Sauce to go container

Abstract

The invention of a “sauce to go container” provides a convenient way to hold sauces or condiments from restaurants in a motor vehicle without tipping or spilling the sauce on the interior of the automobile or its occupants. The sauce to go container is designed to slide into and fit snuggly into the cup holder or drink caddie with is standard in most motor vehicles, thereby holding the sauce from a restaurant or convenience store without spilling. The container has an opening at the top of the container for holding the sauce dish that is provided to customers in many restaurants for a “to go” order. The container holds the sauces or condiments securely to avoid sauce spills and stain damage to clothing as well as the car's interior.

Claims

1. A holder for edible sauces or condiments in a motor vehicle comprising: a member shaped to retain an edible sauce or condiment; said member being shaped to fit into a motor vehicle cup holder so that the motor vehicle cup holder holds the member snuggly so that movement and vibration of the motor vehicle does not spill the edible sauce or condiment onto a passenger or into the motor vehicle; said member having a cavity shaped to hold a sauce or condiment packet from a restaurant; and a lid attached under the cavity for storing said sauce or condiment packet between the lid and the cavity that holds said sauce or condiment packet, whereby one or more sauce or condiment packets is stored between said cavity and said lid.

2. The holder of claim 1, wherein said member is made from food grade polystyrene.

3. The holder of claim 1, wherein said member is produced from an injection molding process.

4. The holder of claim 1, wherein the cavity is shaped to hold a sauce packet from a variety of different restaurants.

5. The holder of claim 1, wherein the member has a cone shape with tapered sides which enable the member to fit into a variety of motor vehicle cup holders.

6. The holder of claim 1, wherein the member is capable of sliding into a motor vehicle cup holder until said member having a cone shape with said tapered sides is snug with the side of the motor vehicle cup holder.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a drawing of the Sauce to Go Container.

(2) FIG. 2 is a drawing of a side view of the Sauce to Go Container.

(3) FIG. 3 is a drawing of a top down view of the Sauce to Go Container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(4) The present invention relates to a sauce container for food toppings which may be inserted into the cup holder of an automobile or motor vehicle.

(5) The container is manufactured using food grade polystyrene and manufactured using an injection molding process.

(6) The approximate size of the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings is 3.5 inches wide at the top, 1.25″ deep, and 2.8″ wide at the bottom. The container also has a rectangular recessed area that is about 1.5″×2.2″ to accommodate a rectangular sauce packet that a user may receive from a restaurant, food store, grocery store, or “fast food” outlet.

(7) Because the sauces at different restaurants have various shapes and sizes, it will be necessary to make some of the holders taller than 1.25″, thus making it narrower than 2.8″, as the shape must be a cone in order to fit the various sizes of automotive cup holders and drink caddies. Similarly, the shape of the cavity that holds the sauce packets may be adjusted to fit the size and shape of the sauce dish that is intended to be used.

(8) The slight modifications in the cavity that holds the sauce would be tailored to the particular restaurant for which the holder is being manufactured. The attached drawings of the preferred embodiment are designed for the sauce containers that are used by Chick-fil-A and this particular version would be specifically manufactured for their sauce packet or dish.

(9) A top view of the sauce to go container is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, the rectangular recessed area in the top is the cavity that holds the dipping sauce secure (FIG. 1—110). As shown in the drawing, the sides are tapered in order to fit in a variety of automotive cup holders and drink cadies in an automobile or motor vehicle (FIG. 1—120). Other variations would be required when manufacturing to accommodate the sauces of other entities.

(10) A side view of the sauce to go container is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in the figure, the sides are tapered so that the container will slide snuggly into place and stay securely in an automobile or motor vehicle drink caddie or cup holder (FIG. 2—210).

(11) The extended depth of the Sauce to Go Containers could be used as a storage place for additional sauce containers. This may be accomplished by adding a detachable “lid” that would be attached to the bottom of the holder in the similar fashion of a lid on a can of peanuts or plastic food storage device.

(12) A bottom view of the Sauce to Go Container is shown in FIG. 3. As shown in the drawing, there is a ring around the bottom of the Sauce to Go Container to accommodate a lid (FIG. 3—310). This lid permits storage of additional sauce packets in the bottom of the container for the convenience of the user.

(13) When introducing elements of the present invention or the preferred embodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.

(14) Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to a certain preferred embodiment thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiment(s) contained herein.