Envelopes – wrappers – and paperboard boxes – Paperboard box – Compartmented
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-01
2002-05-14
Elkins, Gary E. (Department: 3727)
Envelopes, wrappers, and paperboard boxes
Paperboard box
Compartmented
C229S120060, C229S199000, C229S906000, C229S939000, C229S942000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06386440
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of pizza packaging systems and to methods of using such systems. More specifically, the invention relates to such a pizza packaging system and method for delivering pizzas.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent times, the pizza pie (hereinafter “pizza”) has become one of the most popular food dish in the United States. Pizzas typically have square or round, flat crust upon which tomato sauce and cheese, as well as other ingredients, are placed before baking in an oven. One reason for the popularity of pizzas is the wide variety of toppings which may be included on the pizza to satisfy the diverse tastes of the consumers. Many pizzas are consumed in the restaurant (pizza parlors) where the pizzas are made and purchased. However, a very large portion of pizza sales occur through delivery where the made to order pizzas are physically transported and delivered to the customer at the requested location such as their home or work. Various types of packaging systems have been used but most common packaging systems utilize a cardboard box sized to hold one pizza. Typically, the cardboard box has a square top and bottom but other shapes such as hexagon and octagon have also been used. In addition, pizza boxes made of thin corrugated cardboard have also been used to provide increased rigidity and insulation for the pizza being transported and delivered. In fact, such pizza boxes have become the standard for delivery purposes to ensure that the pizzas contained therein maintain their shape and temperature so that the customers receiving the pizza delivery will be satisfied.
Due to their convenience and popularity, pizzas have become a very popular food item for families, parties and other social gatherings where there may be several or more hungry people. Typically, in such situations, more than one pizza is required because of the number of people or because of the differing tastes of the people involved. Thus, for example, if there are a large number of people gathered, many large pizzas having same or variety of toppings may be ordered for delivery. If the gathering consists, for example, only two people having different topping requirements, two small pizzas having different toppings may be ordered for delivery. In these and other instances, more than one pizza is ultimately delivered to the customer, each pizza being delivered in its own, separate cardboard box as described above and being transported by stacking these pizza boxes on top of each other. However, the cardboard box are an added expense to the pizza merchant who must purchase and provide these boxes essentially for free to the customer for each pizza delivered since competition generally prevents separate charges for such boxes. The costs of these cardboard boxes are further increased if pizza boxes made of corrugated cardboard are used, such corrugated cardboard being more expensive than conventional cardboard. Furthermore, because of the relatively bulky dimensions of such pizza boxes, maintaining adequate inventory of these pizza boxes require much space in the pizza parlor further increasing costs of operating in the pizza business. Moreover, each pizza box needs to be assembled from pizza blanks which requires labor and incurs the associated labor costs for assembly of these pizza blanks. These factors, of course, reduces the profit for the pizza merchant while ultimately increasing the pizza cost for the pizza consumers. In addition, when the large orders require the delivery of numerous pizzas, the delivery person must be very careful that the stacked pizza boxes do not shift relative to one another and fall to the ground. This adds to the difficulty of the delivery persons' task of carrying and delivering the pizzas to the pizza consumers.
In an effort to reduce the costs, various alternative packaging systems have been devised that use a tray to support the pizza such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,075 to Montalbano that discloses a pizza packaging system where each pizza is supported by a deliverable, nonreusable, paperboard tray which is enclosed in a sealed paper bag together with the pizza. These pizzas on the paperboard trays are then placed into a reusable insulating outer box through its side so that they may be transported to their consumers where only the pizza, the trays and the bags are delivered and the insulating outer box is retained for reuse in the next delivery. Although this method of delivering pizzas by using a reusable insulating outer box aids in maintaining the pizzas' shape and temperature, it has a disadvantage in that the bag can become stuck on the cheese and/or toppings. In addition, because the reusable insulating box is constructed for reuse, the reusable insulating box is sturdy and heavy thereby increasing the total weight which must be carried by the delivery person. Furthermore, because the insulating box must be reused, it must again, be carried by the delivery person after the delivery of the pizzas have been made. Both of these factors add to the difficulty of the delivery persons' task of carrying and delivering the pizzas to the pizza consumers. In addition, it has been found that such insulating boxes made from corrugated cardboard as taught was not durable enough in that after several reuses, the box began to lose its rigidity making this method of pizza packaging and delivery uneconomical in the long run.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,221 to Ragan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,912 to Economopoulos both disclose pizza boxes for holding two pizzas that utilizes a shelf to support a second pizza in a stacked configuration above a first pizza. Unlike the Montablano reference, these references disclose deliverable pizza boxes made of cardboard which may be delivered directly to the pizza consumer. To support and properly position the shelf (and correspondingly, the second pizza), the corners of the side walls of these pizza boxes are provided with numerous horizontal cuts so that these corners may be pushed inwardly along the horizontal cuts to form corner shelf supports in the pizza carrying compartment of the pizza box. The Ragan reference also discloses the use of a separator stand for further supporting the shelf. These pizza boxes have been found to avoid many disadvantages of the previously noted prior art pizza packaging systems but have also been found to have many disadvantages of their own as well.
For instance, it has been found that because the corners of the sidewalls in the pizza box are cut and pushed inwardly, the structural rigidity of the resulting assembled pizza box is greatly reduced. This is especially problematic since the pizza box is supposed to support two pizzas which is approximately twice as heavy as one pizza. In addition, because the shelf is only supported at its four corners by the corner shelf supports and at its center by the separator stand, the midportions of the shelf sags along the edges under the weight of the second pizza which is placed on the shelf. Thus, the pizza boxes disclosed in Ragan and Economopoulos references have been found structurally unstable for supporting two pizzas in a stacked configuration.
Furthermore, the corners of the sidewalls which are pushed inwardly to form the corner shelf supports also cause the pizza carrying compartment of the pizza box to be open to the outside environment. This, of course, causes increased heat evacuation from the pizza carrying compartment and undesirably causes the pizzas being transported in the pizza box to be cooled more rapidly. Moreover, when fully assembled, the corners of the sidewalls which have been pushed inwardly to form the corner shelf supports protrude into the pizza carrying compartment thereby reducing the surface area available for supporting and carrying the first pizza. Because most pizzas are circular in shape and the corner shelf supports protrude into the pizza carrying compartment only in the corners, this generally does not pose any problems. However, many pizzas inc
Elkins Gary E.
Leedom Jr. Charles M.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Song Daniel S.
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