Protective and cooling device for bottles
View Patent ↗An apparatus for conductive and convective cooling of the liquid contents of bottles in a thermally insulating chest. A plate with spaced holes each for receiving a respective bottle with a gap between each of the bottles and the side of the respective hole. A set of legs for supporting and stabilizing the plate within the chest and crushed ice, ice cubes and the like filling the volume between the plate's support surface, the exposed upper portions of the bottles and the associated sides of the chest. Conductive cooling is attained through direct contact between the bottles and the ice. Convective cooling occurs through the liquid contents of the bottles, the colder, more dense liquids in the upper portions of the bottles flowing down into and displacing the less dense and warmer liquid contents upwardly toward the ice.
1. An apparatus for cooling liquid stored in bottles for use with a cooling medium in a thermally insulated chest, the apparatus comprising a plate having a first plurality of spaced holes each for receiving a respective one of the bottles therein and a second plurality of holes, wherein said first holes each have a radius of about 1¾ inches, said first holes being spaced to prevent bottles positionable in said first holes from physical contact with one another, said first holes establishing gaps to enable flow of the cooling medium through said gaps, a support surface on one side of said plate for supporting the cooling medium thereon, the support surface defining a convective cooling area via the cooling medium, and a plurality of legs for supporting said plate within the thermally insulating chest, the legs being secured in the second plurality of holes in the plate, wherein each of said legs further comprises a hollow tube having a length of about 2¾ inches and a maximum diameter of about 1.6 inches, an end of said leg tapering from a maximum diameter of about 1.4 inches to a minimum approximate diameter of 1.3 inches at the end of said leg.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of webs formed in said plate, each of said webs individually spacing pairs of said first holes from each other.
3. An apparatus for conductive and convective cooling of liquid in bottles stored in ice, the apparatus comprising a cooling chest, a plate having a thickness of about ½ inch and disposed in the cooling chest, a plurality webs having a minimum width of about one quarter of an inch and holes formed in said plate separated by a distance that prevents bottles positionable in said holes from contacting one another, each of said holes having a radius to form a gap between the bottles and said respective webs formed in said plate, the webs defining a support surface for the ice, the apparatus further including four legs for supporting said plate within the cooling chest above a bottom surface of the cooling chest, said plate having corners, each leg being mounted on said plate and generally perpendicular thereto at a separate one of said corners thereof, said legs each having a hollow tube, tapered at one end thereof in order to establish a force-fit with said plate and to support and stabilize said plate, wherein the plate is positioned in the cooling chest such that the ice supported on the plate is positioned to make contact with upper halves of the bottles to create a convective cooling circulation in response to variations in a density of the liquid in the bottles, and wherein the holes are sized such that melted ice flows in said gaps.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of legs are press-fit into said second plurality of holes, respectively.