Ice bucket with stoppers for placing bottles in different positions

1 . A bucket for chilling multiple bottles simultaneously with an ice-water mixture, comprising:

(a) a vessel comprising an upper opening, a substantially upright peripheral wall having a right side and a left side, and a bottom defining a floor level; and

(b) a right stopper and a left stopper, each forming a part of the bottom and configured as an upwardly raised protrusion extending vertically above said floor level;

wherein the right stopper is located between a center of the bottom and the right side of the peripheral wall, and the left stopper is located between the center of the bottom and the left side of the peripheral wall;

wherein the right stopper and the right side of the peripheral wall are separated by a space exposing a portion of said bottom; wherein the left stopper and the left side of the peripheral wall are separated by a space exposing another portion of said bottom; and wherein the right stopper and the left stopper are separated from one another by a central space exposing a portion of said bottom surrounding the center of the bottom;

wherein said exposed portions of the bottom reside at a lower elevation than the raised right and left stoppers;

wherein the vessel is configured to simultaneously accommodate at least a first bottle and a second bottle resting therein at different structural angles;

wherein the vessel is configured to receive a bottle in any one of a first position, a second position, and a third position, wherein the angle of the bottle is structurally determined by which specific stopper or exposed portion of the bottom the bottle rests upon:

wherein when the bottle is in the first position, a bottom of the bottle rests on the exposed portion of the bottom between the left stopper and the left side of the peripheral wall, while the bottle leans against the right side of the peripheral wall and stands at a first angle (a);

wherein when the bottle is in the second position, the bottom of the bottle rests directly on top of the raised left stopper, while the bottle leans against the right side of the peripheral wall and stands at a second angle (b), wherein the second angle (b) is greater than the first angle (a); and

wherein when the bottle is in the third position, the bottom of the bottle rests directly on top of the raised right stopper, while the bottle leans against the right side of the peripheral wall and stands at a third angle (c), wherein the third angle (c) is greater than the second angle (b);

wherein the vessel is dimensioned to receive at the same time a first bottle stable in the second position and a second bottle stable in the third position.

2 . The bucket of claim 1 , further comprising a central stopper forming a part of said bottom of said vessel, wherein the central stopper is configured as an upwardly raised protrusion extending vertically above said floor level and is located at the center of the bottom within said central space exposing a portion of the bottom;

wherein the vessel is further configured to receive a third bottle simultaneously in a fourth position, in which a bottom of the third bottle rests directly on top of the raised central stopper, while the third bottle leans against said right side of the peripheral wall and stands at a fourth angle (d);

wherein the fourth angle (d) is greater than said second angle (b) and smaller than said third angle (c); and

wherein the vessel is configured to receive at the same time said first bottle in said second position, said second bottle in said third position, and a third bottle in the fourth position.