Tray and removable ejection container assembly

Abstract

A tray and removable ejection container assembly that includes a portable tray with a plurality of apertures each with a surrounding tray threading and a plurality of hand-held containers. The containers each have an enclosed sidewall defining a container cavity and a container length separating a distal end and proximal end thereof, a proximal opening defined by the proximal end, a container diameter spanning an insertion length greater than 50% of the container length, and an outer surface with a surrounding container threading. The assembly also includes a first position along a container-tray coupling path with the insertion length of each of the plurality of hand-held containers inserted, respectively, within one of the apertures defined by the tray and removably coupled to the tray, through an engagement with the surrounding container threading and the surrounding tray threading, and a second position with one of the containers uncoupled to the tray.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to a tray with a plurality of containers disposed therein, and, more particularly, a tray containing removably couplable containers operably configured to eject substances housed within.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Whether prepping for meals for use during an upcoming week, making too much food for one meal, or in conjunction with making a frozen food, such as an ice pop, people often must store foods and liquids in a refrigerator or a freezer. To eliminate the environmental waste of disposable containers, reusable containers, usually made of a polymer or glass, became popular. These reusable containers, however, are often individual storage containers that are bulky and do not easily fit within a refrigerator or freezer. As a result, these reusable containers often take up too much space to be efficiently housed within a refrigerator or freezer, and cannot be easily transferred between locations.[0003]In an att...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a tray that has removable containers for storing food or liquid. The tray can be easily and safely used for ejecting any of the stored items. This invention provides a convenient and efficient way to manage and use the stored items.

Problems solved by technology

These reusable containers, however, are often individual storage containers that are bulky and do not easily fit within a refrigerator or freezer.

As a result, these reusable containers often take up too much space to be efficiently housed within a refrigerator or freezer, and cannot be easily transferred between locations.

These trays, however, fail to provide a secure way to house the individual storage containers, since the individual containers simply sit within the cavities in the tray.

Said another way, these known assemblies are prone to generating spillage of the food or other contents disposed within the individual containers.

Whether housed within a tray or in an individual orientation, currently available storage containers are also limited by the materials by which they are manufactured.

Specifically, storage containers of polymer or glass pose problems for a user attempting to retrieve a frozen food or liquid from within the containers because of the chemical and / or mechanical adherence of the food or liquid to the inner surface substrate of the container.

As such, the user must either wait for the food or liquid to thaw in order to obtain the contents of the containers, or must struggle to manually remove the food or liquid from the containers using, for example, knives and / or other utensils or devices, which may pose a safety risk.

These practices are time-consuming and inefficient, and can even be dangerous to the user.

These containers, however, are also not fastened or retained to the tray and do not provide a user the ability to effectively and efficiently remove the contents therein after frozen.

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