JP2002360327A - Lunch box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable lunch box, especially the lunch box storing a rice container and a side dish container in an outer case such that the containers can be freely taken out, and preventing heat influence of the rice container upon the side dish container. SOLUTION: In this lunch box, the rice container and the side dish container are stored in the outer case such that the containers can be freely taken out. The rice container comprises a container body with heat-insulating/retaining property, and a lid body with a heat-insulating/retaining property openably and closably covering an opening part of the container body. The side dish container comprises a container body without a heat-retaining property, and a lid body without a heat-retaining property openably and closably covering an opening part of the container body. The outer case comprises a lower case body without a heat-retaining property having an opening part in an upper part, and an upper case body without a heat-retaining property having an opening part in a lower part. The inside of the outer case is formed with a long sideways storage chamber with the upper opening edge of the lower case body detachably connected to the lower opening edge of the upper case body. One half part of the storage chamber is formed with a rice container storage chamber, while the other half part is formed with a side dish container storage chamber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable lunch box, and more particularly to a lunch box in which a rice container and a vegetable container are removably stored in an outer case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various kinds of lunch boxes have been provided, but in order to separate and store cooked rice and prepared foods, a rice container and a vegetable container are separately provided, and a combination of both containers is popular. Is gaining.

[0003] For example, in a conventionally known lunch box, a rice container and a vegetable container are stacked in a multi-stage manner, the upper opening of the lower container is covered with the bottom of the upper container, and the upper opening of the uppermost container is closed. A configuration in which the stacked containers are integrally combined by being covered with a lid and detachably engaging a pair of rotatable ear pieces provided on the lid with an engagement piece of the lowermost container. And

[0004]

Generally, cooked rice and prepared dishes are stored in a rice container and a vegetable container immediately after they are cooked, so that they are in a high temperature state. Usually side dishes are easy to cool,
Cooked rice is hard to cool and stays warm for a relatively long time.

[0005] For this reason, according to the above-mentioned lunch box in which the rice container and the vegetable container are stacked in a multi-stage manner, even after the prepared food stored in the vegetable container has cooled down after a predetermined time has elapsed, the rice container is kept in the rice container. Since the rice is kept in a warmed state, by transferring heat from the vertically stacked rice containers to the vegetable container, an environment where the prepared food is warmed and easily perishable is generated, which may cause food poisoning.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a lunch box which prevents heat from being transmitted from a rice container to a vegetable container and facilitates cooling of the vegetable container.

Therefore, the present invention is configured as a first means in a lunch box in which a rice container and a vegetable container are removably housed in an outer case. A container having an insulating and heat-insulating property, which is capable of opening and closing the opening of the container, and a vegetable container having no heat insulating property, and an opening of the container capable of being opened and closed. The outer case is composed of a non-heat-retaining lower case body having an opening at the top and a non-heat-retaining upper case body having an opening at the bottom. In a state in which the lower opening edge of the upper case body is detachably connected to the upper opening edge of the lower case body, a horizontally long storage chamber is formed inside the outer case, and the storage chamber has one side. A rice container storage room is formed in one half, and a vegetable container is stored in the other half. Lies in comprising forming a chamber.

[0008] Further, the present invention is configured as a second means in that the container of the rice container has a substantially circular cross section to form a cylindrical wall, and the container of the vegetable container has an approximately horizontal cross section. By forming a D-shaped arc wall and flat wall,
The radius of curvature of the cylindrical wall of the rice container and the radius of curvature of the arc wall of the vegetable container are almost equal, and the outer case bulges outward in an arc shape with the both ends of the storage chamber almost symmetrical. Of the rice container storage room and the vegetable container storage room, the cylindrical wall of the rice container is stored along the curved wall of one of the storage rooms, and the arc wall of the vegetable container is Or the other storage chamber is stored along the curved wall of the storage chamber.

Further, the present invention is configured as a third means in that a vegetable container is composed of a lower first vegetable container and an upper second vegetable container, which are vertically stacked, and is provided in a vegetable container storage chamber. In the stored state, the first vegetable container is located inside the lower case body, and the second vegetable container is located inside the upper case body.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the lunch box includes a rice container 1 having heat insulation and heat insulation, a vegetable container 2 having no heat insulation and heat insulation, and both containers 1 and 2 which can be taken out. And an outer case 3.
Is composed of a lower case body 4 and an upper case body 5.

(Structure of Rice Container) The rice container 1 has a bottomed cylindrical container 6 having heat insulation and heat insulation, and also has heat insulation and heat insulation and opens and closes an upper opening 7 of the container 6. And a lid 8 that covers freely. Therefore, the body 6 has a cylindrical wall 6a having a radius of curvature d by making the cross section substantially circular (in the illustrated example, a perfect circle).

As shown in FIG. 2, the vessel 6 constitutes a vacuum adiabatic heat-insulating container comprising inner and outer double walls 9a and 9b made of stainless steel, and has a disc-shaped recess formed in the bottom of the outer wall 9b. A seat plate 10 made of synthetic resin is fixed. On the other hand, the lid 8
The concave portion 1 has a knob 11 extending in the diameter direction on the upper surface.
An upper plate 13 made of a synthetic resin in which the upper and lower plates 2 and 12 are formed, and a bowl portion 14 made of a synthetic resin fixed to a lower side of the upper plate portion 13. Is filled with the heat insulating material 15 to form a heat insulating and heat retaining lid.

When the opening 7 of the container 6 is covered with the lid 8, the bowl 14 of the lid 8 constitutes a plug that is inserted into the opening 7. The locking means 16 formed by the inner peripheral ridge 9a is locked. In this state, the downwardly bent piece 17 of the upper plate portion 13 extending to the outer periphery of the bowl portion 14 surrounds the opening edge of the body 6 and the bent piece 17
The seal packing 18 provided inside the container 6 comes into close contact with the opening edge of the container 6.

(Structure of Vegetable Container) The vegetable container 2 has a bottomed container 19 having no heat insulation and a container 1 similarly having no heat insulation.
And a lid 21 for opening and closing the opening 20 at the upper part of the opening 9. The vessel 19 has an arc wall 19a having a radius of curvature d by making the cross section substantially D-shaped, and a flat wall 19b connecting both ends of the arc wall. The radius of curvature d of the arc wall 19a is substantially equal to the radius of curvature d of the cylindrical wall 6a of the rice container 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vessel 19 is integrally formed of a synthetic resin, and a projection 22 is provided at the bottom.
A flange 23 extending outward is formed near the opening edge. On the other hand, the lid 21 is formed in a downward dish shape having a peripheral wall 24 fitted to the opening edge of the container 19, and has a concave portion 25 on the top surface. In the case of the illustrated example, the concave portion 25 is formed by a groove extending in a similar D shape to the lid 21 having a D shape in plan view.

In the illustrated embodiment, the vegetable container 2 comprises a lower first vegetable container 2a and an upper second vegetable container 2b which can be vertically stacked. A pair of vegetable containers 2a, 2b
Have the same configuration, and therefore, the above-described configurations of the container 19 and the lid 21 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

(Construction of Outer Case) The lower case body 4 and the upper case body 5 constituting the outer case 3 are integrally formed of a synthetic resin, and do not have heat insulation and heat retention.
The lower case body 4 has an opening 26 in the upper part, and the upper case body 5 has an opening 27 in the lower part.
A horizontally long storage chamber 28 is formed inside the outer case 3 with the lower opening edge of the upper case body 5 fitted to the upper opening edge of the upper case body 5. In the case of the example shown in the figure, fitting step portions 29 enabling fitting from above and below are formed at the mutual opening edges. Although not shown, an elastic band is removably fastened to the outer periphery of the outer case 3 in a state where the lower case body 4 and the upper case body 5 are fitted and combined.

The lower case body 4 and the upper case body constituting the horizontally long storage chamber 28 have curved walls 4a, 5a and 4 which are substantially symmetric at both ends and bulge outward in an arc shape.
b, 5b, and the radius of curvature of the curved walls 4a, 5a and the curved walls 4b, 5b are substantially equal to each other. It is possible to follow along almost.

Therefore, in the horizontally long storage room 28, a rice container storage room 28a is formed by one half, and a vegetable container storage room 28b is formed by the other half.

(Operation) According to the lunch box based on the above configuration, freshly cooked rice X is put into the rice container 1. The rice container 1 holds the cooked rice X in a heat-insulated state since the container 6 having the vacuum double-wall structure is covered with the heat-insulating lid 8. On the other hand, the prepared side dish Y after cooking is put in the rape container 2. Greens container 2
Is covered with the lid 21 which also has no heat retaining property, so that even when the prepared food Y is at a high temperature during storage, heat is quickly radiated and cooled to room temperature.

When carrying a lunch box, for example, when going out, the rice container 1 is located in the rice container storage room 28a and the lower case 4
Is stored in. As shown in FIG. 2, the concave portion 30 for fitting the seat plate 10 at the bottom of the body of the rice container 1 is locked to the bottom of the lower case body 4, so that the rice container 1 does not move. . In this state, the lower half of the rice container 1 is stored in the lower case body 4, but the upper half is exposed in a protruding manner.

The vegetable container 2 has a first vegetable container 2a and a second vegetable container 2b laminated, and is housed in the lower case body 4 in the vegetable container storage chamber 28b. At this time, the protruding seat 22 of the container 19 of the second vegetable container 2b located on the upper side is fitted and locked in the concave portion 25 of the lid 21 of the first vegetable container 2a located on the lower side, so that the two can move freely. To block. In this state, the first vegetable container 2a is stored in the lower case body 4, but the second vegetable container 2a
Most of b protrudes from the lower case body 4 and is exposed.

Thereafter, the upper case body 5 is arranged on the upper portion of the lower case body 4 so as to cover the projecting upper half of the rice container 1 and the second vegetable container 2b, and the fitting step 29 is fitted. At the same time, it is fastened inseparably by an elastic band (not shown).

During the carrying of the lunch box, the heat of the cooked rice X is sealed in the inside of the rice container 1 having heat insulation and heat insulation, and therefore, the container 6 and the lid 8 do not take heat on the outer surface. . On the other hand, the prepared food Y, which has been heated after cooking, is radiated to the outside via the vegetable container 2 having no heat retention and is cooled to room temperature. Moreover, the lower case body 4 constituting the outer case 3
And since the upper case body 5 does not have heat insulation, the vegetable container 2
Is easily radiated to the outside through the outer case 3. As a result, the risk of the prepared food Y being heated and putrefying as in the related art is extremely low.

As is apparent from the above configuration, the storage room 2
8 is a storage room 28a on one half and a storage room 28 on the other half.
Since b is formed in a substantially symmetrical shape, the rice container 1 is stored in the storage room 28a on one half and the vegetable container 2 is stored in the storage room 28b on the other half, as shown in the figure. The arrangement can be reversed, and the vegetable container 2 can be stored in the storage room 28a on one half and the rice container 1 can be stored in the storage room 28b on the other half. In any of the storage modes, the cylindrical wall 6a of the rice container 1 is generally fitted along one curved wall 4a, 5a (or 4b, 5b), and the arc wall 19a of the vegetable container 2 is curved along the other. It is fitted along the wall 4b, 5b (or 4a, 5a).

In this regard, when the vegetable container 2 is formed in a cylindrical shape, the curved walls 4 b, 5 b
b (or 4a, 5a), there is a problem that the stored prepared foods lose their shape, and moreover, a large dead space between the adjacently stored rice container 1 and the vegetable container 2 There is a problem that causes. On the other hand, according to the above configuration, since the vegetable container 2 is formed to have a substantially D-shaped cross section having the arc wall 19a and the flat wall 19b, free rotation inside the storage chamber 28 is prevented. The arc wall 19a and the curved walls 4b, 5b (or 4a, 5b) which are not confined to each other and contribute to the prevention of the side dish, etc.
a) ensuring good heat radiation of the vegetable container 2 according to a),
The dead space generated between the adjacent rice containers 1 can be made as small as possible, which contributes to securing the capacity of the vegetable container 2 and, furthermore, the contact point (proximal portion) between the rice container 1 and the vegetable container 2 However, since it is only a partial surface of the cylindrical wall 6a opposed to the flat wall 19b, the object of the present invention to prevent the influence of heat from the rice container 1 on the vegetable container 2 can be achieved.

[0028]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a lunch box in which the rice container 1 and the vegetable container 2 are configured separately and independently,
Heat is confined by storing rice X in a heat-insulated rice container 1, while prepared food Y is stored in a non-insulated rice container 2.
The rice container 1 and the vegetable container 2 are stored in the storage chambers 28a, 28a of the outer case 3, respectively.
8b, so that it is not necessary to heat the prepared food by transferring heat from the rice container to the vegetable container to create an environment that is easy to perish, as in the prior art, and to ensure the safety from food poisoning. There is.

Further, according to the present invention described in claim 2,
A curved wall 4a in which the storage room 28 of the outer case 3 is substantially symmetrical with the storage room 28a of one half and the storage room 28b of the other half;
5a and 4b, 5b, the cylindrical wall 6a of the rice container 1 and the arc-shaped wall 19a of the vegetable container 2 are stored along the curved wall. It is possible to selectively store in both the storage room 28a and the storage room 28b, and there is convenience due to the flexibility of storage arrangement.

Since the vegetable container 2 has a substantially D-shaped cross section, it does not rotate freely in any of the storage chambers 28a and 28b to prevent the side dish from becoming out of shape. Arc wall 19a and curved walls 4b, 5b (or 4a,
The heat radiation of the prepared food is improved through 5a). And
Since the cross section d of the vegetable container 2 is substantially D-shaped, there is an effect that the capacity of the vegetable container 2 can be secured while the dead space between the rice container 1 and the adjacent rice container 1 is made as small as possible.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention,
While maintaining the above-described effects, the vegetable container 2 can be divided into small portions, and a wide variety of prepared dishes can be stored in a separate and independent state. In addition, the first vegetable container 2a and the second vegetable container 2b Is easy to store and take out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exploded state of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an assembled state of one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice container 2 Vegetable container 3 Outer case 4 Lower case 4a, 4b Curved wall 5 Upper case 5a, 5b Curved wall 6 Rice container 6a Cylindrical wall 8 Rice container lid 19 Vegetable container 19a Arc Wall 19b Flat wall 21 Vegetable container lid 28 Storage room 28a Rice container storage room 28b Vegetable container storage room

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A lunch box in which a rice container and a vegetable container are removably housed in an outer case, wherein the rice container 1 has a heat-insulating and heat-insulating body 6, and an opening of the vessel can be opened and closed. The vegetable container 2 is covered with a lid 8 having heat insulation and heat insulation properties. The vegetable container 2 has a container body 19 having no heat insulation property, and has an opening portion of the container body capable of being opened and closed and has no heat insulation property. The outer case 3 is composed of a lower case body 4 having an opening at an upper portion and having no heat insulation, and an upper case body 5 having an opening at a lower portion and having no heat insulation. In a state where the lower opening edge of the upper case body 5 is detachably fitted to the upper opening edge of the case body 4, the horizontally long storage chamber 2 is provided inside the outer case 3.
8 is formed, and the storage room 28 is formed by forming a rice container storage room 28a in one half and a vegetable container storage room 28b in the other half. . 2. The container 6 of the rice container 1 has a substantially circular cross section to form a cylindrical wall 6a.
The container 19 has an arc-shaped wall 19a and a flat wall 19b by making the cross section substantially D-shaped, and the cylindrical wall 6a of the rice container 1 is formed.
And the radius of curvature d of the arc wall 19a of the vegetable container 2 are substantially equal. The outer case 3 bulges outward in an arc shape with the both ends of the storage chamber 28 substantially symmetrical. Outgoing curved walls 4a, 5a and 4
and the cylindrical wall 6a of the rice container 1 of the rice container storage room 28a and the vegetable container storage room 28b is stored along the curved walls 4a, 5a of one of the storage rooms 28a. The arc wall 19a of the vegetable container 2 is connected to the curved wall 4b of the other storage chamber 28b,
The lunch box according to claim 1, wherein the lunch box is accommodated along with 5b. 3. The first vegetable container 2 is composed of a lower first vegetable container 2a and an upper second vegetable container 2b in which the vegetable container 2 is vertically stacked, and is stored in the vegetable container storage chamber 28b. 3. The lunch box according to claim 1, wherein the second box 2 a is located inside the lower case body 4, and the second vegetable container 2 b is located inside the upper case body 5. 4.