MEAL TRAY FOR USE IN HOLDING VARIOUS BEVERAGE VESSELS

A meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels comprises a receiving space and a holding chamber which are integrally made of plastic materials and combined as a whole. The receiving space is constructed in the form of an upwardly extended and downwardly shrunk cavity, and the holding chamber, the upper portion of which is gently extended, yet the lower portion of which is gently shrunk, is disposed at one corner of the receiving space and constructed in the form of a hollow cup-shaped recess, in the intermediate portion of the inner wall of the holding chamber is arranged a shoulder bulge, and at the center of the bottom thereof is formed a through hole, between the through hole and the periphery of the holding chamber is fixed a gap, thereby allowing the meal tray to be used for holding various beverage vessels so that the user can hold food and beverage to randomly walk in the banquet.

Skip to: Description  ·  Claims  · Patent History  ·  Patent History
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a meal tray, and more particularly to a meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels that allows the meal tray to be used for holding various beverage vessels, such as a narrow goblet, a wide goblet, a beverage can, a beverage bottle, or a cup and the like, thereby the user can hold food and beverage with the meal tray to randomly walk in the banquet.

2. Description of the Prior Arts

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a prior art meal tray 1 includes a receiving space 11 and a holding chamber 12. The receiving space 11 is constructed in the form of an upwardly extended and downwardly shrunk cavity. The holding chamber 12 is secured at one of the corners of the meal tray 1, and at the center of the holding chamber 12 is arranged a through hole 121, between the through hole 121 and the outer periphery of the holding chamber 12 is formed a gap 122.

While in a banquet, the receiving space 11 of the meal tray 1 is applied to place food, and the holding chamber 12 thereof is utilized to hold a goblet 13. In other words, the user may use a grip segment 131 to laterally put of the goblet 13 into the through hole 121 from the gap 122, hence the goblet 13 is allowed to be hung in the meal tray 1 so that the use may hold the food and beverage to randomly walk in the banquet.

Nevertheless, except for the goblet 13, many vessels are also employed to hold beverage, e.g., a beverage can, a beverage bottle or a cup and so on, especially as using the beverage can, the beverage bottle, or the cup to hold beverage, the prior art meal tray 1 may not be suitable for putting aforesaid vessels, thus an improved meal tray has to be developed.

The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels, which allows the meal tray to be used for holding various beverage vessels, such as a narrow goblet, a wide goblet, a beverage can, a beverage bottle, or a cup and the like, thereby the user can hold food and beverage with the meal tray to randomly walk in the banquet.

The meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels comprises a receiving space and a holding chamber which are integrally made of plastic materials and combined as a whole. The receiving space is constructed in the form of an upwardly extended and downwardly shrunk cavity, and the holding chamber, the upper portion of which is gently extended, yet the lower portion of which is gently shrunk, is disposed at one of the corners of the receiving space and constructed in the form of a hollow cup-shaped recess, in the intermediate portion of the inner wall of the holding chamber is arranged a shoulder bulge, and at the center of the bottom thereof is formed a through hole, between the through hole and the periphery of the holding chamber is fixed a gap.

The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art meal tray;

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the prior art meal tray;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the prior art meal tray;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view, illustrating a goblet being placed in the prior art meal tray;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is another perspective view of the meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view, illustrating a beverage can being placed in the meal tray of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view, illustrating a cup being put in the meal tray of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view, illustrating a narrow goblet being hung in the meal tray of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view, illustrating a wide goblet being hung in the meal tray of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view, illustrating a beverage bottle being placed in the meal tray of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a meal tray 2 for use in holding various beverage vessels in accordance with the present invention comprises a receiving space 21 and a holding chamber 22 which are integrally made of plastic materials and combined as a whole. The receiving space 21 is constructed in the form of an upwardly extended and downwardly shrunk cavity, and the holding chamber 22, the upper portion of which is gently extended, yet the lower portion of which is gently shrunk, is disposed at one of the corners of the receiving space 21 and is constructed in the form of a hollow cup-shaped recess as shown in FIG. 7, in the intermediate portion of the inner wall of the holding chamber 22 is arranged a shoulder bulge 221, and at the center of the bottom thereof is formed a through hole 222, between the through hole 222 and the periphery of the holding chamber 22 is fixed a gap 223.

While in use, the receiving space 21 of the meal tray 2 is applied to place food, and the holding chamber 22 thereof is employed to hold various beverage vessels, such as a narrow goblet 23, a wide goblet 24 as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, a beverage can 25 as shown in FIG. 8, a beverage bottle 26 as illustrated in FIG. 12, or a cup 27 as shown in FIG. 9, thereby allowing the meal tray 2 to be used for holding various beverage vessels so that the user can hold food and beverage with the meal tray 2 to randomly walk in the banquet.

It is to be noted that the outer diameter of the beverage can 25 is less than the inner diameter of the upper portion of the inner wall of the holding chamber 22, but greater than that of the lower portion of the inner wall thereof, such that as the beverage can 25 is put into the holding chamber 22, its bottom is retained on the shoulder bulge 221 of the intermediate portion of the inner wall of the holding chamber 22 as illustrated in FIG. 8. While the beverage bottle 26 is placed in the holding chamber 22, its bottom is retained on the bottom of the holding chamber 22 as shown in FIG. 12, and while the cup 27 is placed in the holding chamber 22, its bottom is also retained on the bottom of the holding chamber 22 as shown in FIG. 9. Furthermore, by using a grip segment 231 or 241 to laterally put the narrow or wide goblet 23 or 24 into the holding chamber 22 from the gap 223, the narrow or wide goblet 23 or 24 can be securely hung in the meal tray 2 as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11.

It is concluded from the above-mentioned structure that the meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels of the present invention contains the following advantages:

First, the meal tray of the present invention allows to use for holding various beverage vessels, especially the structure of the holding chamber 22 thereof is superior to that of the holding chamber of the prior art meal tray, thus complying with the novelty requirement of the invention.

Second, the holding chamber 22 is employed to hold various beverage vessels, such as the narrow goblet 23, the wide goblet 24, the beverage can 25, the beverage bottle 26, or the cup 27 and the like, thereby the meal tray 2 allows to be used to hold various beverage vessels so that the user can hold food and beverage with the meal tray 2 to randomly walk in the banquet.

Third, the receiving space 21 and the holding chamber 22 are integrally made of plastic materials and combined as a whole, thus lowering the production cost and improving the aesthetic appearance.

While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels comprising: a holding chamber disposed at one of the corners of said meal tray, wherein the upper portion of said holding chamber is gently extended, yet the lower portion thereof is gently shrunk, in the intermediate portion of the inner wall of said holding chamber is arranged a shoulder bulge, and at the center of the bottom thereof is formed a through hole, between said through hole and the periphery of said holding chamber is fixed a gap, thereby allowing said meal tray to be used for holding various beverage vessels so that the user can hold food and beverage with said meal tray to randomly walk in the banquet.

2. The meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels as claimed in claim 1, wherein said holding chamber is constructed in the form of a hollow cup-shaped recess.

3. The meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels as claimed in claim 1, wherein a receiving space and said holding chamber are integrally made of plastic materials and combined as a whole.

4. The meal tray for use in holding various beverage vessels as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receiving space is constructed in the form of an upwardly extended and downwardly shrunk cavity.

Patent History
Publication number: 20080217206
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 9, 2007
Publication Date: Sep 11, 2008
Inventor: Ying-Hui Shen (Tainan)
Application Number: 11/684,094
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: With Aperture For Article (206/562)
International Classification: B65D 1/34 (20060101);