CN201185023Y - Bottled beverage vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A bottled beverage vending machine includes a bottle receiving space for receiving a bottle having an opening to an interior containing a liquid. fitting, which is sealed to the opening of the bottle. The fitting has an inlet channel and an outlet channel, each of which communicates with the interior of the bottle. A dip tube that extends from the outlet channel to the bottom of the bottle interior. An air pump connected to the inlet and operable to pump air into the interior of the bottle above the liquid. A tap that is connected in-line with the dip tube and is turned on by the user to dispense liquid from the inside of the bottle.

Description

Bottled beverage vending machine

technical field

The invention relates to a device for dispensing liquid beverages. In particular, but by no means exclusively, it relates to benchtop devices for keeping cool and dispensing soft drinks from plastic bottles containing the soft drinks to be purchased.

Background technique

Typically, soft drink bottles are stored in a refrigerator and are repeatedly removed from the refrigerator to pour the soft drink into a glass for drinking. This makes for repeated opening and closing of the refrigerator door. Because soft drink bottles are large and bulky, they also take up useful refrigerator space.

Utility model content

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate at least one of the aforementioned disadvantages and/or more generally to provide a device for dispensing the liquid content of a bottle on demand without inverting the bottle. A further object of the present invention is to cool soft drink bottles held in such a device.

A bottled beverage automatic vending machine is disclosed here, comprising:

a bottle receiving space for receiving a bottle having an opening to an interior containing a liquid,

a fitting for sealing the connection to the opening of a bottle placed in the bottle receiving space, the fitting having an inlet channel and an outlet channel, each of said channels communicating with the interior of the bottle,

a dip tube, extending from the outlet channel to the bottom of the bottle interior,

an air pump connected to the inlet and operable to pump air into the interior of the bottle, and

A tap, connected inline with the dip tube and opened by the user to dispense liquid from the inside of the bottle.

Preferably, the bottle receiving space is adapted to receive bottles in a vertical configuration.

Preferably, the air pump is connected to the internal channel by a hose.

Preferably, the tap is connected to the dip tube by a hose.

Preferably, the dip tube comprises a hose extending to the tap.

Preferably, the tap is placed at a distance above the beverage glass support platform.

Preferably, the vending machine further comprises a plurality of said bottle receiving spaces and a corresponding plurality of said fittings, dip tubes and taps.

Preferably, the air pumps are connected to each fitting by a respective hose.

Optionally, a pair of said air pumps are provided, each of said air pumps being exclusively connected to a respective one of the fittings by a hose.

Preferably, the vending machine further includes cooling means for cooling the bottle receiving space.

Preferably, the vending machine further includes a fan for driving air through the cooling member.

Description of drawings

Preferred forms of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic front view of a bottled beverage vending machine with its door closed,

Figure 2 is a schematic front view of the vending machine of Figure 1 with its door open,

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the vending machine of Figures 1 and 2,

Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional front view of the vending machine of the preceding figures,

Fig. 5 is a schematic side view of the automatic vending machine in the foregoing figures,

Figure 6 is a schematic rear view of the automatic vending machine in the preceding figures,

Figure 7 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of another beverage vending machine,

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional front view of the vending machine of FIG. 7 .

Detailed ways

In Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings, there is schematically depicted a bottled beverage vending machine 10 comprising a housing 11 typically made of molded plastic material. The housing has a platform 20 extending from its bottom upon which a glass or mug may be placed to receive a soft drink dispensed through one of the taps 12 .

Below the faucet 12 is a door 13 which opens to reveal a bottle receiving space in which a pair of bottles 14 are placed in a vertical configuration. Behind the casing 11 is a shroud 18 within which is located a cooling element 21 through which a fan 19 blows air into said bottle accommodation space.

An attachment 22 is used to seal the fitting to a threaded opening at the neck of a standard plastic soft drink bottle 14 . The exemplary embodiment includes a pair of soft drink bottles and thus provides a pair of connectors 22 . Each connection 22 may be a press-fit stopper, or a threaded cap, or preferably a clamping (non-rotating) device. The fittings each have an inlet channel 23 and an outlet channel 24 extending vertically therethrough so as to communicate with the interior of the bottle. Each outlet channel 24 has a dip tube 15 depending therefrom. The dip tube 15 extends to the bottom of the bottle 14 so that its distal end dips into the bottled liquid beverage. A hose 15' extends from the top of the outlet channel 24 of each connection to one of the taps 12. It will be appreciated that the cool air flow from the cooling unit 21 not only cools the bottle in the bottle receiving space, but also cools the hose 15' through which the liquid passes and that a small amount of liquid will remain in the hose 15' after the tap 12 is closed Until the next use, so the first aliquoted liquid is cold.

An air pump 17 is also located within the housing 18 . A single air pump 17 is connected to a respective inlet channel 23 of each connector 22 by a pair of hoses 16 . The air pump 17 is turned on to apply a slight positive air pressure over the liquid in each bottle, sufficient to allow the liquid to flow adequately when the tap 22 is opened.

Apparatus 10 is typically connected to an electrical outlet and includes switches for activating the pump, cooling components and fans. Various lighting features may also be provided on the device.

A pressure sensor may be provided on the pump 17 to only turn on the pump when the pressure on the hose 16 falls below a predetermined threshold. At this point it will be appreciated that a drop in pressure in either bottle will be read by the pressure sensor to turn on the pump 17 .

In use, a glass is placed on the platform 20 and one of the taps 12 is turned on to dispense cooled soft drink into the glass. The positive air pressure above the liquid in the bottle combined with the opened tap causes the liquid to flow up through the dip tube 15, via the outlet channel 24 and hose 15' to the tap 12. When the pressure above the liquid in the bottle drops, this can be communicated through the hose 16 to the pump's pressure sensor, causing the pump to be turned on to maintain liquid flow at the tap 12 .

When the supply of soft drink from a bottle is exhausted, the bottle can easily be replaced with a new bottle to which the connector 22 can be attached. To facilitate identification of empty bottles, the door 13 may be transparent or at least see-through.

An alternative embodiment is depicted in FIGS. 7 and 8 . This embodiment provides dual air pumps 17 a and 17 b in the housing 18 . A respective air pump 17 a and 17 b is exclusively associated with only one of the bottles 14 and is connected to a respective inlet channel 23 of each connection 22 by a respective hose 16 . The pumps 17a and 17b are turned on independently to apply a slight positive air pressure over the liquid in only one bottle needed, sufficient to cause the liquid to flow adequately when the tap 22 is opened. The use of this embodiment is the same as the embodiment in the previous figures. The difference here is that the air pumps 17 a and 17 b are only switched on at the individual request of the respective bottle 14 . Also, a pair of pressure sensors will be provided, each associated with only one pump.

It should be appreciated that modifications and changes obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, said cooling means and fan may be associated with thermostats in thermal communication with the bottles in the bottle receiving space. Furthermore, the device is not limited to applications for dispensing soft drinks. It can equally be used for dispensing alcoholic beverages such as wine from wine bottles or even milk from baby bottles. Moreover, unlike directly setting the faucet 12 at each dispensing outlet, an inline valve can be provided anywhere between the outlet channel 24 of each connector 22 and the dispensing outlet.

Claims (11)

1, a kind of bottled drink vendor is characterized in that it comprises:

The bottle spatial accommodation is used to hold the bottle that has to the opening of the inside that comprises liquid,

Accessory is used for connector is sealed to the opening of the bottle that is placed on the bottle spatial accommodation, and this accessory has intake vent and exit passageway, and each in the described passage all communicates with bottle interior,

Dip-tube extends to the bottom of bottle interior from exit passageway,

Air pump is connected to import and can operates pumping air into bottle interior, and

Tap is connected with dip-tube in-line arrangement and is opened with from bottle interior packing liquid by the user.

2, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described bottle spatial accommodation is suitable for holding bottle with vertical structure.

3, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described air pump is connected to intake vent by flexible pipe.

4, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described tap is connected to dip-tube by flexible pipe.

5, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described dip-tube comprises the flexible pipe that extends to tap.

6, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described tap is arranged on a distance of the top of beverage glass cup support platform.

7, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described vendor comprises a plurality of described bottle spatial accommodations and corresponding a plurality of described accessories, dip-tube and tap.

8, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 7 is characterized in that, described air pump is connected to each accessory by flexible pipe separately.

9, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 7 is characterized in that, described vendor comprises that a pair of described air pump, each air pump all exclusively are connected on separately the accessory by flexible pipe.

10, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described vendor further comprises the cooling-part that is used to cool off the bottle spatial accommodation.

11, bottled drink vendor as claimed in claim 10 is characterized in that, described vendor further comprises and is used to drive the fan that air passes described cooling-part.

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