This invention concerns food service utensils such as bowls, cups, and dishes which are foldable from flat sheets. Such utensils have been developed and provide the advantage of easy storability. See, for example, U.S. Publication No. 2005/0103834 A1 which describes a handled cup folded from a plastic sheet cut and scored in a particular pattern. Additional similar vessels are currently sold under the ORIKASO™ trademark. While such foldable vessels have been provided, it is not believed that implements such as serving spoons have heretofore been proposed.
It is the object of the present invention to provide foldable food service utensils which are of improved utility and appearance, and are easier to fold up, and have other advantages over foldable utensils heretofore provided.
It is a further object of the present invention to also provide other foldable utensils such as spoons and other implements.
The above objects and other objects which will be appreciated upon a reading of the following specification and claims are achieved by providing foldable spoons and other such implements formed from a folded sheet cut in a pattern having a generally rectangular handle section made up of several pleat folds flattened together and a contiguously connected bowl section foldable into a spoon bowl.
Two longitudinal fold lines extend along the handle section and into the bowl section where they blend into curved score lines, with a third intermediate longitudinal score line terminating at the handle section.
These three folds form accordion or pleated folds which can be flattened together to form an elongated handle comprised of three layers of plastic sheeting. The bowl section is defined by two upturned sides formed by score lines extending from the handle section, the two sides having curved shapes intersecting the handle section. Sets of triangular fold lines create a down sloping surface at the rear of the spoon bowl.
An auxiliary handle wrap section is folded around the flattened together layers of the handle section and held in place with snaps to hold the layers together, the wrap also acting to stiffen the handle.
Foldable vessels such as bowls, dishes, cups, or the like are also provided formed from semitransparent tinted sheets of plastic such as polypropylene which are cut and scored in particular patterns. The tinted semitransparent plastic sheets allow folded edges at corners of the vessels to be visible through other folded over portions of the sheeting to create an enhanced aesthetic appearance by creating interesting visual features at the corners of the vessel.
The bowl and cup vessels incorporate mating snaps to hold the same in their folded state. One or more parts of the rim of the formed vessel are lower than one or more other parts of the vessel rim to prevent the liquid level in the vessel from reaching the level of the mating snaps which are located adjacent rim parts at a higher level.
Pointed end oval patterns are created at folded corners by score lines which reduce the severity of the bending required to form corners and also provide an attractive visual feature to improve the overall appearance of the vessel.
In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims.
Referring to the drawings, and particularly
The spoon 10 is formed from a flat sheet 16 which is cut and scored in the pattern shown in
The sheet 16 is of a suitable plastic such as a food contact grade of polypropylene 0.6 mm thick which has been die cut and scored in the pattern shown in
The cut pattern produces a generally rectangular section 18 and an integral section 20 having a rounded end projecting from one side of the bottom part A of the section 18.
The scoring pattern includes a first series of equally spaced parallel fold lines 22 extending from side-to-side across the lower part of the first section 18. Rounded corners 24 may be provided at the right side of the rectangles formed by the lines 22.
The upper part B of the section 18 is also scored with a series of lengthwise parallel fold lines 26, two of the lines 26-1, 26-2 relatively closely spaced and two others 26-3, 26-4 even more closely spaced.
Two male snaps 28 are affixed at either end of the lower part A and two female snaps 30 are mounted at either end of the upper part B for a purpose described below.
The projecting section 20 has opposite straight sides 32 at a part contiguous to the first section 18 which extend to curved sides 34 converging together at a rounded tip 36.
The rounded end section 20 has a pattern of score lines including a pair of straight lines 38 extending in alignment from two outboard score lines 22-1 and 22-3 of the section 18 for a portion of the length of section 20.
A pair of second fold lines 40 diverge from a point X at the left end of the centered fold line 22-2 of the section 18 to a point Y intersecting one of the straight lines 38. A slight curved line 42 connects the points Y forming a centered triangle 44 with a curved base.
A pair of straight lines 46 angle out from each point Y to intersect straight side 32 at a backward slanting angle.
Also emanating towards the rounded point 36 from each point Y are respective curved pairs of fold lines 48 forming narrow pointed end ovals 50.
To form the spoon 10, the sheet 16 is first inverted from the position shown in
The lines 21-1, 2-3 are pleated accordion style to raise the center fold line 22-2 and fold down the adjacent areas W, bringing up the two side areas V as seen in
The areas V and W are flattened together to create a bar like handle 12 capable of resisting bending if spoon bowl 14 is loaded to as to be capable of effectively functioning as a handle.
In order to keep the layers of the handle 12 flattened together, the upper Section B is wrapped around these flattened layers, area “Q” folded over the sides and areas “P” over the thickness of the handle. Snaps 30 and 28 are mated together to maintain the handle layers flattened together.
The side areas S are also brought up to form spoon bowl sides, together with side areas U, sloping down to the rounded tip 36. The two oval areas 50 form an angled transition of these sides adjacent to a bottom area R of the spoon bowl 14.
The foldable bowl 50 is formed from a flat sheet 54 of plastic preferably polypropylene of slightly greater thickness than the spoon, i.e. 0.8 mm.
The sheet 34 has a perimeter edge 56 defining a multisided shape, such as the square shown. A series of scored fold lines 58 form a closed shape (i.e., a square, although a triangle and other shapes are also possible) here having sides corresponding to those of the perimeter edge 56, and associated in the same way so that the sides of the square extend in the same general direction as a corresponding side of the perimeter edge 56.
Pairs of diverging fold lines 60, 62 emanate from each corner of the closed shape and extend to the perimeter edge, forming triangular areas B. Two pairs of opposite side areas C and D are thus left between triangular areas B.
A male snap 68 is fixed at each corner of each side area C and a female snap 66 at the corner of each side area D. A clearance hole 64 is punched into the sheet 54 at the top of each triangular area B located so that when the area B is folded along side D onto the outside of the side by folding along lines 60, 62, the male snap 68 can engage a mating female snap 66 through the aligned clearance hole 64.
According to one feature of the present invention the perimeter edge 56C of the sides C forming a part of the bowl rim are curved outwardly while the edges 56D of sides D forming the remainder of the bowl rim are straight across. The snaps 66, 68 are located adjacent the outwardly curved edge.
The edge at the upper corners of the sides D is also slightly curved to be a match to the curve of the edge of the area B.
When the sides C and D are folded up, a triangular pleat is formed by areas B and the overlying area of the sides D, the pleat 70 overlying the sides C, allowing the snaps 66, 68 to be mated.
In this position, the curved edges 56C form a higher rim part than the lowest point X of straight edges 56D which form a lower dipping curved rim part. This configuration prevents over filling of the bowl 52 to the point where the liquid level would reach that of the mating snaps 66, as well as enhancing the appearance of the bowl 52.
The plastic sheet 54 is semitransparent which adds a distinct aesthetic effect since the inner edge of the pleats 70 defined by the fold line 62 becomes visible through overlying portions of the sheet, combining with the outer edge defined by the fold line 60, which becomes visible from the inside. Thus, an attractive design feature is created to make the appearance of the folded vessel significantly more pleasing.
Referring to
The flaps 88 and side extension regions C-1 are large enough to overlap as seen in
The top edge 98 of each side C are curved down while the top edges 100 of the sides D and 102 of flaps 88 are curved up to keep the maximum level of liquid below the snaps 90, 92 in similar fashion to the bowl 52.
Referring to
A generally rectangular bottom area “A” is formed by a pair of scored fold lines 112 defining the long side of the dish 104, and two pairs of shallowly curved fold lines 114 forming pointed end oval areas “B”. The sides 106 are formed by rectangular areas C outside the fold lines 112 while ends 103 are formed by rectangular areas D outside fold line pairs 114.
A pair of triangular areas E, F are formed by extensions of fold lines 112 and angled fold lines 116 extending out from the corners where the sides 106 and ends 108 abut.
Flap strips 120 are formed by closely spaced double fold lines 118 defining the upper edge of the sides.
Holes 122 are formed in each of the triangular areas E, F which become aligned when the sides 112 and ends 108 are folded up and triangular areas are folded together to project outwardly forming a triangular flap 124. The triangular flaps 124 are wrapped over the outside of the sidewalls 106 (
The rectangular flaps 120 are then folded out and over the triangular flaps 124 and the sides 106 (
The rectangular flaps 120 serve to stiffen the longer sides 108.
The semitransparent plastic allows viewing of the triangular flaps 124 through the rectangular flaps 120 and sides 106 as seen in
It will be appreciated that the various foldable utensils in the set can be varied in size and proportions.
In
In
In
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
177356 | Russell | May 1876 | A |
198332 | Aulabaugh | Dec 1877 | A |
922334 | Regenstein | May 1909 | A |
1027719 | Fordon et al. | May 1912 | A |
1150105 | Emmons | Aug 1915 | A |
1438698 | Debs | Dec 1922 | A |
1613133 | Rosener | Jan 1927 | A |
2050894 | Paige | Aug 1936 | A |
2340754 | Inman | Feb 1944 | A |
2491002 | Domecki | Dec 1949 | A |
2637136 | Mark | May 1953 | A |
2792981 | Grammer | May 1957 | A |
2831624 | Lever | Apr 1958 | A |
2992765 | Kram | Jul 1961 | A |
3019957 | Palmer | Feb 1962 | A |
3097782 | Koropatkin et al. | Jul 1963 | A |
3119494 | Rosenstiel | Jan 1964 | A |
3150812 | Sabol | Sep 1964 | A |
3557856 | Berman | Jan 1971 | A |
3733023 | Arneson | May 1973 | A |
3767108 | Arneson | Oct 1973 | A |
3964668 | Lin | Jun 1976 | A |
4199097 | Christensson | Apr 1980 | A |
4313556 | Boyle et al. | Feb 1982 | A |
4471901 | Stahlecker | Sep 1984 | A |
4500129 | Hahn | Feb 1985 | A |
4711390 | Andrews et al. | Dec 1987 | A |
5016813 | Simons | May 1991 | A |
5460324 | Vinther | Oct 1995 | A |
6019244 | Jones | Feb 2000 | A |
D460355 | Lenz et al. | Jul 2002 | S |
6502744 | Lorusso | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6523989 | Carty | Feb 2003 | B2 |
6752263 | Dubsky | Jun 2004 | B2 |
7007838 | Bostick, II | Mar 2006 | B1 |
D524154 | Post | Jul 2006 | S |
20050103834 | Cousins | May 2005 | A1 |
20060208052 | Cousins | Sep 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
298 11 914 | Nov 1998 | DE |
WO 03074374 | Sep 2003 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070084064 A1 | Apr 2007 | US |