The present invention relates to food containers.
The increased popularity of fast food establishments, coupled with the popularity of consuming food on-the-go has led to the need for more convenient carrying of food and beverages.
Billions of disposable beverage containers are used every year. Often those containers are part of a larger meal, and current technology dictates placing a lid on the beverage container, and packing the food and condiments in a separate and detached containers. This may be satisfactory for a consumer seated at a table. However, when the consumer must eat on-the-go, use of the current technology is problematic. Consider, for example, a consumer that is drinking the beverage and would like to access a French fry and ketchup. The consumer must set aside a beverage, and then use one hand to hold the bag and the other hand to access the ketchup packet, then set aside the bag and use both hands to open the packet, and finally free up one hand to access the fry and dip it into the packet. As shown in this example, current technology does not allow for convenient on-the-go eating.
The inventor of the present application has disclosed a food container that couples to a drink lid, addressing some of the problems in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,596,491 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on Dec. 3, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,935 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on Feb. 26, 2013; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,714,393 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on May 6, 2014 disclose such a food container. But even these containers have some shortcomings. First, industry adoption of the prior lid-coupling food containers will be slow because they are not compatible with existing non-lid-coupling containers; thus fast food restaurants would bear a great expense in either maintaining two types of food containers (lid-coupling and non-lid-coupling) on hand or replace all the food containers with the new lid-coupling design. Second, because of their complicated structures, the prior lid-coupling food containers are made of plastics, which are not as environmentally friendly as paper. Indeed, many fast food chains have converted from environmentally damaging Styrofoam® containers, and the like, to paper containers in an effort to address this concern. For food establishments that currently use paper or cardboard containers, reverting back to solid plastic containers may meet resistance.
What is therefore needed is a lid that overcomes these shortcomings, and fosters convenient on-the-go eating.
The present invention provides an elegant solution to the needs described above and provides numerous additional benefits and advantages as will be apparent to persons of skill in the art. A portable packaging system is disclosed and claimed that includes a food container, a beverage container lid and a tray. The food container has a bottom and a wall extending from bottom, and defines a food container footprint. The lid has a rim coupling structure that detachably couples to the rim of a beverage container and a hole to allow access to the contents of the beverage container when the beverage container lid is coupled to the beverage container. The tray has a tray bottom and walls that define a tray footprint that complements the food container footprint such that the food container can securely nest in the tray. The tray and lid can detachable couple to each other.
To maintain a securely nested food container, the tray wall is preferably 25%-75% as tall as the food container wall. The tray wall may also include tray wall bump-outs that apply pressure to the side walls of the food container.
To assist in accessing the contents of the beverage container, the rim coupling structure may define a rim plane and the beverage container lid includes a hole planar surface that extends from the rim coupling structure in substantially the same plane as the rim plane. The hole planar surface may include the hole. Further, the beverage container lid may include an riser wall that extends upward from the rim coupling structure and an upper planar surface may extend from the beverage container lid riser wall, wherein the upper planar surface comprises the complementary tray coupling structure. The height of the beverage container lid riser wall may be sufficient to allow a straw to access the contents of the beverage container through the hole, when the tray is coupled to the beverage container lid. The beverage container lid riser wall may also include a cutout and the hole planar surface with a hole that is connected to the beverage container lid riser wall at the cutout.
The tray bottom may include strengthening ribs.
The tray wall may also have a first portion that extends vertically away from the tray bottom and a second portion that extends vertically towards the tray bottom, wherein a top rim wall connects the first and second tray wall portions to form a strengthened tray rim structure.
The food container may be constructed of paper, cardboard, pulp, or other biodegradable material, and the tray may be additionally constructed of non-paper. The food container can also have a lid. The shape of the food container footprint could be square, rectangular or circular.
The complementary tray coupling structure of the beverage container lid may include a bump-out and the tray coupling structure may include a bump-in, wherein the bump-out is complementary to the bump-in, and the bump-out deflects when the tray is mated to the beverage container lid.
In other embodiments, the portable packaging system need not have a separate food container, but may be comprised of a tray and a beverage container lid.
Additional aspects, alternatives and variations as would be apparent to persons of skill in the art are also disclosed herein and are specifically contemplated as included as part of the invention. The invention is set forth only in the claims as allowed by the patent office in this or related applications, and the following summary descriptions of certain examples are not in any way to limit, define or otherwise establish the scope of legal protection.
The invention can be better understood with reference to the following figures. The components within the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed on clearly illustrating example aspects of the invention. In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views and/or embodiments. It will be understood that certain components and details may not appear in the figures to assist in more clearly describing the invention.
Reference is made herein to some specific examples of the present invention, including any best modes contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying figures. While the invention is described in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described or illustrated embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. Particular example embodiments of the present invention may be implemented without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, process operations well known to persons of skill in the art have not been described in detail in order not to obscure unnecessarily the present invention. Various techniques and mechanisms of the present invention will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be noted that some embodiments include multiple iterations of a technique or multiple mechanisms unless noted otherwise. Similarly, various steps of the methods shown and described herein are not necessarily performed in the order indicated, or performed at all in certain embodiments. Accordingly, some implementations of the methods discussed herein may include more or fewer steps than those shown or described. Further, the techniques and mechanisms of the present invention will sometimes describe a connection, relationship or communication between two or more entities. It should be noted that a connection or relationship between entities does not necessarily mean a direct, unimpeded connection, as a variety of other entities or processes may reside or occur between any two entities. Consequently, an indicated connection does not necessarily mean a direct, unimpeded connection unless otherwise noted.
The following list of example features corresponds with
The teaching and disclosure herein may also be used without a food container; rather the tray itself serves as the volume in which food may be held. This is shown in
A Portable Packaging System that Includes a Separate Food Container
Referring to
As shown in greater detail in
The tray 25 has a tray bottom 100 and tray walls 110 that define a tray footprint 130 that complements the food container footprint 40 such that the food container 15 can securely nest in the tray 25. The tray 25 and the beverage container lid 20 can detachable couple to each other. The tray bottom 100 may include strengthening ribs 105 as may the tray wall 110. The tray wall 110 may also have a first portion 115 that extends vertically away from the tray bottom 100 and a second portion 120 that extends vertically towards the tray bottom 110, wherein a rim wall between the first and second tray wall portions forms a strengthened tray rim 125, which adds rigidity to the tray structure.
The complementary tray coupling structure 90 of the beverage container lid 20 may include a bump-out 92 and the tray coupling structure 135 may include a bump-in 140 (
To maintain a securely nested food container 25, the tray wall 110 is preferably 25%-75% as tall as the food container wall 35 and the tray 25 wall may also include a tray wall bump-out 112 that applies pressure to the food container 15.
The benefit of this tray is that it can be introduced into an existing line of product packaging and works with that line of packaging. This offers a new way to deliver food to the customer without carrying two completely different lines of food containers. For example, one customer may not be eating the food on-the-go, but may take the food home and as consequence does not need to use the tray but still needs the food container. A second customer may be eating on-the-go and may need the tray. The restaurant can accommodate both customers by simply providing the tray to one, while using the same food container for both.
Use of the tray also has the benefit of being more green. Over the past several years, many restaurants have converted their food containers from Styrofoam® to biodegradable paper products in response to environmental concerns. Using the tray, allows a restaurant to continue using the paper products in which they have heavily invested. Moreover, the tray may be made of a compostable PLA plastic and is two thirds less plastic than a common clamshell plastic container.
The tray may be coupled to the lid of a beverage container. Such a lid is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/313,907 entitled “A CONTAINER LID SYSTEM WIWHT A LID PORTION AND FOOD CONTAINER PORTION” filed on Jun. 24, 2014 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/986,703 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Jan. 3, 2016. Another such beverage container lid is shown in U.S. Pat. D767391 entitled “BEVERAGE CONTAINER LID” issued on Sep. 27, 2016. These patent and patent applications are by the same inventor of the present application and both are incorporated by reference here. Other examples of coupling lids are described in the patent applications listed at the beginning of this provisional application, all of which are incorporated by reference.
The structures just described with regards to the first embodiment (i.e.,
It is also possible to form the tray coupling structure and the complementary tray coupling structure of the beverage container lid in various configurations. The lid 20 shown in
A Portable Packaging System that without a Separate Food Container
Turning to
The food container tray herein may be constructed using a variety of methods, including by non-limiting example thermoformed (thin gauge) and thin wall injection molding. The types of material would be apparent to one of skill in the art and may include by non-limiting example PP (polypropylene), PET (polyethylene terephthalate), CPET, RPET Polyethylene (HDPE/LDPE), styrene, HIPS, HMWPE, PP/PE blends, custom blends of thermoplastics (which may or may not include post-consumer or post-industrial content) and other proprietary blends of thermoplastics.
Although exemplary embodiments and applications of the invention have been described herein including as described above and shown in the included example Figures, there is no intention that the invention be limited to these exemplary embodiments and applications or to the manner in which the exemplary embodiments and applications operate or are described herein. Indeed, many variations and modifications to the exemplary embodiments are possible as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The invention may include any device, structure, method, or functionality, as long as the resulting device, system or method falls within the scope of one of the claims that are allowed by the patent office based on this or any related patent application.
This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application 62/239,485 entitled “TRAY FOR FOOD CONTAINER” filed on Oct. 9, 2015, the contents of which are incorporate herein by reference. This application is also related to U.S. Pat. No. 8,596,491 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on Dec. 3, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,695,845 entitled “TOP MOUNTING CAN CONTAINER” issued on Apr. 15, 2014; U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,935 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on Feb. 26, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,714,393 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on May 6, 2014; U.S. Pat. No. 8,590,730 entitled “TOP MOUNTING CAN CONTAINER” issued on Nov. 26, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,708,181 entitled “LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” issued on Apr. 29, 2014; U.S. Pat. No. 8,701,914 entitled “TWO-PART RECYCLABLE CUP” issued on Apr. 22, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/412,602 entitled “TOP MOUNTING BOTTLE CONTAINER” filed on Mar. 5, 2012; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/680,011 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Nov. 17, 2012; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/680,049 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Nov. 17, 2012; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/733,153 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Jan. 3, 2013; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/263,993 entitled “LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Apr. 28, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/269,016 entitled “A CONTAINER LID WITH ONE OR MORE CAVITIES” filed on May 2, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/274,576 entitled “A CONTAINER LID WITH A FOOD COMPARTMENT AND A SIP-HOLE” filed on May 9, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/313,907 entitled “A CONTAINER LID SYSTEM WITH A LID PORTION AND FOOD CONTAINER PORTION” filed on Jun. 24, 2014; and U.S. Patent Application Ser. 62/005,862 entitled “A CONTAINER LID SYSTEM WITH A LID PORTION AND FOOD CONTAINER PORTION” filed on May 30, 2014; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 29/500,266 entitled “BENDABLE DRINKING STRAW” filed on Aug. 22, 2014; U.S. Patent Application 62/038,209 entitled “BENDABLE SAFETY STRAW” filed on Aug. 16, 2014; U.S. Patent Application 62/105,256 entitled “BENDABLE SAFETY STRAW AND LIDS WITH FOOD COMPARTMENT” filed on Jan. 20, 2015; U.S. Patent Application 62/395,911 entitled “FOOD CONTAINERS, TRAYS AND LIDS” filed on Sep. 16, 2016; U.S. Patent Application 62/239,483 entitled “FOOD CONTAINER WITH PEEL OFF COVER” filed on Oct. 9, 2015, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/986,703 entitled “CUP LID WITH INTEGRATED CONTAINER” filed on Jan. 3, 2016, all of which are by the same inventor of the present application. Each of these applications is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62239485 | Oct 2015 | US |