Fermentation Cover Apparatus

Description

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable

(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

Not Applicable

(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to fermentation lids and more particularly pertains to a new fermentation lid for facilitating the release of gases from a container during a fermentation process.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.9

The prior art relates to lids for facilitating gas release from a container. Most pertinently, U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,835 discloses a lid with a deformable dome-shaped upper wall and one-way valves to facilitate release of gases from the container. The deformable dome-shaped upper wall may also expand into the dome shape to accommodate air released from the container. However, the prior art fails to disclose a lid with gas-releasing function that defines a cavity which allows for overflow of rising fermenting material into the cavity. In particular, the patent above does not disclose structure that allows rising fermenting material to enter the cavity formed by the deformable dome-shaped upper wall. The above patent and the prior art also fail to describe such a lid which uses a fermentation airlock to facilitate the release of gas, which provides for additional functions beyond a generic one-way valve.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a lid with an upper wall and a perimeter wall which are coupled to each other. The upper wall and the perimeter wall define a cavity in the lid. The lid is configured to attach to a container such that the cavity is in fluid communication with the container. The perimeter wall is also configured to seal to the container. The upper wall defines an opening which extends through the upper wall. A sealing member is mounted to the lid in the opening of the lid and defines an aperture which extends through the sealing member such that the cavity is in fluid communication with a surrounding atmosphere via the aperture. A fermentation airlock removably mountable in the aperture of the sealing member to plug the aperture such that the cavity is not in fluid communication with the surrounding atmosphere via the aperture. The fermentation airlock is configured to allow gases to move only from the cavity to the surrounding atmosphere.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a lid and a sealing member of a fermentation cover apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of a lid and a sealing member of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a lid and a sealing member of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of a lid and a sealing member of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of a lid and a sealing member of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Arrows 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective exploded view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a perspective exploded view of another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an exploded in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 8 thereof, a new fermentation lid embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8, the fermentation cover apparatus 10 generally comprises a lid 12 with an upper wall 14 and a perimeter wall 16 which are coupled to each other. The upper wall 14 and the perimeter wall 16 define a cavity 18 in the lid 12. The lid 12 is configured to attach to a container 56 such that the cavity 18 is in fluid communication with the container 56. The perimeter wall 16 is configured to seal to the container 56 so that gases cannot move between the perimeter wall 16 and the container 56. The perimeter wall 16 has interior threads 20 configured to engage exterior threads 58 of the container 56. In other embodiments, the perimeter wall 16 may mount to the container 56 via a snap connection, a clamp, a force fit, or the like. The upper wall 14 defines an opening 22 which extends through the upper wall 14. The upper wall 14 has a dome shape but may have other suitable shapes to define the cavity 18 in other embodiments, such as a hollow prism, a hollow pyramid, or the like. The container 56 may be a mason jar, a carboy, or any other suitable fermentation vessel.

A sealing member 26 is mounted to the lid 12 and positioned in the opening 22 of the lid 12. The sealing member 26 defines an aperture 28 which extends through the sealing member 26 such that the cavity 18 is in fluid communication with a surrounding atmosphere via the aperture 28. The sealing member 26 comprises a resiliently deformable material such as rubber, silicone, or the like. In reference to FIGS. 1 through 6 and 8, the sealing member 26 has a seating surface 30 inset from a perimeter surface 32 of the sealing member 26 which abuts an interior edge 24 of the upper wall 14 of the lid 12. In this embodiment, the sealing member 26 may be understood to define a grommet. In reference to FIG. 7, the sealing member 26 of another embodiment of the present disclosure is removable from the lid 12. The sealing member 26 tapers from a top side 34 of the sealing member 26 to a bottom side 36 of the sealing member 26 and mounts to the lid 12 via a force fit. The sealing member 26 of this embodiment may be understood to define a stopper.

A fermentation airlock 38 is removably mountable in the aperture 28 of the sealing member 26 to plug the aperture 28 such that the cavity 18 is not in fluid communication with the surrounding atmosphere via the aperture 28. The resiliently deformable material facilitates forming a seal between the fermentation airlock 38 and the sealing member 26. The fermentation airlock 38 is configured to allow gases to move only from the cavity 18 to the surrounding atmosphere and to visually indicate a release of gases from the cavity 18 to the surrounding atmosphere. The lid 12 is formed of a rigid material such that the fermentation airlock 38 is supported in a substantially upright position when the lid 12 is attached to the container 56. Any suitable fermentation airlock 38 may be used. A typical fermentation airlock 38 is configured to hold a quantity of water or other liquid within a channel which prevents gases to flow through the channel until a pressure increase in the container 56 due to fermentation gas production urges gases in pockets or bubbles through the liquid and away from the container 56. The action of releasing gas is visible by the presence of bubbles moving through the liquid, and a rate of release may be determined or estimated by the volume of bubbles moving through the liquid over time.

The fermentation airlock 38 shown in the Figures is a three-piece airlock which includes a tube-reservoir member 40, a piston 50, and a dust cap 54. The tube-reservoir member 40 includes a tube 42 and a reservoir 44 which are attached to each other and are typically integral with each other. The tube 42 extends through a bottom 46 of the reservoir 44. The piston 50 lies atop the tube 42, and the dust cap 54 closes a top end 48 of the reservoir 44. Water or other liquid is held in the reservoir 44 above a bottom edge 52 of the piston 50. When released from the container 56, gases travel up through the tube 42, downwardly between the tube 42 and the piston 50, through the liquid around the bottom edge 52 of the piston 50, and upwardly out of the liquid. The dust cap 54 is also gas-permeable such that the gases may release from the reservoir 44. The dust cap 54 prevents the piston 50 from being moved off of the tube 42 via the gases. Lastly, the dust cap 54 inhibits the entry of dust and similar debris into the reservoir 44. The dust cap 54 and the piston 50 are removable from the tube-reservoir member 40 for maintenance, replacement, and cleaning.

In use, the fermentation cover apparatus 10 is assembled and attached to the container 56 when the container 56 is filled with fermenting material, such as might be used in the production of beer, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, or the like. As gas is produced by the fermenting material, it is released through the fermentation airlock 38. The extra capacity provided by the cavity 18 of the lid 12 enables more of the container 56 to be filled with more fermenting material with reduced risk of overflowing due to rising fermenting material.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.