1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to beverage containers which have separate ice and beverage compartments. In such containers, the ice compartment is in heat exchange contact with the beverage compartment to keep the beverage cold while it is being consumed, without diluting the beverage as the ice melts.
2. Description of Related Art
Many beverages are best when served cold, including beer, soda and iced tea among others. Ice is the preferred way to keep the beverage cold as it is consumed, and for some beverages, such as soda and iced tea, it is common to place the ice directly into the beverage container where it dilutes the beverage as it melts. For other beverages, such as beer, this dilution is unacceptable.
For such beverages, even where the beverage and the beverage container are chilled prior to serving, the beverage rapidly becomes unacceptably warm even in an insulated container. The problem is compounded by the fact that many chilled beverages are consumed during the warmest months of year.
To eliminate the problem of dilution, various methods of cooling the beverage have been tried. One method has been to use a plastic-coated freezable gel material either as an artificial ice cube floating in the beverage, or as a strap-on coolant pack outside, but in contact with the beverage compartment. Both methods are expensive, and require additional freezer equipment and/or space for the numerous gel-cubes or gel-packs to be used. The artificial ice cube method has the added difficulties of risk of contamination from the gel material and sterilization costs in reusing the cubes.
Another method has been to use standard ice to cool the beverage, but to isolate the ice from the beverage in a separate compartment, thereby excluding the meltwater from the beverage compartment. This method has proven somewhat more satisfactory due to the existing investment and wide availability of ice-makers found in most homes and food service businesses.
Nonetheless, previous beverage containers employing the separate compartment design suffer from several deficiencies which have prevented their wide acceptance. One difficulty has been that most such containers fill both the ice compartment and the beverage compartment from the top. In this arrangement, the opening for the ice must compete for space with the opening for the beverage. The opening to the ice compartment is invariably too small making it difficult to fill with ice quickly. Enlarging the opening of the ice compartment makes it easier to fill with ice, but more difficult to fill with beverage.
A related difficulty has been that it is too easy to inadvertently get ice in the beverage compartment or beverage in the ice compartment when filling the separate compartments. The difficulty of filling the ice compartment in prior designs is less objectionable in low volume applications, but in commercial establishments the time involved to carefully fill the ice compartment of each beverage container cannot be justified.
Even those beverage containers which may be filled from the bottom, thereby eliminating the possibility of mixing beverage and ice, have not been satisfactory in commercial establishments. In some cases the beverage container is too fragile, too thin or is made of a material not suitable for scooping into the ice (such as glass, porcelain or other material which may chip). In other cases, the container has no handle, has a handle that is too thin and cannot be gripped tightly, or has a handle not positioned properly on the container. These problems prevent the container from being comfortably used in the inverted position to quickly scoop crushed ice or ice cubes into the ice compartment. Each of these deficiencies leads to a decrease in the speed with which the container can be filled.
Yet another problem has been that prior art designs do not cool the beverage efficiently. In normal use, the beverage container is initially filled with a pre-cooled beverage. Since a large percentage of the beverage will be immediately consumed, there is little time for the beverage to be warmed by the surrounding air and a relatively low ratio of cooling area to beverage volume is required. Later, with a partially full beverage container, the cooling ratio needs to be increased to keep the remaining beverage cool against the warming effect of the surrounding air. Prior art containers have not been designed to provide this variable cooling ratio.
Still another difficulty with prior art designs is the relatively low heat transfer rate between the beverage and ice. When ice is directly mixed with the beverage, the large surface area of the ice results in rapid heat transfer. However, in prior art designs, the wall between the ice compartment and the beverage compartment has significantly less surface area than ice immersed in the beverage, resulting in a low heat transfer rate. Consequently, the beverage may not be cooled sufficiently rapidly to counteract heat transferred into the beverage from the surroundings.
A final difficulty with prior art designs is that the ice and beverage compartments have usually been formed as separate components. This requires additional assembly and fastening or sealing operations during manufacture that greatly increase the cost of such containers and make them uncompetitive with simpler containers lacking the ice compartment.
In view of these deficiencies in the prior art, one object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive beverage container with an ice compartment which can be easily handled when inverted and quickly filled by scooping in the crushed or cubed ice commonly found in most beverage serving commercial establishments.
Yet another object is to provide a beverage container with an ice compartment which can be sealed to inhibit melting of the ice. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an ice compartment which provides greater cooling relative to the remaining volume of beverage as the beverage is consumed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a beverage container with an improved heat transfer rate between the beverage and the ice.