Devices and methods for making shaped clear ice

• US 10,151,519 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2017
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wintersmiths LLC
• Original Assignee: Wintersmiths LLC
• Inventors: Little, Patrick William, Little, Christopher Terence
• Primary Examiner(s): Zec, Filip
• Application Number:
  US15/727,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20180087817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 428 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F25C 1/18 of a particular transparency or translucency, e.g. by injecting air
• CPC Class Codes: F25C 1/22 Construction of moulds; Filling devices for moulds
• CPC Class Codes: F25C 1/25 Filling devices for moulds
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2500/02 Geometry problems

Abstract

A clear-ice-making device that includes an insulated vessel and an ice mold that is engageable with a cavity of the insulated vessel in a manner that allows a user to rotate the ice mold about a central rotational axis to aid in removing the ice mold from the insulated vessel. In one embodiment, the ice mold includes one or more mold cavities that, when the ice mold is engaged with the insulated vessel, each fluidly communicate with a void beneath the ice mold and with an overfill region above that mold cavity. A method of making clear-ice shapes using a device having an ice mold rotatable within an insulated vessel is also disclosed, as is a method of instructing a user on how to perform the method of making clear-ice shapes.

Claims

1. A device for making shaped clear ice from a clear liquid, the device comprising:

an insulated vessel that includes insulated sides, an insulated bottom, and an open top, wherein the insulated sides and bottom define a vessel cavity having a depth;

an ice mold engageable into the vessel cavity through the open top of the insulated vessel, the ice mold including;

first and second mold parts that releasably engage one another to define at least one mold cavity that shapes the shaped clear ice upon freezing of the clear liquid within the at least one mold cavity;

an upper exterior end wall, the upper end having an upper opening allowing fluid communication through the upper exterior end wall to the at least one mold cavity for receiving the clear liquid during filling of the at least one mold cavity;

a lower exterior end wall spaced from the upper exterior end wall by a distance less than the vertical depth of the vessel cavity of the insulated vessel, the lower exterior end wall having lower opening allowing fluid communication through the lower exterior end wall to the at least one mold cavity;

a central rotational axis;

a lateral exterior extending between the upper and lower exterior end walls, the lateral exterior configured so that when the ice mold is engaged with the vessel cavity for ice-making, the ice mold is rotatable about the central rotational axis; and

means that allow a user to rotate the ice mold relative to the insulated vessel about the central rotational axis while the ice mold is engaged in the vessel cavity;

wherein, when the ice mold is fully engaged in the vessel cavity, the lower exterior end of the ice mold is spaced from the insulated bottom so as to leave a void in the vessel cavity in which cloudy ice forms as a result of forming of the shaped clear ice within the at least one mold cavity.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the insulated vessel has a rim defining the open top, the ice mold further including a portion that hooks over the rim.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the portion that hooks over rim holds the ice mold in spaced relation to the insulated bottom of the insulated vessel.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the means for allowing a user to rotate the ice mold relative to the insulated vessel comprises the portion that hooks over the rim.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the lateral exterior of the ice mold is cylindrical in shape and the cavity of the insulated vessel is cylindrical in shape.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the ice mold is horizontally split.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein when the first and second mold parts are releasable engaged with one another the first and second mold parts are rotationally locked together so as to rotate as a unit.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the ice mold includes a plurality of coupling mechanisms that rotationally lock the first and second mold parts together.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein each coupling mechanism includes a catch structure on the first mold part and corresponding receiver on the second mold part.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the receiver includes a vertical recess for receiving a portion of the catch structure, wherein the portion of the catch structure and the vertical recess form a tight fit with one another so as to inhibit rotation between the first and second mold parts.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the ice mold is vertically split.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one mold cavity is spherical.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the ice mold contains a plurality of mold cavities.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the lower end wall of the ice mold has a flat exterior bottom.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein the ice mold includes an overfill region in fluid communication with the at least one mold cavity via the upper opening.

16. The device according to claim 1, wherein the ice mold defines a dead space and includes a lower opening that allows the dead space to fluidly communicate with the void of the insulated vessel when the ice mold is engaged with the insulated vessel.

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the ice mold includes an upper opening in upper end wall that fluidly communicates with the dead space.

18. The device according to claim 16, wherein the first and second mold parts are upper and lower mold parts that, when engaged with one another, form the dead space.

19. A method of making shaped clear ice, the method comprising:

filling, with a clear liquid;

a mold cavity of an ice mold that is engaged with a vessel cavity of an insulated vessel; and

a void in fluid communication with the mold cavity and located in the vessel cavity beneath the mold cavity;

placing the ice mold and the insulated vessel in a frigid environment so that an entirety of the clear liquid in the mold cavity freezes;

removing the ice mold and the insulated vessel from the frigid environment;

while the ice mold remains engaged with the vessel cavity, causing rotational movement between the ice mold and the insulated vessel to break a connection between ice in the mold cavity and ice in the void; and

extracting the shaped clear ice from the ice mold.

20. A method, comprising providing a user with instructions for performing the steps of claim 19.