OXYGEN ABSORBING CAP

Abstract

An oxygen absorbing cap includes a hollow chamber, a removable top that is adapted to screw into or snap into the cap so as to close the hollow chamber and, when removed, to provide access to the hollow chamber, an oxygen absorber adapted to fit into the hollow chamber, and a waterproof breathable film (e.g., e-PTFE microporous film) located in the hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in the bottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contacting the oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact the oxygen absorber. The cap may also be used with a valve that limits the amount of air that contacts the liquid to the air that replaces the poured liquid or used with a pump that replaces the poured liquid with oxygen-free air so that air never contacts liquid in the bottle.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC §119 to Chinese Patent Application No. 2013202068156, filed Apr. 23, 2013, now issued as Chinese Patent CN 203173078 U 29-36. The contents of that application are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is directed to an oxygen absorbing cap such as a cap for protecting wine by removing oxygen from an opened bottle of wine.

BACKGROUND

Oxygen is the enemy of wine. Once a wine bottle is opened, the wine starts to degrade due to the chemical reaction between the delicate wine aromatic compounds and oxygen. Deterioration by oxygen in the wine bottle is a well-known problem for storing left-over wine and results in an expensive waste of unconsumed wine. Usually vacuuming and inert gas pumping devices are used to help slow down the deterioration process. A vacuuming device sucks out about 70% of the oxygen in the wine bottle. Inert gas pumping devices fill the wine bottle with inert gas, such as argon or nitrogen while flushing out the oxygen in the wine bottle. However, the vacuuming method is not able to completely remove oxygen which limits its long term use. An inert gas pumping device is not convenient for family use and may not be economical. Moreover, neither method continuously removes oxygen between wine pourings. Additionally, the vacuuming method can disrupt wine chemistry which can destroy the wine taste.

Other devices used in the art for removing oxygen from containers include a sealing cap with an oxygen absorber as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280. The sealing cap described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 has a significant limitation in that the oxygen absorber cannot be replaced once it has been depleted and there is no visual gauge to determine whether the absorber is depleted. Also, the sealing cap described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 is designed for a particular bottle and is not adapted to be used in different bottles. In addition, the sealing cap in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,280 has a very small confined space for holding the oxygen absorber, limiting its use for large volume or multiple uses.

Another similar device used in the art for removing oxygen from containers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,236. That patent describes infusing an entire container with an oxygen scavenger that will absorb oxygen in the head space of the container. However, such an approach has a major drawback in that the contents of a wine bottle must be transferred into the container bottle instead of simply inserting a cap to absorb the oxygen. In addition, most wine enthusiasts abhor placing a delicate wine into any plastic bottle, let alone a plastic bottle infused with an oxygen scavenger chemical. Plus, the design has the same drawbacks as the devices mentioned above in that no visual gauge is provided to determine whether the oxygen scavenger remains effective and there is no convenient way to replace the depleted or partially depleted oxygen absorber with a fresh oxygen absorber. In addition, this design does not continually prevent oxygen from touching the wine as it is being poured from the bottle.

There are also a number of wine preservation and wine dispensing designs known in the art. These designs generally include an expanding barrier (such as a balloon-like device) and/or a pressurized gas source (such as nitrogen or argon) to flush out the oxygen in a bottle (e.g., see U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,453,888, 8,371,478, and 7,051,901). However, these designs have shortcomings such as no visual gauge to determine the amount of oxygen remaining in the bottle and the inability to automatically remove oxygen. They also are incapable of continually preventing oxygen from touching the wine as it is being poured from the bottle.

An alternative technique for removing oxygen from a wine bottle or other type of bottle is desired that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art designs and is simple and cost-effective enough for home use. The invention addresses these needs in the art.

SUMMARY

The invention addresses the above needs in the art by providing a cap that can continuously absorb oxygen and maintain oxygen levels of less than 0.01% in a bottle such as a wine bottle to prevent wine or other liquid in the bottle from being attacked by oxygen. In exemplary embodiments, the cap is a simple extrusion molded plastic device that houses an oxygen scavenger and is designed to allow a user to replace or add more oxygen absorber packets of different sizes for prolonged wine pouring or storing and faster oxygen removal. The cap is designed for insertion into all typical wine bottles and allows the user to recap the bottle multiple times or to use it with multiple bottles as desired while still providing an oxygen-free headspace and an air-tight seal.

In an exemplary embodiment, the oxygen absorbing cap of the invention is adapted for insertion into an open end of a bottle, such as a wine bottle, so as to form an air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle. The cap includes a hollow chamber, a removable top that is adapted to screw into or snap into the cap so as to close the hollow chamber and, when removed, to provide access to the hollow chamber, an oxygen absorber adapted to fit into the hollow chamber, and a waterproof breathable film (e.g., an e-PTFE microporous film) located at a bottom of the hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in the bottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contacting the oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact the oxygen absorber. An O-ring may be installed in the removable top and adapted to provide an air-tight seal between the removable top and the hollow chamber. Also, the hollow chamber and the tapered portion may be molded into a one piece integral unit.

The air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle is formed by a tapered portion of the cap that is adapted for insertion in the open end of the bottle to form the air-tight seal between an outside wall of the tapered portion and the open end of the bottle. To facilitate sealing, the tapered portion includes at least one sealing groove around the outside wall of the tapered portion that accepts an O-ring that, in turn, forms an air-tight seal with the open end of the bottle when the cap is pushed into the open end of the bottle. In exemplary embodiments, a surface of the sealing groove has a conical shape or a stair-case shape.

In another exemplary embodiment, the cap is adapted to be inserted into the bottle once as it does not need to be removed for pouring. This has the advantage that it allows less oxygen from entering the bottle as occurs when the cap is completely removed because the volume of the air introduced into the bottle when pouring is equal to that of the liquid poured out. This means that only a smaller amount of oxygen needs to be removed by the oxygen absorber, resulting in faster oxygen removal and savings in use of the oxygen absorber. In another exemplary embodiment, the cap is adapted to allow pouring of the liquid without any oxygen coming into contact with the liquid at any time. In this embodiment, the cap includes a valve that, when opened, permits liquid to be poured from the bottle and replaced by air that contacts the oxygen absorber for removal of oxygen. An air passage directs air entering the valve to the oxygen absorber for removal.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, an oxygen absorbing cap is provided that it adapted to allow pouring of a liquid from a bottle without oxygen from the air coming into contact with the liquid in the bottle Such an embodiment includes a threaded hollow tube adapted to be screwed in and through a cork to access the liquid in the bottle, a battery-driven pump connected to the threaded hollow tube to pump liquid from the bottle, a manual valve that turns on the pump when opened and provides an exit for the liquid pumped from the bottle, and an oxygen-free air supply module including a tube by which gas exits and enters the bottle and at least one oxygen-free gas chamber that provides oxygen-free air to the bottle via the tube as liquid is pumped from the bottle.

In the latter embodiment, the oxygen-free air supply module may further include two oxygen-free gas chambers, a manual switch for switching gas between the chambers, two check valves, and a thin isolation membrane between the gas chambers. In operation, the battery-driven pump pumps oxygen-free gas from at least one of the oxygen-free gas chambers into the bottle via the tube to exert pressure to move the liquid through the threaded hollow tube to the manual valve for pouring. Also, pressing the manual switch seals a check valve to a first oxygen-free gas chamber when the battery-driven pump pumps gas from the first oxygen-free gas chamber. When a pressure in the first oxygen-free gas chamber becomes less than a pressure in a second oxygen-free gas chamber, the isolation membrane is pushed towards the first oxygen-free gas chamber until pressure equilibrium is reached. Then, once a pressure in the second oxygen-free gas chamber is less than that of outside air, a second check valve is opened to allow air into the second oxygen-free gas chamber.

In any of the exemplary embodiments, the oxygen absorbing cap may further include an oxygen indicator that shows, when the cap is inserted into the open end of the bottle, an indication of an oxygen level in the bottle. For example, the indication of oxygen level may be different colors for different amounts of oxygen present in the bottle.

These and other features and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages of the oxygen absorbing cap of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cut-away side view of an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2(a) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 inserted into a wine bottle.

FIG. 2(b) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 dismantled into its component parts.

FIG. 3 is a cut-away side view of an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cap of FIG. 3 inserted into a wine bottle.

FIG. 5 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1-5. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description given herein with respect to those figures is for exemplary purposes only and is not intended in any way to limit the scope of the invention. All questions regarding the scope of the invention may be resolved by referring to the appended claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2(a) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 inserted into a wine bottle, and FIG. 2(b) illustrates the cap of FIG. 1 dismantled into its component parts.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the cap of the first embodiment of the invention includes a removable top (1), a hollow chamber (4), and a tapered portion (7) adapted for insertion into a bottle. The removable top (1) and the hollow chamber (4) are connected by snapping-in or screwing-in the removable top (1) into a top portion of the hollow chamber (4). An O-ring (3) provides an air-tight seal between the removable top (1) and the hollow chamber (4). The hollow chamber (4) and the tapered portion (7) can be extrusion molded into one integral piece. Also, as shown in FIG. 1, the outside wall of the tapered portion (7) has at least one sealing ring groove (5) where a sealing O-ring (3) made of food-safe silicon rubber is installed to provide an air-tight seal between the tapered portion and the open end of the bottle when the cap is pushed into the open end of the bottle. Plural sealing O-rings on the tapered portion (7) permit the cap to provide air-tight seals with bottles of different sizes.

In use, an oxygen absorber (2) is placed in the hollow chamber (4). Suitable oxygen absorbers (2) for such applications are well-known. For example, Yamada discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,763 an oxygen scavenger suitable for removing oxygen from a container.

The oxygen absorbing cap in the embodiment of FIG. 1 allows a consumer to use a commercially available oxygen absorber packet of various types, depending on needs. For example, a packet with a rating of 200 cc means that the packet will remove 200 milliliters (ml) oxygen and clears an empty space of about five times its rating (because air only contains 20% oxygen), i.e. it will clear an empty bottle containing as much as 1 liter of air. A typical unopened wine bottle contains 750 ml wine.

The hollow chamber (4) is preferably sized to allow placing multiple oxygen absorber packets for multiple uses and/or faster oxygen removal. For example, instead of using one packet of 200 cc oxygen absorber, one can use two packets of 200 cc for two wine bottles. One skilled in the art will further appreciate that the oxygen absorber can also be a customized product that is specially designed for use with bottles of particular sizes and adapted for customized use with the cap of the invention.

A waterproof breathable film (6) is installed at a bottom portion of the hollow chamber (4) to seal the oxygen absorber (2) inside to prevent the liquid from contacting the oxygen absorber (2). However, the breathable film (6) permits air to pass through so that oxygen may be scavenged from the bottle by the oxygen absorber (2). The waterproof breathable film (6) can be an e-PTFE microporous film or other suitable waterproof breathable film that allows oxygen but not water to pass through.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the cap of the first embodiment of the invention is adapted to be directly inserted in a wine bottle or other bottle in the same manner as a wine cork. After pouring out the wine or other liquid, the bottle is re-capped by inserting the cap of FIG. 1 into the open end of the bottle to form an air-tight seal with the O-ring (3) round the outer periphery of the tapered portion (7). The oxygen absorber (2) inside the cap continuously removes the harmful oxygen that has entered the bottle when the wine or other liquid was poured out and without touching the liquid inside. Other beneficial gases in wine such as (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and various trace sulfur compounds) are not removed from the bottle.

The embodiment of the oxygen absorbing cap shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 satisfies at least three main requirements: 1) it provides sufficient oxygen absorption in the hollow chamber (4) to meet the demands for multiple uses; 2) the waterproof breathable film prevents the liquid from contacting the oxygen absorber while allowing oxygen to pass through to the oxygen absorber (2) from the air space in the bottle; and 3) the multiple O-rings (3) on the outside wall of the tapered portion (7) can be moved up and down to provide a more secured air-tight fit for differently sized bottle openings. It will also be appreciated that an air-tight plug (not shown) may be provided at the bottom of the tapered portion (7) when not in use to prevent oxygen from getting to the oxygen absorber (2) when the cap is not in a bottle.

FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention in which a valve (9) is added to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Valve (9) allows liquid to be poured without removing the cap from the bottle. When opening the valve (9) and pouring the liquid, the volume of outside air that enters the bottle is the same as that of the liquid poured out. This allows less oxygen to enter the bottle versus completely removing the cap. This means that only a smaller amount of oxygen needs to be removed by the oxygen absorber (2), resulting in faster oxygen removal and savings in the use of the oxygen absorber (2).

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the liquid is poured after passing through two exits: the interior exit (10) and an exterior exit (8) that is controlled by the valve (9). At the side of the interior exit (10) there is a narrow air entrance connected to a piece of small (e.g., 2 mm inner diameter) tubing (11) with a short length of, for example, 3-5 mm. The diameter of the interior exit (10) is significantly larger, e.g., at least 9 mm, much greater than that of the narrow air entrance. As shown in FIG. 3, the hollow chamber (4) containing the oxygen absorber (2) is moved to the side. Though not shown, the hollow chamber (4) preferably includes a removable cap to allow access to the oxygen absorber (2) for replacement as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

During operation of the cap of FIG. 3, to pour the liquid the valve (9) is opened and the bottle is tilted. The liquid from the bottle first passes through the interior exit (10) while at the same time outside air enters the bottle through the air entrance (11) to allow easy and quick pouring. The liquid does not block the narrow air entrance (11) because the air enters the narrow air entrance (11) at a point higher than the interior exit (10) and is directed toward the breathable film (6) and oxygen absorber (2). When the valve (9) is closed, outside air cannot enter the bottle and thus no air enters the air entrance (11). Any oxygen that has entered the bottle during the pouring will be absorbed by oxygen absorber (2), which in this embodiment is located to the side of the cap as illustrated.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cap of FIG. 3 inserted into a wine bottle. The valve (9) is located at the top and the hollow chamber (4) is located to the side as illustrated.

FIG. 5 illustrates an oxygen absorbing cap in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the cap is adapted to allow pouring of the liquid without any oxygen coming into contact with the liquid at any time since the oxygen absorbing cap is designed to be used without removing the original wood cork from a wine bottle. As illustrated in FIG. 5, this embodiment includes a pump system module and an oxygen-free air supply system module. The pump system module includes a battery-driven pump (15), a power switch (12), a battery (13), and a manual valve (14) connected to the battery-driven pump (15). The manual valve (14) is linked to the power switch (12) such that depressing the manual valve (14) turns on the power switch (12). On the other hand, the oxygen-free air supply module includes an oxygen-free gas tube (16) by which gas exits and enters the bottle as liquid is pumped from the bottle, a manual switch (17) for switching gas between chamber (A) or (B), two check valves (18), an oxygen-free gas chamber (A) (19), an oxygen-free gas chamber (B) (20), a thin isolation membrane (21) between gas chambers A and B, two oxygen indicators (22), two oxygen absorbers (23), and a threaded hollow tube (24) for liquid exit. The threaded hollow tube (24) has threads on it to allow it to be screwed in and go through the cork like a regular wine opener.

During operation of the cap of FIG. 5, the threaded hollow tube (24) is screwed in and through the cork and threaded to the lower portion of the bottle. Power switch (12) is triggered on when the manual valve (14) is pressed to release the liquid. The liquid moves through the threaded hollow tube (24) to exit the bottle when the battery-driven pump (15) is switched on and the liquid is pumped out.

The oxygen-free gas chambers (A) (19) and (B) (20) contain oxygen-free air that is generated by the oxygen absorbers (23). The battery-driven pump (15) pumps the oxygen-free gas from the oxygen-free gas chamber (A) (19) or oxygen-free gas chamber (B) (20) into the bottle to exert pressure to move the liquid through the threaded hollow tube (24). The manual switch (17) is pressed in to seal the check valve (18) for chamber (A) when the battery-driven pump (15) pumps the gas from gas chamber A (19). The pressure in gas chamber A (19) becomes less than that in gas chamber B (20) and the thin isolation membrane (21) is pushed towards gas chamber A (19) until equilibrium is reached. Once the pressure in gas chamber B (20) is less than that of outside air, the other check valve (18) is opened to allow air in for oxygen removal by oxygen absorbers (23). It will be appreciated that this embodiment does not let air into the bottle to contact the liquid.

Oxygen indicators (22) provide an indication of an oxygen level in the bottle. For example, the oxygen level may be indicated by specific color, such as red/pink for no oxygen present and dark purple when oxygen is present, with gradations in shading for concentrations therebetween. Similar indicators may be provided in the other embodiments as well.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a cap configured as described herein can remove almost all oxygen in a bottle and can be used for protecting wine and fruit-based juices, spirits, liquors or liquid chemical reagents from being oxidized by oxygen.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may be applied to other applications and may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the exemplary embodiments described above, but only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An oxygen absorbing cap adapted for insertion into an open end of a bottle so as to form an air-tight seal between the cap and the bottle, said cap comprising a hollow chamber, a removable top that provides access to said hollow chamber, an oxygen absorber adapted to fit into said hollow chamber, and a waterproof breathable film located at a position of said hollow chamber between the oxygen absorber and any liquid in the bottle and adapted to prevent the liquid in the bottle from contacting the oxygen absorber but allowing gases in the bottle to contact the oxygen absorber.

2. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein the cap includes a tapered portion that is adapted for insertion in the open end of the bottle to form said air-tight seal between an outside wall of the tapered portion and the open end of the bottle, said tapered portion including at least one sealing groove around said outside wall of the tapered portion that accepts an O-ring that, in turn, forms an air-tight seal with said open end of said bottle when the cap is pushed into the open end of the bottle.

3. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 2 wherein a surface of the sealing groove has a conical shape or a stair-case shape.

4. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein said waterproof breathable film is an e-PTFE microporous film.

5. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, wherein said removable top is adapted to screw into or snap into said cap so as to close said hollow chamber.

6. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 5, further comprising an O-ring installed in the removable top and adapted to provide an air-tight seal between the removable top and the hollow chamber.

7. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 2, wherein the hollow chamber and the tapered portion are molded into a one piece integral unit.

8. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, further comprising an oxygen indicator that shows, when said cap is inserted into the open end of said bottle, an indication of an oxygen level in said bottle.

9. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 8, wherein said indication of oxygen level comprises different colors for different amounts of oxygen present in the bottle.

10. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 1, further adapted to permit liquid to be poured from the bottle without removing the cap, said cap further including a valve that, when opened, permits liquid to be poured from the bottle and replaced by air that contacts said oxygen absorber for removal of oxygen.

11. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 10, further comprising an air passage that directs air entering the valve to said oxygen absorber.

12. An oxygen absorbing cap adapted to allow pouring of a liquid from a bottle without oxygen from the air coming into contact with the liquid in the bottle, comprising:

a threaded hollow tube adapted to be screwed in and through a cork to access the liquid in the bottle;

a battery-driven pump connected to said threaded hollow tube to pump liquid from said bottle;

a manual valve that turns on the pump when opened and provides an exit for the liquid pumped from the bottle; and

an oxygen-free air supply module including a tube by which gas exits and enters the bottle and at least one oxygen-free gas chamber that provides oxygen-free air to said bottle via said tube as liquid is pumped from the bottle.

13. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 12, wherein said oxygen-free air supply module further includes two oxygen-free gas chambers, a manual switch for switching gas between the chambers, two check valves, and a thin isolation membrane between the gas chambers.

14. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 13, wherein the battery-driven pump pumps oxygen-free gas from at least one of the oxygen-free gas chambers into the bottle via said tube to exert pressure to move the liquid through the threaded hollow tube to said manual valve for pouring.

15. The oxygen absorbing cap of claim 14, wherein pressing the manual switch seals a check valve to a first oxygen-free gas chamber when the battery-driven pump pumps gas from the first oxygen-free gas chamber, wherein when a pressure in the first oxygen-free gas chamber becomes less than a pressure in a second oxygen-free gas chamber the isolation membrane is pushed towards the first oxygen-free gas chamber until pressure equilibrium is reached, and wherein once a pressure in the second oxygen-free gas chamber is less than that of outside air, a second check valve is opened to allow air into the second oxygen-free gas chamber.