Envelopes – wrappers – and paperboard boxes – Paper or paperboard cup
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-10
2001-04-17
Elkins, Gary E. (Department: 3727)
Envelopes, wrappers, and paperboard boxes
Paper or paperboard cup
C220S738000, C229S904000, C229S906000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216946
ABSTRACT:
The present application is directed to a food scoop, and more specifically, to a food scoop with a holder for a condiment receptacle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
French fries, onion rings, popcorn shrimp, and other finger-foods are often served from small paperboard containers. These containers may be pouch-shaped, like those used for french fries in many fast-food establishments, or shaped like a cup. Because such containers are often used to scoop individual servings from a product batch, they are sometimes referred to as “food scoops.”
The food products described above are often dipped into sauces or condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, or vinegar before they are eaten. Many food service establishments provide bulk containers of these condiments and small paper or plastic cups into which they can be dispensed. Alternately, the condiments may come prepackaged in a sealed container.
If the food product is consumed by a person while seated at a table, the condiment containers can be placed on the table. If a person wishes to walk with the container, on a boardwalk or at an amusement park, for example, or to eat the food product while driving a vehicle, the use of a condiment becomes more difficult. Both the condiment cup and food scoop must be held in one hand while the other hand grasps an item of food and dips it in the condiment. This method makes activities such as driving very difficult and possibly dangerous. It is also possible to dispense a condiment directly onto the food products in the food scoop, but this can be messy and often results in an uneven distribution of condiment. When walking or driving, therefore, persons sometimes forego the use of sauces or condiments altogether, or have to endure the inconvenience of eating sticky, condiment-covered food products with their fingers.
Various attempts have been made to address this problem by providing food containers with compartments for holding a condiment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,957 to Yocum, owned by the assignee of the present invention, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,429 to Cordle show food scoops having interior pockets that can be filled with condiments. However, pockets such as these can be inadvertently squeezed, leading to condiment spills either into the food scoop or onto the user. These pockets also make containers more difficult to assemble and more costly to produce. U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,364 to Shaw and U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,631 to Berger show complex folding shelves formed separately from a food scoop and glued or otherwise attached to the food scoops for supporting a condiment receptacle. Such attachments also add to the cost of food scoops and make them more difficult to assemble. In addition, they do not securely retain a condiment receptacle when the food scoop is carried by a user or balanced in a moving vehicle.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a condiment holder that is integrally formed with a food scoop, that is capable of securely retaining a condiment receptacle even when the food scoop is carried or jarred, and that can be produced at substantially the same cost as existing food scoops that lack this inventive feature.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses these and other problems by providing a food scoop having a holder for a condiment receptacle that extends outwardly from a side wall thereof and that is designed to securely retain a condiment receptacle even when the food scoop is shaken or jarred. In a first aspect, the invention comprises a holder that is cut from the side wall of the container. In a storage or non-use position, the holder forms an extension of the side wall of the food scoop and allows the scoop to be produced and stacked in the same manner as prior art scoops. In the deployed or use position, the holder extends away from the side wall to form a support with an opening for engaging the side wall or walls of a sauce receptacle and, optionally, a bottom panel for supporting the bottom of the receptacle.
The present condiment holder can be incorporated into the design of most existing food scoops. Significantly, in many food scoop designs, the condiment holder is formed from material that is currently discarded as scrap. Thus the material costs of a food scoop incorporating the present invention are the same as the costs of prior art scoops. The additional cutting steps required to form the holder during the manufacturing process do not add appreciably to the product cost.
In another aspect of the invention, the food scoop with condiment holder is formed from a unitary blank of foldable material, such as paperboard. This allows the product to be produced using the same methods used for traditional food scoops. Because the holder forms an extension of the food scoop side wall when it is not deployed, the food scoops can be erected in a normal manner, generally using the same equipment or methods used in the past. The condiment receptacle holder does not need to be deployed until after the scoop is filled with food. This step may frequently be carried out by the purchaser of the food product and thus requires no extra work on the part of a vendor. Therefore the present design provides added benefits without increasing the cost of manufacture or ease of assembly as compared to prior art food scoops that lack a condiment holder.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the condiment holder is cut from the side wall of the container so that the resulting opening in the side wall is narrower that the width of the condiment receptacle. This substantially prevents the receptacle from being pressed into the interior of the food scoop during use. In addition, because of the tight fit between the receptacle and the opening in the condiment holder top panel, downward pressure on the receptacle causes the receptacle to pivot with the flap about the fold line that connects the flap to the side wall. Because the opening in the side wall is narrower than the receptacle, the side wall substantially halts this downward pivoting after the receptacle has moved only a small distance. Therefore, downward pressure on the receptacle, such as may occur when a user dips a food item into the condiment, does not cause the condiment to spill, but rather causes the container to be held even more securely by the holder.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder for a container.
It is another object of the invention to provide a food scoop having an integral holder for a condiment receptacle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a food scoop having a condiment receptacle holder that securely retains a condiment receptacle during transport and use.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a unitary blank for forming a food scoop having a receptacle holder.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder that can be readily incorporated into the design of existing food scoops.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder for a food scoop that engages the receptacle more securely when downward pressure is exerted against the receptacle.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a food scoop having a condiment holder shiftable between a first configuration wherein the scoop can be stacked and stored and a second configuration wherein the holder extends outwardly from the side wall of the holder.
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patent: 5842631 (1998-12-01), Berger
patent: 5875957 (1999-03-01), Yocum
patent: 5979747 (
Dennison, Scheiner Schultz & Wakeman
Dopaco, Inc.
Elkins Gary E.
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