Editing Vacuum flask (section)

== History ==
[[File:Vacuum Dewar Flask.svg|thumb|upright|left|Diagram of a vacuum flask]]
[[File:Gustav R. Paalen, Double Welled Vessel 1909.png|thumb|upright|Gustav Robert Paalen, Double Walled Vessel. Patent 27 June 1908, published 13 July 1909]]

The vacuum flask was designed and invented by Scottish scientist [[James Dewar]] in 1892 as a result of his research in the field of [[cryogenics]] and is sometimes called a Dewar flask in his honour. While performing experiments in determining the [[specific heat]] of the element [[palladium]], Dewar made a brass chamber that he enclosed in another chamber to keep the palladium at its desired temperature.<ref name=Soulen>{{cite journal|last=Soulen|first=Robert|title=James Dewar, His Flask and Other Achievements |journal=Physics Today|volume=49|number=3|date=March 1996|pages=32–37|doi=10.1063/1.881490|bibcode = 1996PhT....49c..32S }}</ref> He evacuated the air between the two chambers, creating a partial vacuum to keep the temperature of the contents stable. Dewar refused to patent his invention; this allowed others to develop the flask using new materials such as [[glass]] and [[aluminium]], and it became a significant tool for chemical experiments and also a common household item.<ref name=Soulen/>

Dewar's design was quickly transformed into a commercial item in 1904 as two German [[glassblower]]s, [[Reinhold Burger]] and Albert Aschenbrenner, discovered that it could be used to keep cold drinks cold and warm drinks warm and invented a more robust flask design, which was suited for everyday use.<ref name=Thermos>{{cite web|publisher=Thermos|title=Our History|year=2011|access-date=31 March 2013|url=http://www.thermos.com/history.aspx|archive-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528020038/http://www.thermos.com/history.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= James Dewar, the man who invented the thermos flask|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/21835405|publisher= BBC History|date= 2 April 2013|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140504200248/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/21835405|archive-date= 4 May 2014}}</ref> The Dewar flask design had never been patented but the German men who discovered the commercial use for the product named it [[Thermos L.L.C.|''Thermos'']], and subsequently claimed both the rights to the commercial product and the trademark to the name. In his subsequent attempt to claim the rights to the invention, Dewar instead lost a court case to the company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Co-Di/Dewar-James.html |title=Dewar, James&nbsp;— BRITISH CHEMIST AND PHYSICIST  |author=Frank A. J. L. James  |publisher= Advameg, Inc. |access-date=30 December 2010}}</ref> The manufacturing and performance of the Thermos bottle was significantly improved and refined by the Viennese inventor and merchant Gustav Robert Paalen, who designed various types for domestic use, which he also patented, and distributed widely, through the Thermos Bottle Companies in the United States, Canada and the UK, which bought licences for respective national markets. The American Thermos Bottle Company built up a mass production in [[Norwich, CT]], which brought prices down and enabled the wide distribution of the product for at-home use.<ref name=Thermos/> Over time, the company expanded the size, shapes and materials of these consumer products, primarily used for carrying [[coffee]] on the go and carrying liquids on camping trips to keep them either hot or cold. Eventually other manufacturers produced similar products for consumer use.

The term "thermos" became a household name for vacuum flasks in general. {{As of|2023}}, ''Thermos'' and ''THERMOS'' remains a [[registered trademark]] in some countries, including the United States,<ref name="USPTO_67002">{{Cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=67002&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=US Registration Number: 67002 |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=Trademark Search, [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |language=en |quote="Thermos" LIVE For:DOUBLE-WALLED GLASS VESSELS WITH VACUUM BETWEEN THE WALLS}}</ref><ref name="USPTO_176064">{{Cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=176064&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=US Registration Number: 176064|access-date=2023-04-24 |website=Trademark Search, [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |language=en |quote="THERMOS" LIVE For:Temperature-Retaining Vessels}}</ref><ref name="USPTO_229816">{{Cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=229816&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=US Registration Number: 229816|access-date=2023-04-24 |website=Trademark Search, [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |language=en |quote="THERMOS" LIVE For:BOTTLES, JARS, DECANTERS, CARAFES, [ HIP FLASKS,] COFFEEPOTS, TEAPOTS, JUGS, LUNCH KITS, LUNCH BOXES, CARRYING CASES FOR BOTTLES [, AND DOUBLE-WALLED VACUUM FILLERS OF GLASS USED IN BOTTLES, JARS, CARAFES, JUGS, DECANTERS, COFFEEPOTS, AND TEA-POTS] }}</ref> but the lowercase "thermos" was declared a [[generic trademark|genericized trademark]] by court action in the United States in 1963.<ref name="Folsom1980">{{Cite journal |title=Trademarked generic words |journal=The Yale Law Journal |url=https://openyls.law.yale.edu/handle/20.500.13051/15969 |last1=Folsom |first1=Ralph |volume=89 |last2=Teply |first2=Larry |hdl=20.500.13051/15969 |year=1980 |issue=7 |page=1324 |doi=10.2307/795968 |jstor=795968 |language=en |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Thermos_v_Alladin_1963">{{Cite court|litigants=King-Seeley Thermos Co. v. Aladdin Industries, Incorporated|court=United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit|vol=321|reporter=F.2nd|opinion=577 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=326773422967317335|date=1963-07-11}}</ref><ref name="Thermos_v_Alladin_1970">{{Cite court|litigants=King-Seeley Thermos Co. v. Aladdin Industries, Incorporated|court=United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit|vol=320|reporter=F.Supp|opinion=1156 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17095472866185626824|date=1970-12-30}}</ref>