Abstract:
A food scoop having a holder for a condiment receptacle is disclosed. The holder and food scoop are formed from a unitary blank of material and the holder forms a continuation of the side wall of the scoop to allow for stacking and storage until the holder is deployed for use. After deployment, the holder securely retains a condiment receptacle and resists the forces applied to the receptacle during use. A blank for forming the food scoop and holder is also disclosed.

Description:
The present application is directed to a food scoop, and more specifically, to a food scoop with a holder for a condiment receptacle. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     French fries, onion rings, popcorn shrimp, and other finger-foods are often served from small paperboard containers. These containers may be pouch-shaped, like those used for french fries in many fast-food establishments, or shaped like a cup. Because such containers are often used to scoop individual servings from a product batch, they are sometimes referred to as “food scoops.” 
     The food products described above are often dipped into sauces or condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, or vinegar before they are eaten. Many food service establishments provide bulk containers of these condiments and small paper or plastic cups into which they can be dispensed. Alternately, the condiments may come prepackaged in a sealed container. 
     If the food product is consumed by a person while seated at a table, the condiment containers can be placed on the table. If a person wishes to walk with the container, on a boardwalk or at an amusement park, for example, or to eat the food product while driving a vehicle, the use of a condiment becomes more difficult. Both the condiment cup and food scoop must be held in one hand while the other hand grasps an item of food and dips it in the condiment. This method makes activities such as driving very difficult and possibly dangerous. It is also possible to dispense a condiment directly onto the food products in the food scoop, but this can be messy and often results in an uneven distribution of condiment. When walking or driving, therefore, persons sometimes forego the use of sauces or condiments altogether, or have to endure the inconvenience of eating sticky, condiment-covered food products with their fingers. 
     Various attempts have been made to address this problem by providing food containers with compartments for holding a condiment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,957 to Yocum, owned by the assignee of the present invention, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,429 to Cordle show food scoops having interior pockets that can be filled with condiments. However, pockets such as these can be inadvertently squeezed, leading to condiment spills either into the food scoop or onto the user. These pockets also make containers more difficult to assemble and more costly to produce. U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,364 to Shaw and U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,631 to Berger show complex folding shelves formed separately from a food scoop and glued or otherwise attached to the food scoops for supporting a condiment receptacle. Such attachments also add to the cost of food scoops and make them more difficult to assemble. In addition, they do not securely retain a condiment receptacle when the food scoop is carried by a user or balanced in a moving vehicle. 
     It would therefore be desirable to provide a condiment holder that is integrally formed with a food scoop, that is capable of securely retaining a condiment receptacle even when the food scoop is carried or jarred, and that can be produced at substantially the same cost as existing food scoops that lack this inventive feature. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention addresses these and other problems by providing a food scoop having a holder for a condiment receptacle that extends outwardly from a side wall thereof and that is designed to securely retain a condiment receptacle even when the food scoop is shaken or jarred. In a first aspect, the invention comprises a holder that is cut from the side wall of the container. In a storage or non-use position, the holder forms an extension of the side wall of the food scoop and allows the scoop to be produced and stacked in the same manner as prior art scoops. In the deployed or use position, the holder extends away from the side wall to form a support with an opening for engaging the side wall or walls of a sauce receptacle and, optionally, a bottom panel for supporting the bottom of the receptacle. 
     The present condiment holder can be incorporated into the design of most existing food scoops. Significantly, in many food scoop designs, the condiment holder is formed from material that is currently discarded as scrap. Thus the material costs of a food scoop incorporating the present invention are the same as the costs of prior art scoops. The additional cutting steps required to form the holder during the manufacturing process do not add appreciably to the product cost. 
     In another aspect of the invention, the food scoop with condiment holder is formed from a unitary blank of foldable material, such as paperboard. This allows the product to be produced using the same methods used for traditional food scoops. Because the holder forms an extension of the food scoop side wall when it is not deployed, the food scoops can be erected in a normal manner, generally using the same equipment or methods used in the past. The condiment receptacle holder does not need to be deployed until after the scoop is filled with food. This step may frequently be carried out by the purchaser of the food product and thus requires no extra work on the part of a vendor. Therefore the present design provides added benefits without increasing the cost of manufacture or ease of assembly as compared to prior art food scoops that lack a condiment holder. 
     In yet another aspect of the invention, the condiment holder is cut from the side wall of the container so that the resulting opening in the side wall is narrower that the width of the condiment receptacle. This substantially prevents the receptacle from being pressed into the interior of the food scoop during use. In addition, because of the tight fit between the receptacle and the opening in the condiment holder top panel, downward pressure on the receptacle causes the receptacle to pivot with the flap about the fold line that connects the flap to the side wall. Because the opening in the side wall is narrower than the receptacle, the side wall substantially halts this downward pivoting after the receptacle has moved only a small distance. Therefore, downward pressure on the receptacle, such as may occur when a user dips a food item into the condiment, does not cause the condiment to spill, but rather causes the container to be held even more securely by the holder. 
     It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder for a container. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide a food scoop having an integral holder for a condiment receptacle. 
     It is a further object of the invention to provide a food scoop having a condiment receptacle holder that securely retains a condiment receptacle during transport and use. 
     It is yet another object of the invention to provide a unitary blank for forming a food scoop having a receptacle holder. 
     It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder that can be readily incorporated into the design of existing food scoops. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a receptacle holder for a food scoop that engages the receptacle more securely when downward pressure is exerted against the receptacle. 
     It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a food scoop having a condiment holder shiftable between a first configuration wherein the scoop can be stacked and stored and a second configuration wherein the holder extends outwardly from the side wall of the holder. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other objects of the invention will be better understood after a reading and understanding of the following detailed description of several preferred embodiments and drawings of which: 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a food scoop according to the present invention showing a receptacle holder in a storage position; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the food scoop of FIG. 1 showing a receptacle holder in the deployed position holding a condiment receptacle and a food product in the food scoop; 
     FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the food scoop of FIG. 1 showing the receptacle holder in the deployed position; 
     FIG. 4 a front elevation view of a second embodiment of a food scoop according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the food scoop of FIG. 4 showing a receptacle holder in the deployed position holding a condiment receptacle and a food product in the food scoop; 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the food scoop of FIG. 4 showing the receptacle holder in the deployed position; 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view of a plurality of interconnected blanks used to form the food scoop shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of two interconnected blanks used to form the food scoop shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 9 is a front elevation view of a third embodiment of a food scoop according to the present invention; and, 
     FIG. 10 is a front elevation view of a fourth embodiment of a food scoop according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings, wherein the showings are for purposes of illustrating several preferred embodiments of the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting same, FIG. 1 shows a food scoop designated generally by the numeral  10  having a side wall  12  divided into a side wall body portion  14  and a holder portion  16 . Side wall  12  includes an inner surface  18  defining a scoop interior  20  and an outer surface  22 , and further includes an upper edge  24  and a lower edge  26 . A bottom wall  28  is connected to lower edge  26  of side wall  12  in a conventional manner, or alternately, may be integrally formed with the container side wall. 
     The food scoop of the present invention is intended to be used with the opening formed by upper edge  24  facing generally upwardly, although in normal use the it will often be tilted somewhat in one direction or another to allow easier access to its contents. In the present description, the food scoop will be described as resting in this typical orientation with bottom  28  on a level support surface (not shown). 
     In the non-deployed configuration shown in FIG. 1, holder  16  includes an outer portion  30  and an inner portion  32 . Outer portion  30  is generally arcuate and includes a first end  34  connected to body portion  14  at a first fold line  36 , a second end  38  connected to the body portion at a second fold line  40 , and a central portion  41 . Outer portion  30  further includes an outer periphery  42  and an inner periphery  44  comprising first and second opposed arcuate sections  46 ,  48  and a notch portion  50  having a linear section  52  set off from the arcuate sections by notch end walls  54 . 
     Inner portion  32  is tongue shaped, partially surrounded by outer portion  30 , and divided into four sections, from top to bottom, a first section  56 , second section  58 , third section  60  and fourth section  62 . Inner portion  32  is cut from outer portion  30  and side wall  14 , and therefore is defined in part by the shape of the outer portion material surrounding it when the holder is in its storage position. 
     First section  56  is connected to central portion  41  of outer portion  30  along a third fold line  64  and comprises the portion of the inner portion located between notch end walls  54 . Second section  58  is bounded by first section  56 , a fourth fold line  66 , which lies parallel to and between third fold line  64  and first fold line  36 , and the parts of arcuate sections  46  and  48  that lie between the third and fourth fold lines. Third section  60  is bounded by fourth fold line  66 , an imaginary line  68  (not a fold line) connecting first fold line  36  to second fold line  40 , and the parts of arcuate sections  46  and  48  that lie between fourth fold line  66  and the imaginary line. Fourth section  62  extends between the imaginary line and a fifth fold line  70  located on the opposite side of the imaginary line from the fourth fold line and bounded by parallel side edges  72 . The distance between arcuate sections  46  and  48  at their greatest separation is greater than the distance between side edges  72 . 
     To deploy the holder, pressure is exerted against the inner holder portion  32  to move this inner portion away from the food scoop interior. At the same time, outer portion  30  is pivoted about fold lines  36  and  40  until it is roughly perpendicular to side wall  12 . This movement separates outer portion  30  from inner portion  32  except where they remain attached at third fold line  64 . This deployment results in the formation of a holder top panel  76  coextensive with holder outer portion  30 , a holder side panel  78  comprising first section  56  and second section  58 , and a holder bottom panel  80  comprising third section  60  and fourth section  62 . Holder top panel  76  includes an opening  82  partially defined by arcuate sections  46  and  48  and the area of body portion  12  in the vicinity of the holder portion  16 . The holder can be deployed either before or after food products F, shown as french fries in FIG. 2, are placed into the interior of the food scoop. 
     Condiment receptacles are available in a number of standard shapes and sizes, and the shape of opening  82  is chosen to be compatible with a particular receptacle. For example, in the preferred embodiment, a round receptacle  84 , which may be formed of paper or plastic, for example, is used. Receptacle  84  includes a top opening  86  surrounded by a lip  88 , a bottom wall  90  slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the top opening, and a side wall  92  extending between the lip and the bottom wall, the side wall being somewhat tapered toward bottom wall  90  due to the size difference between the top and bottom of the cup. Cup  84  is filled with a condiment and inserted into opening  82  in the holder and pressed downwardly so that the arcuate portions  46  and  48  of the holder securely engage the side wall  92  and bottom wall  90  comes into contact with holder bottom panel  80 . Cups having a shorter side wall may be supported entirely by opening  82  if they are not tall enough to reach the bottom panel. Alternately, cups that have cylindrical side walls and no top lips for engaging the top panel may be supported primarily by the bottom wall and steadied by the opening in the top panel. 
     Food items can be dipped into the condiment in cup  84  and consumed. If the food scoop is placed on a table or in a cup holder, such as in an automobile, a user can remove food from the scoop, dip it in the condiment, and consume it using one hand. If the food scoop is carried in one hand, the user can dip food items in the condiment using his other hand. 
     The relationship between the diameter of opening  82  in top panel  76 , the diameter of receptacle  84 , and the distance between side edges  72  of the fourth section of inner portion  32  contributes significantly to the advantages of the present invention. Specifically, the distance between side edges  72  is selected to be less than the diameter or width of the receptacle to be retained in the holder. This prevents the receptacle from sliding into the interior of the food scoop, even after all or most of the food product F has been removed therefrom. 
     In addition, because arcuate sections  46  and  48  conform closely to side wall  92  of the cup, the cup and the top panel section tend to move in unison when a force is applied against one or the other of these elements. In use, therefore, a person may apply a downward force against cup  84  when dipping a food item into the receptacle. This downward force causes cup  84  and top panel  76  to begin to pivot about imaginary line  68 . However, because the distance between side edges  72  is less than the width of the cup, the cup comes into contact with side edges  72  and the downward movement of the cup and holder combination is halted. This arrangement allows the relatively flexible material from which the food scoop and holder are formed to support the weight of the condiment and cup and resist deformation during normal use. 
     Likewise, a cup  84  can be inserted into opening  86  when empty. After holder portion  16  is deployed, the slight elasticity of the paperboard causes the holder to return a small distance toward its storage position. The weight of a full condiment cup is more than enough to overcome this elasticity. However, the weight of an empty cup may be insufficient to do so. Again, because the width of cup is greater than the distance separating side edges  72 , the cup side wall  92  contacts side edges  72  when holder top wall flexes upwardly. Moreover, the bottom of cup side edge  92  comes into contact with holder side panel  78  when the cup pivots upwardly, limiting the upward movement of top panel  76 . This allows a user, if he desires, to place an empty receptacle in the holder, take the food scoop to a condiment dispenser, and fill the receptacle while it held in the holder. 
     Corners  55  are formed where notched end walls  54  meet arcuate sections  46 ,  48 . These corners provide areas of point contact between the holder and receptacle to better secure the receptacle and to minimize rotation of the receptacle in the holder. 
     FIGS. 4-6 show a second embodiment of the subject invention wherein elements common to the first embodiment are identified with the same reference numerals. In the non-deployed configuration shown in FIG. 4, holder  100  includes an outer portion  102  and an inner portion  104 . Outer portion  102  is generally arcuate and includes a first end  106  connected to body portion  14  at a first fold line  108 , a second end  110  connected to the body portion at a second fold line  112 , and a central portion  114 . Outer portion  102  further includes an outer periphery  116  and an inner periphery  118  comprising first and second opposed parallel sections  120 ,  122 , joined by a linear section  124 . 
     Inner portion  104  is tongue shaped, partially surrounded by outer portion  102 , and divided into three sections, from top to bottom, a first section  126 , second section  128 , and a third section  130 . Inner portion  104  is cut from outer portion  102  and side wall  14 , and therefore is defined in part by the shape of the outer portion material surrounding it when the holder is in its storage position. 
     First section  126  is connected to central portion  114  of outer portion  102  along a third fold line  132  and comprises the portion of the inner portion between linear section  124 , parallel sections  120 ,  122  and a fourth fold line  134  parallel to linear section  124 . Second section  128  is bounded by fourth fold line  134 , parallel sections  120 ,  122 , and a line  136  connecting first fold line  108  and second fold line  112 . Third section  130  is bounded by line  136 , a fifth fold line  138  located on the opposite side of the line  136  from the fourth fold line and bounded by parallel side edges  140  extending between the first and second fold lines and fifth fold line  138 . The distance between parallel sections  120 ,  122  is greater than the distance between side edges  140 . 
     In this embodiment, the opening  82  in holder top panel  76  is shaped to receive a receptacle  101  having a rectangular cross section. The food scoop itself also has a different shape than the scoop of the first embodiment, demonstrating that the present invention can be practiced with a variety of different food scoops. Both scoops and holders function in substantially the same manner. 
     FIG. 7 shows four blanks  144 ,  146 ,  148 , and  150  that can be formed into the food scoop and holder shown in FIGS. 1-3. The blanks are identical, and each includes a first side edge  152 , a second side edge  154 , a curved bottom edge  156  and a top edge  158  having first and second end portions  160 ,  162  and a recessed central portion  164  from which a tongue  168  protrudes. As will be appreciated from FIG. 7, the blanks fit together tightly and a number of blanks can be cut from a sheet of material with little waste. For example, blanks  144 ,  146  are separated by a score line  169 , which single score line forms second side edge  154  of blank  144  and first side edge  152  of blank  146 . Furthermore, the bottoms ends of first and second side edges  152 ,  154  of blank  144  are connected to the first and second end portions  160 ,  162  of top edge  158  of third blank  148  before the blanks are separated, and tongue  168  of blank  148  is connected to the central portion of bottom edge  156  of first blank  146 . 
     Blanks for forming food scoops without a receptacle holder are substantially similar to those shown in FIG. 7 but would not include tongue  168 . The material where tongue  168  is formed is often discarded as scrap. The invention thus reduces the amount of scrap produced and provides a novel food scoop having the same materials cost as prior art scoops. 
     FIG. 8 shows two blanks  170 ,  172  for forming the food scoop shown in FIGS. 4-6. Each blank includes a front panel  174 , a rear panel  176 , and a bottom panel  178  connecting the front and rear panels. A tongue  180  extends from the side of front panel  174  opposite rear panel  176 . A notch  182  is provided in the lower portion of the rear panel  176  to accommodate the tongues  180  of an adjacent blank. This allows the blanks to be closely spaced on a sheet of material to minimize waste. The notch  182  can be omitted in situations where a notch-less food scoop is desired. 
     FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the invention wherein a cup-shaped food scoop is provided with a holder for a rectangular receptacle. 
     FIG. 10 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention wherein a pouch-shaped food scoop is provided with a holder for a receptacle having a circular cross section. 
     The subject invention has been described herein in terms of several preferred embodiments; however, it will be appreciated that additions and modifications to the invention will become evident to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the foregoing description together with the attached drawings. For example, the receptacle holders are not limited to use with receptacles having round and rectangular cross sections—these are merely the shapes most commonly used today. Furthermore, the shape of the food scoop used can be varied without departing from the scope of this invention. It is intended that all such obvious modifications and additions be included within the scope of this application to the extent that they are described by the several claims appended hereto.