Bottle cooler

Abstract

A bottle cooler comprising an upwardly opening chamber having a base upon which a bottle may be located, the neck of the bottle extending from an opening of the chamber, an upwardly opening reservoir adjacent the chamber, a pump, a passage from the reservoir communicating with the chamber so that water may be pumped in use from the reservoir to the chamber, the chamber including a further passage communicating with the reservoir arranged so that water may be circulated in use from the reservoir to the chamber and from the chamber to the reservoir, the cooler including a plurality of overflow conduits, a first conduit having an inlet from the reservoir and an outlet to the chamber, and a second conduit having an inlet from the chamber and outlet to the reservoir.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] Applicant hereby claims foreign priority benefits under U.S.C. § 119 from United Kingdom Patent Application No. 0519718.1 filed on Sep. 28, 2005 the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to apparatus for cooling a bottle particularly but not exclusively a bottle containing wine or other beverage or drink. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Wine coolers are well known, for example comprising an insulating container into which a bottle, ice and iced water may be placed. This kind of wine cooler has a disadvantage that a large capacity of container is necessary in order to maintain a cold bottle over a prolonged period, so that the bottle may not be securely supported with a risk of spillage or splashing. The rate of cooling may be slow and temperature of the bottle cannot be controlled. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0004] According to the present invention a bottle cooler ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] A cooler in accordance with the present invention confers a number of advantages. The chamber may be dimensioned to be slightly larger than a bottle, for example being cylindrical and having a diameter slightly larger than a bottle, for example between 1 cm and 5 cm larger than the diameter of a standard wine bottle. In this way a continuous flow of coolant water across the surface of the bottle may be achieved providing a greater rate of cooling than is obtained when a bottle is simply immersed. In addition the bottle is held generally vertically reducing the risk of spillage or splashing as it is placed into or removed from the water. Furthermore, the capacity of water required may be less than with a conventional ice bucket, so that a smaller amount of ice is necessary in order to cool the water and to maintain the cold water at a low temperature.

[0012] The pump may be located below the floor of the reservoir, conveniently reducing the volume of the reservoir. The pump may be arranged to pump chilled water from the reservoir to the chamber or to pump water returning from the chamber to the reservoir, the latter preferred to minimise warming of the chilled water by the pump.

Problems solved by technology

This kind of wine cooler has a disadvantage that a large capacity of container is necessary in order to maintain a cold bottle over a prolonged period, so that the bottle may not be securely supported with a risk of spillage or splashing.

The rate of cooling may be slow and temperature of the bottle cannot be controlled.

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