Plastic lunch box
A plastic lunch box is disclosed that includes a tray including a raised, flat bottom wall, a raised, staged edge including a lower first shelf, an upper second shelf of inverted U-section, and a bent intermediate section interconnecting the first and second shelves, and a substantially L-shaped member interconnecting the bottom wall and the edge; and a cover including a closed inner groove on a top, a raised top wall defined by the inner groove, an edge of inverted-U section, and a closed outer groove proximate the edge; whereby snapping the cover onto the tray will securely engage the outer groove with an upper portion of the intermediate section and securely engage the edge of the cover with the second shelf. The lunch box has a sufficient structural strength and can be manufactured in a cost effective process.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to food-carrying cases and more particularly to a lunch box formed of plastic having a sufficient structural strength by furrowing its edges, etc. and manufactured in a cost effective process.
2. Related Art
A conventional lunch box is formed of plastic, sheet metal, or paper. For manufacturing paper lunch boxes, precious wood resources may be consumed undesirably. Also, its cost is relatively high. For metal lunch boxes, they have a sufficient structural strength to endure repeated use for a long time. However, its cost is also relatively high. For plastic lunch boxes, typically they do not have a sufficient structural strength for the purpose of saving cost since the cost of manufacturing thick lunch boxes is higher than that of manufacturing thin ones. It is thus often found that a plastic lunch box deforms only after a very short period time of use. This is not desirable. Hence, a need has arisen for an improved plastic lunch box without the above inadequacy of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lunch box formed of plastic having a sufficient structural strength by furrowing its edges, etc. and manufactured in a cost effective process.
To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a plastic lunch box comprising a tray including a raised, flat bottom wall, a raised, staged edge including a lower first shelf, an upper second shelf of inverted U-section, and a bent intermediate section interconnecting the first and second shelves, and a substantially L-shaped member interconnecting the bottom wall and the edge; and a cover including a closed inner groove on a top, a raised top wall defined by the inner groove, an edge of inverted-U section, and a closed outer groove proximate the edge; whereby snapping the cover onto the tray will securely engage the outer groove with an upper portion of the intermediate section and securely engage the edge of the cover with the second shelf.
In one aspect of the present invention each of the cover and the tray is of substantially rectangular.
In another aspect of the present invention each of the top wall and the bottom wall is of substantially rectangular.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
As shown in
As shown in
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A plastic lunch box comprising:
- a tray including a raised, flat bottom wall, a raised, staged edge including a lower first shelf, an upper second shelf of inverted U-section, and a bent intermediate section interconnecting the first and second shelves, and a substantially L-shaped member interconnecting the bottom wall and the edge; and
- a cover including a closed inner groove on a top, a raised top wall defined by the inner groove, an edge of inverted-U section, and a closed outer groove proximate the edge;
- whereby snapping the cover onto the tray will securely engage the outer groove with an upper portion of the intermediate section and securely engage the edge of the cover with the second shelf.
2. The plastic lunch box of claim 1, wherein the cover is of substantially rectangular.
3. The plastic lunch box of claim 1, wherein the tray is of substantially rectangular.
4. The plastic lunch box of claim 1, wherein the bottom wall is of substantially rectangular.
5. The plastic lunch box of claim 1, wherein the top wall is of substantially rectangular.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 6, 2006
Publication Date: Jan 10, 2008
Inventor: Jiang-Yi Zhao (Gaishan Town)
Application Number: 11/480,966
International Classification: B65D 6/28 (20060101);