US 9,538,868 B1Granted

Food shield

AssigneeMetal Masters Foodservice Equipment Co., Inc.

InventorKenneth Shawn Christianson

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A food shield has shield panels that are location adjustable and angularly adjustable in respect of support structures (posts) that are coupled to a mounting surface, such as a surface of a buffet table or cart. For location adjustment of a shield panel along length of a post, a bracket assembly includes outer and inner collar portions, a grip element positioned between the outer and inner collar portions, and a tightening element that tightens the connection of the assembled collar against support posts. For angular adjustment, each bracket assembly includes an indexing base, a rotatable arm assembly with an indexing hub, and a removable or retractable coupling element. Side panels are mounted to the same posts as the shield panels with removable clamps that engage exterior surfaces of the posts. The removable clamps have multiple parts that are variously inverted for joining the clamps to posts at different orientations.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A food shield, comprising:

a shield panel support structure comprising at least one post, said post having an inverted U shape;
a side panel having a first face surface and an opposite face surface, a top edge and a bottom edge, said side panel joined to the at least one post of the shield panel support structure in a substantially vertical orientation with at least a first collar clamp, a second collar clamp and a third collar clamp, with each collar clamp defining a slot with slot faces that engage the first face surface and opposite face surface of the side panel near an edge thereof with sufficient clamping force to maintain the side panel in fixed position, and with curved inner surfaces that engage around more than one-half of the circumference of the post, wherein the first collar clamp is disposed at the bottom edge of the side panel and engages one vertically disposed portion of the post, the second collar clamp is disposed at the bottom edge of the side panel and engages another vertically disposed portion of the post, and the third collar clamp is disposed at the top edge of the side panel and engages a horizontally disposed portion of the post.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/072,396Filed 17 Mar 2016 · continuation
Priority: 2 Apr 2015
Granted: 10 Jan 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

A47F 10/06
Furniture or installations specially adapted to particular types of service systems, not otherwise provided for: for restaurant service systems
A47F 3/007
With glass panels: cases or cabinets of the counter type
A47F 2003/008
Cases or cabinets of the counter type: with pivoting front glass panel
A47F 2010/065
For restaurant service systems: food shields; sneeze guards

Family

Application14/677,232Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 2 Apr 2015
Application14/747,204Parent of this continuation · filed 23 Jun 2015
US 9,339,131 B1Parent of this continuation
US 9,326,621 B1Parent of this continuation-in-part
Application14/747,204Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 9,538,868 B1This patent

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