Patent Application
20190200794
This invention relates to a Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”. Some embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to temporary placement and storage of food trays for carrying food items at a fast food restaurant. More particularly, the present invention relates to table mounted tray storage rails.
None.
None.
This section is not applicable to Provisional Applications. However, as far as known, there are no Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food or the like. It is believed that this product is unique in its design and technologies. This background as tray storage in general or under table tray storage systems should be useful.
Food trays are used in many settings, such as cafeterias (at colleges and other schools, hospitals, etc.), fast food restaurants, homes, and so on. In many instances, it is significantly easier and more convenient to carry plates, bowls, silverware, drinks, etc. on a single tray, as compared with carrying each item individually. Many food customers prefer to have a tray for the convenience. Trays at fast food restaurants and cafes have been in use since the 1960s when McDonalds and other fast food eateries grew rapidly. They eventually reached a level of “take out” when they started augmented curbside takeout windows with small eating areas. Here tables and booths were available but the food was still in takeout paper sacks.
Economic reductions of the cost of bagging the food became a viable alternative when plastic trays became available. This quickly became the “eat here or take out” questioning mantra from the clerk when ordering. However, how to handle the trays in the dining area was poorly addressed and customers were left to manage the tray presence. They could set the food on the tray and continue to eat off the tray, they could set the extraneous tray on adjoining tables or the tops of trash can surfaces, or they could take them back to the serving counter. None of these options are customer friendly but employers avoided extra labor. Meanwhile, customers handling the extraneous tray let the food get cold or provided the unsanitary trays being placed close to the new, fresh food and exposed to other parts of the environment.
An option to store the tray at and under the dining room tables has not been considered. However, the storage system is an economical and practical alternative to the excess tray dilemma.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved tray handling system for use at fast food eateries. This new “Tray Away” provides an enhanced capability to manage or temporarily store the food trays. Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a device or system to temporarily store food trays in a low labor, customer friendly and sanitary manner.
Other prior art was searched but as far as known there is no other prior art that provides the uniqueness and advantages of the Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food as shown and described here. Prior art discovered includes:
The improvement and problem solved as to tray storage is that at fast food restaurants and cafes, there is no easy manner to store the trays at the table once the food is removed and placed on the table top. The customer must—set the trays on adjoining table surfaces, eat off the tray, or remove the trays and place on a trash can or counter. Employees are not often available to receive the trays and the “proper area or place” to set the trays are often not labelled or marked clearly.
This invention is a Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”. Taught here are the ways a tray at an eat-in fast food diner can be easily and temporarily stored at the eating table by the customer.
The preferred embodiment is a special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” comprised of: (a) a pair of Zee-shaped or J-shaped slide rails made of a durable material and configured such that one leg of each rail is contiguous to a bottom surface of a table; (b) a set of at least two apertures in each of the contiguous legs of each rail; and (c) a means to secure each of the rails to the bottom surface of the table wherein the pair of rails are affixed to the bottom of the table and serving trays at a fast-food restaurant can be temporarily stored therein. There are various options for the materials and configurations of the shapes for the rails as well as the means to affix the rails to the bottoms of the table.
The newly invented Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food dining can be manufactured at low volumes by very simple means and in high volume production by more complex and controlled systems.
There are several objects and advantages of the
Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”. There are currently no known tray storage systems that are effective at providing the objects of this invention.
The Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food has various advantages and benefits:
Finally, other advantages and additional features of the present Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the full description of the device. For one skilled in the art of tray storage and restaurant/fast food equipment and accessories, it is readily understood that the features shown in the examples with this product are readily adapted to other types of tray storage systems and devices.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food that is preferred. The drawings together with the summary description given above and a detailed description given below serve to explain the principles of the system and its components. It is understood, however, that the Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” is not limited to only the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
The following list refers to the drawings: Table B: Reference numbers
This invention relates to a Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”. Some embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to temporary placement and storage of food trays for carrying food items at a fast food restaurant. More particularly, the present invention relates to table mounted tray storage rails.
The advantages for the Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” 30 are listed above in the introduction. Succinctly the benefits are that the device:
The preferred embodiment is a special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” comprised of: (a) a pair of Zee-shaped or J-shaped slide rails made of a durable material and configured such that one leg of each rail is contiguous to a bottom surface of a table; (b) a set of at least two apertures in each of the contiguous legs of each rail; and (c) a means to secure each of the rails to the bottom surface of the table wherein the pair of rails are affixed to the bottom of the table and serving trays at a fast-food restaurant can be temporarily stored therein. There are various options for the materials and configurations of the shapes for the rails as well as the means to affix the rails to the bottoms of the table.
There is shown in
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food that is preferred. The drawings together with the summary description given above and a detailed description given below serve to explain the principles of the special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”. It is understood, however, that the system 30 is not limited to only the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. Other examples of tray storage systems, devices, and uses are still understood by one skilled in the art of tray storage and restaurant/fast food equipment and accessories to be within the scope and spirit shown here.
The details mentioned here are exemplary and not limiting. Other specific components and manners specific to describing a Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants may be added as a person having ordinary skill in the field of the art of tray storage and restaurant/fast food equipment and accessories and their uses well appreciates.
The Special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” has been described in the above embodiment. The manner of how the device operates is described below. One notes well that the description above and the operation described here must be taken together to fully illustrate the concept of the Special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food.
The preferred embodiment is a special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” comprised of: (a) a pair of Z-shaped or J-shaped slide rails made of a durable material and configured such that one leg of each rail is contiguous to a bottom surface of a table; (b) a set of at least two apertures in each of the contiguous legs of each rail; and (c) a means to secure each of the rails to the bottom surface of the table wherein the pair of rails are affixed to the bottom of the table and serving trays at a fast-food restaurant can be temporarily stored therein. There are various options for the materials and configurations of the shapes for the rails as well as the means to affix the rails to the bottoms of the table.
The Special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food operates as follows:
a. a table is chosen;
b. measurement determines the spacing to match the width of the tray or basket being used;
c. a pair of rails are installed at the predetermined widths;
d. the installation means at each table is by driving fasteners [with or without pre-drilled apertures in the table bottom surface] or by using adhesive/double sided tape or the like between the top surface of the rails and the bottom surface of the table;
e. the notice label with a self-adhesive back is placed on the top of the table is placed to alert the customers of the storage feature now available with the table; and
f. procedure is repeated until the number of tables desired are completed.
Several examples of potential uses are anticipated for the Special tray hide away rail systems 30 for fast food. Some examples, and not limitations, are shown in the following Table.
With this description it is to be understood that the Special tray hide away rail system 30 for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away” is not to be limited to only the disclosed embodiment of product. The features of the system 30 are intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the description.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which these inventions belong. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present inventions, the preferred methods and materials are now described above in the foregoing paragraphs.
Other embodiments of the invention are possible. Although the description above contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. It is also contemplated that various combinations or sub-combinations of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments may be made and still fall within the scope of the inventions. It should be understood that various features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with or substituted for one another in order to form varying modes of the disclosed inventions. Thus, it is intended that the scope of at least some of the present inventions herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above.
The terms recited in the claims should be given their ordinary and customary meaning as determined by reference to relevant entries (e.g., definition of “plane” as a carpenter's tool would not be relevant to the use of the term “plane” when used to refer to an airplane, etc.) in dictionaries (e.g., widely used general reference dictionaries and/or relevant technical dictionaries), commonly understood meanings by those in the art, etc., with the understanding that the broadest meaning imparted by any one or combination of these sources should be given to the claim terms (e.g., two or more relevant dictionary entries should be combined to provide the broadest meaning of the combination of entries, etc.) subject only to the following exceptions: (a) if a term is used herein in a manner more expansive than its ordinary and customary meaning, the term should be given its ordinary and customary meaning plus the additional expansive meaning, or (b) if a term has been explicitly defined to have a different meaning by reciting the term followed by the phrase “as used herein shall mean” or similar language (e.g., “herein this term means,” “as defined herein,” “for the purposes of this disclosure [the term] shall mean,” etc.). References to specific examples, use of “i.e.,” use of the word “invention,” etc., are not meant to invoke exception (b) or otherwise restrict the scope of the recited claim terms. Other than situations where exception (b) applies, nothing contained herein should be considered a disclaimer or disavowal of claim scope. Accordingly, the subject matter recited in the claims is not coextensive with and should not be interpreted to be coextensive with any particular embodiment, feature, or combination of features shown herein. This is true even if only a single embodiment of the particular feature or combination of features is illustrated and described herein.
Thus, the appended claims should be read to be given their broadest interpretation in view of the prior art and the ordinary meaning of the claim terms.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers or expressions, such as those expressing dimensions, physical characteristics, etc. used in the specification (other than the claims) are understood as modified in all instances by the term “approximately.” At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the claims, each numerical parameter recited in the specification or claims which is modified by the term “approximately” should at least be construed in light of the number of recited significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques.
The present invention contemplates modifications as would occur to those skilled in the art. While the disclosure has been illustrated and described in detail in the figures and the foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only selected embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes, modifications and equivalents that come within the spirit of the disclosures described heretofore and or/defined by the following claims are desired to be protected.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application with Ser. No. 62/613,611 which was filed Jan. 4, 2018, by Paul Anthony Fabrick. The application is entitled Special tray hide away rail systems for fast food restaurants called the “Tray Away”.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62613611 | Jan 2018 | US |
