Abstract: The Christian sacrament of communion, particularly in Protestant churches, most often includes the service of wine or the like in small, individual disposable cups. These cups, selectively packaged in cartons, are transferred to trays for filling and subsequent service. To facilitate this transfer each carton includes a stack of spaced apart cup dividers and a top shipping divider. Each divider has a set of selectively arranged openings. Positioned over each cup divider opening is an open end of an inverted cup. Cups on lower cup dividers extend upward through the openings in the above divider. For cup transfer sides panels and a top panel of the carton are folded away. After removal of the shipping divider, an insert of a communion tray is placed up-side-down over the cups on the top cup divider so that the cups fit into holes in the tray insert. Next, a base of the tray is fitted over the insert to reform the tray. The tray, cups, and divider then are lifted from the divider stack and inverted.

Abstract: The communion cup filler is a device that fills a full tray of communion cups all simultaneously in a matter of several seconds. It is made in one piece by injection molding. The rectangular central panel contains a number of conduits each leading to a drain hole. The top of the central panel supports retaining walls on all 4 sides. The central panel is angled to cause the base to tilt to the rear in an at rest mode. The inside of the two front legs, each contain a slide rail to allow a communion tray to slide down the rails. A stop barrier is located on the bottom of the central panel which stops the communion tray at a precise location relative to the holes in the central panel. A hollow nipple protrudes from each hole from the bottom of the central panel.The ribs on the top of the central panel run from each hole toward the rear containment wall but stop short of joining it. This leaves a reservoir area where a predetermined amount of liquid is poured.