Folding Lunch Box with Integrated Cup Holder
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional carton boxes are single-use and inconvenient for carrying both drinks and food, leading to increased environmental pollution due to the use of plastic bags when trying to hold both items with one hand.
Innovation Solution
A multifunctional combined lunch box with a three-dimensional folding structure that accommodates both a drink cup and food, featuring interconnected pieces with fold lines and adhesive portions, allowing for easy assembly and storage, and an insertable partition to separate spaces for food and residues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a conventional carton box is used to hold food, then the food can be contained, but it cannot simultaneously hold a drink cup and requires additional plastic bags for carrying both items
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a food container and a drink cup holder into a single integrated carton box structure. The box includes a food receiving space and a cup receiving space with a cup mouth accommodating structure that allows a drink cup to be inserted and held securely. This merging eliminates the need for separate plastic bags to carry both food and drinks, directly resolving the technical contradiction by achieving multi-functionality within a unified structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The carton box is designed with universal functionality to serve multiple purposes: it can hold food items in the main compartment while simultaneously accommodating a drink cup in the integrated cup holder. The cup mouth accommodating structure is specifically designed to adapt to standard cup sizes, making the box universally applicable for carrying both food and beverages together, thus improving versatility without requiring additional packaging materials.
2Ease of operation
If plastic bags are used to hold both drink and food containers, then convenient one-handed carrying is achieved, but environmental pollution increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the food container and drink cup holder into a single carton box unit, the invention eliminates the need for separate plastic bags to carry both items. The integrated structure allows users to carry both food and drinks in one hand using just the box handle or by holding the box itself, thereby reducing plastic bag usage and associated environmental pollution while maintaining carrying convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the cup holder function from the traditional separate plastic bag carrying method and integrates it directly into the carton box structure. By taking out the cup accommodation capability and embedding it within the box, the design removes the dependency on plastic bags for carrying both items, thus reducing environmental harm while preserving ease of operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a combined lunch box structure is created, then multi-functionality is achieved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The combined lunch box is designed with segmented components including a box body, a cup mouth accommodating structure, a partition plate, and a cup holder. These segments are structured to be assembled through simple insertion and fitting operations. The cup holder can be inserted into the box body, and the partition plate can be placed to divide the food receiving space, allowing for modular manufacturing that reduces overall manufacturing complexity while achieving multi-functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The partition plate is designed to be movable within the food receiving space, allowing it to be adjusted or removed as needed. This dynamic element provides flexibility in how food items are arranged and stored without requiring complex fixed structures. The movability of the partition plate simplifies manufacturing by using a single piece that can be positioned in different configurations rather than requiring multiple fixed components.
Data Source
AI summary
A combined lunch box for cold drink and hot food includes a first piece, the two sides of which are respectively connected with a right piece, left piece, the top and bottom of which an annular sheet and first bottom piece, and the bottoms of the right piece and left piece a second bottom piece and third bottom piece; the bottom of a second piece is connected with a fourth bottom piece, the two sides of a third piece are respectively connected with the second piece and a fourth piece. Whereby, the present invention forms a three-dimensional container with a folding function after folded and bonded, where the annular sheet is used to accept a drink cup, and the container provides the accommodation of food, making it easy for users to carry, and greatly reduce the volume after the folding to facilitate stacking storage.