Imi Cornelius, Inc.

Cornelius, Inc.

Imi Vision Limited

The Green Drinks Company, Ltd.

Richard John Nighy

Daniel Peterson Godfrey

Hugh Christopher Bramley

Alan Melvyn Bhimani

Lucy Ann Sheldon

Nicholas Martin Broadbent

Sam Gilbert Willis

Scott Nicholson

A method of dispensing a beverage includes the steps of: providing a housing having a plurality of reservoirs of beverage concentrate each reservoir having a concentrate pump and flexible conduit terminating in a nozzle; providing a plurality of drivers driving said concentrate pumps; providing diluent to the pumped concentrate to produce a beverage; providing a multiple dispense head accepting the plurality of nozzles; selecting a flexible pouch and bringing it into alignment with a nozzle in a filling position where it is filled via an opening; closing said opening and dispensing said filled sealed flexible pouch; wherein the filling position is a fixed position and wherein said nozzles are movable relative to the filling position such that any one of said plurality of nozzles can be presented at said filling position.

Beverage dispenser

A pump driver, a disposable pump cartridge for use with the pump driver and a beverage dispenser employing the pump drive are disclosed. The disposable pump cartridge comprises at least one barrelhaving an inlet valveand an outlet valveassociated therewith. A pistonmovable within the barrelis retained in a minimum volume position during transit by a protrusionon the internal surface of the barrel. The pistonhas a piston shaftwith a hollow end arranged, in use, to releasably engage a piston driver to drive the pistonfrom its minimum volume position to an operative position, and to reciprocate the pistonwithin the barrelin its operative position to draw fluid into and pump fluid from the barrelvia the inlet valveand outlet valverespectively. Methods of engaging, disengaging and changing the disposable pump cartridge are also disclosed.

Piston pump and driver therefor

Apparatus for handling and filling flexible pouches in which a feeder mechanismdelivers a chain of interlinked flexible pouchesto a selector mechanismcomprising a linear actuatorand selector headoperable to detach the leading pouchfrom the chain of pouches and move the selected pouchto a station for removing a cap from the pouch, filling the pouchwith liquid, re-attaching the cap and releasing the pouch for dispense.

Pouch handling mechanism

An apparatus for introducing a selected beverage into a flexible pouch, sealingly closing the pouchand dispensing the closed pouch. The apparatus comprises a housingadapted to, in use, accept a plurality of reservoirsof beverage concentrate. Each reservoirhas a concentrate pumpprovided with a diluent inlet and a mixer for mixing pumped concentrate with diluent to produce a mixed beverage. Leading from each pumpis flexible conduitterminating in a nozzlefor dispensing the mixed beverage. The apparatus further comprises a multiple dispense headfor accepting the plurality of nozzles, the nozzlesbeing movable relative to a filling position such that any one of the nozzlescan be presented at the filling position, a means for, in use, selecting a flexible pouchand bringing it into alignment with a nozzlein the filling position where it is filled via an opening therein, and a means for, in use, sealingly closing the opening and dispensing the filled sealed flexible pouchfrom the apparatus. Methods of loading a concentrate reservoirdisengaging a removable pumpand changing a removable pumpare also disclosed. A flexible pouch with rigid spout and mixing element are also disclosed.

A disposable pump cartridge for use in conjunction with a pump driver characterized in the disposable pump unit containing a pair of piston pumps and inlet and outlet valves positioned at one end of each piston. The piston pump has a pair of pistons arranged for reciprocal motion and which are retained by a retainer adjacent the inlet and outlet valves during transit.

Apparatus for dispensing a post-mix beverage is characterized by a beverage concentrate metering system comprising a reservoir of beverage concentrate, a disposable pump unit containing a pair of piston pumps and inlet and outlet valves from each piston pump. The inlet valves are coupled to the reservoir of beverage concentrate and the outlet valves are coupled to a mixer. A control valve introduces diluent to the concentrate intermediate the outlet valves and mixer and a reusable pump drive operates the piston pumps. The control valve and pump drive are operated by a control system in a manner such that a predetermined ratio of diluent to concentrate is delivered to the mixer. Downstream from the mixture the admixture of diluent and concentrate is dispensed as a beverage into a cup.

Growing community of inventors

Stratford upon Avon, United Kingdom

Richard John Nighy