Stowable cooler
Stowable Cooler with insulated walls, resealable mechanical devices, a stowing medium, and an access lid. A preferred embodiment includes the insulated walls having a soft or semi-rigid construction. The lower edges of the insulated walls are permanently secured to the stowing medium forming a flexible bond. The side edges of the insulated walls each feature at least one half of at least one resealable mechanical device. The lower edges of each resealable mechanical device are secured to the stowing medium. The stowable cooler has a stowing mode and a usage mode. The stowing mode is true when the sealable mechanical devices are unsealed, and the usage mode is true when the sealable mechanical devices are sealed. The stowing medium is of sufficient volume to house the insulated walls while in stowing mode in a plurality of overlapping flats.
This invention relates generally to the field of insulated coolers and more specifically to a stowable Cooler.
The present invention generally relates to the field of portable coolers that are commonly used by the public as beverage or food coolers. Such coolers are used to keep items hot or cold for an extended period of time by insulating them from the surrounding ambient environment.
On today's market there are mainly two types of portable coolers: hard-side coolers and soft-side coolers. Hard-side coolers are commonly made of hard plastic such as blow-molded or injection-molded plastic parts. Their construction is rigid, providing good durability. However, such coolers can be cumbersome, somewhat of a risk to young children due to their hard surfaces, their design characteristics limited because of the manufacturing restrictions of plastic parts, and their volume fixed. Soft side coolers are generally made of flexible materials such as nylon, PVC, or other textiles. Soft-side coolers offer greater design flexibility than their hard-side counterparts and are more user-friendly. Because of their flexible nature, soft-side coolers are not limited to a particular shape. U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,124 B2 to Melvin S. Mogil describes such soft-sided cooler where the inventor describes in particular an insulated container with an impermeable liner. Furthermore, this prior art describes a cooler of generally rectangular shape made of contiguous and inseparable walls. U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,661 B1 to Melvin S. Mogil provides another cooler design variant, again where the prior art is mostly made of contiguous and inseparable insulated walls.
The logical market evolution for coolers is the ability to reduce their volume while not in use. Standard coolers occupy a lot storage space which can be a significant inconvenience particularly for people that live in the city where access to storage can be difficult, at best limited. U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,420 B2 to Frank E. Westerman describes a foldable hard-side cooler that can be folded flat while not in use. However, this prior art does not provide for well insulated construction which results in poor performance while in use. U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,309 B1 to Frank E. Westerman describes a variant of the same design, where again, the prior art does not offer good insulating properties from the surrounding ambient air. U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,402 to Brent Freese describes a soft-side cooler, insulated, that is also made to fold while not in use. The folded status of this prior art is achieved by flexing the soft-sided walls onto themselves. Folding thick layers of materials onto themselves can be tricky as the material will resist such flexing; this also limits the amount of insulation that can be incorporated in the design. Furthermore, excessive bending or long-term folding of the soft-side material will result in permanent deformation over time. This prior art also provides for a structural base while in use, which must be removed when the cooler is folded.
Other prior arts do not provide for such structural base at all.
It is an object of the present invention to comprise the advantages of the prior arts while addressing their short-comings. The purpose of this invention is to teach the following novel features over the prior art: the invention occupies less volume while not in use where transitioning between folded and unfolded state is easy and can be repeated numerous times without degradation even with a lot of insulating material; the structural base of the invention also has a useful purpose while the cooler is not in use.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary object of the invention is to provide a stowable cooler.
Another object of the invention is to provide a stowable cooler that is easy to fold, repeatedly, even with a lot of insulation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a stowable cooler that folds better, smaller.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a stowing medium that is also a structural base.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a Stowable Cooler comprising: insulated walls, resealable mechanical means, a stowing medium, and an access lid.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a Stowable Cooler comprising: insulated walls, resealable mechanical means, a stowing medium, and an access lid, and where said stowing medium is of sufficient volumetric capacity to house said insulated walls when said stowable cooler is in stowing mode, and where said stowing medium forms a structural base for said stowable cooler when said stowable cooler is in usage mode.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
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In accordance with a claim of the present invention 10, insulated walls 30, 40, 50, and 60 have a soft or semi-rigid construction. Now turning to
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To further clarify this disclosure, resealable mechanical means 100, 110, 120, and 140 have two possible states: sealed and unsealed. Sealed mode is true when each pair of halves of each resealable mechanical means are joined together, unsealed is true when each pair of halves of each releasable mechanical means are separated, to the exception of their common lower edge forming a permanent flexible bond with the stowing medium.
In accordance with a principal claim of the present invention 10,
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To conclude and summarize, those with skill in this art will recognize a novel soft-side portable cooler equipped with a mean to stow and structurally support the present invention. Prior arts in this field do not provide a single mean that can both serve these two aforementioned functions. Furthermore, some prior art in this field do present some form of foldable, or collapsible cooler. However, this novel invention provides foldable action by actuation of resealable mechanical means which allows the cooler to folds flat in an easier, more natural manner, and in a smaller volume than the prior art.
The present invention is not limited to the physical configurations, materials, methods, set forth in this disclosure. For example, stowing medium can be of various shapes, so long such stowing medium does serve as a structural base for the cooler while in usage mode, and that its volume is sufficient to house the entire cooler while in stowing mode. The resealable mechanical means are not limited to zipper-type fasteners, so long such fasteners consist of at least two halves and that each halves is secured to one edge of one of the insulated walls. The cooler is not limited to four insulated walls; so long each insulated wall features at least one half of a resealable mechanical mean.
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. Stowable Cooler comprising:
- Insulated walls;
- Resealable mechanical means;
- A stowing medium; and
- An access lid.
2. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein said insulated walls have a soft or semi-rigid construction.
3. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 2 further comprising at least one layer of insulating material sandwiched between at least one layer of exterior exposed surface material and at least one layer of interior exposed surface material.
4. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein said insulated walls each have a lower edge and where each lower edge is seated and permanently secured to said stowing medium; and where said each lower edge forms a flexible bond with said stowing medium.
5. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein said insulated walls each have an upper edge, and where said insulated walls each have two side edges; and where each side edge features one half of at least one of said resealable mechanical means.
6. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 5 wherein said resealable mechanical means each consists of a pair of two halves; and where said pair of two halves form a common lower edge; and where said common lower edge is permanently secured to said stowing medium; and where said common lower edge forms a flexible bond with said stowing medium.
7. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein said access lid comprises at least one layer of insulating material sandwiched between at least one layer of exterior exposed surface material and at least one layer of interior exposed surface material.
8. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 7 wherein said access lid interior exposed surface material form a non-permanent seal with said upper edges as claimed in claim 5.
9. Stowable Cooler comprising:
- Insulated walls;
- Resealable mechanical means;
- A stowing medium; and
- an access lid; and where said stowing medium is of sufficient volumetric capacity to house said insulated walls when said stowable cooler is in stowing mode; and where said stowing medium forms a structural base for said stowable cooler when said stowable cooler is in usage mode.
10. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 9 wherein said stowing mode is true when said resealable mechanical means are unsealed; and where said usage mode is true when said resealable mechanical means are sealed.
11. Stowable Cooler as claimed in claim 9 wherein said insulated walls form a plurality of overlapping flats within said stowing medium when said stowable cooler is in stowing mode.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 14, 2005
Publication Date: Jan 18, 2007
Inventors: Mark Kitchens (Athens, TX), Regis Wandres (Athens, TX), John Chiu (Taipei)
Application Number: 11/181,483
International Classification: A45C 11/20 (20060101);