1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of container constructions in general, and more particularly to a combination container and scoop.
2. Description of the Related Art
As can be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,514,379, 1,768,771 2,738,900, 2,978,142, 4,844,263, 5,699,925, 5,706,974, and D416,438, the prior art is replete with various container constructions, including those that facilitate stacking or that house utensils, such as scoops.
While various prior art constructions of containers with scoops are known, the prior art fails to disclose a container that (1) allows a user to easily scoop the entire contents of the container, (2) provides adequate structure to easily stack the containers, and (3) keeps the content scooping means from becoming buried under the container contents.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved container. This and other objects may be achieved by a container comprising a box portion having a recessed base, a front wall, a back wall, and opposing side walls, a closure adapted to be releasably sealed on the box portion, and a circumferential channel defined by the box portion walls and recessed base with the channel being adapted to receive a scoop so that the contents of the container can be removed. The box portion also has a heel intermediate the bottom wall and the front, rear, and side walls upon which it rests when sitting upright.
The scoop has a handle coupled to a cylindrical cup. The radius of the cylindrical cup is substantially equal to the radius of the container channel so that the cup can be received by the channel and allow scooping of the container contents.
The closure comprises front, back and side walls, a top wall coupled to the front, back, and side walls, and an upwardly extending protrusion shaped and sized to be received by the recessed base of an other like container. A plurality of flexible downwardly extending tabs located on the underside of the upward extending protrusion are adapted to releasably receive and hold the scoop. The closure further contains a recessed circumferential portion on an inner surface of the closure walls and proximate an edge of the closure walls. The recessed portion contains a plurality of inwardly projecting locking tabs located proximate the edge of the closure walls. These tabs are adapted to receive a locking flange formed on the box portion walls.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which refers to the appended Figures, in which:
One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the present invention, which broader aspects are embodied in the exemplary construction. A repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings represents the same or analogous features or elements of the invention.
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As shown in
The inside surface 31 of the rectangular bottom wall projects upward from heel 28 and together with the heel, front, back, and side walls define a circumferential channel 32 around bottom wall 21. As shown in
The front, back, and side walls also contain an inwardly recessed circumferential portion 35 on their outer surface that is proximate a top edge 36. The inwardly recessed portion connects to the outer surface of the wall by an inwardly sloping shoulder 37. Shoulder 37 forms a closure stop that receives a lower lip 53 of the closure walls. The recessed portion contains an outwardly projecting circumferential flange 38 that forms part of a locking mechanism for securing the closure to the box portion.
Referring to the figures, and in particular
An outwardly sloping shoulder 52, formed circumferentially on the inside surface of the front, back and side walls of closure 40, defines a recessed groove 54 located proximate to lower lip 53 of the walls (
A releasable seal (not shown) may be attached to lip 36 to seal the contents in the container. The releasable seal also allows for vacuum packaging of the contents in container 10 and provides an anti-tamper inner liner. One skilled in the art of food packaging will be familiar with such releasably attached packaging seals. Specifically, adhesive or heat may be used to attach a seal formed of polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, foil, or other suitable material to lip 36 to form an airtight seal. Therefore, removal of closure 40 will not disturb the seal unless the releasable seal is cut or removed.
Dispensing utensil 60 may be a scoop molded from a suitable plastic material, which may be blow molded, by extrusion or injection. Suitable plastics for forming the scoop include, but are not limited to, various polymers such as polystyrene, polystyrene-acrylonitile, acrylonitile-butadiene-styrene, styrene-maleicanhydride, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinylcyclohexane, and blends thereof. As shown in
Multiple flexible tabs 57 arranged to releasably secure dispensing utensil 60 to the underside of the closure centrally located on the bottom side 51 of the upwardly projecting rectangular portion 48. A set of three tabs 57 are arranged to secure the handle portion 61 of dispensing utensil 60 and a set of two tabs 57 are arranged to secure the bucket 62. Each tab may contain a protrusion 58 that assists in securing dispensing utensil 60 to the closure when the closure is secured to the box portion. Moreover, a rib 59 may be used to strengthen the ribs and two generally triangular ribs 66 may be used to support the bucket 62. Consequently, dispensing utensil 60 does not become buried in the granulated material and thereby eliminates the need for the user to dig through the contents in search of the scoop. This is especially important when the container's contents are for human consumption and contact with the hands is undesirable.
In addition to allowing containers to be stacked, recessed bottom wall 21 serves a second purpose. As previously pointed out, the recessed bottom wall forms circumferential channel 32 at the bottom of the box portion. The channel is sized and shaped to receive cylindrical bucket 62 of dispensing utensil 60. In particular, the radius R′ of cylindrical bucket 62 is approximately equal to or smaller than the radius of curvature R of the inside surface 33 of circumferential channel 32. Recess 30 causes the granulated contents to gravitate into the channel as the product is being used up. Therefore, the bucket fits into the channel and allows the user to scoop out substantially all the granulated contents in the container with little effort (such a channel/bucket arrangement would also allow the container to be utilized for liquid containment and dispensing if desired.). No matter what shape channel 32 is, bucket 62 should be sized and shaped to be received in channel 32. For example, a square-shaped channel would require a bucket that would fit in the channel. In particular, the scoop bucket should be shaped to facilitate scooping the contents of the container out of channel 32 and is most often the same shape as the channel.
These and other modifications and variations to the present invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged both in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention so further described in such appended claims. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained therein.
This application is a continuation application and claims the priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/303,449, filed Nov. 25, 2002, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10303449 | Nov 2002 | US |
Child | 11131627 | May 2005 | US |