Patent Application
20240367880
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The disclosure relates to carrying devices and more particularly pertains to a new carrying device for facilitating a driver of a vehicle to receive fast food at a drive through window without touching the server. The device additionally facilitates beverage containers and a food bag to be securely stored in the vehicle while the vehicle is driving.
The prior art relates to carrying devices including a variety of beverage tray devices that each has a plurality of holding holes for receiving beverage cups. In no instance does the prior art disclose a beverage holder that includes a modular stand for supporting the beverage holder in a vehicle.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a panel that has a pair of hand openings which can be gripped by a user such that the user can extend the panel into a drive through window at a fast food restaurant. The panel has a plurality of beverage holes to insertably receive a beverage container when the user extends the panel into the drive through window. A modular stand is positionable on a support surface thereby facilitating the panel to be placed on the modular stand to facilitate the beverage containers and the food bag to be accessible to the user. Additionally, the modular stand includes a plurality of pieces that are removably attachable together.
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 of the hand openings 14 extends through a top surface 26 and a bottom surface 28 of the panel 12 and each of the hand openings 14 is elongated such that each of the hand openings 14 has an ovoid shape. Each of the hand openings 14 is spaced from a respective one of a front side 30 and a back side 32 of a perimeter edge 34 of the panel 12 and each of the hand openings 14 is oriented to angle away from the respective front side 30 and back side 32 along a line extending between a first lateral side 35 and a second lateral side 36 of the perimeter edge 34 of the panel 12. Each of the plurality of beverage holes 20 extends through the top surface 26 and the bottom surface 28 of the panel 12. Additionally, the plurality of beverage holes 20 is arranged to define four corners of a square that is positioned between the pair of hand openings 14. The panel 12 has a plurality of engagement holes 38 each extending through the top surface 26 and the bottom surface 28 of the panel 12 and each of the engagement holes 38 is positioned proximate a respective one of four corners of the panel 12.
A modular stand 40 is positionable on a support surface 42 thereby facilitating the panel 12 to be placed on the modular stand 40 to facilitate the beverage containers 22 and the food bag 24 to be accessible to the user 16. The modular stand 40 includes a plurality of pieces 44 that can be removably attached together. The plurality of pieces 44 comprises a plate 46 which has a bottom side 48 that rests on the support surface 42. The support surface 42 may be a passenger seat of a vehicle or other horizontal support surface 42 inside of the vehicle that is immediately accessible to the user 16. The plate 46 has a plurality of wells 50 each extending downwardly into a top surface 52 of the plate 46 and the plurality of wells 50 includes a first set of wells 54 and a second set of wells 56. Each of the first set of wells 54 and the second set of wells 56 are distributed along a respective one of a first lateral side 58 and a second lateral side 60 of an outer edge 62 of the plate 46.
The plurality of pieces 44 includes a pair of supports 64 which each extends upwardly from the top surface 52 of the plate 46. Each of the pair of supports 64 is elongated to extend between a forward side 66 and a rear side 68 of the outer edge 62 of the plate 46. Each of the pair of supports 64 is spaced from a respective one of the first lateral side 58 and the second lateral side 60 of the outer edge 62 of the plate 46. Each of the supports 64 has a pair of first tabs 70 which extend upwardly from an upper edge 72 of the supports 64.
The upper edge 72 of each of the supports 64 has a notch 74 extending toward the top surface 26 of the plate 46 and the notch 74 is centrally positioned along the upper edge 72. Each of the pair of first tabs 70 on a respective one of the pair of supports 64 is positioned adjacent to opposing ends 76 of the respective support 64. Additionally, each of the pair of first tabs 70 associated with each of the supports 64 extends into a respective one of the engagement holes 38 in the panel 12 when the panel 12 is placed on the modular stand 40 for retaining the panel 12 on the modular stand 40. A lower edge 78 of each of the supports 64 is crenellated and each of the crenellations 80 associated with each of the supports 64 extends into a respective one of the wells 50 in the top surface 26 of the plate 46. In this way each of the supports 64 is retained on the top surface 26 of the plate 46. The plurality of pieces 44 includes a support member 82 that is positionable in the notch 74 in the upper edge 72 of each of the supports 64 such that the support member 82 extends between the pair of supports 64. The bottom surface 28 of the panel 12 rests on the support member 82 when the panel 12 is positioned on the modular stand 40.
In use, the user 16 slides their hand 17 downwardly through a respective one of the hand openings 14 such that the user 16 can hold the panel 12 on a horizontal plane. In this way the user 16 can pass the panel 12 into the drive through window 18 of the fast food restaurant. A server 84 in the fast food restaurant places the beverage containers 22 in the plurality of beverage holes 20 and the food bag 24 on the panel 12. In this way the server 84 and the user 16 do not have to make physical contact with each other to reduce transmission of germs between each other. Furthermore, the panel 12 facilitates the user 16 to support the beverage containers 22 and the food bag 24 while the user 16 maneuvers the panel 12 to rest the panel 12 on the modular stand 40. In this way the user 16 can transport the beverage containers 22 and the food bag 24 in a vehicle without spilling.
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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 element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
