Post-mix beverage dispenser

(74) Prosecutor Civil Service. Henrik Levkowetz,

JK Thorsens Patentbureau A / S, Oslo.

(54) DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FEROIG MIXED BEVERAGES.

(30) Priority Requested 12.11.81, US Nos. 320476, 320478.

(57) Summary

A lightweight, portable dispenser unit (10) for pre-mixed carbonated beverages and for use in small offices and other smaller rooms. Flavored syrup is supplied to the unit from dense disposable containers (SP) which are arranged to be plugged into a dispenser valve system (18). CO₂ the unit's carbonation system is fed into return containers (42) which can also be quickly plugged into a valve system (44) for CO 2. A thermoelectric cooling system (72) may be provided to reduce noise and the number of moving parts, or a mechanical Freon system may be used. The unit may be of modular design to facilitate repairs. The unit housing (12) is injection molded of plastic material.

Water is supplied to the unit before mixing with co., And syrup from a water reservoir (WR) which can be refilled manually.

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The cooling system cools the water in the reservoir, as well as the syrup tanks (SP) and the carbonation tank (CP).

(56) Published publications Norwegian (N0) Publicly Available Patent Application No. 811075 (0 67 0),

European (EP) patent application, publ. No. 0022589 (B 67 D 1. D0), 0027880 (B 67 0 1/00).

The present invention relates to dispensers for pre-mixed beverages which are compact, portable and suitable for use in small offices or other smaller premises. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compact dispenser for ready-to-drink beverages, which can be disposed on a disc in the environment specified above and supplied to water from a taps tap, syrup from disposable containers, and CC 2 for carbonation from refillable containers in a fast and efficient manner. Optional equipment can allow connection to the building's water supply system for automatic filling of the water reservoir.

Most commercially available ready-to-drink beverage dispensers have so far been designed for commercial use in large volumes, such as in restaurants serving fast food. Due to the large volumes used here, the constructive design is primarily aimed at optimal cooling and dispensing speed rather than low unit price, limited scope and portability. Although, of course, cost, size and portability are also to some extent taken into account by the aforementioned high volume commercial units, the resulting appliance designs have nevertheless become far too costly, bulky and heavy for use with smaller units.

Certain attempts have been made in the industry to reduce the manufacturing cost, size and weight of such dispensing units to make them more suitable for use by individuals. However, the units manufactured to date have lacked sufficient cooling capacity, dispensing efficiency, beverage quality and operational reliability as a result of the above mentioned low manufacturing costs, limited scope and portability required to be accepted by the aforementioned users.

In order to be accepted by the users in need of low volume dispenser units, these must be easy to install for use, compact, small in weight and easy to repair, affordable and above all, affordable. In addition, syrup, water and CC&gt; 2 must be quickly and easily replenished during operation by an unexperienced user. Although attempts have been made to design dispensers for ready-mixed beverages and with the above properties, these designs have not been satisfactory so far.

It is thus a principal object of the present invention to provide a portable, inexpensive and low-volume dispensing apparatus for ready-mixed beverages and suitable for use in small offices or other smaller premises.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dispenser. for pre-mixed beverages and with a cabinet design that facilitates rapid preparation, loading and filling of syrup, water and CO 2, namely the ingredients needed for the preparation of the beverage in question.

The invention thus relates to a dispensing apparatus for ready-mixed beverages comprising:

a) a cabinet,

b) a carbonation tank in a carbonation chamber in the cabinet;

c) a manually refillable water reservoir in the cabinet for dispensing water to the carbonation tank, said water reservoir having an inlet opening at the front wall of the cabinet for receiving a manually inserted water supply;

d) supporting means adapted to receive and support at least one replaceable syrup container in a syrup storage chamber at the front wall of the cabinet;

e) equipment for receiving and supporting at least one replaceable CO 2 cylinder in a storage chamber at said front wall of the cabinet, for delivering C₂ gas to the carbonation tank;

f) a dispenser device at the front wall of the cabinet for dispensing finished carbonated beverage formed from a mixture of syrup and carbonated water;

g) a top wall of the cabinet and with openings providing access to the water reservoir, carbonization chamber, and syrup storage chamber, as well as a front wall of the cabinet with openings providing access to the syrup storage chamber and said CC1 storage chamber.

Against this background of principle known technique from e.g. published European Patent Application No. 0022589, the dispenser according to the invention has as a special feature that access equipment is arranged to allow water, syrup containers and CC2 cylinders to be introduced into the cabinet through its front wall and top wall. Preferably, then, the apparatus of the invention for easy access to the interior of the cabinet is provided with:

- a first access panel which normally covers at least those openings in the front and top walls of the cabinet which provide access to the syrup storage chamber,

- another access panel which normally covers the openings in the top wall of the cabinet giving access to the water reservoir and said carbonation chamber, and

- a third access panel which normally covers at least those openings in the front wall giving access to said CC ^ storage chamber.

The apparatus of the present invention and its advantages will now be described in more detail with the aid of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2 shows the dispenser apparatus for according to the invention the dispenser apparatus shows a pre-mixed perspective and fig.

beverage seen from the front.

seen from the friend's three side.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5 shows the right side view from the back side.

FIG.

FIG.

for pre-mixed beverages

1, in FIG. 1 is a top view of the upper cover plates removed to show the chambers that hold the various components of the dispenser system.

FIG. 6 shows the dispenser apparatus of FIG. 1 viewed from behind with the back plate removed.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the housing of the dispenser of FIG. 1 with the front cover plate offset to open position to show the water inlet drain.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the dispenser apparatus viewed obliquely from above and with the front cover plate completely removed to reveal both the water inlet and the syrup supply chamber.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the CC 2 storage chamber of the dispenser apparatus of FIG. 1 with open panel.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the upper cover plate seen from the bottom, covering the carbonation chamber and the water reservoir portion of the dispenser apparatus.

The cabinet structure and the general arrangement of the components of the beverage mixer dispenser according to the present invention are set forth in FIG. 1 to 9. In these figures, the apparatus according to the invention is indicated in its entirety by 10. This apparatus comprises a housing 12 with front wall, rear wall, side walls and top and bottom walls, which are arranged substantially at right angles to each other to form cube shape. A front cover plate 14 is slidably mounted on the casing 12 in suitable guides to provide access to a water inlet drain EC and a syrup storage chamber 34 as desired. The front cover plate 14 is formed to form an adapted corner of the enclosure in a closed position. That is, the removable cover plate 14 has main surfaces which are parallel to the top wall, front wall and left side wall respectively of the main cabinet portion 12, so that it is folded around and forms a corner of the cabinet surface in the closed position. As will best be seen from the perspective figures 7 and 1, the front cover plate 14 is provided with an extended top plate 14a in the plane of the top wall of the cabinet 12, which covers the water inlet channel EC in the closed position and can be displaced as desired to reveal the inlet of the channel EC in open position. In this position shown in FIG. 7, the water reservoir WR shown in FIG. 5 is manually filled with water from a jug by pouring the water into the inlet channel EC. However, for sanitary reasons it is advantageous to shut off the inlet channel EC from the atmosphere when water is not supplied.

A top cover plate 16 is provided to cover both the water reservoir WR and the carbonation chamber 38, which are arranged side by side near the rear wall of the carbine 12. This cover plate 16 is rectangular in shape and can simply be lifted by the top of the apparatus by loosening the fasteners 16A when accessing. to the water reservoir WR and the carbonation chamber 38 are desired. As shown in FIG. 10, the top cover plate 16 is provided with a stirring blade AG which is suspended in the cover and connected to a stirring motor AM attached to the cover plate 16, which is adapted to the carbonation chamber 38 so as to seal and isolate the chamber 38 when the top cover plate 16 is attached to the upper side of the housing 12. .

The back of the housing 12 is provided with a removable cover plate 30 which covers substantially the entire back wall of the housing 12 and is provided with a conventional cooling capacitor 32 for the mechanical cooling system of the apparatus.

Removal of this rear cover panel 30 and capacitor 32 provides easy access to the water pump and cooling components of the dispenser, and these will be discussed in more detail below with reference to FIG. 6.

A further cover plate 46 is provided on the right side of the dispenser apparatus as will be seen in FIGS. 1 and 9. In closed position, plate 46 encloses the right side edge of the front of the cabinet and is hinged at its rear to form a door which provides access to the door. a CC 2 chamber 40 containing a CO 2 cylinder 42 and a CO 2 control valve assembly 44. That is, the cover plate 46 has a right-angled configuration corresponding to the shape of the right side portion of the dispensing cabinet, to close the CC 2 storage chamber constituting a notch at the corresponding side edge of the housing 12.

The distinctive combination of the cover plates 14, 16 and 46 facilitates rapid set-up of the equipment to produce ready-mixed beverages, and also provides easy access for repairs. With regard to the mounting of the equipment, this can take place in the following manner. The front cover plate 14 can be removed, as shown in FIG. 8, and suitable syrup containers SP can then be turned upside down and directed with their outlet openings downwards and plugged into the holders 36 (Fig. 5). Water can then be poured manually from a jug down into the inlet trough EC so that the water can flow down the inclined drain into the water reservoir WR. The front cover plate 14 can then be applied, as shown in FIG. 1. In case the dispenser has sufficient stock of syrup and only water needs to be added, the cover plate 14 may be moved to the partially open position shown in FIG. 7 and where only the water inlet channel EC is exposed and water can be supplied as described above. The CO 2 cylinder 42 shown in FIG. 9 can then be inserted by turning the cylinder upside down and directing the outlet opening downwards and plugging it into a holder arranged on the upper side of the control valve assembly 44. Thus, it will be appreciated that the ingredients needed to supply the beverage dispenser can be applied quickly and efficiently without tedious couplings, thanks to the peculiar cabinet design of the present invention and the plugging design of both the syrup containers SP and CO 2 cylinder 42.

Referring to further details in FIG. 5 and 9, it will be appreciated that the cabinet structure of the present invention comprises three component chambers available through the top wall of the cabinet, namely, the syrup storage chamber 34, the water reservoir WR and the carbonation chamber 38, as well as a CC 2 storage chamber 40 (FIG. 9). as a notch on the right side of the dispenser cabinet. A further chamber is formed in the rear of the bottom area of ​​the cabinet, as shown in FIG. 6, to accommodate the components of the cooling system of the apparatus.

The casing 12, as well as the various cover plates, are in a preferred embodiment made of injection molded plastic material. Insulation can be applied to the inside of the cabinet and cover plates to increase cooling efficiency. The injection molded plastic housing may be hot stamped or otherwise identified with identification marking, if desired.

The cabinet according to the present invention is also provided with a drip pin 20 in the usual embodiment and arranged in an open recess on the underside of the syrup chamber, as well as the mixing nozzle 22. The cabinet is also provided with a single vertically adjustable front foot 26, which is placed in the middle of the front edge of the the housing, as well as a rear support bracket 28 extending along the entire rear edge of the housing.

This arrangement facilitates the plan setting and increases the stability of the cabinet according to the present invention.

The arrangement of the components of the mechanical cooling system in other mechanical components not described above is shown in FIG. 6. The compressor in the cooling system is designated by CP and is located directly below the carbonation chamber of the dispenser. A circulation fan F is also arranged and placed directly below the water reservoir WR to blow out hot air from the dispenser cabinet. Evaporator C in the cooling system is not shown in FIG. 6, but is visible from the top view of FIG. 5, being at the bottom of the water reservoir WR.

A water pump WP is arranged in the cabinet just below the fan F to pump water from the water reservoir WR into the carbonation tank CT as needed. The electrical controllers for operating the dispenser are housed in a box CB just above the fan F, as shown in FIG. 6.