The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 19, 1996
Filed:
May. 03, 1994
John T Hawkins, San Antonio, TX (US);
Lancer Corporation, San Antonio, TX (US);
Abstract
A beverage dispenser includes a housing that defines a cooling chamber and has dispensing nozzles mounted thereon, a water line positioned in the bottom of the cooling chamber for communicating water to the dispensing nozzles, product lines mounted in the front of the cooling chamber for communicating product to the dispensing valves, a refrigeration unit mounted over the cooling chamber that includes an evaporator coil extending into the cooling chamber, and an agitator motor mounted over the cooling chamber for driving an impeller located within the cooling chamber. The cooling chamber contains a cooling fluid, a portion of which freezes about the evaporator coil during the operation of the refrigeration unit to form a frozen cooling fluid slab. A frozen cooling fluid bank controller controls the size of the frozen cooling fluid slab, while the mounting of the controller's probe to the side of the evaporator coil facing the front of the housing prevents the frozen cooling fluid slab from freezing to envelop the product lines. The agitator motor drives the impeller to force the unfrozen cooling fluid circuitously about the frozen cooling fluid slab. Additionally, a serpentine configuration of the water line produces channels which direct the flow of unfrozen cooling fluid towards the front and rear walls of the housing, thereby enhancing the circulation of the unfrozen cooling fluid.