US 10,139,153 B2Granted

Food storage system and method

OwnerMelody Ann Furrinventor

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Abstract

A system for easy organizing and storing of food items within a refrigerator or cooling unit comprising one or more stackable modular assemblies each having a housing unit and one or more slidably insertable drawers having flexible substantially transparent or translucent drawer covers and are configured for containing a variety of rearrangeable and removeable food storage trays. Each housing is vented to increase air circulation at drawer bottom, sides and back. Each drawer is easily removeable from the housing and may be used as a serving tray. Each drawer cover may be positioned on the peripheral support edge of the drawer to seal the drawer as well as the open trays positioned therein without inhibiting movement of the drawer within the housing. A user can easily identify food within the drawer, partially slide the drawer from the container, and lift the drawer cover to access food items quickly.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A food storage system comprising:

one or more modular assemblies having a housing unit having top, bottom, sides and back each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior space wherein the interior surfaces accept one or more drawers,
the one or more drawers having an interior portion with front, back, bottom and sides each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior storage space and having a drawer top peripheral edge and a drawer peripheral support edge, the one or more drawers being accessible from a substantially open top and configured to receive a plurality of trays,
each of the drawer front, back and sides having a top and bottom edge,
one or more drawer covers having bottom and top surfaces manufactured from a translucent material selected from the group consisting of silicone, rubber or vinyl,
one or more trays positioned within the one or more drawers, each tray having a front, back, bottom and sides and defining an interior storage space and having a tray top peripheral edge,
wherein the tray top peripheral edge of the one or more trays is substantially the same height as the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers when the one or more trays are positioned within the interior storage space of the one or more drawers,
wherein the bottom surface of each of the one or more drawer covers is smooth and seals the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers as well as the tray top peripheral edge of the one or more trays positioned within the storage space of the one or more drawers via direct contact between the bottom surface of the drawer covers and the top peripheral edges of the trays;
wherein each drawer cover is able to seal the drawer peripheral support edge and the tray top peripheral edges regardless of the shape or dimension of the tray top peripheral edges;
and
wherein the one or more drawer covers are configured to be removed from the housing.

7 more elements

A method for storing food using a food storage system comprising one or more modular assemblies having a housing unit having tip, bottom, sides and back each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior space wherein the interior surfaces accept one or more drawers, the one or more drawers having an interior portion with front, back, bottom and sides each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior storage space and having a drawer top peripheral edge and a drawer peripheral support edge, the one or more drawers being accessible from a substantially open top and configured to receive a plurality of trays, each of the drawer front, back and sides having a top and bottom edge, one or more drawer covers having bottom and top surfaces manufactured from a translucent material selected from the group consisting of silicone, rubber or vinyl, one or more trays positioned within the one or more drawers, each tray having a front, back, bottom and sides and defining an interior storage space and having a tray to peripheral edge, wherein the tray tp peripheral edge of the one or more trays is substantially the same height as the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers when the one or more trays are positioned within the interior storage space of the one or more drawers, wherein the bottom surface os each of the one or more drawers is smooth and seals the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers as well as the tray top peripheral edge of the one or more trays positioned within the storage space of the one or more drawers via direct contact between the bottom surface of the drawer covers and the top peripheral edges of the trays;

wherein each drawer cover is able to seal the drawer peripheral support edge and the tray top peripheral edges regardless of the shape or dimensions of the tray top peripheral edges;
and wherein the one or more drawer covers are configured to be removed from the housing, consisting of the following steps:
positioning one or more modular assemblies on a shelf of a refrigerator,
placing food in one or more trays,
sliding a drawer out of the housing unit and lifting a portion of the flexible drawer cover to access the interior storage space of the drawers without dislodging the seal between the remaining portion of the flexible drawer cover and the drawer,
positioning the one or more trays in the drawer,
placing the cover down on the drawer, and
sliding the drawer back into the housing unit.

5 more elements

A method for removing food stored in a storage system comprising one or more modular assemblies having a housing unit having tip, bottom, sides and back each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior space wherein the interior surfaces accept one or more drawers, the one or more drawers having an interior portion with front, back, bottom and sides each having interior and exterior surfaces and defining an interior storage space and having a drawer top peripheral edge and a drawer peripheral support edge, the one or more drawers being accessible from a substantially open top and configured to receive a plurality of trays, each of the drawer front, back and sides having a top and bottom edge, one or more drawer covers having bottom and top surfaces manufactured from a translucent material selected from the group consisting of silicone, rubber or vinyl, one or more trays positioned within the one or more drawers, each tray having a front, back, bottom and sides and defining an interior storage space and having a tray to peripheral edge, wherein the tray tp peripheral edge of the one or more trays is substantially the same height as the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers when the one or more trays are positioned within the interior storage space of the one or more drawers, wherein the bottom surface os each of the one or more drawers is smooth and seals the drawer peripheral support edge of the one or more drawers as well as the tray top peripheral edge of the one or more trays positioned within the storage space of the one or more drawers via direct contact between the bottom surface of the drawer covers and the top peripheral edges of the trays;

wherein each drawer cover is able to seal the drawer peripheral support edge and the tray top peripheral edges regardless of the shape or dimensions of the tray top peripheral edges;
and wherein the one or more drawer covers are configured to be removed from the housing, consisting of the following steps:
sliding a drawer partially out of the housing unit,
lifting the drawer cover by holding a drawer cover handle connected with the drawer cover and lifting longitudinally to provide access to a portion of the interior of the drawer defined anywhere along the entire length of the drawer from front to back, and
removing contents from the drawer without disengaging the seal between the bottom of the drawer cover and the drawer peripheral support edge along the remaining portion of the drawer.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/134,296Filed 20 Apr 2016 · continuation
Priority: 11 Oct 2014
Published: US 2016/0231048 A111 Aug 2016
Granted: 27 Nov 2018
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification14 codes

F25D 25/025
Slidable shelves: drawers
A47B 47/0091
Cabinets, racks or shelf units, characterised by features related to dismountability or building-up from elements: modular arrangements of similar…
A47B 88/407
Sliding drawers; Slides or guides therefor: adjustably or detachably mounted drawers
F25D 23/00
General constructional features

Family

Application14/512,416Parent of this continuation · filed 11 Oct 2014
US 2016/0231048 A1Pre-grant publication · published 11 Aug 2016
US 9,353,989 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2015/0102717 A1Published application
US 10,139,153 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.