DEVICE PROVIDING HOT AND COLD STORAGE AND TRANSPORT FOR FOOD AND THE LIKE
A food storage system allows at least one warm item and one cool item, especially foods to be stored and transported together. A housing with a closable internal volume receives at least one container for the cool items and one container form the warm items. In each of these containers, cool items and warm items are paired with a appropriate phase change material that either absorbs heat or emits heat. The items and the phase change materials can be separately contained.
This application is a non-provisional of U.S. 61/789,606, filed 15 Mar. 2013, which is incorporated by reference as if fully recited herein.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to a device that allows the storage and transport of at least two materials, where one of the materials is to be maintained in a hot condition and the other material is to be maintained in a cold condition.
BACKGROUND OF THE ARTAlthough the “lunch bucket” has a long and storied history among school children, miners and construction workers, the simple truth is that, for the most part, almost every effort in the past has been to contain the foodstuffs in the device while allowing them to seek an equilibrium temperature, that is, allowing the food to assume room temperature, albeit at a slowed rate.
One of the sole exceptions to this has been the lunch box with an accompanying THERMOS-type device for storing a warm liquid, such as a soup. Even the THERMOS-type device has its difficulties. In a classic joke, a customer sees a THERMOS-type device in a store and, impressed by its design, asks the clerk what it does. When told that it “keeps hot things hot and cold things cold,” the customer buys one. At work the next day, the customer proudly shows the device to a co-worker and tells the co-worker that it “keeps hot things hot and cold things cold.” The co-worker then asks, “Well, what do you have in it?” The proud owner of the THERMOS-type device tells the co-worker “I put two POPSICLES and a cup of coffee in there.”
The users of these “lunch bucket” products have often been consigned to using them by sheer necessity and not by desire. This is not a way to expand a market. As airlines, railroads, other transportation sources, and even institutional food services, reduce the intensity of the food services offered and as more workers would rather “pack their lunch” instead of “eating out,” the interest in keeping “hot things hot and cold things cold” is great, especially when the “things” are nutritious foods. It would be even greater to achieve this goal in an attractive and effective unitary package.
Confounding the issue is the interest in achieving this goal in an ecologically acceptable manner. This can have several aspects. In a first instance, it can serve as an ideal opportunity for a parent to provide a first-hand lesson in minimizing one's waste “footprint” for a child, even when waste disposal may be readily available. In other situations, however, as in the transportation industries and in situations where waste disposal is not readily available, there is a clear incentive to provide food that is not extensively pre-packaged with what quickly becomes waste.
Additionally, there is a need to be able to provide some semblance of home to deployed military that are being fed, not necessarily in the field, but in their encampments. Further applications may be found in institutional food service, as in hospitals, and in the travel industry, such as airlines and railroads.
It is therefore an unmet advantage of the prior art to provide a container device that can simultaneously keep warm materials warm and cool materials cool.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis and other unmet advantages are provided by a device for keeping at least one warm item warm while keeping at least one cool item cool, in a single housing. Such a device has a housing base with a main body and a lid, which is arranged for a sealing fit with the main body. The lid and main body co-act to provide the housing base with an internal volume. At least one internal body is sized and adapted to be seated in the internal volume. The internal body provides seating for a plurality of food container units and a plurality of thermal container units.
A better understanding of the disclosed embodiments will be obtained from a reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein identical reference characters refer to identical parts and in which:
The housing base 20, including both the main body and the lid or top, will very preferably be assembled to insulate the contents. A variety of means are known, with a foamed poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (“PEVA”) insulative sheet being a particularly useful means. It is also particularly preferred to effectively laminate the PEVA material with a waterproof “skin,” which can be either a continuous web or a tightly woven material. The “skin” of this type can provide color and surfaces for ornamentation that the PEVA sheet does not provide. Depending upon the thickness of the insulative sheet, the housing base 20 may be relatively rigid on its own. Polyurethane material may also be desirable as a insulative sheet and polyurethane clearly provides a good material for the “skin.”
Further features that are seen in
Most importantly, the food container bodies 32 and the corresponding lids 34 should be designed to be easily cleaned for reuse. They should also, to the extent possible, be designed to allow the internal contents to be readily viewed.
As also seen in
A further feature shown in
While the operation of the coordination container 80 should be readily understood from
Having shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention and still be within the scope of the claimed invention. Thus, many of the elements indicated above may be altered or replaced by different elements which will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed invention. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A device for keeping at least one warm item warm while keeping at least one cool item cool, in a single housing, the device comprising:
- a housing base, comprising: a main body; and a lid, arranged for a sealing fit with the main body, the lid and main body co-acting to provide the housing base with an internal volume;
- a plurality of food container units;
- a plurality of thermal container units; and
- at least one internal body, sized and adapted to be seated in the internal volume, the internal body providing seating for a plurality of the food container units.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein:
- the housing base comprises at least one layer of a thermal insulation.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein:
- the layer of thermal insulation comprises a foamed poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (“PEVA”) insulative sheet.
4. The device of claim 3, further comprising:
- a water-proof layer in which the thermal insulation layer is laminated
5. The device of claim 1, wherein:
- each of the food container units comprises a food container body and a food container lid.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein:
- at least one of the at least one internal bodies comprises PEVA.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein:
- each of the plurality of thermal container units comprises a thermal container body and a thermal container lid.
8. The device of claim 7, further comprising:
- a packaged amount of a material that undergoes a phase change between a solid state and a liquid or gel state.
9. The device of claim 8, wherein:
- the packaged phase change material absorbs thermal energy when changing from solid state to the liquid or gel state and releases thermal energy when changing from the liquid or gel state to the solid state.
10. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
- a plurality of coordination container units, each coordination container unit sized and adapted to contain at least one food container unit and at least one thermal container unit.
11. The device of claim 10, wherein:
- each of the plurality of coordination container units comprises a coordination container body and a coordination container lid.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 14, 2014
Publication Date: Nov 27, 2014
Inventors: Yuvadee COX (Jackson, OH), Teresa Mae ALTHERR (Jackson, OH)
Application Number: 14/211,263
International Classification: B65D 81/34 (20060101); B65D 81/38 (20060101);