Patent Publication Number: US-2020299050-A1

Title: Salad ingredients storage assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to storage devices and more particularly pertains to a new storage device for storing all of the ingredients to make a salad. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tray for containing chopped lettuce or other vegetable base for a salad. A lid is removably positionable on the tray to close the tray. The lid forms a fluid impermeable seal with the tray to enhance freshness of the chopped lettuce of other vegetable base. A bin has a plurality of storage compartments being integrated therein and the bin is positionable on the lid when the lid is positioned on the tray. A plurality of containers is provided and each of the containers contains a respective one of a plurality of salad toppings. Each of the containers is removably stored in the bin for storing the plurality of salad toppings with the chopped lettuce or other vegetable base in the tray. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a salad ingredients storage assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of a tray, a lid and a bin of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a right side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new storage device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the salad ingredients storage assembly  10  generally comprises a tray  12  for containing chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base for a salad. The tray  12  has a bottom wall  16  and a perimeter wall  18  extending upwardly therefrom. Additionally, the perimeter wall  18  has a distal edge  20  with respect to the bottom wall  16  defining an opening  22  into the tray  12 . A lid  24  is removably positionable on the tray  12  to close the tray  12 . The lid  24  forms a fluid impermeable seal with the tray  12  to enhance freshness of the chopped lettuce  14  of other vegetable base. 
     The lid  24  has a bottom surface  26 , a top surface  28  and peripheral edge  30  extending therebetween and the bottom surface  26  has a prominence  32  extending downwardly therefrom. The prominence  32  is spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge  30  of the lid  24 . The bottom surface  26  rests on the distal edge  20  of the perimeter wall  18  of the tray  12  when the lid  24  is positioned on the tray  12  having the prominence  32  engaging an inside surface  33  of the perimeter wall  18 . Additionally, the prominence  32  forms a fluid impermeable seal with the perimeter wall  18  to enhance freshness of the chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base. 
     The top surface  28  has a plurality of lips  34  each extending upwardly therefrom. Each of the lips  34  is aligned with the peripheral edge  30  of the tray  12 , and the lips  34  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around the lid  24 . The lid  24  has an air opening  36  extending through the top  28  and bottom  26  surfaces to pass air therethrough when the lid  24  is positioned on the tray  12 . A cap  38  is coupled to the lid  24  and the cap  38  is positionable in the air opening  36  for closing the air opening  36 . The cap  38  is removable from the air opening  36  for opening the air opening  36 . 
     A bin  40  is included that has a plurality of storage compartments  42  each being integrated therein. The bin  40  is positionable on the lid  24  when the lid  24  is positioned on the tray  12 . The bin  40  has a lower surface  44  and an upper surface  46 , and the upper surface  46  has a plurality of wells  48  each extending toward the lower surface  44 . Each of the wells  48  defines a respective one of the storage compartments  42 . The lower surface  44  rests on the top surface  28  of the lid  24  when the bin  40  is positioned in the lid  24 . Additionally, each of the lips  34  on the lid  24  inhibits the bin  40  for sliding off of the lid  24 . The plurality of wells  48  includes a condiment well  50  for storing bottles of salad dressing or the like. 
     A plurality of containers  52  is provided and each of the containers  52  contains a respective one of a plurality of salad toppings  54 . Each of the containers  52  is removably stored in the bin  40  for storing the plurality of salad toppings  54  with the chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base in the tray  12 . Each of the containers  52  has a top wall  56  and the top wall  56  of each of the containers  52  has a dispensing hole  58  extending into an interior of the containers  52 . The dispensing hole  58  in each of the containers  52  facilitates the respective salad topping  54  to be poured outwardly from the containers  52 . The salad toppings  54  may be any topping that is placed on a salad. A plurality of closures  60  is included and each of the closures  60  is coupled to the top wall  56  of a respective one of the containers  52 . Each of the closures  60  engages the dispensing hole  58  in the respective container for closing the dispensing hole  58  in the respective container. 
     In use, the chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base is placed in the tray  12  and the lid  24  is positioned on the tray  12  to close the tray  12 . The bin  40  is positioned on the lid  24  and each of the containers  52  is filled with the respective salad topping and each of the containers  52  is positioned in the respective well. In this way all of the various ingredients for making a salad can be stored together. A salad can be made by removing a selected amount of the chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base from the tray  12 . Selected ones of the containers  52  are removed from the bin  40  and the salad topping in the selected containers  52  is poured onto the chopped lettuce  14  or other vegetable base. In this way a salad can be made without with the ingredients stored in the tray  12  and the bin  40 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.