Granted Patent B2

US 9,452,879 · App. 13/624,169 · Granted Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. A sealed beverage basket for holding beverage grounds comprising:

a frame having an outside surface which includes:

a continuous rim that defines an opening at a top of the frame;

a bottom portion that is closed;

a plurality of spaced apart ribs that extend from the rim to a peripheral edge of the bottom portion, wherein the bottom edge, plurality of ribs and rim define a plurality of openings that facilitate fluid flow;

a filter material positioned in the plurality of openings, the filter material formed of a same plastic material as the frame;

a lid member that covers the opening at the top of the frame to thereby secure the beverage grounds within the frame; and

a removable, unitary and pre-formed outer sleeve shrink-fitted to the outside surface of the frame to cover at least the plurality of openings to thereby provide a form-fitted sleeve about the frame and an air-tight seal within the frame;

wherein the outer sleeve is a pre-formed and discontinuous sleeve that includes first and second overlapping edges joined via an adhesive, said discontinuous sleeve wrapped about and shrink-fitted to the outside surface of the frame after the edges are joined to thereby form an air-tight seal within the frame.

2. The basket according to claim 1 , wherein the outer sleeve is formed at least partially over the lid member.

3. The basket according to claim 1 , wherein the adhesive is a food grade adhesive.

4. The basket according to claim 1 , wherein the outer sleeve defines a tab or notch that facilitates peeling of the outer sleeve from the frame.

5. The basket according to claim 1 , wherein the removable outer sleeve is removable from the frame thereby uncovering at least the plurality of openings without removing the lid member.

6. An air-tight beverage package comprising:

a tube of unitary flow wrap material that defines a plurality of sealed pockets; and

a sealed beverage basket for storing beverage grounds, a respective beverage basket positioned within each sealed pocket, wherein each beverage basket includes:

a frame that includes:

a continuous rim that defines an opening at a top of the frame;

a bottom portion that is closed; and

a plurality of spaced apart ribs that extend from the rim to a peripheral edge of the bottom portion, wherein the bottom edge, plurality of ribs and rim define a plurality of openings that facilitate fluid flow;

a filter material formed of a same plastic material as the frame and positioned in the plurality of openings;

a lid member that covers the opening at the top of the frame to thereby secure the beverage grounds within the frame; and

a removable, unitary and pre-formed outer sleeve shrink-fitted to an outside surface of the frame configured to cover at least the plurality of openings to thereby provide a form-fitted sleeve about the frame and an air-tight seal within the frame;

wherein the outer sleeve is a pre-formed and discontinuous sleeve that includes first and second overlapping edges joined via an adhesive, said discontinuous sleeve wrapped about and shrink-fitted to the outside surface of the frame after the edges are joined to thereby form an air-tight seal within the frame.

7. The beverage package according to claim 6 , wherein the tube of flow wrap material is perforated between adjacent pockets to facilitate controlled separation of the pockets.

8. The beverage package to claim 6 , wherein the outer sleeve is formed at least partially over the lid member.

9. The beverage package according to claim 6 , wherein the adhesive is a food grade adhesive.

10. The beverage package according to claim 6 , wherein the outer sleeve defines a tab that facilitates peeling the outer sleeve from the basket.

11. The beverage package according to claim 6 , wherein the outer sleeve defines a notch that facilitates peeling the outer sleeve from the basket.

12. A method for forming an air-tight beverage basket for holding beverage grounds comprising:

forming a frame that includes a continuous rim that defines an opening at a top of the frame, a bottom portion that is closed, and a plurality of spaced apart ribs that extend from the rim to a peripheral edge of the bottom,

wherein the bottom portion, plurality of ribs and rim define a plurality of openings that facilitate fluid flow;

positioning a filter material in the plurality of openings, said filter material of the same plastic material as the frame;

providing a lid member that covers the opening at the top of the frame thereby securing the beverage grounds within the frame; and

forming a removable outer sleeve on an outside surface of the frame configured to cover at least the plurality of openings to thereby provide an air-tight seal within the frame; wherein forming the outer sleeve comprises:

providing a preformed, unitary sleeve configured to slide over the frame;

injecting an inert gas into an interior space of the frame to thereby remove ambient air from within the interior space; and

simultaneously applying heat to the outer sleeve to thereby shrink the outer sleeve onto and around the frame;

wherein the outer sleeve is a wrap-around sleeve with first and second ends, and the method further comprises: applying an adhesive on at least one of the first and second ends; wrapping the outer sleeve around the basket until one end overlaps the other end to thereby join the opposite ends; injecting an inert gas into an interior space of the frame to thereby remove ambient air from within the interior space; and simultaneously applying heat to the outer sleeve to thereby shrink the outer sleeve around the frame.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the adhesive is a food grade adhesive.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the outer sleeve defines a tab or notch that facilitates peeling the outer sleeve from the frame.

15. The method according to claim 12 further comprising forming a plurality of sealed pockets using a tube of a unitary flow wrap material, wherein the plurality of sealed pockets each contains a sealed beverage basket with removable outer sleeve and lid member.

16. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:

inserting the beverage basket into a tube of a unitary flow wrap material;

sealing the tube of flow wrap material at a top side of the frame; and

sealing the tube of flow wrap material at a bottom side of the frame thereby forming a sealed pocket of the tube of flow wrap material.

Assignments (10)