Two-piece food-serving apparatus with separable and optionally re-attachable hinge

Abstract

The present invention is a separable two-piece food-serving apparatus with a quick-fit releasable and re-attachable hinge, comprised of an upper carton lid which is rotatably positionable over a lower carton food-serving tray to form a food-enclosing container. The tray has a bottom wall sized, shaped and having sufficient rigidity to be self-supporting when accommodating the weight, shape and typical bottom area of one or more food-items. The bottom wall has one or more adjoining tray side wall extending upward therefrom in a manner which provides a cantilevering support. Preferably the tray is made of a flexible material which accommodates a plurality of bending or flexing cycles and thereby facilitates the eating of food. The tray has hinge-portion tab(s) which, when brought into engagement with the hinge-portion aperture(s) of the lid provide a quick-fit releasable and re-attachable complete hinge. Exterior surfaces of the separable apparatus optionally display discernible content.

1 . A separable two-piece food-serving apparatus with a quick-fit releasable and re-attachable hinge, said apparatus comprising: 
 an upper carton lid which is rotatably positionable over a lower carton food-serving tray to form a food-enclosing carton;    said apparatus is made of a material suitable for food-serving purposes;    said lid having an upper wall having at least one perimeter edge with at least one adjoining lid side wall extending downward therefrom to form an enclosing lid wall around an outer perimeter of said tray when said lid is rotated to a lowest position over said tray, and said lid having at least one hinge-portion aperture;    said tray having a bottom wall sized, shaped and having sufficient rigidity to be self-supporting when accommodating the weight, shape and typical bottom area of at least one food-item intended to be served thereon, and at least one outer edge of said bottom wall having at least one adjoining tray side wall extending upward therefrom in a manner which provides a cantilevering support of said bottom wall, and wherein inward-facing surfaces of said tray side wall(s) provide food alignment means for said food-item(s) served on an upper surface of said bottom wall, and outward-facing surfaces of said tray side wall(s) provide lid alignment means when said lid is slid longitudinally onto said tray, and said at least one adjoining side wall(s) of said tray having at least one hinge-portion tab; whereby    said hinge-portion tab(s) of said tray when brought into engagement with said hinge-portion aperture(s) of said lid provide said quick-fit releasable and re-attachable hinge.    
   
   
       2 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising at least one carton fastening means located at an apparatus end opposite of said hinge, whereby said fastening means releasably secures said lid to said tray.  
   
   
       3 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said fastening means consists of a type of carton fastening means used on commercially available food-serving apparatus.  
   
   
       4 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising said tray being made of a flexible material which accommodates a plurality of bending and unbending cycles, wherein when said tray is separated from said lid at said hinge and is serving said at least one food-item(s), said cantilevering support of said bottom wall provided by said tray side wall(s) is overcome by a user providing sufficient downward force on an forward extending portion of said tray, whereby 
 said downward force flexes the tray downward to expose at least one forward extending portion of said food-item(s) to facilitate the eating of the exposed food, and when said force is released said tray bottom wall and side wall(s) is returnable to a substantially unflexed position.    
   
   
       5 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising two-axis self-alignment apparatus assembly means, wherein 
 a.) said apparatus is substantially triangular in shape and triangular geometry of said lid and said tray provides self-alignment in a horizontal axis between at least one aperture of the lid and at least one outward extending tab of the tray as the lid is slid longitudinally onto said tray, and    b.) a vertical axis alignment between said at least one aperture of the lid and said at least one outward extending tab of the tray is provided by sliding a lower edge of at least one lid side wall along a flat surface supporting said tray.    
   
   
       6 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising material wherein said material is from one or more of the group consisting of bendable, flexible, paper-based, plastic-based material, metal-based, biodegradable, recyclable, resilient, grease-resistant, grease-absorbing, temperature-indicating, electronically activated LED, electronically activated oLED, pixelated, holographic, corrugated, transparent, translucent, opaque, commercially available materials employed in the making food-serving products, containers, cartons, packaging, boxes and clamshells, material which tolerates multiple bending cycles, and material which tolerates multiple washing cycles.  
   
   
       7 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising material wherein said material is from the group consisting of materials suitable for use in: a dishwasher, a refrigeration device, a heating device, a microwave oven, a combination microwave oven and conventional oven, a convection oven.  
   
   
       8 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising an apparatus shape wherein said shape is from the group consisting of round, semi-circular, rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular, elliptical, oval, ovoidal, multi-sided, symmetrical and asymmetrical.  
   
   
       9 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said tray is further comprised of material sized and shaped and having sufficient rigidity to support at least one or more food items from the group consisting of: pizza slice(s) or smaller whole pizzas, fruit portion(s), watermelon slice(s), melon slice(s), pie slice(s), ice cream sandwich(es) or other value-added ice creams, quiche, hash browns, hamburger(s), hot dog(s), Hoagie's, submarine sandwich(es), French dip sandwich(es), sandwich(es), pita sandwich(es), burrito(s), quesadilla(s), waffle(s), chicken filet(s), chicken strip(s), chicken portion(s), poultry portion, fish filet(s) or other fish portion, ‘finger food(s)’, taco(s), calzone(s), hors douvre(s), and dessert(s).  
   
   
       10 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising discernible content wherein said content is one or more of a group consisting of: indicia, indicia having a plurality of sizes, text, right-reading text, right-side up content, pictorial content, user-readable content, printed instructions in at least one language pertaining to at least one function of said apparatus, photoluminscent discernible content, markings indicating at least one functional fold line of said apparatus, advertisements, promotional announcements, cross-promotional announcements, coupons, tear off coupons, removable peel-off members having discernible content thereon, scratch-off materials, discernible content which is revealed when said scratch-off materials are removed, characters from the Braille alphanumeric system, names of organizations, names of learning institutions, brand names, logos, subject matter pertaining to entertainment events, subject matter pertaining to parties, subject matter pertaining to celebrations, subject matter pertaining to holidays, advertisements for films, names of well-known persons, the likeness of well-known persons, the likeness of well-known engine-powered vehicles, names of travel-related facilities, names of facilities employed for sports-related activities, names of recreational facilities, names of restaurant chains, names of amusement parks, subject matter pertaining to events attended by large audiences, codes users can enter into data-entry fields at websites, codes users can enter into a data-entry field at websites to enter contests, prize announcements, codes users can enter into a data-entry field of software applications, codes readable by optical scanning devices, and removable mail-in codes  
   
   
       11 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising at least one vent aperture sized and shaped to facilitate high-speed production die-cutting of said lid, wherein said vent aperture is located adjacent to a side wall of said lid and above an upper edge of a side wall of said tray when said lid is rotated to a lowest position over said tray.  
   
   
       12 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a flexible material which tolerates a plurality of flexing cycles wherein said cantilevering of said side wall(s) is overcome by a user applying a downward force to an outward extending portion of the tray, and the flexibility of said material is sufficient to return the tray to a substantially unflexed condition when said downward force is released.  
   
   
       13 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a flexible material which tolerates a plurality of flexing cycles wherein said cantilevering of said side wall(s) is overcome by a user applying a downward force to an outward extending portion of the tray, and the flexibility of said material is sufficient to return the tray to a substantially unflexed condition by a user applying an upward force to an outward extending portion of the tray.  
   
   
       14 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a flexible material which tolerates a plurality of flexing cycles wherein said cantilevering of said side wall(s) is overcome by a user applying a downward force to an outward extending portion of the tray, and the flexibility of said material is sufficient to return the tray to a substantially unflexed condition by a user manually re-shaping the tray in his hands.  
   
   
       15 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising photoluminscent discernible content on at least one surface area of the apparatus, whereby 
 said content assists a user in recognizing an orientation of at least one portion of said apparatus to facilitate eating of the served food in reduced-lighting, poorly lit or unlit environments.    
   
   
       16 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said tray, when separated from said lid, serves said item(s) of food on said tray and is positionable in a substantially single-handed manner to facilitate eating of the served food while the food is being transported.  
   
   
       17 . The separable two-piece food-serving apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a cost-saving dual-use food-serving apparatus functionality, wherein 
 a.) a combination of said tray and said lid are provided to a user requiring a transporting of served food item(s) and    b.) said tray without said lid is provided to a user not requiring a transporting of served food item(s), whereby    the economic advantage of saving the cost of the lid in the latter case is provided.    
   
   
       18 . A method of assembling or re-assembling a separable two-piece food-serving apparatus comprising the steps of: 
 a) positioning a portion of a partial-hinged apertured lid above a partial-hinged tabbed tray,    b.) aligning a longitudinal axis of said lid along a longitudinal axis of said tray,    c.) sliding said lid along a longitudinal axis until at least one outward extending tab partial-hinge of said tray engages at least one aperture partial-hinge of said apertured lid to form at least one complete hinge, and    d.) rotating said lid at said at least one complete hinge such that an opposite end of said lid is rotated to a lowest position over said tray.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising the step of: 
 a.) vertically aligning said aperture(s) of said partial-hinged apertured lid with said tab(s) of said partial-hinged tabbed tray by sliding a lower edge of at least one lid side wall along a flat surface upon which said tray is resting, whereby the combination of the vertical aligning and longitudinal aligning provides a simultaneous two-axes alignment of the lid to the tray.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising the step of: 
 a) securing said lid to said tray by engaging at least one fastening means located proximate to an end of said apparatus opposite from said at least one complete hinge.