Receptacles – Table dish – Compartmented table dish
Patent
1994-12-09
1997-04-29
Shoap, Allan N.
Receptacles
Table dish
Compartmented table dish
206549, 220 2383, 220507, 294143, 294159, A47G 1906
Patent
active
056240520
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refreshment holder with a handle.
More precisely, the invention relates to a device enabling the user to use a single hand to hold preferably a plurality of receptacles containing various food items, and preferably also a glass, while leaving the other hand free to manipulate the utensils required for eating the foods.
Such a device is very useful not only at receptions where guests are not sat down to table, e.g. exhibitions, parties, and buffet lunches, but also in any situation where the user seeks to take food while a table is not available, e.g. in various public places such as railway stations, trains, stadiums, and cinema lines, and also merely while watching television.
The term "receptacle" is used herein to refer to any type of object capable of containing food, regardless of the shape or the material from which it is made, e.g. cardboard plates, small trays, or dishes, said list naturally not being limiting.
The term "glass" is used herein to refer to any type of object capable of containing liquids, regardless of its shape or the material from which it is made, such as: a glass, a beaker, or an ice cream cone, said list naturally being limiting.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various types of receptacle, plate, small tray, or meal tray made of food-grade card or plastic are already in existence on the market. It is true that all of them can contain food, and some of them can be used with a glass or beaker for eating purposes while standing or sitting down without a table.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,022 describes such a device made up of a flat-bottomed tray and including a low rim. A frustoconically-shaped handle is provided at the center of the bottom of the tray, serving firstly to enable it to be held as a whole, and secondly providing an internal Cavity suitable for receiving a beaker. However, that device solves the problem only in part insofar as it is suitable only for use with aperitif-type snack foods, and also, since the handle projects down along way from the bottom of the tray, the tray cannot be used while it is standing on a table.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks of prior solutions by providing a refreshment holder device that is usable under acceptable conditions of comfort not only when held in the hand, e.g. when its user is in a standing position, but also when supported by a table or any other horizontal surface.
To achieve this object, the refreshment holder of the invention comprises handle means and receptacle-forming means for receiving foods, said handle means including a first end for connecting to the receptacle-forming means and a second end that is free, the distance between the two ends being sufficient to enable the handle means to be grasped in the hand, the receptacle-forming means having a bottom and a side wall, said bottom being connected to said first end of the handle means, a portion of said bottom being substantially in the same plane as the second end of the handle means, the portion of said bottom that connects to the handle means leaving empty space around the handle means to allow the hand of the user to be engaged around the handle means.
It will be understood that the dispositions of the invention make, it is possible to put the device down on a horizontal surface because of the characteristics of its bottom, or else to hold the device conventionally in the hand because a space is provided around the handle means.
The handle means is substantially frustoconical in shape and is hollowed out internally to receive a beaker or a glass or a beverage can.
In a first implementation, the receptacle-forming means have a half-section in an axial plane that flares upwardly, e.g. a U-shaped or a V-shaped or a rectangular-shaped section, with its apex forming the bottom of the receptacle, with one of its branches forming the side wall, and with its other branch forming the portion that connects with the handle means.
In this first embodiment,
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Hylton Robin A.
Shoap Allan N.
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