Abstract
Temporarily mutually connectable cups for efficiently serving all kinds of beverages and foods such as granular food, crisps, sauces, soup, and yoghurt. The cups have special fully integrated hook elements in the cup wall or on the handles with stabilizing thumb holding parts and the wall (2) has a thickness d. With the integrated hook elements several surrounding cups are temporarily mutually connected with a central cup to form a group of serving cups, facilitating the carrying of the cups by a waiter or waitress.
Claims
1. A container for facilitating serving drinks and food to a group of people, the container comprising: a container body having a sidewall with a circular rim at an upper end of said container body; a handle connected to said sidewall and adapted to serve as a handgrip, said handle having an elongate cylindrically concave outer surface on a side of said handle opposite said container body and facing in a lateral or horizontal direction away from the container body, said elongate cylindrically concave outer surface having a geometric shape conforming to or congruent with said sidewall, wherein said handle defines a closed loop together with said sidewall. said handle being connected at both an upper end and a lower end to said sidewall; and a hook element integrated in said handle and disposed on an outer side of said handle opposite said container body and extending away from said handle and said container body, said hook element together with said handle defining a slot with two parallel mutually facing surfaces, said lower or inside surface being disposed between in contiguity with each of said two parallel mutually facing surfaces.
2. The modular container as defined in claim 1, wherein a thumb holding part is provided on said handle.
3. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein said integrated hook element has a horizontal width of between and 1/10 of a horizontal circumference of said sidewall.
4. The container defined in claim 1, wherein said handle extends parallel to a portion of said sidewall opposite said handle.
5. The container defined in claim 1, wherein said integrated hook element is spaced from said container body and said rim by a bight portion of said handle.
6. The container defined in claim 5, wherein said bight portion is configured as a thumb holding part.
7. The container defined in claim 1, wherein said sidewall is conical and tapers downwardly.
8. The container defined in claim 7, wherein said integrated hook element is spaced from said container body and said rim by a bight portion of said handle.
9. The container defined in claim 8, wherein said bight portion is configured as a thumb holding part.
10. The container as defined in claim 7, wherein a thumb holding part is provided on said handle.
11. The container as defined in claim 7, wherein said integrated hook element has a horizontal width of between and 1/10 of a horizontal circumference of said sidewall.
12. The container defined in claim 1, wherein the slot has a curvature that corresponds to a curvature and a thickness of the sidewall.
13. A container for facilitating serving drinks and food to a group of people, the container comprising: a container body having a sidewall having an external lateral surface; a handle connected to said sidewall extending substantially parallel to a section of said external lateral surface on a side of said container body opposite said handle, wherein said handle defines a closed loop together with said sidewall, said handle being connected at both an upper end and a lower end to said sidewall; and a hook element integrated in said handle and disposed on an outer side of said handle opposite said container body and extending away from said handle and said container body, said hook element together with said handle defining a slot with two parallel mutually facing surfaces, said hook element having a closed upper end with a lower or inside surface facing downwardly, said lower or inside surface being disposed between said two parallel mutually facing surfaces and in contiguity with each of said two parallel mutually facing surfaces.
14. The container defined in claim 13, wherein said integrated hook element is spaced from said container body and said rim by a bight portion of said handle.
15. The container defined in claim 14, wherein said bight portion is configured as a thumb holding part.
16. The container defined in claim 13, wherein the slot has a curvature that corresponds to a curvature and a thickness of the sidewall.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
(1) The embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing with figures, in which:
(2) FIG. 1 shows a side view of only two temporarily mutually connected cups according to a first embodiment of the invention with a staggered cylindrical shape completed with a handle;
(3) FIG. 2 shows a top view over the line II-II of FIG. 1;
(4) FIG. 3 shows a horizontal cross section over the line III-III of FIG. 1;
(5) FIG. 4 shows a top view of a central cup and three temporarily mutually connected cups, all cups are provided with a handle with integrated hook element;
(6) FIG. 5 shows a side view over the line V-V of FIG. 4 of a tapered cylindrical cup with handle with integrated hook element and thumb holding part according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;
(7) FIG. 6 shows a side view of two tapered cylindrical, that is, conical, cups with an integrated hook element and thumb holding part according to another preferred embodiment of the invention;
(8) FIG. 7 shows a top view of one conical, or tapered cylindrical, cup over the line VII-VII of FIG. 6;
(9) FIG. 8 shows a side view over the line VIII of FIG. 6;
(10) FIG. 9 shows a cross section over the line IX of FIG. 6; and
(11) FIG. 10 shows a top view of seven cups temporarily mutually connected to a central cup for easy serving.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(12) FIG. 1 represents a side view of one central container or cup 1 with only one other temporarily mutually connected cup 1. Said cups 1,11,12 (See also the other figures) are identical or modular and each have a sidewall 2 with thickness d. The hand 3 of the waiter or waitress lifts the central cups 1,11,12. The temporary mutual connection of the connected cup 1 to the central cup 1 is executed by an integrated hook element 4 with a width B, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The cups 1 have a staggered vertical cylindrical shape and have a handle 5 with a circular cross section with a normal diameter and a thumb holding part 6 at the top executed as a bight portion of the handle 5 as shown in FIG. 1. The open parts of the horizontal cross section of the hook elements 4,41,42 have a measurement of about 1,1d=D as shown in FIG. 3 for sufficient mechanical strength and sufficient disconnection space, wherein d is the sidewall thickness 2 of the cups. The thumb holding part 6, 61 is provided with a recess 7 for an extra stable transport of the central cup 1 with the temporarily mutually connected other cups 1. The width B in FIG. 3 is preferably of the horizontal circumference of the cups 1, 2. The length L of the integrated hook element 4 has in practice 2 times the thickness d of the walls of the cups 1,11,12. (Also FIGS. 5 and 6).
(13) In FIG. 4 a modular tapered cylindrical (i.e., conical) container or cup 11 and three other structurally identical and temporarily mutually connected cups 11 are shown. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each cup 11 includes a container body (not separately designated) with sidewall 2 and a bottom panel 71. Sidewall 2 has a rim or lip 73 at an upper end, opposite bottom panel 71. A handle 51 is connected to sidewall 2 at the upper end thereof, near rim or lip 73. The integrated hook element 41 is now integrated in this special handle 51. Hook element 41 is disposed on an outer side of handle 51, opposite container sidewall 2 and extending away from handle 51 and the container sidewall. Hook 51 is configured for receiving lip of another cup and for supporting the container or cup 11 on the lip of the other cup, as shown in FIG. 4.
(14) In FIG. 5 a side view of a central cup 11 with some other cups 11 over the line V-V is shown. The same parts have the same numbers. The value of B, D and L are the same as in the FIGS. 1 to 6. In cups 11 an internal ring 8 is applied for reasons of stacking and pulling out of a container (not shown). As further shown in FIG. 5, cups 11 each have a rim or lip 102 disposed in a plane P1 extending parallel to a bottom panel or base 104 of the cups and located at a distance d1 from the bottom panel or base 104. The integrated hook element 41 has a closed upper end portion (not separately designated) with a lower or inside surface 106 disposed at a distance d2 from bottom panel or base 104. The distances d1 and d2 are equal, as indicated in FIG. 5. The hook 41 is at the same height above the bottom panel or base 104. The integrated hook element 41 defines a slot 112 with two parallel mutually facing surfaces 114, 116 (FIG. 5) and closed at an upper end by lower or inside surface 106. The lower or inside surface 106 of the integrated hook element 41 is disposed between the two parallel mutually facing surfaces 114, 116 and in contiguity with each of the two parallel mutually facing surfaces 114, 116.
(15) In FIG. 6 a side view of two stacked conical, or tapered cylindrical, cups 12 is represented with a special handle 52, which is provided with a modified integrated hook element 42 and an integrated thumb element 61. The cross section of the modified special handle 52 is hollow or U-shaped (FIG. 9) to make the cups (12) stackable, i.e. in a vertical pull-out container (not shown). Alternatively described, the handle 52 has an outer surface 108 (see FIGS. 6-9) facing in a lateral or horizontal direction away from the container body 110, where the outer surface is (i) concave in cross-sectional planes oriented parallel to the bottom panel or base 104, (ii) configured to receive and engage an external lateral surface of a sidewall of a second, modular, container 11 so as to support the container body against the sidewall of the second container, and (iii) specifically configured as an elongate concave surface. More details of the cups 12 are shown in the FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the outer surface 108 of the handle 52 of each outer container or cup 12 in a serving or carrying assembly lies against a lateral outer surface of the sidewall 2 of a central container/cup 12. Handle 52 necessarily has an angle of inclination identical to that of conical sidewall 2. Thus handle 52 extends parallel to a side of sidewall 2 opposite handle 52. In addition, as best seen in FIG. 7, handle 52 has a concave outer surface 75 facing in a lateral or horizontal direction away from the container body and sidewall 2. Concave outer surface 75 engages an external or outer surface of the sidewall of another modular cup 12, particularly, a cup serving as the central cup 12, thereby supporting the one cup against the other. Outer surfaces 108 and 75 are each a cylindrically concave surface with an axis of symmetry extending substantially parallel to a section of the external lateral surface of the respective sidewall 2 on a side of container body 110 opposite the handle 52. The elongate cylindrically concave outer surface 108, 75 has a geometric shape conforming to or congruent with a co-extensive section of the cup sidewall 2, whereby the outer surface 108, 75 receives and conformingly engages the sidewall of another modular cup 12 when connected thereto by means of the integrated hook element 41.
(16) In FIG. 10 a top view of a fully installed or assembled serving system is shown with a central cup 12 and the other temporarily mutually connectable cups 12. The central cup 12 and the mentioned temporarily mutually connectable other cups 12 are identical in their embodiment, as indicated above.
(17) However, is it obvious that modifications and/or additions to the afore described temporarily mutually connectable cups 1,11,12 can be made, but these shall remain within the field and scope of the invention.
