The present invention is directed to a device for transport of ice cream cones in vertical position. Said device comprises a container wherein one or more cones filled with ice cream can be allocated entirely and maintained in vertical position, and one or more removable support, lying on a transverse partition of the container; said supports having at least one hole each, preferably positioned centrically compared to said supports, and at least two folding lateral wings, preferably opposed, to handle ice cream cones and to facilitate inclusion inside the container and the removal from the same.

Each hole of the supports is preferably marked by folding flaps, such that the inclination of said folding flaps defines a variable dimension hole, indicated to maintain ice cream cones of different sizes.

Preferably, said container also includes: one horizontal base and one lower transverse partition, parallel to said base and to said upper transverse partition, said transverse partition being disposed at different high, with reference to said base, and including one or more holes, wherein it is possible to allocate one or more ice cream cones in vertical position.

Said container and said supports can be made of any appropriate food packaging material, such as for example, paper, cardboard or plastic materials (e.g. polystyrene). Preferably, said container and said supports are made of recycling material, more preferably made of paper or cardboard.

The present invention is also directed to use of the above mentioned device for conic or trunk-conical shape food transport and to an efficient method for transport ice cream-filled cones, as following described.

According to a recent analysis, each Italian consumes on average 15 kilos of ice-cream per year: the total turnover is of around 5 billion Euro, 60% of which relates to artisan ice-cream.

Artisan ice-cream is mainly consumed as cone ice-cream. Nevertheless, the speed with which ice-cream tends to melt when it is kept not refrigerated and the transport difficulties force consuming it around ice-cream shops. Transport of ice-cream cones, for example by the buyer for another person situated in a different place, is indeed extremely difficult and limited to small distances. Furthermore, for one single person it is possible to transport one or two ice-creams at most using one or both hands, without the possibility of putting down not even temporarily the cones.

Hence, take-away artisan ice-cream is preferably supplied in foam cups or bowls. Alternatively it is possible to transport empty cones to be filled later with ice-cream. Nevertheless there is no opportunity to transport already filled artisan ice-cream cones, from the buying place to another place, for example at home.

Between 1910 and 1935 several applications were filed directed to devices for ice-cream cones transport. Nevertheless all devices are imperfect and have limited use; hence, said devices have never spread out and until now endure the needed of supplying an efficient and versatile system for already filled ice-cream cones.

US 1,338,192 discloses a foldable device for ice-cream transport, made preferably of cardboard, consisting of a central unit with a handle and two supports, on opposite sides of central unit, with one or more holes to allocate ice-cream cones, so that they are essentially hanging transported, sustaining the device by the handle. Said device cannot be put down not even temporarily once filled with one or more ice-cream cones. US 1,140,540 discloses a foldable device to transport ice-cream cones, made preferably of cardboard. Before being assembled, said device includes a central portion having several opening and four lateral portions, substantially arranged in cross shape. Once the device is assembled, through folding, the central portion becames the base of the device, inside whose holes ice-cream cones are allocated, while lateral portions are closed upon the base. In the same way of US 1,338,192 device, ice-cream cones are thus hanging transported, protruding from the base. Said transport device where cones protrude from the base are disadvantageous, as they cannot be placed on a surface; furthermore the use of said devices is limited to those cones having the higher radius not smaller than the opening radius (thinking for example to so called mini-cones today available).

US 1,628,718 discloses a foldable container, for ice-cream cones transport, having a base and without any coverage. Ice-cream cones are entirely placed inside the container, held in place by an horizontal partition near the base of the container, having one or more holes made to receive cones tails. Said container clearly has a low stability, as the minimal device inclination should make the cones easily fall out as they are held on a level near the tails.

US 1,674,209 discloses a rigid container for ice-cream transport. Cones are transported being entirely placed inside the container, inserted through an horizontal partition that held them hanging in place. The partition is here positioned on the upper part of the box, so that the cone, inserted from the top, is held through said partition to a cone level next to ice-cream. Although the device looks better compared to US 1,628,718 device, a single partition makes in any case the transport not very firm. Furthermore, the ice-cream cone, held in place in a higher portion results more difficult to extract without touching the ice-cream.

Devices of known art therefore show several disadvantages, especially related to the current cones offer of sizes very different from one another.

The present invention supplies a device for the transport of ice-cream-filled cones, closed or partially closed, allowing the protection of the ice-cream cone from possible dust or soil and facilitating the thermal isolation, wherein the ice-cream cone is firm during transport and easy to extract from the container once arrived to the target place, avoiding any possible cone breaking. The device of the present invention can also be produced at low costs.

• Fig. 1: drawing of the supports and of the container of the device for ice-cream cones transport, according to a preferred embodiment. Universal holes of the supports are visible, marked by foldable tabs. Dotted lines indicate the fold lines to assemble the device.
• Fig. 2: Isometry of the opened container and support of fig. 1, with folding example to assemble the device.
• Fig. 3: prospective view of the support and the container of Fig. 1 partially assembled, according to a preferred embodiment. The support is represented with its wings folded upwards. The container is showed with partitions assembled, and the cover open.
• Fig. 4: prospective view of the assembled container of fig. 1, containing an ice-cream cone. The cover is folded forward with respect to the vertical opposite wall and closed through a binding tags of the cover inside the corresponding holes on the opposite vertical wall. The support presents two opposite wings to handle the cone, and two opposite wings perpendicular to the first ones and folded upwards, to held the support in place inside the container.
• Fig. 5: drawing of the supports and of the container of the device for transport of ice-cream cones according to a preferred embodiment, wherein the container includes one substantially rectangular horizontal base and four vertical walls, for each side of the horizontal base.
• Fig. 6: Isometry of opened container and support of fig. 5, with fold examples to assemble the device.
• Fig. 7: Prospective view of one support and of the container of Fig. 5 partially assembled, according to a preferred embodiment. The support is represented with wings folded upwardly. The container is showed with assembled partitions and with open cover.
• Fig. 8: Prospective view of fig. 5 assembled container. The cover is closed; a handle for hand carriage is formed when the cover is closed.
• Fig. 9: drawing of supports and container of the device for ice-cream transport, according to a preferred embodiment; the container includes several pieces to be assembled.
• Fig. 10: Isometry of pieces forming fig. 9 container and supports, with fold examples to assemble the device.
• Fig. 11: Prospective view of the support and of the container of fig. 9 partially assembled, according to a preferred embodiment. The support is represented with wings folded upwardly. The container is showed with assembled partitions and open cover.
• Fig. 12: Prospective view of Fig. 9 container assembled; the cover is closed; a handle for hand carriage is formed when the cover is closed.
• Fig. 13: Drawing of the supports and of the container of the device for transport of ice-cream cones, according to a preferred embodiment; the container includes several pieces to be assembled. Transversal partitions present multiple holes for ice-cream cones to be inserted.
• Fig. 14: Isometry of pieces forming container and supports of Fig. 13, with fold examples to assembly the device.
• Fig. 15: Prospective view of the support and of the container of fig. 13 partially assembled, according to a preferred embodiment. The support is represented with wings folded upwardly. The container is showed with assembled partition and open cover.
• Fig. 16: Prospective view of the assembled container of fig. 13. The cover is closed; a handle for hand carriage is formed when the cover is closed.
• Fig. 17: Drawing of supports and container of device for transport of ice-cream cones, according to a preferred embodiment; the container includes several pieces to be assembled.
• Fig. 18: Isometry of pieces forming container and supports of fig. 17, with fold example to assembly the device.
• Fig. 19: Prospective view of the support and of the container of fig. 17 partially assembled, according to a preferred embodiment. The support is represented with wings folded on top. The container is showed with assembled partition and open cover.
• Fig. 20: Prospective view of the assembled container of fig. 17. The cover is closed; a handle for hand carriage is formed when the cover is closed.

The device of the invention, for transport of ice-cream cones in vertical position, includes a container, wherein one or more ice-cream cones can be entirely allocated and maintained in vertical position, and one or more supports, having each one at least one hole, preferably a central one, and at least two lateral foldable wings preferably opposed; said supports lying on a transverse partition of said container.

Preferably, said container also includes: an horizontal base, more preferably rectangular, and one lower transverse partition positioned alongside to said horizontal base and to said upper transverse partition, and including one or more holes for allocation of one or more ice-cream cones in vertical position.

Preferably, each of the one or more holes of the upper partition is vertically aligned with one of the one or more lower partition holes, being said holes of the lower partition concentric with reference to said upper partition holes; in this way, the ice-cream cone which has to be transported vertically allocated inside the container, crosses one upper partition hole and one lower partition hole concentric to first one.

In a preferred embodiment, lower partition holes have a diameters which is less than the diameter of the upper partition holes. Preferably, moreover, the height of said partitions compared to the base is such that, when an ice-cream cone is allocated into the container, a lower portion of ice-cream cone, preferably close the tip, cross the lower partition hole, while a upper portion of cone, preferably close to ice-cream, gets through the upper partition hole.

In a preferred embodiment, supports device central hole is bounded by folding tabs, positioned radially around the circumference of the hole. Preferably, said tabs fold downwards when the ice-cream cone is positioned into the hole, adapting to the diameter of the inserted cone, supporting the cone and holding it. Then, the presence of said tabs around the hole circumference of the support allows to allocate and hold in vertical position ice-cream cones of different sizes.

Said supports are preferably inserted into the container and leaned against upper partition, so that support hole would be concentric compared to holes aligned along both upper and lower partition. Said supports make ice-cream allocation easy, supported by them, inside the container, as well as the removal of ice-cream cone itself. Indeed, it is possible to remove the ice-cream cone without touching it, simply raising the support in which it is allocated, through foldable lateral wings. In this way, it is avoided to touch the ice-cream cone, as well as to break the cone incidentally during either insertion into or removal from the container.

The device of present invention is suitable to contain refrigerant material, in order to lower the temperature inside the container and to avoid the quick melt of the ice-cream.

For example, said device is suitable to contain dry ice. Said dry ice can be, for example, in the form of pellets, or a piece pierced in its centre: in the last case, the piece of dry ice can be lied upon the support, or inserted between the upper partition and the support, making the ice-cream match the cone allocation holes, in order to place it all around the ice-cream cone inserted into the container. Further examples of refrigerant materials, suitable to be used inside the device of the present invention or in conjunction with it, are spray ice and ice packs (gel pack).

Preferably, the container of present invention includes at least two vertical opposed walls, extending upward starting from two sides of the horizontal base. More preferably, said container includes four vertical walls, opposing two by two, such as to close the whole container perimeter. Optionally two or more vertical walls of the assembled container can be recurve, as shown in Fig. 12. A preferred embodiment in which said container includes two vertical walls is illustrated in Fig. 1-4. Particularly preferred embodiment, wherein said container 2 includes four vertical walls are illustrated in Fig. 5-20.

Preferably, the container of the present invention includes a cover comprising a handle.

According to a preferred embodiment, said container is obtained starting from a pre-assembled piece; said pre-assembled piece presents several folding points, identifying different portions, and a plurality of elements matching through overlapping. The device container of the invention is preferably assembled through folding and overlapping of said portions and matching elements, so that said portions make the different elements of the assembled container, which are for example the horizontal base, the vertical walls, the cover and the transverse partitions. Said embodiments are illustrated in Fig. 1-8.

According to a further preferred embodiment, said container is obtained starting from several pieces that are assembled to form said container through folding and overlapping of said pieces and/or portion of pieces. Preferably, at least one of said pieces is a pre-assembled piece, as described above. Examples of said embodiment are illustrated in Fig. 9-20.

Preferably, said container is obtained assembling one or more pieces of press-out pre-assembled paperboard.

According to a preferred embodiment, said container can be disassembled and refolded, when not in use, in order to occupy less space. Moreover, the production of said to-be-assembled container is particularly cheap.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in the following with reference to the drawings.

The container 2 of device 1 of the present invention can be made starting from a single pre-assembled piece 5, according to a preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 1-8.

Optionally, said container is made starting from the pre-assembled piece 5, together with additional pieces, preferably pre-assembled, as shown in Fig. 9-20.

Thus, said container can be obtained by folding a single pre-assembled piece along folding lines 101, as in Fig. 4 and 8, or combining one or more pre-assembled pieces, folding along fold lines 101, with one or more additional pieces, as in Fig. 12, 16 or 20. Fold examples of one or more pre-assembled pieces are shown in Fig. 2, 6, 10, 14, 18.

Said pre- assembled pieces include several portions separated from fold lines 101. Pre-assembled piece 5 includes a portion forming the horizontal base 201 of the container; said piece 5 preferably includes portions 212a-d, forming vertical walls of the container, and portions 213a-d, forming the cover.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper partition 203 is formed through fold and match of symmetrical portions 203a and 203b along a medial fold line and the lower partition 202 it is formed through fold and match of symmetrical portions 202a and 202b along the medial fold line.

Portions 202a, 202b, 203a e 203b can be comprised inside the pre-assembled piece 5, as in Fig. 1 and 5, or forming separated pieces to be assembled with at least one pre-assembled piece 5, as illustrated for upper partition 203 in Fig. 13 or for both partitions I Fig. 9 and 17.

Preferably, said symmetrical portions 202a, 202b, 203a e 203b, forming partitions, present one or more tabs 208 and one or more openings 209, respectively positioned upon several symmetrical positions of each partition, in order to match and overlap when the two symmetrical portions are folded and matched together to form the partition.

Preferably, along each medial line of said symmetrical portion forming the partitions, one tab 210 is present; said tabs 210, can be inserted into cuts 211, preferably present upon fold lines bounding a container vertical wall, in order to maintain the partitions stable and in horizontal position parallel to the container base (Fig. 1-8, 13-17).

Optionally one or more partitions can be made from one or more separated pieces, that can be assembled with one or more container pre-assembled pieces, as shown in Fig. 9-20. According to this embodiment , said partitions are preferably shaped in a way that said partitions perimeter include two protrusions, on two opposite sides, making tabs 210. Said tabs 210 can be inserted into cuts 211, present on the vertical walls of the container, in order to maintain partitions stable and in horizontal position parallel to container base (Fig. 9-12,13-20).

According to a preferred embodiment, portions 212a e 212b of the pre-assembled piece 5, make the lower portion of the assembled container vertical walls, vertically extending each one from the container base to an height in correspondence to lower partition 202; portions 212c and 212d make container vertical walls upper portion, vertically extending each from an height in correspondence to upper partition 203.

In a preferred embodiment, said pre-assembled piece 5 includes two more portions 212e and 212f, forming two vertical opposite wall perpendicular to vertical walls 212a-d. Said embodiment is shown in Fig. 5, 13 and 17.

In a preferred embodiment, alternative to previous, said pre-assembled piece 5 is assembled with one more pre-assembled piece 6 including portions 212g and 212h, making third and fourth vertical wall. Preferably, said portion 212g and 212h include cuts 211 where transverse partitions tabs 210 are inserted when the container is assembled. This embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 9-12.

Preferably, more portions of pre-assembled piece 5 present overlap matching elements, like tabs 206 and openings 207: into the assembled container, tabs 206 are inserted into openings 2017.

According to a preferred embodiment, as exemplified in Fig. 1, portions 213 a-d are assembled to form the cover of said container; particularly, portions 213a and 213d make the wall of said cover, while portions 213b and 213c make the roof of said cover.

Preferably, two of the portions making the cover include each one a cut, much more preferably a foldable tab, made to build the handle of the assembled container. A cover assembled according to this preferred embodiment is shown in Fig. 1, 3 and 4. Alternatively, said pre-assembled piece 5 includes more portions 213e and 213f making the container handle, as shown in Fig. 5-20.

Preferably, the lower partition 202 is placed at an height comprised between 5 and 55 mm, preferably between 10 and 50 mm, even more preferably between 20 and 40 mm, with respect to the base 201.

Preferably, the upper partition 203 is placed at an height comprised between 80 and 180 mm, preferably between 100 and 160 mm, even more preferably between 120 and 140 mm with respect to the base 201.

Preferably, the lower partition holes have a diameter comprised between 10 and 20 mm. Preferably, the upper partition holes 205 have a diameter comprised between 30 and 50 mm.

Preferably, the device support 3 includes at least two foldable wings, more preferably four foldable wings.

In a preferred embodiment, when the support is stowed within the container, two foldable wings 303 of the support 3 are folded upwardly, as in Fig. 3, 4, 7, 11, 15 and 19, lied alongside the vertical wall of the latter, in order to maintain said support still. Two foldable wings 304 are preferably folded upwardly, when the ice-cream cone is inserted into support 3, functioning as a mean to insert the ice-cream cone inside the container without touching said ice-cream cone; moreover, said wings 304 allow to remove supports 3 and the ice-cream cones inserted within, avoiding the accidental break of the cone.

Preferably, said support has some die cut lines 305 to facilitate the removal of ice-cream cones from support 3.

The presence of foldable tabs 302 around hole circumference 301 of support 3, according to a preferred embodiment, allow to use the invention device for transport of ice-cream cones of different size.

Usefully, device support 3 of the present invention is compatible with any container here described.

In a preferred embodiment, said container 2 is made of one or more cardboard pieces, said cardboard pieces being produced by (die) cutting.

In a preferred embodiment, said container 2 is made of one or more food grade materials, for example plastic material, being said pieces being produced through mould.

Preferably, said device 1 for transport of ice-cream cones, including container 2 and one or more supports 3, is produced from at least 80% of recyclable material, more preferably from at least 90% of recyclable material, even more preferably from totally recyclable material. E.g., said device can be made of cardboard.

Optionally, said device is a disposable device.

The present invention further relates to a cheap and efficient method of transport of cones filled with ice-cream by the use of the above described device. The method comprises the following steps: inserting a cone filled with ice cream inside the hole 301 of a support 3; inserting said support 3, holding it by the side wings 304, inside the container 2; closing the container 2; carrying the device; opening the container 2 in the place of arrival; removing the support 3 together with the ice cream cone, by the side wings 304; removing the cone from the support 3, cutting the support 3 along the pre-cut lines 305.