US20170265632A1

US20170265632A1 - Wearable food tray

Info

Publication number: US20170265632A1
Application number: US15/462,405
Authority: US
Inventors: S. Jermikko Johnson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2016-03-18
Filing date: 2017-03-17
Publication date: 2017-09-21

Abstract

A tray comprises a tray member including a front end and a rear end, and a retaining member attached to the rear end of the tray member, the retaining member configured to secure the tray member to a user's waist. The tray may in some embodiments be foldable and in some embodiments be configured to receive food and/or drink products.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/390,088, entitled “MY FESTIVAL & PERSONAL EAT'N WALK TRAY,” filed Mar. 18, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference and relied upon.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to apparatuses that facilitate mobile consumption of food and drink and more specifically to a wearable food tray.
Food and drink vendors are a staple at large gatherings such as conventions, festivals, and concerts. Attendees at such events, however, are faced with choosing between foregoing one of food and drink or being forced to occupy both hands in the attempt to carry everything. Making the latter choice severely limits an attendee's ability to engage in social interactions, move around the event, or generally engage in simple activities that require the use of hands.
In some cases, vendors may provide serving trays to facilitate food carrying. These serving trays, however, are large and awkward, often require two hands to hold, and make eating while standing and/or walking difficult, if not impossible.
A need accordingly exists for an apparatus that solves these problems, allowing attendees of large events to consume food without it severely impacting their mobility and enjoyment of the event.

SUMMARY

The present apparatus involves a wearable food tray that addresses the needs of festival- and concert-goers. The wearable food tray in one embodiment allows attendees at such events to place food and drink on a tray secured to an attendee's waist, thereby requiring no use of the attendee's hands.
In one embodiment, a tray comprises a tray member including a front end and a rear end, and a retaining member attached to the rear end of the tray member, the retaining member configured to secure the tray member to a user's waist.
In one embodiment, the tray member is configured to accept food and/or drink products.
In one embodiment, the tray member includes at least one cavity.
In one embodiment, the cavity is configured to accept food and/or drink products.
In one embodiment, the retaining member attached to the tray member is a belt.
In one embodiment, the retaining member is a cord.
In one embodiment, the retaining member cord is an elastic cord.
In one embodiment, the retaining member is attached to the tray member by sliding the retaining member through a plurality of slits in the rear end of the tray member.
In one embodiment, the tray member further includes at least one hinge member.
In one embodiment, the hinge member is positioned at the center of the tray member such that the tray is foldable in half.
In one embodiment, the retaining member is further configured to be usable as a shoulder strap.
In one embodiment, the tray further includes a pouch secured to the tray member.
In another embodiment, a method of consuming food and/or drink comprises providing on a shoulder of a user a folded wearable foldable tray including a tray member with a front end and a rear end, and a retaining member secured to the rear end, wherein the retaining member is placed on the shoulder of the user; removing the retaining member from the shoulder of the user; unfolding the tray member by displacing opposite sides of the tray member until it lies flat; securing the retaining member around a waste of the user so that the tray member is positioned in front of the user; and placing food and/or drink product on the tray member for consumption.
In one embodiment, the tray member includes at least one hinge member.
In one embodiment, the retaining member is secured to the tray member by sliding the retaining member through a plurality of slits in the rear end of the tray member.
In one embodiment, the tray member is foldable in half.
In one embodiment, the tray member includes at least one cavity.
In one embodiment, the method of consuming food and/or drink products also includes the step of removing the retaining member from the waist of the user.
In one embodiment, the method of consuming food and/or drink products also includes the step of removing the retaining member from the tray member.
According to yet another embodiment, a foldable, wearable tray comprises a tray member including a proximal end, a distal end, at least one chamber, and at least one articulating member so that the tray is foldable. The foldable, wearable tray also includes a pouch secured to the tray member and a cincture secured to the proximal end of the tray member, the cincture configured to be worn around a user's waist when the tray member is in an unfolded position and around a user's shoulder when the tray member is in a folded position.
Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from the following Detailed Description and the Figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wearable food tray according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear end of the wearable food tray.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a wearable, foldable tray according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a bottom-up view of the wearable, foldable tray.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wearable, foldable tray when it is partially folded along its center axis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a widget” or “the widget” includes two or more widgets. The term “and/or” used in the context of “X and/or Y” should be interpreted as “X,” or “Y,” or “X and Y.” Where used herein, the term “example,” followed by a listing of terms, is merely exemplary and illustrative, and should not be deemed to be exclusive or comprehensive.
Numerical adjectives, such as “first” and “second,” are merely used to distinguish components. These numerical adjectives do not imply the presence of other components, a relative positioning, or any chronological implementation. In this regard, the presence of a “second widget” does not imply that a “first widget” is necessarily present. Further in this regard, a “second widget” can be upstream from, downstream from or co-located with a “first widget,” if any; and a “second widget” can be used before, after, or simultaneously with a “first widget,” if any.
The devices disclosed herein may lack any element that is not specifically disclosed herein. Thus, a disclosure of an embodiment using the term “comprising” includes a disclosure of embodiments “consisting essentially of” and “consisting of” the components identified.
Various embodiments of wearable trays are disclosed herein, and any embodiment can be combined with any other embodiment unless explicitly and directly stated otherwise. It should be appreciated that, as used herein, the term “wearable food tray” is for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the wearable tray disclosed herein to only be used for food and/or drink products. The wearable trays disclosed herein can be used for a variety of purposes, including, for example and without limitation, tools, reading material, etc.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to a number of illustrative embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same.
Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, a wearable food tray 100 includes, among many other features discussed below, a tray member 110 and a retaining member 120. The tray member 110 includes a front end 112 and a rear end 114. In some embodiments, the front end 112 and the rear end 114 may encircle the entirety of the tray member 110, forming an enclosing wall around the interior of the tray member 110. In other embodiments, the front end 112 and the rear end 114 may not completely encircle the tray member 110.
The retaining member 120 is secured to the rear end 114 of the tray member 110 using a plurality of fasteners 116. The fasteners 116 may be any type of device or apparatus that secures one structural member to another, for example and without limitation bolts, hooks, adhesives, or any other type of fastener. The retaining member 120 is functional to be wrapped around a user's waist so as to secure the tray 100 to the body of a user, who can then transport food and drink hands-free. The retaining member 120 may therefore be any type of cincture, for example and without limitation a belt, chord, elastic band, or any other type of cincture capable of wrapping around a user's waist and serving as a retaining member for the tray member 110.
In other embodiments, fasteners 116 may not be present and instead the retaining member 120 may be secured to the tray member 110 using clips. Alternatively, the retaining member 120 may be looped through slits in the rear end 114 of the tray member 110. In some embodiments, the retaining member 120 is completely removable, while in other embodiments the retaining member 120 is permanently fastened to the tray member 110.
In some embodiments, the tray member 110 is flat. According to other embodiments of an exemplary wearable food tray, the tray member 110 may further include at least one cavity 118. The cavity 118 depicted in FIG. 1 may be functional to receive a cylindrical object, such as a drink cup or bottle of some kind, but it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that cavity 118 may be of any shape and functional to receive any type of food or drink product. In some embodiments, the tray member 110 may include more than one cavity 118, wherein each cavity 118 may be of differing shapes and be functional to receive different types of food and/or drink.
In some embodiments, the cavity 118 may be a simple hole drilled through the tray member 110 and, for example and without limitation, functional to hold a cup that widens from the bottom to the top. In other embodiments, the cavity 118 may be a depression in the tray member 110 of any shape, thereby serving as a container for a food or a drink product.
According to one embodiment of an exemplary wearable food tray, the tray member 110 may include a plurality of apertures 211 as shown, for example, in FIG. 2. The apertures 211 are functional to allow freedom of movement of a user's legs, allowing the user to walk and/or sit without disturbing the food and drink products positioned on the tray member 110 (food and drink products not shown).
In some embodiments, the wearable food tray 100 may be manufactured using a disposable material such as, for example and without limitation, molded fiber. Such disposable wearable food trays 100 could be provided by food and drink vendors at large events and be disposed of after a single use by attendees.
According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a wearable, foldable tray 200 includes a foldable tray member 210 and a retaining member 220 as shown, for example, in FIG. 3. The foldable tray member 210 includes a distal, front end 212 and a proximal, rear end 214 to which the retaining member 220 is secured by a plurality of fasteners 216. In some embodiments, the front end 212 and the rear end 214 may encircle the entirety of the tray member 210, forming an enclosing wall around the interior of the tray member 210. In other embodiments, the front end 212 and the rear end 214 may not completely encircle the tray member 210.
In some embodiments, the tray member 210 may also include at least one cavity 218 configured to accept a food and/or drink product. It should be appreciated that the depiction of a single cavity in FIG. 3 is for illustrative purposes only and that the tray member 210 may include any number of differently-shaped cavities configured to accept and hold a variety of food and drink products.
In some embodiments, the wearable, foldable tray 200 may also include a pouch 219 secured to the front end 212 of the tray member 210. The pouch 219 may be, for example and without limitation, netted, textile, or fabricated of any other material suitable for use as a pouch. The pouch 219 can be flipped into and out of the wearable, foldable tray 200 depending on the configuration of the wearable, foldable tray 200. The pouch 219 is configured to hold and protect, for example and without limitation, a user's phone, wallet, keys, or any other item a user may wish to place into the pouch 219.
The wearable, foldable tray 200 also includes at least one articulating hinge member 230 as shown, for example, in FIG. 4. The articulating hinge members 230 are positioned along the center axis of the tray member 212 so that the tray 200 is foldable along its center axis. This foldability allows the tray 200 to be transported by a user more easily when the user is not using the tray 200 to hold food and/or drink products. When in a folded configuration, for example, a user might hold the wearable, foldable tray 200 over his or her shoulder using the retaining member 220, similar to a purse or other type of shoulder bag.
It should be appreciated by one of skill in the art that articulating hinge members 230 may be any type of articulating member that allows an object to fold inwards on itself. It should also be appreciated that any number of hinge members 230 may be present on the tray member 212 so that the wearable, foldable tray 200 may fold inwards on itself as depicted, for example, in FIG. 5. In some embodiments, separate articulating hinge members 230 may not be present and the tray member 212 may be configured to fold inwards on itself in other manners known in the art.
In some embodiments, the wearable, foldable tray 200 may be manufactured using a sturdier material, such as, for example and without limitation, a metal, a plastic, a ceramic, or any other material suitable for accepting food and drink product and for reuse. Such sturdier wearable, foldable trays 200 may be sold to individuals to use and reuse in any manner they choose, such as by bringing the wearable, foldable tray 200 to an event of their own volition.
It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A tray comprising:

a tray member including a front end and a rear end; and

a retaining member attached to the rear end of the tray member, the retaining member configured to secure the tray member to a user's waist.

2. The tray of claim 1, wherein the tray member is configured to accept food and drink products.

3. The tray of claim 1, wherein the tray member further includes at least one cavity.

4. The tray of claim 2, wherein the cavity is configured to accept food and drink products.

5. The tray of claim 1, wherein the retaining member is a belt.

6. The tray of claim 1, wherein the retaining member is a cord.

7. The tray of claim 4, wherein the cord is elastic.

8. The tray of claim 1, wherein the retaining member is attached to the tray member by sliding the retaining member through a plurality of slits in the rear end of the tray member.

9. The tray of claim 1, wherein the tray member further includes at least one hinge member.

10. The tray of claim 8, wherein the hinge member is positioned at the center of the tray member such that the tray is foldable in half.

11. The tray of claim 1, wherein the retaining member is further configured to be usable as a shoulder strap.

12. The tray of claim 1, further including a pouch secured to the tray member.

13. A method of consuming food and/or drink comprising:

providing on a shoulder of a user a folded wearable foldable tray including a tray member with a front end and a rear end and a retaining member secured to the rear end, wherein the retaining member is placed on the shoulder of the user;

removing the retaining member from the shoulder of the user;

unfolding the tray member by displacing opposite sides of the tray member until it lies flat;

securing the retaining member around a waist of the user so that the tray member is positioned in front of the user; and

placing food and/or drink product onto the tray member for consumption.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the tray member includes at least one hinge member.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the retaining member is secured to the tray member by sliding the retaining member through a plurality of slits in the rear end of the tray member.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the tray member is foldable in half.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the tray member includes at least one cavity.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of removing the retaining member from the waist of the user.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of removing the retaining member from the tray member.

20. A wearable, foldable tray comprising:

a tray member including a proximal end, a distal end, at least one chamber, and at least one articulating member so that the tray is foldable;

a pouch secured to the tray member; and

a cincture secured to the proximal end of the tray member, the cincture configured to be worn around a user's waist when the tray member is in an unfolded position and around a user's shoulder when the tray member is in a folded position.