Flight carrier

A flight carrier for simultaneously transporting one or more wine glasses or other type of glasses, tumblers or other fluid containers having a generally upwardly and outwardly expanding shape. The flight carrier comprises an essentially flat, planar lifting portion of operatively rigid material, the lifting portion having a front edge having a plurality of sequentially spaced openings therein, the openings extending into the flat planar portion, and a handle portion coupled to and acting on the lifting portion. Another embodiment of the flight carrier comprises a plurality of semicircular rings sequentially spaced apart by and rigidly coupled to a plurality of short connector portions.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for lifting, 
carrying and serving flights of beverage glasses, i.e., more than one, and 
generally about four wine or other type of glasses, each containing a 
small amount of wine or other beverage. 
In particular, the present invention is directed to a carrier for a flight 
of glasses in which a glass lifting portion is capable of fitting 
simultaneously around the stem of the plurality of glasses between the 
foot and the bowl with a handle portion. The apparatus can lift the entire 
flight of glasses safely and conveniently, such as for service between a 
bar and tables. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The tremendous explosion in the popularity of drinking wine in the 1980s 
and 1990s through the world has brought about the establishment of dozens 
if not hundreds of small to medium sized restaurants and cafes with 
extensive and creative wine and other beverage lists. Sales of wines, 
beers, champagnes, brandies, appertifs and other beverages comprise a very 
large percentage of overall gross revenue for such establishments. In all 
metropolitan areas it is not unusual to find an extensive wine list 
containing between 50 and 100 different such beverages in stock and for 
sale. 
Sales of wine, beer or other beverages at restaurants typically include 
sales of full bottles, glasses or flights. Full service wine merchants 
offer flights of wine or other drinks as a way of educating their 
customers as to the differences in different types of wines as well as to 
enhance revenues of such. Customers can select individual glasses of wine, 
or they can select a flight of wines. A flight of wines consists of about 
four glasses containing about 1.5 ounces of wine each. A flight can 
consist of 2 or 3 or 5 or 6 or more wines as well. Often flights of wine 
are given names descriptive of the wines they contain, such as "bold 
Chardonnay flight" or "Spanish flight". By ordering a flight of wines, 
with the names of the various wines which make up the flight listed on a 
menu or side card, customers, wine or other tasters of beverages can 
sample a larger number of wines or other beverages more conveniently. 
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a flight board 100 of the prior art. In the 
past, presentation of wine or beer in flights was facilitated using a 
standard tray or board. Unfortunately, glasses 50 slide on flat trays and 
can knock together having unfortunate results. Such boards 100 with small 
grooves or indentations 102 inset into the top surface have been used to 
facilitate service of a number of glasses 50 of liquid, generally wine 
glasses which may tend to be somewhat top heavy anyway, but are less than 
adequate. Such wine or drink boards 100 would generally be left at the 
table, an aesthetically undesirable feature, and lifting and setting down 
the loaded boards is continually fraught with tippage hazzard. And the 
need to find sufficient table space. 
Not only does service of a flight of drinks typically involve a great risk 
of tippage and/or spillage, but other drawbacks of such presentation are 
inherent. Since rather than serve a singe 6 ounce glass a flight might 
consist of four--1.5 once servings. Therefore, increased service time is 
inherent with typical flight service. As importantly, server and/or 
customer confusion is also a problem with flight service. Unless the 
glasses are kept in a certain spatial orientation, and such can be 
remembered during the process of pour from bottle to placement on the bar 
to collection by a server to delivery to a table, the identity of the wine 
or other drink may be forgotten or confused. 
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for 
service of a flight of beverages, such as about two to about four or more 
wine glasses, to avoid the problems associated with the prior art, 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In summary, the present invention is a carrier for a flight of glasses in 
which a glass lifting portion is capable of fitting simultaneously around 
the stem of the plurality of glasses between the foot and the bowl with a 
handle portion. The apparatus can lift the entire flight of glasses safely 
and conveniently, such as for service between a bar and tables. 
In one embodiment, the lifting portion consists of a number of grasping 
fingers extending from a horizontally extending, optionally curved 
structure. The grasping fingers can be spherically or other shaped rings 
with an discontinuity which define an aperture or opening withing the ring 
or other shaped structure. Other shapes include ovals, other curves, 
triangular, rhomboidal or trapezoidal or other shaped. The rings are 
linked together with interconnecting members which separate the glasses 
from each other so as to avoid clinking or rattling, and potential 
scratching and cracking. The apparatus includes a handle which, when used 
to bring the apparatus in place, will cause the lifting portion to act 
contemporaneously on the four or more or less glasses in the particular 
flight being transported. 
In another embodiment, a flat member with a series of hemispherical or 
other operatively shaped apertures with discontinuities at a common facing 
edge of the flat member, also optionally with a selected curvature, is 
also designed to be fit between the bowl and foot of a number of wine 
glasses or other types of glasses, such that lifting a handle portion will 
lift the glasses upwards off of a surface in an upright and stable 
position. 
Thus, it is an advantageous of the present invention to provide a carrier 
for flights of glasses, i.e., a carrier for simultaneously carrying a 
plurality of glasses safely and conveniently, which overcomes the 
disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, it is an advantage of the 
present invention to provide an apparatus and method for lifting a number 
of beverage glasses simultaneously by providing a lifting portion having a 
number of openings for lower support of the bowls or bodies of glasses. 
Additional advantages of the present invention include reduced effort and 
time and increased efficiency in transporting individual flights and also 
two or more flights together as compared to methods of serving flights of 
beverages or drinks in the past. Advantages include enhanced drink 
identification and tracking capability since a front end and a back end of 
the flight carriers can also be labeled or otherwise identified as such. 
Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become 
readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention 
and the embodiments thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying 
drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
It will be understood that while numerous preferred embodiments of the 
present invention are presented herein, many of the individual elements 
and functional aspects of the embodiments are similar. Therefore, it will 
be understood that structural elements of the numerous apparatus disclosed 
herein having similar or identical function will have like reference 
numerals associated therewith. 
FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of a flight carrier 
200 of the present invention. The flight carrier 200 consists of a lifting 
portion 202 and a handle portion 204. The lifting portion 202 comprises a 
flat board or other flat structural member with openings 206 extending 
through the lifting portion 202 between the upper surface 208 and a lower 
surface 210 (not shown). The term flat refers essentially to the cross 
section of the apparatus, which could, in fact, have a variety of shapes, 
other than thin and narrow as would correspond to the flat, planar shape 
of the member 202. The intersection of the openings 206 and a front or 
facing edge 212 define a series of discontinuities 214 in the front facing 
edge 212 of the flat structural lifting portion 202. It is through these 
discontinuities that the stems or bodies of glasses can fit into and/or 
through the apertures 206 and be supported by the lifting portion 202 
thereby. 
It will be understood that both any or all of the lifting portion 202 as 
well as any or all of the handle portion 204 can be formed of any 
operative material, including stainless steel, aluminum or other metal, 
wood, plastic or other polymeric material, any suitable composite or 
resin, or other synthetic or natural material. The material chosen will 
have an appropriate stiffness, degree of rigidity or otherwise generally 
high durometer to prevent deformation of the apparatus during use but so 
as to provide a comfortable, ergonomic, optionally padded apparatus which 
cushions the hands of the user as well as the glass lifting portion 202 
itself. Such padding could comprise a layer of latex or other rubber, etc. 
Additionally, other materials may be used to coat the surface of the 
apparatus 200 or the surface of the apparatus 200 could be textured. This 
would provide the desired smoothness, gripping quality or other desired 
surface characteristic. As mentioned above, the shape of board 202 can be 
varied for enhanced ornamental or functional purpose. 
Handle portion 204 couples to flat lifting portion 202 in any suitable, 
operative, aesthetically appropriate manner, including screws and nut, 
welding, gluing or integral construction such as by molding, extrusion, 
etc. at connection termini 220. Additionally, a hanging, carrying or other 
function hook 225 at a point such as midway between termini 220 of handle 
portion 204 will facilitate storage and handling, transportation, use, 
cleaning, etc. of the apparatus 200. Such hook element 225 can have any 
operative size and/or shape, material of construction, integral 
construction, etc. and will be known to those skilled in the art. 
It will be understood by the foregoing and following that specific shapes, 
dimensions and carrying capacity in terms of numbers of drinks which can 
be carried at one time by the apparatus can be changed and modified 
without deviating from the scope of the present invention. The flight 
carrier 200 of the present invention can be used for carrying anywhere 
between 1 and 10 glasses at one time. Glasses can be doubled up if the 
apertures 206 are elongated or otherwise enlarged. Finally but not 
limiting in any way, the lifting portions 202 and the handle portions 204 
can be given a curvature, angle, or other geometric variation as well. It 
will be noted that in a configuration of glass carrying openings 206 in 
which the glasses were lifted up and set onto a table or bar in a 
semicircular or other curved, geometric relationship to each other, the 
overall length or other horizontal dimension will possible be shorter or 
smaller than would be required for lifting a series of wine or other 
glasses sitting in a straight row. 
FIG. 3 is an isometric view of another preferred embodiment of a flight 
carrier 300 of the present invention. In this embodiment, apertures 206 
have similar if not identical function as for those described with respect 
to FIG. 2. However, such apertures 206 in flight carrier 300 are formed 
out of semi-circular rings 302. These rings 302 each have a gap or 
structural discontinuity 214. When coupled together in a straight line or 
other geometric relationship, such as by interconnecting members 306, in 
any operative relative orientation to each other each with its respective 
discontinuity 214 facing a common direction. Thus, when positioned by a 
server or other user of the carrier apparatus 300 such that the series of 
rings 302 each encircle the stem or body portions of glasses sitting on a 
surface (not shown), the carrier 300 can be lifted so as to simultaneously 
lift and support the glasses. 
It will be understood that the rings 302 can be circular (as shown), or can 
also have a triangulated, square, etc. shape. Furthermore, such rings 302 
can be formed of any suitable, operative material, either rigid or 
flexible to a certain extent. A certain amount of rigidity of the rings 
302 themselves will probably be necessary, however the connecting members 
306 can have essentially any amount of rigidity or flexibility as may be 
desired. Additionally, as above, the rings 302 can be configured in a 
relatively linear, straight pattern so as to engage with a series of 
glasses similarly spaced, or the rings 302 can be connected in a 
hemispherical or semispherical, or other curved or angled shape. 
FIG. 4 is a representative method of use of another preferred embodiment of 
a flight carrier 400 of the present invention. This drawing shows four 
wine glasses 50 suspended from carrying portion 202. It will be noted that 
even if the apparatus 400 is lifted so that one end 402 is higher than 
another end 404, the glasses themselves 50 may be prevented from tipping 
or spilling due to the fact that they will each stand upright, possibly 
due to the weight of the stems and feet of the glasses 50. Therefore, it 
will be obvious that the wine flights 200, 300, and 400 of the present 
invention will be much easier to use and forgiving to bartenders and 
servers compared to the flight boards 100 of the prior art in which a 
level surface had to be maintained to avoid the familiar problems of 
tipping and spilling. 
FIGS. 5A and 5B are representations of a method of use of another preferred 
embodiment of a flight carrier 400 of the present invention. As shown, the 
flight carrier 400 of the present invention can be utilized to either lift 
a set of wine glasses 50 off of a surface 60, to place a set of wine 
glasses onto a surface 60 or to carry a set of wine glasses 50 between one 
or more surfaces 60 by lifting the apparatus 400 utilizing any part of the 
handle portion 204 essentially in an upwards direction, the carrying board 
or lifting portion 202 will engage with the glasses 50 and the entire 
assembly will be transportable as one. Thereafter, when setting the 
glasses 50 onto surface 60, once the feet of the glasses 50 come in 
contact with the surface 60, the lifting board portion 202 will, upon 
further slight downward motion, disengage itself from the individual 
glasses 50. Upon relocation of the apparatus 400, the glasses 50 will be 
left standing on the surface 60 being untouched by the apparatus by the 
stems of the glasses 50 passing through the openings 206 of the lifting 
portion 202. A similar situation would occur with the embodiment 300 shown 
in FIG. 3, i.e. the stem of the glasses 50 or other portion would pass 
through the gap or discontinuities 214 of the carrying rings 302, 
untouched thereby. 
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein 
have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in 
the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and 
materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the 
practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and 
materials are now described. All publications and patent documents 
referenced in this application are incorporated herein by reference. 
While the principles of the invention have been made clear in illustrative 
embodiments, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art 
many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, the elements, 
materials, and components used in the practice of the invention, and 
otherwise, which are particularly adapted to specific environments and 
operative requirements without departing from those principles. The 
appended claims are intended to cover and embrace any and all such 
modifications, with the limits only of the true purview, spirit and scope 
of the invention.