Liquid-Tight Assembly of Base and Cover Members in an Advertisement Food Tray

Abstract

An advertising food tray features a base, an informational insert on a topside of the base, an at least partially transparent cover for placement over the informational insert, a liquid-tight seal spanning around a perimeter of the insert between the base and cover, a plurality of peripheral tabs defined on a first one of either the base or the cover and a matching plurality of peripheral slots defined on a second one of either the base or the cover. An elongated locking member is received between the base and the cover on a peripheral path that passes between each peripheral slot and the respective one of the peripheral tabs, and thereby compresses the seal between the base and cover to maintain a liquid tight seal around the insert, which is thereby protected from damage during use and cleaning of same.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to food trays that are used in cafeterias, food courts and the like and incorporate a removable advertisement insert, and more particularly to a unique solution for assembling such food trays in a manner achieving a liquid-tight seal around the advertisement insert.

BACKGROUND

Prior art has previously proposed to provide a tray with an advertising or other informational display by mounting an informational insert between the tray and a transparent or translucent cover.

Examples of such prior art can be found in Patent and Patent Application Publications CH149581, JP7047024, U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,411, US20020096529, US20060243632, US20060253322, WO9003140, WO1999029217, CA2819051 and CA2841183.

However, there remains room for improvement, and a particular need for an advertisement-capable food tray that enables simple rotation or replacement of advertisement inserts while providing a water-tight dishwasher-safe design in which the advertising content is safeguarded from liquid penetration during use of the food tray and cleaning of same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a food tray comprising:

a base having a main base area for receiving placement of an informational insert on a topside of said main base area;

a cover having a main cover area for placement over the topside of the main base area so as to overlie the informational insert, at least a portion of the main cover area being transparent or translucent to define a viewing window that enables viewing of the informational insert through the cover;

a liquid-tight seal placed, or arranged for placement, in a position spanning around a perimeter of the main base area on the topside thereof in sealed contact between the main base area and the main cover area to seal off the main base area and the informational insert from external liquids;

a plurality of peripheral tabs defined on a first one of either the base or the cover;

a plurality of peripheral slots defined on a second one of either the base or the cover, a layout pattern of the peripheral slots matching a layout of the peripheral tabs to align each of said peripheral slots with a respective one of the peripheral tabs and enable relative movement of the peripheral tabs through said peripheral slots during placement of the main cover area over the main base area; and

at least one elongated locking member received or receivable between the base and the cover on a peripheral path that spans around the main base area and passes between each peripheral slot and the respective one of the peripheral tabs.

Preferably the at least one elongated locking member comprises a wire rod.

Preferably the at least one elongated locking member consists solely of a singular locking member whose length is sufficient to span multiple sides of the peripheral path around the main base area.

Preferably there is provided a gripping tab projecting outward from a perimeter edge of one of either the base or the cover for use prying the base and the cover apart from one another during disassembly of the food tray.

Preferably the gripping tab extends through a corresponding opening in a wall of the other one of either the base or the cover.

Preferably the gripping tab is defined on the base.

Preferably the peripheral tabs project into a hollow cavity of the first one of either the base or the cover, and the second one of either the base or the cover is at least partially received within the hollow cavity.

Preferably the peripheral tabs are defined on the cover, and the peripheral slots are defined on the base,

Preferably the peripheral tabs project inwardly from a lower peripheral wall of the cover that spans around the main cover area of the cover do delimit the hollow cavity at an underside thereof that faces the topside of the main base area, and the locking member is received between the tabs and an underside of the base.

Preferably the lower peripheral wall of the cover has the opening for the gripping tab situated therein at a lower edge thereof that lies opposite to the main cover area, and the gripping tab projects outwardly away from a peripheral edge of the base at which the peripheral slots are defined, the gripping tab being received, or positioned for receipt, in the opening to present a gripping point for removal of the base from the cover.

Preferably the peripheral slots project inwardly from an outermost perimeter of the base.

Preferably the cover comprises upper peripheral tray walls spanning around the main cover area at a topside thereof that faces away from the main base area and defines a food-carrying surface of the food tray.

Preferably at least one of either the tray or the cover features a seat for retaining the seal in the position spanning around the perimeter of the main base area.

Preferably the seat comprises a trough spanning around the around the perimeter of the main base area.

Preferably the other of the tray or the cover comprises a raised feature that juts therefrom at a location residing between walls of the seat in order to force the seal tightly against the seat

Preferably the seat is defined on the cover.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective topside view of a food tray assembly according to a first embodiment the present invention in an exploded unassembled state.

FIG. 2 is a perspective topside view of a base of the food tray assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the base of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective underside view of a cover of the food tray assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective underside view of the food tray assembly of FIG. 1 in its assembled state.

FIG. 6 is a partial close-up underside perspective view of the food tray assembly of FIG. 5.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a first embodiment food tray device 10 of the present invention, which is assembled from a transparent tray-shaped cover 12, a generally flat rectangular base member 14, a printed informational insert 16, a resilient seal 18, and a wire lock rod 20. When the device is assembled, the insert 16 and the seal 18 are sandwiched between the base 14 and the cover 12 so that printed information on the insert is readable through the transparent cover 12. The wire lock rod 20 secures the base and cover together, thereby also retaining the seal and information insert in place in the final assembled unit.

The cover 12 features a rectangular main panel 24 whose four-sided perimeter at the topside 24a thereof defines a pair of longer front and rear edges 24b, and two shorter side edges 24c that lie parallel and opposite to one another to join the front and rear edges at both ends thereof. Upper front and rear walls 26 stands upward from the base panel 24 along the front and rear edges 24b thereof. A pair of upper side walls 28 stand upward from the base panel 24 along the opposing side edges thereof, and each extend fully between the front and rear walls 26. The side walls incline slightly outward from the respective edges of the base panel. The upper front, rear and side walls collectively form an upper peripheral wall spanning fully around the perimeter of the cover's main panel 24. A side flange 30 projects laterally outward from each side wall 28, 30 over a full or partial span of its length, thereby forming a respective one of two handles at opposite ends of the assembled tray for manual carrying of same by a user.

With reference to FIG. 4, a lower peripheral wall spanning around the entire perimeter of the cover's main panel 24 is likewise defined at the underside 24d thereof by a pair of parallel front and rear walls 32 running along the front and rear edges of the rectangular main panel 24, and a pair of parallel side walls 34 running along the two side edges of the rectangular main panel. Each lower wall 32, 34 stands perpendicularly from the plane of the main panel 24 of the cover 12. With continued reference to FIG. 4, a plurality of peripheral tabs 36 project inwardly from the lower peripheral walls 32, 34 at spaced apart positions around the perimeter of the cover's main panel. While the illustrated embodiment features five such tabs 36 on each of the longer front and rear lower walls 32, and four such tabs on each of the shorter side walls 34, the number of tabs per wall and the total overall number of tabs may vary. The tabs reside in a common plane lying parallel to that of the cover's main panel 24, at a lower edge of the lower peripheral wall that lies distally of the cover's main panel 24. Still referring to FIG. 4, a pair of shorter perimeter walls 38 situated a short distance inwardly of the tabbed peripheral wall 32, 34 likewise stand perpendicularly from the plane of the cover's main panel at the underside thereof and span around the perimeter of the cover's main panel 24. The space between these walls defines a trough-like seat 40 spanning a peripheral path around the perimeter of the cover's main panel 24 at the underside thereof.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the base 14 features a rectangular main panel 42 of its own, which shares the same size and shape as the main panel of the cover 12, therefore likewise having a longer pair of parallel front and rear edges, and a shorter pair of parallel side edges lying perpendicularly thereto. On a topside 42a of the base's main panel 42, a pair of short peripheral walls 38a, 38b stand perpendicularly upward therefrom along the perimeter of the base panel 42 at a distance inward therefrom, similar to the trough walls 38 of the cover. An outer one of these short peripheral walls 38a resides nearer to the outer perimeter of the base 14 than the other one of these walls 38b, which is therefore referred to as an inner peripheral wall. The outer peripheral wall 38a follows a generally rectangular path along the perimeter of the base that is slightly larger than the rectangular path of the inner one of the two trough-walls 38 of the cover 12, but slightly smaller than the rectangular path of the outer one of the two trough-walls 38 of the cover 12. As a result, when the base and cover are mated together during the assembly of the tray, the outer peripheral wall 38a of the base is centered between the two trough-walls 38 of the cover 12. As a result, the outer preripheral wall 38a presses against the seal 18 that is seated within the trough-shaped seat 40 delimited by the trough-walls 38.

A grid 44 of perpendicularly crossing walls lie inwardly of the inner wall 38b, and interconnect opposing sides thereof. The grid walls 44 share equal height to the inner peripheral wall 38b so that upper edges of the grid 44 and the inner peripheral wall 38b reside within a common plane that is parallel to the plane of the base's main panel 42. The gridded area inside of the short peripheral walls defines a main area of the base 14 onto which the printed informational insert 16 is placed during the assembly of the tray, with printed content of the insert facing upwardly away from the underlying main panel 42 and grid 44 of the base so that when the transparent cover 12 is secured overtop of the base, the printed content is visible through the cover. In another embodiment, the grid 44 may be omitted, and the informational insert placed directly on the topside 42a of the base's main panel 42. The short inner peripheral wall 38b of the short peripheral walls may present a border around the grid to help maintain the informational insert in place.

At the very outer perimeter of the base 14 outside the short peripheral walls 38a, 38b, a plurality of peripheral slots 46 jut inwardly therefrom. These slots 46 are equal in number and spacing to the tabs 36 on the cover, whereby the shared layout of the tabs and slots allows alignment of each slot with a respective one of the tabs during assembly of the tray. Like the tabs, the slots may be identical to one another, and the width of each slot (as measured along the respective perimeter edge of the base) slightly exceeds the width of the respective tab (as measured along the respective lower peripheral wall 32, 34 of the cover 12). This way, each tab can pass relatively through the respective slot during the mating together of the base and cover, as described herein in further detail below.

At one corner of the base 14, a gripping tab 48 juts outwardly from the same perimeter edge of the base 14 in which the slots 46 are formed, thereby defining an outermost extent of the base that resides outwardly of the entire remainder of the base. With reference to FIG. 4, a cut-out opening 50 juts into the lower peripheral wall of the cover 12 from the lower edge thereof at a corresponding corner of the cover. The width of the cover's cut-out opening 50 slightly exceeds that of the base's gripping tab 48 in order to accommodate of the gripping tab 48 in the cut-out opening 50 during assembly of the tray. It will be appreciated that the term “cut-out” is used only to describe the absence of wall material at this space, and not to denote that this open space must specifically be formed by “cutting away” a previously present portion of the outer wall. For example, the cut-out may be an ever-present integral feature of a moulded or vacuum-formed cover 12.

With reference to FIG. 1, the seal 18 forms a continuous, generally rectangular loop of equal dimension to the rectangular trough-shaped seat 40 defined at the underside of the cover 14. To assemble the tray, the seal 18 is placed into the trough-shaped seat 40 of the cover 12, which acts to achieve and maintain the proper position of the seal once seated. The informational insert 16 is placed on the grid 44 of the base 14 in the main area thereof surrounded by the short peripheral walls 38a, 38b. In the illustrated embodiment, the insert 16 has a rectangular shape occupying a substantial majority of the insert-accommodating area of the base to maximum the use of available advertising space. With the insert 16 and seal 18 in place, the cover 12 is then aligned overtop of the base (i.e. to align the cover tabs with the base slots, and align the outer peripheral wall 38a of the base between the two trough-walls 38 of the cover), and the cover 12 is lowered down toward the base. Sufficient lowering of the cover onto the base brings the base into the empty lower cavity of the cover that is delimited at the underside thereof by the lower peripheral wall 32, 34. During this step, the tabs 36 of the cover move downward through the slots 46 of the base, and the gripping tab 48 of the base 14 moves relatively upward into the cut-out opening 50 in the lower peripheral wall of the cover 12.

The described ‘lowering’ of the cover into place, and other references to ‘upper’, ‘lower’ and other vertically direction terms, are used with particular reference to the tray orientation shown in FIG. 1 (in which the tray would normally be used to place food on the topside 24a of the cover's main panel 24), but it will be appreciated that the tray may alternatively be assembled in the upside down orientation shown in FIG. 5, in which case the cover and base are inverted from their illustrated orientations of FIG. 1, and the base is lowered into place into the cavity of the cover after seating of the informational insert on the cavity-facing side of the cover's main panel with the seal 18 surrounding the informational insert in the trough-like seat extending therearound.

Turning to FIG. 5, the assembly of the tray is completed by forcing the wire lock rod 20 into the space between each tab 36 of the cover and the plane of the flat underside 42b of the main panel 42 of the base 14. Like the seal 18, the wire lock rod 20 is in the form of a generally rectangular loop, where each of the four linear segments of the loop corresponds to a respective side of the rectangular shape of the main panels of the base and cover. By forcing each segment of the wire-lock rod into place under the tabs at the respective side of the cover's lower cavity, the wire lock rod occupies an installed position spanning a peripheral path around the advertisement supporting area of the base at the slotted outer periphery thereof. The distal end of each tab has a downturned lip 36a that juts toward the main panels of the cover and base.

Each tab of the illustrated embodiment is resiliently cantilevered from the peripheral wall of the cover, and in the normal relaxed position of each tab in the assembled state of the tray, the clearance between the lip 36a and the underside 42b of the base's main panel 42 is slightly less than the diameter of the wire lock rod 20. This way, forcing the rod into its installed position past the lipped distal ends of the tabs flexes the tabs momentarily out of their normal positions, whereupon the resiliency of the tabs returns them back into their normal relaxed positions, in which the lip 36a blocks exit of the wire rod 20 out from under the tabs.

The distance from the underside 24d of the cover's main panel to the default relaxed position of the unlipped area of the tab is greater than the sum of the base's thickness and the lock rod's diameter, but less than the sum of the base's thickness, the lock rod's diameter, and the uncompressed natural thickness or diameter of the seal 18. As a result, forcing the wire lock rod 20 between the base 14 and the cover's tabs 36 acts to compress the seal 18 between the trough-shaped seat 40, of the cover 12 and the outer peripheral wall 38a of the base, thereby achieving a liquid-tight seal between the base and the cover around the entire perimeter of the informational insert 16 that is sandwiched between them. As a raised feature on the underside of the cover's main panel, the outer peripheral wall 38a effectively bites into the surface of the seal 18 to ensure full contact of the seal with both the cover and the tray and achieve a proper seal therebetween. As a result, the tray is dishwasher safe, with the liquid-tight seal protecting the informational insert 16 against water damage during hand or machine cleaning of the tray.

Should one wish to change the advertising or other informational content of the tray, one can manually grasp the gripping tab 48, the length of which projects outwardly beyond the lower periphery wall of the cover 12 through the cut-out opening 50 therein, and pull the tab 48 away from the main panel 24 of the cover 12. With sufficient pulling force, the lipped ends 36a of the resilient peripheral tabs 36 of the cover flex sufficiently far away from the cover's main panel 24 to allow the wire lock rod 20 to pop out from under the tabs 36, thereby releasing the clamped condition between the base 14 and the cover 12. The base is then fully withdrawn from the hollow cavity of the cover, thereby enabling removal of the existing informational insert 16 and replacement thereof with an insert of different informational content.

The informational insert may have printed advertising or other information or indicia on any one of more of its different portions. In the illustrated embodiments, the top tray is transparent or sufficiently translucent over its full expanse to maximize the possible advertising space of the assembled tray by allowing viewing of the insert over the full area of the trays. Other embodiments may employ one or more translucent or transparent viewing windows spanning only partial portions of the overall upper tray, with other portions of the upper tray being opaque or otherwise obscured.

The cover and base are preferably formed of sufficiently rigid molded plastic, although other materials or constructions capable of providing a full or partial area viewing window in the cover and sufficient rigidity in the overall tray assembly to support the weight of food and beverage items may be employed. The base may be opaque, transparent or translucent. In embodiments where the base is transparent over at least a portion of its surface area, the insert may be printed on both sides to enable viewing of information on the insert through both the top tray and bottom tray. The insert may be made of paper or cardstock, or other relatively thin materials or structures capable of displaying advertising or other information printed or otherwise displayed on the insert.

While the illustrated embodiment employs a single wire rod of steel or other metal that spans the entire periphery of the base, it may be possible to employ other materials, for example plastic, and use shorter individual wire rods respectively installed at different sides of the base's perimeter. In addition, locking members of different shape or structure than a round wire rod may alternatively be employed in a similar manner to cooperate with the tabs to clamp the cover and base together and compress the seal therebetween into a sealed condition between the two. At minimum, the seal should be liquid tight to prevent penetration by water or other liquids, but preferably the seal is effective against all fluid transfer, thereby preventing air, gases, steam, water vapour, etc. from gaining access to the informational insert inside the tray. While the illustrated embodiment provides a seal-accommodating seat on the cover and a seal-biting raised feature on the base, other embodiments may instead have the seal seated on the base and the raised seal-biting wall or feature on the cover. A prototype of the invention employs a silicone seal, but other resilient materials may alternatively be used.

While the first embodiment features a generally rectangular tray, it will be appreciated that other tray shapes may be used, including polygonal trays of varying numbers of sides, circular trays, or trays of various irregular shapes. Also, it will be appreciated that the tabs and slots need not necessarily be respectively found on the cover and base, and other embodiments could alternatively have the tabs on the base and the slots on the cover. For example, with reference to the inverted tray position shown in FIG. 5, the illustrated base 14 could alternatively be considered to be the cover if made of transparent or translucent material that would allow viewing of the informational insert through surface 42b, on which food items could be placed. The illustrated cover 12 would therefore serve as the base on which the informational insert 16 is seated.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein above described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the scope of the claims without departure from such scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

1. A food tray comprising:

a base having a main base area for receiving placement of an informational insert on a topside of said main base area;

a cover having a main cover area for placement over the topside of the main base area so as to overlie the informational insert, at least a portion of the main cover area being transparent or translucent to define a viewing window that enables viewing of the informational insert through the cover;

a liquid-tight seal placed, or arranged for placement, in a position spanning around a perimeter of the main base area on the topside thereof in sealed contact between the main base area and the main cover area to seal off the main base area and the informational insert from external liquids;

a plurality of peripheral tabs defined on a first one of either the base or the cover;

a plurality of peripheral slots defined on a second one of either the base or the cover, a layout pattern of the peripheral slots matching a layout of the peripheral tabs to align each of said peripheral slots with a respective one of the peripheral tabs and enable relative movement of the peripheral tabs through said peripheral slots during placement of the main cover area over the main base area; and

at least one elongated locking member received or receivable between the base and the cover on a peripheral path that spans around the main base area and passes between each peripheral slot and the respective one of the peripheral tabs.

2. The food tray of claim 1 wherein the at least one elongated locking member comprises a wire rod.

3. The food tray of claim 1 wherein the at least one elongated locking member consists solely of a singular locking member whose length is sufficient to span multiple sides of the peripheral path around the main base area.

4. The food tray of claim 1 wherein the peripheral tabs are defined on the cover, and the peripheral slots are defined on the base,

5. The food tray of claim 4 wherein the peripheral tabs project inwardly from a lower peripheral wall of the cover that spans around the main cover area of the cover at an underside thereof that faces the topside of the main base area, and the locking member is received between the tabs and an underside of the base.

6. The food tray of claim 5 wherein the lower peripheral wall of the cover has a cutout therein at a lower edge thereof that lies opposite to the main cover area, and the base comprises a gripping tab projecting outwardly away from a peripheral edge of the base at which the peripheral slots are defined, the gripping tab being received, or positioned for receipt, in the cutout to present a gripping point for removal of the base from the cover after removal of the locking member during disassembly of the food tray.

7. The food tray of claim 4 wherein the peripheral slots project inwardly from an outermost perimeter of the base.

8. The food tray of claim 1 comprising a gripping tab projecting outward from a perimeter edge of one of either the base or the cover for use prying the base and the cover apart from one another during disassembly of the food tray.

9. The food tray of claim 8 wherein the gripping tab extends through a corresponding opening in a wall of the other one of either the base or the cover.

10. The food tray of claim 8 wherein the gripping tab is defined on the base.

11. The food tray of claim 1 wherein the cover comprises upper peripheral tray walls spanning around the main cover area at a topside thereof that faces away from the main base area and defines a food-carrying surface of the food tray.

12. The food tray of claim 1 wherein the peripheral tabs project into a hollow cavity of the first one of either the base or the cover, and the second one of either the base or the cover is at least partially received within the hollow cavity.

13. The food tray of claim 1 wherein one of either the tray or the cover features a seat for retaining the seal in the position spanning around the perimeter of the main base area.

14. The food tray of claim 13 wherein the seat comprises a trough spanning around the around the perimeter of the main base area.

15. The food tray of claim 13 the other of the tray or the cover comprises a raised feature that juts therefrom at a location residing between walls of the seat in order to force the seal tightly against the seat.

16. The food tray of claim 13 wherein the seat is defined on the cover.