HEATING, STEAMING AND STORAGE BOWL FOR FOOD

Abstract

A lid and bowl assembly for cooking and storing food has a lid having a raised portion, a pair of opposite convex walls and a pair of opposite concave walls extending from the raised portion. A bowl has a bottom wall, a pair of opposite concave walls and a pair of opposite convex walls extending from the bottom wall. The lid has a pair of convex handles and a pair of concave handles. The bowl has a pair of concave handles. The lid has a plurality of tabs formed near the convex handles and the concave handles of the lid. A pair of ribs are formed on an underside of the lid adjacent the concave handles of the lid. The lid and bowl can be assembled in a steaming configuration, a baking configuration or an inverted lid configuration. Apertures are formed between the lid and bowl for venting and straining.

Claims

1. A lid and bowl assembly for cooking and storing food, comprising; a lid having a raised portion, a pair of opposite convex walls and a pair of opposite concave walls extending from said raised portion; a bowl having a bottom wall, a pair of opposite concave walls and a pair of opposite convex walls extending from said bottom wall.

2. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 1, wherein said lid comprises a pair of convex handles and a pair of concave handles.

3. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 2, wherein said bowl comprises a pair of concave handles.

4. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 3, wherein said lid comprises a plurality of tabs formed near the convex handles and the concave handles of said lid.

5. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 4, wherein a pair of ribs are formed on an underside of said lid adjacent said concave handles of said lid.

6. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 5, wherein in a steam position, said lid is mounted to said bowl such that said concave walls of said lid are aligned with said convex walls of said bowl.

7. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 6, wherein apertures are formed by said convex walls of said bowl and said concave handles of said lid.

8. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 7, wherein apertures are formed between said convex handles of said lid and said concave handles of said bowl.

9. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 5, wherein said ribs minimize rotation of said lid with respect to said bowl and said ribs.

10. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 2, wherein in a baking configuration, the concave handles of the lid are aligned with the concave handles of the bowl.

11. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 10, wherein apertures are formed between the concave handles of the lid and the concave handles of the bowl and the ribs.

12. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 11, wherein said ribs minimize rotation of the lid with respect to the bowl.

13. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 5, wherein in an inverted lid configuration, the lid is positioned on the bowl such that the raised portion is below an upper surface of the bowl and extends into the bowl.

14. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 13, wherein the concave handles of the lid are aligned with the concave handles of the bowl.

15. The lid and bowl assembly of claim 14, wherein said tabs are positioned on upper surface of the bowl thereby forming apertures between the lid and the bowl.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The following is a brief description of the drawings, which are presented for the purposes of illustrating the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein and not for the purposes of limiting the same.

[0023] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a lid and bowl in accordance with first embodiment of the disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the lid and bowl of FIG. 1;

[0025] FIG. 3 is a side elevational view in cross-section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 1;

[0026] FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the lid and bowl rotated 90 degrees with respect to FIG. 1;

[0027] FIG. 5 is a side elevational view in cross-section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 4;

[0028] FIG. 5A is a bottom perspective view of the lid and bowl of FIG. 1.

[0029] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a lid and bowl in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the lid and bowl configuration of FIG. 6;

[0031] FIG. 8 is a side elevational view in cross-section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 6;

[0032] FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the lid and bowl rotated 90 degrees with respect to FIG. 7;

[0033] FIG. 10 is a side elevational view in cross section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 9;

[0034] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a lid and bowl in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the lid and bowl of FIG. 11;

[0036] FIG. 13 is a side elevational view in cross section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 12.

[0037] FIG. 14 is another top plan view rotated 90 degrees with respect to FIG. 12.

[0038] FIG. 15 is a side elevational view in cross section of the lid and bowl of FIG. 14.

[0039] FIG. 16 is a side elevational view of a user holding the lid and bowl.

[0040] FIG. 17 is a bottom plan view of the lid with ribs with gaps formed between them.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0041] The present disclosure is directed to a bowl and lid assembly used for steaming, cooking, and storing food. Various configurations for different applications will now be discussed. The lid and bowl are preferably made of heat treated glass or borosilicate glass.

[0042] There are three preferred configurations of the lid on the bowl: a Baking Configuration, a Steaming Configuration and an Inverted Lid Configuration for at least shipping, storage and potentially baking (volumetric space conservation for smallest shipping volume) and straining function. Each of these configurations will be discussed below.

Steaming Configuration

[0043] The Steaming Configuration of the lid offers two large openings for steam to easily escape when microwaving vegetables or the like. Also, another opening provided is small enough to act as a strainer, but not as small as in the inverted lid configuration (discussed below). The configuration provides the largest openings of the three configurations.

[0044] Referring now to FIGS. 1-5, a bowl 10 and lid 12 assembly are configured for steaming food within the bowl, such as meat, rice, vegetables, etc. The lid and bowl are preferably made of glass, such as borosilicate glass or heated glass. An option would be to provide a silicone gasket or bead or elastomeric seal between the lid and bowl to form a seal such as a temperature resistant seal.

[0045] The bowl 10 has concave wall portions 14,16 formed on opposite sides of the bowl, and convex wall portions 18, 20 formed on the other opposite sides of the bowl.

[0046] The bowl also has a bottom wall 22 forming a container for food along with walls 14,16,18,20 which extend upwardly from wall 22.

[0047] Lid 12 also has concave portions 22,24 and opposite convex portions 26,28.

[0048] Lid 12 also have a top wall or surface 30 from which portions 22,24,26,28 extend.

[0049] Two convex protrusions or extrusions 32,34 extend from convex portions 26,28 of the lid which serve as handles for lifting the lid and bowl as an assembly or for lifting the lid off of the bowl. Concave protrusions 23,25 may also be used for lifting the lid and/or bowl.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 5A, the concave-shaped handle pairs 36,38 on the bowl enable lifting the bowl and align with the convex handle pair 32,34 on the lid when in the steam position. The concave lid handles 23,25 enable venting and large opening straining function via apertures 54,56 as they are inbound of the bowl perimeter.

[0051] Concave portions 14,16 of the bowl have concave protrusions 36,38 which act as handles to lift the bowl alone or with the lid attached.

[0052] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, four spaced apart pads 40, 42, 44 and 46 extend from the top surface 30 of the lid between concave and convex portions of the lid.

[0053] Ribs 48, 50 (see FIG. 12) extend along the inner concave portions of the underside of the lid which help form gaps 52,53 (FIG. 3) between the lid and the bowl which may form a tortuous path for venting steam or hot air from the bowl and lid.

[0054] These gaps 52,53 provide a more resistant path for venting the lid and bowl such as when they are stored in a refrigerator, etc. The gaps 52,53 also serve to help contain moisture for microwave or convention cooking and allow for evaporation of steam.

[0055] Referring to FIG. 2, larger apertures or openings 54,56 are formed between the concave handles 23,25 of the lid and the convex portions 18,20 of the bowl for venting hot air or steam, such as from microwave cooking, or for straining water or liquid from the bowl such as from vegetables, rice, meat etc.

[0056] The lid is rotated 90 degrees relative to the bowl to align concave portions of the lid with convex portions (FIGS. 4 and 5) of the bowl to form large heating apertures 54, 56 venting and for releasing hot air or steam.

Baking Configuration

[0057] The Baking Configuration offers a generally closed environment between the lid and bowl where the large cutout opening in the lid is mated with the bowl so there is not a large vertical vent.

[0058] Referring now to FIGS. 6-10, the baking configuration for the lid and bowl is shown.

[0059] In this configuration, the convex 18,20,26,28 and concave portions 14,16,22,24 of the bowl and lid are aligned with each other. The ribs 48,50 (FIG. 12) form small vent areas or gaps 57,58 (FIG. 10) along the length of the ribs to allow a small vent of ventilation while food is being baked or cooked in an oven. The gaps 57,58 are much smaller than the gaps for other two configurations.

[0060] A top edge 70 (FIG. 8) of the bowl forms a ledge for the lid to rest on or form a slight ventilation opening or small gap between the lid and bowl.

[0061] Straining and venting can be performed with the small gaps 57,58.

[0062] The lid 12 itself can be used to serve or cook food as it is deep enough to hold common food items. Most common lids are flat with almost no depth for such a purpose.

[0063] The convex lid handle pair 32,34 protrude beyond the bowl perimeter when in the bake position and in bake/strain inverted position enabling lid lifting. Due to the shape of the lid, when inverted it can only be in the bake position if it is generally sealed with mating planar surfaces on the bowl top surface when bowl is open side up as it would be in practical use.

[0064] The lid's ribs 48,50 when penetrating the bowl opening limits the positioning of the lid to two positions with almost no freedom of rotation: bake or steam. Rotation is limited while in these positions by physical contact of the lid rib 48, 52 and the bowl inside surface 72. In the steam position the ends of the rib are in contact with the bowl as the bowl handle region ends and the outside diameter of the bowl begins. As a point of differentiation, with a common circular bowl and lid combination with an annular rib on the lid, the lid can be rotated 360 degrees without restriction and offers no gap for convenient straining. The ribs of the present disclosure also offers prevention of lateral movement of lid on bowl in addition to the radial rotation restriction, which prevents lateral sliding in all directions. For manufacturing variation compliance of lid and bowl to ensure they always fit together, the lid can be slid laterally approximately 0.08 inch.

Inverted Lid Position

[0065] Referring now to FIGS. 11-16, an inverted lid configuration is shown. In this configuration, the lid 12 is inverted so that the top wall 30 of the lid 12 is inserted into the bowl 10 below the upper edge 70 of the bowl. Concave handles 23,25 of the lid are aligned with concave handles 36,38 of the bowl. This position can be used for shipping the lid and bowl, storage of food such as in a refrigerator, as well as cooking food in a microwave or convection oven.

[0066] If the bowl has food that does not fill it much, the lid can be placed in this inverted position in a convection oven or microwave oven inverted and or provides a small gap around the circumference between the lid and bowl(except for the small lid pad 40,42,44,46 contact patch). The primary reason for the pads 40,42,44,46 and the inverted lid arrangement is for straining described below, but that small gap could be advantageous in offering a small gap to enable moist air to escape the bowl slightly, that a fully closed common current glass bowl lid combination would not offer. Baking can range from quite sealed for preventing dying meats out for example, or less moist where slightly more venting is desired such as pastries, casseroles and desserts or the like. The gaps provided by the inverted position are larger than the baking configuration gaps but smaller than the steaming configuration gaps.

[0067] Thus, there are raised pads 40,42,44,46 on the top side of the lid 12 so that when the lid is inverted the pads offer a small separation from the bowl so the lid and bowl can act as a strainer, leaving a small gap 75,76 (FIG. 13) between the lid and bowl of about 1/16 inch allowing water but not food items such as frozen or non-frozen vegetables or the like to pass through.

[0068] A slight amount of water can accumulate with frozen vegetables after microwaving, and a small amount of water is commonly added to fresh vegetables to facilitate microwaving, and then should be drained after the microwaving process before serving. The inverted position can also be a refrigerator storage position which ensures the food does not dry out during storage. The four raised pads 40,42,44,46 are placed rather uniformly and spaced apart, yet as wide as possible between the lid handle center, pursuant to being as stable as possible when pressing the lid and bowl handles together on both sides simultaneously for general carrying purposes or for straining when the lid is inverted.

[0069] The limit or guide to the placement of or separation of the pads 40,42,44,46,48 is in part based on the surrounding part geometry.

[0070] Referring now to FIGS. 12 and 13, the ribs 48, 50 form four rib and rotation prevention points 80,82,84,86 whether the lid is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise. The four ribs generate or create the small gaps 75,76 (FIG. 13) for straining or venting the food.

[0071] Referring now to FIG. 17, ribs 48, 58 can also have breaks or gaps 80 along the length of the lid to form additional venting aperture between the rib portions. Breaks or small tabs could also be used instead of ribs to form the same results.

[0072] Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, a user can hold the lid and bowl on opposite sides at handle portions 23,36 and 25,38 which are aligned with each other (FIG. 11) and water or liquid can be strained on opposite sides of the lid and bowl. The user can hold the top of the lid and the underside bowl and strain or drain the lid and bowl.

[0073] The handles when straining will be in left and right hands with thumbs and fingers holding the lid onto the bowl, with the handles in the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, while the narrow opening intended for straining will be used between the two pads at 12 and 6 o'clock respectively. Hands on the handles are far enough apart for sufficient distancing from potentially hot liquid exiting the bowl through the small gap between bowl and lid at either the 3 or 9 o'clock positions after a microwaving operation to heat frozen or unfrozen vegetables or like variety of foods. Directions will guide safe use for this operation but it is intuitive by design. The bowl can be used as a mixing bowl with this convenient straining function as well which is common in food preparation, to wet and drain with water, oil or the like for cleaning or pre-cooking steps.

[0074] The disclosure has been described with respect to preferred embodiments. Modifications and alterations will become apparent upon reading and understanding the above detailed description. It is intended that any such modifications and alterations are contemplated as long as they come within the scope of the detailed description or the appended claims.