Patent Grant
8418971
The present invention relates to kitchen utensil holders and more particularly to a tabletop utensil holder for reducing contact between cutlery and tabletop surfaces.
Kitchen utensils are an essential part of daily life, and are utilized by consumers in home and restaurant settings. In the past, there have been many systems and methods for properly cleaning kitchen utensils to ensure they are sanitary for successive use. However, it is common for these sanitized utensils to be placed on a tabletop that has not been properly cleaned, thus contaminating the utensils and fostering the spread of illness and disease.
Additionally, there have been many devices directed to storing and/or arranging silverware, such as silverware chests and molded holders, for example, but each of these fail to preserve the sanitary condition of the utensils by preventing contact with a table surface.
It is an object of the invention to provide a utensil tabletop holder for allowing uniform, organized and sanitary placement of eating utensils.
It is another object of the invention to provide a detachable utensil stand configured to mate with conventional silverware and a tabletop holder in order to prevent the utensil endpoint from making contact with foreign objects.
Accordingly, there is provided a utensil tabletop holder having a body that includes an top surface having and a concave portion into which a protrusion disc can be inserted, and a detachable protrusion disc configured to mate with the underside of a utensil and configured to prevent the endpoint of a utensil from resting on a foreign surface while not in use.
Presently preferred embodiments are shown in the drawings. It should be appreciated, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the description in conjunction with the drawings. As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the inventive arrangements in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of the invention.
For purposes of this description, the terms “upper,” “bottom,” “right,” “left,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” and derivatives thereof shall relate to the invention as oriented in
The tabletop utensil holder 20 can act to uniformly position typical household and restaurant eating utensils such as knives forks and spoons, for example, in a uniform, organized and sanitary fashion. The utensil holder can work with traditional utensils as well as a utensil with an integrated stand such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/113,304, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As shown, the tabletop utensil holder 20, according to one embodiment, can include a front section 21, a back section 22, two opposing side sections 23, a bottom section 24 and a top section 25 having a lower half 25a and an upper half 25b. Positioned between the upper and lower halves of the top section 25 is a semicircular indentation 26.
As described herein, the utensil holder 20 can act to uniformly position utensils on a tabletop prior to a meal in order to prevent the sanitized endpoint 11a of a utensil from making contact with a potentially contaminated tabletop surface. To this end, in one preferred embodiment, the utensil holder 20 can be constructed from injection molded plastic having identifiable sections as heretofore described. Of course, one of skill in the art will recognize that the utensil holder 20 can be constructed in any number of different shapes and from any number of known materials and construction methodologies.
The detachable utensil stand 30 (i.e. protrusion disc) can act to prevent the tip of an eating utensil 11a from making contact with foreign objects. To this end, the detachable utensil stand 30, according to one embodiment, can include a generally planar top surface 31 having a strong adhesive material 33 secured thereon in order to securely affix the stand 30 to the bottom of a utensil 11. Additionally, the stand 30 includes a convex lower portion 32 forming a downward facing protrusion. In one preferred embodiment, the downward protrusion 32 can be greater than the semicircular indentation 26 so as to ensure a gap A remains when contact between these two devices is made (see
In one preferred embodiment, the utensil stand 30 can be secured to the bottom of the utensil 11 at a location adjacent to the neck 11b so as to not affect the traditional and familiar use/handling of the utensil. Additionally, it is preferred that the utensil stand 30 be constructed from a single piece of stainless steel or other metallic elements having a feel and color similar to that of conventional utensils. To this end, when secured to a utensil, the stand 30 can appear to be an original component as opposed to a separate piece.
Although described above as utilizing specific shapes and materials, one of skill in the art will recognize that the protrusion disc 30 can include virtually any shape having a depth sufficient to extend below the bottom of the utensil endpoint 11c, so as to prevent the endpoint from making contact with a surface 15 such as a tabletop, for example.
As described herein, an adhesive material 33 can include any number of known substances capable of creating a secure bond between two objects, such as glue and double sided tape, for example. Alternatively, the adhesive material 33 can include any number of known materials capable of securing two objects together in a removable fashion. Several non-limiting examples include hook and loop material (i.e. Velcro®) and small magnetic elements having opposite polarities wherein each magnet is individually secured to one of the stand or the utensil, and are configured to create a removable attachment point when the two objects come into close proximity.
As illustrated in
Although described above as utilizing specific shapes and materials, one of skill in the art will recognize that each of the protrusion disc 30 and the utensil holder 20 can include any number of different shapes and sizes (See
Additionally, as illustrated in
Although described above as for use on particular eating utensils, on of skill in the art will recognize that the inventive concepts disclosed herein can be equally applied to eating utensils of all types such as knives and serving instruments, for example, without deviating from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herein.
As to a further description of the manner and use of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4659053 | Holley et al. | Apr 1987 | A |
| 5678790 | Dwyer | Oct 1997 | A |
| 20090122424 | Perez | May 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120298807 A1 | Nov 2012 | US |
