CN1163385C - food tray - Google Patents

Abstract

A tray (10) for carrying food and beverage in a restaurant has a substantially planar tray bottom portion (12), and an upwardly extending peripheral sloping wall (13).

Description

food tray

technical field

The present invention relates generally to trays for use in the food service industry, and more particularly to a tray that is compatible with stacking of existing trays currently used in fast food restaurants and that provides information such as advertising material or other forms of information during use. Multisensory display.

Background technique

Standards have been developed for use in the food service industry, particularly fast food service, with trays of predetermined dimensions that are stackable on top of each other for stacking purposes. Conventional trays have a substantially flat portion with a pattern formed thereon to reduce the likelihood of food sliding on the tray. In some known trays, information and graphics identifying a particular restaurant are molded onto the flat portion at the same time.

The known tray is also provided with a perimeter surrounding the flat portion, and a slight flange extending outwardly therefrom in a direction substantially parallel to the flat bottom section. The area around the perimeter of the tray and the outwardly extending flanges are gripped when carried by a user such as restaurant personnel or customers. In some known trays, the outwardly extending flange is slightly extended to allow it to act like a handle, which improves the security of handling the tray.

One problem with conventional trays is that many restaurants place a liner, such as a paper liner, on the bottom of the tray. This liner must usually be printed with advertising messages and other materials that identify the restaurant, since the messages engraved on the bottom of the tray are usually not visible.

The problem of inconspicuous engraved information has been recognized in the prior art. Therefore, at least one tray manufacturer has engraved this information on the raised perimeter so that the information is visible despite placing a liner on the bottom of the tray. This solution to the long-standing problem creates additional problems. In order for the engraved message (which may contain material identifying the restaurant) to be of sufficient size for mass dissemination, the raised perimeter has been extended to no longer meet established tray standards. Therefore, this pallet cannot be stacked with any other conventional pallets except similar ones.

It is very important that new trays purchased by the restaurant need to be reverse compatible with the restaurant's existing stock trays. Otherwise, service will be affected as two sets of trays must be accommodated in the stack as well as in the tray washer. Thus, unless a restaurant pays to replace all of its trays with trays with the information engraved on the raised ring rim, it will suffer service as it tries to meet multiple incompatible tray standards.

Contents of the invention

Therefore, there is a need for a tray that allows advertising and other information to be engraved on the food tray so that it can be seen during use of a tray liner, and which is also reverse compatible so that it can be used with a restaurant's Original stock pallets are stacked on top of each other.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tray that displays advertisements and identification information in such a way that it is immediately noticed by customers without the need to make the tray non-standard in size.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tray that enhances the presentation of information to individual visually impaired persons.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tray which reduces the possibility of food and beverages being toppled during carrying by the user.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tray that can be easily manufactured to display different information items.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by, in a particularly illustrated embodiment of the present invention, providing a tray for use in fast food restaurants which places advertising, identification and other information on On an area that can be easily seen and touched by the customer during use. In particular, the tray of the present invention is produced by injection molding to form raised or recessed molded information on the handle area. Efforts in the prior art to make the information viewable during use of the tray generally involved the use of a liner that sits on the bottom of the tray and covers up any printing or patterning on the bottom of the tray, resulting in non-standard sized Pallets, which cannot be stacked on top of existing pallets. However, even in the non-standard trays described above, the information is not located where it can be easily touched by the customer to create a multi-sensory presentation of information or a presentation of Braille information.

More specifically, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray for a user to carry food and drinks in a restaurant, the tray comprising: a substantially flat tray bottom; an upwardly extending peripheral sloping wall arranged to surrounding the substantially flat tray bottom; an outwardly extending flange arranged to surround the upwardly extending peripheral inclined wall; first and second handle portions connected to the outwardly extending flange to facilitate gripped and picked up by a user's hand, the first and second handle portions are disposed opposite each other and are configured to have first and second upper surfaces, respectively, extending outwardly across the a predetermined outer boundary of the outwardly extending flange; and first and second items of molded information disposed on first and second upper surfaces of the first and second handle portions, the first and second items molded The printed information is molded to obtain a raised or recessed relief of sufficient height or depth relative to the first and second upper surfaces to be easily felt by a user.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray for a user to carry food and beverages in a restaurant, the tray includes: a substantially flat tray bottom; an upwardly extending peripheral sloping wall arranged to surround the a substantially flat tray bottom and integrally formed therewith; an outwardly extending flange disposed around and integrally formed with the upwardly extending peripheral inclined wall; first and second handle portions integrally formed with the outwardly extending flange The first and second handle portions are arranged to be located in opposite directions, and each have a predetermined outer boundary extending outwardly beyond the outwardly extending flange so as to be grasped and picked up by the user's hand. first and second upper surfaces; and first and second items of molded information disposed on the first and second upper surfaces of the first and second handle portions, the first and second items of molded information Having a height/depth between about 0.005" to 0.007", the first and second items of molded information are molded to obtain a raised or lowered relief relative to the first and second Second, the upper surface is sufficient for the user to feel easily.

The present invention solves the problem of making information viewable and tactile by the customer during tray use, all within the confines of a standard tray size. In addition, the tray of the present invention facilitates the touch of information and reduces the possibility of food spilling. In the present invention, the reduction in the likelihood of tipping is achieved by providing a handle that provides a more secure grip and a lower center of gravity during the tray being carried by the customer, and a non-slip handle that passes through the handle on the handle. The information itself is reinforced, as discussed in more detail below.

The manufacture of the trays of the present invention is facilitated by the use of mold inserts with molding information. Thus, the entire mold used to form the trays of the present invention need not be reworked every time the information changes. Thus, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced.

Description of drawings

It will be helpful to understand the present invention to read following detailed description and accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a particularly illustrated embodiment of the present invention showing the area where molding information will be located;

Figure 2 is an isometric view of a molding insert to be installed in a mold (not shown) to apply molded information to the tray shown in Figure 1 .

Detailed ways

Figure 1 is a plan view of a pallet 10 made in accordance with the principles of the present invention. As shown, the tray 10 has a bottom 12 surrounded by a peripheral sloped wall 13 . A flange 15 extends outward from the upper portion of the peripheral inclined wall 13 . The bottom 12, peripheral sloped walls 13 and flanges 15 are of corresponding dimensions to existing pallets (not shown) so that the pallet 10 can be stacked with, and thus stacked on, existing pallets. Thus, in this way, restaurants purchasing trays 10 do not need to completely scrap their existing inventory of trays so that they can be phased out.

The bottom 12 is provided with a molded pattern in the form of lines 20, cross hatching 21, a rough surface 22 or any pattern that increases friction between the food carrying container (not shown) and the beverage (not shown) sitting thereon. other surface treatments. Of course, the surface finish itself is optional in the practice of the present invention, any other information (such as advertising material or identification marks used by a particular restaurant, which are common in the fast food industry) could also be printed on the bottom of the tray 12.

Flange 15 at the end of tray 10 extends further outwardly to form handle areas 25 and 26 . Each handle area 25 and 26 has an upper surface on which molded information 27 and 28 are displayed. Placing the molded information on the upper surface of the handle areas 25 and 26 avoids the problems of the prior art which required wall enlargement due to the information being provided on the peripheral sloping wall 13, As a result, the size of the tray becomes non-standard and results in affecting the service and operation of the restaurant.

The molded information 27 and 28 on the handle area need not be identical as shown in FIG. 1 . As an alternative, each handle area can be provided with different information. Furthermore, the information does not have to be in molded-in form, it could also be molded onto the raised or debossed pattern in the area of the handle. One advantage of the present invention is that placing molded information on the upper surfaces of the handle areas 25 and 26 creates a multi-sensory presentation of information where the information is not only visible but also tactile when the tray is being carried by the customer of. Thus, the customer's attention is drawn to the information that the customer feels immediately. Accordingly, this information may contain material presented in the manner of Brillor to assist visually impaired patrons.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of an insert 40 , one of a pair of inserts to be installed in a mold (not shown) during injection molding of tray 10 . As shown, the mold insert 40 is provided with a pair of mounting holes 42 to facilitate mounting the mold insert in the mold by fasteners (not shown). In this particular embodiment of the invention, the mold insert 40 has a sealing edge 44 whose curvature corresponds to the outer contour of the handle regions 25 and 26 .

The mold insert 40 has a mold surface 45 in which an engraved pattern 47 is made which is a mirror image of the variable information to be displayed on the handle areas 25 and 26 , such as molding information 27 or 28 . Of course, as with other embodiments of the invention described below, the molded information may not take the form of an engraved pattern, it may be a raised embossed information so that the desired embossed pattern is created in the handle area. Those skilled in the art will be able to construct the molded information to display images, logos, trademarks, foreign letters, raised Brillor letters, and the like in the handle area of the tray.

In the present invention, the molded information has a height that has been empirically determined to provide a good ergonomic feel while maintaining high clarity. That is, food particles and other substances) such as grease) will not collect on or around the mold information. Furthermore, the determined height must retain its favorable tactile response and visibility characteristics after repeated use and cleaning. In a practical embodiment, the height (or depth) of the mold information is approximately between 0.003" and 0.008", preferably between 0.005" and 0.007". These height/depth dimensions provide a good feel while the tray material remains clean and the information molded onto it remains visible for the duration of the restaurant service.

Also, ideally, the mold information has an edge profile that can be used to avoid food particles, grease and hand oils from collecting along it. Then, the profile (which ultimately depends on the lettering and/or logo forming the mold information) should have no deep ridges or corners. In certain embodiments of the invention, the molded information is textured and its height/depth is maintained within the advantageous ranges set forth above.

Although the present invention has been described above by way of specific embodiments and applications, those skilled in the art can also generate other embodiments based on its teachings without exceeding the scope of the present invention or departing from its spirit. Therefore, it should be understood that the disclosed drawings and descriptions are intended to aid in the understanding of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof.

Claims (10)

1. a person easy to use carries the pallet of Food ﹠ Drink in the dining room, and this pallet comprises:

The tray bottom of one substantially flat;

One upwardly extending peripheral skew wall, it is arranged to the tray bottom around this substantially flat;

One outward extending flange, it is arranged to around this upwardly extending peripheral skew wall;

First and second handle portions, it links to each other with this outward extending flange, so that grasp and picked up by user's hand, this first and second handle portion is arranged relative to one another, and be arranged to have first and second upper surfaces respectively, this first and second upper surface stretches out and crosses the predetermined outer boundaries of this outward extending flange; With

First and second molded information, it is arranged on first and second upper surfaces of first and second handle portions, these first and second molded information are molded into and are used to obtain a projection or recessed embossment, and this embossment is enough to allow user's stereognosis at an easy rate with respect to the height of this first and second upper surface or the degree of depth.

2. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, this first and second handle portion is one-body molded with this outward extending flange.

3. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information are overmolded to respectively on first and second upper surfaces of first and second handle portions, and has the degree of depth between 0.003 " to 0.008 ".

4. pallet as claimed in claim 3 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information are overmolded to respectively on first and second upper surfaces of first and second handle portions, and has the degree of depth between 0.005 " to 0.007 ".

5. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information are overmolded to respectively on first and second upper surfaces of first and second handle portions, and has the height between 0.003 " to 0.008 ".

6. pallet as claimed in claim 5 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information are overmolded to respectively on first and second upper surfaces of first and second handle portions, and has the height between 0.005 " to 0.007 ".

7. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information are respectively equipped with a weavy grain shape surface working thing, and it has the height between 0.005 " to 0.007 ".

8. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information comprise advertising message.

9. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information comprise weavy grain shape flag information.

10. pallet as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, these first and second molded information comprise weavy grain shape advertising message.

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