Lever Assembly for Beverage Dispensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Beverage dispensing systems, particularly bar guns and towers, face difficulties due to small buttons that become sticky and hard to press after prolonged use, lacking mechanical advantage, making operation more challenging for operators.
Innovation Solution
A lever assembly is designed to be installed on bar guns or towers, featuring a base with elongated arms that extend to depress buttons, providing mechanical advantage and ease of operation by allowing levers to be pressed instead of small buttons, with optional pin mounts and rotation stop arms for enhanced functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If buttons are used to activate valves in beverage dispensing systems, then the system can control beverage flow, but the buttons become sticky and hard to press after prolonged use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a lever as an intermediary mechanism between the operator and the button. The lever assembly includes a lever arm that pivots to depress the button, acting as a mediator that transfers the operator's input force to the button while providing mechanical advantage. This resolves the contradiction by preventing direct contact between the operator's finger and the button, thereby avoiding stickiness and making operation easier.
2Device complexity
If small buttons are used on beverage dispensers, then the device can be compact, but the buttons lack mechanical advantage and require significant force to operate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static button into a dynamic lever system. The lever arm pivots about a fulcrum point, creating a dynamic mechanical advantage system where a small input force applied at one end of the lever produces a larger output force at the button end. This resolves the contradiction by providing mechanical advantage while maintaining the compact button size.
3Device complexity
If buttons are directly exposed on the beverage dispensing device, then the structure is simple, but the buttons fill with overspray and become sticky
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the button operation function into two separate components: the lever arm that the operator manipulates and the button that activates the valve. This segmentation allows the lever to be positioned away from the beverage dispensing area, preventing it from contacting overspray, while the button remains in its original position. This resolves the contradiction by separating the contaminated button from the operator's interaction point.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The lever assembly simplifies the operation of beverage dispensing systems by reducing the force required to dispense beverages, preventing button stickiness, and improving user comfort and efficiency over time.
Implementation Method 1
providing levers that depress buttons that exist on the bar gun and beverage dispensing tower for activating valves for dispensing a beverage
Data Source
AI summary
A beverage dispensing apparatus including a lever assembly where the lever assembly has a base and a at least one elongated arm. The base has a bottom configured to mate with a beverage dispensing device, a top side opposite the bottom and apertures penetrating the base from top to bottom configured to align with buttons on the beverage dispensing apparatus. The at least one elongated lever has a top surface, a bottom surface, a first end and a second end configured to extend away from the centerline of the beverage dispensing apparatus. When the lever assembly is installed on a beverage dispensing device, buttons extending from the top of the beverage dispensing device extend up through the apertures and pressed against the bottom surface of the at least one elongated lever, biasing the at least one lever upward and the when the lever is pressed, it pushes against the button of the beverage dispensing apparatus to dispense a beverage.