Combination Food Container And Implement For Extracting The Contents

Abstract

A food container has a two-layer cover, the lower layer of which is permanently adhered to the container body and has a depressed recess or trough therein housing an implement for extracting the contents. The upper layer of the cover is superimposed upon and releasably adhered to the lower layer. The lower layer has severance lines defining a severable tongue in which the recess lies. The upper layer which may or may not be transparent, seals the implement in its recess as well as the severance lines.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation in part of my pending application Ser. No. 15,413, filed Mar. 2, 1970, entitled "Combination Liquid Container and Drinking Straw."

Description

Since the instant combination of container and implement is adaptable to contain foods of whatever kind or consistency, including liquids, and implements suitable to extract the contents, various figures of the accompanying drawing show different implements merely by way of example. Among such implements shown are a spoon, a fork, and two forms of drinking straws, but of course a pair of chopsticks, not shown, would also constitute an implement should the contents be, for example, rice.

Referring briefly to the drawing, FIG. 1 is a topperspective view of a complete sealed combination container and implement embodying features of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 with the upper layer of the cover omitted as well as the implement.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary top perspective view, with parts broken away and partly in section, of the container shown in FIG. 3 but showing a fork as an implement.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the implement as a bent or doubled back drinking straw.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a container which is circular in horizontal cross-section, with the upper layer of the cover omitted and showing the implement as a spoon.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view, with parts broken away and partly in section, illustrating how the surrounding wall of the container body may be provided with substantially vertical flutes to strengthen it.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 8--8 of FIG. 3, showing the severance lines in the lower layer of the cover as a series of perforations.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the severance lines as indentations.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 3 but showing as a modification a narrower recess in the lower layer of the cover and the implement as a straight length of drinking straw.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary top plan view of the lower layer of the cover, showing modified severance lines.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary top perspective view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the severance lines in a slightly modified position.

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 but showing a modified pattern of severance lines.

FIG. 14 is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 but showing a modified pattern of severance lines.

Referring in detail to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a complete combination container and implement as it is received by the consumer, but no contents is shown in FIG. 2. In all other views of a container in the drawing, the upper layer of the cover has been omitted, or it may be considered to have been peeled off the lower layer.

The container body 10 includes the bottom wall 12 and the side walls 11 which, obviously, together form a surrounding wall 13 extending upward from the bottom wall. The wall 13 is shown with its upper edge flared outward to provide a peripheral flange 14; such flange may, however, extend inward, if desired.

The lower layer 15 of the cover is adhered to the flange 14. This layer has a recess or trough 16 depressed therein, in which an implement, shown as a spoon 17, is adapted to be sealed from the outside air as well as from the contents. The upper layer 18 of the cover, which is shown only in FIGS. 1 and 2, is a flat sheet superimposed on a releasably adhered to the lower layer 15; it may be made of transparent material where it is desired that the implement may be identified in the completely sealed container.

The lower layer 15 of FIG. 3 is shown provided with severance lines in the form of an endless series of perforations 19 (shown in section in FIG. 8) or indentations 19a (shown in section in FIG. 9) arranged in the outline of a frame spaced inward from the inner peripheral edge of the flange 14, which edge is shown at 25. Thus the frame of severance lines defines a tongue 26 which is severable along such lines. As a modification, the uppermost severance line of perforations 19 of FIG. 3 which is shown parallel to the adjacent edge of the layer 15, may be omitted as shown in FIG. 13 whence the portion 27 of the tongue 26e constitutes the base of the tongue. In other words, the pattern in FIG. 13 is in the form of a "U." Similarly, by omitting a portion of the circle of perforations 19 of FIG. 6, the tongue 26f of FIG. 14 has a base 27a. This feature may of course also be applied to the lower layer 15b of FIG. 10 but is not shown, the tongue here defined by the perforations bearing the reference numeral 26a. In all cases the bounding walls of the implement receiving recess are positioned within the confines of the severance lines, that is, of the tongue defined thereby.

The upper layer 18 seals entirely the severance lines, whatever their nature, in addition to the recess having the implement nesting therein. To gain access to the implement, the upper layer 18 has an unadhered peripheral portion shown at 20 in FIG. 1 to provide a graspable tab to peel back or entirely off the upper layer. Tabs for such a purpose are well known in the art; a tab serving the same purpose may of course be anywhere in the peripheral portion of the upper layer 18 of FIG. 1 or of the upper layer, not shown, for the circular container of FIG. 6.

After the upper layer has been removed or peeled back sufficiently to permit removal of the implement from its recess, the lower layer may be readily punctured by applying a tip of the implement of one's finger to a line of perforations or other form of severance lines to tear up the tongue or to remove it entirely in the forms shown where the severance lines are arranged in an endless frame.

FIG. 11 illustrates a modification in the frame of perforations 19, in that a portion of the lower layer 15a is provided with a pair of score lines or cuts through the layer, shown at 21, preferably aligned with the diverging lines of perforations at a corner of the tongue defined by the perforations. Here the lines 21 define a tab which may readily be separated from the plane of the layer by pushing it down to provide an access opening into the container, or to grasp it to peel the layer back or entirely off.

Parts shown in FIGS. 6 and 10-14 which are modifications of equivalent parts shown in FIGS. 1-3 bear the same reference numerals followed by a letter suffix. Obviously, the lines of perforations or indentations as well as the modification shown in FIG. 11 all constitute severance lines along which the tongue 26, 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26e and 26f are defined. FIGS. 4, 5 and 10 serve merely to provide examples of some implements other than the spoon 17 which may be housed in the recess 16. FIG. 4 shows a fork 24, while FIG. 5 shows a bent elongated straw, at 22. FIG. 10 shows a straight length of straw at 23 nesting in a recess 16a which extends along a maximum dimension of the layer 15b, that is, a diagonal. The recesses for implements are all shown in the drawing with rectangular outlines although they need not have any particular outline so long as they have a greater length than width.

FIG. 6 illustrates the invention applied to a container 10a which is non-rectangular or, more specifically, circular in horizontal cross-section, wherein the circumferential flange thereof is shown at 14b and the recess 16b extends along a diameter of the lower layer 15c.

FIG. 7 illustrates how the surrounding wall 11a may be provided with substantially vertical flutes or corrugations to strengthen the container and thus make it more fit to be furnished or shipped in stacks of one upon the other.

The complete container, including the bottom wall, the surrounding wall and the two-layer cover, are all preferably formed of a suitable plastic material, or materials, and any means or method of adhereing the parts thereof together, as discussed above, may be utilized. Instead of being spaced inward a distance such as shown, for example, in FIG. 3, from the flange 14, the severance lines may, as a matter of choice, be positioned closer to or immediately adjacent the inner edge of the flange, as shown in FIG. 12.

Although the recesses in FIGS. 1-5 are all shown closely adjacent to and parallel with one edge of the lower layer, they need not necessarily be so positioned, that is, either close to or parallel with one edge.

Claims

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A combination food container and implement for extracting the contents, comprising a container body, a surrounding wall having a peripheral flange extending from the upper edge thereof, and a two-layer cover consisting of a lower layer and an upper layer, said lower layer being adhered to said flange and having severance lines therein spaced inward from said flange arranged in a pattern which defines a severable tongue, said tongue having a depression therein forming a recess dimensioned to receive said implement and in which said implement normally nests, said upper layer being superimposed on and adhered to said lower layer except for a portion thereof extending inward from the peripheral edge thereof a distance less than the width of said flange thereby providing a graspable tab for peeling said upper layer back from said lower layer.

2. A combination according to claim 1, said severance lines consisting of a series of perforations.

3. A combination according to claim 1, said severance lines consisting of a series of indentations.

4. A combination according to claim 1, said pattern having the form of a frame surrounding said tongue.

5. A combination according to claim 4, said container body being rectangular in horizontal cross-section, said frame being rectangular in outline with the sides thereof parallel with the side edges of said lower layer.

6. A combination according to claim 1, said pattern having substantially the form of a "U" with the tip portion of said tongue at the base of the "U" and the base of the tongue at the end thereof opposite said base of the "U."

7. A combination according to claim 1, said severance lines consisting in part of a series of spaced perforations and in part of at least one score line.

8. A combination according to claim 1, said severance lines consisting in part of a series of spaced indentations and in part of at least one score line.

9. A combination according to claim 1, said recess having a greater length than width and extending along a maximum dimension of said lower layer.

10. A combination according to claim 1, said container body being circular in horizontal cross-section, said recess having a greater length than width and extending along a diameter of said lower layer.

11. A combination according to claim 1, said container body being rectangular in horizontal cross-section, said recess having a greater length than width and extending in a direction substantially parallel with one side edge of said lower layer.

12. A combination according to claim 9, said container body being rectangular in horizontal cross-section whence said maximum dimension lies along a diagonal of said lower layer.

13. A combination according to claim 1, said surrounding wall having substantially vertical flutes therein.