Abstract:
The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for removably attaching a utensil to an external surface, The utensil includes an adhesive arrangement that secures the utensil to the external surface and a protective covering that prevents the adhesive arrangement from binding to the external surface until the protective covering is removed by a user. The user may remove the utensil from the external surface and subsequently return the utensil to be in contact with the external surface. The present invention supports different types of utensils, including plates, cups, bowls, and tablecloths.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/374,857, “Happy Picnic Plates,” filed Apr. 24, 2002; No. 60/401,949, “Happy Picnic Plates/Stick and Stay Sticky Plates,” filed Aug. 8, 2002; and No. 60/446,773, “Happy Picnic Plates—Stick and Stay,” filed on Feb. 13, 2003. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The invention relates to eating utensils, in particular to utensils, such as picnic utensils, that may be used in an outside environment.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Much of people&#39;s outdoor activities involve eating outdoors. For example, families and friends often picnic outdoors during the summer time. A picnic table may be nicely set with plates, cups, and other eating utensils. Often, a gust of wind blows the utensils to the ground, soiling the utensils. Once the food and drink have been served in plates and cups, the wind may blow the plates of food and cups of soda off the picnic table on people&#39;s laps. Moreover, a person may inadvertently bump a cup of drink, causing the drink to spill on the table or on an adjacent person. Needless to say, when this happens, the joy of the associated event may be adversely affected. Such a scenario is typical of other outdoor activities, including baseball and football games, company picnics, and family gatherings.  
           [0004]    People have typically experienced a scenario that is similar to the scenario described above. Thus, it would be a real benefit to the art if apparatuses and methods would enable eating utensils from being disrupted by external forces such as wind and accidental touching.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for removably attaching a utensil to an external surface, The utensil includes an adhesive arrangement that secures the utensil to the external surface and a protective covering that prevents the adhesive arrangement from binding to the external surface until the protective covering is removed by a user. The user may remove the utensil from the external surface and subsequently return the utensil to be in contact with the external surface. The present invention supports different types of utensils, including plates, cups, bowls, and tablecloths.  
           [0006]    In an embodiment of the invention, a utensil, such as a paper plate, has an adhesive area that is located on a bottom region of the utensil, where the adhesive region is covered by a protective covering. The protective covering may assume different shapes, depending on a shape the adhesion area. Embodiments of the invention may include a protective covering assuming a shape of at least one circularly-shaped disk or at least one strip. The user may remove the protective covering by pulling on a tab that is part of the protective covering or that is coupled to the protective covering. In another embodiment of the invention, a plurality of utensils are stacked, where an adjacent utensil provides a protective covering for an adjacent utensil.  
           [0007]    With another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for locating and attaching at least one adhesive object to a utensil so that the utensil removably sticks to an external surface. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 shows a picnic plate with a circularly-shaped disk affixed to the bottom of the plate in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 shows a user removing the picnic plate that is shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 shows a variation of a picnic plate with a circularly-shaped disk affixed to the bottom of the plate in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 shows a picnic plate with a strip that is affixed to the bottom of the plate in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 shows a picnic plate with an adhesive that is applied to a bottom surface of the plate at various adhesive areas and that is covered with a wax paper guard;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 6 shows adjacent plates in which the bottom plate functions as an adhesive guard;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 7 shows a picnic plate with an advertisement region and a strip that is affixed to the bottom of the plate in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 8 shows adhesive disks that may be affixed to a bottom surface of a paper plate. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 shows a picnic plate  100  with a circularly-shaped disk  107  affixed to the bottom of plate  100  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In an embodiment of the invention, plate  100  may be a Styrofoam, plastic, or paper plate. Other embodiments may support other eating utensils such as bowls and cups. Also, eating utensil may be disposable or reusable. Another embodiment of the invention may support picnic-related utensils, including table cloths and napkins.  
         [0017]    Referring to FIG. 1, circularly-shaped disk  107  provides a protective covering for an adhesive area  105  that is deposited on a bottom region  103  of plate  100 . Bottom region  103  contacts an external surface (not shown) such as a table top. The bottom surface of plate  100  may also comprise a ridge region  101  that typically does not contact the external surface and that typically spans the circumference of plate  100 . Circularly-shaped disk  107  may be peeled off by a user, thus exposing adhesive area  105 . When adhesive area  105  contacts the external surface, picnic plate  100  is secured to the external surface in accordance with the adhesive characteristics of an associated adhesive. For example the tack level of the adhesive used in adhesive area  105  may be categorized as being super high, high, medium or low. The greater the tack level, the more secure plate  100  will be to the external surface, and thus the greater robustness to external forces such as wind gusts. However, with a greater tack level, the user may need to exert more effort to remove the utensil from the external surface. Thus, the tack level may be chosen in accordance with expected environmental conditions and usage.  
         [0018]    In the embodiment, circularly-shaped disk  107  has a cut out  109  located at an approximate center of disk  107 . (In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the adhesive of adhesive area  105  is applied in a “ring.”) Also, circularly-shaped disk  107  has a tab  111  that is not affixed to adhesive area  105 . Tab  111  may be an integral part of disk  107  or may be coupled to disk  107 . A user may pull on tab  111  in order to facilitate a removal of circularly-shape disk  107 . In the embodiment, circularly-shaped disk may comprise a wax paper material; however, other embodiments may comprise another material, such as a polymer, that does not adversely disrupt adhesive area  105  when circularly-shaped disk  107  is removed.  
         [0019]    In the embodiment, a user may remove plate  100  from the external surface and return plate  100  on the external surface. In such a case, adhesive region  105  essentially maintains a degree of adherence as when plate  100  was initially placed on the external surface.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2 shows a user removing picnic plate  100  that is shown in FIG. 1. With an action  201 , the user twists plate  100  in a counterclockwise direction. With an action  203 , the user twists plate  100  in a clockwise direction. As a result of actions  201  and  203 , plate  100  is not secured to the external surface by adhesive area  105 .  
         [0021]    Consequently, the user can remove plate  100  with action  205 .  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 shows variation of a picnic plate  300  with a circularly-shaped disk  307  affixed to the bottom of plate  300  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0023]    Even though FIG. 3 illustrates disk  307  spanning a portion of the bottom surface of plate  300 , a variation of the embodiment may support disk  307  spanning approximately an entirety of the bottom surface. Plate  300  comprises a ridge region  301 , a bottom region  303 , an adhesive area  305 , circularly-shaped disk  307 , and a tab  311 . Picnic plate  300  is a variation of picnic plate  100 . However, circularly-shaped disk.  307  does not have a cut out (corresponding to cut out  109  as shown in FIG. 1).  
         [0024]    In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, an adhesive may be applied so that the associated shape is approximately circular.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4 shows a picnic plate  400  with a strip  407  that is affixed to the bottom of the plate  400  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Plate  400  comprises a ridge region  401 , a bottom region  403 , an adhesive area  405 , strip  407 , and tabs  411   a  and  411   b . Referring to FIG. 4, strip  407  is partially removed by a user (not shown) pulling on tab  411   a . While the embodiment has one strip (i.e. strip  407  with associated adhesive area  405 ), variations of the embodiment may support a plurality of strips, each having a corresponding adhesive area. Having a plurality of adhesive areas may increase the degree of securing a utensil to an external surface.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 5 shows a picnic plate  500  with an adhesive that is applied to a bottom surface of plate  500  at various adhesive areas ( 505 ,  507 , and  509 ) and covered with a wax paper guard  511  that functions as a protective covering. Referring to the example as shown in FIG. 5, each of the adhesive areas  505 ,  507 , and  509  is approximately circular and arranged along a diameter of a bottom region  503 . Guard  511  may be removed by a user pulling on a tab  513 , thus exposing adhesive regions  505 ,  507 , and  509  and subsequently contacting the adhesive regions with an external surface (not shown). The adhesive areas (such as areas  505 ,  507 , and  509 ) are located in order to provide a desired degree of binding between plate  500  and the external surface. For example, in the embodiment as shown in FIG. 5, adhesive regions  505 ,  507 , and  509  are located in an approximate uniform manner along a diameter of plate  500 .  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 6 shows adjacent plates  600  and  650  in which bottom plate  650  functions as an adhesive guard for top plate  600 . A bottom of each plate ( 600 ,  650 ) has an adhesive region, corresponding to adhesive regions  601  and  651 , respectively. In the embodiment, a plurality of plates (including plates  600  and  650 ) are stacked on each other. When a user wishes to obtain a plate, the user removes the top plate (i.e. plate  600  as shown in FIG. 6). An adhesive region of the top plate (i.e. adhesive region  601  as shown in FIG. 6) is exposed so that the top plate may adhere to an external surface. An adjacent plate (not shown) serves as an adhesive guard for plate  650 . The user can subsequently remove plate  650  for usage. In the embodiment, a last plate of the stack may have a protective covering (e.g. strip  407  as shown in FIG. 4).  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 7 shows a picnic plate  700  with an advertisement region  709  and a strip  707  that is affixed to the bottom of plate  700  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 4, a ridge region  701 , a bottom region  703 , an adhesive region  705 , strip  707 , and tabs  711   a  and  711   b  correspond to region  401 , bottom region  403 , adhesive region  405 , strip  407 , and tabs  411   a  and  411   b , respectively. Referring to FIG. 7, advertisement region  709  is located on ridge region  401 . Advertisement region  709  may comprise letters, numbers, and/or images in order to deliver an advertisement for an advertiser. In other embodiments, region  709  may support other functions such as providing interesting or useful information to the user. In other embodiments, region  709  may be located on bottom region  703  or on some location of a top surface of plate  700 . Other embodiments of the invention may support a plurality of advertisement regions, where each advertisement region may be located at different locations of plate  700 . Moreover, an advertisement region may be located on a surface of strip  407  so that an advertisement becomes evident when a user removes strip  407 , which functions as a protective covering. In other embodiments of the invention, an advertising region may be located on at least one side of a protective covering, including circularly-shaped disk  107  (shown in FIG. 1) and circularly-shaped disk  307  (shown in FIG. 3).  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 8 shows adhesive disks  851 - 859  that may be affixed to a bottom surface of a paper plate  800 . Adhesive disks  851 - 859  are removably attached to a dispenser tape  850 . In the example, as shown in FIG. 8, adhesive disks  851 ,  853 , and  855  are transferred and attached to plate  800  at locations  805 ,  807 , and  809 , respectively. In the embodiment, adhesive disks  851 - 859  are available as GLUE DOTS, which is a registered trademark of Glue Dots International LLC of New Berlin, Wis. Alternative embodiments may utilize Glue Tape, GLUE RECTANGLES, and GLUE LINES. (GLUE RECTANGLES and GLUE LINES are trademarks of Glue Dots International LLC.) In another embodiment, double-sided tape may be cut into at least one piece and positioned on the bottom surface of plate  800 . An embodiment may use repositionable tape such as 3M tape 409, 665, 666, 9415PC, 9416, 9425PC, or 9449.  
         [0030]    While the invention has been described with respect to specific examples including presently preferred modes of carrying out the invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variations and permutations of the above described systems and techniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.