Children's Feeding Dish

Abstract

A children's feeding dish for training children how to scoop food onto an eating utensil, e.g., a spoon, and comprising a flat bottom and having integrally formed with the outer edge of the bottom, an arcuate or bow-like upwardly and inwardly extending side wall terminating in an edge having essentially the same shape as the outer edge of the bottom. Preferred embodiments having integrally formed compartments and/or an outwardly extending lip are also disclosed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a children's feeding dish and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a particular type of children's feeding dish which is particularly useful for training children how to scoop food onto their eating utensils whereby any excess food falls back into the dish rather than onto the table adjacent to said dish, and the floor.

There have been serious drawbacks in the various children's feeding dishes that have been made available up to now. For example, numerous feeding dishes utilize separate parts which must be separated for cleaning purposes. An example of such a dish is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 2,683,974, wherein a substantially circular plastic ring is employed to overlie the upper edge of the walls of the dish. Still another drawback exists with those dishes containing walls in the form of a question mark, i.e., where the upper part of the walls of the dish turn inwardly and downwardly providing a hook-like portion, said feeding dishes being fully disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 2,757,525. The feeding dishes disclosed in the latter patent actually do not facilitate the easy scooping of food onto an eating utensil but rather make it more difficult for a toddler to scoop his food onto the utensil because the inwardly extending wall does not complement the normal scooping movement or action of a toddler's feeding utensil. This is particularly true in the case of a toddler who usually grasps his utensil in an overhand manner and when scooped upwards, gets caught under the inwardly extending edge portion or lip. When the utensil does get caught under the inwardly extending edge portion or lip (which is generally parallel to the base of the dish), the child will then pull upwards on the utensil in order to free the utensil. This action usually results in a jerking action causing the food on the utensil to be propelled onto the table adjacent to the dish and/or floor due to the centrifugal force imparted to the food by the toddler's jerking action of the feeding utensil.

There thus remains a great need for a children's self-feeding training dish which is easy to produce and which overcomes the various disadvantages of the prior dishes. The children's feeding dish of the instant invention quite unexpectedly reveals that this need can be satisfied.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Specifically, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a feeding dish for children and toddlers which facilitates the easy scooping and removal of food from said dish. Consistent with this primary object of the invention, another primary object of the invention is to provide a feeding dish for children and toddlers which greatly minimizes the possibility of food being accidentally dropped outwardly of the dish and onto the adjacent table and/or floor.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a feeding dish which facilitates the training of children and toddlers to easily scoop food out of a dish and feed themselves.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a children's easy-feeding dish which is adapted to be fabricated entirely of plastic and which is adaptable to mass production techniques thereby making it accessible to the consumer at a low cost.

Additional objects of the invention are to provide a children's easy-feeding dish bearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimum number of parts, is compact, pleasing in appearance, is durable and unbreakable, light in weight, easy for the child to use and is efficient in operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, in accordance with the invention, the feeding dish is a one-piece molded dish comprising a flat bottom and having integrally formed with the outer edge of the bottom, an arcuate or bow-like upwardly and inwardly extending side wall.

Feeding dishes produced in this manner overcome many of the disadvantages characteristic of the various prior art dishes. Most notably, the feeding dish of this invention is a one-piece unit which does not contain removable parts for cleaning purposes. Moreover, the unique contour of the walls of the feeding dish permits a child or toddler to scoop food onto a spoon in a much easier manner than has been possible heretofore and particularly with respect to prior art dishes containing an upper lip extending inwardly and parallel to the base of the dish or wherein the lip extends inwardly and downwardly.

In operation, it will therefore be apparent that when a child employs the feeding dish of the present invention, he will be able to "scoop" a quantity of food from said dish with a spoon or other utensil in a normal scooping movement even particularly when the utensil is held in an overhand manner without encountering unusual difficulties due to the presence of any inwardly extending portions or lips which would tend to cause a child to pull on his utensil in a jerking action which is characteristic of prior art dishes. Moreover, the dish of the present invention provides for a significantly greater inwardly extending wall space to facilitate the child's use of a spoon or other eating utensil to scoop food thereon. Thus, when using the specially contoured dish of this invention, it will be possible to train children to feed themselves while at the same time minimizing the possibility of food falling onto the table and/or floor and acting to maintain a neater appearance upon that portion of the table and/or high chair whereon the child may be eating.

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent, when consideration is given to the following detailed description. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings presenting preferred illustrative embodiments of the invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a children's feeding dish constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a children's feeding dish similar to the children's feeding dish of FIG. 1 but having integrally formed compartments;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a children's feeding dish similar to the children's feeding dish of FIG. 1 but having an outwardly extending lip;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the children's feeding dish of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the children's feeding dish of FIG. 2 taken on line 5--5; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the children's feeding dish of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now, more specifically to the drawings, the feeding dish, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a flat bottom 2 and having integrally formed with the outer edge of the bottom 2 an arcuate or bow-like upwardly and inwardly extending side wall 6. This gradual upward sloping of the side wall 6 enables a spoon or other eating utensil to be operated by a toddler against the sloping portion of the surface particularly when the utensil is grasped in an overhand manner. The upper edge 8 of the side wall 6 preferably corresponds to the shape of the bottom 2 of the dish. Thus, when bottom 2 is circular, the upper edge 8 of the side wall 6 is also circular and according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the diameter of the bottom 2 is greater than the diameter of the circle formed by the upper edge 8. It is also possible for the flat bottom and upper edge 8 to have different shapes, e.g., oblong.

According to still another preferred embodiment of this invention, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the children's feeding dish further comprises integrally formed compartments 10 provided by partitions 12.

A still further preferred embodiment of this invention is a feeding dish which further comprises an upward and outwardly extending lip 14 from the upper lip 8, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The upward and outwardly extending lip 10 further prevents any food from the training dish to fall on the table and/or surrounding floor. It is understood that this preferred embodiment may also contain integrally formed compartments as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Still other preferred embodiments of this invention include the use of means to secure the feeding dish to a surface, e.g., a table, such means preferably being a suction cup. A still further preferred embodiment includes the use of an air chamber for hot water or other electrical attachments to maintaining the food in the dish at a warm temperature.

In short, the present invention provides a particular combination of contours utilized in the side walls of the dish so as to adapt the dish to its intended function. The dish may be made of any material which is sufficiently rigid to enable the item to perform its intended function. For example, the utensil may be constructed of wood, metal, ceramic or preferably a plastic material. As noted hereinbefore, the entire dish is made of the same material without any assembly being necessary.

It is believed that it will be readily apparent from the foregoing description that the children's feeding dish previously described accomplishes the objects as set forth at the outset of the present specification. ACCORDINGLY,

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A molded one-piece children's feeding dish comprising a flat bottom and having integrally formed with the outer edge of the bottom an arcuate upwardly and inwardly extending side wall, said side wall being connected to said bottom by a small radius portion and said side wall being defined by a substantially inverted frustrum across section defining a major portion of said side wall and terminating in an edge having essentially the same shape as the outer edge of the bottom.

2. A children's feeding dish according to claim 1 wherein said bottom has a circular shape.

3. A children's feeding dish according to claim 1 wherein said bottom has an oblong shape.

4. A children's feeding dish according to claim 1 which further comprises integrally formed compartments for food.

5. A children's feeding dish according to claim 4 wherein said bottom has a circular shape.

6. A children's feeding dish according to claim 1 wherein said arcuate upwardly and inwardly extending side wall further comprises an upwardly and outwardly extending lip.

7. A children's feeding dish according to claim 6 wherein said upwardly and outwardly extending lip terminates in an edge having essentially the same shape as the outer edge of the bottom.

8. A children's feeding dish according to claim 1 which further comprises integrally formed compartments for food and wherein said upwardly and outwardly extending side wall terminates with an upwardly and outwardly extending lip.