Bread Storage Drawer Assembly With Compression Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bread storage devices are limited in their ability to maintain freshness and convenience, particularly in dispensing sliced bread, as they often require complex mechanisms and are difficult to maintain, leading to reduced storage time and user accessibility.
Innovation Solution
A bread storage dispenser device with a self-sealing container and a serving drawer assembly that slides along side rails, allowing easy access and removal of bread slices while creating a compression seal to maintain freshness, featuring a compact design and simple operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a loose closure is used to allow airflow, then mold formation is prevented, but bread staling is accelerated
Solution Approach 1:
The closure mechanism provides different sealing qualities at different locations: the main body maintains a tight seal to preserve freshness, while the dispensing opening allows controlled access. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by providing tight sealing where needed for storage duration while allowing access where needed for dispensing.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure system is segmented into multiple components: a main tight-sealing closure for the storage chamber and a separate dispensing mechanism with its own opening. This segmentation allows the main chamber to maintain tight sealing for extended storage while the dispensing portion provides controlled access, preventing both mold formation and staling.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a tight closure is used to protect from pests, then bread freshness is maintained, but airflow is restricted causing condensation
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing opening provides a localized ventilation pathway that maintains tight sealing elsewhere. This allows the majority of the closure to remain tight for pest protection while the specific dispensing region provides controlled airflow to prevent condensation, resolving the contradiction between tight sealing and ventilation.
3Ease of operation
If complex dispensing mechanisms are used, then bread can be dispensed in individual slices, but device complexity increases and maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The bread loaf itself serves as the dispensing mechanism. The carriage holds the entire loaf, and users can access individual slices by opening the dispensing opening and reaching in to withdraw slices as needed. This eliminates complex mechanical slice-by-slice dispensing mechanisms while maintaining the ability to dispense individual slices, resolving the contradiction between dispensing convenience and mechanism complexity.
4Ease of operation
If the serving drawer is raised to access bread, then easy removal of slices is achieved, but the container is left open exposing bread to air
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing opening provides a localized access point that remains open only where needed for slice removal, while the main storage chamber remains sealed. This allows users to access slices through the opening without exposing the entire bread loaf to air, resolving the contradiction between accessibility and protection from air exposure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device effectively extends the freshness of bread by maintaining it in a compact, self-sealing environment with reduced air volume, providing easy access and convenient dispensing of slices, making it suitable for both household and commercial use.
Implementation Method 1
the serving drawer assembly with its downwardly leading bottom shelf acts to move air from the chamber of the housing container until the top lid is reseated and serves to create a compression seal between the top lid with its sealing strip and the open top of the housing
Implementation Method 2
the serving drawer assembly with its downwardly leading bottom shelf acts to move air from the chamber of the housing container until the top lid is reseated
Data Source
AI summary
A bread storage dispenser device comprising a housing container made to stand upright having a closed bottom surface and open top end with the housing container further formed having a substantially rectangular chamber extending longitudinally through perimeter walls thereof. A serving drawer assembly is integrally constructed and formed to engage the chamber of the housing container and slide longitudinally therein guided by a pair of side rails on the perimeter walls on opposite sides of the container to a position substantially proximate to the closed bottom surface thereof. The serving drawer assembly includes a top lid member sized to cover and close the open top end of the housing container with a perimeter sealing member secured beneath the lid member, a bottom shelf member having a cross section conforming with the chamber of the housing container and further notched on opposite sides to engage the side rails, and a carriage tray member extending between the top lid and the bottom shelf member configured to retain the slices of bread in a stack held upon the bottom shelf. By raising the serving drawer assembly from its seated position, the stack of bread slices stored within the housing container may be lifted therefrom to allow easy removal of bread slices by the user, and the serving drawer may then be released to descend by itself to a reseated position.