Who invented the cafeteria tray

Always keep balance and not overloaded when carrying a tray. Heavy, high items and hot items must be close to the body of service staff. Empty trays must be carried flat, in the service position. They provide a flat surface for serving up snacks and drinks but they also provide a neat and tidy space for TV remotes and coasters. But you can also use them as a display area for decor on a coffee table. The main difference between salvers and silver trays is an obvious one; trays have handles, and salvers do not.

Trays are also often much larger than salvers. In , Swanson sold more than 10 million units, and the next year, 25 million. The TV tray became an essential furniture item in many American homes. Most models with TV trays can only support up pounds. If you need a product that can handle more weight, we reviewed basic couch stand assists that have higher weight restrictions.

The tray size and weight restriction is another important thing to note. The Tray Side Table is available in various sizes with overall heights of And instead of those original aluminum trays, the dinners are made with microwavable plates. Frozen meal, any of the complete meals or portions of meals that are precooked, assembled into a package, and frozen for retail sale.

They are popular among consumers because they provide a diverse menu and are convenient to prepare. When loading the tray, secure the tray on your left hand. Your hand should be flat and your fingers should be spread out with only the tips of your fingers raised to support the base of the tray. Aquamarine Rings.

Essentially a tray is a flat, shallow container made of wood, metal or a combination of the two, used for carrying or displaying food or drink related items. The earliest example of a tray that we are able to verify the age of is an Etruscan black earthenware tray, said to date from the 7th or 6th century B.

Pre-Roman times. There is no certainty the Etruscan tray is the oldest in existence, but it does suggest that the concept of a tray is an ancient one, existing millennia before they became commonplace in aristocratic and wealthy homes. The serving tray as we know it today is an evolution of the salver, which was a term used in England from the mid-seventeenth century to denote a flat tray, usually made of silver.

The salver was used to indicate that this process had taken place and that the food or drink was now fit for a king. Salvers are essentially trays without handles, with some salver designs also incorporating feet. English, Irish and Scottish silver salvers date back to the early seventeenth century.

Samuel Pepys - is recorded as an owner of a salver, signifying his high social standing. During the eighteenth century, the popular style of the tray was a plain oval shape, featuring reeded moulding and loop handles.

By the nineteenth century, carrying handles were being added to large-sized salvers, to accommodate the increasingly weighty tea and coffee services which were preferred by the members of society with higher social standing. In the early nineteenth century, long, oblong trays became fashionable. This provides more security, preventing items being carried from slipping, or tipping off the surface of the tray. Victorian trays were heavily ornamented, to adhere to the style of many pieces of silverware and homeware at this time.

Decoration can vary from heavy, detailed baroque styling to subtle, modern, art deco shapes and styles. At AC Silver, we have a wide variety of types and styles of tray to suit every need and home. Abstract: A combination plate and cup holding apparatus, comprising a plate support for supporting a plate, an arcuate retaining member secured to the plate support to receive therein and support the edge of the plate, a cup support secured to the annular retaining member for supporting a cup adjacent the edge of the arcuate retaining member, and a handle secured to the plate support and having one or more finger-grippable members which enable the apparatus to easily be held with one hand by finger-gripping the grippable members while the thumb rests on the edge of the plate, thereby continually urging the plate into the arcuate retaining member.

Date of Patent: May 5, Assignee: John C. Inventor: John c. Masonry hawk. Abstract: A hawk or mortarboard device to be carried with one arm while working, designed to be supported in two areas, i. Filed: August 1, Date of Patent: November 26, Inventor: James I. Food and beverage snack tray.

Abstract: A food and beverage snack tray comprising a substantially flat tray bottom having an inclined peripheral side wall extending upwardly from the periphery thereof including a beverage container receptacle and food receiving area separated by an arcuate separator element and a pair of digit slots formed in the inclined peripheral side wall to selectively receive the thumb and index finger of a user's hand to permit the user to grasp a beverage container disposed within the beverage container receptacle adjacent the digit slots and to receive food in the food receiving area isolating the food from the beverage while holding the food and beverage snack tray.

Filed: February 14, Date of Patent: October 30, Inventor: Robert W. Lettuce packer. Abstract: A lettuce packing machine for the packing of heads of lettuce in corrugated, carboard cartons is disclosed.

A lettuce head holding tray is loaded with lettuce. Thereafter, the tray is utilized to pack cartons. The lettuce head holding trays has discrete lettuce receiving cells upwardly exposed.

Each tray contains four columns of cells, each column of cells being three wide for a capacity of 12 heads of lettuce. Each discrete lettuce receiving cell in the tray is defined by four semirigid, flexible sides, which sides extend downwardly and inwardly, are elastically biased and form an inverted pyramid-like profile truncated at an open bottom.

The lettuce head holding tray is loaded at a picking station and conveyed to a packing station. When the lettuce head holding tray arrives at the packing station, a packing apparatus having discrete plungers--one for each cell--unloads the tray overlying a box to be packed.

Filed: February 24, Date of Patent: December 5, Assignee: Bud of California. Inventors: Leon P. Ventura, Javier Diaz-Infante. Oven pan holder and combination of oven pan holder with oven pan. Abstract: An aluminum foil oven pan and a wire holding frame therefor is disclosed.

The holding frame comprises generally co-planar pan support portions extending beneath the bottom wall of the pan. The pan support portions have upwardly extending lateral portions for restraining the side wall of the pan.

Some of the portions terminate in retaining members for being bent over to grip the pan rim. Other portions are provided with handle means whereby a retained pan may be easily lifted with the holding frame so that the user need not touch the pan during cooking procedures and whereby the risk of buckling the pan and spilling the contents therefrom is eliminated.

Filed: July 25, Date of Patent: August 1, Assignee: Ensar Corporation. Inventors: Norton Sarnoff, Carl R. Hand-held article carrier. Abstract: A hand-held load-carrying apparatus for use by one or two persons includes a length adjustable carrier frame mounting opposed, handle-equipped end assemblies. The apparatus is particularly advantageous for carrying relatively heavy objects up and down stairs or ramps, around corners in stairwells, and along spiral staircases. The ready adjustment of the pivotally mounted handles to a selected position assures that a user maintains the most comfortable upright posture that is physiologically preferred to support the spine in a position intended to minimize backstrain and other injury.

Filed: May 13, Date of Patent: July 26, Inventor: Celestino Gonzalez. Food and beverage tray. Abstract: A service tray for holding food and drink which can be held in one hand. The tray has a bottom which defines an arcuate gripping edge along a portion of the periphery of the tray bottom.

The edge is dimensioned to permit a user of the tray to grasp a beverage container between the thumb and index finger of one hand of the user. The user's remaining fingers support the underside surface of the tray bottom which thereby enables the user to firmly grip the tray.

The tray is also provided with an upwardly extending C-shaped sidewall which bounds and adjoins the remaining portion of the tray bottom's periphery. The sidewall serves to prevent articles having been placed on the tray from sliding off of the tray. Construction of the tray is such that it can be manufactured in one step without subsequent machining or cutting steps.

Filed: March 5, Date of Patent: May 17, Inventors: Charles E. Bauman, Barbara M. Food carrier assembly. Abstract: The food carrier assembly comprises a container for holding a food product with a structure for grasping the container to support the container while transporting the assembly.

A handle mechanism is disposed on the grasping section for carrying the container as a compact carrier assembly for the good product. A specific feature of the invention has the container shaped as a pan to receive a plurality of cupcakes.

A lid portion on the container has a structural configuration for stacking a second container on top of the lid portion to provide an upper and lower container.

The handle structure includes a hand gripping portion with coupling members located at each end thereof for attaching to the grasping configuration on a plurality of stacked containers.

Filed: September 17, Date of Patent: September 22, Inventor: Rita J. Rigid place mat. Abstract: The invention relates to a rigid place mat, which is used as an individual tray or support for dishes or drinking vessels on a table or in the lap. The place mat comprises a flexible cloth, in which there is formed by means of sewing, gluing or some corresponding method a pouchlike case. Into this case there is arranged a rigid plate as a stiffener of the place mat. Filed: June 18, Date of Patent: September 8, Assignee: Oy Wartsila Ab.

Inventor: Kurt Pousar. Dual level grid assembly for a container. Abstract: A food storage and preparation device including a container assembly and a grid assembly. The grid assembly includes a tray and handle arrangement which is pivotable between a first position wherein the tray is adjacent the base of the container and a second position wherein the tray is positioned above the base forming a dual level arrangement with space for foodstuffs below and above the tray.

The device further includes a detent arrangement for maintaining the handles in the first and second positions. Filed: June 29, Date of Patent: September 2, Assignee: Dart Industries Inc.

Inventors: Robert H. Daenen, Victor J. Abstract: A demountable tray assembly comprises a cruciform base 3 supporting a pair of upright spaced-apart pillars 4 connected at the top by a carrying handle. A stack of trays 2 are located on the base by the pillars which pass through the trays mid-way between their ends, endwise or sideways movement of the trays thus being prevented. Spacers may be provided to maintain the trays in vertically spaced-apart relationship. Filed: October 18, Date of Patent: March 4, Inventor: Leonard A.

Protective pad. Abstract: A protective pad includes a sheet of flexible material. A plurality of fasteners are spaced around the edge of the sheet in the corners, and adjacent fasteners can be attached to each other.

When the fasteners are attached, the edge of the sheet is forced upward slightly to form a lip around the top face of the pad to retain soil, debris and water. When the fasteners are not attached, the flexible material lies flat.

Handles across opposite corners are used to fold the pad and to carry it. Filed: March 9, Date of Patent: February 19, Inventor: Terrence P. Collapsible pensile food carrier. Abstract: A collapsible pensile food carrier is provided that comprises slidably engaged beverage support members adapted to receive and transport a plurality of drinking cups and having a foldable auxiliary food transport pouch suspended therefrom.

A kit comprising the subject collapsible pensile food carrier in combination with a storage pouch is also provided. Filed: February 10, Date of Patent: December 25, Inventor: Alfonso E. Martinez, Sr. Semiconductor substrate handling tray. Abstract: A generally trough-like elongated element is formed of quartz glass, open at the top, in which the side walls 2 which, preferably, have inclined portions 4 merging with the bottom wall 1 of the trough, are formed with through-slits 3 , and the bottom wall is formed with slots 5 cut therein, leaving, however, the end portions solid and uncut; the end portions are formed with positioning or alignment notches 6 extending in a direction transverse to the bottom wall which, preferably, is formed with a recess or notch for engagement with a transport apparatus.

The side walls preferably have holes extending, in longitudinal alignment, through the solid end portions to permit passage of the tines of a handling fork 8 therethrough. The slits 3 and the slots 5 provide for three-point suspension of disk or plate-like semiconductor substrates for handling and introduction, for example, into a treatment or diffusion furnace or tube. Filed: April 18, Date of Patent: October 16, Assignee: Heraeus Quarzschmelze GmbH.

Inventor: Karl A. Trays for credit card transactions and the like. Abstract: A tray-like structure is proposed for use in such as a restaurant for presenting a credit card slip to a customer for signature, the structure comprising a flat broad thin body having shallow rectangular recesses in the flat upper surface thereof to receive the credit card and the credit card slip in adjacent disposition with their left lateral edges in rectilinear alignment so that the specimen signature on the card is adjacent the signature on the signed credit card slip.

Each recess or a part thereof has a depth which reduces to zero at one edge, the part may be a ramp at a corner of the recess. A pen recess, also having reducing depth towards one end, finger gripping recesses in opposed lateral edges of the tray, and a further recess opening into an edge of the body for receiving documents therein, may also be provided. Filed: December 12, Date of Patent: October 19,