Abstract:
A soft-sided insulated container assembly is made of a flexible wall structure that is movable between a collapsed position and a deployed position. In one variation of the deployed position it resembles a tote-bag; in another variation of folding the deployed position corresponds to a generally box-like shape. The container includes a self-inflating wall structure that has an inner layer or skin, an outer layer or skin, and a resilient, open-cell insulating layer trapped between the two skins. A valve governs the ability to take in or to expel air. The outer layer may be thicker and more robust that the inner layer, the better to resist abrasion or punctures. The inner layer may be reflective. There may be a removable internal liner. That liner may be transparent.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    This invention relates to the field of insulated containers. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Insulated containers have become popular for carrying either articles that may best be served cool, such as beverages or salads, or warm, such as appetizers, hot dogs, and so on. Such containers are frequently used to carry liquids, whether hot liquids, such as soup containers, coffee or tea, or cold liquids such as beer, soft drinks, or other carbonated beverages, juices and milk. Sometimes these containers may by used to carry lunches, which may include a sandwich, fruit, carrot and celery sticks, a drink, cookies, and so on. 
         [0003]    Portable insulated containers tend to be of two types: hard-sided insulated containers or soft-sided insulated containers. Hard-sided portable insulated containers tend to be made of moulded plastic, with an inner layer, or wall, and an outer layer or wall, with an insulation space (which may be an air-space) therebetween. Hard-sided portable insulated containers are, as might be understood by the name, substantially rigid. The adjective “portable” is sometimes generous, as a full cooler capable of carrying 24 cans at 385 mL each, plus ice, may have significant weight. Hard-sided coolers, by their nature, may tend to be bulky, and, even when provided with a handle on top or handles at the ends may tend not to be particularly convenient to carry. A user&#39;s perception of the convenience of their portability may diminish with each additional step. 
         [0004]    A soft-sided cooler, by contrast, relies on external insulated wall structure that is not substantially rigid. In some instances the external insulated wall structure may be foldable between collapsed and expanded conditions. The insulated wall structure may typically include an outside layer of webbing or fabric, an inside layer of webbing or fabric, and a layer of flexible insulation positioned between the inner and outer layers. Soft-sided coolers may sometimes include substantially rigid liners to assist in permitting the cooler to maintain a given shape, or to protect items inside the cooler from being crushed. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    In an aspect of the invention there is a soft-sided insulated container having an inflatable wall structure. 
         [0006]    In a feature of that aspect of the invention, the container is movable between a collapsed position and a deployed position. In another feature, the container has an outlet by which to permit the inflatable wall structure to be deflated. In a further feature, when the wall structure is deflated the container is movable to a rolled-up position. In still another feature the inflatable wall structure, when inflated, forms a peripheral wall having an insulated chamber defined therewithin. In still another feature, the inflatable wall structure is self-inflating. In another feature, the inflatable wall structure includes an open cell foam captured therewithin. In yet another feature the inflatable wall structure is movable to either of (a) a tote-shaped container; and (b) a cubic container. In still another feature, the container has a washable liner. In a further feature, the liner is at least one of (a) removable; and (b) transparent. 
         [0007]    In another feature, the inflatable wall structure, when inflated, forms a peripheral wall defining an insulated chamber in which to place objects. The inflatable will structure has an outer membrane, an inner membrane, and a layer of insulation trapped between the outer membrane and the inner membrane. In another feature, the layer of insulation includes a resilient open-celled foam. In still another feature, the inflatable wall structure includes a valve operable to permit at least one of (a) inflation thereof; and (b) deflation thereof. In yet another feature, the outer membrane is thicker than the inner membrane and defines a scuff resistant outer surface of the container; and (b) the inner membrane has a reflective surface. 
         [0008]    In still another feature, the container is movable between a collapsed position and a deployed position. The inflatable wall structure is self-inflating. The inflatable wall structure includes an open cell foam captured therewithin. The container has an outlet by which to permit the inflatable wall structure to be deflated, and, when the wall structure is deflated, the container is movable to a rolled-up position. The inflatable wall structure, when inflated, forms a peripheral wall having an insulated chamber defined therewithin. 
         [0009]    These and other aspects of the invention may be more readily understood with the aid of the illustrative Figures and detailed description included hereinbelow. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    These and other aspects of the invention may be more readily understood with the aid of the illustrative Figures included herein below, and showing of an example, or examples, embodying the various aspects of the invention, provided by way of illustration, but not of limitation of the present invention, and in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1   a  shows a perspective view from the front, to one side and above, of an example of an embodiment of a soft-sided insulated container according to an aspect of the invention herein in a deployed and closed condition; 
           [0012]      FIG. 1   b  shows a perspective view of the soft-sided, insulated container of  FIG. 1   a  in a deflated, collapsed, and rolled-up condition; 
           [0013]      FIG. 1   c  shows a perspective view of the container of  FIG. 1   a  in tote bag form, filled. 
           [0014]      FIG. 1   d  is a front view of the container of  FIG. 1   a;    
           [0015]      FIG. 2   a  shows a perspective view of the container of  FIG. 1   a  in a tote-bag configuration, empty, with the top closure member open; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2   b  is a front view of the container of  FIG. 2   a;    
           [0017]      FIG. 3   a  shows a developed view of the container of  FIG. 2   a  during manufacture; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3   b  is an exploded end perspective view of the container of  FIG. 3   a;    
           [0019]      FIG. 3   c  is a cross-sectional view of the container of  FIG. 3   a;    
           [0020]      FIG. 3   d  is a conceptual view showing the container of  FIG. 3   a  being folded during manufacture; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    The description that follows, and the embodiments described therein, are provided by way of illustration of an example, or examples, of particular embodiments of the principles, aspects and features of the present invention. These examples are provided for the purposes of explanation, and not of limitation, of those principles, aspects, and features of the invention. In the description, like parts are marked throughout the specification and the drawings with the same respective reference numerals. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated in order more clearly to depict certain features of the invention. 
         [0022]    For the purposes of this description, the insulated containers herein may be termed “coolers”, as a convenient shorthand. For the purposes of this description, it may be that a Cartesian frame of reference may be employed. In such a frame of reference, the long, or largest dimension of an object may be considered to extend in the direction of the x-axis, the base of the article, where substantially planar, may be considered to extend in an x-y plane, and the height of the article may be measured in the vertical, or z-direction. The largest panels of the containers described herein may be designated arbitrarily as the front and rear sides, faces, or portions of the container. Similarly, the closure member, or opening of the bag is arbitrarily designated as being at the top, and the base panel is designated as being at the bottom, as these terms may be appropriate for the customary orientation in which the objects may usually be found, sold, or used, notwithstanding that the objects may be picked up and placed on one side or another from time to time at the user&#39;s choice. Other orientations are possible, such as when carrying a pizza in a flat or generally horizontal orientation, rather than vertical. It may also be understood that, within the normal range of temperatures to which human food and human touch is accustomed, although the term cooler, or cooler container, or cooler bag, may be used, such insulated structures may generally also be used to keep food, beverages, or other objects either warm or hot as well as cool, cold, or frozen. 
         [0023]    In this specification reference is made to insulated containers. The adjective “insulated” is intended to be given its usual and normal meaning as understood by persons skilled in the art. It is not intended to encompass single layers, or skins, of conventional webbing materials, such as Nylon™, woven polyester, canvas, cotton, burlap, leather, paper and so on, that are not otherwise indicated as having, or being relied upon to have, particular properties as effective thermal insulators other than in the context of being provided with heat transfer resistant materials or features beyond that of the ordinary sheet materials in and of themselves. Following from Phillips v. AWH Corp., this definition provided in the specification is intended to supplant any dictionary definition, and to prevent interpretation in the US Patent Office (or in any other Patent Office) that strays from the customary and ordinary meaning of the term “insulated” as provided herein. 
         [0024]    Similarly, this description may tend to discuss various embodiments of soft-sided wall members, as opposed to hard shell or hard-sided containers. In the jargon of the trade, a soft-sided cooler, or container, is one that does not have a substantially rigid, high density exoskeleton (typically a molded shell, e.g., of ABS or polyethylene, or other common types of molded plastic). Rather, a soft-sided wall may tend to have, for example, an outer skin, a layer of insulation, and an internal skin, both the internal and external skins being of some kind of webbing, be it a woven fabric, a nylon sheet, or some other membrane. The layer of insulation, which may be a sandwich of various components, is typically a flexible or resilient layer, perhaps of a relatively soft and flexible foam. A soft-sided container may still be a soft-sided container where, as described herein, it may include a substantially rigid liner, or may include one or more battens (which may be of a relatively hard plastic) concealed within the soft sided wall structure more generally, or where hard molded fittings may be used either at a container rim or lip, or to provided a base or a mounting point for wheels, but where the outside of the assembly is predominantly of soft-sided panels. Again, this definition is intended to forestall the US Patent Office, (or any other Patent Offices), from adopting an interpretation of the term “soft-sided” that diverges from the ordinary and customary meaning of the term as understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art in the industry, and as explained herein. 
         [0025]      FIGS. 1   a  to  1   c  show a soft-sided insulated container or container assembly, indicated generally as  20 . It has a soft-sided, insulated wall structure, identified as  22 , that defines a peripheral wall enclosing an internal chamber, generally indicated as  24 . Access to the interior of chamber  24  is controlled be an access governor such as may be termed a closure member. Closure member  26  may be a tracked fastener such as a zipper  28 . The assembly may have handles  30 ,  32  by which it may be lifted, and it may include a handle cinch or securement member, such as pad  34  which, in use, wraps around the bails of both handles  30 ,  32  to facilitate their carriage in one hand. A shoulder strap  36  with load spreading shoulder pad  38  may also be provided. External patches, or sheets, or pads  40 ,  42  may be added, or mounted to wall structure  22 , and may include pouches or pockets  44 , in which documents or other objects may be received. 
         [0026]    As may be noted, container  20  may be deployed as a generally box-shaped container, as in  FIG. 1   a,  or as a tote-bag shaped container as in  FIGS. 1   c ,  2   a,  or  2   b , or it may be collapsed and rolled up as in  FIG. 1   d.    
         [0027]    The structure of container  2   c  may be understood with reference to  FIGS. 3   a ,  3   b ,  3   c  and  3   d . In  FIG. 3   b , it can be seen that the wall structure assembly section indicated as  50  includes a first membrane or sheet  52 , a second membrane or sheet  54  and a layer of insulation material  56 . First sheet  52  may be designated as the inside skin. Sheet  54  may similarly be designated the outside skin. In each case, sheets  52  and  54  may be made of an air impermeable flexible sheet material, be it a rubberized material or some other. In one embodiment it may be an high denier nylon material that has been impregnated or coated, inside and out, with a thermoplastic urethane. In one embodiment, inside sheet  52  may have a shiny surface, such as a metallic reflective surface, that faces into chamber. In other embodiments inside may not be reflective. Outside sheet  54  may be thicker than inside sheet  52 . It may be roughly one and a half to two and a half times as thick, and may be made of, or include, an outer scuff-resistant skin or surface, such as may tend to resist punctures. 
         [0028]    Insulation material  56  is, or includes, resilient material with a memory, such that although it may be compressed to a smaller size, such that the air is squeezed out of it, the material will tend to return to its previous shape when released. The tendency to return to the original shape may tend to result in a self-inflating ability. Material  56  may be an open-cell air-porous foam. Material  56  may be a material other than an open-celled foam. Although it is convenient that a single sheet of insulation material be used, several smaller sheets could also be used. 
         [0029]    Sheets  52  and  54  are of generally corresponding extent, that extent being greater than the extent of insulation material  56 , such that the peripheries of sheets  52  and  54  may be sealed together, whether by bonding or welding to form an air impermeable seal. The width of the sealed zone, or weldment, may be quite substantial, being of the order of one half of an inch to one inch. To the extent that sheets  52  and  54  are generally rectangular. The edges may be identified as a first end edge  60 , a second, opposed edge  62 , a first side edge  64  and a second side edge  66 . Mating left and right hand guided fastener tracks, i.e., zipper tracks  68 ,  70  of zipper  28 . 
         [0030]    The inside face defined by sheet  52  may be substantially unobstructed, other than for the inclusion of fastening or securement fittings, such as fabric hook and eye strips  72  (e.g., Velcro™) mounted by adhesive bonding to the weldment strips immediately adjacent to first and second, or left and right hand zipper tracks  68 ,  70  of zipper  28 . These securement fittings may be used as releasable securements for mating fittings of like nature of a removable, washable liner  74 . Liner  74  may be transparent, and may be a seamless liner. In other embodiment, liner  74  may be permanently fixed in place, and in still other embodiments container  20  may have neither strips  72  nor liner  74 . 
         [0031]    Considering again  FIG. 3   a , weldments are also made at various locations at which assembly  50  is intended to be foldable. The various folds permit assembly  50  to be positioned in the tote bag configuration of  FIGS. 1   c ,  2   a,  and  2   b;  and also in the box-shaped configuration of  FIG. 1   a . There are two longitudinal folds  80 ,  82  that divide assembly  50  into left and right hand margins and a central portion. There are lateral folds, proceeding outwardly from the main centerline fold  84 , bottom main face fold  86 , and top marginal fold  88 . There are also diagonal lower and upper corner folds  90  and  92 , respectively. Assembly  50  is thus divided into first and second bottom half portions  94 ,  96 ; first and second, or front and rear, main panel portions  98 ,  100 ; first and second upper panel portions  102 ,  104 , first and second, left and right hand end panel halves  106 ,  108 ,  110  and  112 . There are also inner and outer bottom folding gusset portions  114 ,  116 , and first and second top corner folding gusset portions  118 ,  120 . 
         [0032]    A valve, or valve assembly  124  may be welded in place along one of the side margins of assembly  50 , as indicated. Valve assembly  124  is a governor that controls, i.e., blocks or permits, flow of air into or out of assembly  50 . When rolled up, as in  FIG. 1   b , valve assembly  124  is open to allow air to be expelled during the collapsing and rolling up, and closed thereafter to keep air out. When rolled up, container  20  may be retained in the rolled condition by a strap  126 , such as may have mating hook-and-eye fabric fastener portions. When the strap is released, valve assembly  124  is opened, and the resiliency of the open celled foam material tends to spread inner and outer sheets  42  and  44  away from each other increasing the volume captured between them and, consequently drawing air into that space. 
         [0033]    External shear panels, doublers, or pads, or mountings  130 ,  132  are attached to the main front and rear panel portions  98 ,  100  respectively, and function as load distributing anchors of handles  30 ,  32 . That is, the ends of the straps of handles  30 ,  32  may be attached, as by sewing or other means to mountings  130 ,  132 , which may themselves be attached to portions  98 ,  100 . Attachment is by non-puncturing means, such as by adhesive bonding or by a thermal bonding process such as welding or vulcanizing. Auxiliary compartment members, such as pockets or pouches  134  may be attached externally to mountings  130 ,  132 . 
         [0034]    When the external fittings have been mounted to assembly  50 , it is then folded, as suggested by  FIG. 3   d , and the side edges bonded together, again as by bonding or by a thermal process such as welding at left and right hand main seams  136  and  138 . 
         [0035]    Upper and lower quick release fittings  140 ,  142  may be mounted at the zipper ends and at the points formed where the bottom gussets fold. In the tote-bag configuration of  FIGS. 1   c ,  2   a  and  2   b,  fittings  140 ,  142  are not connected. However, when container  20  is used in the more box-shaped configuration of  FIG. 1   a , the clips or clasps are joined, the effect being to fold down (and up) the end flaps, much as when folding wrapping paper, the securement of the ends tending to hold the package in its box-shaped form. Alternatively, container  20  may also have intermediate level quick-release fittings  144 , such as may engage with lower fittings  142 . In this embodiment the lower portion of container  20  may have a box shape, while the upper portion remains like the tote bag shape. 
         [0036]    In the box-shaped configuration, the first and second bottom half portions  94  and  96  define a generally flat bottom; first and second left hand end panel halves  106 ,  108  (which are joined at left hand main seam  136 ) form the left hand end panel; first and second right hand end panel halves  110 ,  112  (which are joined at right hand main seam  138 ). The front and rear (or first and second) main side panels are defined by panel portions  98  and  100  respectively; the top wall is defined by first and second upper panel portions  102 ,  104  joined by zipper  28  in a generally flat panel. In this configuration the top corner panel gusset  120  folds under gusset  118 , such that a triangular central point is formed at which fitting  140  is mounted. Similarly, each gusset  116  folds under its associate gusset  114 , forming a central point at which fitting  142  is mounted, the whole point then being pulled to lie upwardly, adjacent to the respective end wall. 
         [0037]    In the tote-bag configuration, all of the portions to one side of main central fold  84  form one side of a tote pouch, while all of the portions to the other side form the other side of the tote. As the pouch is filled, the sides bulge accordingly. 
         [0038]    Although container  20  has been shown and described as having a single communicating space into which air may be introduced or expelled, and thus only a single valve, the apparatus could have more than one valve—such as an inlet valve and an outlet valve. Alternatively it could have more than one valve that is both an inlet and an outlet valve to allow faster or easier inflation and deflation. In another embodiment, the compressible substance may merely be vented, or portions of the external skin may “breathe”, in either case without the use of a valve. It is not necessary that all sides of the container assembly be inflatable wall panels. For example, it may be desired that the bottom panel of the apparatus (corresponding to items  94  and  96 ) such as may rest on sharp objects on the ground, and such as may be especially prone to damage or abuse, may be made of a non-inflating panel, or panels, such as substantially solid UHMW polymer. Alternatively, too, it may be that only a subset of panels is inflatable, such as main side panel portions  98  and  100 . It that case, each of those panels may be separately inflatable, or they may be in fluid communication. In one embodiment, container  20  is buoyant, such that if it falls in the water it will float even when rolled-up. In another embodiment, given the buoyancy of wall structure  22 , container  20  will float when deployed and empty. 
         [0039]    The principles of the present invention are not limited to these specific examples which are given by way of illustration. It is possible to make other embodiments that employ the principles of the invention and that fall within its spirit and scope of the invention. Since changes in and or additions to the above-described embodiments may be made without departing from the nature, spirit or scope of the invention, the invention is not to be limited to those details, but only by the appended claims.