Lid for containers and related methods
A lid designed to allow a user to see and adjust the humidity levels of a container using a hygrometer and pocket for humidity packs. The lid also allows this to be accomplished without removing the lid because a hatch gives the user access to the inside of the container and underside of the lid, where the pocket is located. Also, the hatch on the lid provides a more efficient and easier method of accessing the contents of a container because a user can simply open and close a hatch, instead of needing to unlock a lever locking latch to remove a lid.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No. 15/860,591, filed on Jan. 2, 2018 entitled “Lid for Containers and Related Methods.” The referenced document is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENTNot applicable.
REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC AND INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE OF THE MATERIAL ON THE COMPACT DISCNot applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTORReserved for a later date, if necessary.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of InventionThe disclosed subject matter relates to lids and covers for containers. More specifically, the disclosed subject matter relates to lids for drums that are used to store agricultural products, which allow for easy access to the contents and humidity reading and control.
Background of the InventionFibrous drums and other containers are frequently used to store agricultural products such as grains or plant-based products. Many plant-based crops thrive at a certain level of humidity. Therefore, when there is a loss of water vapor or a less than optimal humidity level, the agricultural product may be negatively affected. Currently, traditional lids for fiber drums, plastic drums, and other containers do not have a means for checking the humidity of a certain environment by just looking at the lid. Therefore, a need exists for a lid with a hygrometer for commercial sized agricultural containers.
Moreover, lids for commercial containers generally use a lever locking mechanism that makes it cumbersome to secure and remove the lid from the container.
US patents exist for clamping and securing a lid to a drum and for controlling humidity within a container, however, these patents do not provide for easy access to the contents of a container, while having the ability to monitor and adjust the humidity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,537 by Bordner et al. provides a lid clamping ring for a lid for a fibrous drum. This patent does not allow for easy access to the contents of a container, because the clamping ring needs to be unlocked and the lid needs to be removed before a user can access the container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,579 to Newman provides a jar cover with humidity control. However, this product is not configured to be used for commercial drums and does not have a hatch for easy access to the contents of a container without having to remove the lid.
Accordingly, a need exists for a lid that allows a user to access the contents of a container without needing to unlatch and remove the entire lid from the container, while giving the user the ability to monitor and adjust the humidity within a container.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the foregoing, an object of this invention to provide a lid for containers that allows a user to monitor the humidity within a container.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a means for a user to adjust the humidity within a container. Another objective of the invention is to provide a lid that does not use the lever locking latch that is common for most lids for storage drums.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a hatch on a lid so that a user can easily access the contents of a container without needing to remove the lid.
Another objective of the invention is to provide means to regulate air exchange to and from the container wirelessly.
Another objective of the invention is to provide means to transmit container data wirelessly to a computer or mobile device.
Another objective of the invention is to provide means to automatically trim excess leaves and collect desirable extract within the container.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a surface for labels, so that a user can identify the contents of a container. Moreover, the surface may a dry erase surface or an area for a dry erase sticker, so that a user can easily erase and relabel the contents of a container.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a lid that protects the contents of a container from the oxidizing of air so as to allow for long-term storage.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a means for a user to easily access the contents at the bottom of a container without the need to empty the container.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a lid that can automatically equalize humidity levels to more accurately regulate the humidity within a container.
Other objectives of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the invention has been shown and described. The manner in which these objectives and other desirable characteristics can be obtained is explained in the following description and attached figures in which:
In the figures, the following items correspond to the associated reference numerals:
-
- Lid—10;
- Valve—11;
- Valve hole—11a;
- Void—11b;
- Webbing—12;
- Extract container—13;
- Rim—20
- Hatch—30;
- Hygrometer—40;
- Label—50;
- Lock—60;
- Hinges—70;
- Pocket—80;
- Lattice insert—90;
- Lattice insert wall—91
- Spacers—92;
- Sifter Screen—95;
- Powered pumps—100;
- Powered intake pump—101;
- Powered exhaust pump—102;
- Bottom lid—110;
- Bottom rim—111;
- Trap door hatch—112;
- Trap door hinge—113;
- Preservation lid—120;
- Preservation rim—121; and,
- Preservation valve—122.
It is to be noted, however, that the appended figures illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments that will be appreciated by those reasonably skilled in the relevant arts. Also, figures are not necessarily made to scale but are representative.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSDisclosed is a lid for containers that allow users to monitor and change the humidity in a container, while providing easy access to the contents of a container.
Referring to
In use, a user may place and secure a lid 10 to a drum or container. Once snapped over the edge of a container, the user may label the contents of the drum by writing on the label 50. A user may read the level of humidity within the container by reading the hygrometer 40 on top of the lid 10. Then, a user may access the contents of the container by opening the hatch 30. If the humidity needs to be adjusted, then the user may also open the hatch 30 and insert humidity packs into the pocket 80, which is located on the underside of the lid 10.
As discussed above, the lid 10 may feature a hygrometer and/or thermometer 40. Suitably, the hygrometer and/or the thermometer 40 may be outfitted to transmit humidity and temperature data wirelessly to a computer or mobile device via Bluetooth. The humidity or temperature data may be sent to a web or mobile application wherein a user may be able to obtain said data to monitor metrics of the product in containers and control the valve 11.
The preservation valve 122 solves the difficulties of long-term storage, transportation, and preservation of certain agricultural products difficult due to the oxidizing effects of regular, atmospheric air; the preservation valve 122 may allow the container to be filled with other non-oxidizing gasses allow for long-term storage without detrimental effects on the agricultural product. The preservation valve 122 may allow a user to extract the air within the container, and then refill the container with another non-oxidizing gas, such as nitrogen, that better preserves the agricultural product within the container for a longer period than would be possible with regular, oxidized air while the container is stored or transported for a long period of time.
Although the method and apparatus is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead might be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the claimed invention should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments.
Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like, the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof, the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more,” or the like, and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional” “normal,” “standard,” “known,” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that might be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.
The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to,” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases might be absent. The use of the term “assembly” does not imply that the components or functionality described or claimed as part of the module are all configured in a common package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of a module, whether control logic or other components, might be combined in a single package or separately maintained and might further be distributed across multiple locations.
Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives might be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.
All original claims submitted with this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth herein.
Claims
1. A lid for transforming a non-humidity controlled container into a humidity controlled container, said lid comprising:
- a topside and an underside;
- a webbing connected to the underside of the lid;
- an extract container connected to the webbing;
- an interior lattice insert;
- a first half and a second half;
- a circular rim configured to attach to the non-humidity controlled container of a specified diameter, thus transforming the non-humidity controlled container into the humidity controlled container;
- a hygrometer, located on the topside of the lid, wherein the hygrometer is adapted to monitor and digitally display the humidity within the humidity controlled container;
- a semi-circular hatch positioned over an opening through the lid wherein the opening is located within the first half of the lid, wherein the hatch is electively openable and closeable over the opening so that contents within the humidity controlled container may be accessed via the opening without removing the lid from the humidity controlled container;
- a rectangular pocket located within the second half of the lid, wherein the pocket is located on the underside of the lid and is occupied by at least one humidity pack; and,
- a rectangular label surface that is located within the second half of the lid on the topside of the lid and opposite the pocket, whereby a user may write down information about the contents of the fiber, humidity controlled container.
2. The lid of claim 1 further comprising a closable valve which is configured to connect the topside and the underside of the lid, wherein the valve is opened and closed automatically and is controlled by a timer or humidistat.
3. The lid of claim 1 wherein the valve is opened and closed by a computer or a mobile device wirelessly.
4. The lid of claim 1 wherein the webbing and the extract container are cylindrical in shape.
5. The lid of claim 1 wherein the container is selected from the group consisting of a fiber container and a plastic container.
6. The lid of claim 1 wherein the interior lattice insert is a cylinder.
7. The interior lattice insert of claim 6 wherein the insert is made of plastic.
8. The interior lattice trimmer of claim 7 wherein the insert is spaced 1 to 2 inches away from the containers interior.
9. The interior lattice insert of claim 8 wherein the lattice insert consists of a lattice pattern with ½ inch to ¾ inch squares.
10. The lid of claim 1, wherein the hatch further comprises a locking mechanism configured to lock the hatch to the lid.
11. The lid of claim 1, wherein the lid is constructed with different diameters to match a plurality of different sized containers.
12. The lid of claim 2, wherein the valve is a rotating valve.
13. A lid for augmenting a container to become a humidity-controlled container and controlling the level of humidity in the container comprising:
- A topside and an underside
- a rim configured to be secured around an edge of a non-humidity controlled container;
- a hatch that is hinged on at least one point to the lid, and wherein the hatch is configured for opening for allowing access to the contents of the container without removing the lid;
- a digital display hygrometer on the topside of the lid;
- a pocket featuring vents on the underside of the lid, wherein the pocket is operably configured to receive humidity packs for humidity control;
- a valve configured to connect the topside of the lid to the underside of the lid; and,
- means for wireless transmission of data to a mobile device.
14. The lid of claim 13, wherein the hygrometer is centrally disposed on the lid.
15. The lid of claim 14, wherein the valve rotates to open and close.
16. The lid of claim 15, further comprising a webbing attached to the underside of the lid,
- wherein the webbing connects to an extract container.
17. The lid of claim 16, wherein the extract container is configured to catch container contents of a specific size.
18. The lid of claim 17, wherein the hygrometer uses the means for wireless transmission for transmitting data to the mobile device.
19. The lid of claim 18, wherein a timer for opening and closing the valve uses the means for wireless transmission for transmitting data to the mobile device.
20. A method of turning a non-humidity controlled container into a humidity controlled container and adjusting the humidity in the humidity controlled container comprising:
- obtaining a non-humidity controlled container having an edge;
- obtaining a lid, the lid comprising: a topside and an underside;
- a closable valve which is configured to connect the topside and the underside of the lid; a webbing connected to the underside of the lid; an extract container connected to the webbing; a first half and a second half; a circular rim configured to attach to the non-humidity controlled container; a hygrometer located on the topside of the lid, wherein the hygrometer is adapted to monitor and digitally display the humidity within the humidity controlled container;
- a semi-circular hatch positioned over an opening through the lid; wherein the opening is located within the first half of the lid, wherein the hatch is selectively openable and closeable over the opening so that contents within the humidity controlled container may be accessed via the opening without removing the lid from the humidity controlled container; a rectangular pocket located within the second half of the lid, wherein the pocket is located on the underside of the lid and is configured to be occupied by at least one humidity pack; and a rectangular label surface that is located within the second half of the lid on the topside of the lid and opposite the pocket, whereby a user may write down information about the contents of the humidity controlled container;
- securing the lid to the non-humidity controlled container by placing the rim over the edge of the non-humidity controlled container, thus transforming the non-humidity controlled container into the humidity controlled container; opening the hatch on the lid; placing at least one humidity pack in the pocket; and closing the hatch on the lid.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 14, 2023
Publication Date: Mar 14, 2024
Inventors: Nadiah Reiley (La Jolla, CA), Adrian Reiley (La Jolla, CA)
Application Number: 18/389,397