WRAPPER FOR AN ICE CHEST

Abstract

An expandable wrapper for an ice chest includes fastening elements at opposed ends for overlapping and securing the ends to one another. The wrapper is of expandable material and in combination with the fastening means will accommodate ice chests having a large range of girth dimensions. Preferably, the material is receptive to printing of words, logos and designs to suit a user's preferences and to personalize the wrapped ice chest. In a variant, the wrapper may be a sleeve slidable mounted on the ice chest and of expandable/elastic material to accommodate the difference in girth between the bottom and the upper end of the ice chest as well as to accommodate ice chests of different sizes.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to wrappers for objects and, more particularly, to an expandable wrapper for encircling ice chests of various sizes.

2. Description of Related Prior Art

Presently commercially available ice chests are essentially rectangular in plan form and have a hingedly attached lid. These ice chests are generally of plastic material and formed in molds. To permit withdrawal of an article formed in a mold, the mold must have a draw to ensure that the bottom of the mold is lesser sized than the opening to the mold. This results in ice chests having inwardly downwardly sloping sides.

Generally, the sides of conventional ice chests do not include graphic material which may be offensive, objectionable or contrary to the personal attitudes of a user. At most, one may find a trademark of the manufacturer formed in a side of the ice chest or on a label appended to a side of the ice chest.

Many users of ice chests have an affiliation with or support of an organization, sports team, activity, etc. To indicate such affiliation, some users append decals of the appropriate type onto the sides of an ice chest. However, such decals are often damaged or defaced through normal use of the ice chest.

Ice chests inherently have thermally non-conductive sides by incorporating a double wall construction with air space therebetween. The degree of thermal isolation of the contents of the ice chest from the temperature of the ambient atmosphere is a function of the thickness of the air space. Accordingly, the thermal insulating capability of ice chests may vary significantly between manufacturers or even between related products by the same manufacturer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An elastic or expandable wrapper, preferably of thermally non-conductive material, extends about the sides of a conventional ice chest. The opposed ends of the wrapper include fastening means for securing the ends to one another and attain a tight fit of the wrapper about the ice chest. The elastic nature of the wrapper accommodates differences in girth of the ice chest from the upper dimension to the lower dimension. The material forming the wrapper is preferably printable to permit a user to illustrate his/her affiliation and support of a particular organization, sports team, etc. To permit essentially unlimited adjustment of the wrapper, hook and loop fastening means may be disposed at the opposed ends. In a variant, the wrapper is in the nature of a sleeve of elastic or expandable material. Such elasticity permits use of the variant on different sized ice chests.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a wrapper for ice chests which will accommodate differences in girth of various ice chests.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wrapper for ice chests which will accommodate differences in girth of the ice chest from top to bottom.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easily mountable and dismountable wrapper for an ice chest.

Yet another objects of the present invention is to provide hook and loop fastenings to secure a wrapper about an ice chest.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a wrapper for ice chests having overlapping ends to accommodate different sized ice chests.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a printable wrapper for ice chests.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a wrapper for ice chests which contribute to the thermal barrier of an ice chest.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a method for selectively thermally insulating an ice chest.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a method for depicting a user's affiliation with an organization while enhancing the thermal properties of an ice chest.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description now proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described with greater specificity and clarity with respect to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an ice chest with a wrapper;

FIG. 2 illustrates a one-piece wrapper for mounting about an ice chest;

FIG. 2A illustrates a variant configuration of the ends of the wrapper to accommodate the handles of a wrapped ice chest;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the one-piece wrapper illustrating its expansion capability;

FIG. 4 illustrates a variant wrapper mounted about an ice chest; and

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate a one-piece wrapper having overlapping ends to accommodate ice chests of various girths.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a conventional ice chest 10 having a generally rectangular body 12 and a hingedly attached lid 14. Handles 16 may be disposed on opposed ends of the ice chest for carrying purposes. Usually, these handles are pivotally attached to reduce the space required for storage purposes and to protect the handles against damage.

Referring jointly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a wrapper 20 is mountable upon ice chest 10 by drawing the wrapper thereabout from the bottom of the ice chest to essentially the junction between body 12 and lid 10. The wrapper may include apertures 22, 24 to permit extension of handles 16 therethrough. Body 12 of ice chest 10 tapers downwardly such that the upper perimeter of the body is greater than the lower perimeter of the body. To accommodate this difference in girth, wrapper 20 is of expandable or elastic material to ensure that it will remain tightly against the sides of body 12 after being mounted thereon. This expandable or elastic capability is illustrated in FIG. 3 by dashed line 26 showing extension along side 28 and end 30 of wrapper 20. Depending upon the degree of expansion capability of the wrapper, various sizes of ice chest 10 will snugly support a wrapper constructed in accordance with the present invention.

While apertures 22, 24 in wrapper 20 are illustrated in FIG. 2, it is to be understood that the corresponding edge of the wrapper may slope downwardly below the handles, as depicted in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2A, edge 32 of wrapper 20 may slope downwardly to define an edge 34 that would be below the corresponding handle of the ice chest.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is illustrated an ice chest 38, which may be like ice chest 10 shown in FIG. 1, having a body 40 and a hingedly attached lid 42. A variant wrapper 44 is mounted about body 40. The wrapper is essentially a rectangular strip 46 of expandable/elastic material. To maintain the strip about cooler 38, opposed ends 48, 50 overlap one another to the extend necessary to snugly wrap the wrapper about the ice chest. To maintain the ends secured to one another, the ends may include hook and loop fasteners, such as the type sold under the trademark Velcro. That is, a section of loops 52 may be attached to end 48 and a section 54 of hooks may be attached to end 50. One of the benefits of the hook and loop fastener is that infinite adjustability/positioning therebetween is possible. Thereby, variant wrapper 44 may be drawn as tightly about ice chest 38 as a user may desire. Such adjustability also permits the use of variant wrapper 44 on different sized ice chests as the differences in girth can readily be accommodated by the hook and loop fastener disposed at the overlapping ends and the elasticity/expandability of the wrapper. As discussed above, the girth of ice chest 38 at the bottom is generally less than the girth of the ice chest adjacent lid 42. Such difference in girth is readily accommodated by variant wrapper 44 due to the use of a hoop and loop fastener and the elasticity of the wrapper.

As further illustrated in FIG. 5A, the variant wrapper may be overlapped at the end of ice chest 38 (see also FIG. 4). Alternatively, the ends of the variant wrapper may be overlapped along a side of the ice chest, as illustrated in FIG. 5B. To accommodate the handles that normally extend from opposed sides of the ice chest, slots 60, 62 may be formed in ends 48, 50 of the variant wrapper. Alternatively, the edges of the variant wrapper generally corresponding with the handles of the ice chest may be indented, as illustrated in FIG. 2A.

There is presently available expandable/elastic material sold under the trademark Neoprene which also has thermal insulating properties. When this material is used these properties add to the thermal insulation of the side walls of the ice chest. Thereby, the contents of the ice chest will be less affected by the ambient temperature of the air surrounding the ice chest. Furthermore, this material is receptive to and will retain printing thereon. Thereby, a user may select a wrapper 20 or a variant wrapper 44 which depicts a sports team, such as the Atlanta Falcons depicted in FIG. 1 or the Arizona Cardinals as depicted in FIG. 4. Other affiliations, such as colleges, universities, fraternities, sororities, and numerous other organizations may be identified on wrapper 20 and on variant wrapper 44.

Claims

1. A wrapper for an ice chest having handles on opposed ends, said wrapper comprising in combination:

a) a strip of expandable material, said strip including opposed ends;

b) a hook fastener section disposed on one end of said strip and a loop fastener section disposed on the other end of said strip for selective engagement with one another to mount said wrapper about the ice chest; and

c) said strip including means for accommodating manual access to the pair of handles.

2. The wrapper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said accommodating means includes an aperture formed in said strip for each handle to permit protection of the handle through the respective one of said apertures.

3. The wrapper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said accommodating means includes a downwardly extending edge of said strip adjacent each handle to prevent interference with the handle during normal use of the pair of handles.

4. The wrapper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said strip is of printable material to permit application of indicia to said wrapper.

5. The wrapper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said strip is formed of thermal insulating material.

6. The wrapper as set forth in claim 5 wherein said strip is of printable material to permit application of indicia to said wrapper.

7. The wrapper as set forth in claim 5 wherein said accommodating means includes an aperture formed in said strip for each handle to permit penetration of the handle through the respective one of said apertures.

8. The wrapper as set forth in claim 5 wherein said accommodating means includes a downwardly extending edge of said strip adjacent each handle to prevent interference with the handle during normal use of the pair of handles.

9. A wrapper for an ice chest having handles at opposed ends, said wrapper comprising in combination:

a) a sleeve of expandable material for accommodating engagement with ice chests of different sizes; and

b) means for avoiding interference between said sleeve with the pair of handles.

10. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said avoiding means comprises depressions along the edge of said sleeve.

11. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said avoiding means comprises apertures in said sleeve.

12. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said wrapper is formed of thermal insulating material.

13. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said wrapper is of printable material to permit application of indicia to said wrapper.

14. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said accommodating means includes a downwardly extending edge of said sleeve adjacent with each handle to prevent interference with the handle during normal use of the pair of handles.

15. The wrapper as set forth in claim 9 wherein said accommodating means includes an aperture formed in said sleeve for each handle to permit penetration of the handle through the respective one of said apertures.