Patent Application
20110198246
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stackable snack food items, such as cookies, of uniform size and shape, system and method for stacking and transporting same.
2. Description of Related Art
As various types of snack foods have been invented and introduced to the market, various food packaging systems and methods have also been proposed and utilized to accommodate such snack foods.
One of very common methods of packaging snack food items such as cookies and chips is to pack such food items in an slightly inflated bag, such that, when packaged in a delivery box, inflation of the bag prevents food items therein from squashed or crashed so that they maintain its shape. This would allow such snack food items to be less uniform in size or shape; however, once the bag is opened, food items left therein are vulnerable to pressures applied from outside the bag. Since snack food items are not uniformly shaped or sized, this method could easily take up much more space for a small volume, thus it is not an efficient way of packaging snack food items.
Bagged snack food items are also not suitable for presentation as it is typically transported into a dish or bowl for presentation and consumption.
The other common methods of packing snack food items is to have relatively uniformly shaped and sized food items arranged on a tray, and encloses the food items with the tray in a bag. While this has improved efficiency of packaging food items in smaller space and provided better protection for preventing the food items from being squashed, and provided a better presentation for consumption (i.e. the tray can be used for serving), it does not provide sufficient protection for the pressure coming from the tray opening, i.e. from the top. This solution also failed to provide a better way of re-enclosing (or resealing) the snack food items after the partial consumption of the snack food items.
To improve these deficiencies, U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,798 issued on Mar. 3, 1970 to Baur et al. proposed a packaging of chip-type snack food products, where chip-type snack food products are produced in uniform size and shape to promote stacking in a cylindrical tube container. However, as a user consumes the snack food items from the container in a tubular shape, it gets harder to pick the snack food items from or near the bottom of the container as the user may have to push his or her hand inside. Thus, there is a long felt need for further improvement for packaging snack food items, such as cookies.
An object of the present invention is to provide stackable snack food items, system and method for stacking and transporting such stackable food items.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for stacking and transporting stackable snack food items that can be used for serving.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for stacking and transporting stackable snack food items that can be resealed easily after partial consumption.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a system for stacking and transporting stackable snack food items that can be reused as a cooking or molding tool to assist making stackable snack food items.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a system for stacking and transporting stackable snack food items that allows accessing to and retrieving the snack food items one at the time such that it prevents a user from touching multiple items at one time for hygiene purposes.
A first embodiment of the snack food container 10 of the present invention is shown in
Once the snack food items 18 are stacked together on the snack food item holder 15, and then inserted into the tubular container 11, then close the opening 5 of the tubular container 11 by frictionally engaging or fitting the cover 12 thereto. The opening 5 of the tubular container 11 and the cover 12 have corresponding and mating means (not shown) that enables enclosing and sealing the snack food items 18 therein.
For packaging, referring to
Optionally, in the case of the first embodiment of the snack food container 10 of the present invention, the bottom surface 40 or surface that is interfacing with the tubular container 11 of the cover 12 may optionally have one or more circular cutters 41 and 42 for enabling a user to cut, for example, a cookie dough to form a shape, such that when it is cooked in an oven, the cookies may be stacked in the container 10. Similarly, such cutters 41 and 42 may be attached to the bottom surface (not shown) of the base member 26 of the snack food holder 15 or 25 (in the case of the second embodiment of the snack food container 20). Furthermore, such cutters 41′ or 42′ may be attached at the bottom surface of the tubular container 11 instead. Further optionally, cutters 41 and 42 or 41′ and 42′ may be provided with an appropriate safety measure, such as a cover for preventing any damages to the cutting edges of the cutters 41, 42, 41′ or 42′, and ensuring safety of handlers/users.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration. It is not intended for limiting the present invention to the precise forms disclosed herein, and a person ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that various modifications and variations (i.e. length, size and shape) may be possible in the light of the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the pole member 17 or 27 is shown as a single pole in the description and drawings; however, such pole could be more than one pole. In the case of multiple poles, one of those poles may be placed in the center of the base member for handling the snack food item holder and the rest of poles may be placed around the center pole for stacking snack food items therealong.
This patent application claims the priority from the provisional application 61/305,670, filed on Feb. 18, 2010.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61305670 | Feb 2010 | US |
