Patent Application
20230033862
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The disclosure relates to plate and cup devices and more particularly pertains to a new plate and cup device for attaching a cup to a plate. The device includes a food plate with an opening extending through the food plate and a cup that is insertable through the opening in the food plate. Additionally, a lid is provided that releasably engages the cup for retaining the cup on the food plate. The lid has a straw opening extending through the lid to facilitate a drinking straw to be inserted into the cup for drinking a beverage in the cup.
The prior art relates to plate and cup devices including a food plate with an opening extending through the food plate and a cup that is insertable downwardly through the opening. The cup flares outwardly such that an upper threshold of the cup has a diameter that is greater than the diameter of the opening to inhibit the cup from falling downwardly through the opening. The prior art discloses a food plate that has an opening extending through the food plate and a curved wall that surrounds the opening. A beverage bottle can be inserted upwardly through the opening and the curved wall conforms to a shoulder of the beverage bottle for inhibiting the beverage bottle from passing upwardly through the opening. The prior art discloses a food plate with a cup opening that is offset from a center of the food plate for insertably receiving a cup. The prior art discloses a food plate with an opening extending through the food plate and a cup upon which the food plate can be positioned such that the cup is aligned with the opening in the food plate.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a food plate that has an opening extending through the food plate. A cup is provided and the cup is insertable upwardly through the opening in the food plate. A lid is insertable into the opening in the food plate and the lid releasably engages the cup when the cup is inserted upwardly through the opening for retaining the cup on the food plate. The lid has a straw opening extending through the lid to facilitate a drinking straw to be extended through the straw opening and into the cup for drinking the beverage contained in the cup when the cup is retained on the food plate.
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
A cup 24 is provided for containing a beverage 26 and the cup 24 is insertable upwardly through the opening 16 in the food plate 12. The cup 24 has an outer wall 28 and the outer wall 28 has an inside surface 30, an outside surface 32 and a top edge 34. The outside surface 32 has a lip 36 extending outwardly from the outside surface 32. The lip 36 extends around a full circumference of the outer wall 28 and the lip 36 is spaced from the top edge 34. Moreover, the lip 36 abuts a bottom surface 38 of the basal wall 18 of the food plate 12 when the outer wall 28 of the cup 24 is inserted upwardly through the opening 16 in the food plate 12. The inside surface 30 of the outer wall 28 has a threaded portion 40 that is positioned adjacent to the top edge 34 of the outer wall 28. Additionally, a handle 42 is disposed on the outside surface 32 of the outer wall 28 for carrying the cup 24.
A lid 44 is provided and the lid 44 is insertable into the opening 16 in the food plate 12. The lid 44 releasably engages the cup 24 when the cup 24 is inserted upwardly through the opening 16 for retaining the cup 24 on the food plate 12. The lid 44 has a straw opening 46 extending through the lid 44 to facilitate a drinking straw 48 to be extended through the straw opening 46 and into the cup 24. In that way the beverage contained in the cup 24 can be drank when the cup 24 is retained on the food plate 12.
The lid 44 has a top wall 50 and an exterior wall 52 extending downwardly from the top wall 50, and the exterior wall 52 is continuously arcuate about the top wall 50 such that the lid 44 has a cylindrical shape. The exterior wall 52 has an angled portion 54 which angles outwardly from the top wall 50 such that the lid 44 has a conical shape. The exterior wall 52 has a vertical portion 56 extending downwardly from the angled portion 54. The vertical portion 56 has an outside surface 58 and the outside surface 58 is threaded.
The exterior wall 52 has a lip 60 extends outwardly from an intersection between the angled portion 54 and the vertical portion 56. Furthermore, the lip 60 on the exterior wall 52 rests on an upper edge 62 of the second perimeter wall 22 when the lid 44 is inserted into the opening 16 in the food plate 12. The outside surface 58 of the vertical portion 56 threadably engages the threaded portion 40 of the inside surface 30 of the outer wall 28 of the cup 24 for retaining the cup 24 on the food plate 12. The straw opening 46 extends through the top wall 50 and the straw opening 46 is offset from a center of the top wall 50.
A closure 64 is provided and the closure 64 is hingedly coupled to the lid 44. The closure 64 is positionable in a closed position for closing the straw opening 46 in the lid 44. Conversely, the closure 64 is positionable in an open position for exposing the straw opening 46. The closure 64 has a first end 66 and a second end 68, and the first end 66 is pivotally coupled to the top wall 50 of the lid 44. The closure 64 has a knob 70 extending downwardly from the closure 64 and the knob 70 is positioned closer to the second end 68 than the first end 66. The knob 70 extends into the straw opening 46 when the closure 64 is in the closed position, and the knob 70 is removed from the straw opening 46 when the closure 64 in the open position.
In use, the cup 24 is inserted upwardly through the opening 16 in the food plate 12 and the lid 44 is threaded onto the cup 24. In this way the cup 24 is attached to the food plate 12. The closure 64 is opened and the drinking straw 48 can be inserted into the cup 24. In this way the food 14 on the food plate 12 can be eaten and the beverage 26 in the cup 24 can be drunk. Moreover, the food plate 12 and the cup 24 can be carried simultaneously when the cup 24 is attached to the food plate 12. The cup 24 can be removed from the food plate 12 at any time for drinking the beverage 26 from the cup 24 independently from the food plate 12.
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.
