This invention is in the field of the ice-cream industry and in particular innovative methods of packaging storing and marketing ice-cream, ices and the like.
It is well known especially in countries with hot climates that ice-creams and ices present a problem when bought to take home or even bought to eat. The problem is that the products start to melt soon after being removed from the freezer of the retailer. Even when the ices are eaten immediately, when it is a hot day the ice often starts to drip before finishing the product. This is especially so when children are the consumer as they tend to take a longer time to finish eating than adults. The resultant drips of ice-cream often cause inconvenience and damage.
One of the main problems is when taking the product home in a hot car or on a bus journey. Once the product starts to melt it loses its form and when re-frozen its taste and texture change. In addition it is less attractive to serve at a meal after being partially melted.
This invention comes to solve these problems and adds some marketing and promotional features at the same time.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention. Where ices are mentioned herein the intention is to include any kind of ices, ice popsicle, ice-cream and similar products.
An object of the invention is to increase comfort and convenience at the time of serving ices.
Another object of the invention is to keep ices frozen and cold for longer after leaving the freezer.
Another object of the invention is to protect ices from breaking or being crushed.
Another object of the invention is to have a tray to hold ices. Such a tray could be transparent, openably sealed, decoratively shaped, designed to hold captions, graphics, advertisements, promotion and publicity.
Another object of the invention is for the liquids in the hollow of the said tray to be colored.
An object of this invention is to have a storage container that has a double wall or space between the tray where the ices are situated and the outer wall. This space is for filling with water, gel or other substances whether edible or not, that will freeze with the ices in the freezer and when removed from the freezer will help keep cool, insulate and protect the ices from melting so fast. The said substances in the hollow of the container or of the holding stick could be attractive substances for sales and promotion for example caffeine drinks like “red-bull” or alcohol. The ices will be in close contact, separated by the relatively thin layer of the ices tray, with the frozen liquid or gel which will keep the ices frozen for longer than without this frozen insulation.
Another object of this invention is to store more than one ices together in a manner that a large percentage of their surface area is touching or close to its neighbor thereby keeping all the ices colder for longer. For example, if the ices are manufactured in the shape of a triangular prism, many ices can fit together where one longitudinal side face of each ice tapers to the center and the outside face forms a cylindrical shape when all the ices are in place. The more said surface area that is touching a neighboring ice the less the surface area that is exposed to the air and that helps to maintain the ices in a frozen state for longer.
Another method of keeping ices cold for longer is for the ice cream stick to be hollow and filled with a liquid that will help lower the temperature of the ice cream. The shape of the stick could be made to spread where it is in contact with the ices to increase the cooling effect. The part of the stick that is held by the consumer's hand could be solid and not hollow to prevent the consumer holding a very cold stick handle. This embodiment has the advantage of helping to keep cool for longer individual ices while the consumer is in the process of consuming.
Another object of the invention is to have a drip tray to catch drips of ices and a convenient mouthpiece in the drip tray for the consumption of the melted contents and the drips. This embodiment could be made in conjunction with the previous embodiment namely the hollow stick cooling effect.
The aforementioned spread-out stick inside the ice cream could be utilized for promotional and marketing purposes for example, there could be break-off figures attached to the stick that children would enjoy collecting in sets, or other games or forms of lottery to win prizes based on articles attached to the stick or wording written or embossed on the stick.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain by way of example only, the principles of the invention:
As will be appreciated the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments than those discussed above and described in more detail below, and its several details are capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Accordingly, the drawings and description of the embodiments set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
The base 12 of the tray and the lid 14 of the tray help to protect the ices from physical damage and freezer burn damage. The tray 2 has hollow parts as is described in relation to
The lower portion 12 can be inverted and filled with liquid or gel to help to keep the ices cooler for longer. The space 9 could be initially filled with liquid, sealed by the lower cover 16 and frozen in a freezer. Once frozen the lower portion 12 could be turned the correct way up so that the liquid of the ices could be poured into the ices depression 8. Then the lid 14 is placed on the lower portion 12 and placed in the freezer to make the ices 4 frozen.
An alternative method of filling the space 9 could be as follows if the seal between the lower cover 16 and the lower portion 12 of the tray 2 is a water-tight seal. The lower portion 12 is inverted and filled with the filling liquid, sealed closed with the lower cover 16 and turned upright again to pour into the depressions 8 the liquid the substance of the ices 4. The lid 14 is placed on the lower portion 12 and placed in the freezer where both liquids will freeze at the approximately same time.
The ices stick 36 could have a hollow portion 38 that could be filled with a liquid, edible or inedible, or gel for the purpose of keeping the ices cooler for longer after leaving the freezer.
The cover of the ice popsicles
It is understood that this container could be rectangular or other shape using the same principle as this described embodiment.
The space 56 inside the drip tray 54 could be filled with liquid, edible or inedible, or gel for the purpose of keeping the ices cooler for longer after leaving the freezer. When edible liquids are used for this purpose they can be drained away or drunk via the openings 58 or 60.
The drip tray 54 therefore serves two main purposes namely to keep the bottom of the ice popsicle from melting by holding it in a volume of ice and secondly to catch the drips from the ice popsicle when it eventually does melt. The drips from the popsicle and the melted content of the drip tray 54 can be drunk via the opening 58 or 60.
The closable opening 62 is to aid entry of liquids into the stick 52. The opening 62 could also be used to wash out the inner parts of the stick 52 when the device is used more than once.
The stick 74 could enjoy other features for example, for advertising, games for promotion purposes or gambling. The games could be collecting sets of letters 82 that could be made to detach with a twist. There could be words forming part of a sentence. The gambling could be related to a number 84 attached to the stick 74 or a word like “win” 86. There could be company names, logos 88 or slogans for advertising and promotion purposes.
As is the previous examples the liquid could be edible or inedible, or gel for the purpose of keeping the ice cream cooler for a longer period after leaving the freezer than would be the case if there were no such insulation. The ice cream could be placed directly in the hollow center of the cone 106 or a cone shaped wafer could be used to hold the ice cream and the wafer would fit in the hollow center 106. Alternatively, the wafer could be the outer layer and the whole unit 100 could fit inside the wafer. There could be a snapable or otherwise breakable section 108 at the apex of the internal wall of the cone 100. The liquid used in the hollow walls 102 of the cone could be an edible liquid that is like a popsicle that may be drunk as the ice popsicle melts. It could be an added enhancement as the ice cream begins to melt and the popsicle begins to melt for the consumer to snap the apex 108 and eat the remaining ice cream together with melting popsicle ice by removing the cap over the opening 104 and sucking out the mixed contents.
The case 130 could have two parts joined by hinges 134. The two parts would have indentations 136 in symmetrical formation for the ice creams or popsicles 132 to fit therein when the case 130 is closed. The case 130 could have closing clips 138 and carrying handles 140. There could be a removable cap 142 for filling and emptying the liquid used for cooling the ice creams or popsicles 132.