The presently claimed subject matter relates generally to a conveyor belt system and, more specifically, to a conveyor belt system for delivering food items in a restaurant setting.
In a “kaiten” sushi restaurant, a conveyor belt transports plates containing food items through the restaurant and past customers, allowing customers to serve themselves to the food items that they choose by simply removing a plate containing the desired food item from the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is an endless belt that travels around the restaurant, at some point closing back onto itself, thereby creating a closed circuit. Sushi chefs typically stand inside the closed circuit formed by the belt and prepare assorted sushi and related food items. The food items are put on small color coded plates that are subsequently placed on the conveyor belt. The color of a plates relates to the price of the food item on that plate. For example, a food item on a green plate may be one price, a food item on a yellow plate may be another price, a third food item on a light blue plate may be yet another price, and so on.
Once placed on the conveyor belt, the plates travel around the circuit formed by the conveyor belt, putting the various food items within reach of the restaurant customers. As the plates travel past customers, the customers select food items by taking plates containing the selected food items from the conveyor belt. Removing a plate from the conveyor belt leaves an empty place on the conveyor belt. The sushi chefs work to quickly fill the empty places left by the removed plates with plates containing freshly prepared food items. As a customer finishes the food items contained on individual plates, the customer simply stacks the empty plates on the table. At the end of a meal, a server calculates the customer's bill based on the number of each color of plate in the customer's stack of plates.
Although the conveyor belt systems used in kaiten sushi restaurants are an effective way to serve customers, they offer several distinct disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the customer often has difficulty removing a plate from the conveyor belt due to difficulty grasping the plate. The movable belt upon which the plates travel generally rides between two lateral guide surfaces that guide the movable belt on its path through the restaurant. The lateral guide surfaces provide structural support to the conveyor belt and also hide the machine workings of the conveyor belt itself from the customer. Further, the conveyor belt is designed so that the movable belt is located below the upper edge of lateral guide surfaces to prevent plates from sliding off of the belt. Absent lateral guide surfaces, plates may slide off the movable belt as it rounds a corner. Also, if plates are placed on the movable belt too close together, they may contact each other as they travel around corners. Without a slightly recessed conveyor belt, even gentle pressure from a plate behind can be sufficient to push the forward plate off of the conveyor belt. Due to the limited height of a typical sushi plate, and given that the conveyor belt itself is often recessed, customers frequently have difficulty grasping the plate as it passes by because the visible plate edge is often too slight allow the customer to comfortably grasp a plate with confidence.
A further disadvantage with kaiten sushi restaurants is that some customers have difficulty identifying what is on each plate on the conveyor belt. Customers may be unfamiliar with sushi and, as a result, are unable to identify food items as they travel by on the conveyor belts. Customers unable to determine the name of a food item, the ingredients of that food item, or how that food item is prepared may be reluctant to try that food item. Further, customers unfamiliar with the various food items may direct their questions about the food items to restaurant workers, detracting from the restaurant workers ability to perform their primary duties.
Another disadvantage that frequently arises in current kaiten sushi restaurants is that sushi chefs have difficulty managing the variety of food items present on the conveyor belt. Making a wide variety of food items readily available to the customers is critical to customer satisfaction. Keeping the conveyor belt well stocked with a full menu also serves customers more quickly, thereby increasing the overall number of customers that the restaurant can serve in a given period of time. In a typical kaiten sushi environment, customers have limited ability to control what the chefs produce, and sushi chefs are often too busy to effectively scan the belt in order to visually see what items need to be produced. As a result, during busy times, sushi chefs often resort to making what they know they can produce quickly. When this occurs, the variety of available food choices suffers, as does customer satisfaction.
The following summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A structural ring is provided to be used with a plate and a conveyor belt system. The conveyor belt system has a movable belt portion located between two lateral guide surfaces. A first end of the structural ring rests on the movable belt and a second end supports the plate. The structural ring has a cross-section generally sized to be fit between the lateral guide surfaces of the conveyor belt system. A cross-member at is located generally at the first end of the structural ring and couples the structural ring to the movable belt. When the plate is placed on the second end of the structural ring, the bottom surface of the plate is located above the lateral guide surfaces of the conveyor belt system.
In one embodiment, a food delivery system uses a conveyor belt system with the previously described structural rings to deliver plates containing food items from a location where the food items are prepared to a second location where a person can remove the plates from the conveyor belt system. Food is prepared at the first location and placed on the plates. Each plate is then placed on structural ring, which is resting between the lateral guide surfaces on the movable belt portion of the conveyor belt system. The structural rings support the plates so that the bottom surfaces of the plates are located above the lateral guide surfaces. The conveyor belt system transports the plates, each of which is supported by a structural ring, to a second location where a person can remove a plate from the conveyor belt system.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the presently-claimed subject matter will become better understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The presently claimed subject matter is described herein with reference to the accompanying illustrations where like numerals correspond to like elements. Suitable embodiments of a structural ring 10 constructed and used in accordance with the presently claimed subject matter, is illustrated in
Still referring to
A customer 30 wishing to remove a plate 7 containing a particular food item from the conveyor belt system 1 moves a hand 31 toward the conveyor belt system 1 and extends one or more fingers under the bottom surface 8 of the plate 7. The customer 30 is thereby able to grasp the plate 7 by its edge and lift the plate 7 off of the conveyor belt system 1. However, a typical sushi plate 7 is of limited height. Consequently, when the plate 7 rests on the movable belt 3, the bottom surface of the plate 8 is in close proximity to the top surface 4 of the conveyor belt system 1, making it difficult for a customer 30 to extend any fingers underneath the plate. This hampers the customer's 30 ability to grasp and remove the plate 7 from the conveyor belt system 1.
Referring now to
Referring to
Although the cross-member 13 is shown having a rectangular shape and spanning the opening of the first end 11, it can easily be appreciated that the cross-member 13 can have any shape suitable for attaching to the first end 11 of the structural ring 10 and providing a hole 14 for engaging a pin 16. Another possible embodiment of the cross-member 13 is an “end cap” that completely closes the opening of the first end 11 of the structural ring 10. Still another possible embodiment of the cross-member 13 is a protrusion on the interior wall of the structural ring 10 in which a hole 14 is located such that the hole 14 operably engages the pin 16 on the movable belt 3.
The structural ring 10 can be made from almost any material suitable to support the weight of a plate 7 and the food items placed thereon. Among the possible materials are polymeric materials, wood, glass, and metal. The structural ring 10 can be opaque or translucent.
One or more identifying marks 17 may be located on the structural ring 10. The identifying mark 17 may contain information for the customer 30 including one or more of the name of the food items, the ingredients of the food items, how the food items are prepared, and the price of the food items. The information on the mark 17 can also indicate to a chef what dish is meant to be placed on a particular structural ring 10. When the chef sees a structural ring 10 without a plate 7, the chef can prepare a suitable replacement food item for placement on the empty structural ring 10. The identifying mark 17 can be fixedly or removably attached to the structural ring 10 in a variety of ways including etching, engraving, silk screening, attaching stickers or labels, or any other suitable means for affixing the identifying mark 17 to the structural ring 10. The identifying mark 17 can comprise text, pictures, symbols, a bar code suitable for scanning by a bar code reader, or any other mark suitable for relaying information.
Referring to
Plates 7 holding various food items are placed on the structural ring 10 and then transported through the restaurant on the conveyor belt system 1 to be displayed and made accessible to the customers 30. Customers 30 identify the food items on the plates 7 by looking at the food items as well as the identifying marks 17 on the structural rings 10 supporting the plates 7, and make their choices accordingly. Chefs may also use the identifying mark 17 of an empty structural ring 10 to determine what food item was previously on the structural ring 10, thereby enabling the chef to prepare a suitable replacement food item.
The identifier label 40 in this particular embodiment is generally rectangular, having a length similar to the inside circumference of the structural ring 10 and a width similar to the height of the structural ring. A first notch 41 having the approximate width of the cross-member 13 of the structural ring 10 and the approximate depth of the height of the cross-member 13 is located along one lengthwise edge of the identifier label 40. The first notch 41 is sized so that when the identifier label 40 is wrapped around the inside of the structural ring 10, the first notch 41 fits over a first end of the cross-member 13 of the structural ring 40. A second and third notch 42 are located on the same lengthwise side as the first notch 41, the second notch located at a first end of the identifier label 40 and the third notch located at a second end of the identifier label 40.
When the label 40 is wrapped around the inside circumference of the structural ring 10, the second and third notches 42 cooperate to form one larger notch, which is generally shaped similar to the first notch 41. The notch formed by the second and third notches 42 is sized and shaped to engage a second end of the cross-member 13 when the identifier label 40 is wrapped around the inside circumference of the structural ring 10 and the first notch 41 is engaging the first end of the cross-member 13.
It may easily be appreciated by one of skill in the art that the size and shape of the identifier label 40 may vary to accommodate various configurations of a structural ring 10. In addition, information 19 printed on the identifier label 40 may also vary to suit the restaurant owner's and/or needs. The identifier label 40 may further include a bar code 18 located for use with an electronic scanning system that may be used in connection with the conveyor belt system 1 to monitor inventory and sales. The bar code 18 may be located on the inside or the outside of the label 40. The label 40 may be made from paper, laminated paper, thin polymeric material, or any other material upon which a bar code 18 and/or information 19 may be printed.
While illustrative embodiments have been shown and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/699,815, filed Jul. 15, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60699815 | Jul 2005 | US |