Carrying tray for holding, transporting, and/or delivering food and beverage containers and method therefor

Abstract

A carrying tray having a top wall and a plurality of receptacle cavities in the top wall with each cavity being configured to accept a container such as a beverage cup therein and having retaining features for holding the cup upright with a substantial portion of the cup sidewall being retained below the top wall of the tray within the cavity. The retaining features include a plurality of collar tabs that limit tipping of the cups within the cavity particularly during transportation. The carrying tray can be assembled from a flat die-cut blank without the aid of adhesives and fasteners by utilizing a combination of locking tabs and cooperative openings in the sidewalls. The carrying tray along with the cups can be placed in a tamper evident delivery bag for convenient transportation of the beverage cups in a secure tamper resistant manner to a consumer.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 111,945, filed on Nov. 10, 2020, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to a carrying tray for securely holding, transporting, and delivering food and beverage containers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a carrier device that is formed from a pre-cut blank and assembled into a carrying tray for conveniently holding, transporting, and delivering a plurality of food and / or beverage containers in a safe and secure manner and method therefor.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Beverages such as tea, coffee, soft drinks, carbonated drinks are often sold or served in a disposable plastic or paper cup that a customer can either consume on-site or takeaway with them for consumption at another location. Therefore, a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a carrying tray that can securely hold beverage and food containers, and can be placed in a delivery bag for convenient transportation of beverage and food containers without disturbing the sidewalls of the containers or adversely affecting the holding functionality of the carrying tray. The carrying tray also provides thermal insulation for hot foods so that beverages or foods can be delivered without the consumer having to rewarm the food or beverage. The invention also teaches a tamper-evident delivery system for cups and containers that can be transported and delivered in a secure manner in a tamper-evident bag in an upright orientation while being retained within the carrying tray receptacles to limit tipping or overturning of the containers. The carrying tray can provide customization based on an operator's needs such as including branding, logos, coloring, text, or other modifications including specialized cut-outs for a distinctive appearance.

Problems solved by technology

It has been realized that due to manufacturing reasons and other constraints, a basic limitation of molded fiber trays is that the pocket cavities, or “sockets” as they are sometimes referred to, are configured to capture only a relatively narrow bottom section of the cup-sidewall making the tray top-heavy, leading to increased propensity for tipping and spillage of the beverage from the cups.

Additionally, the molded fiber trays and similar carrier devices are not particularly suitable for being placed in a delivery bag as the tension of the bag sidewalls due to weight of the contents and flexing of the tray, may knock-off or displace the cups from the molded fiber tray sockets when the delivery bag is being carried or transported.

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