Special receptacle or package – Combined or convertible – Including drinking vessel
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-25
2002-07-30
Gehman, Byron P. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
Combined or convertible
Including drinking vessel
C206S541000, C215S228000, C220S023860, C220S575000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425480
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related generally to the field of disposable dishware for serving foods and beverages—and, more particularly, to the field of combined beverage containers and tray devices for portable use by persons who are consuming meals while “on the go.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the field of prepared-food service and dining, it is very common today for restaurants and other prepared-food outlets to serve people meals, typically made up of one or more food items together with a beverage, in or on disposable containers and/or food-holders of various types (e.g., disposable cups, plates, cartons, trays, wraps, etc.). This is typically done in what is referred to as the “fast-food” industry.
Diners involved in today's fast-paced living often are not seated at tables which provide horizontal surfaces on which to set their filled containers and/or food-holders. Instead, they are in situations in which no tabletop or the like is available and find themselves standing, driving, or engaged in activities in which it is helpful or required to have at least one hand free for some purpose.
For example, fast-food restaurants, particularly those having a “drive-through” capability, usually serve a typical customer the customer's selection of one to three solid food items (e.g., hamburgers or other sandwiches, french fries, onion rings, tacos, pieces of pie) along with a selected beverage (e.g., milkshakes, carbonated beverages, fruit juice or coffee). Sometimes the vehicle driver, particularly if he or she is alone, may find it necessary to hold both the food and the beverage with one hand, while keeping the other hand free for steering and/or other vehicle operations.
Another example is the widely-used practice at many parties and social functions of serving each guest one or more food items on a plate along with a beverage in a cup, can or bottle. If a table or other horizontal support surface is unavailable, the guest may try using the hand which is holding the beverage container to move food from the plate to his or her mouth. Or, the guest sometimes attempts to balance the beverage container on the plate in order to free one hand for eating or some other purpose, such as opening a door or shaking hands with another person. Such practices often tend to be awkward, and can frequently result in spillage and other undesirable consequences. The same sort of problem is frequently encountered at sporting events and other entertainment events where refreshments are consumed by people with no table nearby, regardless of whether the people may be standing or sitting while eating.
The prior art includes many typically-disposable dishware and/or plate-and-beverage-container combinations. However, prior devices fail to adequately solve the continuing problems faced by persons consuming meals “on the go.” A number of specific disadvantages and shortcomings characterize the prior art, as will be seen by reference to various prior United States patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,820 (Boerner) discloses a plate or tray which interfaces with a centrally-located beverage container via downward extensions from the tray which are either rigid or foldable and which extend along the beverage container. A person using the Boerner device grasps the extension(s) and the container simultaneously. This combination must be gripped in order to remain engaged, and it must be separated in order to drink.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,737 (Patterson et al.) discloses plate-and-glass assembly which allows a person to carry a plate and a centrally-located drinking glass in one hand. The plates and glasses are engaged by what might be referred to as rail, tab or wedge system on the underside of the plate which allows a beverage container to be slidably or twistably received to centrally support the plate. The combination, must be disengaged for drinking purposes, requires customized beverage containers with mating lugs—to engage lugs on the undersides of the plates. This combination is a complex and impractical device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,176,283 and 5,240,136 (both to Patterson et al.) have various disclosures, including one device which is another plate-and-glass assembly which allows a person to carry a plate and a centrally-located drinking glass in one hand, and a more pertinent device which is a plate-cap device having a flat plate overlying the top of an attached cap which can be screwed onto the top of a jar-like receptacle. These devices, including the latter, have complex straw arrangements, and are impractical and uneconomical, difficult to detachably engage and otherwise difficult to use, and problematic insofar as the understanding of users is concerned, whether the users are persons serving or persons dining.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,028 (Patterson et al.) discloses a number of complex plate-and-glass assemblies which allow a person to carry a plate and a centrally-located drinking glass in one hand. The plates and glasses are engaged by what might be referred to as rail, tab or wedge systems on the undersides of the plates, which systems allow beverage containers (e.g., beverage cans) to be slidably or twistably received to centrally support the plate. The devices of this patent include drinking straw ports. These devices are complex multi-part devices which are impractical to manufacture and use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,373 (McKee) discloses a plate which interfaces with a beverage container utilizing a press-fit V-type friction-engagement groove. The plate has a centrally-located upwardly-extending annulus which forms (1) the V-groove on the underside of the plate for frictional engagement with the container lip and (2) a female receptacle on the top of the plate within which to place the bottom of the cup (on top of the plate) or an ashtray. The plate has a central hole to receive a straw. When the container is engaged beneath the plate, the lack of a positive engagement may be problematic, particularly when substantial non-distributed loads are placed on edge portions of the plate. As with certain other prior art, the plate has no means for reinforcement to resist excessive flexing under non-distributed loads.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,207,743 (Costarella), 5,234,125 (Roberts) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,164 (Beck) disclose further combinations in which beverage containers fit within plates via holes through, or raised receptacles in, plates.
Mobile-dining mealholders used in various situations are susceptible to substantial downward loading forces, both from the weight of foodstuffs thereon and from movements which occur during dining. There is a need for an improved mobile-dining mealholder which is of a light weight favoring disposability but which (1) still functions to provide support against such downward loading forces, (2) has excellent detachable engagement to avoid risks of beverage spilling, and (3) instills excellent user confidence with its support and containment functions during usage, even though held by only one hand.
There is a particular need for a mobile-dining mealholder including a beverage container in the form of a bottle, and which is an easily-joined combination that can be economically manufactured, firmly engageable together, practical to use, and easily understood by users.
The following objects of the invention are indicative of various problems and shortcomings in the prior art.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved mobile-dining mealholder and mealholder plate-lid overcoming problems and shortcomings of the prior art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved mobile-dining mealholder combination including a ordinary beverage bottle.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved mobile-dining mealholder having a detachably-secured plate-lid and beverage container which are held in firm engagement together so that, even when the sole support for the mealholder is by the user's grasp of the beverage container, solid foodstuffs may be reliably and confidently supported on the plate-lid as dini
Jansson Peter N.
Krueger John A.
Perez Ronald A.
Gehman Byron P.
Jansson & Shupe & Munger Ltd.
Sparks International Inc.
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