Container and utility tray

Abstract

A combination container and utility tray in which a tray is supported in and secured to an outer container. The interrelationship of the tray and the container together with the design of the tray is such as to permit the tray to be thermally formed of otherwise unacceptably thin sheet material thus saving in amount of materials used with resulting reduction in manufacturing costs while still providing a convenient and firm support for shipping and use of articles. The firmness of support is achieved by forming around the periphery of the tray a downwardly extending flange and forming in the main body of the tray a plurality of depressions for holding different objects with some of the depressions having a depth such that the bottom of the depression is in the same plane as the edge of the downwardly extending flange. The tray is held in a cardboard container having a bottom and sides, the cardboard container being only slightly larger than the tray so that the downwardly extending flange of the tray contacts the sides of the container with the bottom of the deeper depressions resting on the bottom of the container and being secured thereto. The tray, which is designed for storing and holding articles used in tooth treatment including stacked mixing trays and fluid containing vials, is formed with specially designed depressions for these articles. The depressions for the stacked mixing trays have an access through the side of the tray with their bottoms being secured to the bottom of the container. The depressions for the vials are in the form of wells each having a shallow portion, which fits the outer contour of the vial when in a prone position and a deeper portion which fits the contour of the base of thevial and is adapted to support the vial in an upright position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.