AU657734B2 - A plate - Google Patents

Description

657734

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant(s): Actual Inventor(s): GLENN RAYMOND HALL and PHILLIP ANTON BARTON GLENN RAYMOND HALL AND PHILLIP ANTON BARTON cc t C Ct V t CC I C I C I C 111CCr Address for Service: CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.' Invention Title: A PLATE Details of Associated Provisional Applications: No. PK5064 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: TECHNICAL FIELD THIS INVENTION relates to a plate for food products. In particular the invention concerns a plate for receiving food products and presenting them for consumption.

The invention will be described by way of example, with reference to a plate for receiving filled food products such as tacos or tortillas and presenting them for consumption. It should be appreciated that this is by way of example only and the plate may equally be used for food products other than tacos or tortillas.

BACKGROUND ART A taco generally consists of a crisp corn grain shell configured into a generally U or V shaped form into 15 which savoury or other filling is deposited. Tacos are :rt held in the consumer's hand and eaten without the need for cutlery. The U or V shaped shell, when full must be held upright otherwise the savoury filling may be dislodged and this is undesirable. During consumption of tacos there is a tendency for some of the filling to fall from the shell and this can make the consumption of tacos a messy task. Sometimes the loss of the filling from the shell is made worse by the shell in fact cracking leaving the consumer with two separated crisp corn shell halves between which the filling is sandwiched.

A dinner plate or the like may be used during consumption of tacos to catch any filling dislodged during eating. However, such plates are of little use for storing tacos prior to consumption because they do not maintain the taco upright.

Various proposals have been put forward to provide supports for tacos to enable the taco to be supported in an upright position. For instance, U.S.

Patent 4,535,891 (Murdick) discloses a taco tray for holding tacos in an upright position. The tray, however; does not have a plate-like attachment to allow a taco to be filled and to catch any food products dislodged during iI 2 eating. Similar proposals are set forth in U.S. Patent 4,270,660 (Putt), 4,573,579 (Murdick), 4,501,367 (Potts), 4,925,032 (Liles), 4,055,670 (Belmont), 4,653,645 (Thomas).

It is also known to provide plates or trays having a recess, cut-out or like provision to hold a drinking glass.

Such proposals are found in U.S. Patents 4,461,396 (Harper), 4,516,685 (French), 3,670,938 (Brocato) and 3,905,506 (Florian).

Other proposals are found in U.S. Patents 4,607,758; 4,351,444 and 3,818,623 but these are not believed to be relevant to the present invention.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a plate which may minimise the disadvantages referred to above.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a plate for receiving at least one taco and presenting the taco for consumption, the plate including a body portion over which the taco may be consumed and onto which food particles dislodged from the taco can fall and collect and at least one elongated taco receiving recess adjacent said body portion in which the taco can be received and held in a generally upright orientation prior to consumption.

The body portion and the food receiving recess are preferably present as a unitary piece and the recess may be formed in or provided on the body portion. Alternatively the recess may be present in or on an extension to the body portion.

[t JIt is preferred that the body portion be dished or concave when viewed in plan although the body portion may present a substantially flat surface onto which food may be deposited during the consumption of the food product.

The periphery of the body portion may be square, i rectangular, oval, round or any other suitable shape. It 3 is preferred that the periphery be round. If desired the periphery of the body portion may be feathered or tapered and thus be of a thickness less than other portions of the body portion.

As mentioned above there is at least one food product receiving recess. Preferably three such recesses are present. The or each recess may extend outwardly of the body portion of the plate. Thus, where the body portion is of a round or circular shape, the recesses may be present as a radial extension to the body portion. If desired the or each recess may simply extend across the body portion and need not be present as an extension.

Each recess may be defined by upstanding spaced side walls. The side walls may be parallel to one 15 another although it is preferred that they be slightly divergent. The side walls may merge with a floor of the recesses. The side walls may terminate in an end wall.

The end wall may be contoured so that it merges smoothly with the floor of the recess.

The side walls may have a leading edge of a :reduced height. Preferably the side walls progressively 0 reduce in height towards the leading edge. In one embodiment the leading edges merge with the body portion.

44 i: Where there is more than one recess, adjacent 25 recesses may share a common side wall. If desired a narrow land surface may be provided at an upper edge of such shared walls as well as at walls at an outer periphery of the plate.

BEST MODE A particular preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawing.

In the sole drawing a perspective view of one embodiment of a plate for tacos is shown. The plate has a dished substantially circular body portion 6. The periphery 7 is substantially circular when viewed in plan and is feathered or tapered.

4 Laterally disposed of and merging integrally with portion 6 is a taco receiving portion 8. Portion 8 has a transverse width less than the diameter of portion 6 and is provided with three taco receiving recesses 9.

The recesses 9 are defined by spaced abutments or side walls 10 which have leading edges 11 which merge into the portion 6 and trailing edges 12 which terminate at rear edge 13 of the plate 5. Adjacent edge 13 the recesses 9 have an upwardly swept wall 14.

In use, a taco shell 15 may be filled with a filling 16 and the completed taco 17, placed in one of the recesses. The recesses serve to keep the taco 17 in an upright orientation and thus minimise the tendency for filling 16 to become dislodged. In the embodiment shown .4 15 three completed tacos may be positioned on the plate ready for consumption. The user 'may remove a taco for consumption and the taco nay be consumed and held over body portion 6 during this process. Thus, any food particles dislodged may fall onto portion 6 from which they may ultimately be retrieved and also consumed or discarded as waste.

The plate 5 may, during use, either rest upon a table or other suitable surface or be simply placed on the user's lap.

rttt t 25 The plate 5 may be made from eny suitable material. For example the plate may be made from porcelain, baked or fired clay, metal, glass, plastics i material or wood or an-; other suitable material. Where the plate is intended to be reused a more durable material is desired. If, on the other hand the plate is intended to be disposable, foam or some more environmentally friendly material as paper "mache, paper board or cardboard may be used.

In use the plate of the invention may be used to hold three unfilled taco shells. These shells are maintained upright and the plate can be held and positioned, to enable the shells to be filled.

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Alternatively, filled tacos may be placed in the recesses ready for consumption. The user may remove a filled taco from a recess and hold that taco over the body portion of the plate while it is being consumed. Any dislodged filling will then fall onto the body portion and can be consumed subsequently if desired.

As mentioned above, the plate may be employed for food products other than tacos. For example the recesses may be adapted to receive toast. In this way individual pieces of toast can be kept separate and the spread on one piece will not readily contaminate the spread on other pieces.

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Claims (11)

1. A plate for receiving at least one taco and presenting the taco for consumption, the plate including a body portion over which the taco may be consumed and onto which food particles dislodged from the taco can fall and collect, and at least one elongated taco receiving recess adjacent said body portion in which the taco can be received and held in a generally upright orientation prior to consumption.

2. The plate as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of elongate taco receiving recesses are provided,

3. The plate as claimed in claim 2, wherein each recess includes a pair of side walls to support sides of the taco thereby enabling the taco to be supported in a generally upright orientation.

4. The plate as claimed in claim 3, wherein the side walls progressively reduce in height towards the body portion.

The plate as claimed in claim 4, wherein the side walls merge with the body portion to define an open ended passage into which the taco can be passed and supported in a generally upright orientation.

6. The plate as claimed in claim 5, wherein adjacent recesses share a common side wall.

7. The plate as claimed in claim 6, wherein the body portion is dished in configuration.

8. The plate as claimed in claim 7, wherein the or each taco receiving recess extends outwardly of the body portion of the plate.

9. The plate as claimed in claim 8, wherein the recesses further include an end wall to prevent taco contents from leaving the plate.

A plate for supporting from one to three tacos in an upright orientation and to catch food particles dislodged from a taco upon consumption thereof, the plate including a dished body portion over which the taco can be consumed and onto which food particles dislodged from the taco may fall and collect, and three taco receiving recesses, each recess 'comprising a pair of side walls extending upwardly from the I. 4 11 I( S I 1 1 5 115 111 it S S V S $r S1 *i 7 plate to support a taco in a generally upright orientation, each recess extending outwardly from a periphery of the body portion with arn wall provided to prevent taco contents from falling from the plate and having an open front such that tacos of varying lengths can be supported within a respective recess.

11. A plate for receiving at least one taco, which plate is substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing. DATED this Twenty-Fifth day of November 1994. GLENN RAYMOND HALL and PHILLIP ANTON BARTON By Their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO I tt It'' til t I I I ABSTRACT A plate for receiving at least one food product and presenting the product 'for consumption, the plate includes a body portion over which the food product may be consumed and onto which food particles dislodged from the food product may fall and collect and at least one elongated food product receiving recess (9) in which the product may be received and held in a desired generally upright orientation prior to consumption. C i t R4 l I i 4 tI *r RR I 1 I 1I 1 I 1