BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tray, particularly intended for foodstuffs and made from a blank stamped and creased from carton or similar stiff material, the tray consisting of a bottom and four side walls, the latter being joined to each other in pairs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a tray which, apart from use for conveying, storing and/or serving foodstuffs, can also be used for foodstuffs intended to be heated in an oven, e.g. an electronic oven, such that the tray is easy to handle after being heated without the handler receiving burn injuries, due to two opposing side walls thereof being provided with handles extending along them. As a result of the way the handles are formed, they are very comfortable to grip while giving great stability to the whole tray at the same time, which is particularly important when the tray has a large bottom surface, e.g. when being used for pizzas. The comfortable grips is a result of the special manner of attachment of the handles at the corner portions of the tray.

This object is achieved by means of the present invention, which provides a tray of the kind described above, and which is essentially distinguished by the fact that two of its opposing side walls are extended at their upper edges with flaps bent outwards and downwards at an angle of less than 90.degree. to the plane of the side wall, where they are fixed in that dependent position to a projection on the respective adjacent side wall. The projection constitutes an extension of the latter wall and, starting from the upper edge of the side wall at the respective corner portion of the tray, extends a predetermined distance, preferably at the same angle as the flap, returning thereafter towards the side wall plane to end at the bottom corner of the tray, the flaps thus forming two opposingly disposed handles along the walls on the outside of the tray.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will now be described in detail while referring to the attached drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a tray in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blank for forming the tray illustrated in FIG. 1 and;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken through one of the side walls provided with a handle at a point near the head of the wall.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The tray 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is preferably manufactured from carton or similar stiff material, which is preferably coated on at least one side with a plastic film, e.g. polyester, resistent to high temperature. The tray 1 has a bottom 2 and four side walls 3,4,5,6, joined to each other in pairs. Two opposing side walls 4,6 are each extended at their upper edges as a flap 7, folded at an angle less than 90.degree., and preferably about 45.degree., to the plane of the side wall 4,6. The flap 7 is fixed in this angular position by being secured to an extension of the respective side wall 3,5 which has the form of a triangular projection 8, situated outside the plane of the respective side wall 4,6. Each projection 8 has an upper edge 14, extending from the top of the side wall 4,6 to the top of the side wall 4,6 to the apex of the triangle (i.e. the point of the projection 8 which extends farthest outward laterally), and a lower edge 13 extending from the apex to the bottom of the side wall 4,6. The flaps 7 forming the handles of the tray 1 are preferably fixed, by means of heat-sealing or gluing performed, subsequent to a special folding operation described in detail below, against the upper edge 14 of the projection 8, the downwardly directed slope of the upper edge 14 being the same as that of the flap 7 in relation to the plane of the side walls 4,6.

By means of crease lines, the blank in FIG. 2 is divided into a bottom 2 and four side walls 3,4,5,6. The side walls 4,6 are continuous with flaps 7 from which they are separated by crease lines 32. Flaps 7 are each continuous with a further flap 17 from which they are separated by crease lines 18. Flaps 17 provide positional fixation and extra stabilization of the handles in a manner described below. Between the side walls 3,5 and 4,6 and flaps 7 there are side areas 10, connecting areas 16 and corner joining areas 19,20, all of which are articulatedly connected to each other and to the side walls 3-6 and flaps 7 along crease lines 11,12,15,21,22,23 and 24. The side walls 3,5 can also be provided with an edge flap 27 articulated along crease lines 28 and 31, this flap 27 having an area 29 intended for folding into the corner structure of the tray 1 by means of crease lines 30 and 31.

The blank illustrated in FIG. 2 is erected so that the side areas 10 are brought into engagement with the inside of the projections 8, the side areas 10 completely covering the extension of the side walls 3,5, since they have the same form and area. The edge flaps 27 are thereafter folded in, with their associated triangular end areas 29, along the crease lines 31,28, 31 into abutment against the side walls 3,5 and joining areas 16, if this has not been done at an earlier stage. The flaps 7 are then bent down to form a predetermined angle with the plane of the side walls 4,6 while simultaneously the corner joining areas 19,20 and the areas 16 and 29 are folded in along the crease lines 21,22,15,30 into mutual engagement, the end flaps 17 finally being folded 180.degree. along their crease lines 18 into abutment against the underside of the handle, the respective area and flap lying against each other in the order relative to each other which will be seen from the cross section illustrated in FIG. 3. From FIG. 3 it can also be seen how the edge portions 25 and 26, formed by the folds illustrated in FIG. 2 along the crease lines 24,18, are placed in relation to each other.