Culinary dish formed of palm leaf and removable cover

Abstract

The dish is formed by pressing a palm leaf to form a generally concave dish with a floor surrounded by sides extending to an upper edge. A rim extends laterally from this upper edge, formed as a unit with the floor and sides of the dish. A lid is provided which has a top surface with side walls extending down to a perimeter latch. This perimeter latch engages the dish, such as by snapping onto the rim. In one embodiment the perimeter latch extends downwardly from other portions of the lid and has at least one indentation which extends inwardly thereon to provide an upper recess above the indentation which is sized to receive a tip of the rim. A height of the upper recess is oversized relative to a thickness of the tip of the rim to accommodate some variation in dish thickness and some degree of dish warping.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 706,525, filed on May 7, 2015 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,004,345 on Jun. 26, 2018.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The following invention relates to dishes upon which food can be placed for presentation and also eating directly therefrom. More particularly, this invention relates to dishes which include a removable lid placeable thereon and which dishes are formed of organic material, such as pressed palm leaves.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Culinary dishes can be formed from a variety of different materials and have a variety of different shapes. The shapes can vary from a plate-like dish which is almost entirely flat, but typically has a rim which extends slightly higher than a floor, to a dish that is more in the form of a bowl, with a rim significantly higher than a floor of the dish. Dishes can be round, square, rectangular, or other shapes.[0004]Dis...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is about a dish that can hold a lid securely with a perimeter latch. The dish is made of a natural material and can accommodate variations in thickness and warp within the lid. The upper recess on the perimeter latch is oversized to allow for warp in the rim without requiring the lid to warp with the dish. This invention allows for a lid of a single size to fit dishes that have close to uniform size but show some variation due to their natural character.

Problems solved by technology

However, disposable dishes increase the waste which ends up either requiring recycling or dumping into a landfill.

Such paper based materials are not entirely satisfactory for display and sale of food items thereon because the material, being somewhat water soluble, will to some degree absorb moisture in the food item being presented, and cause discoloration and / or sogginess of the dish.

One problem which has been encountered with the manufacture of dishes from pressed palm leaves is that the variable nature of the input stock placed into the press leaves the dish with some degree of variableness in thickness, perimeter contour, and a degree to which an upper edge of the side walls terminates within a single common plane.

While such variability adds uniqueness and interest to such dishes, this variability and the upwardly extending upper edges of the sides of such prior art dishes have made it impractical to form a lid which can effectively attach to such dishes, especially with a reliability that a lid will attach to all or substantially all dishes, rather than having a high failure rate due to the variability in the final shape of such prior art dishes.

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