Lid with spoon
A lid to seal opened food tins and an integrated spoon to serve the contents of food tins. A seal on the inside perimeter of the lid provides a seal against the outside surface of a tin. An annular seal in a hole within the lid sealably accommodates the spoon shaft, and provides an airtight seal around the spoon shaft. The lid and spoon together provide an air tight seal over an opened tin.
See forms ‘Information Disclosure Statement By Applicant’
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OF DEVELOPMENTNot Applicable
REFERENCE TO A “SEQUENCE LISTING”Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to serving, sealing and storing the food contents within open food tins.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tinned-food is often only partially used and needs to be stored for later use.
Tinned food is available in a variety of different tin sizes. Common sizes are listed below:
Small tins (190 g) are generally disposed of after one serve. Further to this, disposable single serve plastic pouches (100 g) are available, designed specifically for one serve only.
A popular tinned-food is that for containing pet-food. In general, depending on the feeding habits of the cat or dog, small tins (190 g) generally have the capacity for one or two serves per tin, and medium to extra large tins have the capacity for several serves of pet-food per tin. This makes it necessary to store less than full tins between feeds.
Larger tin sizes (400 g +) have cost benefits over small sizes. Larger sizes are disadvantaged however in that they generally need to be stored amongst other refrigerated products. When open tins contain pet food, the odours are generally quite offensive and the tins can become messy with displaced pet-food when alternative sealing techniques are used.
Tins for storage of food can be opened using the following methods:
1. Pull-top lid (depending on brand of the tinned-food);
2. Can opener that cuts from the top of the tin on the inside diameter;
3. Can opener that cuts from the outside of the tin perimeter and removes the entire top of the tin.
Open tins of tinned-food are usually sealed using plastic wrap, eg. Gladwrap® or SaranWrap, aluminium foil (eg. Alfoil®), or the entire tin is placed inside a plastic bag. Plastic lids are also available that are designed to fit common tin sizes.
Plastic wrap can leak easily when used to cover the top of an open tin. Consequently, food odours can leak into the fridge. Plastic wrap is also used in conjunction with rubber bands, which help seal the tins. This however becomes quite messy when attempting to re-apply the plastic wrap and the rubber band after use. In addition, when applying plastic wrap on a tin which has had the entire top removed (tin opening method 3), the wrap is easily cut on the sharp top-edge of the tin.
Similar problems are experienced with aluminium foil to that of plastic wrap.
Plastic lids often do not fit the range of tin tolerances of popular tinned-food brands. Most plastic lids are designed only to fit tins whereby the top of the tin has been removed from the inside (tin opening methods 1 & 2). They are loose when the entire top of the tin has been removed. In addition, due to variation in manufacturer tolerances, tin diameters may vary considerably hence causing the plastic lids to produce a loose or less than airtight seal.
Common methods for serving tinned-food from a tin are with a variety of different spoons, forks and knives. The size of which is usually dependent on what is available in the consumers' kitchens. In addition, spoons specifically designed for serving tinned pet-food are available.
With existing techniques of serving tinned-food, the utensil is usually washed each time after use. This is unhygienic as it is generally washed with general tableware. If the utensil is left in the tinned-food tin, it is difficult to seal the tin with conventional sealing techniques. Another problem with existing techniques is that it is common for users to get food on their hands whilst serving.
It is also common whilst serving tinned-food, when tin opening method 3 is used, for the user to cut their hands on the top of the tin.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENITONIt is an objective of this invention to provide an apparatus for sealing tinned-food tins and serving the contents, which overcomes or at least minimises the prior art problems or limitations outlined above.
These objects of the invention will become apparent from the following descriptions and the drawings.
The present invention provides a device for serving tinned tinned-food contents and sealing the remaining contents comprising a lid with a continuous annular resilient internal seal to releasably grip and seal against the outer surface of the cylindrical tin body, supporting a spoon shaft extending through a hole with a resilient annular seal in the top face of the lid, to serve the tin contents.
In one form of the invention, the lid comprises an internal annular resilient seal to releasably grip and provide an airtight seal against the outer cylindrical surface of the tin sealed therewithin.
In another form of the invention, the lid comprises a hole through the top face of the lid to releasably accommodate a spoon shaft and to provide an airtight annular seal around the spoon shaft therewithin.
The lid, excluding the annular resilient seals, may be manufactured from any suitable resilient or rigid material.
The annular resilient seals on the lid may be manufactured from any suitable resilient material.
The spoon may be manufactured from any suitable rigid material. An alternative embodiment to the embodiment illustrated consists of over- molded or co-molded annular resilient seals in conjunction with a rigid material for the remainder of the lid.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
A spoon 5 for circular lid 1 comprises a spoon-shaft 4, transitioning into suitably shaped spoon-head 7 is shown in
It will be realised that spoon 5 according to this invention is not restricted to the form of the one-piece spoon, but may be manufactured in any number of components to achieve the overall form of a spoon, whilst not compromising the sealing capabilities of the spoon-shaft 4 through lid-hole 2.
It should be appreciated that the transition along spoon-head 7 to spoon-shaft 4 of spoon 5 is not restricted to the shape or form illustrated and may take any shape or form to achieve a means of locating suitably shaped hole 2 of lid 1 around shaft 4 of spoon 5, whilst providing an airtight seal.
It will be realised that slots 8 of spoon 5 as shown in
It should be appreciated that spoon-head 7 is not restricted to the shape illustrated, but may take on any shape or form to effectively serve tinned-food contents.
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It will be realised that the tinned-food serving and sealing device is not restricted solely for use with tins, and may be used in conjunction with any other food-storage container.
It should be appreciated that the present invention provides a substantial advance in tin serving and sealing apparatus, such as tinned-food, providing all of the herein described advantages without incurring any relative disadvantage.
Claims
1. A device containing a spoon for serving tinned-food contents and a lid for sealing the contents comprising:
- a lid to sealably fit over the top of an opened tin;
- said lid including a continuous resilient internal seal around the inside circumference of the lid;
- a rigid spoon for serving the tin contents;
- an annular seal within the top face of said lid to sealably accommodate said spoon.
2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said resilient internal seal elastically deforms to the diameter of an opened tin when fitted to an opened tin;
3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said resilient internal seal provides an airtight seal when fitted to an opened tin;
4. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said annular seal within the top face of said lid elastically deforms to the diameter of the shaft of said spoon when the said lid and spoon are assembled;
5. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said annular seal within the top face of said lid provides an airtight seal around the shaft of said spoon;
6. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the spoon-shaft of said spoon overlaps the spoon-head sufficiently to prevent the spoon-head from passing up through said hole in lid and opening the seal;
7. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein additional material thickness is provided in the flat surface of the said lid close to where said spoon penetrates through the annular seal to ensure the spoon-head does not stretch the said annular seal in the lid and break the seal between the annular seal and the spoon shaft;
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 28, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 6, 2005
Inventors: Oliver Kratzer (Sydney), Grant Stevens (Sydney)
Application Number: 11/090,190