US20080007078A1 - Food or drink tray - Google Patents
Food or drink tray Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20080007078A1 US20080007078A1 US11/901,924 US90192407A US2008007078A1 US 20080007078 A1 US20080007078 A1 US 20080007078A1 US 90192407 A US90192407 A US 90192407A US 2008007078 A1 US2008007078 A1 US 2008007078A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- tray
- carrier
- handle
- food
- drink
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
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Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
- A47G—HOUSEHOLD OR TABLE EQUIPMENT
- A47G23/00—Other table equipment
- A47G23/06—Serving trays
- A47G23/0625—Serving trays with thumb holes, handles or the like positioned below the tray facilitating carrying the tray with one hand
Definitions
- This invention relates generally to trays and more specifically to an oblong restaurant tray with a handle.
- Servers at social gatherings and in restaurants transport ordered food and beverages from a kitchen or bar to patrons.
- the server often uses a conventional circle tray and will place and balance several drinks and/or dishes of food on the tray.
- the tray is then transported to a table, for example, using a single hand to carry the tray.
- servers balance the tray on one hand. This leaves the other hand free to handle check or money and to move beverages and/or dishes of food from the tray.
- Conventional trays are typically circular with a large diameter in order to accommodate many drinks and/or several dishes of food. Because of the size and the amount of dishes of food and beverages on the tray, it is difficult to balance, and particularly difficult to adjust for the weight shifting that occurs as food dishes and beverages are removed from the tray. Often, dishes or beverages fall to the floor and result in the breaking of the dishes or glasses and creating a mess that needs to be cleaned by a restaurant employee. Furthermore, the food or drinks have to be reordered, thereby creating a further delay in service to the patron. This is costly, time consuming, and embarrassing to the server.
- a restaurant tray that provides greater and easier ability to balance, support, and transport the food and beverages and minimize the possibility of spilling any dish or beverage while still providing the advantages of enabling the transport of large quantities of food or drink as with conventional trays.
- the objects of this invention are: to provide a food or drink tray that allows for the safe transport of food or drinks while allowing the user to manage the tray in various positions that will help alleviate fatigue.
- FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a food or drink tray according to the present invention.
- FIG. 2 is a side view of the food or drink tray shown in FIG. 1 .
- the reference number 10 generally designates a food or drink tray according to the present invention.
- the tray 10 has an attached handle 16 with a hinge 18 .
- the hinge 18 has a hinge joint 20 that allows for the handle 16 to be moved into either of two stable configurations.
- the handle 16 may have an oblique cross-section that allows the user feedback regarding the orientation of the handle and attached tray and also helps reduce wrist fatigue.
- the tray base 12 has a raised edge 14 to limit sliding of articles placed upon the top surface.
- the handle 16 may be terminated with a knob 22 to aid the user in securely gripping the handle.
Landscapes
- Table Equipment (AREA)
- Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)
Abstract
A food and drink tray for carrying several items of food and drinks over a large serving area allowing dispensing of food and drinks with minimum danger of spilling same which would cause a mess or accident. A tray that can be supported on edge of shoulder or on abdomen of server in order to rest the arm. A tray that has a shaped handle that allows the server to ascertain rotation of tray. A tray with a handle that folds up and out the way to facilitate placing tray down on the edge of a countertop.
Description
- This application is a CIP of Ser. No. 11/219,056, filed by the present inventor.
- Not applicable
- Not applicable
- This invention relates generally to trays and more specifically to an oblong restaurant tray with a handle.
- Servers at social gatherings and in restaurants transport ordered food and beverages from a kitchen or bar to patrons. The server often uses a conventional circle tray and will place and balance several drinks and/or dishes of food on the tray. The tray is then transported to a table, for example, using a single hand to carry the tray. As is often done, servers balance the tray on one hand. This leaves the other hand free to handle check or money and to move beverages and/or dishes of food from the tray.
- Conventional trays are typically circular with a large diameter in order to accommodate many drinks and/or several dishes of food. Because of the size and the amount of dishes of food and beverages on the tray, it is difficult to balance, and particularly difficult to adjust for the weight shifting that occurs as food dishes and beverages are removed from the tray. Often, dishes or beverages fall to the floor and result in the breaking of the dishes or glasses and creating a mess that needs to be cleaned by a restaurant employee. Furthermore, the food or drinks have to be reordered, thereby creating a further delay in service to the patron. This is costly, time consuming, and embarrassing to the server.
- Accordingly, what is needed is a restaurant tray that provides greater and easier ability to balance, support, and transport the food and beverages and minimize the possibility of spilling any dish or beverage while still providing the advantages of enabling the transport of large quantities of food or drink as with conventional trays.
- The objects of this invention are: to provide a food or drink tray that allows for the safe transport of food or drinks while allowing the user to manage the tray in various positions that will help alleviate fatigue.
- Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
- The drawings constitute a part of the specification and include preferred embodiments of the present invention, while illustrating various objects and features thereof. In some of figures, relative material thickness may be shown exaggerated to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
-
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a food or drink tray according to the present invention. -
FIG. 2 is a side view of the food or drink tray shown inFIG. 1 . - Detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed here are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure.
- Referring to
FIG. 1 , thereference number 10 generally designates a food or drink tray according to the present invention. Thetray 10 has an attachedhandle 16 with ahinge 18. Thehinge 18 has ahinge joint 20 that allows for thehandle 16 to be moved into either of two stable configurations. Thehandle 16 may have an oblique cross-section that allows the user feedback regarding the orientation of the handle and attached tray and also helps reduce wrist fatigue. - Referring to
FIG. 2 , thetray base 12 has a raisededge 14 to limit sliding of articles placed upon the top surface. Thehandle 16 may be terminated with aknob 22 to aid the user in securely gripping the handle. - While the above description contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but as exemplifications of the presently preferred embodiments thereof. Many other ramifications and variations are possible within the teachings of the invention.
- Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, and not by the examples given.
Claims (7)
1. A new and useful food and drink carrier tray that has a bottom lock away hinge and handle. A balanced carrier that can be balanced on the shoulder using one hand or pulled in and rested on waist. A handle on the bottom which can be pulled back to facilitate setting carrier on the edge of a table. A spring loaded hinged handle with two stable positions.
2. A carrier as in claim 1 whereas tray has a novel crescent shape.
3. A carrier as in claim 1 whereas tray has a long handle on bottom side.
4. A carrier as in claim 1 whereas tray has a raised lip along the perimeter.
5. A carrier as in claim 3 whereas handle is on a hinge.
6. A carrier as in claim 5 whereas the hinge locks up under tray.
7. A carrier as in claim 3 whereas handle has an oblong cross-sectional shape.
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US11/901,924 US20080007078A1 (en) | 2005-09-01 | 2007-09-20 | Food or drink tray |
US12/275,049 US20090065391A1 (en) | 2005-09-01 | 2008-11-20 | Food or drink tray |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US21905605A | 2005-09-01 | 2005-09-01 | |
US11/901,924 US20080007078A1 (en) | 2005-09-01 | 2007-09-20 | Food or drink tray |
Related Parent Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US11/219,506 Continuation-In-Part US7575866B2 (en) | 2003-03-03 | 2005-09-01 | Ligand/binding partner bio-labeling systems |
US21905605A Continuation-In-Part | 2005-09-01 | 2005-09-01 |
Related Child Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US12/275,049 Continuation-In-Part US20090065391A1 (en) | 2005-09-01 | 2008-11-20 | Food or drink tray |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20080007078A1 true US20080007078A1 (en) | 2008-01-10 |
Family
ID=37816049
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US11/901,924 Abandoned US20080007078A1 (en) | 2005-09-01 | 2007-09-20 | Food or drink tray |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US20080007078A1 (en) |
CN (1) | CN1923092A (en) |
Cited By (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2013154772A1 (en) * | 2012-04-13 | 2013-10-17 | Gregory Mcdermott | Tray handling systems |
US9386872B2 (en) | 2012-04-13 | 2016-07-12 | Gregory McDermott | Tray handling systems |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP2371245A1 (en) * | 2010-03-30 | 2011-10-05 | Roberto D'Amico | Tray system |
CN112774755A (en) * | 2021-01-28 | 2021-05-11 | 苏州长光华医生物医学工程有限公司 | Tray device for bearing sample rack |
Citations (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US219183A (en) * | 1879-09-02 | Improvement in hotel-servers | ||
US2375643A (en) * | 1944-04-12 | 1945-05-08 | Germanotta John | Toiletry appliance |
US2640747A (en) * | 1951-07-26 | 1953-06-02 | Anthony M Golubich | Lap table |
US4858796A (en) * | 1988-04-07 | 1989-08-22 | Roth Charles S | Vehicle tray |
US4991908A (en) * | 1990-03-30 | 1991-02-12 | Smooth Sailing, Inc. | Portable footrest |
US5074222A (en) * | 1990-10-15 | 1991-12-24 | Welch Joe A | Body supported tray table |
US20050056192A1 (en) * | 2003-09-12 | 2005-03-17 | Denis Marchand | Serving tray |
-
2006
- 2006-09-01 CN CNA2006101279864A patent/CN1923092A/en active Pending
-
2007
- 2007-09-20 US US11/901,924 patent/US20080007078A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US219183A (en) * | 1879-09-02 | Improvement in hotel-servers | ||
US2375643A (en) * | 1944-04-12 | 1945-05-08 | Germanotta John | Toiletry appliance |
US2640747A (en) * | 1951-07-26 | 1953-06-02 | Anthony M Golubich | Lap table |
US4858796A (en) * | 1988-04-07 | 1989-08-22 | Roth Charles S | Vehicle tray |
US4991908A (en) * | 1990-03-30 | 1991-02-12 | Smooth Sailing, Inc. | Portable footrest |
US5074222A (en) * | 1990-10-15 | 1991-12-24 | Welch Joe A | Body supported tray table |
US20050056192A1 (en) * | 2003-09-12 | 2005-03-17 | Denis Marchand | Serving tray |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2013154772A1 (en) * | 2012-04-13 | 2013-10-17 | Gregory Mcdermott | Tray handling systems |
US9125506B2 (en) | 2012-04-13 | 2015-09-08 | Gregory McDermott | Tray handling systems |
US9386872B2 (en) | 2012-04-13 | 2016-07-12 | Gregory McDermott | Tray handling systems |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CN1923092A (en) | 2007-03-07 |
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Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
STCB | Information on status: application discontinuation |
Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION |