Meal Service Set

Abstract

A meal or picnic service set having in one assembly a napkin holder, salt and pepper shakers, a sugar dispenser which dispenses exactly one teaspoon full each time, a cream dispenser, a tea bag drawer, a swivelable carrying handle, and a wall bracket. The napkin holder portion is precisely designed to dispense neatly one napkin at a time.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to integrated meal or dining service sets, particularly those being sufficiently portable to be used readily on a picnic, or while watching T.V., or in any other eating situation where economy of space is desired.

A common problem which often presents itself with the increased amount of leisure time available to the average person is that of preparing for a picnic. When multiplied by the number of times it occurs, the countless minutes continually lost in assembling the necessary materials for a picnic, such as salt, pepper, napkins, sugar, cream, tea bags, and the like adds up to an inordinate inefficiency and a waste of valuable leisure time, not to mention the unnecessary ill-feelings generated when one of the above necessary ingredients is inadvertently forgotten in haste. What has long been needed is an integral assembly of all the necessary ingredients for a picnic which could be picked up at a moment's notice from a convenient storage place, for instance, on a wall.

Another problem that results in unnecessary loss of time and unnecessary ill-feelings arises when, at the picnic, some of the unnecessary items become lost or misplaced during the course of the picnic, because they become scattered around the eating area. An integrated assembly of the necessary ingredients for a picnic which would dispense all of the necessary items from a single position continually has long been awaited.

One of the most frequent causes of annoyance at a picnic is the misplacement of a measuring spoon just when an accurate measurement of sugar for one's coffee is needed. A sugar dispensing device which automatically dispenses sugar in increments of one teaspoon has been long awaited by picnic goers.

One of the most desirable things to have at a picnic is a ready supply of easily obtainable single napkins. However, heretofore known napkin dispensers have suffered from an inability to dispense single napkins easily without either becoming entangled in other napkins yet to be dispensed or upon rough surfaces of the dispensing means. But generally even the least objectionable napkin dispensers previously known have required the use of special folded napkins, rather than the standard rectangular napkins most easily available. An integrated picnic service set with a napkin dispenser which eliminated these difficulties has long been awaited by picnic goers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is among the objects of this invention to provide an integrated picnic service set which: is a unified assembly which can be quickly removed from a convenient storage space, such as a wall; can be used at a picnic in its unified form, with all the necessary items readily available from a single assembly; provides a sugar dispenser which eliminates the need for a spoon, dispensing sugar in increments of one teaspoon full each; has a napkin dispenser which easily and efficiently dispenses one standard rectangular napkin at a time without entanglement.

These and other objects of this invention are achieved with an integrated picnic service set containing an improved napkin dispenser, a cream dispenser, a sugar dispenser which dispenses sugar in increments of one teaspoon full at a time, salt and pepper shakers, a tea bag drawer, a swivelable carrying handle, and a wall bracket which enables the quick storage and removal of the picnic service set upon instant demand; all attached to or within a single casing. The handle is swivelable to a non-functional out-of-the-way position when not in use.

The picnic service set of the present invention in the preferred embodiment is essentially in the shape of a rectangular box. Napkins are dispensed from a slot near the top front of the box, salt and pepper shakers are disposed partially within the box, partially suspended in the top lid of the box. The cream dispenser is removably attached to the left side of the box while the sugar dispenser with its incremental dispensing valve is removably attached to the right side of the box. The tea bag drawer fits into the bottom of the rectangular box. A swivelable handle, when not in use for carrying the picnic service set, swivels back to a position in the rear of the box. The back surface of the picnic service set contains a wall bracket which enables the entire picnic service set to be mounted on a wall or similar vertical surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective partially-exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and a wall to which the picnic service set is attached is shown in phantom;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention, without the tea bag drawer, taken along the lines 3--3 of FIG. 2, with the carrying handle being shown in three of its alternative positions in phantom, and the wall upon which the picnic service set is mounted also being shown in phantom;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional front view of the napkin compressing spring-actuated means of the present invention, and its retaining fixture, being taken along the lines 4--4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the one teaspoon dispensing valve of the sugar dispenser of the present invention, taken along the lines 5--5 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a partial front cross-sectional view of the sugar dispensing valve of the present invention, taken along the lines 6--6 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a perspective, partially-exploded view of the entire picnic service set 10. Salt shaker 11 is shown in position attached to picnic service set 10, while pepper shaker 12 is shown just after it has been removed. Cream dispenser 14 is shown in dispensing position on the left side of picnic service set 10, while sugar dispenser 13 is shown just prior to insertion in position on the right side of picnic service set 10. Carrying handle 16 is shown in its retracted position, wall bracket 17 is shown in dotted lines, and tea bag drawer 15 is shown in its closed position.

Salt and pepper shakers 11 and 12, which can be cylindrical, or rectangular as shown, fit through slots 21 and 22 in top lid 23. While the greater portion of the shakers lies below the surface of lid 23, within picnic service set 10 behind the napkins, as shown in FIG. 3, a portion does lie above the surface of the lid which is used to lift the shakers up when needed.

Wall bracket 17, which can be of any desired configuration, fits into a corresponding bracket on a wall, such as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, enabling the picnic service set to be easily attached and easily removed from a wall or similar vertical surface. Cream dispenser 14 and sugar dispenser 13 fit slidingly within slots 24, 25 and 26, 27 respectively; thus permitting easy removal for filling and cleaning. Materials are added by removing top surfaces 28 and 29 of the dispensers respectively. Top surface 29 is shown partially cut away in FIG. 2.

While the mechanism for the dispensing of the cream is merely a stop-cock valve 31, the sugar dispenser employs an incremental spoonful cylindrical valve 32. Essentially valve 32 consists of a cylindrical chamber 33, rotated by knob 34, having a slot 35. Cylindrical chamber 33 is positioned concentrically within an outer cylindrical surface 36 which is formed by the lower portion of sugar dispenser 13. Cylindrical surface 36 communicates with the sugar within sugar dispenser 13 by opening 37. Cylindrical chamber 33 is in sliding contact with cylindrical surface 36, or as shown here with gasket 38. When slot 35 is rotated to be in juxtaposition with opening 37, sugar will flow out of sugar dispenser 13 through opening 37 and slot 35 into the interior of cylindrical chamber 33 to fill it. Cylindrical chamber 33 is constructed so as to contain, when full, exactly one teaspoon full. At that point, knob 34 is rotated and slot 35 is rotated through a downwardly facing position opposite bottom opening 39 of cylindrical surface 36, so that the sugar, one teaspoon full, falls out of chamber 33 through slot 35 and opening 39 into whatever receptacle is desired. No further sugar leaves sugar dispenser 13 once knob 34 is rotated since the remaining closed surface of cylindrical chamber 33 blocks opening 37. For even greater convenience, a pointer is attached to knob 34 to indicate the position of slot 35 at all times.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, picnic service set 10 is shown attached by bracket 17 to a wall surface, shown in phantom 41. FIG. 3 also shows carrying handle 16 in three alternative positions in phantom, a carrying position, a back retracted position, and a front retracted position.

FIGS. 3 and 2 show the napkin dispensing arrangement of the present invention. The napkins are placed between plates 51 and 52, and are compressed by napkin compressing lever 53. Tension is applied to lever 53 by spring 54 whose tension is adjustable by means of slots 57 on the upper portion of lever 53. The bottom portion of lever 53 is pivotable upon pivot point 55 while the bottom portion of spring 54 is attached to the interior surface of picnic set 10 at point 56. Top lid 23 of picnic set 10 pivots at edge 61 about fastening screws 62 and 63, which are adjustably tightenable to vary the ease with which lid 61 can be opened. By adjustably tightening screws 62 and 63, one can adjust the ease of opening of lid 61 to correspond with the expected force with which those who will be using picnic service set 10 will tend to pull a napkin out; so that when a napkin is lifted up out of picnic service set 10 lid 61 does not lift up, but yet when it is desired to add napkins, lid 61 is capable of being opened without undue exertion. Lid 61 is positioned such that a precise slot or gap exists between the end of lid 61 and the front side 64 of picnic service set 10. A half-moon shaped indentation in lid 61 enables one to grasp and lift up one standard size napkin at a time. As napkins are removed new napkins are pushed forward by means of the compression force of napkin compressing lever 53 against plate 52. Plate 51 has a smooth surface facing the napkin so that when a napkin is lifted up out of picnic service set 10 it is released smoothly without snagging. When it is desired to add napkins to picnic service set 10, lever 53 is pulled back toward the rear and secured beneath lever locking device 65, which may be of any appropriate shape. Here, the locking device 65 slids upward and downward a short distance, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4, to protrude over the top edge of lever 53 when it is pulled back to the rear. With lever 53 secured, plates 51 and 52 with whatever napkins may be left between them, are removed as a unit, and new napkins added. The new bundle of napkins, wedged between plates 51 and 52 are then reinserted into picnic service set 10, lever 53 is released from locking device 65, lid 61 is pushed back into a closed position, and salt and pepper shakers 11 and 12 are placed again in their respective holes 21 and 22.

Although a specific form of the present invention has been selected for illustration, and the drawings and the above detailed description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose of describing this form of the invention, this detailed description of the preferred embodiment is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangement of parts which have been described and illustrated above in order to explain the nature of the present invention, may be made by those skilled in the art and yet still be within the principle and scope of the present invention as defined in the following appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A meal service set comprising:

a casing open at one end adapted to contain a supply of napkins;

spring-actuated napkin compressing means within said casing;

an adjustably tightenable hinged casing lid, positioned at the open end of said casing such that a slot exists between said casing and said lid at a non-hinge edge of said lid through which one napkin at a time may be removed without opening said lid;

two rigid plates within said casing, between which the napkins are compressed, the plate nearest the slot having a smooth surface facing the napkins which promotes the easy removal of the napkins;

salt and pepper shakers, removably attached to said lid;

a cream dispenser, removably attached to a side of said casing, adapted to be used for dispensing cream while attached to said casing;

means on said casing adapted for quick attachment of said casing to a wall, and removal therefrom;

a carrying handle attached to said casing, adapted to be swiveled to a non-functional out-of-the-way position when said picnic service set is in use;

a separate drawer within said casing, adapted to contain articles of the approximate size and shape of tea bags; and

a sugar dispenser including means adapted to incrementally dispense one teaspoon of sugar at a time, said dispenser being removably attached to a side of said casing, and adapted to be used for dispensing sugar while attached to said casing, said means adapted to incrementally dispense one teaspoon of sugar at a time comprising a rotatable hollow cylindrical chamber having a cylindrical wall in rotational sliding contact with an opening beneath and communicating with the sugar, said cylindrical wall having a slot communicating with the interior of the cylindrical chamber through which the sugar enters the chamber when the slot is rotated to juxtaposition with the sugar opening, and through which the sugar is dispensed when the slot is rotated to a downwardly facing position.

2. A service set comprising:

a casing open at the top and adapted to contain a supply of napkins;

two vertical plates within the casing between which the napkins are disposed;

spring-biased means within the casing for compressing the napkins between the plates;

a hinged lid positioned at the top of the casing;

a slot between the casing and the lid at a non-hinged edge of the lid through which one napkin at a time may be removed without opening the lid;

salt and pepper shakers supported removably by the lid;

a cream dispenser attached removably to a side of the casing;

a sugar dispenser attached removably to a side of the casing, said sugar dispenser including means to dispense an increment of sugar at a time, and

a handle attached to the casing.

3. The service set of claim 2, wherein the dispensing means for the sugar dispenser comprises a rotatable, hollow, cylindrical chamber having a cylindrical wall in rotational sliding contact with an opening communicating with a sugar supply, said cylindrical wall having a slot communicating with the interior of the cylindrical chamber through which the sugar enters the chamber when the slot is rotated to juxtaposition with the sugar opening, and through which the sugar is dispensed after the slot is rotated away from the sugar opening.

4. The service set of claim 2, further including

means to tighten adjustably the hinged lid at the top of the casing, and

a slidable drawer disposed within the casing.