In making a ground coffee beverage it is necessary to separate the liquid from the ground coffee once the coffee is ready-tobe drunk. For example, in a cafetiere, once the hot water has been poured over the ground coffee in a jug, a metal-mesh filter is plunged through the liquid so as to trap the ground coffee at the bottom of the jug. The liquid may then be retained in the jug without ruining the coffee. Cafetiere's are generally designed for making more than one cup of coffee and the coffee liquid is subsequently poured into a cup for drinking.

At high street take-away outlets, a ground coffee beverage may be sold to the customer already prepared, in a disposable cup. A significant amount of time is required to make each drink, which reduces productivity; a significant amount of in-store brewing equipment is also required. So-called'instant'coffee is generally considered inferior to that made with ground coffee.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a receptacle that can be used both to prepare a beverage and as the vessel from which the beverage is drunk. It is a further object to provide such a receptacle that is disposable. It is a still further object to provide such a receptacle in which a coffee beverage can be drunk from the vessel without the need for discarding the exhausted ground coffee particles.

The invention provides a receptacle for preparing a beverage comprising an outer vessel, an inner vessel adapted for location in a lower portion of the outer vessel and defining a

compartment for holding a beverage ingredient, a closure member operable between an open position in which liquid in the outer vessel can circulate through the compartment and closure member when placed in the outer vessel and a closed position in which liquid and beverage ingredient in the compartment cannot pass through the closure member.

Another aspect of the invention provides a receptacle according to claim 1 in which the closure member has a part which is rotatable between the open and closed positions.

The closure member may comprise a pair of concentric and overlapping disks joined for relative pivotal movement at their centres, said disks each having at least one opening and being movable from a first configuration in which the said openings are aligned for allowing passage of liquid therethrough to a second position in which liquid cannot pass through the closure-member.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail and by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of a complete coffee-making receptacle (including the retention collar, inner vessel, ground-coffee receptacle, a closure-member and a double-skinned lid).

Figures 2a and 2b are a side sectional view and a plan view of a retention collar of the coffee-making receptacle according to the embodiment of Figure 1.

Figure 3a is a sectional view of a closure-member according to the embodiment of Figure 1.

Figures 3b and 3c are top plan views of two component parts of the closure-member of Figure 3a.

Figure 4a is a sectional view of an inner vessel of the coffee-making receptacle according to the embodiment of Figure 1.

Figure 4b is a top plan view of the inner vessel of Figure 4a.

Figure 5a is a sectional view of the double-skinned lid according to the embodiment of Figure 1.

Figures 5b and 5c are plan views of upper and lower component parts of the double-skinned lid of Figure 5a.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the ground-coffee compartment according to an embodiment.

Figure 7 is a sectional view of a compartment according to a second embodiment.

Figure 8 is a sectional view of an alternative ground-coffee compartment according to another embodiment.

Figure 9 is a section through a further embodiment of complete receptacle and operating member.

Figure 10 is a section through the inner compartment of the receptacle of Figure 9.

Figure 11 shows on an enlarged scale an alternative inner compartment and operating member, also showing one optional addition.

Figure 12 shows the nesting of two receptacles in accordance with Figures 9 and 11.

Figure 13 shows several receptacles in accordance with the invention, containing beverage ingredients and nested together.

Referring to Fig 1, a first embodiment of the coffee-making receptacle 1, is shown in section.

The coffee-making receptacle 1 includes an outer vessel 2 and an inner vessel 3; inner vessel 3 is shown in position in Fig 1 inside the outer vessel 2. The inner vessel 3 has a membrane 24. A double-skinned lid 4 is provided for closing the outer vessel 2. The inner vessel 3 is provided in this embodiment, with an integral lower ground-coffee compartment 5 attached, which can be subsequently closed off from the rest of the inner vessel 3 by the closure-member 6.

The compartment 5 includes upper and lower membranes 7,8, between which may be retained ground coffee 12. The membranes 7,8 are permeable to water due to a multiplicity of openings therein. The openings are sized such that the ground coffee is retained within the confines of the membranes 7,8. The membrane 24 of the inner vessel 3 is substantially the same as the membranes 7,8 in the ground-coffee compartment 5.

The outer vessel 2 has fixed within it, a retention-collar 9 having a lower surface 10, which in this embodiment is castellated. An upper surface 11 of the inner vessel 3 abuts the surface 10 when in the position shown in Fig 1 so as to retain the inner vessel 3 in position. The retention-collar 9 is particularly shown in Figs 2a and 2b. However, in an alternative embodiment (e. g. where the outer vessel 2 is made of polystyrene), instead of a retention- collar, a ridge 51 might be moulded into the inner wall of the outer vessel 2 as seen in Fig 9.

To secure the inner vessel 3 in position, the inner vessel 3 is aligned and pushed down firmly.

The closure-member 6 is more clearly shown in Figs 3a, 3b and 3c. Two disks 13,14 are arranged to be relatively pivotal about their centre via a pin 17 as shown in Fig 3a. The upper disk 13 has a plurality of spaced openings 15 through which the integral membrane 24 can be seen as shown in Fig 3b; the lower disk 14 has corresponding openings 16, as shown in Fig 3c. The lower disk 14 is retained under the upper disk 13 via a central pin 17; the upper disk 13 is fixed to the wall of the inner vessel 3, just above the integral membrane 24 of inner vessel 3 and the ground-coffee receptacle 5, allowing the lower disk 14 to rotate. When the closure member 6 is in an initial open position, the openings 15,16 line up so that liquid can pass through: the inner vessel 3, the closure member 6, the integral membrane 24, the ground-coffee receptacle 5 and into the outer vessel 2.

Fig 4a shows the inner vessel 3 with its integral membrane 24 and its resilient stem 20 together with the path of the drawstring 18 and closure member 6. This inner vessel 3 will

have attached to it a ground coffee compartment (not shown) and when placed into the outer vessel 2 (not shown), can be manipulated via the resilient stem 20 during preparation of the coffee to move the inner vessel 3 up and down within the outer vessel 2, simultaneously passing up and down through the double-skinned lid 4 to effect brewing.

The lower disk 14 can be pivoted about its axis so that the openings 15,16 are not aligned and there are no through openings in the closure member. The manner of effecting closure in the present embodiment is by a drawstring 18 which is attached and offset on the lower disk 14 at a point 19, passing through the upper disk 13 at a point 22 and thence along the side of the inner vessel 3, along the resilient stem 20 and terminating at a point 23 on a perforated tab 21 of the resilient stem 20. In this embodiment, when the perforated tab 21 is torn off and pulled away from the resilient stem 20 (and with the attached drawstring 18 accompanying it), causes the lower disk 4 to rotate about the central pin 17 to align at a point 22 enough to close off the apertures in the upper disk 13,-hus separating the ground-coce 12 from the liquid. The drawstring 18 may subsequently be detached from lower disk 14 when given a final pull by the user, which locks the lower disk 14 on to the upper disk 13; the perforated tab 21 with drawstring 18 attached can subsequently be discarded by the user.

Figs 5a and 5b show a lower part 25 and an upper part 26 of the double-skinned lid 4. The double-skinned lid 4 therefore consists of two parts 25,26 laid one on top of the other and pivoted about their centre. The lower part 25 has a slit-shaped opening 29, through which the resilient stem 20 can pass. The lower part 25 also has a rim 31 that is a snap fit onto the rim of the outer vessel 2. The upper part 26 also has a slit-shaped opening 30, through which the resilient stem 20 can pass snugly. The upper part 26 is pivotally mounted to the lower part 25 at their centres with a pin 27. Thus with the lid 4 in place on the outer vessel 2, the inner vessel 3 can be manipulated for both up and down movement and also for limited

rotational movement (about the slot 29) within the outer vessel 2 so as to line up the surfaces hou1.

Referring again to Fig 1, the inner vessel 3, with a ground-coffee receptacle 5 attached, is initially aligned so that the castellated surface 10 of the retention collar 9 and the surface 11 of the inner vessel 3 cannot interlock when the inner vessel 3 is subsequently moved up and down to facilitate brewing. This combined inner vessel 3, with the ground- coffee receptacle 5 attached, is then inserted into the outer vessel 2 with the closure member 6 in its open configuration. The outer vessel 2 with the combined inner vessel 3, is then charged with enough water, heated to a sufficient temperature for making coffee. The double skinned bd 4 is aligned and the resilient stem 20 is passed through the double-skinned lid 4; the double-skinned lid 4 is then clipped onto the fully-charged coffee-making receptacle 1. Using the resilient stem 20, the inner vessel 3 can be drawn up and down so that water passes over the ground coffee 12 in the ground coffee receptacle 5, from the inner vessel 3 to the outer vessel 2 and vice versa. This action is repeated until it is deemed that the coffee is brewed.

Then by manipulating the resilient stem 20 the inner vessel 3 can be turned within the constraints of the long-slotted hole 29 of the double-skinned lid 4 and aligned such that the castellated surface 10 of the retention collar 9 and the castellated surface 11 of the inner vessel 3 can be interlocked when the resilient stem 20 is pushed down firmly. In this way the inner vessel 3 is securely retained in the outer vessel 2 as shown in Fig 1. In this position, the majority of the liquid is located in the inner vessel 3. By holding the resilient stem 20 and tearing the perforated tab 23 and pulling drawstring 18 away from the resilient stem 20, the closure member 6 is operated so as to be in a closed and locked position effectively sealing off the fresh coffee beverage in the inner vessel 3 and outer vessel 2 from the exhausted

ground coffee 12 and stewed liquid in the receptacle 5 and below the closure member 6. The double-skinned lid can now be removed and milk and sugar can subsequently be added and the coffee beverage drunk, because the coffee-making receptacle 1 can now be used as a drmking vessel. Once the coffee beverage has been drunk, the coffee-making receptacle 1 can be discarded.

Thus in the embodiment described above in connection with Figs 1 to 5, a cup of fresh coffee can be made in situ without any mess. The coffee can be retained in the receptacle whilst remaining at a proper temperature and without spoiling by over-exposure to the ground coffee. As the exhausted ground coffee does not need to be discarded, customers of take- away concessions, for instance, can conveniently use the receptacle.

Fig 6 shows an embodiment of the ground coffee compartment 5. The compartment 5 of Fig 6 is identical to that compartment 5 in Fig 1 except that it is not integral with the vessel but is adapted to be attached to the bottom of an inner vessel 3 such as that shown in Fig 4a. The compartment 5 has a cylindrical wall 5 that is open at both ends and the ground coffee is retained within the compartment by the membranes 7,8.

Fig 7 shows an alternative embodiment of the ground-coffee compartment. The compartment is identical to that of Fig 6 except that the entire compartment is enclosed in a foil-wrap to maintain the freshness of the product. The foil-wrap is removed before use. In Figs 5 and 6 the compartment 5 is pre-charged with ground coffee 12.

Fig 8 shows a further embodiment of the compartment 5. In this embodiment the compartment 5 is open at the bottom and the ground coffee is supported by a membrane 8 ; there is no upper membrane 7. Once filled with fresh ground coffee 12, the compartment 5 can be fitted to the bottom of an inner vessel 3 (such as that shown in Fig 4) so that an inner vessel having a compartment with an upper membrane 24 and lower membrane 8 is

produced. The remainder of the receptacle is the same as for the previous embodiment. The absence of the upper membrane allows the compartment to be charged with any desired blend of ground coffee.

Referring again to Fig 1, The component parts of the receptacle according to the invention may be made of any convenient material. The inner and outer receptacles 2,3 and the compartment 5 are conveniently made of the same material, which may be a plastics material or a waterproofed card material or any such material commonly used in the disposable vending industry.

Whilst embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to the drawings, modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, closure of the closure member 6 may be effected in a variety of ways. The retention collar 9 is optional and may be replaced by a simple inner wall configuration of the outer vessel. Tea could be substituted for coffee. A handle can be fitted to the coffee-making receptacle.

Fig 9 shows an alternative embodiment of the receptacle for a beverage comprising an outer, conical sided drinking vessel 31 and an inner, compartment defining, vessel 32 located in the lower portion of the said drinking vessel 31 and containing a beverage ingredient 33, such as ground coffee. The inner vessel 32 as seen in Figs 10 and 11 comprises a conical, liquid impervious, side wall 34, formed with indentations 35 for receiving and locating substantially circular, liquid pervious membranes 37. The beverage ingredient 33 is held between the membranes 37.

The inner vessel includes a closure member 38, similar to the closure member 6 of Figs 1 to 5 and comprising an upper disk 40 integral with the wall 34 and containing open sectors, such as the sectors 15 shown on the closure member 6 in Figs 1 to 5 and a lower rotatable disk 41

containing open sectors, such as the sectors 16 also shown on the closure member 6 of Figs 1 to 5. The disk 41 is attached to a central pin 42 rotatably mounted in the centre of the disk 40, so that it can be rotated to close the closure member 38. An operating rod 43 is extendable through a removable lid (not shown) on the vessel 30 for rotating the disk 41.

The operating rod may be connected to the pin 42 for example by mating screw threads 44 as in Figs 9 and 10, or by projecting arms 46 fitting into a socket 47 in the pin see in Fig 11.

The operating rod 43 may include a weakness 48 which can be easily broken after closure has been completed, or the rod may be disconnectable by a straight pulling action so that the rod can be removed after closure is complete.

The upper rim of the inner vessel 32 is provided with an outward projection 50 designed to engage in a liquid sealing manner, in a groove 51 in the inner wall of the outer vessel 31. This forms a substantially liquid-tight retaining means, corresponding to the retaining engagement and sealing between the walls 10>11 of the embodiment of Figs 1-5.

Preferably, a series if inner vessels 32 are pre-filled with the beverage ingredient, as in Fig 11 and are wrapped in airtight manner, either individually or with several stacked together in a pack. To produce coffee, an inner vessel is attached to an operating rod 43 and suspended in an outer vessel 31. Hot liquid is poured in and the inner vessel is moved up and down to circulate liquid through the beverage ingredient. When it is deemed that sufficient infusion has occurred, the rod is pushed down to engage the outward projection 50 in the groove 51 and thus firmly locating the inner vessel 32 in the lower portion of the outer vessel 30. The operating rod 43 is now turned to close the closure member 38 and a subsequent turn is made to break off or otherwise disconnect the operating rod 43 (at the weakened point 48), which is subsequently removed. Milk and sugar can now be added and the broken operating rod 43 used as a stirrer. The beverage can now be drunk. The closure member 38 and

retaining means 50,51 prevent coffee grounds or stewed liquid from entering the liquid above the closure member. The retaining means 50,51 also prevents the inner vessel 32 from falling back towards the drinker as the receptacle 30 is tilted during the drinking phase.

Fig 11 shows an optional modification of the inner compartment which can be applied to any of the embodiments. The upper surface of the integral disk 40 is provided with an upstanding cylindrical or conical wall 52 designed to receive as an airtight fit the base of an outer vessel 31 or inner vessel 32. This allows inner vessels 32 or complete receptacles 30 to be nested together in an airtight manner.

A modified way of storing and packing complete receptacles 30 containing beverage ingredients 33 is shown in Figs 12 and 13. In this arrangement each outer vessel 31 has an inner vessel containing beverage ingredients 33 already located in its lower portion. A further receptacle 30 is then nested into the receptacle with its base engaged in an airtight manner into the wall 52 of the lower receptacle. When a sufficient stack 53 of such receptacles has been formed (with an empty vessel or other seal at the top), the stack can be wrapped in an airtight manner.

Any of the features shown in any of the embodiments can be applied to the other embodiments if appropriate.