Patent Publication Number: US-4057651-A

Title: Meat tray

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It has been common practice for many years to package meat products in flat trays formed by molding techniques. These may be formed of paper pulp by flowing a water suspension of fibers onto a screen and drawing suction on the side of the screen remote from supply of the pulp, causing the fibers to mat in a more or less uniform thickness following the contours of the screen. 
     More recently, trays of similar form have been prepared by thermoforming a sheet of foamed thermoplastic resin, typically polystyrene. 
     In either event, the trays have been constituted by a flat, generally rectangular bottom and outwardly flared side walls of modest height. A usual meat tray will have a depth of about one-half inch, measured vertically from the upper edge of the side walls to the bottom inner surface. Such trays are generally satisfactory for packaging of single pieces of meat placed on trays and overwrapped, as with transparent shrink film. 
     These shallow trays, for lack of anything more suitable are also employed in preparing a package of many meat pieces; for example dismembered chicken parts, cubes of stew beef and the like. In such multiple piece packages, the sides of the packaged product are provided primarily by the overwrap. These packages are clumsy to prepare, awkward to store and tricky to unwrap. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The disadvantage of low side walls on formed meat trays can be overcome without the expected result of flimsy, unstable side walls making the package even more difficult for use in packaging of meat or poultry parts. The purposes of the invention are achieved by forming the walls with a plurality of depressed flutes across the walls, whereby are provided the strengths inherent in webs at an angle to each other. In addition to the strengthening angles formed across the width of the side walls, the corners at which those walls meet are inverted (or fluted) through a portion of their height to afford further strengthening angles. 
     The whole presents a pleasing appearance, combining attractiveness of package with increased stability of package as a whole and increased security for the packaged product, particularly when the latter is inherently formless, e.g., dismembered chicken parts. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A thermoformed tray which overcomes those disadvantages is shown in the annexed drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tray according to this invention having suitable depth for packaging chicken parts and the like, the side walls of which are strengthened and stabilized by a system of wall elements meeting at angles; 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical section on line 2--2 of FIG.l; 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section on line 3--3 of FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on line 4--4 of FIG. l. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT 
     A plan view of a meat tray 10 according to the invention is shown in FIG. 1 as a unitary article having a bottom 11 and side walls 12 integral with bottom 11 and with each other. The side walls 12 flare outwardly from the bottom in the manner shown and may be of any desired number and of any desired ratio of length to each other. It is preferred that the tray be generally rectangular in plan for convenience in storage, transportation and handling at the point of use. The outwardly flared walls are conventional to provide ease of removal from molds, compact nesting for shipping and storage, and ready removal of a tray from a nested stack. The present invention preserves these advantages in forming, storing, shipping and using the trays while affording a large measure of stability and security by a system of angles in the side walls and corners which do not impair those necessary qualities of easy removal from molds, snug nesting and ready denesting. 
     The upper edges of the walls 12 are formed with outwardly disposed flange 13 which forms an angle with the walls 12 effectively strengthening those walls against stresses generally in the plane of flange 13. 
     Across the width of walls 12, a series of depressed flutes 14 are formed to have shoulders which are at an angle to the plane of each side. For smooth molding operation and pleasing appearance, the junctures of a shoulder 15 with the plane of side 12 and with the bottom of depressed flute 14 are gently rounded to fair in with the surfaces so met. It is found that such esthetic and practical configurations contribute significantly to the utility and customer acceptance of packages of cut meats. 
     The package is further strengthened by flutes 16 in the corners which constitute a reversal of the corner curvature extending from the bottom 11 a portion of the distance toward the flange 13 and terminating in a shoulder 17 spaced below the flange 13. The flute 16 and its upper shoulder 17 provide webs set at angles to each other which afford real resistance to distortion of the package under stress. 
     Preferably the bottom 11 of the container 10 is provided with small holes 18 to receive and retain juices from the meat contained in the package. These are advantageously formed by the cold punching technique described in my prior copending application Ser. No. 371,819, filed June 20, 1973, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by this reference. When so formed, the holes are larger at the bottom portion than at the top opening as indicated in FIG. 2.