Abstract:
A beverage brewer and travel mug provided for brewing small quantities of a beverage within a microwave oven, includes a cup for receiving a charge defined for example by water and ground coffee, and a lid serving to contain the charge during the brewing operation, while allowing for escape of steam, and thereafter to permit transport of the brewed beverage without spilling and permit drinking of the beverage from which grounds are effectively filtered.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Travel mugs having apertured, recessed, snap-on lids for minimizing spillage of a contained beverage, such as coffee, have come into wide usage. A disadvantage of known prior travel mugs is that they require a beverage they are to transport to be brewed by a separate apparatus and then transferred to the travel mug. 
     In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,835, there is disclosed a cup adapted to permit brewing of small quantities of a desired beverage, such as coffee, within a microwave oven. A disadvantage of this prior invention is that it is not suited for use as a drinking or transporting container for the brewed beverage, and thus requires the beverage to be poured into a second cup or travel mug. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a beverage brewer and travel mug, which combines the advantages of the microwave beverage brewing cup of my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,835 and a conventional travel mug, while avoiding the disadvantages of each. 
     More particularly, the present invention relates to a beverage brewer and travel mug for brewing small quantities of a beverage within a microwave oven, which includes a cup for receiving a charge preferably in the form of water and ground coffee and a lid for retaining the charge within the cup, while allowing for escape of steam, during a brewing operation. In a presently preferable form of the invention, the lid of the mug cooperates with the cup to define a passageway permitting escape of steam/inflow of air, and incorporates a filter element(s) for straining coffee grounds from brewed coffee, as an incident to tipping of the mug for purposes of drinking coffee. As in the case of a conventional travel mug, the upper surface of the lid of the present mug is preferably recessed or shaped to define a reservoir for receiving coffee permitted to flow through openings in a bottom wall of the lid when the mug is tipped for drinking purposes. 
     In alternative embodiments of the invention, the lid is of two-part construction having a coffee receiving reservoir portion and a filter portion. The filter portion may be either removably carried by the reservoir portion or removably positioned between the reservoir portion and the cup. 
     It will be appreciated that the filtering area required in the present mug may be substantially smaller than that required for the cup of U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,835 in that beverage is not normally dispensed immediately after brewing, thereby minimizing the likelihood that the filtering area will be plugged by solids. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The nature and mode of operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of the lid and cup of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical cross-sectional view showing the lid and cup in assembled condition; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the circled area designated by the letter A in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial bottom perspective view of the lid in the area of the pull tab thereof; 
     FIG. 5 is a partial, vertical cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but showing an alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a partial, vertical cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but showing a second alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the filter depicted in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 6, but showing a third alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but showing a fourth alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 10 is an exploded, perspective view of the lid of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 9; and 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the lid of FIG. 10 in assembled condition. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a beverage brewer and travel mug formed in accordance with a preferred form of the invention is designated as 10 and shown as generally comprising a cup 12 and a lid 14 for removably covering the cup. 
     As will become apparent, mug 10 is intended for use in brewing a beverage within a microwave oven, not shown, while retained in cup 12 with the aid of lid 14, and then permitting a user to subsequently drink the brewed beverage from the mug, while retaining solids within the cup. The beverage may for example be coffee provided by brewing a charge 16 placed within the confines of cup 12 and defined by desired volumes/preparations of water 18 and ground coffee 20. In a preferred form of the invention, cup 12 is sized to receive charge 16 sufficient to produce one cup of coffee, but of course the invention is not limited thereto. 
     Cup 12 is preferably defined by a bottom wall 24, a cylindrical side wall 26 arranged to upstand from the periphery of the bottom wall and define an open mouth 28 bounded by an annular rim 30; and a handle 32 fixed to the side wall. Side wall 26 is provided with a radially inwardly facing or opening annular mounting recess 34 disposed adjacent rim 30. 
     Lid 14 is preferably defined by a bottom wall 38 provided with one or more suitably sized beverage flow filtering openings defined for example by through openings or apertures 40 bridged by a screen element(s) 42; and a side wall 44 arranged to upstand from the periphery of the bottom wall and cooperate therewith to define an upwardly open recess or reservoir 46 bounded by a rim 48. Side wall 44 generally conforms to the configuration of the inner surface of side wall 26, except where the former is inset to define a panel portion 50, which serves to cooperate with side wall 26 to define a first flow passage 52 when cup 12 and lid 14 are in assembled condition, as shown in FIG. 2. Lid 14 may be releasably connected to or assembled with cup 12 by suitable means, such as by forming side wall 44 with a radially outwardly projecting mounting means, such as a rib 54 arranged to extend annularly thereof between the opposite sides of panel 50 and sized to be resiliently snap fit received within mounting recess 34. As best shown in FIG. 2, side wall 44 is preferably downwardly and inwardly tapered in a direction towards bottom wall 38 to facilitate insertion of the lid within the cup, and bottom wall 38 is preferably downwardly inclined in a direction away from panel portion 50. 
     Side wall 44 includes a rim 48 arranged to project radially outwardly thereof adjacent its relatively upper end and an enlarged pull tab 60 arranged essentially coplanar with rim 48 and sized to project radially outwardly of cup side wall 26 when cup 12 and lid 14 are in assembled condition. Pull tab 60 has a lower surface shaped to define a generally U-shaped edge surface 60a arranged to lie essentially coplanar with the downwardly facing surface 48a of rim 48 and a centrally located recessed area 60b, which cooperates with cup rim 30 to define a second flow passage 62 arranged for flow communication with the upper end of first flow passage 52 when cup 12 and lid 14 are in assembled condition, thereby to create a vent placing the interior of the cup in flow communication with the atmosphere. Engagement of mounting rib 54 within mounting recess 34 and/or engagement of rim lower surface 48a and the opposite ends of edge surface 60a with cup rim 30 serves to provide a liquid seal peripherally of cup 12 and lid 14, except for the relatively constricted peripheral area defined by flow passages 52 and 62. 
     Pull tab 60 both facilitates removal of lid 14 from cup 12 and provides a visual indication of the placement of flow passages 52 and 62 and thereby advise a user that a beverage should be drunk from within recess 46 remotely of the pull tab. 
     Cup 12 and lid 14 may be fabricated from any suitable material(s) adapted for use within a microwave oven and to withstand the temperature to which charge 16 is to be raised during a brewing operation. As by way of example, the components of the invention may be conventionally formed of polyester, polysulfone, polycarbonate or polypropylene. Screen elements 42 may be formed as an integral part of lid 14, but are preferably, separately formed as polyester or nylon screening inserts placed into a mold into which the plastic material used in forming lid 14 is to be injected. 
     The size and number of openings 40, together with the mesh size of screen element 42 are chosen to permit the liquid component of a brewed beverage to pass therethrough when mug 10 is tipped for purposes of drinking the beverage. On the other hand, the size of screen element 42 is chosen to prevent passage therethrough of the solid component and thus retain such solid component within cup 12 until such time as lid 14 is intentionally removed for mug cleaning purposes. 
     In use of mug 10, a desired charge 16 is placed within cup 12, lid 14 applied to the cup and the assembled mug placed in a microwave oven at a desired setting and for a time sufficient to brew the charge to an extent determined by user preference. During brewing, steam is permitted to escape through the tortuous path defined by passages 52 and 62 and through screen element 42 in order to prevent the building up of pressure within the cup sufficient to unseat the lid. Sole reliance of the screen element for this purpose is not preferred in that there is a tendency for the screen element to become temporarily obstructed with solids/liquid during brewing, depending on the mesh size of the screen element, with the result that the inflow of air and dispensing of liquid may be prevented. After the brewing operation, the mug is removed from the microwave oven and thereafter serves as a convenient, transportable receptacle from which the brewed beverage may be drunk without loss of solids from the cup. 
     The presence of pull tab 60 and the downwardly sloping lid bottom wall 38 provide a clear visual indication to a user that the beverage should be drunk from a dispensing side of the lid, that is, at a point spaced from the pull tab, thereby to ensure that no beverage will leak from the cup through passages 52 and 62 when the mug is tilted for drinking purposes. The downward sloping of lid bottom wall 38 additionally assists in the washing away of solids tending to adhere to the lower surface of the screen element 42, thereby to facilitate flow of beverage through the screen element and openings 40. Spent solids are retained in the cup and/or adhered to the lower surface of the lid and may be readily removed, as by rinsing. 
     A first alternative form of the invention is shown in FIG. 5, wherein elements similar to mug 10 of FIG. 2 are designated by like one hundred series numerals. Thus, in FIG. 5, a cup 112 having a side wall 126 is shown as receiving a charge 116 and as being removably connected to a lid 114 having a bottom wall 138 formed with openings 140 covered by a screen element 142 and a side wall 144 from which projects a pull tab 160. This construction differs from that of mug 10 in that lid 114 is removably connected and liquid sealed relative to cup 114 by forming lid rim 148 to define a downwardly opening mounting recess 170, which extends peripherally of the lid between opposite ends of panel portion 150 and is sized/shaped to resiliently snap-fit receive a similarly sized/shaped mounting rib defined by rim 130 of cup 112. 10 This construction additionally differs in that lid side wall 144 and panel portion 150 extend vertically above lid rim 148 in order to define a deeper reservoir 146 for brewed beverage, and in that pull tab 160 is disposed vertically above rim 148, whereby to cooperate with cup rim 130 to define second passage 162 without requiring the lower surface of the pull tab to be recessed for this purpose. 
     A second alternative form of the invention is shown in FIG. 6, wherein elements similar to mug 10 of FIG. 2 are designated by like two hundred series numerals. In this construction, lid 214 is of two-piece construction, including an upper or beverage reservoir portion 214a, which is resiliently snap-fit secured to cup side wall 226 via a mounting recess 234 defined by the cup side wall and a mounting rib 254 carried by lid side wall 244; and a separately formed lower or filter portion 214b. 
     Lower portion 214b is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as being removably peripherally edge supported by an annular abutment 272 defined by the inner surface of cup side wall 226 and as preferably being positionally maintained against such abutment by means of a centrically located projection 274 arranged to removably underengage lid bottom wall 238. In this construction, flow through openings of the lid are defined by two or more unobstructed openings 240a extending through lid bottom wall 238 and a plurality of openings 240b extending through lower portion 214b and bridged by screen element(s) 242. Further, in this construction, at least one of openings 240a is disposed relatively adjacent pull tab 260 to primarily serve as a steam/air vent passage, and at least one of openings 240a is disposed relatively remotely of the pull tab to primarily serve as a beverage passage. 
     A third alternative form of the invention is shown in FIG. 8, wherein elements similar to those shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 are designated by like three hundred series numerals. This construction differs primarily from the construction of FIG. 6 in that lower or filter portion 314b is inverted and removably, frictionally slip fit received within an inwardly facing annular mounting recess 374 defined by a portion 344a of lid side wall 344 arranged to project below bottom wall 338. The constructions of FIGS. 6 and 8 serve to better shield their screen elements from damage when their mugs are in use, while at the same time providing for a substantially larger exposed filtering surface, as compared to that of the screen elements of FIGS. 2 and 5, with a view towards avoiding the necessity for providing a separately defined steam exhaust passageway or air vent. However, the mesh size of the screen elements of FIGS. 6-8 are required to be larger than the screen elements of FIG. 2 in order to ensure passage of air and steam therethrough. 
     A fourth alternative form of the invention is shown in FIGS. 9-11, wherein elements similar to those shown in FIGS. 2 and 8 are designated by like four hundred series numerals. In this construction, lower or filter lid portion 414b is removably connected to upper lid portion 414a by forming the lower portion with an upstanding, peripherally extending flange 480 sized/shaped to be removably, frictionally slip fit received within an outwardly facing mounting recess 474 defined by lid side wall 444 and panel portion 450. Further, in this construction, an additional screen element 442a is preferably carried by upper lid portion 414a and sized to be of a finer mesh than screen element 442 in order to more finely filter the brewed beverage. This construction possesses the advantage of the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 8 with regard to better shielding its screen element from damage, and due to the provision of a steam vent defined by interconnected passages 452 and 462, also permits its screen element to be of much finer mesh than that of the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 8, as will ensure against the escape of any solids from cup 412, even if of very fine grind.