MATCHABLE PLATE FOR BEING USED AS A CLOSED CONTAINER

The present invention concerns a matchable plate for being used as a closed container. More in particular the invention refers to a plate the form of which allows the coupling with a second plate of the same kind, suitably rotated with respect to the first plate so to form a closed container, symmetrical with respect to the contact surface of the two plates.

The invention refers to the field of tableware, in particular for situations during which it is needed to distribute food to a high number of people and both in emergency situations and in situations such as parties or with many guests and is intended to provide a solution to the totality of needs occuring when, after having food, part of said food is nevertheless left and it is necessary to have containers suitable for its storage and/or transport. In particular, the invention is intended to provide for a device that allows, in those situations during with food was eaten and was left, such as for example at the end of a party, a banquet or another event, for packaging the left food for those hosts whishing to take away some, or for storing some in a refrigerator or where it can be preserved in view of a future consumption.

The invention is further intended for protecting food in those situations in which it would be exposed to external agents (environmental or animal agents) that could compromise its integrity, such as for example in cases in which food, sinimply put on a plate, would rest at the mercy of insect, excessive sunlight or rain.

At present, in order to grant the packaging for transportation and conservation of food use is made of containers that can be closed with lids, while in order to serve and eat the same food use is made of plates. Both the containers and the plates can be realised of different materials, glass, porcelain, baked clay and, for more informal situations, plastics.

Even in the case of containers and plates made of plastics, requiring for a lower attention during their use, since they are less expensive (in fact they are used only once) and less subject to breaking than plates made of other materials, the user is nevertheless obliged to use, and therefore to have already bought, a plurality of different products, with a consequent rise in expenses and impediment.

In this context it is presented the solution according to the present invention, with the aim of providing for an improved plate with respect to its form of realisation, so to be used both as a plate of traditional kind, and, together with another plate of the same kind, as a container. These and other results are obtained according to the present invention by proposing a plate that can be piled with other plates of the same kind forming a pile according to the same method already known for traditional plates, that can be used for eating as a traditional plate and that is modified so to be used, together with another plate of the same kind, as a container that can be closed, one of the two plates acting as the base and the other as the lid of the container.

In this way, it will be possible to satisfy the different needs listed above by being provided with a suitable number of plates identical to each other, that can nevertheless used for different functions. Analogously, the plates according to the present invention, since they can be used both for the distribution and the storage of food, with respect to plates of a traditional kind, present the advantage of allowing for the reduction or the containment of the production of wastes.

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to realise a plate/container allowing to overcome the limits of the plates and containers according to the prior art and to achieve the previously described technical results.

Further aim of the invention is the fact that said plate can be realised with substantially reduced costs, with reference both to the production costs and to the storage and use costs.

Not last aim of the invention is to realise a plate/container which is substantially simple, and accomplishing its functions in a safe and reliable way.

It is therefore a specific object of the present invention a plate comprised of an upper border, a bottom and lateral walls wherein said upper border is divided in an even number of border portions on which a female coupling element or a corresponding male coupling element are respectively provided.

According to the invention, said female coupling elements can be constituted by two reliefs extending side by side all along the border portion and defining a seat, while said male coupling element is comprised of a single relief, the dimensions of which are suitable for being inserted by

interference inside said seat extending all along the border portion and preferably said female coupling elements are provided with an inlet draft in correspondence of their extremity, the form and dimension of which are fitted to an enlarged portion at the extremity of the corresponding male coupling elements.

Further, according to the present invention, reference notches can be present in correspondence of the portions of the upper border wherein the portions provided with female coupling element and the portions provided with male coupling element face each other. Finally, according to the invention, tongues are provided in correspondence of the portions of the upper border wherein the portions provided with female coupling element and the portions provided with male coupling element face each other said tongues having an asymmetrical profile and stretching out from the perimeter of the upper border.

The present invention will now be described, for illustrative, non limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, with particular reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein:

- figure 1 shows a cross sectional view, along section line A-A of figure 2, of a plate according to the present invention,

- figure 2 shows a plan view of the plate of figure 1 ,

- figure 3 shows a lateral view of two plates according to the present invention, partially rotated with respect to each other,

- figure 4 shows a lateral view of the two plates of figure 3, further rotated with respect to each other,

- figure 5 shows a lateral view of the two plates of figure 3, completely rotated with respect to each other,

- figure 6 shows a sectional view of a portion of the opposed upper borders of two plates according to the present invention, completely rotated with respect to each other,

- figure 7 shows a plan view of two plates according to the invention completely rotated with respect to each other and put one on another in order to form a container,

- figure 8 shows a lateral view of a portion of two plates according to the invention, completely rotated with respect to each other and put one on another in order to form a container,

- figure 9 shows a lateral view of a magnified particular of a portion of the border of the two plates of figure 8,

- figure 10 shows a sectional view of a portion of the opposed upper borders of two plates according to the present invention, completely rotated with respect to each other, before their coupling,

- figure 11 shows a sectional view of a portion of the opposed upper borders of the two plates of figure 11 , during their coupling,

- figure 12 shows a sectional view of a portion of the opposed upper borders of the two plates of figure 11 , coupled. - figure 13 shows a lateral view of the two plates of figure 3, completely rotated with respect to each other, having bent lateral tongues,

- figure 14 shows a plan view of a portion of the border of a plate according to the present invention,

- figure 15 shows a lateral view of a portion of two plates according to the invention, completely rotated with respect to each other and put one on another in order to form a container, the plates having bent lateral tongues,

- figure 16 shows a lateral view of two plates rotated with respect to each other and put one on another in order to form a container during the opening of the container, and

- figure 17 shows a plurality of plates according to the present invention, put one on another in order to form a pile.

Reference being preliminarily made to figures 1 and 2, an improved plate according to the present invention is indicated as a whole by the numeric reference 10 and its structure as a whole can be compared to that of plates that are usually on the market, i. e. it is comprised of an upper border 11 , a bottom 12 and a lateral wall 13.

The upper border 11 of the plate according to the present invention is modified so to form two border portions 11A and 11B, different and complementary to each other. In fact, on the upper surface of the border portion 11A, a female coupling element 14 is provided, while on the upper surface of the border portion 11 B, a male coupling element 15 is provided, complementary with respect to the female coupling element 14. In particular, the female coupling element 14 is comprised of two reliefs extending side by side all along the border portion 11A and defining a seat 16, while the male coupling element 15 is comprised of a single relief extending all along the border portion 11 B. In the plate shown with

reference to figure 2, portions 11A and 11B respectively take up the two opposed halves of the surface of the upper border 11. In correspondence of the two portions of the upper border 11 wherein the portions 11A and 11B face each other, two reference notches 17 are respectively provided. Preferably, each of the notches 17 is realised on the border of a corresponding tongue 18, stretching out from the perimeter of the upper border 11.

The plates 10 according to the present invention can be made of different materials, among those that a person skilled in the art can choose on the basis of the requirements of the product.

The method of using the plates 10 according to the present invention is explained with reference to figures 3 - 17.

In particular, the plates 10 of the invention can be piled such as any traditional plate. According to figures 3 - 5, a plate 10, previously piled on a plate 10' below, is lifted and gradually rotated until it oppose the upper surface of its upper border 11 to the upper border 11' of the plate 10' below. By suitably rotating the plate 10, it will oppose its border portion 11A, on which its female coupling element 14 is provided, to the upper surface of the border portion 11 B' of the plate 10', on which the male coupling element 15' is provided. At the same time, the border portion 11B of the first plate, on which its male coupling element 15 is provided, will oppose the border portion 11 A' of the plate 10', on which the female coupling element 14' is provided.

As shown in figure 6, in this way the respective coupling elements oppose one another. In order to grant the right relative position of the two plates 10 and 10', it will be sufficient to lineup the corresponding reference notches 17 and 17', as shown in figure 7 and in particular in figures 8 and 9. These last figures also show that, in order to make the coupling easier, the female coupling elements 14, 14' are provided with an inlet draft in correspondence of their extremity, the form and dimension of which is fitted to an enlarged portion at the extremity of the corresponding male coupling elements 15', 15.

In order to make easier the detection of the position of the reference notches 17, 17', and further in order to help in applying the necessary pressure for the coupling of the two plates 10, 10', on the border of each plate 10, 10' are respectively provided tongues 18, 18', in correspondence of the portion of the upper border 11, 11' identifying the

transition from the border portion 11 A, 11A ¹ and the border portion 11 B, 11 B'. Figure 7 further shows the hands of a user closing the container formed by the two plates 10 and 10'.

Figures 10 - 12 show how the coupling of the corresponding coupling elements is made easier by the flexibility of the reliefs defining the seats 16, 16' of the corresponding female coupling elements 14, 14'. Applying with the fingers a little pressure on the point wherein the reference notches 17, 17' correspond, the enlarged portion of the male coupling element 15, 15' adheres to the draft of the opposed female coupling element 14', 14 and, keeping applying pressure, making the fingers of the hand 19 slide all around the upper borders 11 , 11' of the two plates put one on another, the relief forming the male coupling element 15, 15' is inserted all over its length inside the seat 16', 16 of the opposed female coupling element 14', 14, thus forming a closed container, sealed with respect to the external.

The tongues 18, 18" further have the function of making easier the opening of the container. In fact, their form, which is asymmetrical with respect to the position of the reference notches 17, 17', constitute, for each of the two plates 10, 10', two portions of tongues stretching out with respect to the tongues of the opposed plate and that can be used as the point on which to apply the lifting of the tongues 18, 18' and the respective separation of the plates 10, 10'.

The present invention was described for illustrative, non limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it has to be understood that any variation and/or modification can be made by the persons skilled in the art without escaping from the relative scope of protection, as defined by the enclosed claims.