Patent Application
20210345806
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The disclosure relates to food service assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new food service assembly for facile stowing when not in use.
The prior art relates to food service assembles. Prior art food service assembles do not provide for the base features of the invention.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tray, a set of articles of tableware, and a set of fasteners. Each fastener is engaged to at least one of an upper face of the tray and a respective article of tableware. The fastener is configured to be selectively engageable to at least one of the tray and an associated one of the set of articles of tableware. The set of fasteners is positioned to removably couple the set of articles of tableware to the tray.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each fastener 16 is engaged to at least one of an upper face 20 of the tray 12 and a respective article of tableware 14. The fastener 16 is configured to be selectively engageable to at least one of the tray 12 and an associated one of the set of articles of tableware 14. The set of fasteners 16 is positioned to removably couple the set of articles of tableware 14 to the tray 12.
The set of fasteners 16 comprises a clip 22, which is engaged to the tray 12 as shown in
The set of fasteners 16 also comprises a peripheral ring 28, which is engaged to the tray 12 as shown in
The assembly 10 also comprises a lid 36, which is selectively engageable to the drinking cup 32 to close a top 60 thereof. The lid 36 has a hole 38 positioned therethrough. The hole 38 is configured for insertion of a straw (not shown).
The set of fasteners 16 also comprises a central ring 40 and a center ring 42. The central ring 40 is engaged to the tray 12 and is configured to selectively engage a lip 44 of a bowl 46 so that the bowl 46 is frictionally engaged to the tray 12. The center ring 42 is engaged to a plate 48 and is configured to selectively engage a base 50 of the bowl 46 so that the plate 48 is frictionally engaged to the bowl 46. The bowl 46 comprises a plurality of interconnected sections 52 so that the bowl 46 is collapsible, as shown in
The present invention anticipates the fasteners 16 of the set of fasteners 16 comprising other fastening means, such as, but not limited to, magnets, hook and loop fasteners, and the like.
A connector 54 is engaged to a lower face 56 of the tray 12 and is configured to selectively engage a surface, such as a tabletop, a wall, and a side of a refrigerator, to engage the tray 12 to the surface. The connector 54 may comprise a connecting cup 58, which is resiliently compressible. The connecting cup 58 is configured to be compressed between the tray 12 and the surface so that the tray 12 is suctionally engaged to the surface. The connecting cup 58 may be one of a set of connecting cups 58, with the connecting cups 58 being engaged singly proximate to each corner 18 of the tray 12, as shown in
In use, the assembly 10 is removed from storage and positioned on a surface, such as a table. The set of articles of tableware 14 is disengaged from the tray 12 and then the bowl 46 and drinking cup 32 are extended for use.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the elements is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
