Patent Application
20150335185
The present invention relates to packaging containers for dry products, especially dried food products, such as uncooked forms of pasta, rice and cereal, and more particularly, to improve container device that may be operatively adapted to and integrate within a box package containing such dried food products to dispense a measured portion of the food products.
Many dry products in granulated form come packaged in boxes and require use in measured amounts that's the user is required to dispense. Such granulated products include cleaning and construction materials that are used in commercial and industrial applications and contained in boxes that are adapted to be opened so that the products may be poured from the box in portioned amounts and resealed if necessary. Dispensing measured portions of these granulated products can be very important and often critical to blending a proper mixture in which the granulated product is an essential part. Accordingly, a container device capable of providing the required measured portions of these granulated products to be dispensed by pouring would be most useful especially if such a device was integrated into the package structure or made to easily assemble thereto.
In the packaging of dried food products, especially those dried food products relatively small and varied in size, such as a uncooked pasta, rice and cereal, there has long been a strong emphasis on protection of the products from physical damage and from certain adverse effects of the ambient environment, particularly moisture and humidity, that can taint or spoil the package product when stored for an extended period of time after purchase and before consumption. The most common type unit package for the sale of these dried food products is the rectangular box or carton, found in assorted sizes, sometimes with sealed inner linings, to store and protect the packaged quantity of the dried food products until time of consumption.
The dispensing of specific amounts of these food products from their rectangular box containers has been generally tedious, the measured amount or unit portion desired by the consumer typically being poured or scooped directly from the container using a separate measuring cup or scoop. When required regularly, such as for consumer on controlled diets, the measures dispensing of these packaged food products using these independent means can be bothersome and sometimes difficult to do with repeated accuracy. For these consumers and other, such as the parents of small or infant children, the availability of a container with integrated means for dispensing a measured portion of the food product has substantial utility and is far more desirable than the handling of independent measuring instruments. While prior art containers have been devised and developed with internal measuring systems and been found generally satisfactory in delivering measured amounts of granular food products of small, relatively uniform shapes, they are somewhat complicated in their implementations and difficult to manipulate and generally been found effective only when incorporated in the fabrication of the original container package. Accordingly, there is a need for an improvement container device for the portioned dispensing of dry granular products as well as dried food products that can be easily implemented and handled and effectively used by the consumer whether incorporated in the original container package or adapted as an insert or attachment to the product container.
Accordingly, it is a general purpose and object of the present invention to provide an improved container device for dispensing dry products in measured portions for the use or consumption.
A more particular object of the present invention is to provide an improved measured portion dispenser for dried food products, such as uncooked pasta, rice and cereal, packaged or stored in a box container that is capable of implementation and effective use as an integrated element of the box container or as a separate member connected thereto.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved container device for dispensing measured portions of a dried food product that is integrally formed and reliably effective in releasing measured amounts of the dried food product from the package.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved portion dispenser device for a packaged dried food product that may be easily assembled and connected to standard forms of package containers.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a container device for dispensing measured portions of dried food products that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to handle and use, and capable of dispensing a variety of different types and forms of dried food products.
Briefly, these and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by an improved container and associated device for dispensing measured portions of a dried food product, such as uncooked pasta, rice and cereal. The container device comprises a box container having a rectangular chamber and a dispenser opening and a specially adapted transverse member formed and disposed within the box container to separate the chamber into upper and lower chamber sections. The transverse member includes an aperture section in which an aperture is sized and shaped to permit passage of the food product from the lower to upper chamber section and a ramp-like section extending from the aperture section to guide the food product through the upper chamber section toward the dispenser opening. The aperture section is folded and inclined at an angle that projects into a corner sector of the upper chamber section so that a measured portion of the food product passing through the aperture is confined and held temporarily in the corner sector when the box container is rotated in a direction toward the corner sector approximately 135 degrees from the upright position and then delivered along the ramp-like section to the dispenser opening as the container is rotated further in the same direction.
For a better understanding of these and other aspects of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like references numerals and character designate like parts throughout the figures thereof.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, references in the detailed description set forth below shall be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
The following is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the best presently contemplated mode of its production and practice. This description is further made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention but should not be taken in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being best determined by reference to the appended claims.
Referring to the drawings, the following is a list of the associated parts and working elements of the present container device, generally designated 10, which are employed in accordance with the present invention:
Having said that, it is apparent that the described invention provides an improved container device for dispensing dry products in measured portions required for the use or consumption, especially effective for dispensing dried food products, such as uncooked pasta, rice and cereal, in measured portions from a box container. More particularly, the described container device provides an improved measured portion dispenser for dried food products packaged or stored in a box container that is easy to implement and effective in use as an integrated element of the box container or as a separate member connected thereto. Incorporated into the structure of a container package used to hold dried food products, the present invention provides a dispenser device that is integrally formed and reliably effective in dispensing measured amounts of the dried food product from the package. In a separate construction, the present invention provides an improved device that is easy to assemble and insert into open forms of package containers for dispensing measured portions of dried food products. In addition, the present container device provides a portion dispenser for dried food products that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to handle and use, and capable of dispensing a variety of different types and forms of dried food products.
Obviously, other embodiments and modifications of the present invention will readily come to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the forgoing description and drawings. Alternate embodiments of different shapes and sizes, as well as substitutions on known materials or those materials which may be developed at a future time to perform the same function as the present described embodiment are therefore considered to be part of the present invention. For example, the insert embodiment of the container device shown in
