a second conduit having an inlet from the chamber and outlet to the reservoir.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicant hereby claims foreign priority benefits under U.S.C. § 119 from United Kingdom Patent Application No. 0519718.1 filed on Sep. 28, 2005 the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to apparatus for cooling a bottle particularly but not exclusively a bottle containing wine or other beverage or drink.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wine coolers are well known, for example comprising an insulating container into which a bottle, ice and iced water may be placed. This kind of wine cooler has a disadvantage that a large capacity of container is necessary in order to maintain a cold bottle over a prolonged period, so that the bottle may not be securely supported with a risk of spillage or splashing. The rate of cooling may be slow and temperature of the bottle cannot be controlled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention a bottle cooler comprises an upwardly opening chamber having a base upon which a bottle may be located, the neck of the bottle extending from an opening of the chamber,

• • an upwardly opening reservoir adjacent the chamber;
  • a pump;
  • a passage from the reservoir communicating with the chamber so that water may be pumped in use from the reservoir to the chamber;
  • the chamber including a further passage communicating with the reservoir arranged so that water may be circulated in use from the reservoir to the chamber and from the chamber to the reservoir, the cooler including a plurality of overflow conduits, a first conduit having an inlet from the reservoir and an outlet to the chamber, and a second conduit having an inlet from the chamber and outlet to the reservoir.

A cooler in accordance with the present invention confers a number of advantages. The chamber may be dimensioned to be slightly larger than a bottle, for example being cylindrical and having a diameter slightly larger than a bottle, for example between 1 cm and 5 cm larger than the diameter of a standard wine bottle. In this way a continuous flow of coolant water across the surface of the bottle may be achieved providing a greater rate of cooling than is obtained when a bottle is simply immersed. In addition the bottle is held generally vertically reducing the risk of spillage or splashing as it is placed into or removed from the water. Furthermore, the capacity of water required may be less than with a conventional ice bucket, so that a smaller amount of ice is necessary in order to cool the water and to maintain the cold water at a low temperature.

In a preferred embodiment the outlet of the chamber comprises a spout opening into the reservoir.

The pump may be conveniently located between the outlet of the reservoir and the inlet of the first conduit.

The pump may be located below the floor of the reservoir, conveniently reducing the volume of the reservoir. The pump may be arranged to pump chilled water from the reservoir to the chamber or to pump water returning from the chamber to the reservoir, the latter preferred to minimise warming of the chilled water by the pump.

A timer and/or temperature controller may be provided to control the pump. The timer being calibrated to cause the pump to operate for a predetermined period to achieve a desired temperature. A thermostat may be provided to monitor the water temperature in the chamber.

In a preferred embodiment the outlet from the bottle chamber comprises an overflow, for example in the form of a spout emptying into the inlet reservoir.

The base may include a socket or one or more inwardly facing ribs or projections adapted to engage a bottle, preventing an empty or partially empty bottle from floating within the chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is further described by means of an example but not in any limitative sense with reference to accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooler in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cooler shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the cooler.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The wine cooler shown in the Figures comprises an oval or elliptical outer wall (1) mounted on a base (2). A curved inner wall (3) forms a chamber (5) dimensioned to receive a wine bottle (not shown). A raised support (4) on the lower surface of the chamber (5) provides a support for a bottle allowing coolant to circulate under the base of the bottle in use. The base may provide a socket to engage a bottle preventing the bottle from floating when empty or partially empty. Alternatively or in addition one or more inwardly facing ribs or projections may be arranged to engage the bottle to prevent floatation.

A reservoir (6) has a larger volume than the chamber (5) and serves to accommodate iced water (not shown) so that the water may be circulated between the reservoir (6) and chamber (5), while retaining the ice pieces within the reservoir (6). A pump (7) powered by batteries (16) is located beneath the base of the reservoir. The pump has an outlet (9) at the bottom of overflow conduit (13). The inlet (8) for the pump is located at the bottom of reservoir (6). An overflow spout (11) delivers water to the top of the chamber (5) via conduits (17) and (13), outlet (15) from chamber (5) at the bottom of conduit (12) allows water to fill the conduit (12) to flow via spout (10) into the reservoir (6). In this way water circulating between the chamber (5) and reservoir (6) flows up the vertical conduits (12, 13) and overflows from them into the adjacent vessel. This provides an attractive visual appearance and can also provide visible indication that the pump is functioning correctly. Water entering the chamber circulates around the circumference of the bottle passing downwardly to the outlet (15). In this way a constant laminar flow of cold water passes across the surface of the bottle, rapid cooling is achieved and a bottle may be maintained at a desired temperature by regulating the rate of the pump.

In an alternative embodiment the pump may be powered by a mains supply rather than batteries.

In an alternative embodiment the pump may be reversed so that the coolant flow is reversed.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof, it should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications to this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A bottle cooler comprising an upwardly opening chamber having a base upon which a bottle may be located, the neck of the bottle extending from an opening of the chamber,

an upwardly opening reservoir adjacent the chamber,

a pump,

a passage from the reservoir communicating with the chamber so that water may be pumped in use from the reservoir to the chamber,

the chamber including a further passage communicating with the reservoir arranged so that water may be circulated in use from the reservoir to the chamber and from the chamber to the reservoir, the cooler including and a plurality of overflow conduits, a first conduit having an inlet from the reservoir and an outlet to the chamber, and a second conduit having an inlet from the chamber and outlet to the reservoir.

2. The bottle cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pump is located between the outlet of the reservoir and inlet to the first conduit.

3. The bottle cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pump is located beneath a floor of the reservior.

4. The bottle cooler as claimed in claim 1 including a timer.

5. The bottler cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein an outlet from the bottle chamber comprises an overflow emptying in use into the reservoir.

6. The bottle cooler substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.