Jorts Freezer Pocket Keeps Ice Cream Sandwiches Cold on Hot Days

Summer afternoons turn ice cream sandwiches into sticky messes in minutes. One maker decided that ordinary pockets would no longer do. Brendan Carberry built a battery-powered storage case that clamps straight onto a pair of jorts and chills the treat inside while the heat pumps out the other side.

He calls it the Jorts Ice Cream Sandwich Pocket. Three heat pumps are situated in the center. The Peltier elements move heat from the cold side (which is attached to the sandwich) to the hot side (which is protected by some large, chunky heatsinks). A little battery that fits in the pocket provides the power needed to run everything. And there’s a little remote that allows you to adjust the temperature till it’s exactly right. The whole thing stays chilly on the inside (the sandwich keeps firm) and warm on the outside (so the rider’s legs don’t freeze), which is ideal.

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Building it began with a 3D print of the sliding case, which was a basic ice cream sandwich case, nothing spectacular. Some magnets and matching sewing tabs were inserted in there to clip onto the fabric of the jorts. Carberry put the tabs onto his jorts, removed them again, and sewed the magnets in place. He then installed the three Peltier units in the casing, applied thermal goo to the heatsinks, and ran the wiring. Once the battery and control board were attached, it was time to turn on and go.

The completed device resembles a swollen cargo pocket with a cold container inside. When you click the magnet shut, it locks in place. On the hottest days, the sandwich remains hard enough to consume without dribbling down your shirt or melting all over. He designed this precisely for when it’s a million degrees outdoors and all you want is something cool to eat, without having to haul about a large cooler or worry about your ice packs getting mushy after a few minutes of walking.

He had previously experimented with building small cool boxes using the same heat-pump concept, which taught him how to cope with waste heat. He’d also built some other coolers that showed him the value of good airflow and large heatsinks, so this pocket-sized version still provides some useful cooling, just long enough for a brief outing or a trip to the park. Battery life is limited, and these solid-state coolers lack the power of a compressor, but they still work.