Abstract:
A hand held serving tray includes a slotted well for stemmed and regular glasses, and a hole adjacent for gripping the top surface with a thumb and supporting the bottom surface with finger loosely surrounding the well.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to food trays and, in particular, to a hand held service tray for carrying edibles and beverages. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   At social gatherings and the like, it is common for attendees to be furnished with food and beverages to be consumed while interacting with other guests. Usually, a plate for edibles is carried in one hand and a beverage container is carried in the other hand. For drinking or eating one must be placed temporarily on a rest surface or placed on the plate, greatly increasing the possibility of spilling or confusion with the drink and food of others. Further, with both hands occupied it is difficult to socially interact in customary manners, such as hand shaking, gesturing and the like. 
   To overcome the above difficulties and disadvantages, various serving trays for holding both food and drinks with a single hand have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,858 to White discloses a service tray wherein a pair of openings are included in a rear wall of the tray to enable a user to hold both the tray and a beverage container. The cantilevered weight is borne entirely by the user&#39;s wrist. A similar tray is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,266 to D&#39;Oliveira wherein the user grips an end portion of a tray having discrete areas for nesting a beverage glass and a food plate. The weight is also borne entirely by the user&#39;s wrist and requires constant gripping pressure. Further, any inadvertent wrist movement can result in instability or spillage. 
   To more evenly distribute the weight of the tray and contents, grasping surfaces on the bottom of the tray have been proposed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,346,070 and 5,429,231 to McSpladden disclose a cup like portion for holding a drink container that is grasped by the user&#39;s hand to support the tray and contents. Holding the tray is not only tiring but also requires forearm inclination for maintaining proper horizontal orientation to avoid spillage. A further approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,026 to Bradley wherein a serrated conical handle is provided on the bottom surface of the tray for grasping by the user. The tray includes food areas and a slotted glass holder for supporting stemmed glassware. The tray is adapted to be additionally supported by the forearm of the user. Nonetheless, the handle must be tightly and continuously grasped to prevent wobbling about the longitudinal or roll axis. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides a hand held serving tray for food and drinks which is stably held by one arm of a user that further increases tray stability to avoid spillage without continuous manual grasping of a handle. The tray includes a tray body having an integrally formed recessed and slotted glass holder for flat based or regular or stemmed glassware at the front and recessed food areas at the rear. A thumb hole is formed rearwardly and outwardly of the glass holder. The user holds the tray by inserting a thumb through the thumb hole to contact the upper tray surface while lightly surrounding the glass holder below the tray with the fingers. The hand is not required to tense to maintain stability and the light thumb and finger contact on opposed surfaces is effective to provide tray stability about vertical and longitudinal axes. The rear of the tray is supported on the forearm of the user, jointly distributing the tray weight and preventing movement about the lateral axis. The foregoing allows the user to assume a natural holding position for the tray and contents while maintaining triaxial control of the tray position. 
   Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hand held service tray that is conveniently and stably supported by one arm of a user. 
   Another object of the invention is to provide a service tray wherein the user&#39;s thumb is inserted through an aperture in the tray to engage a top tray surface while the fingers lightly surround a depending support on the bottom tray surface providing stable one arm support while carrying food and drink. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other features of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a top side perspective view of a hand held tray with drink holder in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a top perspective view of tray of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a bottom side perspective view of the tray of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a front side perspective view of the tray of  FIG. 1  carried by a user; 
       FIG. 5  is a top perspective view of the tray carried by a user; 
       FIG. 6  is a side perspective view of the tray carried by a user; 
       FIG. 7  is a top view of a serving tray in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; and 
       FIG. 8  is a side view of the tray of  FIG. 7 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring additionally to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the tray body  20  has a curvilinear shape, generally akin to an artist&#39;s palette, circumscribed by an outer peripheral edge  40  and top and bottom surfaces  42  and  44 , respectively. The beverage holder  22  is formed at the front portion of the body  20  and includes an upwardly opening cavity formed by a frustoconical wall  46  having a top annular rim  47  extending downwardly from the bottom surface  44  and a transverse circular base wall  48  having a longitudinal axis  49  with a transverse axis  50  normal thereto. An outwardly opening radial slot  52  is formed in the body  20 , extending from the peripheral edge  40 , through the wall  46  and partially through the base wall  48 . The slot  52  is formed opposite the thumb hole  30  whereby the stem  54  of the wine glass  24  may be inserted therein by the right hand of the user, with the bowl  56  of the wine glass  24  nesting at the rim  47 . 
   Referring additionally to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the tray body  20  has a curvilinear shape, generally akin to an artist&#39;s palette, circumscribed by an outer peripheral wall  40  and top and bottom surfaces  42  and  44 , respectively. The beverage holder  22  is formed at the front portion of the body  20  and includes an upwardly opening cavity formed by a frustoconical wall  46  having a top annular rim  47  extending downwardly from the bottom surface  44  and a transverse circular base wall  48 . An outwardly opening radial slot  52  is formed in the body  20 , extending from the peripheral wall  40 , through the wall  46  and partially through the base wall  48 . The slot  52  is formed opposite the thumb hole  30  whereby the stem  54  of the wine glass  24  may be inserted therein by the right hand of the user, with the bowl  56  of the wine glass  24  nesting at the rim  47 . 
   The food receptacles  26 ,  28  are dedicated area suitable for carrying articles adapted for the occasion. In the present embodiment, the receptacles are recessed areas formed in the rear section of the tray body  20 . The receptacles may be formed in any shapes suitable for the intended use, defined by a base walls  60 ,  62  and peripheral walls  64 ,  66 . A single area may also provided or an additional area incorporated for utensils. Additionally, rather than recesses, projecting surfaces may be provided for handling articles such as napkins, coasters, name tags and the like. 
   In use, the rear bottom surface of the tray body including the base walls  60 ,  62  are supported by the forearm  14  whereby the hand of the user only needs to lightly grip the front section with the thumb and fingers to maintain stable orientation of the tray and the contents as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . Thus the wrist of the user is slightly bent for a comfortable position. 
   The tray body  20  may be formed as a unitary article, in the illustrated sculpted form in cast thin wall or solid construction from plastic or mineral based materials, thin wall molded construction of durable, washable materials for multiple use, or in thin wall disposable materials for single use. 
   Another embodiment of the serving tray is shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8  wherein a serving tray  70  is adapted for stably carrying a plurality of beverage containers of differing configurations, and allowing a server to distribute requested beverages from a standing position. Therein, the serving tray  70  comprises a one piece thin wall body  80  having a palette shaped top wall  82  circumscribed by a curvilinear peripheral wall  84 . The body  80  includes a plurality of circumferentially shaped upwardly opening container holders  86  defined by downwardly extending frustoconical walls  88  and circular base walls  90 . Outwardly opening access slots  92  are formed radially from the base walls  90  normal to the wall  84  allowing the passage of the stems of stemmed wine and specialty glasses. The holders are configured for carrying on the bases  90  flat bottom beverage containers in a confined nesting arrangement, and to support at the upper rim  91  of the walls  88 , the outer surfaces of the stemmed containers. For example, the holders are adapted for supporting a martini-type stemmed glass  96 , a wine glass  92 , or a beverage glass  94 . The tray body is also provided with a shallow center recess  98  for carrying ancillary goods attendant to the serving such as napkins, coasters, straws and the like. 
   To facilitate stable ergonomic carrying as in the previously described embodiment, a thumb hole  100  is formed through the top wall rearwardly and outwardly of the frontal holder  86 A to enable the server to support the tray with the server&#39;s thumb  102  extending through the hole  100  and engaging the top surface and the fingers lightly surrounding the wall of the frontal well. The rearward portion of the tray is supported by the forearm of the server. Accordingly, the server may circulate the serving area and dispense the beverages with the free hand, maintaining a stable support of the tray to avoid spilling contents. 
   The beverage wells as described above are configured for supporting flat based beverage containers, such as glasses cans and bottles; and stemmed beverage containers, such as wine glasses, martini glasses and specialty glasses having upper portions holding the beverage and a downwardly depending stems. The holders are preferably configured for supporting a range of generally available containers. A holder with a 2½ to 3 inch base and a 3 to 3½ inch upper rim has been determined to be suitable. Also, the thumb hole should be positioned rearwardly and laterally outwardly of the front holder. This establishes a holding position as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4  wherein the thumb  32  generally overlies the base of the index finger in a comfortable, natural position, the first three fingers lightly partially surround the holder wall, the wrist is slightly curved inwardly, and the rear portion of the tray rests on the front forearm  14 . It is preferred that the thumb hole  30  be located at an angle of about 30° to 75° , and preferably about 45° to 60°, from the transverse axis of the tray at a radius of about 2 to 3 inches from the center of the base wall, the with the slot  52  opening laterally in an opposed direction, inwardly toward the other hand of the user/server. Thus the server is able to comfortably support the tray in one hand, and load, carry and distribute or utilize the contents with the other hand in a standing and mobile position. 
   Having thus described a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will now be appreciated that the objects of the invention have been fully achieved, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the sprit and scope of the present invention. The disclosures and description herein are intended to be illustrative and are not in any sense limiting of the invention, which is defined solely in accordance with the following claims.