WO2001028873A1

WO2001028873A1 - A food-serving holder

Info

Publication number: WO2001028873A1
Application number: PCT/IL2000/000662
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yossi Ben
Original assignee: Yossi Ben
Priority date: 1999-10-21
Filing date: 2000-10-19
Publication date: 2001-04-26
Also published as: AU7942800A; IL132519A0

Abstract

The invention provides a food-serving holder (10) for a food article (12) and the like, comprising spaced-apart front and back walls (14, 16), a pair of spaced-apart side walls (18, 20) interconnecting said front and back walls (14, 16), and an open top (24) for receiving therethrough a food article (12) or the like, said holder further comprising two mutually-articulated levers (26, 28) positioned adjacent the bottom edges (30) of said walls (14, 16, 18, 20) and adapted to support said food article (12), at least one lower end (32) of said levers (26, 28) being positioned to be at least indirectly manipulated to produce a lazy-tongs action of said levers (26, 28) for progressively elevating said food article (12) placed thereon towards and above said open top (24).

Description

A FOOD-SERVING HOLDER

The present invention relates to a food-serving holder for food products for consumption. More particularly, the invention provides a hygienic holder allowing a consumer to comfortably eat a food product while avoiding hand contact with said food.

In the present specification a food product, item or article means any item such as a hamburger, a slice of water melon, a pita, a bun or any other fast food item.

The term pita refers to a flat round bread having a hollow center which is filled with fried balls and chopped vegetables usually topped off with a sauce and/or spices, which is prepared and sold by fast food outlets.

Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the need to avoid contamination of foods, and are aware that a source of such contamination is the contact of hands with said food. Thorough washing of one's hands before eating is, of course, recommended by health authorities, but this may not always be carried out in practice. To meet these concerns various food holders have been proposed, mainly to meet the needs of fast food vendors, who can present the item being sold to the consumer in a clean and attractive manner. For example, McDonalds and Burger King outlets presently sell hamburgers in a tapered carton holder intended and shaped to be hand held. However, some food items such as a pita are usually offered at fast food outlets together with a small paper bag which the consumer is expected to use to hold the pita during consumption, this being only a partially satisfactory arrangement.

Known food holders have been constructed with the storage of food items in mind rather than at the hygienic needs of the consumer. For example, U.S. Patent 4,273,249 discloses a package for generally circular sandwiches which has two semi-circular pockets or recesses provided with flanges about the open edge of each. The flanges are connected by a hinge to facilitate closing and opening of the package.

The package of U.S. 4,273,249 is suitable for storing the sandwich, however once the upper half of the sandwich is consumed, the user must remove the remaining half by hand and the package is no longer of use. The same problem is evident in U.S. Patent 4,936,479, which discloses a hamburger holder consisting of a pair of hollow semi-cylindrical disc-shaped receptacles. The hamburger is stored within the receptacles until one is removed allowing a person to hold the remaining receptacle and eat the hamburger.

U.S. Patent 4,189,054 discloses a container for holding a food product which has a pair of articulately connected casings. A lower casing has a generally flat bottom to support the container on a surface. Side walls extended upwardly from the bottom have tear lines that permit the bottom casing to be folded open to facilitate the eating of the food product. The side walls have recesses to facilitate eating of food product from the bottom casing. A top casing hinged to one side of the bottom casing has side walls that extend adjacent the side walls and over the recesses of the bottom casing when the casings are in a closed position. A locking tab cooperates with the top and bottom casings to hold the casings in the closed position.

U.S. Patent 5,860,587 discloses packaging for accommodating a food item comprising a lower panel and an upper panel which are supported to be in spaced apart relationship to provide a space which is intended to accommodate the food item, a wall element provided between the upper and lower panel to substantially surround the space and having at least a portion capable of being moved across the space from one side of the space to an opposite side of the space, said side wall at the opposite side being open or capable of being opened to permit access to the food item from the opposite side with movement of said portion of the side wall, said upper panel being removable from above the space to provide access to the space.

U.S. 5,860,587 does not teach the novel arrangement of the present invention as defined hereinafter. Furthermore, it appears that U.S. 5,860,587 is a mere variation of the plunger disclosed in U.S. 2,166,619.

Prior art food holders do not address the requirement of avoiding hand contact with the food throughout the eating process, while securely grasping the food item by means within the food holder. __>

It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to obviate the disadvantages of prior art food holders and to provide a holder which better serves the needs of both vendors and consumers

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a holder covering a large portion of the food item and yet which will allow mouth access to the whole article, thus avoiding the need for hand contact thereof

The present invention achieves the above objects by providing a food-serving holder for a food article and the like, comprising spaced-apart front and back walls, a pair of spaced-apart side walls interconnecting said front and back walls, an open top for receiving therethrough a food article or the like said holder further comprising two mutually-articulated levers positioned adjacent the bottom edges of said walls and adapted to support said food article at least one lower end of said levers being positioned to be at least indirectly manipulated to produce a lazy-tongs action of said levers, for progressively elevating said food article placed thereon towards and above said open top

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a food-serving holder wherein a lower end of each of said levers is hingedly articulated to a flap provided in a lower portion of said holder Thereby, when the flaps are pushed towards each other, they act upon the levers to produce said lazy-tongs action

In a most preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided food-serving holder wherein at least one lower end of one of said levers protrudes from one of the side walls for facilitating manual manipulation thereof to produce said lazy-tong action

Yet further embodiments of the invention will be described hereinafter

In U S Patent no 3,355,082 there is described and claimed a U-shaped food gripping container, the sides of the U being configured to be held in one hand, the food item resting on the base of the U The above patent further provides a container wherein the base portion is scored to form a loop-shaped slit defining a tab for finger contact to facilitate shifting of the remnant of the food product upwardly In contradistinction thereto, the present invention combines the provision of adequate lower and side support for the food item as served, with a mechanism which progressively raises the contents of the holder, allowing sequented mouth access to the entire food item initially enclosed in the holder. The holder of the present invention has adequate front and back walls, which may be utilized to support food items, which are unstable when not supported. Such substantial walls are possible in the present invention without thereby restricting access of the consumer's mouth to the holder contents, due to the improved internal lift mechanism provided.

It will thus be realized that the novel holder of the present invention serves also to support an unstable food item, for example an item filled with pickles and liquid condiments. Furthermore, the four walls of the container better protect the food item against contamination.

The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.

With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective fragmented view of a preferred embodiment of the food holder according to the invention, the lazy-tong mechanism being shown retracted as at the start of consumption of the food article;

FIG. 2 is a perspective fragmented view of the same embodiment, the lazy-tong mechanism being raised as needed during consumption of the upper portion of the food article; FIG. 3 is a perspective fragmented view of a second embodiment of the food holder, provided with a base;

FIG. 4 is a perspective fragmented view of a third embodiment of the food holder, provided with a lazy-tong mechanism; and

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view with the front wall removed to show inner details, of the embodiment seen in FIG. 4, the fingers of a user having extended the mechanism;

There is seen in FIGS. 1& 2 a food-serving holder 10 for a food article 12. FIG.1 shows the holder 10 in its initial configuration holding a complete food item 12, while FIG. 2 shows the holder 0 after a user has operated its mechanism to gain access to the upper part 12a of the food item 12.

The holder 10 has spaced-apart front and back walls 14, 16, a pair of spaced-apart side walls 18, 20 interconnecting front and back walls 14, 16. A slot 22 is disposed near the lowest edge of each side wall 18, 20.

The upper edges 24 of the four walls 14, 16, 18 and 20 define an open top for receiving therethrough a food article 12. The walls are high enough to adequately support the food article 12 even if such article has a tendency to fall apart.

Two mutually-articulated levers 26, 28 are positioned adjacent to the bottom edges 30 of walls 14, 16, 18 and 20, and are adapted to support food article 12. The levers 26, 28 are advantageously made almost as wide as the space between the front and back walls 14, 16, and thus may serve to receive any viscous liquids which might leak from the bottom of the food article 12.

The lower ends 32 of levers 26, 28 project through slots 22 and are positioned to be manipulated to produce a lazy-tongs action. Such action progressively elevates the food article 12 placed thereon, to make the food article accessible to the mouth of the consumer above the upper edges 24, as seen in FIG. 2.

Preferably the holder 10 is disposable and its walls 14, 16, 18 and 20 are made of a coated carton or of a plastic. The levers 26, 28 are subjected to bending forces and if made of carton as in the present embodiment, may have a bent over side flange 34 for added strength near the lever center. With regard to the rest of the figures, similar reference numerals have been used to identify similar parts.

FIG. 3 illustrates a food-serving holder 36, similar to the holder 10 shown in FIGS. 1 & 2, further provided with a bottom wall 38. The present embodiment 36 provides enhanced protection against leakage of liquids from the food article remnant 12a. Furthermore, the bottom wall 38 is useful for stabilizing the structure of the holder 36.

In the present embodiment the levers 40, 42 are made of plastic injection moldings in order to produce an optimized lever shape and optionally a hinge bearing 44.

Seen in FIGS. 4 & 5 is a food-serving holder 46 wherein a lower end 48 of the levers 50, 52 is hingedly articulated to a flap 54 provided in a lower portion of the holder 46.

In the shown preferred embodiment the flaps 54 are integral with and hingedly connected to the side walls 56.

In operation, when the flaps 54 are pushed towards each other by finger 58 pressure as seen in FIG. 5, they act upon the levers 50, 52 to produce the lazy-tongs action which drives each, sequential uppermost part 12a of the food upwards and allows its consumption without hand contact.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrative embodiments and that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A food-serving holder for a food article and the like, comprising spaced-apart front and back walls, a pair of spaced-apart side wails interconnecting said front and back walls, and an open top for receiving therethrough a food article or the like, said holder further comprising two mutually-articulated levers positioned adjacent the bottom edges of said walls and adapted to support said food article, at ieast one lower end of said levers being positioned to be at least indirectly manipulated to produce a lazy-tongs action of said levers for progressively elevating said food article placed thereon towards and above said open top.

2. A food-serving holder according to claim 1 , further provided with a bottom wall.

3. A food-serving holder according to claim 1 , wherein a lower end of each of said levers is hingedly articulated to a flap provided in a lower portion of said holder, whereby when said flaps are pushed towards each other, they act upon said levers to produce said lazy-tongs action.

4. A food-serving holder according to claim 3, wherein said flaps are integral with and hingedly connected to said side walls.

5. A food-serving holder according to claim 1 , wherein at least one lower end of one of said levers protrudes from one of said side walls for facilitating manual manipulation thereof to produce said lazy-tongs action.

6. A food-serving holder according to claim 1 , wherein said holder is disposable and said walls are made of a coated carton.

7. A food-serving holder according to claim 1 , wherein said holder is disposable and said walls are made of a plastic.