Serving tray

The invention relates to a serving tray, comprising a substantially flat bearing surface for bearing products thereon.

Such a serving tray is generally known and is often provided with a barrier extending along the perimeter of the bearing surface.

What is disadvantageous about the known serving tray is that the physical load during serving with the serving tray is high.

Research has shown that, in particular, carrying out short cyclic tasks is one of the greatest risk factors with respect to absence through illness in the hotel and catering industry. During serving up with the current serving trays, the wrist joint located under the serving tray is, as it were, fixed and the elbow cannot be stretched without the serving tray losing its horizontal orientation. As a result, the user needs to compensate in the back, the hips or the knees to bring the serving tray to table height.

From the prior art, a number of special hand-held serving trays are known with which gripping with the hand is facilitated.

DE 1 682 747 and G 6 9013038 describe a hand-held serving tray with a substantially flat bearing surface which is provided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess which is provided with a thickening for gripping the serving tray with the hand.

GB 2 282 746 describes a plate which is provided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess which is provided with a thickening for gripping the plate with the hand.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,474 and FR 2 532 883 describe a serving tray provided with receiving openings, which is provided with a flat-edged gripping opening for gripping the serving tray with the hand.

The invention contemplates a conventional serving tray of the type stated in the introduction, with which the physical load during serving can be reduced.

To this end, the invention provides a serving tray, comprising a substantially flat bearing surface for bearing products thereon, which bearing surface is provided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess, while, at the location of the recess, a supporting surface directed substantially upwards and outwards with respect to the bearing surface is provided for supporting the wrist or upper arm of a user of the serving tray during use.

Due to the combination of recess and supporting surface, the physical load during serving out can be reduced considerably. In particular, the recess provides the user with more freedom of movement in the wrist joint during serving out. Due to this movement possibility, the whole arm gets more freedom of movement, so that fewer or no compensations need to be carried out with the rest of the body to bring the serving tray to table height. The supporting edge at the recess directed obliquely upwards and outwards acts as a support for the wrist during serving out, so that the total supporting surface is enlarged and the stability of the serving tray is better guaranteed. Further, this supporting edge directed upwards and outwards prevents the wrist joint from turning too much. During serving, the wrist joint is thus prevented from being able to get into a less favorable end position for receiving the load.

Further, due to the combination of the recess and the supporting edge directed obliquely upwards and outwards, the upper arm can be received in the recess and be supported by the supporting edge, so that the serving tray can be supported on the forearm. Thus, the center of gravity of the serving tray can be brought considerably closer to the body than normally, so that the physical load can be reduced greatly.

Due to these two ergonomic advantages during serving out and supporting, the physical load can be reduced, and the risk of physical complaints and fatigue can be reduced. Further, the serving out will proceed more efficiently. Also, with the aid of recess and supporting surface, it is achieved that the stability during serving out and supporting the serving tray is enhanced, so that the user loses less energy to correcting and compensating movements, and the risk of spilling and/or damage to crockery can be reduced.

In an advantageous manner, the supporting surface can be part of a barrier extending along the perimeter of the bearing surface.

The invention also relates to a serving tray comprising a substantially flat bearing surface for bearing products, which bearing surface is provided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess for accommodating the user\'s wrist during use when he places his hand under the bearing surface for support.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in a drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a detail of a serving tray according to the invention in which the recess and supporting edge are well visible;

FIG. 2a shows a schematic perspective view of a user during serving out with a conventional serving tray;

FIG. 2b shows a schematic perspective view of a user during serving out with the serving tray of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic side elevational view in detail of the serving tray of FIG. 1 during serving out;

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Special receptacle or package

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