GB2255075A - Multi-purpose food carrying box - Google Patents

Abstract

A multi-purpose food carrying box has a body of trapezoidal shape defined by front, rear, left, right and bottom side walls. Lower and upper covers (2, 3) are formed integrally along left and right side walls, respectively and handle members (7, 8) are also provided. The multi-purpose food carrying box is formed integrally by a whole piece of material, such as a waxed paper. Upon assembling, additional items, such as a napkin, a spoon, a fork, chopsticks and a straw, can be located in a compact fashion, members (71, 81) being provided e.g. for supporting chopsticks. <IMAGE>

Description

MULTIPURPOSE FOOD CARRYING BOX The present invention relates to a food carrying box, particularly of the type suitable for chinese food.

A food carrying box as disclosed in Figure 1, is already known which consists of a trapezoidal shape, having a wire A attached in a hooked manner at C functioning as a handle and a pair of covers B secured together.

Although the conventional carrying box can satisfy the basic need of storing food during transportation, it is subject to the following disadvantages: 1. When reheating food contained in the box by microwave, wire A must be taken out for safety reasons. This results in possible injury to fingers by the wire, and potential splashing of soup contained in the box during removal of the wire.

2. The covers B are difficult to open.

3. Since wire is used as a handle, additional care has to be taken to keep the box in balance.

4. Soup will leak from the wire attachment holes; 5. The outfit and shape is irregular, which is extremely difficult for treatment after uses; and 6. Wire can rust quickly, which results contamination of the food if one fails to observe the rusting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a multi-purpose food carrying box utilizes a piece of waxed paper to integrally form a body which has front and rear covers integrally formed on the top of the box extending from left and right walls, respectively, while two handle members are formed 90 degrees shift away from the covers for carrying purposes, which provide spaces for positioning a napkin, fork, spoon, chopsticks and straw.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-purpose food carrying box; It is still an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages set forth; Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the prior art; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the spreading out of one embodiment according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the folding of upper and lower cover; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the folding of handle members; FIG. 5 shows fork, spoon, and straw being placed in position; FIG. 6 shows napkin being placed further thereon; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the first embodiment; FIG. 7-A is another preferred embodiment showing different positioning of chopsticks; FIG. 8 the box being carried; FIG. 9 shows engagement of insertion portion and lateral plate; FIG. 10 shows the present invention in use; FIG. 11 shows the box being collapsible;; FIG. 12 shows folding of the box in a more compact fashion. DEIAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the drawings, particularly to FIGs. 2 and 3, a box is generally denoted by numeral 1, which has lateral plates 11 and 12 of trapezoidal shape to be folded together and pulled upwardly; whereas the box body 1 is formed integrally by a piece of paper and can be identified as front wall, rear wall, left wall, right wall and bottom wall.

Connected with left and right wall are lower cover 2 and upper cover 3, while front and rear handle members 8 and 7 are mirror imagedly located at 90 degrees to the covers and connect to front wall and rear wall of the box, respectively.

Further with reference to FIG. 3, the lower cover 2 has a first insertion portion 21 withfirst gap 22 to be inter-engaged with second gap 32 of second insertion portion 31 formed integrally on upper cover 3. The lower cover 2 further has an U-shaped opening 23 and a V-shaped opening 24 which are incorporated with two substantial U-shaped openings 33 and 34 of upper cover 3, so that fork 4 and spoon 5 can be placed diagonally on the covers as best shown in FIG. 5.

Located on the substantial center of upper cover 3 is a straw opening 35, which is designed to receive a straw when liquid is contained in the box for consumption.

Turning now to FIG. 4, box 1 can be made compact by folding front handle member 8 toward rear handle member 7. An inserting plate 83 formed integrally at one side of front handle member 8 facing to the rear handle member 7, and upon engaging with a U-shaped opening 73 of the rear handle member, the box is suitable for storing or further processing, such as keeping in a refrigerator or heating in a micro-wave FIG. 5 shows fork 4, spoon 5 and straw 6 placed on upper and lower covers, while FIG. 6 has napkin 10 on the top.

The front and rear handle members each have a W-shaped opening, designated as 72 and 82, to allow insertion of fingers for carrying purposes.

Implemented to the W-shaped openings are W-shaped chopsticks holding plates 71 and 81, each has T-shaped opening designated as 711 and 811, as shown in FIG. 7. It is noted that the T-shaped openings are inter-engageable when front and rear handle members face towards each other so that a pair of chopsticks 9 can be placed on the chopsticks holding plates.

Another feature of the present invention as shown in FIG 7-A is to- place chopsticks 9 through a twin circular hole 84 formed on front handle member and a twin circular hole 74 diagonally formed on rear handle member.

In use, referring to FIG. 8, chopsticks are placed on the chopsticks holding plates of front and rear handle members, which can be first removed. Upon separating from engagement of T-shaped openings, napkin 10, fork 4, spoon 5 and straw can be removed Turning now to FIG. 9, attention is drawn to the upper and lower covers. Insertion portions 21 and 31 are now engaged with respective lateral plates when the covers are folded toward left and right walls of the box.

FIG. 10 shows the handle members folded over by fingers in a conventional manner, while the other hand holds the chopsticks shown in broken lines.

The box is collapsable as shown in FIG. 11, in which the box is folded along folding lines formed on two opposed walls, such as left and right walls in this embodiment. Further, FIG.

12 shows how the box can be made even more compact by folding handle members over toward one side wall of the box.

Claims (6)

CLAIMS:

1. A food carrying box comprising a blank which, when assembled, forms four side walls and a bottom wall, the side walls being joined by connecting flaps, the box also having upper and lower covers integral with a first pair of opposing side walls and handle members integral with a second pair of opposing side walls wherein at least one of the handle members comprises a holding means for resting an eating implement thereon.

2. A multi-purpose food carrying box, comprising: a body, defined by front, rear, left and right side walls, and a bottom wall; a pair of lateral plates located between adjacent side walls, each having one lateral side connected with a side wall and the other lateral side to be connected with the other plate when folded during assembly of the box; a lower cover, having a first insertion portion provided wth a first gap, formed integrally with said left wall of said body; an upper cover, being the mirror-image of said lower cover provided with a second gap in a second insertion portion formed thereon to substantially inter-engage with said first gap of said first insertion portion;; front and rear handle members, being mirror-images of each other located at 90 degrees to said covers, connected to front and rear walls, respectively, each having a W-shaped chopsticks holding plate formed integrally thereon, and an implemental W-shaped opening defined as said W-shaped chopsticks holding plate being partially cut and pulled inwardly to facilitate carrying.

3. A multi-purpose food carrying box as defined in Claim 2, wherein one of said covers further comprises a substantially V-shaped opening and a substantially U-shaped opening and the other cover has two substantially U-shaped openings, so that a fork and a spoon can be placed diagonally on said cover by inserting both ends of said fork and spoon into said openings.

4. A multi-purpose food carrying box as defined in Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein one of said covers further comprises a through hole to allow insertion of a straw for drinking purposes.

5. A multi-purpose food carrying box as defined in any of Claims 2 to 4 wherein each said handle member further comprises a twin circular hole to allow insertion of said chopsticks.

6. A multi-purpose food carrying box as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 5 wherein said handle members have T-shaped opening formed on said chopsticks holding plates to be inter-engaged each other to substantially support the chopsticks, and an inserting plate formed integrally at one side of handle member and a U-shaped opening to substantially receive said inserting plate when engaging each, so that the carrying box can be in a compact fashion and ready for microwaving.