Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6814235
-
Patent Number
6,814,235
-
Date Filed
Monday, January 27, 200321 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, November 9, 200419 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Banks; Derris H.
- Suhol; Dmitry
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 206 5243
- 206 5246
- D07 545
- 220 676
- 220 671
- 220 574
- 220 2383
- 264 247
- 264 250
- 264 273
- 264 275
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International Classifications
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Abstract
A serving tray includes a holding portion, and handles at two sides of the holding portion; the holding portion has trenches formed on an upper side, recesses formed on a bottom, a through hole, upper flow passages formed on the upper side, and lower flow passages formed on the bottom; the handles have second recesses formed thereon. Slip-prevention rubber sheets are attached to the trenches and the recesses by means of injecting melted rubber into a mold used for making the holding portion and the handles via the through hole for the melted rubber to be applied over the trenches, and the recesses via the upper and the lower flow passages.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a serving tray, more particularly one, which has rubber sheets attached to an upper side thereof for preventing objects held on the upper side from slipping, and has rubber sheets attached to a bottom, and handles thereof for reducing slipperiness of the same respectively.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Referring to
FIG. 9
, a conventional serving tray
4
has a sheet of rubber
42
attached to a holding portion
41
thereof by means of adhesive, which is cut into the shape of the holding portion
41
, after the tray
4
has been formed by means of injection molding. The main function of the rubber
42
is to prevent objects held on the holding portion
41
such as bottles, wine glasses, dishes etc from slipping when the serving tray
4
is being used.
However, such serving tray is found to have disadvantages as followings:
1. The adhesive is likely to lose the adhesion to both the rubber
4
and the holding portion
41
after the serving tray
4
has been used for a long period, and in turn, the rubber
42
will fall off or form undesirable raised portions to reduce stability of objects that are held on the tray
4
.
2. Material cost of the serving tray
4
is very high because rubber is relatively expensive as compared with plastic and because rubber attached to the tray
4
is relatively big, covering the whole holding portion
41
. Consequently, the serving tray
4
is not competitive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a serving tray, which has slip-prevention rubber sheets attached to it in a relatively convenient and cost-saving way by means of an injection molding machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide slip-prevention rubber sheets to a serving tray, which are so firmly attached to the serving tray as to not easily fall off.
The serving tray of the present invention has trenches and flow passages on upper and lower sides of a holding portion thereof, and recesses at handles thereof. After the handles and the holding portion are made with an injection machine and harden in the mold, slip-prevention rubber sheets are attached to the trenches and the recesses by means of injecting melted rubber into the mold via the through hole for the melted rubber to be applied over the trenches, and the recesses via the upper and the lower flow passages.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of the serving tray according to the present invention,
FIG. 2
is a vertical view of the serving tray according to the present invention,
FIG. 3
is a bottom view of the serving tray according to the present invention,
FIG. 4
is a partial cross-sectional view of the serving tray according to the present invention,
FIG. 5
is another partial cross-sectional view of the serving tray according to the present invention,
FIG. 6
is a vertical view of the serving tray of the second embodiment,
FIG. 7
is a bottom view of the serving tray of the second embodiment,
FIG. 8
is a vertical view of the serving tray of the third embodiment; and,
FIG. 9
is an exploded perspective view of the conventional serving tray as described in the Background.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to
FIGS. 1
,
2
, and
3
, a serving tray
1
of the first embodiment of the present invention has a main body including a holding portion
11
, and handles
12
at two opposite edges thereof, and has rubbers
111
,
121
, and
13
respectively attached to the holding portion
11
, the handles
12
, and a bottom thereof.
Rubbers
111
are each made in the shape of a long and narrow sheet, and are spaced apart on the holding portion
11
for preventing objects held on the holding portions
11
, e.g. bottles, wine glasses, and dishes, from slipping.
Rubbers
121
are each made in the form of a sheet, and are attached to both an upper side and a lower side of respective handles
12
for reducing slipperiness of the handles
12
, thus preventing the tray
1
from slipping while being held by a user.
Rubbers
13
are provided for preventing the serving tray
1
from slipping and wearing, and are preferably made in the form of long and narrow sheets.
Referring to
FIGS. 4
, and
5
, serving tray
1
is made of plastic, and formed by means of a bicolor injection molding machine; the serving tray
1
is formed with several spaced trenches
14
on a holding portion
11
thereof, recesses
18
on handles
12
and a bottom thereof, a through hole
15
on the holding portion
11
, a short tube
151
around the through hole
15
, upper flow passages
16
on the upper side and in communication with the through hole
15
as well as the trenches
14
, and lower flow passages
17
on the lower side and in communication with the through hole
15
as well as the recesses
18
; after the serving tray
1
is made and hardens in the mold of the bicolor injection molding machine, melted rubber is injected into the mold via both the through hole
15
and the short tube
151
of the tray
1
; thus, the melted rubber is forced to flow along the upper and the lower flow passages
16
,
17
onto the trenches
14
, and the recesses
18
respectively. Therefore, long and narrow sheets of rubbers
111
are attached to the trenches
14
, capable of preventing objects held on the holding portions
11
from slipping while sheets of rubbers
121
, and
13
are respectively attached to the handles
12
, and the bottom of the tray
1
, capable of reducing slipperiness of the handles
12
and the bottom; the rubbers
111
are preferably formed to stick out from the main body of the serving tray
1
with a height ranging from 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm so that the rubbers
111
can provide enough slip-preventing function while smoothness of the holding portion is maintained; the short tube
151
is cut out of the tray
1
after the injection process is finished.
Referring to
FIGS. 6
, and
7
, a serving tray
2
of the second embodiment is formed with a through hole
25
, upper side and lower side flow passages
26
,
27
, circular trenches (not numbered) on the upper, and the lower sides thereof, and recesses (not numbered) on the edges; thus, circular slip-prevention rubbers
211
,
23
can be attached to the upper and the lower sides, and slip-prevention rubber sheets
221
can be attached to the edges with the bicolor injection molding machine.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, according to the third embodiment, a serving tray
3
is formed with trenches, which can be in the form of various designs, trademarks or symbols so that when rubber is applied over them, the rubber can form slip-prevention rubbers
311
of the same shape. And, the rubbers
311
are different colors from the tray
3
. Thus, the serving tray
3
is more attractive and fancy.
From the above description, it can be easily understood that the serving trays of the present invention have advantages as followings:
1. Slip-prevention means made according to the present invention are of relatively low material cost when compared with those of the prior art serving tray because there is less rubber material used, which is relatively expensive as compared with plastic. Consequently, serving trays of the present invention are more economical to use.
2. The slip-prevention rubber sheets are attached to the serving trays by means of the same bicolor injection molding machine right after the serving trays are formed and harden instead of by means of adhesive. Therefore, the slip-prevention rubber sheets can't easily fall off the serving trays even after the serving trays have been used for a long period. And, the slip-prevention rubber sheets make the serving trays more attractive and fancy.
Claims
- 1. A serving tray, comprisinga holding portion having a plurality of trenches formed on an upper side thereof, and a plurality of first recesses formed on a bottom thereof; the holding portion having a through hole, upper flow passages formed on the upper side and in communication with the through hole as well as the trenches, and lower flow passages formed on the bottom and in communication with the through hole as well as the first recesses; handles at two opposite edges thereof; the handles having second recesses formed thereon and in communication with the lower flow passages; and, slip-prevention rubber sheets attached to the trenches and the recesses; the rubber sheets being formed by means of injecting melted rubber into a mold, which is used for making the holding portion and the handles, via the through hole for the melted rubber to be applied over the trenches, and the recesses via the upper and the lower flow passages.
- 2. The serving tray as claimed in claim 1, wherein the trenches are in a form of trademarks.
- 3. The serving tray as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slip-prevention rubber sheets stick out from respective sides of the holding portion and the handles with a height ranging from 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm.
US Referenced Citations (11)