Patent Publication Number: US-6338417-B1

Title: Food container

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a food container which can be superimposed over the upper end of a beverage receptacle, and to an assembly comprising the food container and the beverage receptacle. 
     In more detail, such container has a side wall and a bottom wall, in which is formed at least one channel to allow the passage through the cover of a drinking straw which extends into the beverage receptacle. 
     Containers of this general type are known, for example, from prior art documents GB-k-2 023 407, FR-A-2 649 080 and FR-A-2 733 403. They allow a consumer to carry both solid foods and drinks ready for consumption together using only one hand without having recourse to difficult manipulations or external supports. 
     Such containers are therefore particularly suitable for use in fast food restaurants in which structures such as chairs and tables which allow the user consume meals in a seated position are not provided. 
     The above-mentioned known containers are made in such a way that they can be associated with a single type of receptacle having an upper end of well defined dimensions. 
     In practice, however, in an individual restaurant establishment drinks are sold in various types of containers, for example metal cans and cups of plastics material, which are decidedly different from one another. Moreover even containers of the same type can have very different capacities, varying for example from 0.1 to 1 litre and therefore decidedly different dimensions at the upper end. 
     This causes the disadvantages that the individual restaurant establishment must be provided with different types of containers which can be associated with different receptacles and which the staff must chose upon sale to select the container suitable for accompanying the receptacle sold at any one time. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     For the purpose of obviating these disadvantages the object of the present invention is a container and an assembly formed by this latter and a receptacle associated with it, having the characteristics indicated in the following claims. 
     An individual container according to the invention can be associated with receptacle having different dimensions at the upper end. This allows restaurants to hold stocks of containers of only a single dimension with an evident saving in storage costs. At the same time the operations of the staff upon sale are speeded up since these latter do not have to choose the size of the container to couple to a given receptacle. 
     The container of the invention can be produced of any conventional material, for example plastics or cardboard, with the use of known technologies, for example thermo-forming. 
     Advantageously, the containers of the invention can be stacked on one another so as to reduce the costs of transport and storage. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, given with the aid of the attached drawings and provided purely by way of non-limitative example, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view from below of a container according to the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is side elevation of the container of FIG. 1 associated with a receptacle; and 
     FIGS. 3 and 4 are side elevations of the container of 
     FIG. 1 associated with different receptacles. 
    
    
     A food container  10  which can be superimposed over the upper end of a beverage receptacle, for example a cup  12  such as that illustrated in FIG. 2, has (FIGS. 1 and 2) a slightly frusto-conical side wall  14  and a bottom wall  16 . 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the walls  14 ,  16  there are formed a plurality of circumferentially off-set channels  18  to allow the passage out through the cover  10  of a drinking straw  20  which extends into the receptacle  12 . 
     The bottom wall  16  has a cavity with a generally upwardly tapered frusto-conical profile, in which there are formed three steps  22  which extend circumferentially and comprise a vertical or riser part  24  and a horizontal part  26 . 
     The riser  24  of each step  22  has, at its lower end, a projection  28  to form an undercut. 
     On the outside of the side wall  14  there may be provided decorations and/or advertising messages. 
     To fit the container  10  to the receptacle  12  the upper end of this latter is pressed axially against the bottom wall  16  of the container  10  until reaching a step  22  of dimensions corresponding, for example, to that in an intermediate position (see FIG.  2 ). 
     The edge  30  of the upper end, which projects radially with respect to the body of the container, causes a slight elastic divergence of the projection  28  from the riser  24  of this step  22 , which, upon further movement in an axial direction of the receptacle  12 , returns into its original position lying alongside the edge  30 . Alternatively, depending on the relative rigidity of the projection  28  and the edge  30 , it is possible that this latter may be subject to a slight elastic contraction following the axial movement of the drinks container  12 . 
     In either case a stable connection of the receptacle  12  to the container  10  is produced, in particular one which cannot be separated by the effect of the force of gravity alone, thus allowing a secure manipulation of the assembly constituted by these two elements. 
     Subsequently the drinking straw  20  is introduced into one of the channels  18 , which straw can thus penetrate into the receptacle  12  dipping into the liquid contained in it and making it accessible to a consumer. 
     Solid foods contained in the container  10  are on the other hand directly accessible through the upper opening of this latter. 
     The assembly formed by the container  10  and the receptacle  12  therefore allows the user to carry both the solid foods held in the container  10  and the drinks held in the receptacle  12  both together using only one hand, both ready for consumption without having recourse to difficult manipulations or external supports. 
     Obviously, whenever it is desired to connect the container  10  to a receptacle of different dimensions the same operations as those described above would be effected with the difference that the edge of the receptacle would become engaged by a different step  22  of the bottom wall  16 . This can be seen by way of example in FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the container  10  is respectively connected to a cup  32  of greater dimensions than that illustrated in FIG. 2, and a can  34 . 
     Generally, therefore, the steps  22  serve as means able to allow the connection of the container  10  to receptacles  12 ,  32 ,  34  having different dimensions at the upper end. 
     Naturally, it is intended that, the principle of the invention remaining the same, the details of construction and the embodiments can be widely varied with respect to what has been described and illustrated in the drawings, without by this departing from the ambit of the present invention. 
     For example, in the bottom wall  16  of the container  10  there may, in principle, be provided any number of steps  22  so as to allow coupling with a corresponding number of receptacles having upper ends of different dimensions. These steps can moreover have a plan form other than circular, for example rectangular or square, to allow coupling with a receptacle, for example, of parallelepiped form.