Patent Publication Number: US-2018051241-A1

Title: Cultivation Bottle for Mycelium of Inonotus Obliquus

Description:
NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     Field of Invention 
     The present disclose is related to a cultivation bottle, more particularly, to a cultivation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus.    
     Description of Related Arts 
       Inonotus obliquus  is a member under Kingdom Fungi, Division Basidiomycota, Class Agaricomycetes, Order Hymenochaetales, Family Hymenochaetaceae, Genus  Inonotus , and has aliases such as Chaga mushroom, birch mushroom,  Inonotus  Bacteria, Siberia Ganoderma, birch hole mushroom, and tree mushroom.  Inonotus obliquus  is one kind of folk medicinal mushroom which locally abundant in Russia and Eastern Europe. According to the research,  Inonotus obliquus  has effects of preventing adenocarcinoma, hepatoma, uterine cancer, stomach cancer, diabetes and hypertension. In recent years, it has caused extensive concern on the nutritive and medicinal value of  Inonotus obliquus , and  Inonotus obliquus  becomes a popular field in pharmaceutical industry and health foods industry. 
     In recent years, more and more researches show that  Inonotus obliquus  has amount of plant cellulose polysaccharide, and the materials of polysaccharide, such as glucans, isopolysaccharides and pectins, may further provide one of ingredients of the cell membrane. In particular, the biological response modifiers (BRM) materials of the polysaccharide have a high content of glucan which has effect of promoting the immune cell activity, suppressing the spread of cancer cell, preventing recurrent cancer, and preventing the absorption of carcinogen in stomach. 
     Solid culture can be operated in a low moisture content condition and provide a selectivity growth environment for mycelium, so it is suitable for fungi, especially cultivation as an edible and medicinal mushroom. The fungi is not in liquid place in native, and mycelium grown in the liquid culture and the native growing has different metabolic pathways, so also has different medicinal properties naturally. For  Inonotus obliquus , the solid culture is more similar to native environment than the liquid culture, so products and nutritional ingredients of  Inonotus obliquus  grown in the solid culture are also similar to that of native  Inonotus obliquus.    
     Since the rare success of traditional artificial culture, high cost of bacteria strain, and easy microbial contamination or disease in early growth stage, a container with high tightness is usually used for culture to prevent from contamination, but it causes problems of high temperature, poor gas flow, lack of oxygen within the container, and a high concentration of metabolic materials in a late growth stage, which results in non-germination, growth retardation, less competition to microorganism and low nutritional ingredients of metabolic products. In addition, the traditional culture has a complicated process and a lot of labor costs on the management of the process, such as observation and control of the input of culture liquid, the ventilation of device, and the temperature and moisture of environment. If the environmental condition is controlled unsuitable for nurturing, the production state and product quality of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  may be affected, and the yield of production is reduced. 
     Therefore, what is need is to develop a cultivation bottle capable of facilitating control of the environment condition for nurturing, so as to maintain the production state and product quality of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus.    
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a cultivation bottle for the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus . The cultivation bottle contains a matrix with an agar plate where  Inonotus obliquus  is seeded, so that it is easy to control the environmental condition for nurturing, and maintain the production state and product quality of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus.    
     Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a cultivation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus , to enable the operator to release the culture liquid into the matrix with agar plate where  Inonotus obliquus  is seeded by an elastic press operation, so as to provide a culture environment for nurturing with well-controlled ventilation, temperature and moisture, and to maintain the production state and product quality of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus.    
     To achieve the foregoing objective, the present disclosure provides a cultivation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus . The cultivation bottle includes a bottle having a hollow shape with an opening; and a bottle cap configured to cover the opening of the bottle. The bottle cap includes an annular cap defining a space formed inside; a press cap having a bottom part and a press part, and disposed in the space; and at least one elastic member disposed under the press part and in the space, to enable the press part and the bottom part to enclose the space. 
     Preferably, the annular cap includes an annular part having an inner periphery and a plurality of ventilation holes cut therethrough; a rotatable part disposed under the annular part and configured to rotate to enclose a part or all of the ventilation holes; and an annular wall extended from the inner periphery of the annular part into the bottle and configured to define the space. The annular wall has a structure formed on a lower periphery thereof and gradually-extended outwardly, the bottom part of the press cap has a soft rubber disposed on a periphery edge thereof, so as to prevent the culture liquid within the space from leaking when the press part is not pressed. 
     Preferably, the press cap has a rod disposed between the press part and the bottom part, and when the press part is not pressed, the elastic member is compressed to enable the bottom part to abut against the lower edge of the annular cap; and while the press part is pressed, the rod presses the bottom part to form a slit between the bottom part and a lower periphery of the annular cap, so that the culture liquid can be released into the matrix. 
     According to the cultivation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, the operator may elastically press the cultivation bottle to easily release the culture liquid into the matrix having the agar plate where  Inonotus obliquus  is seeded, and to provide an culture environment for nurturing with well-controlled ventilation, temperature and moisture, and to maintain the production state and product quality of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus . In addition, the cultivation bottle of the present disclosure is capable of improving the germination and growth of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus , and providing the rotatable manner to quickly control the air flow to make the temperature and moisture in the cultivation bottle equal to that of indoor environment, so that the nurturing process may become simpler, prevent the potential contamination when the bottle cap is opened, and have an effect of reducing the cost of labors and equipment. The cultivation bottle of this present disclosure is operated to input the culture liquid by the press manner, so it is quick and convenient to control the germination time and growth rate. When the mycelium grows into a certain degree of size, the operator can harvest and extract the mycelium without replacing the bottle or seeding in twice for subculture, so that the nurturing process may be simpler and faster. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The detailed structure, operating principle and effects of the present disclosure will now be described in more details hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings that show various embodiments of the present disclosure as follows. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a first embodiment of an incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, illustrating that the bottle cap is not pressed yet. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a bottle cap of the first embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, illustrating that the bottle cap is kept being pressed to drop the culture liquid on the matrix within the bottle. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus , illustrating that mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  is incubated in the matrix within the bottle. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, illustrating that the bottle cap is not pressed yet. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the bottle cap with a rotatable part of the present disclosure, illustrating that the rotatable part is able to enclose a part or all of ventilation holes. 
         FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C  are top plain views of the rotatable part of the bottle cap shown in  FIG. 6 , respectively illustrating that the rotatable part does not enclose the ventilation holes, encloses a part and all of the ventilation holes. 
         FIGS. 8A and 8B  are schematic views of a third embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, respectively illustrating that the bottle cap is not pressed yet, and is pressed already. 
         FIGS. 9A and 9B  are schematic views of a fourth embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure, respectively illustrating that the bottle cap is not pressed yet, and pressed already. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The technical content of the present invention will become apparent by the detailed description of the following embodiments and the illustration of related drawings as follows. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  which shows a schematic view of a first embodiment of an incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure. In the first embodiment, the incubation bottle mainly includes a bottle  40  and a bottle cap. The bottle  40  is in a hollow shape and has an opening covered by the bottle cap. The bottle  40  contains a matrix  50  which includes an agar plate, sawdust distributed uniformly in the agar plate, and  Inonotus obliquus  strain seeded into the agar plate. The matrix  50  can be a solid medium matrix mainly including the agar plate. To manufacture the matrix  50 , the agar is doped and uniformly mixed with some nutrients and sawdust of birch or other species of tree, for germination and growth of  Inonotus obliquus  strain. 
     For example, the bottle  40  can be a transparent and cylindrical bottle with an about 10˜20 cm of diameter and a 15˜30 cm of height. The bottle  40  includes a tight member (such as rubber) disposed on an edge of the opening, so that the bottle  40  can form an enclosed space when the opening is covered by the bottle cap. The enclosed space is used to accommodate culture liquid. 
     Please also refer to  FIG. 2  which shows an exploded view of the first embodiment of the bottle cap of the present disclosure. The bottle cap includes an annular cap  10 , a press cap  20  and an elastic member  30 . The annular cap  10  includes an annular part  12  and an annular wall  13 , and the annular part  12  is configured to cover the opening of the bottle  40  by an outer edge thereof, and the annular wall  13  is downwardly extended from an inner edge of the annular part  12  into the bottle  40 . The annular wall  13  defines space  1 . The annular part  12  is formed with a plurality of ventilation holes  11  cut therethrough. The press cap  20  includes a press part  21  and a bottom part  22 . The bottom part  22  is in a circular shape and has a soft rubber  23  disposed on a periphery thereof. The bottom part  22  is used to seal a lower edge of the annular wall  13 , and the lower edge of the annular wall  13  has a gradually-extended structure which is extended from inside to outside, so as to seal with the soft rubber  23  well. The bottom part  22  has a rod  24  formed at a central portion thereof, and the rod  24  has a top with a thread to be screwed into a thread hole  25  formed at a central portion of the press part  21 . The elastic member  30  is disposed in the space  1  and under the press part  21 , the annular wall  13  has a step structure  14  formed on an inner side surface thereof to support the elastic member  30 . Preferably, the elastic member  30  can be a helical spring. 
     To assemble the bottle cap of the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the bottom part  22  is inserted into the space  1  through a bottom side of the space  1 , the elastic member  30  is placed on the step structure  14  in the space  1 , and the press part  21  is screwed and locked with the top of the rod  24  of the bottom part  22 , so that the elastic member  30  is compressed in the space  1  and supported by the step structure  14  to press against a lower surface of the press part  21 , thereby providing an upward elastic force to the press part  21 . As a result, the soft rubber  23  on the periphery of the bottom part  22  can seal the lower edge of the annular wall  13 , and the press part  21 , the annular wall  13  and the bottom part  22  together define the enclosed space  1  to contain culture liquid  2 . The culture liquid  2  is a solution mainly including nutrient content, such as carbohydrate. The press part  21  has a liquid inlet  26  cut therethrough and configured to input the culture liquid  2  into the space  1 . The liquid inlet  26  can be enclosed by a sealing cover  27 , as shown in  FIG. 8A . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3  which shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure. In  FIG. 3 , the bottle cap is pressed to leak the culture liquid  2  on the matrix  50  in the bottle. The press part  21  of the press cap  20  is locked with the rod  24  of the bottom part  22 , so the press part  21  and the bottom part  22  can be acted simultaneously by the rod  24 . When the press part  21  is pressed (in a direction of an arrow shown in  FIG. 3 ), the rod  24  presses the bottom part  22  to form a slit between the soft rubber  23  and the lower periphery of the annular cap  13  of the annular cap  10 , so that the culture liquid  2  can be dropped on the matrix  50  for incubation of the mycelium  51  of  Inonotus obliquus . A flow of the culture liquid  2  can be adjusted upon demand. When the press part  21  is not pressed, the press part  21  and the bottom part  22  are moved back their original positions by the elastic force, so as to enable the soft rubber  23  of the bottom part  22  to tightly attach the lower edge of the annular wall  13  again, to prevent the culture fluid from flowing on the matrix. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4  which shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the incubation bottle of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure. In  FIG. 4 , the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  is cultivated on the matrix  50  in the bottle  40 . The bottle  40  has a side wall with graduation  41  to easily observe a height of the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  during germination and growth of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . In the embodiment, a thickness of the matrix  50  is preferably from 5 cm to 10 cm, and the best time to harvest the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  is when the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  has a 7-10 cm of diameter, and the same time, the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  has an about 5-8 cm of height and has better nutrient content. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 5  which shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure. In  FIG. 5 , the bottle cap is not pressed yet. Compared with the first embodiment, the bottle cap of the second embodiment includes the annular cap  10 , the press cap  20  and a plurality of elastic members  30 . The annular cap  10  and the press cap  20  are the same as that of the first embodiment, so their detailed descriptions are omitted. The plurality of elastic members  30  are symmetrically distributed on the support structure of the annular wall  13  and pressed against the lower surface of the press part  21 . The second embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  can achieve same effect and result as the first embodiment. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 6  which shows a cross-sectional view of the bottle cap with a rotatable part of the present disclosure. In  FIG. 6 , the opening of the bottle  40  is coved by the bottle cap, similarly to  FIG. 1 . The bottle cap of  FIG. 6  further includes a rotatable part  15  configured to enclose a part or all of ventilation holes  11 , whereby the bottle  40  can has an enclosed space or a ventilative space inside. The rotatable part  15  is disposed over the annular part  12  of the annular cap  10 , and the outer periphery of the annular part  12  is upwardly extended to form a mounting slot for mounting an outer periphery of the rotatable part  15 . An operator can rotate the rotatable part  15  to perform circle movement along the mounting slot. The rotatable part  15  has a fan-shaped structure, as shown in  FIG. 7A . While the rotatable part  15  is rotated to a different position, the rotatable part  15  does not enclose the ventilation holes  11 , or encloses a part or all of the ventilation holes  11 , respectively, as shown in  FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C . 
     Before in use, all embodiments of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  or combination thereof must be sterilized first, the matrix  50  is placed into the bottle after sterilization, and  Inonotus obliquus  strain is then seeded in the matrix  50 . An adequate quantity of the culture liquid  2  is inputted into the space  1  via the liquid inlet  26 . When the  Inonotus obliquus  strain is seeded in the matrix  50 , germination of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  will not happen because  Inonotus obliquus  requires fluid (such as water or culture liquid) for germination. The operator can rotate the rotatable part  15  to enclose all of the ventilation holes  11  of the bottle cap to prevent contamination caused by microorganism falling into the bottle. As a result, it is convenient to preserve  Inonotus obliquus  strain in the incubation bottle and control its growth time in batch production. The  Inonotus obliquus  strain can be preserved for about three weeks, and adding the culture liquid  2  is able to induce  Inonotus obliquus  strain to germinate mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . To start culturing mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 , the operator can press the press part  21  to input adequate culture liquid  2 , so as to induce germination of the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . The adequate culture liquid  2  can further be inputted into bottle upon a growth state of individual mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 , so as to control a growth speed and a size of the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 , and the time for harvesting mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . 
     In an early stage of germination of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 , lower oxygen exchange is required and production of carbon dioxide and heat is also less, and the bacteria infection must be prevented, so the rotatable part  15  of the annular cap  10  can be rotated to enclose the ventilation holes  11 , as shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7C , to facilitate germination of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . After mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  grows to have an about 1-3 cm of diameter, the mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51  requires more oxygen exchange and produces more carbon dioxide and heat, and microorganism only causes less damage, so the rotatable part  15  can be rotated to open the ventilation holes  11 , as shown in  FIG. 7A , to provide more gas exchange and hot gas dissipation for assisting growth of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . In addition, the rotatable part  15  can be rotated to different location to adjust a degree of ventilation upon growth state of mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus    51 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 8A and 8B  which respectively show schematic views of a third embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  of the present disclosure. In  FIGS. 8A and 8B , the bottle cap is not pressed yet, and kept being pressed, respectively. In the third embodiment of the present disclosure, the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  mainly includes a bottle  40  in a hollow shape, and a bottle cap configured to cover an opening of the bottle  40 . The bottle  40  contains a matrix  50  including an agar plate, sawdust uniformly distributed in the agar plate, and  Inonotus obliquus  strain seeded in the agar plate. 
     The bottle cap of the third embodiment includes the annular cap  10 , the press cap  20  and the elastic member  30 . The press cap  20  has the press part, and the annular cap  10  has the annular part  12 , the annular wall  13  and a bottom part  16 . The outer periphery of the annular part  12  is configured to cover the opening of the bottle  40 , and the inner periphery of the annular part  12  is downwardly extended into the bottle  40  to form the annular wall  13 . The bottom part  16  is formed by a lower periphery of the annular wall  13 , and the annular wall  13  and the bottom part  16  define a space to contain the culture liquid  2 . The bottom part  16  has a hollow cylinder  17  formed at a central portion thereof, and a rod  24  is inserted into the hollow cylinder  17  from down to up, and through the elastic member  30 . The top of the rod  24  is locked with a central portion of the press cap  20 . The bottom part  16  has a plurality of gaps which each is enclosed by a rubber diaphragm  23  to prevent leakage of the culture liquid  2 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 8B , when the press part of the press cap  20  is pressed (in a direction of an arrow of  FIG. 8B ), gas in the space is compressed first, and the compressed gas in the space forces the rubber diaphragm  23  to open the gaps of the bottom part  16 , so that the culture liquid  2  in the space is dropped on the matrix  50 . As a result, the third embodiment can achieve same effects and results as that of previous embodiments. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 9A and 9B  which respectively show schematic views of a fourth embodiment of the incubation bottle for mycelium of  Inonotus obliquus  , in accordance with the present disclosure. In  FIGS. 9A and 9B , the bottle cap is not pressed yet, and kept being pressed, respectively. In the fourth embodiment, the incubation bottle mainly includes a bottle  40  in a hollow shape and a bottle cap which is configured to cover an opening of the bottle  40 . The bottle  40  contains the matrix  50  which includes the agar plate, sawdust uniformly distributed in the agar plate, and  Inonotus obliquus  strain seeded in the agar plate. 
     In the fourth embodiment, the bottle cap includes the annular cap  10  and a press cap  60 . The annular cap  10  includes the annular part  12 , the annular wall  13  and the bottom part  16 , and the outer periphery of the annular part  12  is configured to cover the opening of the bottle  40 , and the inner periphery of the annular part  12  is downwardly extended into the bottle  40  to form the annular wall  13 . The bottom part  16  is formed by the lower edge of the annular wall  13 , and the annular wall  13  and the bottom part  16  define the space to contain the culture liquid  2 . The bottom part  16  has the plurality of gaps which each is enclosed by the rubber diaphragm  23  to prevent leakage of the culture liquid  2 . In addition, the press cap  60  has a press part which is formed with an annular protrusion  61  disposed on a lower surface thereof. When the press cap  60  covers the annular cap  10 , an outer periphery of the annular protrusion  61  matches and attaches with an inner periphery of the annular wall  13  to enclose the space, as shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 9B , when the press part of the press cap  60  is pressed (as shown by the arrow), gas in the space is compressed and the compressed gas forces the rubber diaphragm  23  to open the gaps of the bottom part  16 , so that the culture liquid  2  is dropped on the matrix  50 . As a result, the fourth embodiment can achieve same effects and results as the previous embodiments. 
     The above description is for the purpose of illustration only and shall not be interpreted in any way to limit the scope, configuration or applicability of the present invention. A person skilled in the art may carry out many changes and modifications in the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention, which is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.