Vented Container

Abstract

A vented container consists of multiple zip locks and tiny channels formed between its lid and its base. The zip locks securely attach the lid to the base, while the channels allow steam inside of the container to escape freely but keep liquid from spilling out.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to disposable food containers used in Chinese take-out restaurants, and, more particularly, relates to a container that prevents accidental spillage of the liquid inside while allowing steam escaping relatively freely from the container.

Cooked foods generally contain solid substances, such as rice, meat and vegetable and liquid substances, such as oil, sauce and broth. In take-out restaurants, a food container used to store and transport such foods generally consists of a base portion and a lid portion made from a resilient polymeric material. On one hand, the lid has to be securely attached to the base to avoid accidental opening of the container and to prevent inside liquid from spilling out. On the other hand, in a closed environment, moisture generated and accumulated inside the container will quickly cause foods, especially vegetables, losing their original taste, texture and color. In order to prevent such thing from happening, people usually punch a hole through a container lid so that steam can escape from the inside of the container. However, the hole leaves a potential risk. In most case, a person buys a take-out food and will enjoy it later at another place. The irregular movement during carry often causes the liquid to jiggle and splash within the container. The jiggling and splashing can cause the liquid to spill out of the container and taint everywhere inside of the bag holding the container and other nearby items.

Many attempts have been made to provide a container and cover for preventing the splashing and spilling of liquids; however, such attempts have resulted in cups, containers, and covers that are expensive to produce, difficult and cumbersome to use, and/or inadaptable to the need in this situation. An example of a container lid that attempts to solve the splashing problem is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,052, issued Jul. 26, 1983 to Hayes. The Hayes lid disclosed a lid having a vent path, which has an inlet above and an outlet below the level of the lid. The path is constructed so that, as it extends from inlet to outlet, it traverses the lid from edge to axially opposing edge and back again. Although the Hayes lid solved the problem in his situation, it is inadaptable here since when the liquid flows into and blocks the path steam can no longer escape from the container, as Hayes described in his patent. Same problem exists in U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,426, issued to Stern. When the filter in the Stern patent, which is formed of a hydrophobic material and mounted over the vent hole, is tainted with liquids, its ventilating efficiency is greatly impaired. In addition, the cost of manufacturing such container in Stern is higher. U.S. Pat. No. 7,055,712, issued to Tang, disclosed a container for hot carry-out food includes a container body and a cover, each having flanges and the flanges defining a pair of seals between which is a condensation collecting chamber and radially outboard of an outermost seal is a second condensation collecting chamber which is continuously vented to atmosphere through radial venting passages or channels. Under elevated pressures, as might occur when hot food is packages in the container, the innermost seal opens permitting steam/gasses to vent into the innermost condensation collection chamber in which the steam might condense as condensate. Under higher internal container pressures, the outboard most seal may also open and vent gasses from the innermost condensation chamber through/into the outermost condensation collection chamber and continuously from the latter to atmosphere through a plurality of continuously open circumferential spaced radial venting passages or channels. Although a clever design, there are two problems in Tang's—(1) moisture can still be accumulated inside the container, and (2) the attachment between the lid and the base is not as secure as it should be.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a container to prevent spilling of liquid from the container while allowing steam to escape relatively freely from the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a lid that is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the above-stated objects, the present invention provides a vented container that consists of a lid and a base. The base has a planar bottom, base side walls extending vertically upward from said bottom, a base flange extending horizontally outward from said base side walls, an inverted, U-shaped base rim extending outward from said base flange, and multiple grooves of the same shape crossing horizontally on the top surface of said base rim. The lid has a planar top, lid side walls extending vertically downward from said top, a lid flange extending horizontally outward from said lid side walls, an inverted, U-shaped lid rim extending outward from said lid flange, multiple ridges, of a shape matching said grooves, crossing horizontally on the bottom surface of said lid rim, and a locking lip which extends vertically downward from said lid rim surface. Upon mating, multiple zip locks are formed between the lid rim and the base rim by grooves and ridges, and multiple channels are formed between said grooves and the bottom surface of said lid rim. In the preferred embodiment, grooves and ridges are arch-shaped, and the maximal diagonal of said channels is up to 1 millimeter, so that it prevents liquid from spilling out but allows steam pass through freely.

It is preferable that base and lid are stackable on a second base and lid, respectively, in order to save storing space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The vented container of the present invention will be better understood by those of ordinary skill in the art and others upon reading the ensuing specification, when taken in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the lid and the base of the present invention wherein the lid is separate from the base, showing arch-shaped grooves and ridges;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the lid and the base mating together with removal of a portion of lid showing relative position between the lid and the base;

FIG. 3 is a detailed side view of a portion of the lid and the base mating together, showing zip locks and tiny channels formed between the lid and the base;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3A-3A′ of FIG. 3, showing a zip lock formed between arch-shaped grooves and ridges;

FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3B-3B′ of FIG. 3, showing a tiny channel formed between arch-shaped grooves and the bottom surface of the lid;

FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3C-3C′ of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is an alternative view of FIG. 4A, wherein the lid is separate from the base, showing an arch-shaped groove on the base rim and an arch-shaped ridge on the lid rim.

In the various figures of the drawings, like reference characters designate like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, it shows the perspective view of the lid and the base of the vented container, where the lid 10 is separate from the base 20. The base 20 has a substantially planar bottom 21, base side walls 22 extending substantially vertically upward from the bottom 21, a base flange 23 extending substantially horizontally outward from the base side walls 22, an inverted U-shaped base rim 24 extending outward from said base flange 23, and multiple grooves 25 crossing horizontally on the top surface of said base rim 24. the lid 10 has a substantially planar top 11, lid side walls 12 extending substantially vertically downward from the top 11, a lid flange 13 extending substantially horizontally outward from the lid side walls 12, an inverted U-shaped lid rim 14 extending outward from the lid flange 13, and multiple ridges 15 crossing horizontally on the bottom surface of said lid rim 14. In general, the ridges 15 and the grooves 25 are same shape and are able to mate. The ridges 15 are fewer than the grooves 25. In the preferred embodiment, both ridges 15 and grooves 25 are arch-shaped and the number of ridges 15 is half of that of grooves 25.

In FIG. 2, it is a side view of the lid and the base mating together. A portion of the lid rim 14 is removed to show relative position between the lid and the base. In the preferred embodiment where the number of ridges 15 is half of that of grooves 25, zip locks 31 are formed where ridges 15 mate with grooves 25 and channels 32 are formed where no ridges are present against grooves. FIG. 3 is a detailed side view showing zip locks 31 and tiny channels 25 formed between the lid and the base. In the preferred embodiment, the maximal diagonal of said channels is less than 1 millimeter to prevent liquid from spilling out while allow stream passing through freely.

FIG. 4A shows a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3A-3A′ of FIG. 3, showing a zip lock formed between an arch-shaped groove 25 and a ridge 15. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3B-3B′ of FIG. 3, showing a tiny channel formed between an arch-shaped groove 25 and the bottom surface of the lid. The inlet 33 connects to the inside of the container through a gap 35 between the lid rim and the base rim. The outlet 34 connects to atmosphere. Steam inside of the container can freely escape from the inlet 33 to the outlet 34. FIG. 4C shows a cross-sectional view of the mating edge between the lid and the base taken along section line 3C-3C′ of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4A-4C also show a locking lip 36, which extends vertically downward from said lid rim 14 and further securely holds the lid onto the base.

FIG. 5 is an alternative view of FIG. 4A, where the lid is separate from the base, showing an arch-shaped groove on the base rim and an arch-shaped ridge on the lid rim. It is worth of noting that although the lid and the base shown here are manufactured by compression molding, other molding methods including injection can be used to produce the present invention.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been discussed and illustrated, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art and others that changes can be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the grooves and the ridges could be of other geometrical shape. Also, the number of grooves and ridges could be in other ratio. Since such changes can be made to the illustrated embodiments while remaining within the scope of the invention, the invention should be defined solely with reference to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A food container comprising:

(A) a base having (i) a substantially planar bottom; (ii) base side walls extending substantially vertically upward from said bottom; (iii) a base flange extending substantially horizontally outward from said base side walls; (iv) an inverted, U-shaped base rim extending outward from said base flange, (v) multiple grooves of the same shape crossing horizontally on the top surface of said base rim;

(B) a lid having (i) a substantially planar top; (ii) lid side walls extending substantially vertically downward from said top; (iii) a lid flange extending substantially horizontally outward from said lid side walls; (iv) an inverted, U-shaped lid rim extending outward from said lid flange; (v) multiple ridges, of a shape matching said grooves, crossing horizontally on the bottom surface of said lid rim, wherein the number of said ridges is fewer than that of said grooves; and (vi) a locking lip which extends vertically downward from said lid rim surface,

whereby upon said lid mating onto said base, zip locks are formed by grooves and ridges, and channels are formed between said grooves and the bottom surface of said lid rim.

2. The container according to claim 1, wherein said grooves and said ridges are arch-shaped.

3. The container according to claim 2, wherein the maximal diagonal of said channels is less than 1 millimeter.

4. The container according to claim 3, wherein at least a second base is stackable within said base.

5. The container according to claim 3, wherein at least a second lid is stackable within said lid.