Container with in situ dual food product mixing and heating

A container for housing and producing a liquid comestible product and in situ heating thereof has an upper comestible chamber and a lower comestible chamber separated by a comestible diaphragm. One of the comestible chambers retains a dry powder and the other comestible chamber retains water. A moveable pierce rod assembly penetrates from outside the container to inside the upper comestible chamber and is attached to an arm disposed outside of the container. A removable protective collar is disposed between the arm and the container to retain the arm and pierce rod assembly in place. A flexible collar is disposed within the protective collar to seal the pierce rod assembly between the arm and the container. The lower chamber houses an upper heating/cooling chamber and a lower heating heating/cooling chamber separated by a heating heating/cooling diaphragm. One of the heating heating/cooling chambers retains a chemical reactant and the other heating heating/cooling chamber retains water. A moveable plunger is retained by a flexible plunger diaphragm and is hand actuated from outside the container. The plunger is disposed to penetrate through and rupture the heating heating/cooling diaphragm when actuated from outside the container to combine the chemical reactant and water for generating/withdrawing heat to heat/cool the contents of the lower chamber. A dispensing tube is provided for removing the liquid comestible product from the container. Removal of the protective collar permits the pierce rod to be actuated from outside of the container for releasing contents in the upper comestible chamber into contents in the lower comestible chamber for producing a liquid comestible product from the powder and the water. The liquid comestible product can be heated/cooled by actuating the plunger to rupture the heating diaphragm.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
None. 
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
Not applicable. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention generally relates to packaging containers for a 
variety of, inter alia, beverages and other liquid comestibles, and more 
particularly to packaging containers that permit such liquid comestibles 
to be made from dry mixes and water in the field along with heating of the 
thus-formed liquid comestibles. 
A variety of liquid comestibles have limited shelf life and/or require 
refrigeration. Consumers of such products, however, often are required to 
consume such liquid comestibles when they are not at home and/or do not 
have access to refrigeration facilities. For example, a variety of 
foodstuffs will spoil if they are not refrigerated. The same is true for a 
variety of pharmaceutical products. Risk of spoilage due to bacterial 
contamination translates into a limited useful life of the product absent 
refrigeration. In other contexts, liquid comestible products may require 
heating for sterilization, organoleptic properties, etc. Thus, not only 
does the consumer require that the liquid comestible be refrigerated prior 
to ingestion, but often the comestible must be heated prior too. 
The art has addressed the foregoing dilemma and proposed a variety of 
packing containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,565 proposes a 
self-heating container system for heating beverages or food, wherein the 
container has an upper chamber filled with water separated by a thin plate 
from a lower chamber filled with lime. Sharp spikes can be depressed from 
outside the container to pierce the thin plate. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,218 proposes a similar heating system for heating or 
cooling foodstuffs wherein an external lock-out system prevents unintended 
piercing of the diaphragm and premature heating/cooling of the foodstuff. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,801 proposes a liquid/powder foodstuff mixing container 
with a piercing tool actuated from outside the container to pierce a 
diaphragm separating the water and powder. No heating or cooling is shown. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,394 proposes a similar mixing container for dry cereal 
and milk. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,867 proposes a self-heating container system for 
heating beverages or food much like that system in the '565 patent. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,753,085 and 5,205,277 propose other self-heating container 
system variants to the '565 and the '867 patents. 
Despite these proposals, there still is a need in the art for a simple, yet 
reliable container that can house separately liquid and powder for 
admixing in the field, followed by heating of the in situ formed liquid 
comestible in the same container. The present invention is addressed to 
such need. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A container for housing and producing a liquid comestible product and in 
situ heating thereof has an upper comestible chamber and a lower 
comestible chamber separated by a comestible diaphragm. One of the 
comestible chambers retains a dry powder and the other comestible chamber 
retains water. A moveable pierce rod assembly penetrates from outside the 
container to inside the upper comestible chamber and is attached to an arm 
disposed outside of the container. A removable protective collar is 
disposed between the arm and the container to retain the arm and pierce 
rod assembly in place. A flexible collar is disposed within the protective 
collar to seal the pierce rod assembly between the arm and the container. 
The lower chamber houses an upper heating (or cooling) chamber and a lower 
heating (or cooling) chamber separated by a heating diaphragm. One of the 
heating (or cooling) chambers retains a chemical reactant and the other 
heating (or cooling) chamber retains water. A moveable plunger is retained 
by a flexible plunger diaphragm and is hand actuated from outside the 
container. The plunger is disposed to penetrate through and rupture the 
heating (or cooling) diaphragm when actuated from outside the container to 
combine the chemical reactant and water for generating heat (or removing 
heat) to heat (or cool) the contents of the lower chamber. A dispensing 
tube is provided for removing the liquid comestible product from the 
container. Removal of the protective collar permits the pierce rod to be 
actuated from outside of the container for releasing contents in the upper 
comestible chamber into contents in the lower comestible chamber for 
producing a liquid comestible product from the powder and the water. The 
liquid comestible product can be heated (or cooled) by actuating the 
plunger to rupture the heating (or cooling) diaphragm. The liquid 
comestible product can be heated (or cooled) by actuating the plunger to 
rupture the heating (or cooling) diaphragm. The mixture will produce a 
desired liquid comestible product at a desired temperature (e.g., coffee, 
tea, cocoa, broth, juice, infant formula, etc.). In this application the 
alternative of heating or cooling often will be represented as follows: 
heating/cooling. 
Advantages of the present invention include the ability to carry the 
container to remote locations devoid of refrigeration. Another advantage 
is the ability to mix the dry powder and water via hand activation to form 
a liquid comestible product. A further advantage is the ability to hand 
activate a heating system also housed with the container for heating the 
liquid comestible product. A yet further advantage is the ability to 
enhance the ability of the water to dissolve the dry powder by the heating 
of the water. A yet another advantage is the ability to adapt the 
container to have a baby bottle configuration for feeding infants formula. 
Still a further advantage is the ability to adapt the container to be used 
by children and adults. Still another advantage is the ability to prepare 
both liquid nutritional products as well as liquid medicinal comestible 
products. These and other advantages will be readily apparent to those 
skilled in the art based on the disclosure set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring initially to FIG. 1, container 10 is seen to be composed of 
generally cylindrical lower section 12 with generally hemispherical upper 
section 14. Surmounting section 14 is assembly 16 which both actuates the 
mixing the dry powder and water for forming the liquid comestible product 
(i.e., baby formula) and carries a nipple for an infant to drink the 
formula. 
Referring to FIG. 2, container 18 is seen to be composed of generally 
cylindrical lower section 20 with generally hemispherical upper section 
22. Surmounting section 22 is actuator assembly 24 which actuates the 
mixing the dry powder and water for forming the liquid comestible product 
(i.e., tea, broth, coffee, cocoa, etc.). Section 22 also carries tube or 
spout 26 whose end is sealed by seal 28. Children and adults can drink the 
comestible liquid in container 18 through spout 26. Containers 10 and 18 
can vary in size, for example, from the size of an 8 ounce baby bottle to 
the size of a thermos. The size is a matter of design choice for the 
particular type of comestible liquid of interest, the number of servings 
desired, and like factors known to those skilled in the art. 
Referring to FIG. 3, it will be observed that lower cylindrical section 12 
is annular and forms lower comestible chamber 30. Upper generally 
hemispherical section 14 also is hollow and forms upper comestible chamber 
32. Separating chambers 30 and 32 is diaphragm 34 which can be formed from 
a thin sheet of plastic, metal, or the like. Assembly 16 serves both to 
actuate the mixing of the dry powder and water for forming the liquid 
comestible product (i.e., baby formula) and carries a nipple for an infant 
to drink the formula. To this end, assembly 16 includes removable outer 
cap 36 which serves to protect nipple 38 housed therein. Cap 36 fits down 
against arm 40. Arm 40 in turn carries moveable pierce rod assembly 42 
which penetrates downwardly into upper comestible chamber 32 and is seen 
to include annular pierce member 44 and interiorly disposed pierce rod 46. 
Pierce rod assembly 42 is kept in alignment by guide 48 which may be 
formed integrally with upper section 14. 
Removable protective collar 50 fits between arm 40 and guide 48 and 
protects flexible collar 52 that fits annularly therein side. Stop 54 is 
connected to annular piece member 44. In use, collar 50 is removed by the 
user who then pushes downwardly on arm 40 to cause pierce rod assembly 42 
to penetrate through and puncture diaphragm 34 until stop 54 reaches guide 
48. Removal of cap 36 permits nipple 38 to be exposed for use. The 
flexibility of collar 52 permits arm 40 to be moved while still sealing 
the upper section of pierce rod assembly 42 from the outside. 
Disposed within lower comestible chamber 30 is heating assembly 56 which is 
composed of upper heating section 58 and lower heating section 60 which 
define, respectively, upper heating chamber 59 and lower heating chamber 
61. The lower portion of cylindrical lower section 12 terminates with 
annulus 62 which is covered with removable bottom protective cover 64 
which precludes access to heating assembly 56 until cover 64 is removed by 
the user. The bottom of cylindrical lower section 12 is fitted with 
annular bottom 66. The hole in annular bottom 66 is covered with flexible 
diaphragm 68 which is connected to moveable plunger 70 which fits into 
plunger guide 72 disposed within lower heating chamber 61. Heating chamber 
diaphragm 74 separates upper heating chamber 59 from lower heating chamber 
61. In use, the user would remove cover 64 to expose flexible diaphragm 68 
which the user would push so as to cause plunger 70 to rupture diaphragm 
74. 
Now that the structure and function of container 10 has been described, an 
exemplary use will be described with specific reference to dispensing 
heated baby formula. Chamber 32 will be filled with dry baby formula 
powder while chamber 30 will have water. Chamber 59 will contain a dry 
chemical while chamber 61 will contain water. In use, the user will first 
initiate the chemical reaction between the chemical powder in chamber 59 
with the water in chamber 61. This will start the heating of the water in 
chamber 30. Thereafter, the user will puncture diaphragm 34 to mix the 
baby formula powder with the heating water. After a few minutes, chamber 
30 will contain the heated liquid baby formula which can be fed to an 
infant via nipple 38. Of course chambers 30 and 32 will be aseptically 
filled. 
As to the chemical reactant in chamber 59, a variety of chemical reactants 
are well known in the art. These include, for example, alkaline earth 
oxide (e.g., CaO), glacial acetic acid, sulfuric acid, and the like. Such 
chemical reactants generate heat when combined with water (exothermic 
reaction). It will be appreciated that other chemical reactants could be 
used that result in an endothermic reaction when mixed with water for the 
cooling of the contents in chamber 30. These reactants include, for 
example, ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and the like. 
Of course, materials of construction will be suitable for the types of 
comestible products being stored and heated (cooled) and will be able to 
withstand the temperatures generated in chamber 61, for example. Thus, 
temperature resistant plastics will be favored for their cost, 
disposability, and ability to withstand the expected temperatures to be 
encountered. Such plastics will include, for example, suitable acrylic 
polymers, polyolefin polymers, polyethylene terephthalate, and the like. 
As an alternative to a baby bottle container, FIG. 4 details the 
construction of container 18 in FIG. 2. Heating assembly 56 is the same as 
in FIG. 3 as is its operation. Moveable pierce rod assembly 42 also is the 
same. Actuator assembly 24 functions as described in connection with FIG. 
3, except that nipple 38 and cap 36 have been replaced with spout 26 whose 
end is sealed by seal 28. Thus, an adult or child can drink from container 
18 via spout 26. Suitable comestible products include, inter alia, coco, 
broth, tea, coffee, and the like. Here, heating as well as cooling of the 
comestible product may be desirable and is accomplished as described 
above. 
While the foregoing description has concentrated on nutritional comestible 
products, it will be appreciated that certain medicinal products (e.g., 
antibiotics) may come in powder form for admixing with water to product an 
oral or ingestive medicine for consumption by, for example, toddlers, 
children, and adults. Heating of such medicinal products could aid in 
their dissolution by heated water, aid in their efficacy, etc. the same 
can be said for cooling of the medicinal products which may make them more 
organoleptically palatable. Thus, the inventive container could be used to 
provide a variety of ingestive products, either heated or cooled.