Food Container
In accordance with one embodiment, a container for carrying food is provided. The container can include one or more sidewalls; a primary food compartment defined by the one or more sidewalls; a cooling compartment disposed beneath the primary food compartment; a sealable opening for the cooling compartment accessible from the exterior of the container; and, wherein the cooling compartment is disposed immediately adjacent to the primary food compartment.
The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/069,612, entitled “FOOD CONTAINER” and filed on Oct. 28, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.
BACKGROUNDThere are numerous food carriers, such as lunch bags, lunch boxes, and other containers, that facilitate keeping food and/or drinks cool until consumed (e.g., freezer packs, pouches, etc.). The lunch bags, for example, can be expensive and are often misplaced or lost after a meal by both children at school and adults in the workplace. Over time, the cost to replace these food carriers can become a significant expense.
SUMMARYIn accordance with one embodiment, a container for carrying food is provided. The container can include one or more sidewalls; a primary food compartment defined by the one or more sidewalls; a cooling compartment disposed beneath the primary food compartment; a sealable opening for the cooling compartment accessible from the exterior of the container; and, wherein the cooling compartment is disposed immediately adjacent to the primary food compartment.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method of making a food container is described. The method can include establishing a primary food compartment with one or more sidewalls; establishing a cooling compartment, the cooling compartment disposed immediately adjacent and beneath the primary food compartment during use; and establishing a sealable opening for the cooling compartment accessible from the exterior of the container.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other features, details, utilities, and aspects of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following more particular written Detailed Description of various embodiments and embodiments as further illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.
Further embodiments are apparent from the description below and the accompanying figures.
A further understanding of the present technology may be realized by reference to the figures, which are described in the remaining portion of the specification.
In accordance with one embodiment, a new food container is provided that can keep food cool at an economical price. Thus, if a user were to use the food container as a lunch bag and inadvertently lose it, a replacement food container could be obtained at a cost effective price. This can be particularly useful to a parent of a small child, as children frequently lose more expensive lunch bags that are expensive to replace. Moreover, the food container of such an embodiment can be outfitted with a cooling agent that is inexpensive and easily replaceable.
In order to facilitate cooling, the cooling compartment can be filled with a cooling agent. This can be accomplished in accordance with one embodiment by disposing ice cubes 128 in the cooling compartment via a re-sealable opening 116. The re-sealable opening can be any re-sealable opening that is substantially water-tight so as to reduce the chance that ice-water will escape from the cooling compartment. In
In the example shown in
Another manner of providing cooling is to add water to the cooling compartment, seal the cooling compartment, and place the food container in a cold environment, such as a freezer, so as to allow the water to cool/freeze. The cooling compartment can then provide cooling to the primary food compartment via the cooling compartment cover during use.
The ability to add ice to the cooling compartment or freeze water in the cooling compartment is a second manner of reducing cost. For example, when a child loses a lunch bag containing a self-contained cooling agent, such as a blue ice pack, both are lost. Therefore, a parent not only has to replace the expensive lunch bag itself but also the self-contained cooling agent. This further increases the replacement cost when a lunch bag is lost. With the embodiment described above, however, a user does not need a self-contained cooling agent. Instead, the user can simply rely upon ice that is added to or formed in the cooling compartment.
In
In accordance with one embodiment, an exhaust port 124 is used to expel air from the food container once the food container is sealed. Such an exhaust port can be implemented via a valve disposed in one of the sidewalls of the food container. Once the top seal is closed by zipper 132, the sidewalls of the food container can be squeezed together creating pressure on the air inside the primary food compartment. When a sufficient pressure is generated, the air can be forced out via the valve. In humid environments, this can be useful to remove humid air from within the primary food compartment. When humid air is cooled, condensation can occur, which can damage some types of food (e.g., creating soggy sandwiches).
In accordance with one embodiment, the bottom sidewall of the food container can be formed of substantially rigid material. The material should be sufficiently rigid so as to form a structural base that allows the food container to stand upright on a shelf of a freezer. This will allow the ice to form a substantially flat surface (i.e., not necessarily perfectly flat) once frozen in the upright food container.
Notably, in the embodiments shown in
The food container can be made of polyethylene material or any similar material. In some embodiments, one might choose to use thicker material or material with a higher degree of thermal insulation. For example, the bottom end portion 122 of the cooling compartment could be fashioned from a material that has better thermal insulating properties than the material used for the sidewall portions. This would allow the cooling compartment to remain cool longer and reduce heat exchange via the bottom outer surface of the food container. It would also reduce the likelihood of condensation forming on the bottom outer surface of the food container when used in humid conditions.
The food container can also be configured to be collapsible. For example, by forming the sidewalls of the food container from material such as polyethylene material, a food container can easily be collapsed into a smaller configuration of substantially reduced volume for storage (e.g., less than two-thirds the volume of the container volume during normal use). This allows a child to store a collapsed food container in his/her backpack after lunch, for example.
Moreover, because a food container can be fabricated from inexpensive materials, the food container can be disposable. Such a food container can be disposed of after one or a few uses, for example. In comparison, expensive food containers currently on the market are not disposable as one buys them with the intent of using them for a long period of time.
In accordance with one embodiment, the sidewalls of a food container can be made from multiple layers. This can be done to provide a greater degree of thermal insulation than might be accomplished with a single layer of material. For example, in one embodiment an inner plastic layer can be combined with an outer plastic layer of material. The edges of the two layers can be sealed together so as to prevent warm outside air from contacting the inner layer. Moreover, a layer of air can be formed between the two layers of material, providing further thermal insulation. One of the layers, for example the inner layer, can have a greater capacity of thermal insulation than the other. Moreover, one of the layers can have a light reflection property.
In accordance with one embodiment, the multiple layer embodiment can extend part of the way up a sidewall while the remainder of the sidewall is formed by a single layer of material. This can be done, for example, to provide the lower portion of the primary food container with a greater degree of thermal insulation.
In accordance with one embodiment, the cooling compartment can be placed on the side of the food container rather than or in addition to the bottom of the food container.
In yet another embodiment, the cooling compartment can be shaped so as to freeze water in a different shape than a rectangle. For example, elongated arms could be preconfigured to extend away from the cooling compartment and into the primary food compartment so as to allow water to be added and formed as frozen pillars within the primary food compartment. Or, the cooling compartment could be preconfigured in the form of a sphere so as to produce a frozen sphere that might melt less slowly during use. Other unique shapes for the cooling compartment could similarly be implemented to provide tailored cooling effects.
The size of the food container need not necessarily be limited to meal size containers. In accordance with one embodiment, a larger size container could be implemented to facilitate storage and transportation of larger items. For example, embodiments could be sized to carry large loads of cold items as well as irregularly shaped items, such as ice cream to go.
The word portion when used herein can denote not only a subset of an article but also the entire article. Thus, for example, reference to a bottom end portion can refer to the entire bottom end.
It is also noted that many of the structures, materials, and acts recited herein can be recited as means for performing a function or step for performing a function. Therefore, it should be understood that such language is entitled to cover all such structures, materials, or acts disclosed within this specification and their equivalents, including any matter incorporated by reference.
It is thought that the apparatuses and methods of embodiments described herein will be understood from this specification. While the above description is a complete description of specific embodiments, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the patent as defined by the claims.
It will be understood that while embodiments have been described in conjunction with specific examples, the foregoing description and examples are intended to illustrate, but not limit the scope of the disclosed technology. The elements and use of the above-described embodiments can be rearranged and combined in manners other than specifically described above, with any and all permutations within the scope of the disclosure.
Claims
1. A container for carrying food comprising: one or more sidewalls;
- a primary food compartment defined by the one or more sidewalls;
- a cooling compartment disposed beneath the primary food compartment;
- a sealable opening for the cooling compartment accessible from the exterior of the container;
- wherein the cooling compartment is disposed immediately adjacent to the primary food compartment.
2. The container of claim 1 wherein the cooling compartment defines a substantially flat surface during use.
3. The container of claim 1 wherein the cooling compartment provides a structural base for supporting the container in an upright position during use.
4. The container of claim 1 and further comprising:
- a layer of material disposed between the primary food compartment and the cooling compartment and having a greater insulating capacity than an insulating capacity of material used for the one or more sidewalls.
5. The container of claim 1 and further comprising:
- an exhaust port disposed in the one or more sidewalls.
6. The container of claim 1 wherein the sidewall material comprises polyethylene.
7. The container of claim 1 wherein the container is collapsible so as to form a substantially reduced volume when collapsed relative to when in use.
8. The container of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more sidewalls comprises two or more layers of material.
9. The container of claim 1 and further comprising: an opening of the primary food compartment; and wherein the one or more sidewalls comprises a greater degree of insulation extending from an interface with the cooling compartment at least partially toward the opening of the primary food compartment.
10. The container of claim 1 wherein the sealable opening is configured to receive insertion of a standard faucet head.
11. A method of making a food container, the method comprising:
- establishing a primary food compartment with one or more sidewalls;
- establishing a cooling compartment, the cooling compartment disposed immediately adjacent and beneath the primary food compartment during use;
- establishing a sealable opening for the cooling compartment accessible from the exterior of the container.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the primary food compartment defines a substantially flat surface during use.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein the cooling compartment provides a structural base for supporting the container in an upright position during use.
14. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- disposing a layer of material between the primary food compartment and the cooling compartment, the layer of material having a greater insulating capacity than an insulating capacity of material used for the one or more sidewalls.
15. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- disposing an exhaust port in the one or more sidewalls.
16. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- utilizing polyethylene as the sidewall material.
17. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- configuring the container to be collapsible so as to form a substantially reduced volume when collapsed relative to when in use.
18. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- configuring one or more sidewalls from two or more layers of material.
19. The method of claim 11 and further comprising:
- disposing an opening for the primary food compartment;
- utilizing a greater degree of insulation for the one or more sidewalls, the greater degree of insulation extending from an interface with the cooling compartment at least partially toward the opening of the primary food compartment.
20. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:
- configuring the sealable opening to receive insertion of a standard faucet head.
Type: Application
Filed: May 20, 2015
Publication Date: Sep 10, 2015
Inventor: Gerald R. Richardson (Winter Park, FL)
Application Number: 14/717,301