Patent Publication Number: US-10308394-B1

Title: Container lid stackable with one or two smaller containers

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to stackable containers in general and containers for take out food in particular. 
     In recent times food on the go has become part of the solution to the hectic pace of life in the modern age. For some fast food restaurants more meals are ordered from the drive-through window than dine in. Grocery stores continue to expand their offerings of ready to eat lunch and dinner entrées. With hundreds of different entrées to choose from in your local grocery store, solutions for packaging takeout items are ever more in demand. Often with so many entrées available frequently sold by weight, the consumer wishes to combine several entrées so as to have a more complete meal or sometimes to purchase smaller amounts of different items to be consumed at different times. The problem arises that each entrée when packaged in a separate take-out container becomes collectively difficult to handle, with the possibility of items being dropped and thus scrambled and made less palatable. What is needed is a system of two or more food containers which can be stacked to form a balanced and easily handled grouping of items which will be eaten or served for the take-out meal. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The container system of the present invention comprises a single larger container consisting of an upwardly opening container and the resealable lid which holds a main or first entrée, and one or two additional smaller containers to handle separate entrées which are so linked as to make them balanced so as to easily transport groupings of containers. The container comprises two or three thermal formed container bases and corresponding lids. The resealable lids rise some distance above the open container increasing the volume of the container and having a flat region rendering of the containers that are geometrically simple like stackable blocks. One larger container for the main entrée has an upper lid surface on which at least two raised structures are formed. The raised structures are each arranged to extend into a depression in the bottom of two smaller containers to position and hold the smaller containers on the upper surface of the larger container lid so that the larger container and the two smaller containers can be moved as a unit without danger that the smaller units will slide off the larger unit cover. Two raised structures are spaced apart and form mirror images, one with the other, and are further arranged to hold a single container centered over the larger container. The two raised structures have the appearance of brackets which engage the ends of the container. The raised structures can be seen as a single raised structure in which a depression is formed to hold one container against movement on the larger container&#39;s lid. Redundant structures unnecessary for preventing movement of the single smaller container are then removed leaving the two brackets each of which can hold one of two smaller containers of the same base dimensions by extending into the depression of the two smaller containers. 
     The container system thus formed comprises one size of large containers and two or more sizes of small containers each of which has the same base area but a different interior volume defined by the height of the smaller containers. Design applications 29/589,756, 29/589,764 and 29/589,771 all having a filing date of Jan. 4, 2017 are incorporated herein by reference. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a container system with relatively few containers such as three or four, which collectively provide the packaging for a wide variety of entrée selections and then allow the selections to be grouped in such a way that they form a balanced unit which can be conveniently and reliably handled. 
     Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded isometric view of the container system of this invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded isometric view of a single secondary container positioned over a primary container. 
         FIG. 3  is an isometric view of two secondary containers positioned on the lid of a primary container. 
         FIG. 4  is an isometric view of a single secondary container positioned on the lid of a primary container. 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric bottom view of a single secondary container. 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of two secondary containers positioned on the lid of a primary container. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring more particularly to  FIGS. 1-4  wherein like numbers refer to similar parts of a system of two and three containers  18 ,  19  is shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , each system comprises a primary container  20  and one or two secondary containers  34  and  38 . The primary container  20  best shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is composed of a base wall  22  and the sidewalls  24  and a lid  26 . The lid  26  has two long sides  27  and two short sides  29  which form an approximately rectangular shape. The primary container  20  lid  26  has a long direction extending between the two short sides  29  and two raised positioning structures  28  and  30  which are mirror images of each other, and are spaced from each other in the long direction. The two positioning structures  28  and  30  cooperate to hold the base or bottom wall  32  of a secondary container  34  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The positioning structures  28  and  30  together extend upwardly from the lid  26  in a direction away from the base wall  22  of the primary container  20 . The raised positioning structures  28  and  30  together at least partially surround all four side walls  36  which extend upwardly away from the bottom wall  32  of the secondary container  34 . The positioning structures  28  and  30 , while not positively locking the secondary container  34  to the lid  26  of the primary container  20 , function to prevent the secondary container  34  from sliding off the lid  28  of the primary structure because it is constrained on four sides. When the primary and secondary containers  20 ,  34  are used together to contain food items, normally ready to eat or take out food items, they facilitate moving the system of containers  18  while stacked such that they can be placed in a bag or moved one-handedly. 
     Many more complex entrées have more than one side dish or sauce such that two secondary containers  34  and  38  are advantageously employed in the container system  18  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . This can be accommodated using the same positioning structures  28  and  30 . Each positioning structure  28 ,  30  fits into a rectangular indentation  40 , best shown in  FIG. 5 , on the bottom wall  32  of each secondary container  34 ,  38 . Each primary container lid positioning structure completely engages the rectangular indentation  40  of a secondary container on three indented side walls  42 ,  44 ,  46  and effectively engages the fourth indented side wall  48 . This effective engagement on the fourth side  48 , utilizes the principle that two points define a line, where the inner tips  50  of the positioning structures form the two points which engage the fourth wall  48  of the secondary indentation  40  at contact points  51  shown in  FIG. 5 . Finally, the secondary containers  34  and  38  are of different heights so that their lids  52  do not interfere with the positioning of the secondary containers as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
     It is important that the mass of one or both of the secondary containers is arranged such that the containers as a system of two or three containers  18 ,  19  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , are such that the combined container systems  18 ,  19  do not become awkward by being unbalanced, e.g., the secondary containers  34 ,  38  whether one or two are arranged symmetrically about a vertical axis  53  through the geometric centroid of the primary container  20 . 
     To accomplish the function of holding one container or two containers against sliding motion on the lid  26  of the primary container  20  while centering the masses of the secondary containers  34 ,  38  with respect to the primary container requires meeting certain geometric constraints. 
     The first geometric constraint is that the lid  26  of the primary container must be sufficiently large as to support two of the secondary containers  34 ,  38  on the lid  26 . A second constraint is that the depth of the indentation  40  formed by side walls  42 ,  44 ,  46  and  48  on the bottom wall  32  of each secondary container  34 ,  38 , must be indented to a greater depth than the height of the raised structures  28  and  30  such that each of the raised structures can fit within the indentation  40  of either of the secondary containers. A third constraint is that the secondary container  34 ,  38  has two longer exterior walls  58  and two shorter exterior walls  60 , wherein the shorter walls have a length that is less than the longer walls  42 ,  48  of the indentation  40 . The result of this third constraint is that bracket-shaped indentations  62  can be formed in the raised structure  28 ,  30  to hold a single secondary container  34 ,  38  without destroying the functionality of the raised structures to engage and hold against movement of each of the two secondary containers. As shown in  FIG. 1 , each raised structure thus has a body  64  with two protruding limbs  66  which together define each bracket-shaped indentation  60 . The limbs  66  of one raised structure extend towards the limbs of the opposite raised structure  28 . Fourthly, the spacing of the raised structure  28 ,  30  must be such that the bracket-shaped indentations  62  in the raised structures each engage three sides of a single secondary container  34 ,  38  to hold them in position on the lid  26 . Finally, width to length ratios of the secondary containers  34 ,  38  are such that the spacing of the raised structure  28 ,  30  defined by the length of the secondary container  34  or  38  is sufficient such that when the raised structures engage two secondary containers the secondary containers fit without interference with each other. 
     It should be understood that the raised structures  28 ,  30  could have various shapes and each be made of more than one raised portion, so long as such raised portions have structures which function the same or similarly to the above described structures. For example, any part of the raised structures which is not arranged to bear against the exterior of one of the smaller containers, or a wall  42 ,  44 ,  46  and  48  of the indentation  40  is unnecessary and may be eliminated. Basically at least two points spaced apart by at least a 0.25 inch or 0.5 inch, more preferably at least 1 inch or a linear structure of similar dimensions must be arranged to bear against the exterior walls of a single container or the interior walls of the indentations of two containers so as to substantially prevent the smaller containers sliding movement on the lid of the larger container. 
     It is understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, but embraces all such modified forms thereof as come within the scope of the following claims.