DESCRIPTION

The present patent application for industrial invention relates to a trayglass set comprising a tray provided with a glass-holder.

As it is well known, for some time now trays have been widely used for serving food and drinks.

Said trays are especially used in fast-food restaurants, canteens, fairs or during aperitif sessions or buffet meals.

In these situations, in fact, each person is served with or directly takes a dish with some food, a glass and cutlery that are all disposed in the same tray.

The trays of the prior art that are used in such occasions are impaired by significant problems.

In particular, a problem that very often occurs during aperitif sessions or particularly crowded buffet meals is related with the difficulty encountered by the user in order to hold and carry the tray, avoiding hitting or bumping into other users.

In fact, anyone who has had such an experiences is aware of the discomfort and the difficulties that inevitably arise in carrying and holding the tray, keeping the tray balanced, preventing the glass from falling.

Moreover, such a difficulty is accentuated when the user wants to take from the tray other foods or other objects that are placed in the tray. In such a case, in fact, the user will have to keep the tray balanced with one hand and will have to pick up the food from the tray with the other hand.

It is easy to understand how this operation is extremely difficult for the user. In fact, the tray is supported in an unstable way by the hand of the user, and therefore the slightest bump or sudden movement of the user will unbalance the tray, causing the glass to slip or overturn on the tray with consequent spillage of the drink contained inside, or even making the glass fall on the ground and break.

It should be noted that in the present invention the term “glass” refers to an ordinary glass used for water or carbonated drinks, or a tumbler-type glass for cocktails, or a mug-shaped glass for beer or a goblet-shaped glass with a stem, or to any other object suitable for the consumption of other drinks or soups (such as cups, mugs, bowls, etc.).

The present invention has been conceived from a careful observation of the aforesaid problems with the intention of solving the problems of the prior art.

GB500752A discloses a food tray suitable for keeping the glass steady. The tray comprises a lower surface and an upper surface that can be defined as a false surface. The false surface comprises: one or more openings with higher dimensions than the base of a glass; and slots departing from said opening or from said openings with a width equal to or slightly higher than the width of the stem of a glass and act as guide for the stem of the glass.

A seat is obtained on the lower surface, in correspondence with a ending section of the slot, wherein the base of the glass is disposed when the glass has reached the end of its travel, in such a way that the glass can remain stably in position.

Such a tray is not versatile because each slot can be used only for one type of glass or goblet. Narrow slots are suitable for goblets, whereas wider slots are suitable for glasses. However, a slot cannot be used indifferently for a glass or for a goblet.

In fact, if the slot is designed to hold the stem of a goblet, the body of the glass will not be able to pass through, whereas if the slot is designed to hold the body of a glass, should it be used to hold a goblet, said goblet will not be stably held by the edges of the slot and may fall over in case of a movement or an inclination of the tray. Moreover, the food tray does not have any means for blocking the glasses, and consequently the glasses are not positioned in a stable way and may fall over, spilling their content. In addition, the food tray is suitable for being used exclusively by a waiter to transport glasses and is not suitable for being used by a user for consuming a meal while standing.

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by devising a tray-glass set comprising a tray provided with a glassholder compartment which can stably support a glass both in case of sudden movements of the tray and in case of wide inclinations of the tray itself. Another purpose of the present invention is to devise a tray-glass set wherein said glass holder is versatile and suitable for stably supporting glasses of various shapes and sizes.

These purposes are achieved in accordance with the invention with the features listed in the appended independent claim 1 .

Advantageous embodiments appear from the dependent claims.

The tray according to the invention is defined by claim 1 .

For the sake of clarity, the description of the tray according to the invention is continued with reference to the appended drawings, which are for illustrative and non-limiting purposes only, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an axonometric view of the tray-glass set according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic top view of the glass-holder of the tray of Fig. 1 ;

Figs. 3 and 4 are an axonometric view and a top view of the glass-holder of the tray, respectively;

Fig. 4A is a side view of the glass-holder sectioned according to the plane IV-IV of Fig. 4;

Fig. 5 is a sectional side view that shows a glass blocked in the standing station of one of the compartments of the glass-holder;

Fig. 6 is a sectional side view that shows a goblet blocked in the standing station of one of the compartment of the glass-holder;

Fig. 7 is a top view of a glass disposed in the engagement/disengagement station of a compartment of the glass-holder;

Fig. 8 is a top view of the glass of Fig. 7 displaced and placed in the standing station;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a glass comprising a lid and sectioned according to a plane orthogonal to the lid;

Fig. 9A is a sectional side view of a goblet having a lid provided with a single annular engagement portion;

Fig. 9B is a sectional side view of a goblet having a lid provided with three concentric annular engagement portions.

With reference to the appended figures, a glass-tray set according to the invention is disclosed.

The glass-tray set comprises a glass (B) having a lower portion (B1) with a profile. It should be made clear that the term “glass” (B) refers to any receptacle suitable for being filled with a liquid or other fluid or semi-solid material, consistency, such as a champagne flute, a goblet, a coffee cup, a beer mug, tumbler glass and the like.

With reference to Fig. 1 , the glass-tray set comprises a tray (V) provided with a glass-holder (10) comprising at least one compartment (1) that is defined by a lateral wall (1p) and is suitable for housing the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B). The compartment (1) of the glass-holder (10) has a longitudinal horizontal axis (X) and a vertical axis (Y).

With reference to Fig. 2, for illustrative purposes, a diagrammatic top view of the profile of a compartment (1) of said glass-holder (10) is shown.

The compartment (1 ) of the glass-holder (10) comprises an engagement/disengagement station (1 a) that is suitably dimensioned to engage/disengage the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B) inside the compartment (1) of the glass-holder, moving the glass (B) along an axis coinciding with or parallel to the vertical axis (Y), a standing station (1b) wherein said glass (B) is held firmly, and a passage section (1c) that provides communication between said engagement/disengagement station (1a) and the standing station (1b).

Moreover, the compartment (1) comprises a supporting surface (1g) that extends from the engagement/disengagement station (1a) to the standing station (1b) where a bottom surface of the glass (B) is suitable for sliding and/or resting, at least partially.

With reference to Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 4A, the compartment (1 ) also comprises: vertical retention means (M11) suitably configured to prevent the vertical movement of the glass (B) when the glass (B) is disposed in said standing station (1b); the vertical retention means (M11) cooperate with a corresponding profile of the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B) in order to hold the glass (B) firmly in vertical direction; and horizontal retention means (M12) suitably configured to prevent the free movement of the glass (B) along the longitudinal horizontal axis (X) of the compartment (1 ) between the engagement/disengagement station (1 a) and the standing station (1b). In the embodiment shown in the appended figures, the horizontal retention means (M12) are disposed in said passage section (1c) of the compartment (1 ) of the glass-holder (10), preventing the free translation of the glass (B).

In particular, with reference to Fig. 2, the horizontal retention means (M12) comprise a pair of lateral teeth (s12) disposed in said passage section (1c). The pair of lateral teeth (s12) has a distance (s) lower than the diameter of the lower portion (B1 ) of the glass (B).

Advantageously, said lateral teeth (s12) are elastically deformable and allow for forcedly passing the glass (B) through. More precisely, they allow for passing the glass (B) when the glass (B) is energetically pushed by a user between the two lateral teeth (s12) along the horizontal longitudinal axis (X).

Therefore, as shown in Fig. 2, when viewed from above, the compartment (1 ) is similar in shape to a keyhole and the engagement/disengagement station (1a) and the standing station (1b) have a substantially circular shape. Alternatively, the engagement/desengagement station (1a) and the standing station (1 b) may have a polygonal shape, such as a hexagonal, square, octagonal and similar shape, instead of the above- mentioned circular shape.

Although in the preferred embodiment of the invention said horizontal retention means (M12) comprise said elastically deforming lateral teeth (s12) that define a narrow opening, in an alternative embodiment of the invention said horizontal retention means (M12) may consist, by way of example, in movable teeth arranged in correspondence with said passage section (1c), which may be disposed in an extracted position, wherein they define the narrow opening, and in a retracted position, wherein they leave the passage of the glass (B) free. In such a case, the mobile teeth will be connected to elastic thrust means which keep the mobile teeth in the extracted position and at the same time allow the mobile teeth to be retracted if the glass (B) is pushed with a force such as to overcome the force impressed by the elastic thrust means.

With reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 4A, advantageously, the glass-holder (10) comprises three or more compartments (1) that are disposed one on top of the other in a concentric manner and with increasing dimensions going from the bottom upwards, namely a lower compartment (1), at least one intermediate compartment (1 ) and one upper compartment (1 ). The lower compartment (1 ) has a bottom surface of the glass-holder (10) that acts as a supporting surface (1 g), whereas in the intermediate compartment (1 ) the supporting surface (1g) is obtained on an annular plane that extends along the entire perimeter of the compartment (1), and likewise in the upper compartment (1 ) the supporting surface (1g) is obtained on an annular plane and substantially has the same shape as the aforementioned keyhole profile.

It should be noted, however, that in the present description the term “annular plane” refers to a plane that extends for a closed trajectory that may have any shape and may comprise curvilinear sections and/or rectilinear sections.

All the compartments (1) are defined laterally by corresponding lateral walls (1 p) which all have the same profile when viewed from above, i.e. they all have the aforementioned keyhole profile.

The provision of compartments (1) with different dimensions makes the glass-holder versatile and suitable for stably housing glasses (B) with different sizes.

In fact, according to the width of the bottom of the glass (B), the glass will rest on one of the supporting surfaces (1g) of the three compartments (1 ).

If the bottom of the glass (B) has a smaller diameter than the distance between the supporting surfaces (1g) of the intermediate compartment (1) then, when the glass (B) is inserted into the engagement/disengagement station, the glass (B) will pass through the upper compartment (1) and the intermediate compartment and will stop against the supporting surface (1 g) of the lower compartment (1 ).

If the bottom of the glass (B) has a smaller diameter than the distance between the supporting surfaces (1g) of the iupper (1) compartment, but a larger diameter than the distance between the supporting surfaces (1g) of the intermediate compartment (1), when the glass (B) is inserted in the engagement/disengagment station, the glass (B) will pass through the upper compartment (1 ) and will stop against the supporting surface (1g) of the intermediate compartment (1 ).

If the bottom of the glass (B) has a larger diameter than the distance between the supporting surfaces (1g) of the upper compartment (1 ), then it will rest on the supporting surface of the upper compartment (1 ). Although in the appended drawings the glass-holder (10) is shown with three compartments (1) disposed one on top of the other, in an alternative embodiment of the invention said glass-holder (10) might also comprise two compartments (1) disposed one on top of the other, or even a single compartment (1 ), or even more than three compartments (1 ).

With reference to Figs. 4A, 5 and 6, the vertical retention means (M11) are displaced on the lateral wall (1 p) of the compartment (1 ) of the glass-holder (10), in correspondence with the standing station (1 b), and are suitably configured as to define at least one undercut on the lateral wall (1 p). The undercut is configured in such a way to cooperate with the profile of the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B), thus preventing the glass (B) from moving freely along the vertical axis (Y).

In particular, said vertical retention means (M11) comprise:

- a rib (11 a) projecting towards the interior of the compartment (1) and interfering with the profile of the lower portion (B1 ) of the glass (B); and/or

- a groove (11b) wherein the profile of the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B) is engaged.

The glass (B) may be an ordinary glass (B) with a lower portion (B1) having a suitable profile for cooperating with the vertical retention means (M11). By way of example, as shown in Fig. 6, the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B) in such a case consists in the base of the glass, which has a perimeter section that is engaged in the groove (11 b) of the lower compartment (1 ).

Or, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, the glass (B) may also be especially made with means (MB) obtained in the lower portion (B1 ) and shaped in such a way as to cooperate with the vertical retention means (M11) so as to hold the glass vertically in said standing station (1 b). By way of example, as shown in Fig. 5, said means (MB) consist in a perimeter groove wherein said rib (11a) of the vertical retention means (M11) is partially engaged.

Although in the appended figures the glass-holder (10) is made in one piece with the tray (V), in an alternative form of the invention, the glass-holder (10) may be formed in a separate, removable piece from the tray (V). In such a case, the tray (V) will comprise a shaped seat suitable for housing the glassholder (10) by interference. With reference to Figs. 7 and 8, the present descrition continues by illustrating the way in which a glass (B) is inserted and held inside one of the compartments (1 ) of the glass-holder (10).

With reference to Fig. 7, the first step is to insert the glass (B) into the glass-holder (10) (from top to bottom), in correspondence with the engagement/disengagement station (1 a) until the bottom of the glass (B) is stopped against the supporting surface (1g) of one of the compartments (1).

Once the bottom of the glass (B) is stopped against the supporting surface (1g) of one of the compartments, the glass (B) slides along the horizontal longitudinal axis (X) of the compartment (1) towards the standing station (1b).

While passing through the passage section (1c), the lower portion (B1) of the glass (B) impacts against the lateral teeth (s12) which will retract slightly, being elastically deformable, allowing the glass (B) to be engaged in the standing station (1b).

Once the glass (B) is positioned in the standing station (1 b), the free horizontal movement is hindered by the lateral teeth (s12) of the horizontal retention means (M12), whereas the vertical movement is hindered by the vertical retention means (M11 ).

With reference to Figs. 9, 9A and 9B, preferably the glass (B) further comprises a lid (BC) suitable for covering the upper access opening of the glass (B).

Said lid (BC) prevents dust and other elements from getting inside the glass (B). Moreover, a cross-shaped hole (BCf) can be obtained on the lid (BC) in central position for the insertion of a straw, avoiding the accidental spillage of a liquid.

The lid (BC) is engaged with the glass (B) by means of an annular portion (BCP) of the lid (BC) that forcibly engages with the glass (B), in correspondence with the ending edge of the glass (B). Said annular portion (BCP) comprises at least one annular tooth (BC1) that interferes with an outer side of the glass (B) (see Fig. 9) or with an inner side of the glass (see Fig. 9A).

It should be noted that the annular portion (BCP) may also comprise two teeth that engaged the edge and simultaneously interfere with the inner side of the glass (B) and with the outer side of the glass (B). With reference to Fig. 9B, the lid (BC) may also comprise multiple concentric annular perimeter portions (BCP) that allow for engaging and covering glasses (B) with inlet openings of different diameters.

In order to identify the glass (B) or the tray (V), the tray-glass set according to the invention can also be provided with identification stickers or tags comprising a repositionable peel-off sticker or a pressure system that can be applied to the cup (B) and/or to the engagement/disengagement station (1 a) and exactly on the supporting surface (1 g) of the compartment.

Going back to Fig. 1 , advantageously, the tray (V) also comprises a dish-holder compartment (2) suitable for housing a dish.

The dish-holder compartment (2) comprises a bottom wall, a lateral wall, and retention means (M2) suitably configured to prevent the dish from moving with respect to the tray (V).

Following the foregoing description, the advantages of the present invention appear evident.

Firstly, the provision of the horizontal and vertical retention means ensures that the glass (B) remains firmly fixed to the tray (V) also in case of abrupt movements of the tray (V) and in case of wide inclinations of the tray (V) itself.

Moreover, the provision of different compartments (1) with different shapes and of multiple types of vertical retention means (M11) (rib and/or groove) makes the glass-holder extremely versatile and suitable for supporting glasses of different shapes and sizes. Therefore, the provision of the compartments disposed one on top of the other makes the glass-holder extremely versatile and able to hold alternately in a stable manner glasses of different types and goblets of different types, as well as cups and mugs.

Numerous variations and detailed modifications may be made to the present embodiment of the invention, which are within the scope of a person skilled in the art, always falling within the scope of the invention as expressed by the appended claims.