Lunch pack

2,575,299

Filed Nov. 26, 1946

J. SCHEEL

LUNCH PACK

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Patented Nov. 13, 1951

2,575,299

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,575,299

LUNCH PACK

Julius Scheel, Houston, Tex., assignor of one-half to Manuel Blanco P., Houston, Tex.

Application November 26, 1946, Serial No. 712,461

Claim. (Cl. 126—261)

This invention relates to a lunch pack and has particular relation to a portable lunch pack. . An object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character described having separate containers for different kinds of food β which, when assembled, are completely closed with an outer casing for maintaining the assembled containers therein as -a unit and by means of which they may be readily transported.

: .It is another object of the present invention 10 to provide a lunch pack of the character described which is provided with an oven for containing a heating unit whereby heat may be circulated entirely about the assembled unit of food containers, so that they will be heated uni- 15 formly when desired.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lunch pack of the character described wherein the food containers are so assembled as a unit that they may be lifted, as 20 a unit, out of the surrounding casing when it is desired to render the food in the various containers accessible.

The lunch pack herein described has been designed more particularly for outdoor use for 25 hunting, picnicking and similar uses.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following specification which is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical, sectional view of the assembled pack.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view of the upper end thereof.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the food container unit.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary, top plan view of the grip member, or bail, of said unit.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5—5 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 40 ings wherein like numerals of reference designate the same parts in each of the figures, the numeral I designates the oven portion of the outer casing. It may be of any shape but, in the present illustration, it is shown as cylindrical. 45 It has a number of inwardly projecting supporting lugs 2, spaced from the lower end thereof, three of said lugs being shown in the present illustration, although any selected number may be employed. They are spaced apart around the co oven.

The oven walls are provided with one or more openings 3 for draft purposes and for access in lighting the stove, or other heating unit, 4 located within the oven.

Extending across the bottom of the oven there is a plate 5 which is removably secured in place. For that purpose it may have the marginal upstanding lugs, as 6, provided with conventional J-slots to receive the studs 7 which project in wardly from the wall of the oven.

Mounted on the plate 5 there is a pan shaped support 8 for the stove 4·. This support is of suitable thickness and has the flexible upstanding fingers 9 secured thereto which grip the stove 4 to hold it in place.

The oven forms a part of the casing walls and extending upwardly from it and suitably secured to it are the enclosing walls 10 which, in the present illustration, are formed double with a layer of asbestos between them for heat retaining purposes.

The entire lunch pack, except for the asbestos, may be made of metal of any selected type, preferably, aluminum. The casing has a top, or cover, II which may be hinged thereto at one side by the hinge 12 and which is provided at the other side with a latch 13 for maintaining the cover closed.

This cover 11 is provided with a suitable grip member, or bail, 14 suitably secured to it by means of which the lunch pack may be readily carried about.

Mounted on the lugs 2, and preferably countersunk therein, there is a removable pan 15 of relative thick metal and secured to the opposite sides of this pan and upstanding therefrom, there are the straps 16.

)5 Hinged, at one end, to the upper end of one strap f6 there is a hand bail, or grip member, (7 which is of an inverted U-shape. The other end of the bail 17 is outwardly turned and provided with a T-slot 18.

The upper end of the other strap 16 has the T-head 19 thereon which may be inserted through the slot 18 and moved inwardly and thereby interlocked with the corresponding end of the bail 17.

There are the food containers 20. These containers are of similar shape and their upper ends are flared so that they may be nested on each other in a unit, as shown in Figure 1. The lower container of the nest seats in the pan 15.

When nested together a removable lid 2i is fitted onto the top container. When the grip member, or bail, 17, is latched in place one end of it clamps against the margin of the lid 21 and the other end thereof clamps against the mar55 gin of said lid on the other side so as to hold

2,575,299 the lid firmly in place and to hold the containers nested securely together.

The food containers 20 and the lid 21 form a unit which may be used independently of the oven and outer casing. 5

As will be noted in Figures 1 and 3, the grip member, or bail, Π is provided with a rib 22, formed from the material thereof and when the top, or cover, if, of the casing is latched in place it bears against said rib 22 so as to hold the container unit firmly in place in the pan 15.

It will be noted that the lugs 2 are spaced apart and that the container unit is spaced inwardly from the casing all the way around. Hot air from the stove 4 may therefore pass up between the 16 lugs 2 and all around the container unit so that the food in the different containers will be uniformly heated from the heat of the stove.

If the food is hot when the containers are nested together it will be protected from the out- 20 side temperatures and will remain in a heated condition for a reasonable period of time and it may not become necessary to reheat it but if it should be desired to reheat the food the stove 4 may be lighted and the reheating process 25 quickly accomplished.

The drawings and description are illustrative merely while the broad principle of the invention will be defined by the appended claim.