JP7641622B2 - Packaging containers - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a packaging container obtained by molding a synthetic resin sheet, and to a structure that allows food to be presented in an attractive manner by inclining the food placement surface and prevents food from shifting out of position.

In supermarkets and convenience stores, prepared foods and other foods are sold in sheet-formed containers with transparent lids, with an emphasis on appearance to increase consumer purchasing power. However, it is difficult to arrange food in a three-dimensional manner in a tray-like container with a flat bottom. Sashimi in particular is thin and lacks volume, so it is often arranged on a base of garnish (a layer of daikon radish or other toppings). However, this not only increases the cost of the toppings, but also goes against the international initiative of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if the toppings are not eaten and the amount of food wasted increases, including food waste.

In response to this, sheet-formed containers with an inclined food serving surface have existed in the past (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). With such sheet-formed containers with an inclined food serving surface, it is possible to present food in a three-dimensional, voluminous and attractive way.

JP 2015-224040 A JP 2016-182988 A

However, when the serving surface is inclined, food can easily slip and become misaligned, and this cannot be corrected when the lid is closed, so products with such poor appearance discourage consumers from purchasing them.

In this regard, Patent Document 1 discloses a tray container for serving food in which the inclined surface 5 on which food is served is formed with horizontal ridges 12 in the left-right direction and vertical ridges 12 in the up-down direction, and it is said that these vertical and horizontal ridges 12 can effectively prevent food from shifting out of position. However, since most shifts on the inclined surface 5 are caused by food sliding down, providing vertical ridges 12, let alone horizontal ridges 12, on such inclined surface 5 cannot prevent food from slipping out of position.

Meanwhile, Patent Document 2 discloses a food packaging container in which the food placement surface 13a is inclined and a second protrusion 14 is provided on the underside thereof, and the second protrusion 14 prevents food placed against the food placement surface 13a from sliding off. However, because the food placement surface 13a is composed of a smooth surface that does not have the vertical and horizontal protrusions 12 as in Patent Document 1, if the container is tilted even slightly when the product is displayed or when a consumer picks it up to evaluate it, the food will slide sideways and become misaligned from side to side.

In addition, because food is placed upright, it is difficult for drips and oils that seep out of the food to flow off, and this problem occurs when the liquid re-adheres to the food, impairing its taste and texture. This is more noticeable if the food placement surface 13a has a gentle slope; conversely, if the surface is steep, misalignment between the left and right sides is more likely to occur, and the container will have a false bottom rather than a sense of volume.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a packaging container that can present food in an attractive manner with an appropriate sense of volume, while at the same time more reliably preventing the food from shifting out of position.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention uses a packaging container having a container body formed of a synthetic resin sheet with a peripheral wall rising from the bottom and an opening at the top, the bottom has a food placement section that slopes upward from the front side to the back side of the container body, the food placement section has a non-slip section formed of a rib with a convex cross section formed on a sloped surface closer to the front than the top, and the non-slip section is made up of a combination of horizontal ribs arranged in a direction perpendicular to the slope of the sloped surface and diagonal ribs arranged in a direction oblique to the slope of the sloped surface.

According to the above-mentioned means, the food placement section is inclined upward from the front side to the back side of the container body, so by placing food on this section, the food can be presented in a three-dimensional, voluminous and attractive way.

The inclined surface of the food placement section is formed with a non-slip section consisting of a rib with a convex cross section, which prevents food from shifting out of position. That is, of the ribs that make up the non-slip section, the horizontal ribs regulate the vertical movement of food along the inclination of the inclined surface by a horizontal component perpendicular to the inclination of the inclined surface. In particular, they prevent food from sliding downwards along the inclined surface. Meanwhile, the diagonal ribs can be broken down into a horizontal component and a vertical component that follows the inclination of the inclined surface, and while the horizontal component regulates the vertical movement of food in the same way as the horizontal ribs, the vertical component also regulates the left-right movement of food. Such non-slip sections allow the present invention to maintain the appearance of the food served on the plate.

When the inclination of the diagonal ribs is small, the horizontal component becomes large, and when the inclination is large, the vertical component becomes large. However, since the present invention also has horizontal ribs, it is reasonable to make the diagonal ribs inclined at 45 degrees or more in order to ensure the vertical component that cannot be obtained with horizontal ribs. However, the inclination of the diagonal ribs is not limited to this. Furthermore, the tip shape of the horizontal ribs and diagonal ribs has a triangular cross section to increase the anti-slip effect, but since it leaves bite marks for soft foods, it is sometimes made to have an arc cross section. Also, the more horizontal ribs and diagonal ribs there are, the greater the anti-slip effect, but there is no limit to the number.

The anti-slip portion can also be formed by intersecting horizontal and diagonal ribs, but by forming the horizontal and diagonal ribs at a fixed distance apart, drips and oils that seep out of the food can be drained through the gaps between the horizontal and diagonal ribs along the slope to below the food placement portion. This prevents the seepage from re-adhering to the food, and does not impair the taste or texture.

In addition, in the present invention, the diagonal rib includes two diagonal ribs that run diagonally in the same direction and are connected by an intermediate rib to form a lightning bolt shape. With this type of lightning bolt rib, a total of three straight ribs can provide an anti-slip effect according to each angle.

The height of the diagonal ribs based on the slope is preferably higher than that of the horizontal ribs. This is because the anti-slip effect of the diagonal ribs in all directions can be improved. This height relationship may be at least partial. In other words, it includes cases where a part of the diagonal rib is higher than a part of the horizontal rib, and further, "a part" is a concept that includes not only a part of the rib, but also one of the ribs if there are multiple ribs. In other words, even if a part of the horizontal rib is higher than a part of the diagonal rib, as long as the diagonal rib is higher than the horizontal rib in other parts, the anti-slip effect of the diagonal rib is enhanced in those parts.

On the other hand, it is preferable that the food placement section has a pair of side guards on the left and right of the non-slip section, which are inclined in the direction of the inclination of the food placement section and have a convex cross section higher than the height of the horizontal rib based on the slope section. This is because these side guards can prevent food from protruding to the left and right of the food placement section or falling off. Here, the side guards can be connected to the horizontal ribs or the diagonal ribs, but by providing the side guards at a certain distance from the non-slip section, the exudate from the food can flow down the food placement section from the gap between the side guards and the non-slip section along the slope section, preventing the exudate from reattaching to the food. Note that the side guards may not be separated from the entire non-slip section, but may be either the horizontal ribs or the diagonal ribs, or if there are multiple ribs, only a part of them may be separated. Furthermore, one of the pair of left and right side guards may be separated. In addition, the height relationship here also includes a form in which at least a part of the side guard is higher than the horizontal ribs, as with the diagonal ribs described above.

Furthermore, it is preferable that the food placement section has an underguard with a convex cross section that is parallel to the horizontal ribs below the anti-slip section and higher than the height of the horizontal ribs based on the sloped section. This is because the underguard can prevent food from slipping off the food placement section. The underguard can be connected to the diagonal ribs, but by providing the underguard at a fixed distance from the diagonal ribs, it is possible to introduce exudates from the food into the gap between the underguard and the diagonal ribs, reducing or preventing the reattachment of the exudates to the food. Note that the horizontal ribs are in a vertically parallel relationship with the underguard and are initially spaced at a fixed distance, so it is of course possible to introduce exudates into that gap. Furthermore, the height relationship here also includes a form in which at least a portion of the underguard is higher than the horizontal ribs, as with the diagonal ribs and side guards described above.

The angle of inclination of the food placement section is not limited, but if the height based on the slope of the underguard is equal to or greater than the height of the side guards, food can be prevented from slipping off even if the angle of inclination of the food placement section is relatively large. The height relationship here also includes configurations in which part of the underguard is equal to or greater than the height of the side guards, just like the height relationship of the diagonal ribs, side guards, and underguard relative to the horizontal ribs described above.

In addition, it is preferable that the underguard has a notch partway along its length that communicates with the sloped part, and this notch allows food exudates that have flowed down the sloped part to be discharged to the outside of the food placement part, more reliably preventing the exudates from re-adhering to the food.

Furthermore, the side guards and under guards are independent of each other and have corner cuts that connect to the sloped sections at the lower left and right corners of the food placement section, so food exudates can be drained to the outside of the food placement section through the corner cuts as well.

Furthermore, although there is no limit to the height of the food placement section, by positioning its top below the opening of the container body, it is possible to achieve a moderate sense of volume for the food served on it while avoiding a strong feeling of a false bottom.

The food placement section is not limited to a one-way slope, but may have a mountain-shaped cross section with slopes formed from both the front and back sides of the container body toward the top, in which case food can be placed on two slopes. In this case, the mountain-shaped cross section is a concept that includes specific shapes such as a gable-shaped cross section, an arch-shaped cross section, and a circular arc-shaped cross section.

Furthermore, the number of food placement sections is not limited to one, and multiple food placement sections can be arranged side by side along the front-to-back direction from the front to the back of the container body and/or along the left-to-right direction of the container body, in which case different types of food can be placed on each food placement section.

The packaging container of the present invention allows food to be presented in a visually appealing manner with a moderate sense of volume, while reliably preventing the food from shifting out of place, preserving the visual appeal of the presented food.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a packaging container according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the container body taken along line A-A of the same. FIG. 11 is a plan view of a container body according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a plan view of a container body according to a third embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a food placement section showing a modified example of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a plan view of a container body showing another modified example of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a plan view of a container body showing another modified example of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a plan view of a container body showing yet another modified example of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a packaging container according to a first embodiment, with 1 being the container body and 2 being the lid. In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the lid 2 is closed by externally fitting the container body 1, but the present invention can employ any conventionally known lid-closing structure. Therefore, a detailed description of the lid-closing structure will be omitted, and the container body 1, which is a characteristic configuration of the present invention, will be described in detail.

The container body 1 has a peripheral wall 4 rising from the bottom 3, forming an opening at the top. The peripheral wall 4 is folded downward via an outward flange portion 5 to form a skirt portion 6. The above-mentioned lid body 2 is fitted onto this skirt portion 6. In this embodiment, the container body 1 has a rectangular shape in a plan view as shown in FIG. 2, but the outer shape in a plan view may be any other polygonal shape, or may be a circle or an ellipse.

What is important in this invention is that the bottom 3 is raised in an inclined manner to provide the food placement section 7, and that the surface is made non-slip. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the food placement section 7 has a sloped section 8 that slopes upward ((rising)) from the front side F to the back side B of the container body 1, and below the top 9, a non-slip section 12 is formed on the sloped section 8 on the front side of the container body 1 by combining a horizontal rib 10 and a diagonal rib 11. The horizontal ribs 10 are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the inclination direction of the sloped section 8, and the diagonal ribs 11 are arranged in a direction oblique to the inclination direction of the sloped section 8. In this embodiment, two diagonal ribs 11 with the same oblique angle are arranged above and below the sloped section 8 in the center of the food placement section 7 to form a diagonal rib group, and a horizontal rib group consisting of eleven horizontal ribs 10 is provided on the left and right of the diagonal rib group to form the non-slip section 12.

Therefore, food can be arranged in a three-dimensional, voluminous and attractive way according to the inclination angle of the food placement section 7. The anti-slip section 12 prevents the arranged food from moving up, down, left and right on the inclined surface section 8, so that the original appearance is maintained. That is, the horizontal rib group (horizontal rib 10) that constitutes the anti-slip section 12 prevents the food from sliding down in the vertical direction, especially downward due to gravity, while the diagonal rib group (diagonal rib 11) prevents movement in the vertical direction as well as left and right (sideways sliding).

Furthermore, the horizontal ribs and diagonal ribs are arranged at regular intervals, with the horizontal ribs 10 and diagonal ribs 11 not intersecting but being independent of each other. Therefore, if drips or oil seeps out from the food, they can flow down through the gaps between the horizontal ribs (horizontal ribs 10) and the diagonal ribs (diagonal ribs 11) to the sloped portion 8, preventing the re-adhesion of such seepage.

In addition, in this embodiment, side guards 13 and underguards 14 are provided on the left, right and bottom edges of the food placement section 7. The side guards 13 are vertical ribs that extend up and down the sloped section 8 in the direction of the inclination of the food placement section 7, and the underguard 14 is a type of horizontal rib that is parallel to the horizontal ribs 10. These guards 13 and 14 allow food to be presented inside in an attractive manner and prevent the presented food from spilling out to the left or right from the food placement section 7 or slipping down, ensuring that the original appearance is maintained.

Furthermore, the underguard 14 is cut out to provide a notch 15, and the side guard 13 and underguard 14 are separated by corner cuts 16 at the lower left and right corners of the food placement section 7, so that the exudate flowing down the sloped section 8 is discharged to the outside of the food placement section 7 through these cuts 15 and corner cuts 16, more reliably preventing re-adhesion. Also, by forming the side guard 13 and underguard 14 separately from the non-slip section 12 with a gap therebetween, as in this embodiment, the gap can be used as a flow path or storage area for the exudate, and the exudate can be isolated from the food.

The horizontal ribs 10, the diagonal ribs 11, the side guards 13, and the underguards 14 all have a convex cross-section, but by setting their respective heights H1 to H4 based on the sloped portion 8 as shown in the following formula, it is possible to achieve both a good appearance for the presentation and an anti-slip effect.
H1<H2<H3≦H4
(where H1 is the height of the horizontal rib 10, H2 is the height of the diagonal rib, H3 is the height of the side guard, and H4 is the height of the underguard 14)
In this embodiment, the horizontal ribs 10, the diagonal ribs 11, the side guards 13, and the underguards 14 have a straight apex shape with uniform heights H1 to H4 in the length direction, but if the apex is inclined or curved in the length direction, or is wavy, so that the height is non-uniform in the length direction, the highest parts of them can be set as H1 to H4 according to the above formula. Also, if the above formula is satisfied for at least one of the multiple ribs, the above-mentioned compatibility effect can be obtained.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the height of the food placement section 7 is such that its top 9 is equal to or lower than the height of the opening of the container body 1 (synonymous with the top surface of the flange section 5). This reduces the feeling of a raised bottom, allowing food to be served with an appropriate sense of volume.

Figure 4 shows the second embodiment, in which the shape of the diagonal ribs and the arrangement of the side guard and underguard have been changed from the first embodiment. That is, the diagonal rib 20 in this second embodiment is formed into a lightning bolt shape by connecting the lower and upper ends of two diagonal ribs 21 and 22 that run diagonally in the same direction with a horizontal intermediate rib 23. This lightning bolt-shaped diagonal rib 20 can obtain the same anti-slip effect as the diagonal rib group of the first embodiment consisting of two diagonal ribs 11, as well as the anti-slip effect provided by the intermediate rib 23.

The side guard 24 and under guard 25 are connected at the bottom left and right corners of the food placement section 7 to form a U-shape, and do not have the corner cutouts 16 or notches 15 of the first embodiment. Therefore, in this case, it is more suitable for serving food that does not drip or ooze oil, while more reliably preventing it from shifting out of position.

Furthermore, in this second embodiment, the tip shapes of the diagonal ribs 20 and the horizontal ribs 26 are changed from the triangular cross-section shape in the first embodiment to an arcuate cross-section. Therefore, the diagonal ribs 20 and the horizontal ribs 26 come into contact with food softly, and are less likely to leave bite marks.

Figure 5 shows a third embodiment, in which the number of diagonal rib groups is two and the number of horizontal rib groups is three, corresponding to the container body being long horizontally. In this way, the number of diagonal rib (groups) and horizontal rib (groups) can be changed as appropriate depending on the size and shape of the container body, the type of food, etc.

As a further modification, in the above embodiment, the food placement section is sloped in one direction, but as shown in Figure 6, it is also possible to provide a non-slip slope on the back side for piling food on, giving the whole container a mountain-shaped cross section. Also, as shown in Figures 7 to 9, it is also possible to provide multiple food placement sections side by side on the front, back, left and right sides of the container body.

Reference Signs List 1 Container body 2 Lid 3 Bottom 4 Peripheral wall 5 Flange 6 Skirt 7 Food placement section 8 Slope 9 Top 10 Horizontal rib 11 Diagonal rib 12 Anti-slip section 13, 24 Side guard 14, 25 Underguard 15 Cutout 16 Corner cutting section F Container front side B Container back side 20 Diagonal ribs 21, 22 Diagonal running rib 23 Intermediate rib 26 Horizontal rib

Claims (12)

A packaging container having a container body made of a synthetic resin sheet, the container body having a peripheral wall rising from a bottom and an opening at a top surface,
The bottom portion is
The container body has a food placement section that slopes upward from the front side to the back side,
The food placement section includes:
A non-slip portion is formed on the sloped portion closer to the apex than the top, the non-slip portion being made of a rib having a convex cross section.
The anti-slip portion is
A horizontal rib arranged in a direction perpendicular to the inclination direction of the inclined surface portion;
The inclined surface portion is inclined in a direction oblique to the inclined rib .
Further, the food placement section has a pair of side guards on the left and right of the non-slip portion along the inclination direction of the food placement section, the side guards having a convex cross section and higher than the height of the horizontal rib based on the inclined portion,
The highest portion of the transverse rib and the side guard is set to be equal to or lower than the opening of the container body,
The top of the food placement portion is located below the opening of the container body.
A packaging container characterized by the above. 2. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein the anti-slip portion is formed by separating the horizontal ribs and the diagonal ribs at a fixed interval. A packaging container having a container body made of a synthetic resin sheet, the container body having a peripheral wall rising from a bottom and an opening at a top surface,
The bottom portion is
The container body has a food placement section that slopes upward from the front side to the back side,
The food placement section includes:
A non-slip portion is formed on the sloped portion closer to the apex than the top, the non-slip portion being made of a rib having a convex cross section.
The anti-slip portion is
A horizontal rib arranged in a direction perpendicular to the inclination direction of the inclined surface portion;
The inclined surface portion is inclined in a direction oblique to the inclined rib.
The packaging container includes a lightning bolt-shaped diagonal rib, in which two diagonal ribs running in the same direction are connected by an intermediate rib. 4. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein the diagonal rib has a height, based on the inclined surface, greater than that of the horizontal rib. 4. A packaging container as described in claim 3 , wherein the food placement portion has a pair of side guards on either side of the anti- slip portion along the inclination direction of the food placement portion, the side guards having a convex cross-section and higher than the height of the horizontal rib based on the inclined portion. A packaging container as described in claim 1, 2 or 5, wherein the food placement portion has an underguard with a convex cross-section, parallel to the transverse rib, below the anti- slip portion, and higher than the height of the transverse rib based on the inclined portion . 7. The packaging container according to claim 6, wherein the height of the underguard based on the inclined surface portion is equal to or greater than the height of the side guards. 8. The packaging container according to claim 6, wherein the underguard has a notch portion communicating with the inclined surface portion midway in the longitudinal direction. 9. A packaging container according to claim 6, wherein the side guards and the underguard are independent of each other and have corner cuts at the lower left and right corners of the food placement section which are connected to the inclined surface sections. 6. A packaging container according to claim 3 , wherein the top of the food placement portion is located below the opening of the container body. 11. The packaging container according to claim 1, wherein the food placement portion has a mountain-shaped cross section with the inclined surfaces formed from both the front side and the back side of the container body toward the top. A packaging container as described in any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein a plurality of food placement sections are arranged in parallel on the bottom along the front-to-back direction from the front side to the back side of the container body and/or along the left-to-right direction of the container body.

Images