Patent Application
20170224144
The present invention relates generally to trays, in particular serving trays comprising a base and a mounting mechanism adapted to enable one or more accessories to be mounted over the base.
It is well known that serving trays are used to transport food and beverages, especially during events, in restaurants or in individually hosted parties, where drinks and food are served to guests.
Guests and attendees in these events usually are present in different areas. Transporting trays during such events to offer food and beverages to said attendees becomes complicated, especially where glasses and cups are presents in said trays. This type of tableware is susceptible to move and slide along the tray and even can be spilled thus provoking unwanted accidents to the user of the tray and also to the guest. On the other hand, using basic trays critically depends on the ability of the user to properly balance the content of the tray, in particular when the user has to simultaneously remove some food or beverage from the tray and serve them to the guest, thus affecting the weight distribution of the tray.
Also, traditional trays are not customized to hold specific types of food or beverage.
To address these problems, several approaches have been disclosed before, but none was found satisfactory.
Therefore there is a need to provide an improved tray able to overcome all the above mentioned concerns.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a serving tray able to improve stability and safety of food and beverage during transportation thus avoiding any unwanted spillage of the tableware, in particular cups and glasses.
As a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray comprising:
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mounting mechanism comprising one or more rails adapted to engage the clutching system mechanism of the accessory, the engagement enabling the accessory to be securely held in place on the tray.
Preferably, the clutching mechanism is a mechanical or magnetic clutching mechanism.
In a still preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mechanical clutching mechanism comprises one or more grooves adapted to securely receive and engage the rails for holding the accessory securely in place on the tray.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the magnetic clutching mechanism comprises one or more pieces of magnet adapted to magnetize the rails and to hold the rails securely in place on the tray through the magnetic effect, the rails being made of a ferromagnetic material adapted to be magnetized by the magnet.
In a still another preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupled accessory has a circular shape and comprising a circular groove located at a predetermined position in such way that the circular accessory is adapted to be mounted onto the rail through said circular groove, and wherein said accessory is movable around its central axis.
In a still preferred embodiment of the present invention, two or more accessories are simultaneously mounted on the trails.
In another embodiment, the present invention also provides a food or beverage accessory for use with a tray, the tray comprising a body having a base, the accessory comprising:
In a still other embodiment, the present invention provides a tray kit comprising:
The tray of the present invention incorporates various features and combinations for improving the security and safety during the transportation of food and drinks.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention as shown in
The tray of the present invention has an adequate size to be held by a user without any difficulties. In a preferred embodiment, the width of the tray is within the range of 20-40 cm, preferably 30 cm and more preferably 27 cm. The length of the tray may range from 20 cm to 70 cm; preferably, from 25 cm to 60 cm. Examples of preferred sizes of the tray of the present invention are 27 cm×27 cm; 35 cm×27 cm and 55 cm×27 cm (Length×Width). In the case of a circular shape of the tray, the sizes of the tray of the present invention may range from 20-40 cm in diameter, preferably, 30 cm and more preferably, 27 cm in diameter.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the base 110 and side panels 120 are made of a strong material able to hold a certain weight of articles, in particular glasses, cups and teapots. Preferred materials that can be used are selected from plastic, such as melamine or acrylic, or wood. Preferably, the base 110 and both side panels 120 are made of wood.
The tray further comprises two rails 130 extending along the second pair of opposite sides of the base 110 such that one of the rails 130 extends along the third side of the base 110 and another rail 130 extends along the fourth side of the base 110 opposite the third side. The rails 130 are supported by the side walls 120 at their extremities which preferably have openings adapted to receive and securely hold the rails 130. In one embodiment, the rails are securely held in place inside the openings of the side panels 120 using screws 131.
The rails 130 of the present invention are made of any adequate material. Examples of materials that can be used for this purpose are selected from plastic, wood and metal, preferably, metallic material, more preferably, stainless steel.
As illustrates in
In an embodiment of the invention, the clutching mechanism is a magnetic clutching mechanism adapted to securely hold the accessory 140 on the rails 130 through a magnetic effect.
In an embodiment of the invention, the clutching mechanism of the accessory 140 comprises magnets and the rails 130 comprise ferromagnetic material such as iron or nickel, preferably iron, adapted to be magnetized by the magnet. The magnets are positioned within the accessory 140 in a manner for enabling the accessory 140 to be securely coupled to the rails through a magnetic effect.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the magnets and the ferromagnetic material can be located interchangeably between the rails 130 and the accessory 140 in such a manner to allow the accessory to be securely held in place using the rails 130. For example, the rails 130 can contain the magnets and the clutching mechanism of the accessory 140 can contain the ferromagnetic material.
As illustrated in
According to another embodiment of the invention, the clutching mechanism is a mechanical clutching mechanism adapted to enable a mechanical clutching between the rails 130 and the accessory 140. The mechanical clutching mechanism can be a clicking or gripping mechanism for example. In an embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the accessory 140 is movable along the rails. In this way the user is able to easily move the accessories 140 from one side to the other of the tray if needed.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the magnetic mechanism comprises one or more pieces of a magnet located at the bottom side of the accessory 140, and at a predetermined position in such way that the accessory 140 is mounted onto the rails 130 through said one or more pieces of a magnet, and wherein the rails 130 are made of a metallic material.
The accessory 140 is adapted to hold said one or more pieces of a magnet, and wherein said magnet is located at a predetermined position. In an embodiment of the present invention, the bottom side of the accessory 140 comprises two openings containing the magnets. The shape of both openings and the magnet is preferably circular due to the nature of the magnet.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom side of the accessory 140 comprises a coating layer comprising a magnetic material adapted to magnetize the rails in order to securely hold the accessory on the rails 130.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the tray of the present invention comprises a plurality of accessories 140a and 140b that can interchangeably be mounted on and demounted off the tray depending on the desired specific use (see
Different structures of the accessory can be used in the tray of the present invention.
In one embodiment of the present invention, when the frame structure or the body of the tray has a circular shape, the coupled accessory has preferably a circular shape and comprises a circular groove located at the bottom side of said accessory and along the periphery thereof; in such way that when the accessory is mounted onto the rail through said circular groove, said accessory is movable around its central axis. In this way the user can easily reach the refreshments by only moving the accessory around it central axis.
While only certain preferred embodiments of the present invention has been described, it is understood that many variations are possible without departing from the principles of this invention as defined by the claims below.
In particular, although the description has specified certain features and materials that may be used in the present invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications and substitutions may be made. Accordingly it intended that all such modifications, alterations, substitutions and additions be considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.
