Abstract:
A two-piece collapsible carrier for food and beverages. The lower carrier has a bottom and four side walls particularly adapted to carrier beverages in different sized containers. The side walls have uppermost edges higher than the tallest beverage containers to be normally carried. An upper food top having a bottom and side walls is carried over said lower carrier with the bottom of said upper tray resting on the uppermost edges of said lower carrier so that in normal use, the attitudes of the tray and beverage carrier remain the same.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/011,389, filed Dec. 14, 2004 which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/219,079, filed Aug. 14, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,687, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/893,361 filed on Jun. 26, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,308, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/214,267 filed Jun. 26, 2000. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The preferred embodiments of this invention relate to inexpensive, disposable carriers for beverages, food and other items.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The prior art includes a number of patents that show carriers for food and beverages. Representative prior art carriers are described in the Hunter U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,738,217 and 5,927,502. Although the carriers described in these patents are improvements over other carriers, the Hunter carriers have several significant deficiencies. Thus, cups of various sizes are not easily carried since the Hunter carriers are not designed to carry beverage containers of various sizes and shapes. The Hunter carriers are bottomless so that the beverage cups necessarily touch the stadium ground or floor when the carrier is placed on the ground or floor. And, the Hunter carriers do not insure that the attitude of the food tray remains horizontal. Rather, upward movement of the beverage cups tend to tilt the tray, especially if cups of different sizes are used or the cups are not uniformly distributed in the carrier.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The preferred embodiments of this invention provide an inexpensive beverage and food carrier having a wide variety of uses. One particular use is in ballparks or stadium to carry food from a food and drink stand to one&#39;s seat. A particular feature of this preferred embodiment is that beverage containers of different sizes may be conveniently carried. Thus, the preferred embodiments include a two-piece carrier, formed from only two pieces of cardboard, a lower carrier having a carrying handle and an upper tray for food and like items.  
         [0005]     The beverage containers rest upon a bottom provided by four interlocking cardboard flaps. These beverage cups and containers, be they foam, paper, plastic, round, square or otherwise, are thus protected by the carrier bottom from touching the stadium floor. The upper food tray slides over the handle and rests upon the top edges of the side walls forming the lower container.  
         [0006]     In the preferred embodiments, the side walls extend upwardly from the container floor higher than the height of the beverage containers, with their top edges supporting the bottom of the food tray. As a result, the attitude of tray is maintained parallel to the beverage carrier.  
         [0007]     Another significant advantage of carriers constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiments of this invention is that the carrier as constructed is collapsed for convenient shipping and storing and quickly and easily assembled at the ballpark or football stadium. The collapsed carrier is advantageously only five times the thickness of the sheet of cut material used to form the carrier. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier of one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]      FIG. 1B  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier shown with beverage containers placed within the carrier;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a first side elevation view of the lower beverage carrier;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a second side elevational view of the beverage carrier;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a third side elevational view of the beverage carrier;  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the beverage carrier;  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the beverage carrier;  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  is a top perspective view of the upper food tray;  
         [0016]      FIG. 8  is a bottom perspective view of the food tray;  
         [0017]      FIG. 9  is a first side elevational view of the food tray;  
         [0018]      FIG. 10  is a second elevational view of the food tray;  
         [0019]      FIG. 11  is a bottom view of the food tray;  
         [0020]      FIG. 12  is a top view of the food tray;  
         [0021]      FIG. 13  is a perspective view showing the upper food tray mounted on its lower beverage carrier;  
         [0022]      FIG. 14  is an elevational view of the cardboard sheet cut to form the lower beverage carrier;  
         [0023]      FIG. 15  is an elevational view of the cardboard sheet cut to form the upper food tray;  
         [0024]      FIG. 16  is a side elevational view showing the upper food tray mounted on the lower beverage carrier;  
         [0025]      FIG. 17  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier in its manufactured collapsed state;  
         [0026]      FIG. 18  is a perspective view of the upper food tray in its manufactured collapsed state;  
         [0027]      FIG. 19  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier of another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0028]      FIG. 20  is another perspective view of the lower beverage carrier of the embodiment of  FIG. 19 ;  
         [0029]      FIG. 21  is a perspective view showing the embodiment of  FIG. 19  and  20  mounting an upper food tray;  
         [0030]      FIG. 22  is an elevational view of the cardboard sheet cut to form the lower beverage carrier of  FIGS. 19-21 ;  
         [0031]      FIG. 23  is an elevational view of the cardboard sheet cut to form the upper food tray of  FIG. 21 ;  
         [0032]      FIG. 24  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier of still another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0033]      FIG. 25  is another perspective view of the lower beverage carrier of the embodiment of  FIG. 24 ;  
         [0034]      FIG. 26  is a bottom view of the beverage carrier of  FIGS. 24 and 25 ;  
         [0035]      FIG. 27  is an elevational view of the cardboard sheet cut to form the lower beverage carrier of  FIGS. 24-26 ; and  
         [0036]      FIG. 28  is a perspective view of the lower beverage carrier supporting an upper food box. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0037]     One preferred embodiment of the food and drink carrier constructed in accordance with this invention is shown in  FIG. 13  and includes a lower beverage carrier  25  for holding paper or plastic cups or other containers of beverage and an upper food tray  30  supported on the uppermost edges of the outside walls. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the lower carrier has, as best seen in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , four compartment pockets  35  in which, depending upon their diameter, four or more cups  40  or other containers (see  FIG. 1B ) can be carried.  
         [0038]     A feature of this invention is that the lower carrier is adapted to carry any shape or configuration of beverage container normally sold in ball parks and stadiums. Further, although the embodiment shown provides four pockets  35 , it will be apparent that the bottom carrier can be constructed to have fewer or greater number of pockets.  
         [0039]     As discussed below and as shown in  FIGS. 1B and 16 , the uppermost edges of the side walls  45 ,  46 ,  47 ,  48  of container  25  are, in the preferred embodiment, higher than the tallest cup  40  that will be normally placed within the container  25 .  
         [0040]     The beverage carrier  25  advantageously includes a bottom floor  49  under each of the pockets  35 . This floor is provided by four interlocking bottom flaps.  
         [0041]     The lower beverage carrier further includes an integral flat, generally rectangular handle  50  advantageously formed by two thickness of the same cardboard or other sheet material used to construct the lower carrier  25 . An elongate opening  55  allows some of the fingers of one hand to pass through this opening  55  to more easily carry the beverage and food container.  
         [0042]     The upper food tray  30 , best shown in  FIGS. 7 and 13 , has a base or bottom  60  that is advantageously larger than the area circumscribed by the side walls  45 ,  46 ,  47  and  48  of lower carrier  25 . The bottom of food tray  30  includes an elongated slot  61  whose dimensions are somewhat larger than the cross-section of handle  50 . As shown in  FIG. 13 , after the beverage cups are placed within the pockets  35 , the tray  30  is slid down over the handle  50 .  
         [0043]     A significant feature of the preferred embodiments of this invention is that the upper food tray  30  is slid down over handle  50  until it rests on the uppermost top edges of the side walls  45 ,  46 ,  47  and  48  (see  FIGS. 13 and 16 ). In this manner, the attitude of tray  30  is maintained horizontal with respect to the beverage carrier  25  and is not affected by the height, distribution or quantity of the beverage cups placed in the pockets  35 . Moreover, in the preferred embodiments, the bottoms of the beverage cups advantageously rest on the floor  49  of the lower beverage container. As a result, placing a filled carrier  25  on the floor or seat of a stadium has no effect on the positions of either the beverage containers  40  inside the pockets  35  or the attitude of the tray  30 .  
         [0044]     Advantageously, the lower beverage carrier  25  and upper food tray  30  are each cut from a single sheet of suitable cardboard. See  FIGS. 14 and 15 , wherein solid inner lines indicate cut slits in the cardboard sheet and dotted lines indicate creases formed in the cardboard. In the following instructions, the interior faces of each of the side walls of the lower and upper carriers face upwardly in  FIGS. 14 and 15 . By way of specific example, carriers have been constructed in accordance with this invention in which the outside dimensions of the flat cut cardboard of  FIG. 14  measured 36 27/36 inches by 16⅜ inches and the outside dimensions of the flat cut cardboard of  FIG. 15  measured 17 inches by 16 inches.  
         [0045]     Referring to  FIG. 14 , the lower beverage carrier  25  is constructed by folding the sheet of cut cardboard along the dotted lines as follows: With wall section  48  held flat, wall section  45  is folded upwardly along line  104  to form a crease along line  104 . Likewise, pocket divider member  106  is folded upwardly with respect to section  48  along line  108  but is folded downwardly with respect to handle section  110  along line  112 , leaving creases along lines  108  and  112 . Wall section  47  is folded upwardly with respect to wall section  48  along line  116  to form a crease along line  116 .  
         [0046]     Wall section  46  is then held flat and wall section  47  is folded upwardly along line  120  with respect to wall section  46  to form a crease along line  120 . Likewise, a second pocket divider member  122  is folded upwardly with respect to wall section  46  along line  124 , but is folded downwardly with respect to the second handle section  126  along line  128  leaving creases along lines  124  and  128 . In addition, end tab  130  is folded upwardly with respect to section  46  along line  132 . The end tab  130  is also folded with respect to handle section  126  along line  134  such that the end tab portion  138  is raised upwardly with respect to handle section  126  so that the connector  122  and end tab  130  lie in parallel planes with creases formed along lines  132  and  134 .  
         [0047]     Attached to wall sections  45 ,  48 ,  47  and  46  are respective bottom flaps  140 ,  142 ,  144  and  146 . Each of these flaps are folded upwardly with respect to wall section  45 ,  48 , and  47  along respective lines  150 ,  152 ,  154  and  156  to form creases along these lines.  
         [0048]     Bottom flap  142  includes a corner tab portion  160  which is folded downwardly with respect to the remainder of flap  142  along line  162 . Similarly, bottom flap  146  includes a corner tab portion  164  which is also folded downwardly with respect to the remainder of flap  146  along line  166  with creases left along lines  162 ,  166 .  
         [0049]     The lower container is advantageously manufactured in a collapsed configuration as follows: the sections  45 ,  48 ,  47  and  46  are folded along creases  104 ,  116 ,  120  and  124  to form the outside walls of the container. The downwardly facing side of handle section  126  is joined by a suitable glue or adhesive to the upwardly facing side of the handle section  110  wall. The downwardly facing side of end tab  130  is secured by glue or adhesive to the upwardly facing side of section  45 . The upwardly facing surface of tab  160  is joined by glue or adhesive to the downwardly facing side of flap  140 . The upwardly facing surface of tab  164  is joined to the downwardly facing side of flap  144 .  
         [0050]     A significant feature of the construction of the bottom flaps  140 ,  142 ,  144  and  146  is that when the carrier is erected into the configuration shown in  FIG. 1A , the bottom flaps  140 ,  142 ,  144  and  146  overlap to form the interlocked bottom surface  49  which supports as many filled beverage containers as can be placed into the carrier. A particular feature of the bottom flaps  140  and  144  is the inclusion of respective notches  170 ,  172 . As best shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , as the four bottom flaps  140 ,  142 ,  144  and  146  fold together, the notches  170 ,  172  are drawn together to interlock with each other to maintain the carrier in the erected state shown in  FIG. 1A .  
         [0051]     The functionality of the foldable carrier is further enhanced by the creases  150 ,  152 ,  154 ,  156 ,  162  and  166  which bias the bottom surface upward  49  when the carrier is open. As a result, the weight carrying capacity of the carrier is more than ample for all of the drinks that can be held within the carrier.  
         [0052]     Another feature shown in  FIG. 14 , is the wedge shaped portion cut from bottom flaps  140  and  144 . The wedge cut from flap  140  leaves a wedge-shaped space  167  between the edge  168  of flap  40  and the juxtaposed edge of tab  160 . The small wedge shaped portion cut from bottom flap  144  leaves a wedge shaped space  173  between the edge  169  of flap  144  and the juxtaposed edge of tab  164 . These relieved edges  168 ,  169  facilitate manufacturing the lower carrier in the collapsed state shown in  FIG. 17 . Thus, edge  168  folds into the crease  104  formed between panels  102  and  100  and edge  169  folds into the crease  120  between panels  114 ,  118 . The overall thickness of the collapsed beverage carrier shown in  FIG. 17  is substantially only five times the thickness of the cut sheet material used to form the beverage carrier.  
         [0053]     The upper food tray  30  is also advantageously cut from a sheet of cardboard in the manner shown in  FIG. 15 . The downwardly facing sides of end tabs  200 ,  202 ,  204  and  206  are respectively glued to the upwardly facing sides of foldable portions  210 ,  212 ,  214  and  216 . As a result, this food tray is easily manufactured in a collapsed state as shown in  FIG. 18  but is quickly assembled into the food tray  30 . The overall thickness of the collapsed tray shown in  FIG. 18  is substantially only five times the thickness of the cut sheet material used to form the tray.  
         [0054]     After the beverages are placed within the lower carrier  25 , the tray slot  61  is easily slipped over the handle  50  until the tray is supported by the top edges of the four walls of the lower carrier as shown in  FIGS. 13 and 16 .  
         [0055]     The floor of  60  tray  30  is thus retained horizontal with respect to the floor  49  of the beverage carrier  25  by the top edges of the side walls  45 ,  46 ,  47  and  48 , so that there is no risk of food spilling out on the ground when the lower carrier is set on the ground.  
         [0056]     Another preferred embodiment of the food and drink carrier constructed in accordance with this invention is shown in  FIGS. 19-23 . As shown in these figures, a series of parallel slot pairs  300 ,  301 ;  305 ,  306 ; and  310 ,  311  are cut in the bottom half of the panels used to form three of the four pockets  35 A of the lower beverage carrier  25 A. These slots extend through respective creases  105 A,  106 A and  12 A between adjacent panels of the lower beverage carrier to form a series of cardboard straps  315 ,  316  and  317  serving as cup restraint members to aid in holding beverage containers within the pockets. As shown in  FIG. 20 , these cardboard straps have been pushed into the pockets of the beverage container to produce an interior wedge or restrain for engaging the exterior walls of the beverage container to hold them upright in the lower beverage carrier  25 A.  
         [0057]     As shown in  FIG. 19 , these straps, if not needed, can remain flat within the outer walls of the beverage container  25 A. Alternatively, just one or two straps can be pushed into a pocket to aid in restraining beverage carriers against movement and tipping.  
         [0058]     Another feature of the lower beverage carrier shown in  FIGS. 19-22  and also  FIGS. 24-27  is an enhanced handle in which panel  110 A is formed with an extra handle flap of cardboard  325  typically one-half inches wide. After the cardboard has been cut as shown in  FIG. 22  and folded as shown in  FIGS. 19-21 , the handle flap  325  is folded upwardly to provide an additional thickness of cardboard to provide a stronger handle and makes carrying the beverage carrier more comfortable.  
         [0059]      FIGS. 24-27  illustrate another preferred embodiment of the carrier constructed in accordance with this invention. As shown in  FIGS. 24, 25  and  27 , an alternate beverage cup restrainer is provided by an inverted trapezoid  400  cut in the bottom half of two adjacent panels. As shown in  FIG. 25 , the inverted trapezoid-shaped piece  400  can be folded in on crease lines  410 ,  411  to provide a cardboard flap within pocket  415  of the beverage carrier to restrain the beverage cup from moving or tipping. Also, as shown in  FIG. 24 , when flap  410  is not needed to restrain beverage cups, this flap  410  can remain flat within the outer walls  405 ,  406  of the beverage carrier.  
         [0060]     It will be apparent that additional flaps  410  can be provided by cutting additional inverted trapezoid-shaped cuts in other adjacent panels.  
         [0061]      FIGS. 26 and 27  illustrate an alternate bottom flap having locking notches  450 ,  451  for firmly locking the base flaps together when the carrier is assembled for providing additional bottom strength for the carrier.  
         [0062]      FIG. 28  illustrates the lower beverage carrier of the invention carrying an upper food box  500  having an elongated slot  510  in both its bottom and top. Typically, box  500  has a cover which substantially covers the top of the box and is used for carrying pizzas, although it will be apparent that it can carry many other food products.  
         [0063]     The preferred embodiments of beverage and food carriers of the invention are manufactured from single sheets of cardboard. Suitable cardboard sheets are available in a range of thickness, an exemplary range of thicknesses being 0.016 to 0.028 inches. Thinner thicknesses are normally advantageously used for the upper food tray in which lighter loads are normally carried whereas thicknesses of 0.020 to 0.028 are typically used for the lower beverage carrier for carrying the heavier beverage containers. Typical kinds of cardboard sheets useful for constructing the upper and lower carriers including: 
        1. Plain Chip or Uncoated;     2. Clay coated for enhanced printing of advertising, coupons, and the like on the surfaces of the containers; and     3. Water resistant coated to provide substantial wet strength to carry spilled and leaking beverage containers.     4. By way of specific example, Riverwood International manufactures such uncoated and coated cardboard sheets under the respective trademarks Kraftsmaster®, Omni-Kote®, Pearl-Koteg® and Aqua-Kote®.        
 
         [0068]     The food and beverage containers constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the invention have several significant advantages including:  
         [0069]     1. The container is manufactured and shipped collapsed and quickly and easily assembled at the ballpark or football stadium. The collapsed carrier (see e.g.  FIGS. 17 and 18 ) is substantially only five times the thickness of the sheet of cut material used to form the lower carrier.  
         [0070]     2. The bottom of the beverage containers  40  carried by the carrier are supported by the bottom interlocked flaps of the carrier and are not disturbed when the beverage and food carrier is set on the ground. The beverages are thus protected when the carrier is set on the floor or ground.  
         [0071]     3. The upper and lower portions of the food and drink carrier are inexpensively formed from single sheets of cardboard.  
         [0072]     In addition to providing a very simple and inexpensive way to manufacture in volume a very useful food and beverage carrier, the preferred embodiments of the invention facilitate the selling of advertising space since the advertising copy can be simply printed on the sheets of  FIGS. 14, 15 ,  22 ,  23  and  27  before the sheets are cut. Carriers constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiments of this invention offer a substantial area on the side walls of both the lower and upper carrier for such printed advertising.