FOOD CONTAINER
A sandwich container is disclosed comprising: a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, and sidewalls, the housing being at least partially enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a sandwich, the housing defining a dispensing end of the sandwich container; a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and the rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the sandwich from the rear wall towards the dispensing end. A food container is also disclosed comprising: a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, sidewalls, and a front flap, the housing being enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a food item, the front flap adapted to enclose a dispensing end defined by the housing; a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the food item from the rear wall towards the dispensing end in order to contact and open the front flap.
This document relates to food containers.
BACKGROUNDConventional food containers for food items such as burgers have a lid or flap for a user to manually flip open to access the food item. A user may then entirely remove the food item from the container for consumption. In some cases a user may also manually pull out a portion of the food item, and then consume the portion while holding the rest of the food item in the container.
SUMMARYA sandwich container is disclosed comprising: a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, and sidewalls, the housing being at least partially enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a sandwich, the housing defining a dispensing end of the sandwich container; a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and the rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the sandwich from the rear wall towards the dispensing end.
A food container is also disclosed comprising: a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, sidewalls, and a front flap, the housing being enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a food item, the front flap adapted to enclose a dispensing end defined by the housing; a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the food item from the rear wall towards the dispensing end in order to contact and open the front flap.
These and other aspects of the device and method are set out in the claims, which are incorporated here by reference.
Embodiments will now be described with reference to the figures, in which like reference characters denote like elements, by way of example, and in which:
Immaterial modifications may be made to the embodiments described here without departing from what is covered by the claims.
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It should be understood that container 10 may have any suitable configuration, for example, cylindrical, box, polyhedron, and other configurations. One or more of walls 18, 20, 22, 24, flap 64, base 16, and the front wall if present, may be comprised of two or more surfaces angled relative to one another, such as first rear wall portion 100 and second rear wall portion 102 in the case of rear wall 18 for example.
Housing 12 may be made from suitable material, such as one or more of cardboard, paperboard, construction paper, plastic, reinforced paper, and wax paper. Rigid materials may be used.
In the claims, the word “comprising” is used in its inclusive sense and does not exclude other elements being present. The indefinite article “a” before a claim feature does not exclude more than one of the feature being present. Each one of the individual features described here may be used in one or more embodiments and is not, by virtue only of being described here, to be construed as essential to all embodiments as defined by the claims.
Claims
1. A sandwich container comprising:
- a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, and sidewalls, the housing being at least partially enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a sandwich, the housing defining a dispensing end of the sandwich container; and
- a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and the rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the sandwich from the rear wall towards the dispensing end.
2. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which the push tab is sized to fit the fingers of a user's hand.
3. The sandwich container of claim 2 in which a width of the push tab is sized to fit at least three fingers of a user's hand.
4. The sandwich container of claim 3 in which the width of the push tab is sized to fit at least four fingers of a user's hand.
5. The sandwich container of claim 2 in which a width of the push tab is at least half the width of a sandwich contained in the sandwich container.
6. The sandwich container of claim 5 in which the width of the push tab is at least three quarters the width of the sandwich.
7. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which the push tab is formed in the base and the rear wall of the housing.
8. The sandwich container of claim 7 in which the push tab is formed to at least one-third of the distance up the rear wall of the housing from the base end.
9. The sandwich container of claim 8 in which the push tab is formed to at least one-half of the distance up the rear wall of the housing from the base end.
10. The sandwich container of claim 7 in which the base end is located at least one-third of the length of the base from the rear wall.
11. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which, in use, the push tab is adapted to define a tab stroke within the housing that extends to the dispensing end.
12. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which the push tab is defined at least partially by perforated score lines on the housing.
13. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which the housing further comprises a front flap adapted to close the dispensing end of the housing.
14. The sandwich container of claim 13 in which the front flap is adapted to hinge downwardly in operation.
15. The sandwich container of claim 14 in which the front flap comprises a perimeter lip that defines a drip tray when the front flap is hinged downwardly in operation.
16. The sandwich container of claim 14 in which each sidewalls comprises at least two angled surfaces adapted to inwardly flex under lateral gripping pressure.
17. The sandwich container of claim 1 in which the sandwich container is adapted to contain a burger.
18. A food container comprising:
- a housing having a base, a rear wall, a top wall, sidewalls, and a front flap, the housing being enclosed and defining an interior for containment of a food item, the front flap adapted to close a dispensing end defined by the housing; and
- a push tab, formed in one or both of the base and rear wall of the housing, adapted to hinge from a base end of the push tab into the housing toward the dispensing end for manual advancement, in operation, of the food item from the rear wall towards the dispensing end in order to contact and open the front flap.
19. A blank of material configured to form the sandwich container of claim 1.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 15, 2009
Publication Date: Mar 10, 2011
Inventor: Colin Villiers (Alder Flats)
Application Number: 12/559,861
International Classification: B65D 83/00 (20060101); B65D 5/00 (20060101);