ARTICULABLE TRAY DISPLAY SYSTEM
A generally circular tray having an edge that is convex and concave, where the convex portion is complementary in size to the concave portion. When used in series multiple trays can be arranged to form various configurations of tray arrays for the display of articles such as foodstuffs.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/185,986, filed Jun. 10, 2009 entitled ARTICULABLE TRAY DISPLAY SYSTEM, Iverson, Paul, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
COPYRIGHT NOTICEA portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to displaying products such as food or other small items on trays and more particularly to a system, method and apparatus for creating an array of trays displaying these items.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONFood and other items are often placed on trays for sale by a vendor. For example dishes of food that are placed in a glass-enclosed delicatessen display case or arranged on a table by a caterer frequently rest on display trays for viewing by consumers. These display cases and tables were usually rectangular or round in shape and only require that any display trays that placed on them be configurable in that linear orientation.
Recently however table and display cases that are curved have become more popular, sometimes even in an S-shaped serpentine configuration. A problem has arisen with use of square, round, ovoid or rectangular trays of the prior art because, when used with these curved surfaces adjoining trays leave voids between them, providing only a disjointed surface to place plates of food or other items for presentation.
What is needed then is a tray and system of trays that can be adjustably aligned to correspond to the straight or curved surface of a table of a given display case, presenting a continuous tray surface along the length a straight or curved display case or table, an array of display trays corresponding to that surface.
A solution to the above has been devised. A series of round trays of the same diameter but including convex voids are provided, where each tray has at least two arcuate voids at their perimeters. The arc of the arcuate voids are complementary to the convex rounded side of the tray, allowing multiple trays to rest adjoining abutting trays to complete a adjustably linear or curved line of trays, together forming a system of display trays that may be combined to form a continuous tray in a flexible number of patterns. A round plate or tray is formed with two arcuate concave voids in the otherwise circular shape formed by the edge of the plate, creating a plate that has both concave and convex sections of its edge. The concave arcuate portion of the edge is sized to receive the convex edge of an identical plate, or of a circular plate of the same size but without voids so the arc of the concave void of a tray is complementary to the convex arc. The voids in a tray act as a connecting junction for the adjoining trays to maintain substantial surface area between plates that would not be available by simply placing two circular trays or plates adjacent each other. A series of such trays may be nested and flexibly arranged into a multitude of configurations. A tray with two voids could for example be used as a juncture of two lines of trays, or used to form a continuous curved surface for placing bowls or foodstuffs.
The trays are also each individually adjustable in height. This difference in height allows having an array of plates configured in a stepped or overhanging manner, a first row of trays overhanging the a second TOW. The trays are formed with a central neck and feet. A tray may either rest directly on the feet, on a base connected to the neck, or on the base with one or more spacers between the base and the neck. In other words the height of an individual plate may be adjusted by selecting different configurations of the neck, spacers and a base.
With this product shape and method of use a wide and flexible variety of configurations of arrays of trays may be achieved, both to accommodate the surfaces of curving shapes trays must rest on, and to achieve aesthetically-pleasing configurations.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTThe following description, and the figures to which it refers, are provided for the purpose of describing examples and specific embodiments of the invention only and are not intended to exhaustively describe all possible examples and embodiments of the invention.
Referring now to
The tray 10 may be of any size in diameter when used with other trays of the same size for the system of the present invention.
The tray can be formed from any suitably rigid material, such as plastic, metal, wood or similar materials that are known to those of skill in the art. In the preferred embodiment the tray is made of melamine resin and compression molded.
Referring additionally to
The neck 20 is affixed to a base 22 or to one or more spacers 24 that are also connected to a base to elevate each succeeding tray 10.
The height of an individual plate 10 then may be adjusted by selecting different configurations of the neck 22 an spacers 24. A plate 10 may be placed directly on a surface without a base 22 or spacer 24, resting on its feet 14; a plate may also be affixed to a base at its neck 20 to achieve a first higher elevation with the base resting on a surface; a plate may also be affixed to a spacer 24 at its neck and the spacer is affixed to the base, with the base resting on a surface, to achieve a second elevation higher than the first elevation. Additional spacers 24 may be incorporated to achieve further elevations, with two or more spacers be affixed together and to the neck 20 and base that rests on a surface.
Referring additionally now to
It will be appreciated that the invention has been described hereabove with reference to certain examples or preferred embodiments as shown in the drawings. Various additions, deletions, changes and alterations may be made to the above-described embodiments and examples without departing from the intended spirit and scope of this invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all such additions, deletions, changes and alterations be included within the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A tray for forming tray arrays, comprising: a tray of generally circular shape having an edge including a convex portion and a concave void portion, creating a plate that has both concave and convex sections of its edge, where the arc of the arc of the concave void is complementary to the convex arc.
2. The tray of claim 1 where the tray may be affixed to a base to increase its elevation from a surface the tray is placed on.
3. An array of the plates of claim 1 comprising a plurality of plates arranged to have their convex side nest within the concave side of an adjoining plate.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 10, 2010
Publication Date: May 5, 2011
Inventor: Paul J. Iverson (Las Flores, CA)
Application Number: 12/813,502
International Classification: B65D 6/04 (20060101); B65D 1/34 (20060101);