CA2510098C

CA2510098C - Serving dish

Info

Publication number: CA2510098C
Application number: CA 2510098
Authority: CA
Inventors: Penny Morin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-06-07
Filing date: 2005-06-07
Publication date: 2009-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 2025-06-07
Also published as: CA2510098A1

Abstract

A serving dish that includes a hollow body defining an interior cavity and an upper surface. The upper surface is adapted to support food At least one aperture is provided in the upper surface providing access to the interior cavity whereby waste material remaining from consumption of food can be deposited.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
Serving dish FIELD OF THE INVENTION
s The present invention relates to serving dishes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is common to serve certain types of food, particularly finger food items with two 1 o dishes. One dish to contain the food item, and another dish for collecting the non-editable portion of the finger food. By way of example, when serving shrimps, often the tail portion is not eaten and needs to be set aside for disposal later. With individually wrapped candies, after the candy is unwrapped, the wrapper must be deposed of. Fruits like chernes, or plums have pits that must be disposed of after the fruit portion is eaten. After it is removed from its shell, 1 s the peanut is eaten while the shells must be disposed of. Using two bowls can take up extra room on a table or serving surface. Also, discarded shrimp tails, nut shells or the like can look unsightly in an open bowl sitting next to food that is being served.

2 o SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
What is required is an alternative type of serving dish.
According to the present invention there is provided serving dish which includes a hollow body defining an interior cavity and an upper surface. The upper surface is 2s adapted to support food At least one aperture is provided in the upper surface providing access to the interior cavity whereby waste material remaining from consumption of food can be deposited.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

3 o These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a serving dish constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
FIGURE 2 is an exploded view of the serving dish illustrated in FIGURE.1 FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view, in section, of the serving dish illustrating s FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the serving dish.
FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the serving dish.
FIGURE 6 is a side elevation view, in section, of the serving dish illustrated in FIGURE 1, fitted with a disposable liner.
1 o FIGURE 7 is a side elevation view, in section, of the serving dish illustrated in FIGURE 1, with a closable opening.
FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of the serving dish illustrated in FIGURE 1 with a single food compartment.
FIGURE 9 is a side elevation view, in section, of forth embodiment of the serving i s dish DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The preferred embodiment, a serving dish generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIGURES 1 through 3. Alternative embodiments 2 o will be further described with reference to FIGURES 4 and 8.
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring to FIGURE 1, there is provided a serving dish 10. Referring to FIGURE
2, serving dish 10 includes a hollow body 12 defining an interior cavity 14 and an upper 25 surface 16. Referring to FIGURE 3, upper surface 16 is adapted to support food 20 such as peanuts or shrimp. Referring to FIGURE 1, in the illustrated embodiment, ribs 22 divide up upper surface 16 into four recessed food containment areas 24, however it will be appreciated that there could be as few as just one food containment area 24 as illustrated in FIGURE 8 or more than four food containment areas 24. Referring to FIGURE
1, in 3o the illustrated embodiment 10, ribs 22 are integrally moulded into the upper surface, although it will be appreciated that ribs could be removable.

Referring to FIGURE 3, upper surface 16 has an aperture 26 so as to provide access to interior cavity 14 whereby waste material 28 remaining from consumption of food 20 such as peanut shells or shrimp tails can be deposited. Aperture 26 is defined by a raised profile 27 in upper surface 16. In the illustrated embodiment 10, only one aperture s 26 is illustrated however it will be appreciated that more than one aperture 26 could be provided.
Referring to FIGURE 3, hollow body 12 has a bottom surface 18 which is concaved upward such that waste material 28 deposited thought aperture 26 falls away i o from aperture 26 towards circumferential wall 30. Alternatively, bottom surface 18 could also be flat.
Referring to FIGURE 2, hollow body 12 is comprised of an upper portion 32 and a lower portion 34. Upper portion 32 is detachable from the lower portion 34. In the 1 s illustrated embodiment upper portion 32 and lower portion 34 fit together by means of a snap fit, however it will be appreciated that they could be threaded together.
Other means can be used to detachably secure upper portion 32 to lower portion 34. Hollow body 12 could also be unitarily formed as described below with reference to FIGURE 4.
Operation:
Referring to FIGURES 1 through 3, the use and operation of serving dish 10 will now be described. Referring now to FIGURE 3, a variety of foods 20 can be placed in food containment areas 24 and kept separated by ribs 22. As food 20 is consumed, aperture 26 allows waste material 28 such as, pits, vines, wrappers, tails, shells and seeds to be disposed of. The waste material 28 is deposited through aperture 26 into the interior cavity 14. As waste material 28 lands on concave bottom surface 18, it moves to the circumferential wall of interior cavity 14. Referring to FIGURES 2 and 3, after the food 20 is consumed, upper 3 o portion 32 can be separated from lower portion 34 and waste material 28 can be disposed of.
Upper portion 32 and lower portion 34 can then be cleaned and upper portion 32 can be refilled.

Variations:
Referring FIGURE 4, there is provided a second embodiment, generally referenced by numeral 100. Second embodiment 100 is similar to first embodiment 10 illustrated in FIGURE 1, except that second embodiment 100 has a unitarily formed hollow body s which is provided with a tray like closable opening 136 for clearing out waste material 28 from interior cavity 14 as illustrated in FIGURE 3. Alternatively, closable opening could be a door 137 in bottom surface 18 as illustrated in FIGURE 7 to facilitate removal of waste material 28 from interior cavity 14.
i o Referring to FIGURE 5, there is provided a third embodiment, generally referenced by numeral 200. Second embodiment 200 is also similar to first embodiment 10 illustrated in FIGURE l, except that second embodiment 200 is round in shape rather then square. It will be appreciated that serving dish 10 illustrated in FIGURE 1 can come in a variety of shapes and configurations. A fourth embodiment generally reference by numeral 1 s 300 is illustrated in FIGURE 9. With forth embodiment 300, lower portion 34 has a pedestal -style shape. Upper portion 32 is detachable from lower portion 34 to facilitate cleaning out of lower portion 34.
Referring to FIGURE 6, first embodiment 10 can be provided with a disposable 20 liner 38. Disposable liner 38 is adapted to lie along bottom surface 18 and circumferential wall 30 of interior cavity 14. When waste material 28 has accumulate in interior cavity 14, upper portion 32 can be detached, disposable liner 38 containing waste material 28 can be gathered up and disposed. Disposable liner 38 can then be replaced and upper portion 32 can then be replaced.
Cautionary Warnings:
In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not exclude the 3 o possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.

Claims

1. A serving dish comprising;
a hollow body defining an interior cavity and an upper surface, the upper surface being adapted to support food; and at least one aperture in the upper surface providing access to the interior cavity whereby waste material remaining from consumption of food can be deposited.

2. The serving dish as described in claim 1, wherein the hollow body is comprised of an upper portion and a lower portion, the upper portion is detachable from the lower portion.

3. The serving dish as described in claim 1, the upper surface is divided into at least one recessed food containment area.

4. The serving dish as described in claim 3, wherein ribs divide up the at least one recessed food containment area into several food containment areas.

5. The serving dish as described in claim 1, wherein the hollow body has a closable opening for clearing out waste material from the interior cavity.

6. The serving dish as described in claim 1, wherein the at least one aperture is defined by a raised profile in the upper surface.

7. The serving dish as described in claim 1, wherein the hollow body has a bottom surface which is concaved upward such that waste material deposited thought the aperture falls away from the aperture.