FOLDABLE EATING UTENSIL

Abstract

A foldable eating utensil includes a cutlery head, a first rod, and a second rod that are sequentially connected. A neck of the cutlery head connected to the first rod has a restricting portion corresponding to the neck. When the second rod is folded toward the first rod, the second rod is restricted by the restricting portion from leaving the first rod. When the cutlery head is folded toward the compacted first and second rods, the cutlery head is restricted by the same restricting portion for retaining the second rod. Since the second rod is restricted by the restricting portion, during a process of folding the compacted first and second rods toward the cutlery head by an automatic machine, the work of the automatic machine is not be hindered by the second rod leaving the first rod. Therefore, the foldable eating utensil is suitable for automated packaging.

Description

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to a foldable utensil, and more particularly to a foldable eating utensil.

Description of Related Art

A conventional beverage lid with cutlery is disclosed in Taiwan patent application No. 084211279 “Structure of Lid with spoon”, wherein an annular wall formed by protruding away from a circumference of a bottom plate of the lid, and positioning pistons, engaging plates, and hooking plates are disposed on and between the bottom plate of the lid and the annular wall. The positioning pistons, the engaging plates, and the hooking plates are adapted to be engaged with the folded spoon. The user could simply take out the folded spoon by poking folded spoon on the lid.

The folded spoon is folded manually. The spoon is manually folded, and then locking the folded spoon by the positioning pistons, engaging plates, and the hooking plates of the lid. The conventional foldable spoon is difficult to be automatically folded by a machine, because during a process of folding each part of the foldable spoon, the folded parts may return back to hinder the operation of the automated folding process, even stuck the operation of the automatic machine. Additionally, during the process of folding the spoon and engaging the folded spoon with the lid manually, the foldable spoon is probably polluted, thereby leading to sanitary problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In view of the above, in some embodiments, an objective of the present disclosure is to provide a foldable eating utensil, the restricting portion could retain different parts of the foldable eating utensil in a folded position, so that the foldable eating utensil becomes suitable for being automatically folded by an automated machine instead of manual folding, thereby saving the manpower and avoiding the sanitary issue of packing.

The present inventive subject matter provides a foldable eating utensil including a cutlery head, a first rod, and a second rod, which are sequentially connected in a first direction, which is defined as a direction from a front end to a rear end of the foldable eating utensil. The cutlery head includes a functional portion and a neck, wherein the neck extends in the first direction from the functional portion. A front end of the first rod is foldably connected to a rear end of the neck. A section of the first rod, where the first rod is overlapped with the neck of the cutlery head when the cutlery head is folded toward the first rod, has a restricting portion. A front end of the second rod is foldably connected to a rear end of the first rod. When the second rod is folded toward the first rod, the second rod is restricted by the restricting portion from moving away from the first rod, thereby keeping the first rod and the second rod compacted. When the cutlery head is folded toward the first rod and the second rod that are compacted, the neck of the cutlery head is restricted by the same restricting portion for restricting the second rod, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil in a compacted state.

With such design, when the second rod and the first rod are folded, the second rod is restricted by the restricting portion at the folded position. After that, during a process of folding the cutlery head toward the second rod and the first rod that are compacted, the second rod is not going to hinder or stuck the folding process because the second rod is not disengaged from the restricting portion of the first rod. Thus, the foldable eating utensil is suitable for automatically folding and mounting into the lid. Compared to the traditional foldable spoon that needs for folding manually, the foldable eating utensil of the present disclosure could avoid sanitary issues due to manual folding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The inventive subject matter will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a first embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial view of a marked region 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the 4-4 line in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a right side view of the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 6A is a schematic view, showing the second rod of the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment is going to be folded;

FIG. 6B is a schematic view, showing the second rod of the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment is folded to be aligned with the first rod;

FIG. 6C is a schematic view, showing the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment is completely folded;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a second embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a third embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a fourth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a fifth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged partial view of a marked region 11 in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a top view of the foldable eating utensil of the fifth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along the 13-13 line in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view, showing the foldable eating utensil of the fifth embodiment is going to be folded;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a sixth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a seventh embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of an eighth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is an enlarged partial view of a marked region 18 in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a top view of the foldable eating utensil of the eighth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 20 is a sectional view taken along the 20A-20A line in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a top view of the foldable eating utensil of the eighth embodiment, wherein a section of the handle of the utensil is omitted;

FIG. 22 is a schematic view, showing the foldable eating utensil of the eighth embodiment is going to be folded;

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the foldable eating utensil of a ninth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is an enlarged partial view of a marked region 24A in FIG. 23;

FIG. 25 is a top view of the foldable eating utensil of the ninth embodiment according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 26 is an enlarged partial view of a marked region 26A in FIG. 25;

FIG. 27 is a schematic view, showing the second rod of the foldable eating utensil of the ninth embodiment is going to be folded;

FIG. 28 is a schematic view, showing the second rod of the foldable eating utensil of the ninth embodiment is folded to be aligned with the first rod;

FIG. 29 is a schematic view, showing the foldable eating utensil of the ninth embodiment is completely folded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As illustrated in FIG. 1 to FIG. 6C, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a first embodiment is a cutlery that has a front end, a rear end, a right side, and a left side, wherein the cutlery is defined to have two directions, including a first direction D1 and a second direction D2. The first direction is defined to extend from the front end to the rear end, and the second direction D2 is defined to extend from the left side to the right side. The foldable eating utensil 100 includes a cutlery head 10, a first rod 20, and a second rod 30 sequentially connected in the first direction D1.

The cutlery head 10 includes a functional portion 12 and a neck 14 extending in the first direction D1 from the functional portion 12. In the first embodiment, the functional portion 12 is a spoon head, and a top side of the functional portion 12 forms a bowl 16. The bowl 16 extends in the first direction D1 to an inner side of the neck 14 to form a groove 161 in the inner side of the neck 14.

The first rod 20 is a straight rod that extends in the first direction D1, wherein a front end of the first rod 20 is foldably connected to a rear end of the neck 14 by means of hinge. A first hinge joint 21 is located between the front end of the first rod 20 and the neck 14, wherein a bottom side of the neck 14 and the front end of the first rod 20 jointly form a first buckle assembly 22. The first buckle assembly 22 includes an inserting tab 221 formed at the bottom side of the neck 14 and an engaged loop 222 formed at the front end of the first rod 20. When the first rod 20 and the cutlery head 10 is extended (unfolded), the inserting tab 221 is engaged with the engaged loop 222 to position the cutlery head 10, namely retaining the cutlery head 10 to be extended. By simply applying force to either the first rod 20 or the cutlery head 10, the first buckle assembly 22 could be unlocked to allow the inserting tab 221 to be disengaged from the engaged loop 222, so that the first rod 20 could be folded to rotate about the first hinge joint 21 to be aligned with the cutlery head 10. In the current embodiment, a section of the first rod 20, where the first rod 20 is overlapped with the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 when the cutlery head 10 is folded to be aligned with the first rod 20, has a restricting portion 24.

The second rod 30 is a straight rod that extends in the first direction D1, wherein a front end of the second rod 30 is foldably connected to a rear end of the first rod 20 by means of hinge. A second hinge joint 31 is located between the rear end of the first rod 20 and the front end of the second rod 30, wherein a bottom side of the rear end of the first rod 20 and the front end of the second rod 30 jointly form a second buckle assembly 32. The second buckle assembly 32 includes an engaged recess 321 formed at the bottom side of the rear end of the first rod 20 and the engaging block 322 formed at the front end of the second rod 30. When the second rod 30 and the first rod 20 are extended (unfolded), the engaging block 322 is engaged with the engaged recess 321 to position the second rod 30, namely retaining the first rod 20 and the second rod 30 in a line. By simply applying force to either the first rod 20 or the second rod 30, the second buckle assembly 32 could be unlocked to allow the engaging block 322 to be disengaged from the second hinge joint 31

In the first embodiment, a length of the second rod 30 in the first direction D1 is greater than a length between the second hinge joint 31 and the restricting portion 24, and is smaller than a length of the first rod 20 in the first direction D1. When the second rod 30 and the first rod 20 are folded, the second rod 30 is restricted by the restricting portion 24 from returning back, thereby remaining compact. After that, when the cutlery head 10 is folded to be aligned with the compacted first rod 20 and the second rod 30, the position of the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 corresponds to the position of the restricting portion 24, so that the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 is restricted by the restricting portion 24 from moving away, thereby compacting the cutlery head 10 with the first rod 20 and the second rod 30.

In the first embodiment, when the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are compacted, the bowl 16 covers and receives the second rod 30, shown in FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C. At this time, the rear end of the second rod 30 is received in the groove 161 of the neck 14.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, in the first embodiment, a top surface of the first rod 20 and a top surface of the second rod 30 are rectangular flat surfaces extending along the first direction D1. The neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 has two neck peripheries 141 at the right and left sides of a top edge of the groove 161 of the neck 14. The top surface of the first rod 20 has two first edges 26 at the right and left sides. The top surface of the second rod 30 has two second edges 36 at the right and left sides. When the foldable eating utensil 100 is extended, each of the neck peripheries 141 is aligned with one of the first edges 26 and one of the second edges 36. When the second rod 30 and the first rod 20 are folded, a section of the second rod 30 that contacts with the restricting portion 24 is defined as an engaging section A.

The restricting portion 24 of the first embodiment includes two lateral hooks 241, wherein each of two lateral hooks 241 is symmetrically disposed on one of the two first edges 26 of the first rod 20 along the first direction D1. The foldable eating utensil 100 in the current embodiment is manufactured by plastic injection molding. The cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are flexible to a certain degree. Each of the lateral hooks 241 are elastic bodies that could be bent. An interior side of a top portion of each of the lateral hooks 241 has a protrusion 242. At least a portion of each of the protrusions 242 extends medially to exceed one of the first edges 26. More specifically, each of the protrusions 242 is located at a position where each of the protrusions 242 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process of folding the second rod 30 to be aligned with the first rod 20, and each of the protrusions 242 is located at the position where each of the protrusions 242 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the cutlery head 10 to be aligned with the first rod 20. With such design, the restricting portion 24 could be adapted to hook the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 that are folded to align with the first rod 20, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil 100 in a compacted state.

As illustrated in FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C, when the foldable eating utensil 100 is manufactured by plastic injection molding, the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are approximately presented in a U-shaped after the foldable eating utensil 100 is removed from a mold of plastic injection. After that, the cutlery head 10 is clamped by an automatic machine (e.g. jig), the second rod 30 is pushed by the robotic arm of the automatic machine to be folded to align with the first rod 20. As illustrated in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, during a process of folding, the two second edges 36 of the second rod 30 abuts against the two protrusions 242 to push the two lateral hooks 241 moving laterally. The two lateral hooks 241 return back to the original position after the second rod 30 passing through the two protrusions 242 of the two lateral hooks 241. At this time, the two lateral hooks 241 restrict the second rod 30 by the two protrusions 242 from leaving away from the first rod 20. Then, another robotic arm of the automatic machine pushes the first rod 20 and the second rod 30 that are compacted to move toward the cutlery head 10. When the two neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against the two protrusions 242, the two lateral hooks 241 are moved laterally. After the neck 14 is engaged by the two lateral hooks 241 (namely, passing through the two protrusions 242), the lateral hooks 241 return back to the original position. At the time, the two lateral hooks 241 fix a position of the neck 14 by the two protrusion 242, so that the cutlery head 10 could not leave away from the first rod 20, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil 100 in the compacted state.

In the first embodiment, the second rod 30 and the cutlery head 10 are folded sequentially and restricted by the same restricting portion 24 on the first rod 20, so that the second rod 30 and the first rod 20 could not leave from the first rod 20 due to the restriction of the restricting portion 24, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil 100 in the compacted state. As a result, after the second rod 30 is folded, the second rod 30 is restricted by the restricting portion 24 from returning, so that the second rod 30 will not affect or hinder a process of compacting the first rod 20 and the cutlery head 10 by the automatic machine. Thus, the automatic machine could work smoothly. With such design, the foldable eating utensil 100 is suitable for automatically producing and packaging, which could save manpower and avoid the sanitary problem of manual processing.

In the first embodiment, the functional portion 12 is a spoon head. In other embodiments, the functional portion 12 could be fork head. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the foldable eating utensil 100 of FIG. 7 includes the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30. The cutlery head 10 includes the functional portion 12 and the neck 14 extending in the first direction D1 from the functional portion 12. In the second embodiment, the functional portion 12 is a fork head, and a top side of the functional portion 12 forms a bowl 16. The bowl 16 extends in the first direction D1 to an inner side of the neck 14 to form the groove 161 in the inner side of the neck 14.

The first rod 20 is a straight rod that extends in the first direction D1, wherein the front end of the first rod 20 is foldably connected to the rear end of the neck 14 by means of hinge. The first hinge joint 21 is located between the front end of the first rod 20 and the neck 14, wherein the bottom side of the neck 14 is interlockably connected to the front end of the first rod 20. The section of the first rod 20, where the first rod 20 is overlapped with the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 when the cutlery head 10 is folded to be aligned with the first rod 20, has the restricting portion 24. The restricting portion 24 of the first embodiment is the same as the restricting portion 24 of the second embodiment. The second rod 30 is a straight rod that extends in the first direction D1, wherein the front end of the second rod 30 is foldably connected to the rear end of the first rod 20 by means of hinge. The second hinge joint 31 is located between the rear end of the first rod 20 and the front end of the second rod 30, wherein the bottom side of the rear end of the first rod 20 is interlockably connected to the front end of the second rod 30.

The length of the second rod 30 in the first direction D1 is greater than a length between the second hinge joint 31 and the restricting portion 24, and is smaller than the length of the first rod 20 in the first direction D1. When the second rod 30 and the first rod 20 are folded, the second rod 30 is restricted by the restricting portion 24 from returning back, thereby remaining compact. After that, when the cutlery head 10 is folded to be aligned with the compacted first rod 20 and the second rod 30, the position of the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 corresponds to the position of the restricting portion 24, so that the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 is restricted by the same restricting portion 24 which restricts the second rod 30. When the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are compacted, the bowl 16 covers and receives the second rod 30. At this time, the rear end of the second rod 30 is received in the groove 161 of the neck 14.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a third embodiment is almost the same as the foldable eating utensil of the first embodiment, except that the restricting portion 24 of the third embodiment merely includes one lateral hook 241. In the third embodiment, the lateral hook 241 is disposed on one of the two first edges 26 of the first rod 20, wherein the lateral hook 241 extends upwardly from the first edges 26, and an interior side of a top portion of the lateral hook 241 has a protrusion 242.

In the third embodiment, the protrusion 242 is located at a position where the protrusion 242 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by the corresponding one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process of folding the second rod 30 to be aligned with the first rod 20. After the lateral hook 241 returns back to the original position, a position of the second rod 30 is restricted by the protrusion 242, so that the second rod 30 could not leave from the first rod 20. Simultaneously, the protrusion 242 is located at the position the protrusion 242 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by the corresponding one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the cutlery head 10 to be aligned with the first rod 20. When the corresponding one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against the protrusion 242, the lateral hook 241 is pushed to move laterally. After the lateral hook 241 returns to the original position, the protrusion 242 fixes the position of the neck 14, so that the cutlery head 10 is compacted with the first rod 20 and could not leave away from the first rod 20. The function of the lateral hooks 241 and the protrusion 242, which are adapted to lock the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10, recited in the first embodiment and the second embodiment are the same as that of the restricting portion 24 of the third embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a fourth embodiment is almost the same as the foldable eating utensil 100 of the first embodiment, except a position of the lateral hooks 241 of the restricting portion 24 in the fourth embodiment are arranged in a staggered manner. Each of the two lateral hooks 241 is disposed on one of the two first edges 26 in a staggered manner, wherein one position of the two lateral hooks 241 is closer to the cutlery head 10 than the other one. A staggered distance between the two lateral hooks 241 is shorter than a length of the engaging section A in the first direction D1. Each of the lateral hooks 241 extends upward from one of the first edges 26. The interior side of the top portion of each of the lateral hooks 241 has a protrusion 242.

In the fourth embodiment, each of the protrusions 242 is located at a position where each of the protrusions 242 is pushed by one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process that the second rod 30 is folded to be aligned with the first rod 20. When each of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 abuts against one of the protrusions 242 of one of the lateral hooks 241, the lateral hooks 241 are pushed to move laterally. After each of the lateral hooks 241 returns back to the original position, each of the protrusions 242 restricts the second rod 30 from moving away from the first rod 20. Simultaneously, each of the protrusions 242 is located at the position where each of the protrusions 242 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the cutlery head 10 to be aligned with the first rod 20. When each of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against one of the protrusions 245 of one of the lateral hooks 241, the lateral hooks 241 is pushed to move laterally. After each of the lateral hooks 241 returns back to the original position, each of the protrusions 242 restricts the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 from moving away from the first rod 20, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil 100 in a compacted state. As mentioned above, the function of each of the lateral hooks 241 and the protrusions 242 thereof, which are adapted to jointly and sequentially lock the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10, recited in the first embodiment and the second embodiment are the same as that of the restricting portion 24 of the fourth embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 10 to FIG. 14, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a fifth embodiment is almost the same as the foldable eating utensil 100 of the first embodiment, except the two tilted lateral hooks 244, which is disposed on each of the two first edges 26 of the first rod 20, extends upwards and are tilted medially. In the fifth embodiment, each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 is bendable and flexible, wherein a top portion of each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 has a protrusion 245. More specifically, a tilted angle between each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 and an imaginary line B, which is defined to be perpendicular to the top surface of the first rod 20, is smaller than and equal to 3 degrees. Each of the protrusion 245 is adapted to sequentially lock the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, each of the protrusions 245 is located at a position where each of the protrusions 245 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process of folding the second rod 30 to be aligned with the first rod 20. When each of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 abuts against the protrusion 245 of one of the tilted lateral hooks 244, the tilted lateral hooks 244 is pushed to move laterally. After the second rod 30 enters into a space between the two tilted lateral hooks 244 (namely passing through the two protrusions 245), the tilted lateral hooks 244 return back to the original position. At the time, each of the protrusions 245 restricts the second rod 30 from moving away from the first rod 20. Simultaneously, each of the protrusions 245 is located at the position where each of the protrusions 245 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the cutlery head 10 to be aligned with the first rod 20. When the two neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against the two protrusions 245, the two tilted lateral hooks 244 are pushed by the two neck peripheries 141 to move laterally. After the neck 14 enters into a space between the two tilted lateral hooks 244 (namely passing through the two protrusions 245), the tilted lateral hooks 244 return back to the original position. At the time, each of the protrusions 245 restricts the neck 14 from moving away from the first rod 20. When the cutlery head 10 is compacted with the first rod 20 and the second rod 30 of the foldable eating utensil 100, the bowl 16 covers and receives the second rod 30, wherein the rear end of the second rod 30 is received in the groove 161.

Similar to the foldable eating utensil 100 of the first embodiment, since the second rod 30 could be retained by the two tilted lateral hooks 244 of the fifth embodiment right after the second rod 30 is folded to align with the first rod 20, the second rod 30 could not block or hinder the first rod 20 to be folded toward the cutlery head 10. Besides, after the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are compacted, the neck 14 could be retained by the tilted lateral hooks 244 as well. With such design, the foldable eating utensil 100 of the fifth embodiment could be smoothly folded by the automatic machine, which could save the manpower and avoid the sanitary problem caused by manual folding.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a sixth embodiment is almost the same as the foldable eating utensil 100 of the fifth embodiment, except the restricting portion 24 of the sixth embodiment includes merely one tilted lateral hook 244. The tilted lateral hook 244 of the sixth embodiment is disposed on one of the two first edges 26 of the first rod 20, wherein the tilted lateral hook 244 extends upwardly from the first edges 26 and is tilted medially, and an interior side of a top portion of the tilted lateral hook 244 has a protrusion 245.

In the sixth embodiment, the protrusion 245 is located at a position where the protrusion 245 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by the corresponding one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process of folding the second rod 30 toward the first rod 20. When the second edge 36 of the second rod 30 abuts against the protrusion 245 of the tilted lateral hook 244, the tilted lateral hook 244 is pushed to move laterally. After the tilted lateral hook 244 returns back to the original position, the protrusion 245 restricts the second rod 30 from moving away from the first rod 20. Simultaneously, the protrusion 245 is located at the position where the protrusion 245 of the restricting portion 24 could be pushed by the corresponding one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the first rod 20 toward the cutlery head 10. When the corresponding one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against the protrusion 245, the tilted lateral hook 244 is pushed by the two neck peripheries 141 to move laterally. After the tilted lateral hooks 244 return back to the original position, each of the protrusions 245 restricts the neck 14 from moving away from the first rod 20. The function of the tilted lateral hook 244 and the protrusion 245, which is adapted to locking the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10, mentioned in the fifth embodiment is the same as that of the sixth embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a seventh embodiment is almost the same as that of the fifth embodiment, except the two tilted lateral hooks 244 of the restricting portion 24 of the seventh embodiment are arranged in a staggered manner. Each of the two tilted lateral hooks 244 is disposed on one of the two first edges 26 in a staggered manner, wherein one position of the two tilted lateral hooks 244 is closer to the cutlery head 10 than the other one. A staggered distance between the two tilted lateral hooks 244 is shorter than a length of the engaging section A in the first direction D1. Each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 extends upward from one of the first edges 26. The interior side of the top portion of each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 has a protrusion 245.

In the seventh embodiment, each of the protrusions 245 is located at a position where each of the protrusions 245 is pushed by one of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 during a process that the second rod 30 is folded toward the first rod 20. When each of the second edges 36 of the second rod 30 abuts against one of the protrusions 245 of one of the tilted lateral hooks 244, the tilted lateral hooks 244 are pushed to move laterally. After each of the tilted lateral hooks 244 returns back to the original position, each of the protrusions 242 restricts the second rod 30 from moving away from the first rod 20. Simultaneously, each of the protrusions 245 is located at the position where each of the protrusions 245 could be pushed by one of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 during a process of folding the cutlery head 10 toward the first rod 20. When each of the neck peripheries 141 of the cutlery head 10 abuts against one of the protrusions 245 of one of the lateral hooks 241, the lateral hooks 241 is pushed to move laterally. After each of the lateral hooks 244 returns back to the original position, each of the protrusions 245 restricts the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 from moving away from the first rod 20, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil 100 in a compacted state. As mentioned above, the function of each of the lateral hooks 244 and the protrusions 245 thereof, which are adapted to jointly and sequentially lock the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10, recited in the fifth embodiment is the same as that of the restricting portion 24 of the seventh embodiment.

A foldable eating utensil 100 of an eighth embodiment is almost the same as that of one of the first embodiment to the seventh embodiment, except that a top end of each of the lateral hooks 241 or the tilted lateral hooks 244 of the restricting portion 24 on the first rod 20 of the eighth embodiment has a curved surface 243. As illustrated in FIG. 17 to FIG. 22, the restricting portion of the eighth embodiment includes two lateral hooks 241 as an example.

In the eighth embodiment, the restricting portion 24 of the foldable eating utensil 100 is adapted to lock the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 as well, and the foldable eating utensil 100 is manufactured by plastic injection molding. The cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are flexible and elastic to a certain degree. The restricting portion 24 is located at a section of the first rod 20, where the section of the first rod 20 is overlapped with the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 when the cutlery head 10 is folded to be aligned with the first rod 20. The restricting portion 24 includes the two lateral hooks 241, which are arranged symmetrically along the first direction D1 and extend upward from the two first edges 26 of the first rod 20. Each of the lateral hooks 241 is flexible, wherein the top end of each of the lateral hooks 241 has a curved surface 243.

As illustrated in FIG. 20 to FIG. 22, when the second rod 30 is folded toward the first rod 20, a section of the second rod 30 that contacts the restricting portion 24 is defined as the engaging section A. A distance d between the two second edges 36 within the engaging section A is greater than a distance d1 between the interior sides of the two lateral hooks 241. Thus, when the second rod 30 is folded toward the first rod 20 to rotate about the second hinge joint 31, each of the two second edges 36 could smoothly slide along the curved surface 243 of one of the lateral hooks 241 to allow the second rod 30 to enter into and be locked within the space between the two lateral hooks 241. A distance d2 between the two neck peripheries 141 is greater than the distance d between the two second edges 36 in the engaging section A. Thus, when the cutlery head 10 is folded toward the first rod 20 and the second rod 30, which are compacted, to rotate about the first hinge joint 21, the neck peripheries 141 could smoothly slide along the two curved surfaces 243 of the lateral hooks 241, which are urged by the second rod 30 to slightly expand, to allow the neck 14 to enter into and be locked within the space between the two lateral hooks 241. When the cutlery head 10 is folded toward the first rod 20 and the second rod 30 that are compacted, the bowl 16 covers and receives the second rod 30, and the rear end of the second rod 30 is received in the groove 161 of the cutlery head 10. Therefore, the foldable eating utensil 100 of the eighth embodiment shown in FIG. 17 to FIG. 22 is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, except for the structure of the restricting portion 24.

As illustrated in FIG. 23 to FIG. 29, a foldable eating utensil 100 of a ninth embodiment is almost the same as that of one of the first embodiment to the eighth embodiment, except the structure of the restricting portion 24 for engaging the second rod 30 and the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10. In the ninth embodiment, the foldable eating utensil 100 is manufactured by plastic injection molding. The cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are flexible to a certain degree. The restricting portion 24 is disposed on a section of the first rod 20, where the first rod 20 is overlapped with the neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 when the cutlery head 10 is folded toward the first rod 20. A length L1 of the second rod 30 is equal to a length L2 between the second hinge joint 31 and the restricting portion 24.

In the ninth embodiment, the restricting portion 24 is a retainer 246 in fin-shaped formed on the top surface of the first rod 20. The retainer 246 has a retaining surface 247 facing toward the rear end. The retainer 246 has a guiding surface 248 on the top thereof. The retainer 246 has a convex surface 249, wherein a height of the convex surface 249 is gradually reduced in a direction from the top to a front end of the retainer 246. The neck 14 of the cutlery head 10 has a slit 142, wherein a shape of the slit 142 complementarily matches with a shape of the retainer 246. A width d3 of the retainer 246 in the second direction D2 is greater than a width d4 of the slit 142 in the second direction D2. Each of the right and left sides of the top of the retainer 246 has a chamfer. As illustrated in FIG. 27 to FIG. 29, during a process of folding the second rod 30 toward the first rod 20, the rear end of the second rod 30 could slide along the guiding surface 248 and then move downward to urge the retaining surface 247, thereby keeping the second rod 30 in a compacted state. When the cutlery head 10 is folded toward the first rod 20 and the second rod 30 that are compacted, the retainer 246 is inserted into the slit 142 to position and restrict the cutlery head 10 from moving away from the first rod 20. When the cutlery head 10, the first rod 20, and the second rod 30 are compacted, the bowl 16 of the cutlery head 10 covers and receives the second rod 30, the rear end of the second rod 30 is received in the groove 161.

While several inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein.

Claims

1. A foldable eating utensil, comprising: a cutlery head, a first rod, and a second rod, which are sequentially connected in a first direction, which is defined as a direction from a front end to a rear end of the foldable eating utensil, andwherein the cutlery head includes a functional portion and a neck, wherein the neck extends in the first direction from the functional portion;wherein a front end of the first rod is foldably connected to a rear end of the neck; and a section of the first rod, where the first rod is overlapped with the neck of the cutlery head when the cutlery head is folded toward the first rod, has a restricting portion; andwherein a front end of the second rod is foldably connected to a rear end of the first rod; when the second rod is folded toward the first rod, the second rod is restricted by the restricting portion from moving away from the first rod, thereby keeping the first rod and the second rod compacted; when the cutlery head is folded toward the first rod and the second rod that are compacted, the neck of the cutlery head is restricted by the same restricting portion for restricting the second rod, thereby keeping the foldable eating utensil in a compacted state.

2. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first hinge joint is located between the front end of the first rod and the neck; a second hinge joint is located between the rear end of the first rod and the front end of the second rod; a length of the second rod in the first direction is greater than a length between the second hinge joint and the restricting portion and is smaller than a length of the first rod in the first direction.

3. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first rod has two first edges at right and left sides; the restricting portion comprises at least one lateral hook that is disposed on one of the two first edges and extends upward; each of the at least one lateral hooks is flexible; an interior side of a top portion of each of the at least one lateral hook has a protrusion; the protrusion on each of the at least one lateral hook is adapted to sequentially lock the second rod and the neck of the cutlery head.

4. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 3, wherein the neck of the cutlery head has two neck peripheries at right and left sides; the second rod has two second edges at right and left sides; the protrusion of each of the at least one lateral hook is located at a position where the protrusion is pushed by one of the two second edges during a process of folding the second rod toward the first rod; simultaneously, the protrusion of each of the at least one lateral hook is located at the position where the protrusion is pushed by one of the two neck peripheries of the cutlery head during a process of folding the cutlery head toward the first rod.

5. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 4, wherein the restricting portion comprises two lateral hooks that are respectively disposed on two first edges and are arranged symmetrically along the first direction.

6. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 4, wherein the restricting portion comprises one lateral hook that is disposed on one of the two first edges.

7. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 4, wherein the restricting portion comprises two lateral hooks that are respectively disposed on two first edges and are arranged in a staggered manner.

8. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first rod has two first edges at right and left sides; the restricting portion comprises at least one tilted lateral hook that is disposed on one of the two first edges and extends upward; each of the at least one tilted lateral hooks is flexible; an interior side of a top portion of each of the at least one tilted lateral hook has a protrusion; the protrusion on each of the at least one tilted lateral hook is adapted to sequentially lock the second rod and the neck of the cutlery head.

9. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 8, wherein the neck of the cutlery head has two neck peripheries at right and left sides; the protrusion of each of the at least one tilted lateral hook is located at a position where the protrusion is pushed by one of the two second edges during a process of folding the second rod toward the first rod; simultaneously, the protrusion of each of the at least one tilted lateral hook is located at the position where the protrusion is pushed by one of the two neck peripheries of the cutlery head during a process of folding the cutlery head toward the first rod.

10. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 8, wherein an imaginary line is defined to be perpendicular to a top surface of the first rod; each of the at least one tilted lateral hook extends upward and is tilted medially; a tilted angle between each of the at least one tilted lateral hook and an imaginary line is smaller than and equal to 3 degrees.

11. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the restricting portion comprises two tilted lateral hooks that are respectively disposed on two first edges and are arranged symmetrically along the first direction.

12. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the restricting portion comprises one tilted lateral hook that is disposed on one of the two first edges.

13. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the restricting portion comprises two tilted lateral hooks that are respectively disposed on two first edges and are arranged in a staggered manner.

14. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first rod has two first edges at right and left sides; the neck of the cutlery head has two neck peripheries at right and left sides; the second rod has two second edges at right and left sides; the restricting portion comprises two lateral hooks that are respectively disposed on the two first edges and extend upward; each of the two lateral hooks is flexible, and a top of each of the two lateral hooks has a curved surface; a distance between the two second edges is greater than a distance between the interior sides of the two lateral hooks; when the second rod is folded toward the first rod, the second rod slides along the two curved surfaces to enter into and be restricted by a space between the two lateral hooks; a distance between the two neck peripheries is greater than the distance between the two second edges; when the neck is folded toward the first rod, the neck slides along the two curved surfaces to enter into and be restricted by a space between the two lateral hooks.

15. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 2, wherein the restricting portion is a retainer on a top surface of the first rod; the retainer has a retaining surface facing toward the rear end; the neck of the cutlery head has a slit; the foldable eating utensil has a second direction is defined as a direction extends from a left side to a right side; a width of the retainer in the second direction is greater than a width of the slit in the second direction; the rear end of the second rod urges the retaining surface when the second rod is folded toward the first rod; the retainer is inserted into the cutlery head when the cutlery head is folded toward the first rod.

16. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 15, wherein a top of the retaining surface has a guiding surface, and a height of a convex surface of the retainer is gradually reduced in a direction from the top to a front end of the retainer; the rear end of the second rod slides along the guiding surface to move downward to urges the retaining surface.

17. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the functional portion is either a fork head or a spoon head.

18. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 17, wherein the functional portion has a bowl, and the bowl extends in the first direction to an inner side of the neck to form a groove in the inner side of the neck; when the cutlery head is folded toward the second rod and the first rod that are compacted, the bowl receives the second rod, and the groove receives the rear end of the second rod.

19. The foldable eating utensil as claimed in claim 18, wherein a bottom side of the neck and the front end of the first rod jointly form a first buckle assembly; a bottom side of the rear end of the first rod and the front end of the second rod jointly form a second buckle assembly.