US2623660A - Condiment cellar - Google Patents

Description

Patented Dec. 30, 1952 CONDIMEN T CELLAR Irving Warren, Jamaica, N. Y., assignor to U. S. Vitamin Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 29, 1950, Serial No. 176,557

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to condiment cellars such as those adapted for dispensing salt, pepper and the like, and commonly termed shakers.

A general object of the present invention is to provide condiment cellars which are of unusually simple construction, readily produced in an economical manner in mass production, and easily filled and closed, the structure being particularly adapted to secure closure to avoid spillage of contents and, when desired, to display labels or advertising material from within an outer wall.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a certain double-walled cellar structure wherein both the interior of an inner wall and a space between that inner wall and an outer concentric wall are simultaneously closed by a simple bottom plate construction, provision also being made for the use of a closing cap easily applied and removed so as at will to close the out let perforations to avoid spillage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such a cellar construction in a very simple double-walled design so that between the walls display labels may be housed and closed off simultaneously with closure of the condiment storage space.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective side view of an embodiment of the condiment cellar of the present invention with the closure cap mounted in closing position;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the cap removed for opening of the discharge perforations;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view, with parts broken away and in section, of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken substantial- 1y on line 55 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a substantially cylindrical container IE3 having concentricallyarranged, laterally-spaced outer and inner side walls II and I2 merged together at their top edges to form a shoulder iii. A substantially cylindrical neck Id, preferably of a diameter about equal to that of inner wall l2, extends outward from shoulder 13 co-axially with respect to the concentrically-arranged side walls. The top end l5 of neck M has seated thereon and affixed thereto a closing transverse plate It, with the latter provided with a plurality of discharge apertures I'd-l1.

Condiment storage chamber It provided by the space interior of inner wall I2 is closed oir" at the bottom by means of a bottom plate It. The bottom plate I?! preferably has in its upper face 28 a pair of concentrically-arranged grooves 2| and 22, with the inner groove 2| frictionally receiving the bottom edge of inner wall l2, and the outer groove 22 frictionally receiving the bottom edge of outer wall H. In order to assure secure closure by the bottom plate [9 with assurance that accidental dislodgment thereof is avoided, while eliminating necessity and expense of securing the bottom plate to the wall structure by additional means of manipulations, such as the employment of interfitting threads, and the like, the bottom edge of the outer wall II is preferably provided with an external head 23 which will distort outer flange 24 formed in the formation of the outer concentric groove 22. This distortion of flange 24 by the bead 23 in the mounting of the lower edge of outer wall II in the outer concentric groove 22 is permitted by virtue of elasticity or flexibility of the materials from which the parts are preferably made.

Preferably, the parts of the container Ifl are formed of flexible, semi-rigid or elastic materials, such as certain types of elastomers or flexible plastics, e. g., polyethylenes, more fully identified and described in the McAlevy, et al. Patent No. 2,388,169 of October 30, 1945. Such materials readily lend themselves to molding operations by which the container walls of the preferred embodiment of the present invention are preferably produced, and, further, such materials permit the walls to be either substantially transparent or slightly translucent, as is preferred for a purpose to be hereinafter indicated, and allow the bottom plate and closing cap structure to be made contrastingly opaqued and/or colored for enhancing the appearance of the package.

A cupped slip top cover cap structure 25 is provided to seat down over the neck 16 for closing off the discharge aperture IT. The closing cap 25 preferably is provided with a lifting lip 26 to permit its ready removal. Cap 25, as previously suggested, is preferably also formed of elastic plastic material so as to assure secure frictional mountation thereof upon the neck to avoid possibility of ready dislodgement and spillage of contents, while permitting ready removal for shaker discharge. Frictional fits of bottom plate 19 and cap 25 assures excellent protection of cellar contents from atmospheric conditions.

As previously indicated, the two concentric walls II and I2 provide therebetween a circular space 21 in which may be disposed a strip 28 of sheet material bearing indicia, such as labels and the like, for identification, display or advertising purposes. By nature of the construction of the bottom plate 19 and its cooperative engagement of the bottomedges of the outer and inner walls H and I2, the interior storage space 13 and that circular label space 21 are simultaneously closed off and segregated from each other so that the label will be protected from atmospheric conditions; from contents of the storage space within the cellar; and from danger of being torn, smeared, stained or scufied, as is the case with labels mounted on exterior walls.

The use and operation of the condiment cellar of the present invention is obvious, and it will be noted that the units thereof can readily be formed, by simple molding and assembly operations Whilepermitting ready filling on automatic filling machines prior to frictional fitting of the bottom plate I!) to the bottom edges of the walls 1 I and I2.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A condiment cellar comprising, in combination, a substantially cylindrical, double-walled structure having a pair of concentricallyarranged, spaced-apart walls merged together at one end to provide a shoulder with the space interior of the inner wall being adapted to serve as a condiment storage space and the space provided between said walls being substantially circular and of substantially uniform width, a substantially cylindrical neck extending outwardly from said shoulder and arranged substantially coaxial with said concentric walls with the interior thereof forming a continuation of the interior of said inner wall, a perforated transverse Wall closing off the outer end of said neck, and a bottom plate having a pair of concentric seating grooves in the top face thereof with one adapted to receive and frictionally hold the bottom edge of the said inner wall and the other adapted to receive and frictionally hold the bottom edge of the said outer wall to close off both the storage space within the inner wall and the circular space between the two concentric walls when the top face of said bottom plate is snapped onto the bottom edges of said inner and outer walls.

2. The condiment cellar as defined in' claim 1 characterized by the provision of a thickening of the bottom edge of the outer wall so as to assure a more secure frictional fit thereof within its seating groove in the bottom plate.

3. The condiment cellar structure as defines in claim 1 characterized by the formation of all the parts of said container from flexible plastic material.

IRVING WARREN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 277,695 Ellis May 15, 1883 441,802 Mennen Dec. 2, 1890 528,631 Green -Nov. 6, 1894 854,792 Bartlett May 23, 1907 1,073,983 Harrison Sept. 23, 1913 1,515,513 Moriarty Nov. 11, 1924 1,842,309 Borro Jan. 19, 1932 1,989,714 Statham Feb. 5, 1935 2,000,419 Sarber May 7, 1935 2,358,723 McFarland Sept. 19, 1944 2,388,169 McAlevy et a1 Oct. 30, 1945 2,548,706 Corning Apr. 10, 1951

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