Patent Publication Number: US-2022225805-A1

Title: Food product holder

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Field of the Invention 
     The invention is in the field of equipment for serving food and particularly relates to holders for food typically eaten using fingers. 
     Description of Related Art 
     A characteristic of food eaten using fingers, rather than with a knife and fork, is that it can be messy to eat because of its complexity, for example burgers. Burgers are a composite food item comprising a central core of a patty, i.e. a thick disk of food filling such as a processed meat or vegetable product, sandwiched between an upper and lower bread component, each also generally of thick disk shape. Further fillings may be included such as salad, cheese, other meats, relishes, sauces and pickles to create a cylindrical layered food item. The overall shape of the burger food product is a short cylinder having relatively flat top and bottom surfaces with generally parallel sides. It is relatively stable when resting on its bottom surface. This stack of layers is unstable and prone to disintegrate while being eaten. 
     Conventionally, burgers are served on a plate or in a box and the burger is lifted to the mouth using fingers. A napkin may be wrapped around the burger to prevent it from coming apart, but this can get soggy, disintegrate and get in the way of the food itself. 
     It is therefore an object of the invention to overcome the problem of holding a messy food item without it disintegrating. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides a food holder having two opposing sides joined by a gusset, the gusset having corrugations of resilient material, where the corrugations are arranged to provide, in use, a compressive force to hold the food in place and wherein each of the opposing sides has an open edge and at least one closed edge, and wherein the gusset joins the sides together along the at least one closed edge, wherein the gusset is arranged to allow all edges of one side to move towards and away from all edges of the other side, wherein the container is of one-piece construction, wherein the corrugations are semi-circular, and wherein the proportions of adjacent corrugations are different. 
     The container holds the food with a spring-like force and provides a grip on the food. The two opposing sides of the container joined by a corrugated gusset provide articulated faces for the user to hold. Each side may have a notch for exposing a food item in use for the user to bite into. A rim may be provided around the notch of thickness greater than the rest of each side. 
     Each side may have a curved edge and the gusset joins the sides together along the curved edge. 
     Each side may have protrusions to stabilise the container when resting on the curved gusset. 
     Each side may have two straight edges that meet at an angle and the gusset joins the sides along the two straight edges. Alternatively, each side may have three straight edges and the gusset joins the sides along the three straight edges. 
     For semi-circular corrugations, the radius of alternate corrugations are equal and the radius of adjacent corrugations differ by a factor of at least 1.5. This provides a double-radiused corrugation effect, where the set of corrugations of greater radius allows expansion of the gusset, while corrugations of lesser radius provides a greater component of compressive force. 
     The holder may be made from silicon rubber or a thermoplastic elastomer and may be one-piece injection moulded. 
     In a further embodiment, a method is provided comprising the steps of opening the sides of the food holder, inserting a food item and releasing the sides to allow the sides of the food holder to grip the food item. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1 a    is a perspective view of a food holder in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 1 b    is a side view of the food holder shown in  FIG. 1   a.    
         FIG. 2 a    is a cross sectional view of the food holder shown in  FIG. 1   a.    
         FIG. 2 b    is a detail of the cross sectional view of  FIG. 2   a.    
         FIG. 3  is a side view of a further embodiment having protrusions for stabilising the food holder. 
         FIGS. 4 a  to 4 c    show embodiments of the invention for holding alternative food types. 
         FIGS. 5 a  to 5 d    show alternative corrugation formats. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The food holder is a portable container for food items, particularly burgers. It is of one-piece construction and has expandable sides that are made of fluted resilient material. The expandable sides can fit different sized food items and provide a compressive force to retain the food and help prevent the food coming apart during its consumption. The food holder allows the food to be served on its side. 
       FIGS. 1 a  and 1 b    show an embodiment of the food holder  101 . The food holder has opposing flat faces  102   a ,  102   b . Each face has an edge with two distinct profiles; a first edge  103  which has a semi-circular profile that defines the outer periphery of each face; and a second edge  104  that is a compound curve, having a central part  105  that is a part of a circle having the same radius as the first edge  103  and two transition parts  106   a ,  106   b  of opposite curvature to the central part  105 , joining the second edge  104  to the first edge  103  and meeting at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. The compound curve of the second edge  104  defines a U-shaped notch, a cut-out central section exposing the maximum amount of food item to a users bite while providing sufficient support for it. 
     The opposing flat faces  102   a,b  are connected by an intervening expandable elastic gusset  107 , joined along the first edge  103  of each opposing face. The gusset  107  is semi-circular in shape and defines a curved side to the food holder  101 . The curve allows a burger to nest within the food holder. 
     The arrangement of the expandable elastic gusset  107  is shown in more detail in  FIG. 2 a   . The gusset has a stretch system and is formed of a series of parallel fluted folds  201 , or convolutions, or corrugations of semi-circular profile, running parallel to the first edges  103  of each opposing face. The overall shape of the holder is thus of a short gutter with flat ends and concertina-like walls. The convolutions of the gusset  107  allow a degree of relative movement between the opposing flat faces, primarily toward and away from each other. The corrugated resilient material provides a reactive force when the flat faces are separated and the holder then exerts a compressive force on food items that are wider than the holder in its resting state. 
     The folds are structured with alternate wide and narrow flutings,  201   a, b  shown in  FIG. 2 b   . In this embodiment there are five wide flutings with four intervening narrow flutings. The wide flutings  201   a  have a radius that is approximately twice that of the narrow flutings  201   b . This arrangement provides a dual effect; the wide flutings allow for expansion of the holder, while the narrow flutings provide greater resilience and therefore compressive force to hold the food in place. 
     The wall thickness of the flutings  201  is half the thickness of the opposing flat faces  102 , because the flat faces  102  have a degree of stiffness for support while the gusset  107  is flexible. The flat faces  102  are also provided with a rim running along their second edges  104  to provide reinforcement so that the holder maintains its shape during use and also provides the user with a touch cue to prevent them biting into the holder. The flat faces  102  are nevertheless still soft and flexible. 
     A feature of the holder is that food items like burgers can be served and rested between bites on their side, as opposed to on the bottom surface. This has the advantage of being able to display the layers of the burger food product and also more items can be placed on a serving tray, which is particularly helpful in fast food outlets. Food such as burgers can be consumed without the need of a plate which is helpful for people on the move. The holder makes it much more convenient to pick up and put down food and to dip into sauces, or to hold the food while sauces are squeezed onto the side of the food prior to a bite being taken. The outer surface of the flat faces  102  may be provided with protrusions  301   a ,  301   b  shown in  FIG. 3  to prevent the holder from rolling from side-to-side when standing on its side. 
     Typical dimensions for the food holder at rest are an overall diameter of 120 mm and an internal width of 55 mm, which reflects the standard dimensions of a burger. When stretched, the width of the holder can increase to 130 mm. The wide flutings  201   a  have a radius of 3 mm, while the narrow flutings  201   b  have a radius of 1.75 mm. These dimensions are for illustration of a particular embodiment only and many other sizes and proportions are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention as an expandable food holder. 
     In use, an appropriately sized food holder is selected for the food item to be held. For example a 120 mm diameter, 60 mm height burger, a 120 mm diameter, 55 mm food holder is selected, i.e. the food holder is substantially the same diameter as the burger but when at rest it is slightly narrower than the burger. The food holder is then expanded by hand against the resilient force of the gusset and the burger inserted into the food holder. When released, the holder then closes slightly against the burger to gently grip it. The bottom of the food holder may be squeezed to push up the burger. 
     The food holder is of one-piece construction, which has the advantage of preventing any leakage of liquids, the holder acting as a dish. It is injection moulded using a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) of food grade, such as ENSOFT SO-161-30A from Enplast®, or alternatively food grade silicon rubber, selected because it they are non-toxic, odourless and tasteless and also resistant to high temperatures up to 220° C. making it suitable for all types of dishwashers, including heavy-duty commercial dishwashers. These materials are also very difficult to damage and therefore suitable for the rigors of commercial food production environments and can be reused many times. 
     The elastic sides of the food holder have the advantage that they can exert a gentle compressive force on food items to retain complex multi-layered food products and prevent them from coming apart while being eaten and therefore greatly reduce the mess often made while eating complex foods by hand such as burgers. The food holder is of one-piece construction, which allows it to be leak proof. The use of a TPE or silicon rubber allows it to be a tough, multi-use dishwasher proof article. 
     Corrugations could be other shapes, such as zig-zag (as shown in  FIG. 5 a   ) or square ( FIG. 5 b   ), or saw tooth ( FIG. 5 c   ) or double saw tooth ( FIG. 5 d   ) or any combination or other shape that allows expansion against a resilient force. 
     The food holder may be shaped to fit other food items, such as sandwiches, pies, sausage rolls, chicken drumsticks, spring rolls, samosas, pittas, kebabs, hot dogs, wraps and toasties. For holding food items that are square, such as sandwiches, the food holder could be triangular in shape, for triangular cut sandwiches as shown in  FIG. 4 a    or square cut sandwiches, the food holder is arranged to be rectangular or square in shape as shown in  FIG. 4 b   . For oval shaped food products such as pittas the food holder is oval as shown in  FIG. 4   c.