Patent Application
20210389039
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, bit otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to a food storage devices and more particularly to temperature controlled containers which may store food and be utilized to present the food through portable food serving trays.
The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
It is known to serve food and drinks by means of trays. In many instances, the participant responsible for preparation and serving of the foodstuff is left with several steps to be performed at the time of serving and is faced with the challenge of endeavoring to time service such that the temperature of the foodstuff does not materially deviate from the optimum service temperature thus requiring some degree of skill at predicting the time guests night want to be served hors d'oeuvres or the like and the period over which the fruit stuffs will be consumed.
Over the years, many efforts have been made to solve the problem of storing and controlling the temperature of the prepared foodstuffs and the selection of a serving tray which can be maintained at the desired serving temperature and which is readily available for convenient service of the foodstuff.
Various aspects of these challenges have been dressed by various devices previously developed. In recognition of the need for controlling the temperature of different foodstuffs, it has been proposed to construct a hors d'oeuvres tray with a series of divided and separable food compartments over a heat sink. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,768,976 to Cuthbertson.
It also has been proposed to convert a traditional cooler to employ a series of stacked shelves which might hold different foodstuffs. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,959 to Tedder.
U.S. Pat. No. 29,415 discloses a food container assembly having a channeled interior bottom surface and vent means leading outwardly of the tray members, with the tray members including a bottom, a top, which is nestably associated with the bottom, for containing a single food item; and a plurality of intermediate tray members which may be stacked in vertical tandem for containing a plurality of food pieces in a unitary stacked carton arrangement.
Other efforts to develop satisfactory temperature controlled food container and food trays are disclosed in US20110226003A1, U.S.D354,419, US20070001409, U.S.D823,064S1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,833,333A, 5,947,032A, 6,328,179B1, 3,591,194A, U.S.D296,065S, 4,934,549A, 5,285,656A, 5,306,029A, U.S.D369,695S, 5,551,558A, 5,803,472A, 5,860,281A, 5,975,334A, 3,791,547A, 5,860,281A, 5,975,334A, 3,791,547A, 3,979,007A, 3,979,007A, 4,019,340A, 4,667,484A, 5,437,165A, 5,718,350A, US20040178208A1, US20050072181A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,763,848B2, 8,777,045B2, 4,667,484A, EP0588113A1, US20060065665A1, US20060144841A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,889,257A, 6,216,488B1, 8,356,712B2, U.S.D836,995S1, U.S.D835,472S1, U.S.D850,217S1.
It is therefore desirable to be able to configure the storage container to accommodate these varied needs, as well as to be able to easily reconfigure the storage container for subsequent uses which have different temperature or temperature configuration needs with portable food serving trays. None of the prior art methods have been found to be completely suitable to meet these needs and are cumbersome. The present invention provides such a method and the overall combination of these features is nowhere disclosed in the prior art cited above which appears to be representative of the general art in this area although it is not intended to be an al-inclusive listing of pertinent prior art patents.
In light of the disadvantages of the prior art, the following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the present invention and is not intended to be a fun description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the invention can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, and abstract as a whole.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a food and beverage ice cooler with a large portable food serving tray storage compartment, or compartments for the storage of personnel, portable food serving trays that can be readily available for transporting and consuming a meal and beverage on a person's lap away from a table.
Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a novel storage container that may be insulated to assist in keeping one or more items cool, cold, frozen, warm, or hot.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a storage container, of the aforementioned type, and which is relatively inexpensive to produce.
It is another object of the present invention is to provide large novel storage compartment may be a molded-in-recess, into the interior, or exterior of the top lid, side, or bottom of any common ice cooler used for storing food and beverages.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a means for storage of trays with a convenient and comfortable way to consume food and drink in an outdoor setting and trays can be easily stored back into the storage compartment for future re-use.
Briefly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a tray setup to be placed on user lap with food plate, beverage, and cell phone holding space while consuming food.
The storage containers disclosed herein may be configured to be carried or transported in a plurality of manners or configurations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a portable setup that can be easily be stored back into the storage compartment ready for future use.
This Summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments, so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter described herein. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, and Claims.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” or “illustrative” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” or “illustrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. All of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description. It is also to be understood that the specific devices and processes described in the following specification, are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts defined in the appended claims. Specific dimensions and other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed herein are therefore not to be considered as limiting, unless the claims expressly state otherwise.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having an ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating possible combination in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specifications and claim/s should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claim/s.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide one or more of the storage areas or compartments may be used for items that preferably remain at room, neutral, or outside temperature. The different storage areas or compartments may also be used for items or groups of items that have varying levels of sensitivity to humidity or liquid.
Thus, there is provided a tray storage container which is compact, easily transportable, low cost and which provides for the storage of multiple serving trays as well as provides an air-tight moisture-proof container to carry foodstuff.
It should be appreciated that the various aspects and elements included in the first and second embodiments, serving trays, respectively, could be selectively rearranged or combined to create further embodiments of serving trays which are all also within the scope of the present invention.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
