Abstract:
A particular continuous downward spiraling cereal bowl is disclosed which allows for exceptional control over a mixing process by keeping dry substances separated from liquids until mixed in user defined portions and timeframes. The disclosure comprises a slightly asymmetrically round bowl consisting of two contiguous areas with an inner surface that continually slopes downward between the two areas and an S-shaped guide rail between these two areas. The shape of the guide rail is curved in order to hold cereal in the upper part of the spiral at a level above the fill line of liquid held in the lower portion of the spiral. In the preferred embodiment, the bowl further comprises a thumb groove underneath the inner surface of the dry area which may serve as an embedded handle.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of kitchenware. More specifically, the invention relates to bowls capable of containing liquids and dry substances simultaneously yet separate until mixed in user defined portions for the purpose of keeping the dry substances in a fresh and crisp state. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Health experts agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The health benefits of eating wholesome grains and fiber lead millions of adults and children to start their day by eating cereal with milk. However, a common problem arises in that the crispness of the cereal is extremely fleeting and one must eat quickly to enjoy the meal before it becomes soggy. In addition, eating quickly can lead to digestive disorders. Many cereal manufactures have tried to solve this problem by coating the cereal with additives to inhibit the absorption of liquids but this method often involves undesirable chemicals and sweeteners. Therefore, it is important to keep the cereal enticing and dry by maintaining it in a fresh, crisp state until it is mixed by the user in the user&#39;s desired leisurely timeframe and portion size. Until the present disclosure, no bowl has solved this problem in a simple, undivided, singular unit that is both child-friendly and naturally ergonomic by the means of a continual downward spiraling and sloping inner surface with an S-shaped guide rail. 
     Prior Art has offered many attempts to solve the problem of soggy cereal. All of these attempts involve either completely divided compartments, valves, sieves or multiple connecting parts leading to complicated use and/or disassembly for cleaning. For instance, one example of a bowl is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,538 and describes a cereal bowl with multiple partitions. One of these partitions completely divides the bowl into two compartments while the other partition divides the milk compartment into a general area and a mixing area the size of a spoon. Neither of these partitions touches both the milk and the cereal. Therefore, no actual mixing occurs without a user bringing the cereal from one compartment over the dividing wall and into the mixing area of the milk compartment. This is basically the same as using two separate bowls and requires a great deal of coordination. 
     As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,826 discloses a food bowl with a portion of the lower inside being depressed or indented. This allows for remaining bits of food to fall or be pushed into the bottom in order to capture every last bite. However, the design would clearly not keep two ingredients separate from each other mainly due to the fact that no divider or partition exists at all. 
     Still, other ideas have been described which include using separate pieces to contain the wet and dry ingredients. These solutions come with the additional burden of assembly, disassembly and additional cleaning requirements. Some have tried to solve the instant problem with different sieve type arrangements where the liquid could flow or drip into the solid ingredient. However, until the present disclosure, none have utilized the strategy of mixing the dry ingredient into the wet ingredient by means of a continuous downward spiraling and sloping inner surface and partial guide rail. 
     The following disclosure provides for a bowl which overcomes all of the foregoing problems with the associated prior art as well as other difficulties which have been known in the art for some time. Additionally, the presently disclosed bowl offers features and solutions that are not known and have never been suggested by prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A particular continuous downward spiraling cereal bowl is disclosed which allows for exceptional control over a mixing process by keeping dry substances separated from liquids until mixed in user defined portions and timeframes. The disclosure comprises a slightly asymmetrically round bowl consisting of two contiguous areas with an inner surface that continually slopes downward between the two areas and an S-shaped guide rail between these two areas. The shape of the guide rail is curved in order to hold cereal in the upper part of the spiral at a level above the fill line of liquid held in the lower portion of the spiral. The two areas of the spiral, although continually connected by means of their floor and side walls, have different heights at their rim levels and different depths, providing for a natural separation of cereal from liquid at the lower, concave deeper section of the bowl. The bowl may also comprise an inner sidewall of the lower liquid area of the spiral that is more sloped than the inner sidewall of the upper dry area. In another embodiment, the bowl will have different shaped exterior surfaces, feet or stanchions for stability. One of these exterior shapes further comprises a thumb groove underneath the inner surface of the dry area which may serve as an embedded handle. 
     These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a top perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a top view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a cross sectional side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may still be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a top perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Bowl  10  chiefly comprises rim  20 , inner surface  24 , outer surface  26 , guide rail  30 , first area  40  and second area  50 . Inner surface  24  provides the ideal pathway for ingredients to slide and/or be pushed from area  40  to area  50 . As a key aspect of the present disclosure, the floor of inner surface  24  supplies a continuous, downward sloping spiral around the interior of bowl  10  which is unique to this disclosure. Guide rail  30  acts as a partial divide between first area  40  and second area  50 . It provides a partial functional dam that keeps most of ingredients in one area separate from the other until a user desires the ingredients to be mixed, whereby partially propelled by gravity and partially propelled by a utensil, the ingredients can be pushed around one side of guide rail  30 . The height of rim  20  slightly decreases while moving around its circumference from first area  40  to second area  50 . (see  FIG. 3 ) Paralleling this decrease, the height of guide rail  30  slightly decreases while moving from its base at the connection point with rim  20  to its tip. Bowl  10 , itself, can have any dimensions which are capable of holding ingredients to be mixed together. The ingredients can be any combination of solids and/or liquids. Some prime examples of this are mixing cereal with milk, crackers with soup or even toppings with ice cream. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 2 , a top view of the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. As referenced supra, this figure illustrates rim  20 , inner surface  24 , first area  40 , second area  50  and guide rail  30 . Additionally, notch  35  in guide rail  30  can be seen which is wide enough to hold the neck of a utensil. As is best seen from this view, second area  50  provides for most of the holding capacity of bowl  10 . In the preferred embodiment, second area  50  will make up 60%-80% of bowl  10 &#39;s capacity, although any size ratio between these areas could be envisioned. In an alternate embodiment of bowl  10 , the sidewalls of inner surface  24  in each area,  40 ,  50  may be marked with fill lines to indicate capacity levels. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 3 , a cross sectional side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. In this view, the true shape of guide rail  30  can be appreciated as forming an extension of inner surface  24  that dramatically drops off on one side while keeping a height that is consistent with rim  20 . As is shown, the height  22  of rim  20  on the side nearest the first area  40  is greater than the height  21  of rim  20  on the side nearest the second area  50 . This causes an asymmetrical shape of the bowl  10  but also allows the bowl to be more evenly balanced when full. The slope of rim  20  nearest the second area  50  may also be less vertical than the slope of rim  20  nearest the first area  40 . This allows for greater ease of use when inserting a spoon or utensil into bowl  10 . The bottom of areas  40 ,  50  can be seen respectively as defining depths  45  and  55 . In this particular cross section, first depth  45  is at its highest point, but as other cross sections are taken moving around the circumference of bowl  10 , first depth  45  will gradually decrease and eventually become even to second depth  55 . The portion of bowl  10  between depths  45 ,  55  and outer surface  26  may be solid, hollow, partially supported by a structural scaffold or any other consistency known in the art. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 3 , in an alternate embodiment of the inside of bowl  10 , second area  50  and second depth  55  may actually slightly continue underneath first depth  45  in order to add capacity to bowl  10 . Now focusing on the outside of bowl  10 , in the preferred embodiment, outer surface  26  will have a smooth, rounded concave shape and further comprise footings  25  at the base. However, many different exterior shapes and surfaces could be utilized while staying within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, outer surface  26  may be straight up and down, slightly convex or even trapezoidal in shape with the bottom being wider than the top in order to provide for better stability. This could allow for the possibility of one bowl stacking upon another one. Outer surface  26  may also further comprise handles, stanchions, grips, or any other common features known in the art. 
     Now referring to  FIG. 4 , a bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The underside of rim  20  is shown connecting to outer surface  26 . From this particular view, a key component of outer surface  26  comprising a groove  27  is shown. Groove  27  is an indent, notch, groove or cleft in bowl  10  on the same side as second area  40  (not shown). It carves out a space in what would have been a largely solid area between the bottom inner surface of second area  40  (not shown) and outer surface  26 . Groove  27  serves the dual purpose of aiding in a manufacturing process that utilizes injection molding, where thick areas require more time and are costly, as well as providing a more convenient way to hold bowl  10  than at rim  20 . This is true because when full most of the weight will be in second area  50  of bowl  10 . In the preferred embodiment, with this additional feature, bowl  10  can be held with one hand while the other hand can be used to hold a utensil. Ideally, groove  27  will be slightly larger than a child&#39;s thumb but could be conceived to be almost any size in order to accommodate a user&#39;s hand. As a caveat, in  FIG. 4 , necessary components such as footings  25  and alternate or optional features such as handles or grips are not present for the sake of simplicity and clarity. 
     The function of bowl  10  can be appreciated fairly quickly but for clarification purposes its use will be briefly described. In this example, the two ingredients cereal and milk will be used for demonstrative purposes. In order to gradually mix the cereal and milk using bowl  10 , the milk should first be poured into the deeper second area  50 . Then a dry cereal can be poured on the other side of guide rail  30  into first area  40 . It can be noted that the order of these steps is usually the opposite of the normal procedure. Guide rail  30  will be high enough to prohibit cereal from spilling over and have a cupped shape as previously described. To begin mixing, one would simply use a utensil to push some of the cereal around guide rail  30 . It would slide down inner surface  26  until it reaches the milk. This allows only the portion of cereal that will be eaten immediately to soak up milk while the rest remains dry. This is due to the fact that first depth  45  is higher than second depth  55 . In between bites, the user can rest their utensil on notch  35  within guide rail  30 . The height of rim  20  decreases from height  22  to height  21  to provide stability because the milk level should not rise above first depth  45 . Rim  20  is also more sloped around second area  50  in order to more easily engage and disengage the utensil. Bowl  10  can also easily be held by the outer surface surrounding wet area  50  and groove  27 , just beneath first area  40 . 
     The present invention includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or any generalization thereof. 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 apparatus. Thus, the spirit and scope of the invention should be construed broadly as set forth in the appended claims.