GB2438688A

GB2438688A - A tray with heat and cold retention properties

Info

Publication number: GB2438688A
Application number: GB0611004A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Paul Horace Taylor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-06-03
Filing date: 2006-06-03
Publication date: 2007-12-05
Also published as: GB0611004D0

Abstract

A tray which can be used for both carriage and or service of food or drink whilst keeping the food or drink hot or cold as required in use. The tray 1 has an inner cavity 5 to hold a material with heat and cold retention properties, the material is covered by a top plate (2, Fig 1) with heat and cold retention properties. Preferably the top plate is removable and has a hole (8, Fig 1) to facilitate its removal. The material may be in the form of a gel pack 6, a plastic laminate (7, Fig 3) with an outer textile layer and a non toxic polymer powder or a gel solution that is retained within the inner cavity where the top plate is sealed and the hole 8 plugged to retain the gel. During use the material may be heated in a microwave or cooled in a freezer, by either placing the tray or the material if removable from the tray in said heater or cooler. The tray may have feet that are designed to aid stacking by interlocking with features on the surface of a second identical tray.

Description

A TRAY FOR KEEPING FOOD OR DRINK WARM OR COOL

The present invention is a tray which in use will keep food or drink items either warm or cool depending on whether the tray has been heated or cooled prior to use.

Maintaining the ideal temperature for food or drink items whilst delivering them from a preparation area to a nearby area where they are to be consumed has always been difficult. It is common in Great Britain for people to be aware of the problem of food cooling whilst being delivered from the kitchen to a dining area. However, it is rarely considered that warming up of food or drink whilst in transit between these areas is something which also, at times, needs to be prevented.

This problem of keeping things cool is much more common in warmer climates both for food and drink but particularly for drinks, some of which become much less palatable when their temperature rises. In some climates simply carrying drinks from a preparation area to a nearby area where they are to be consumed can result in an unwelcome rise in the temperature of the drinks.

The solutions to the problems of keeping food or drink warm are well know in our cooler climate, there are many commercial serving containers available incorporating heating systems including candles of the nightlight variety, oil burners and electrically powered devices such as serving dishes and trolleys.

Also for keeping, particularly liquids, warm, it is well known that solutions which include the use of a vacuum between the walls of an open or closed container are extremely successful.

None of these solutions for keeping food or drink warm is ideal for situations where the temperature needs to be maintained whilst transporting food.

Obviously the solution requiring a naked flame is unsuitable for carrying, electrically powered solutions require a power supply and vacuum solutions are only successful when food or drink can be contained within them they do not work for items being placed on them.

Turning now to the problem of keeping food or drink cool, most of the available solutions in our cooler climate are concerned with longer term storage than is the case when simply delivering the food from a preparation area to a nearby consumption area. Commonly many different types of refrigeration are used including an evaporation system which can operate without power. It is also common to use insulated containers into which are placed blocks, inside these blocks is a liquid which, in use, is frozen in any freezer before being transferred to the insulated container. None of these solutions is suitable for use when serving cold food or drink in circumstances where the items have to be transported only for short distances.

Two solutions to the problem of keeping things cool, which are present in the art, are thought worthy of mention here.

EP1522240 Is a rotary serving tray consisting of various compartments under a food receiving pan. The various compartments can be filled with ice cubes and the food being served is cooled by cool air rising from the ice blocks through perforations in the base of the receiving pan. This solution is not intended for the service of drinks.

WO 9 528 863 Is a device for keeping both food and beverages cool consisting of a tray covered by a transparent domed cover with a removable freeze pack attached to the inside of the cover. It is not designed for use during service of drinks or food.

The present invention in intended to solve the problems so far outlined by providing a tray which can be used for the both carriage and/or service of food or drink whilst at the same time keeping the food or drink either hot or cold as required in use.

For the sake of clarity, in this specification, when the phrase "maintain the temperature of food or drink" is used, it means that the rate at which the ambient temperature of the air acts to effect cooling or warming to items placed on the tray will be slowed down. Also the words "a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties" is intended to be any re-usable commercially available material where the same material can be either heated or cooled and will store that heat or cold for long periods of time and which may be a liquid or a solid.

According to the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained and a top plate covering the said material which has heat or cold retention properties.

According to a second feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained where the said suitable material is a commercially available gel pack.

According to a third feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide, an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained where the said suitable material is a construction of layers including an outer layer, a textile layer and a none toxic polymer powder.

According to a fourth feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide, an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained and a top plate covering the said material which has heat or cold retention properties in which the said top plate is removable.

According to a fifth feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide, an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained and a top plate covering the said material which has heat or cold retention properties in which the said top plate is removable and is provided with a centre hole to aid removal.

According to a sixth feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide, an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained and a top plate covering the said material which has heat or cold retention properties in which the said suitable material is removable.

According to a seventh feature of the invention there is provided a tray which in use will maintain the temperature of food or drink consisting of an outer shell formed with side walls so as to provide, an inner cavity in which a suitable material which has heat or cold retention properties is contained and a top plate covering the said material which has heat or cold retention properties which tray is equipped with feet designed to aid stacking by interlocking with the features of the top surface of a second identical tray.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 Is a view of the finished tray showing the body the top plate in place with the centre hole and the feet.

Figure 2 Is a cross section of the tray showing the inner cavity which contains the material which has heat or cold retention properties Figure 3 Is a cross section as in figure 2 above but now showing a different type of material which has heat or cold retention properties.

A first preferred embodiment of a tray with the function of retaining heat or cold in accordance with the present invention as shown in figures 1, 2 and is described a follows.

Referring now to figures 1 and 2 the body of the tray I has an internal cavity 5 in which gel packs 6 are located. The inner cavity 5, is sealed by insertion of a removable top plate 2 in which is a hole 8 to assist in removal of the top plate.

The feet 3 are shaped so as to rest within top lip 4 when the tray is placed on top of another identical tray.

In a second preferred embodiment shown in figure 3 the gel packs (5 in figure 2) are replaced by a plastic laminate arrangement 7 which is an already well known commercial product consisting of cells with an outer casing, a textile layer and a non toxic super absorbent polymer powder.

In use the chill packs of whatever type are used are removed from the tray and placed either into a freezer or a microwave oven to heat or cool them.

When they are at the desired temperature they are placed into the cavity 5, in the tray and the top plate is installed. The tray will retain the heat or cold for a considerable time and therefore greatly assist in retaining the heat or cold of the items on the tray. When in use and cooling is required the tray itself may be placed into the freezer.

In a further embodiment which is not shown in the drawings the gel solution is not enclosed in its own container but is used in liquid form to fill the cavity 5 formed by the sealing of the top plate and the casing. In this case the hole 8 is plugged to retain the liquid. In use the tray is placed into a freezer to effect the cooling of the gel solution.

In a further embodiment which is not shown the gel is replaced by a polymer based compound which retains heat or cold and is installed in layers within the tray's cavity. The use of polymer based heat or cold retention material in an application with a tray is claimed as novel but not the material itself. These polymer based materials are often layered constructions including a textile layer and are often charged with a liquid before use.

It is not possible in this specification to describe all of the possible materials which are re-useable and will retain heat or cold and which can be used to fill the cavity within the tray. The invention is intended to extend to all uses of any material, liquid or solid, which can be used to retain heat or cold which can fill the cavity in the tray.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A tray which in use will maintain the temperature of items placed on the tray consisting of an outer shell formed by a plate which in use is known as a top plate and a base part including side walls so as to provide an inner cavity in which any suitable material which has both heat and cold retention properties may be contained.

2. A tray according to claim 1 where the said base part including side walls consists of more than one part and includes plate which in use is known as a base plate and side walls.

3. A tray according to claim 1 or 2 where in use the said top plate is made from a material having both hot and cold retention properties.

4. A tray according to claim 1, 2 or 3 where the said material which is contained within the said inner cavity is a commercially available gel pack.

5. A tray according to any previous claim where the said base plate and the said side walls are formed from one or more parts and are formed from any suitable material where one or more of said parts has both hot and cold retention properties.

6. A tray according to any previous claim where the said suitable material which is contained within the said inner cavity is a construction of layers including an outer layer a textile layer and a non-toxic polymer powder.

7. A tray according to any previous claim where the said top plate is removable.

8. A tray according to any previous claim where the said top plate has a centre hole to aid removal.

9. A tray according to any previous claim where the said material contained within the tray is removable.

10. A tray according to any previous claim which is equipped with suitable feet or any equivalent features which in use are located underneath the tray.

11. A tray according to any previous claim which is equipped with suitable feet or any equivalent features which in use are located underneath the tray and a suitable mating feature on the part which in use is the top part so as to enable several trays to be secured together when stacked.