Abstract:
A fruit injector and method for squeezing a fruit segment into a container, particularly, a beer bottle. A channel shaped body includes a plunger and a compression member pivotally connected for movement to the body for compressing a fruit segment.

Description:
This is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/791,609, filed Feb. 26, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,783, and claims benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/234,945 filed Sep. 26, 2000. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a fruit injector and more particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method suitable for squeezing citrus fruit juice into a container and plunging the rind and other material into the container. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As is known in the beverage industry, some beverages are enjoyed by consumers where the beverage may include a section of citrus fruit. Typical is the situation where a slice of lime or lemon is inserted into a beer bottle. As it is presently conducted, the user simply squeezes the section of citrus fruit over the top of the container, in this case a beer bottle, and subsequently inserts the rind into the bottle. This is a rather messy affair and results in the juice being squeezed out over the hand of the user and elsewhere as opposed to being within the bottle itself. 
     It would be desirable if there were a device suitable for squeezing and subsequently injecting citrus material into a bottle. The present invention addresses this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus suitable for squeezing and subsequently injecting a fruit segment into a container. 
     A further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a device for injecting a fruit into a container, comprising: a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the outlet adapted for disposition over a container top; a plunger slidably mounted within the body for reciprocal movement within the body; and a compression member moveably mounted to the body to compress the fruit, whereby a compressed fruit may be injected into the container through the outlet of the body. 
     The body may be composed of suitable material which permits numerous uses and is not susceptible to damage during washing. To this end the body may be composed of plastic materials such as polyethylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, etc. In order to compress the fruit within the body, a compression member is provided as indicated above. This member may be mounted to the body either by suitable pivot or flex point or may be slidably moveable relative to the body by a raceway and pin arrangement with the concept being that the compression member is moveable from a load position where the piece of fruit is inserted into the body to a compression position where the material is squeezed in order to discharge the juice into the bottle. In terms of the plunger and the moveable member, similar material as that indicated for the body may be employed to construct these elements and the plunger may include stops or other suitable projections thereon for urging a slice into the bottle neck or container top, etc. 
     As will be evident, the concept with the instant device is to provide the compression of a section of fruit through a hollow body having a reduced cross-sectional area. The benefit of this type of compression is clear—the juice of the fruit section is eventually discharged to the container over which the hollow body is placed. 
     As a further feature, the dejuiced section of fruit may be inserted into a container in use. This is an optionally step that is ascribed to the instant invention. 
     In yet another object of the present invention, there is provided a method for injecting a fruit into a container, comprising the steps of: 
     providing a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the body having a reduced cross-sectional area between the inlet and the outlet and a plunger slidable within the body; 
     positioning the outlet of the hollow body over the top of the container; 
     charging the hollow body with a section of fruit; 
     urging the plunger through the body; and 
     compressing the section of fruit during plunging through the reduced cross-sectional area to insert the section of fruit and juice into the container. 
     A still further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method of extracting juice from a section of fruit, comprising the steps of: 
     providing a hollow body having an inlet and an outlet, the body having a reduced cross-sectional area between the inlet and the outlet and a plunger slidable within the body; 
     positioning the outlet of the hollow body over the top of the container; 
     charging the hollow body with a section of fruit; 
     compressing the section of fruit within the reduced cross-sectional area of the hollow body; and 
     draining juice into an open top of a container. 
     In use, the user moves the compression member into a loading position where the segment of fruit is inserted into the body. The compression members then urge against the fruit and the compression action of the compression member together with the fruit being urged against the plunger results in the juice being discharged from the cells of the fruit and into the container top. The plunger may then be activated to plunge or inject the rind into the container through the outlet in the body. 
     The present invention allows injection of the segment of fruit into a container in the absence of any mess, while maximizing the amount of juice extraction. 
     Having thus described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the article according to one embodiment; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the article as positioned about a container; and 
     FIG. 3 is a an exploded view of an alternate embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     Similar numerals in the figures denote similar elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the Figures, the overall device is referenced by numeral  10  with the article including central body  12  having an inlet end  14  and an outlet end  16  in opposition. The body  12 , according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, substantially corresponds to a channel shaped structure with two similarly configured side walls  18  and  20 , and a base wall  22 , adjacent the hollow body  12 , particularly end outlet  16  there is included a ring  24 , which ring  24  is configured to receive the top of a container  26 , shown in the example as a typical beer bottle. Abutments, stops or projections  28  positioned in ring member  24  are designed as a stop means for stopping the top of the container from being positioned too far within body  12 . 
     Mounted for reciprocal sliding motion within body  12  is a plunger  30  having a shaped configured for slidable movement within body  12 . The plunger  30  also includes a projection or stop  32  which is adapted to urge a section of citrus fruit downwardly through the body  12  and subsequently into container  26 . The section of fruit is not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Adjacent outlet  16  and ring  24  there is provided a compression member  34  which is moveably mounted and more particularly, in example 1, pivotally connected at  36  on body  12  for movement between a loading position wherein a section of fruit can be positioned within the inlet and adjacent stop  32  on plunger  30  and a use position, partially shown in FIG. 2 where the compression member  34  is more positively inclined relative to body  12 . The compression member includes at least one projection which extends outwardly from the surface for positioning against a slice of citrus, the projection being denoted by numeral  37 . 
     Turning to FIG. 2, shown is a variation on the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2, where the compression member  34  is slidably moveable on body  12 . In this example, compression member  34  includes pins  38  which are received within raceways  40  within the walls of body  12 . In this manner, a section of fruit  42  is positioned between plunger  30  and compression member  34  and compression member  34  is simply urged against the plunger body by the user to squeeze the juice from citrus slice  42  into container  26  and the plunger  30  subsequently activated to insert the citrus rind into the body of the container as shown in dash lines of FIG.  3 . 
     It will be appreciated that projections  36  and  32  will be configured so that they do not interfere with one another. 
     In another embodiment, the compression member  34  may be connected to body  12  by a living hinge to facilitate pivotal movement. 
     In each of the embodiments discussed, it will be evident that the cross-sectional area of the device is reduced in order for compression and thus juice discharge to be effected. The reduced cross-sectional area may be by compression member  34  as mechanical compression or by plunger  30  for plunger compression. 
     Although embodiments of the invention have been described above, it is not limited thereto and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications form part of the present invention insofar as they do not depart from the spirit, nature and scope of the claimed and described invention.