Technical field

The invention relates to the field of containers, more particularly to food containers used in the catering industry, such as portable containers, especially portable lunch boxes.

Background

At present, the business mode of " takeaway " in the catering industry is in a state of continuous growth. In order to provide better service, both food processing businesses and " takeaway " delivery parties hope to deliver food to customers as soon as possible, that is, to improve the efficiency of food delivery to improve their competitiveness. This demand places higher requirements on containers used for transporting food, such as lunch boxes. For example, the packaging of the lunch boxes should be convenient, the lunch boxes should be portable, and when multiple lunch boxes are transported (especially when lunch boxes are stacked on top of each other) to keep the position of the lunch boxes relatively stable.

For such a requirement, a common solution at present is to put the lunch box with the lid and the body in a plastic bag for convenient transportation. The advantage of this solution is that the packaging of the lunch box is very easy, just put the lunch box in a pre prepared plastic bag. Flowever, this has led to a high demand for plastic bag products, leading to potential concerns about the environmental impact. In addition, in the case of placing multiple lunch boxes in a plastic bag, the position of the stacked lunch boxes in the horizontal direction is not fixed enough, which may easily cause the lunch boxes to slip during transportation, or even slip off, causing the liquid in the food to leak out causing a lot of discomfort. In addition, when a paper bag or a plastic bag is used to carry only a single lunch box as in the prior art, the lunch box is often overturned due to the excessive size of the bag, causing food leakage. But on the other hand, if the size of the bag matches the size of the lunch box, the lunch box cannot be easily removed from the bag.

In summary, the solutions of the prior art cannot meet the current requirements for efficient " takeaway " meal delivery, that is, the solutions of the prior art cannot simultaneously satisfy the requirements for quick packaging of the lunch box and relatively stable position of the lunch box , especially if it involves shipping multiple meal boxes.

Summary of the invention

The present invention solves the above technical problems by proposing a new container. The utility model provides a container, comprising: a main body comprising an accommodating cavity and an opening edge, an upper cover comprising an upper cover edge cooperated with the opening edge, the accommodating cavity comprising a plurality of sub-cavities which are symmetrical with respect to an central axis of the main body, the plurality of sub-cavities being separated from each other by sidewalls defined by bottom grooves formed on bottom of the main body, the bottom grooves being adapted to house a lifting component for lifting up the container. Compared to prior art, the invention has achieved at least the following beneficial effects.

Packaging of the container of the utility model is convenient and fast. The groove provided at the bottom of the container body of the present invention enables the lifting member/lifting component (such as a rope) to be easily accommodated, which enables fast packaging of the lunch box; for example, the rope as the lifting member can be in the form of a closed loop. Therefore, the container can be smoothly pulled up only by putting the rope into the groove according to the shape of the bottom of the lunch box in advance.

Preferably, a plurality of side grooves are formed on the side of the main body, and the side grooves are suitable for accommodating a lifting member for lifting the container. Such an arrangement enhances the stability of the packaging of the container. After the lifting member is lifted, the lifting member is accommodated in the side groove in addition to the bottom groove, thereby providing a stop on the side of the container to prevent the container from tilting. At the same time, this is particularly advantageous when the containers are stacked, as it avoids relative lateral displacements between stacked containers.

Preferably, the edge of the upper cover has upper cover grooves corresponding to the side grooves. Thus, the upper lid of the container also provides a location suitable for accommodating the lifting member, and also provides additional stops on the sides of the container.

Preferably, the bottom groove communicates with the side groove. Therefore, after passing through the bottom groove, the lifting member can be directly accommodated in the side groove, and the double positioning of the lifting member at the bottom and the side can be realized by one simple operation.

Preferably, the plurality of sub-cavities are four sub-cavities, and the four sub-cavities form leaves in the shape of a four-leaf clover. The arrangement of the four sub-cavities can realize the separate accommodation of different contents, so that the container can simultaneously accommodate different contents without interfering with each other. In addition, the arrangement of the four sub cavities also means that the bottom grooves can be arranged in a cross manner, so that the lifting parts can be placed in a cross manner at the bottom to provide better stability.

Preferably, the bottom groove is formed substantially in the shape of a cross. The generally cross-shaped bottom groove allows the pulling member to have a good fixing effect, and can be formed naturally between adjacent sub-cavities in the form of separating "four-leaf clovers", while taking into account both aesthetic appearance and functionality.

Preferably, the bottom wall of the bottom groove is flush with the opening edge of the main body. This arrangement means that the depth of the bottom groove is almost equal to the thickness of the main body of the container, which makes it difficult for the different contents in the sub-cavities to mix.

Preferably, the bottom surface of the sub-cavity has a first engaging portion, and the upper cover includes a second engaging portion adapted to engage with the first engaging portion of the container stacked thereon. The first joint part and the second joint part which can be engaged with each other make the container of the present invention easy to be stacked one on top of the other, which enables a plurality of containers to be packaged and transported at the same time, and improves the efficiency. Preferably, the first and second joints are flat. The flat first joint portion and the second joint portion enable the containers stacked on top of each other to be placed flat, providing a basis for the stability of transportation.

Preferably, the upper cover further comprises a stopper portion adjacent to the second engaging portion and closer to the central axis than the second engaging portion, for stopping the lateral movement of the main body of the other container. The arrangement of the stopper makes it possible to prevent relative lateral movement between the upper and lower containers when a plurality of containers are stacked.

Preferably, the bottom surface of the sub-cavity has an escape portion adjacent to the first engaging portion and corresponding to the stop portion. When the containers are stacked and placed, the avoidance portion is disposed above the stopper portion and does not contact the stopper portion, thereby avoiding mutual interference between the upper and lower containers. In addition, when the pulling member is used, the pulling member may also extend along the boundary between the escape portion and the first stop portion, thereby providing another way of placing the pulling member.

Preferably, the upper cover includes an accommodating portion recessed from the top surface of the upper cover toward the main body. The accommodating part forms an accommodating space because it is lower than other parts of the upper cover, which provides a convenient space for attaching articles on the container itself, and increases the portability of the container and its accessories. The accommodating portion is a tableware accommodating portion. Preferably, the upper cover includes a plurality of recesses at its edges, and the outer walls of the recesses abut against the inner side of the side wall of the main body, so as to fix the upper cover on the main body. In addition to this, sealing is provided by the outer wall of the recess against the inner side of the side wall of the main body.

Preferably, the container is a lunch box.

Preferably, the present invention provides a container assembly, comprising at least one container as described above and a lifting member.

Preferably, the lifting member is a rope.

Preferably, said assembly comprises a plurality of said containers placed in a stack.

Those skilled in the art can think of combining the above aspects in any manner without departing from the spirit of the present invention on the basis of the disclosure of the present invention.

Brief description of the figures

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container and a lifting member according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the upper cover is mounted on the main body, and the lifting member in the form of a closed loop is placed on one side of the container; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main body of the container of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, wherein a plurality of sub-cavities and the central axis of the container are shown;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main body of the container of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 being turned upside down, showing the bottom structure of the main body; FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the bottom of the main body of the container of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, wherein the sub cavities and the bottom grooves between the sub-cavities are shown;

Fig. 5 is the top view of the upper cover of the container of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of containers of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 after being stacked up and down, the cross-section including the central axis of the container and cutting two opposite sub-cavities;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the portion of the lower container in Fig. 6 circled by a circle C, showing the recess of the upper lid;

Figs. 8 and 9 show how to carry a container according to the present invention with a lifting member;

Figs. 10 and 12 show how the stacking of containers according to the invention can be carried by means of a lifting member.

Detailed description

In this section, the container of the present invention, the lifting member (also referred to as lifting component) and the container assembly including the two will be described and explained in detail by taking an embodiment of the present invention as an example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the description of such embodiments is illustrative and explanatory and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. The present invention is not limited to this specific embodiment. The invention relates to a container proposed to solve the problems of quick packaging and transportation stability. A container assembly including a container and a lifting member according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. In order to clearly describe the container and container assembly according to the present invention, an orthogonal coordinate system XYZ is established, wherein the X and Y axes define the plane on which the container is normally placed, such as a table top. The Z axis is perpendicular to the XY plane, and corresponds to the direction from the container body 100 toward the upper cover 200.

The container according to the present invention is described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

Figure 1 shows a container according to the present invention and a lifting member 400. As shown in the figure, the container includes a main body 100 and an upper cover 200, wherein the upper cover 200 is covered on the main body 100. The container shown in Figure 1 is a lunch box having a generally four-leaf clover form. The lifting member 400 is, for example, a rope in the form of a closed loop.

The body 100 of the container includes a receiving cavity and an open edge 120, as shown in FIG. 2. The upper cover 200 includes an upper cover edge 220 that cooperates with the opening edge 120 of the main body 100, as shown in FIG. 5. Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the body 100 includes a central axis 0, which is parallel to the axis Z. The accommodating cavity includes a plurality of sub cavities 110 symmetrical about the central axis 0 of the main body 100, and the plurality of sub-cavities 110 are separated from each other by sidewalls defined by bottom grooves 130 formed on the bottom surface of the main body 100, and the bottom The groove 130 is adapted to accommodate the lifting member 400.

The figures of the present invention show by way of example a container in the form of a four-leaf clover, which may be a lunch box, in particular a portable lunch box. In this example, the main body 100 has four sub-cavities 110 corresponding to the sub cavities of the four lobed parts of the four-leaf clover structure, respectively. Correspondingly, the upper cover 200 of the container also has a covering unit corresponding to the sub-cavity. It should be understood that the lunch box may have a structure that is not limited to the form of a four-leaf clover. In this case, the bottom groove 130 of the main body is formed in a substantially cross shape. In the present invention, " substantially cross-shaped" is not limited to a cross formed by two straight grooves intersecting at right angles, but also includes a cross formed by non-linear and / or non - right-angle intersecting grooves. For example, as shown in the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings, the " cross " in FIG. 4 is not strictly a " cross " intersecting at right angles, but a groove formed by the intersection of grooves with curved portions. Those skilled in the art can envisage groove forms similar thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

When the container needs to be taken away, the lifting member 400 (such as a rope) can be placed in the bottom groove 130 in a crossed manner (similar to the form of the number "8") , and the container can be taken away, with high portability.

As shown in the figures, the side of the main body 100 may further be formed with a plurality of side grooves 140, which are also suitable for accommodating the lifting member 400 for lifting the container. The side grooves 140 are recessed from the opening edge 120 in the direction of the central axis 0. After the lifting member is lifted, the lifting member 400 is received in the side groove in addition to the bottom groove, thereby providing a stop on the side of the container to prevent the container from tilting. At the same time, this is particularly advantageous when the containers are stacked, as it avoids relative lateral displacements between stacked containers.

The side grooves 140 may be boundary portions between the sub cavities of the main body, whereby the side grooves 140 communicate with the bottom grooves 130. After passing through the bottom groove 130, the lifting member can be directly accommodated in the side groove, and the double positioning of the lifting member on the bottom and the side of the main body can be realized by one simple operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper cover edge has an upper cover groove 240 corresponding to the side groove 140, and the upper cover groove 240 is recessed from the upper cover edge 220 toward the direction of the central axis 0.

Further, the bottom wall 131 of the bottom groove 130 is flush with the opening edge 120 of the main body. As shown in FIG. 2, the opening edge of each sub-cavity 110 is defined by a part of the opening edge 120 of the main body and the bottom wall 131 of the bottom groove 130. The bottom wall 131 being flush with the opening edge 120 means that the opening edges 110 of the respective sub-cavities are in the same plane. Thus, the contents in the respective sub-cavities 110 are not easily mixed. In addition, when the upper cover 200 is closed on the main body 100, the bottom wall 131 can contact the corresponding part of the upper cover, so that the sub-cavities 110 form a closed sub-cavity, so as to better ensure each sub-cavity Isolation of the contents of 110, as detailed below.

In order to facilitate the carrying of accessories related to the container, such as tableware matched with the lunch box, an accommodating portion 250 for accommodating accessories (such as tableware) is also designed on the upper cover 200. The top surface of the 200 is concave toward the main body, forming a space, that is, the accommodating portion 250. Thereby, good storage of accessories can be achieved without adding additional design and manufacturing costs to the container, and without occupying space outside the container.

In order to facilitate multiple containers to be carried together, the container according to the present invention is also provided with a structure that facilitates stable stacking.

Specifically, the bottom surface of the sub-cavity 110 has a first engaging portion 111 ( FIG. 3 ), and the upper cover 200 includes a second engaging portion 211 (FIG. 1), when two or more containers are stacked (FIG. 6), the second engaging portion 211 is adapted to engage with the first engaging portion 111 of the container stacked thereon. The first engaging portion 111 and the second engaging portion 211 have matching shapes. In the example shown in the figure, they are all flat. Thus, the container located below provides a relatively stable support for the container located above.

Further, since the stacked containers are easy to translate relative to each other during the transportation process, the contents may fall off. For this reason, the container according to the present invention is also provided with a stopper portion 212 on the upper cover 200, as shown in Figs. 1, 5 and 6 are shown. Specifically, the covering unit of the upper cover 200 includes a stopper portion 212 which adjoins the second engaging portion 211 and is closer to the central axis 0 than the second engaging portion 211. The stopper portion 212 may be a protruding portion raised relative to the second engaging portion 211. In a preferred embodiment, the bottom surface of the sub-cavity 110 also has an escape portion 112 corresponding to the stopper portion 212, which is adjacent to the first engaging portion 111 of the bottom surface of the sub - cavity 110 and is smaller than the first joint portion 111 of the bottom surface of the sub-cavity 110. A joint portion 111 is closer to the central axis O.

The edge of the first engaging portion 111 (the boundary portion of the first engaging portion 111 and the avoidance portion 112 ) of the bottom of the main body of the container located above abuts against the corresponding stopper portion 212. Since the sub cavities 110 of the container are symmetrical about the central axis 0, the bottom of the main body of the container corresponding to the upper part is obstructed in all directions in the plane parallel to the XY plane, thus avoiding the relative lateral movement between the upper and lower containers.

In addition, due to the existence of the avoidance portion 112, another form of cooperation between the container and the lifting member is provided. The lifting member 400 can be placed in a similar rectangular shape, as is described by dashed lines LI and L2 in FIG. 3. L 1 and L 2 may not be accommodated in the bottom groove 130 in a crossed form, but placed at the junction portion of the first engaging portion 111 and the avoidance portion 112 of the corresponding sub-cavities at the bottom of the main body, at the junction. The outside part extends upwards (positive Z direction) into the side grooves 140 to lift the container. The upper cover 200 is further described with reference to FIG. 5. The boundary portion between the covering units of the upper cover 200 forms the aforementioned accommodating portion 250 for accommodating accessories. The inner side surface corresponding to the accommodating portion 250 located on the inner side of the upper cover 200 can be in contact with the bottom wall 131 between the sub-cavities 100 , so that the sub-cavities 110 form a closed sub cavity, and better Separation of the contents of each sub-chamber 110 is ensured.

To seal and fix the upper cover 200 and the main body 100, the sub-cavity has a recess 260 on the edge of each cover unit of the upper cover 200, and the edge of the upper cover has an upper cover groove corresponding to the side groove 140, 240. The invention also relates to a container assembly comprising the aforementioned container and a lifting component.

Taking the lunch box and the rope as an example, the perspective view of FIG. 1 can reflect the state of the catering supplier after placing the food in the lunch box and before packing the lunch box. As shown in FIG. 8, in preparation for packaging, the rope in the form of a closed loop is laid in a manner corresponding to the bottom groove 130 of the lunch box, and the lunch box is then placed on the rope. The ropes cross at the middle portion to correspond to the shape of the bottom groove 130, and the crossing of the ropes is not shown due to the occlusion of the lunch box in the perspective view of FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 9, if there is only one lunch box, the rope enters the bottom groove 130, the side groove 140 and the upper cover groove 240 and meets above the lunch box after lifting the rope, so as to facilitate lifting. Alternatively, the rope is laid out in a rectangular form, and the two long sides of the rectangle are joined to the junction of the first engaging part and the escape part at the bottom of the main body. After the rope is lifted, the rope enters the side groove 140 and the upper cover groove 240 and meet above the lunch box for easy lifting.

As can be seen from the above description with reference to FIGS.

1 to 5 and FIGS. 8 and 9, the advantages of the above-mentioned container and container assembly of the present invention are as follows. When the rope is pulled, the rope easily enters the bottom groove 130 or the corresponding engaging portion due to the gravity of the lunch box. This enables fast packaging of the lunch box, and due to the engagement of the rope at the bottom of the main body, it plays a role in positioning the lunch box and improves the stability of the lunch box during transportation. On this basis, through the use of the side grooves 140 and, more preferably, the upper cover grooves 240, the rope can also enter the groove on the side of the lunch box after being lifted, so that the rope can keep it around the side of the lunch box so that the lunch box does not easily tip over. In the prior art, when a paper bag or a plastic bag is used to carry a lunch box, the lunch box is often overturned due to the excessive size of the bag, causing food leakage. But on the other hand, if the size of the bag matches the size of the lunch box, the lunch box cannot be easily removed from the bag. The container according to the present invention completely avoids such a problem because it adopts a structure matching the pulling part, and there is no strict requirement on the size of the pulling part.

FIGS. 10 to 12 further illustrate the situation when a plurality of lunch boxes are stacked on top of each other. Figure 10 shows a perspective view of the two lunch boxes and string container assembly. Corresponding to FIG. 8, FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of placing the rope in FIG. 10 on the bottom of the lunch box in a manner corresponding to the groove at the bottom of the lunch box, and then placing the lunch box on the rope, wherein the side grooves are aligned on top of each other. Corresponding to FIG. 9, FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the rope of FIG. 11 after it has been lifted. It is not difficult to see that the arrangement of the lunch box and the rope of the present invention makes it possible to quickly pack a plurality of lunch boxes stacked on top of each other, and since the rope enters the side groove 140 and the upper cover groove 240 from the side, lateral stability between the lunch boxes is guaranteed.

It should be understood that the structures described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are merely examples of the present invention, which may be replaced by other structures that perform the same or similar functions for achieving the desired end result. Furthermore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above and shown in the accompanying drawings should be regarded as constituting only non-limiting examples of the invention, which may be modified in various ways within the scope of the patent claims.