Abstract:
A device used to easily fill small containers, i.e. shot glasses, with hot or cold liquids, with precision and speed, without spillage. The device consists of a funnel, attached to a filler hose, with a specialized filler nozzle at the end. Liquid of choice is poured into the funnel. The liquid then flows through the hose, but will not come out until the user activates the nozzle. The nozzle is activated by gently pressing its tip on the floor of the container. The liquid dispenser device may be used to fill shot glasses with hot, liquid gelatin mixtures or can be used to fill other cups, such as communion cups.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a non-provisional of and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/444,747 filed Feb. 20, 2012 and titled “LIQUID DISPENSER”, which is herein incorporated in its entirety. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     Not Applicable. 
     APPENDIX 
     Not Applicable. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to liquid dispensers, and particularly to liquid dispensers with manually actuated valves for controlling the flow of the liquid. 
     Shot glasses are typically filled with a liquid or fluid mixture using a pitcher, ladle, martini shaker, or measuring cup. All these instruments yield messy, inaccurate results with much waste. What is needed is a dispenser that efficiently and accurately fills shot glasses. The dispenser should be able to accommodate hot liquids as well as room temperature or cold liquids, and the dispenser should be easy to use. 
     The shot dispenser of the present invention fills a shot glass efficiently and accurately without spillage; using gravity to facilitate all liquid being used. Furthermore, it holds a large amount of liquid to make mass quantities of shots at once. The shot dispenser is ergonomically friendly, incorporating a handle so that hot liquids can also be used without warming and/or burning the user&#39;s hands. The one-touch operation of the valve stem to the floor of the receptacle increases the accuracy of fill dramatically to all known technology. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A liquid dispenser is provided having a container spout that is an orifice without any valve mechanism. The container spout may be attached to a funnel having a handle. In one embodiment, the funnel may be supported by a stand. An elongated tube extends from the container spout. The elongated tube includes a flexible tube in fluid communication with the container spout at a proximal end. The elongated tube also includes a rigid tube in fluid communication with a distal end of the flexible tube and extending to a dispensing end. A valve is situated at the dispensing end of the rigid tube. 
     The funnel holds a liquid or other fluid that is prevented from being dispensed from the liquid dispenser by the valve. A tip of the valve may be pressed against a bottom surface of a container, i.e. a shot glass, to open the valve and dispense the liquid therefrom. The rigid tube provides strength to the elongated tube to enable enough pressure to open the valve. While dispensing the liquid, a height between the container spout and the valve may be adjusted to adjust or control a flow rate of the liquid through the liquid dispenser. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings,  FIGS. 1-4 , wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a liquid dispenser and valves formed in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a liquid dispenser formed in accordance with another embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of liquid dispensers formed in accordance with other embodiments; and 
         FIG. 4  are perspective views of a liquid dispenser in use and a tray with cups. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the present invention is for a liquid dispenser  10  which has a container  12  for holding a liquid or fluid  100 , an elongated tube  14 ,  16  and a terminal valve  18 . As used herein the terms “liquid” and “fluid” may include liquids or fluids containing particles of ice or other material, for example a slush-like drink. In some embodiments, the elongated tube includes a flexible tube  14  at the proximal end and a rigid tube  16  at the distal end. The container is preferably a funnel  12   a  with a handle  24  and has a spout  22  that is connected to one end  26  of the flexible tube  14 . Optionally, the container may be a closed top container  12   b  that enables the liquid dispenser  10  to be stored on its side with liquid  100  therein. The other end  28  of the flexible tube is connected to the rigid tube  16 . The rigid tube  16  is preferably elongated  30 , extending to its dispensing end  32  where the stem valve  18  is preferably situated. 
     An alternative embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . In this embodiment, the container spout has a threaded collar  36  screwed over a threaded nozzle  34 . The threaded collar has a reducer section  38  extending to an elongated tip  40 . The ends of the flexible tube respectively extend over the elongated tip and the rigid tube in a friction fit  42  sleeve arrangement. There may also be a coupler  44  between the flexible tube and the rigid tube, and the flexible tube fits over one end of the coupler in a friction fit sleeve arrangement. The other end of the coupler extends over the rigid tube in a friction fit sleeve arrangement. The container spout  22 , the flexible tube  14 , the rigid tube  16  and the valve may be separable to enable cleaning, storage or the like. 
     It will be appreciated that alternative valves  18  can be used with the liquid dispenser  10  of the present invention and that the container  12  can be held in place by a stand  20 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , in addition to the stem valve  18   a , other valves may be a spring-loaded stem valve  18   b , a push-button spigot valve  18   c  and a squeeze-handle valve  18   d . It will be appreciated that some of these alternate valves  18  may reduce the length of the rigid tube  16 , and the rigid tube could be formed integrally with the valve. Examples of these options are shown in  FIG. 3  with the push-button spigot valve  18   c  which has a shorter rigid tube than the stem valve and with the squeeze-handle valve  18   d  which has its own rigid tube integrally formed into the handle section. 
     Operation of the liquid dispenser  10  is shown in  FIG. 4 . The liquid  100  is poured into the funnel  12   a  and flows through the flexible tube  14  and the rigid tube  16 . The valve  18  is biased closed and prevents the liquid  100  from flowing into the receptacles to be filled. The user  110  activates the valve  18  with one hand  112   a  while preferably holding the funnel  12   a  with the other hand  112   b . The flow of the liquid into the receptacle is gravity fed so the user can adjust the pressure using a differential in height  48  between the funnel and the terminal valve. By adjusting the pressure, a flow rate of the liquid through the fluid dispenser is adjusted. In particular, increasing the height between the funnel and the terminal valve increases a flow rate of the liquid through the liquid dispenser. Conversely, decreasing the height between the funnel and the terminal valve decreases the flow rate through the liquid dispenser. 
     In using the preferred dispenser  10 , the user holds the liquid-filled funnel  12   a  by the handle  24  with one hand  112   a  in an elevated position over the receptacles  102  to be filled. With their other hand  112   b , the user holds the tube  16  and presses the stem valve  18   a  against the bottom of each of the receptacles to open the stem valve and start the flow of liquid  100 . When a receptacle is filled, the user pulls the tube away from the receptacle, thereby releasing the stem valve back to its biased-closed position to stop the flow of liquid. 
     The stem valve  18   a  is activated by pressing the central stem tip  50  on the base of the receptacle which causes the stem tip to move inwardly into the valve housing  52 , thereby opening the valve and allowing the flow of liquid  100 . When a desired fluid level is reached in the receptacle, the user lifts the stem tip away from the base of the receptacle, and the pressure of the liquid pushes the stem tip back to its seating in the valve housing, thereby closing the valve and stopping the flow of liquid. The stem valve  18   b  may have a spring  54  that biases the stem tip in the closed position. The push-button spigot valve  18   c  is hand-operated. Pushing the button into the housing opens the valve which is spring-biased so that the valve closes automatically when the button is released. Similarly, with the squeeze-handle valve  18   d , the valve is opened by squeezing the handle and the valve closes automatically when the handle is released. It will be noted that each of these valve options allow the user to operate the valve and direct the location of the flow with one hand, thereby freeing the other hand to hold the funnel. 
     The dispenser  10  provides a convenient way to fill multiple cups  102  that may be arranged together on a table or in a tray. As one example of cups arranged in a tray, the dispenser can be used to fill cups held in a communion cup tray  46 . The communion cups are used for individual servings of wine or juice during church communion services. Unfortunately the individual communion cups may be time consuming and difficult to fill without spilling the wine or juice. The dispenser elements may be sized for use in filling the individual communion cups, particularly including the valve. With the present invention, the cups can be arranged in the tray and individually filled using the dispenser without spilling the wine or juice. Accordingly, the communion cups may be more quickly filled, while creating less spillage. Of course, the cups could alternatively be filled by the inventive liquid dispenser before they are placed in the tray. 
     It should be noted that the illustrated embodiments include a dispenser have a single valve. As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, additional valves may be added to the dispenser so that multiple cups could be filled at the same time. For example, the dispenser may be configured with multiple valves that enable a plurality of shot glasses to be lined up and filled simultaneously. In another example, the dispenser may be configured with multiple valves that correlate with the arrangement of cups in a particular arrangement, such as cups in the communion cup tray. Accordingly, each of the communion cups may be simultaneously filled by simultaneously pressing each of the multiple valves against the bottoms of the communion cups. 
     The embodiments were chosen and described to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to persons who are skilled in the art. As various modifications could be made to the exemplary embodiments, as described above with reference to the corresponding illustrations, without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents.