AU2010100690A4

AU2010100690A4 - Inverted container holder

Info

Publication number: AU2010100690A4
Application number: AU2010100690A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Robyn Flegler
Original assignee: Flegler Robyn Mrs
Current assignee: Flegler Robyn Mrs
Priority date: 2010-07-01
Filing date: 2010-07-01
Publication date: 2010-07-29
Anticipated expiration: 2018-07-01
Also published as: AU2010100690B4

Description

1 INVERTED CONTAINER HOLDER FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 This invention relates to holders for supporting containers such as sauce bottles upside down so that their contents drain to the opening in the container. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 10 A number of holders have been devised with the object of supporting an inverted container in order to drain the remaining contents. US 5,702,009 teaches a cube shaped hollow body with a hole in the top to receive the neck of an inverted bottle. However this device is only suitable for bottles with a narrow neck and shoulders which support the bottle in an upright position. 15 US 5755418 and US 5664753 and USD 515878 disclose stands on which the narrow neck of an inverted bottle is held and so are unsuitable for containers which have a conical neck since such a container would tend to topple out of these stands. The holder of WO 2006114662 grips the sides of an inverted bottle 20 while it stands on its end but is unsuitable for containers which do not have a cylindrical body since the gripping action will tend to reject a conical body. There are also more complicated holders made from plastic and wire which are limited to supporting containers of particular shapes and sizes. However we have 25 not found a single holder which can accommodate inverted containers of different shapes and sizes. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 30 It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a holder for a range of containers which is simple and easy to manufacture or at least provides a useful alternative to the prior art devices.

2 STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention an inverted container holder is formed as a 5 generally cylindrical flexible tube which tapers to a waist at its mid section and has a longitudinal split. Preferably the split is wide at the top of the holder, tapers to touching contact at the waist and widens again at the base of holder. 10 Alternatively the longitudinal split extends only from the top of the holder to the waist. Preferably the holder has an annular base. 15 Preferably the cross section of the tube is oval. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 20 An embodiment of the invention is now described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1 is a perspective view of a holder Fig 2 shows an inverted container being inserted in the holder of Fig 1 25 Fig 3 shows an inverted container held in the holder of Fig 1 Fig 4 is an elevation of the holder of Fig 1 Fig 5 is a top plan view of the holder of Fig 1 Fig 6 is a bottom plan view of the holder of Fig 1 Fig 7 is a perspective view of an alternative holder 30 Fig 8 shows an inverted container being inserted in the holder of Fig 7 Fig 9 shows an inverted container held in the holder of Fig 7 Fig 10 is an elevation of the holder of Fig 7 3 Fig 11 is a top plan view of the holder of Fig 7 Fig 12 is a bottom plan view of the holder of Fig 7 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 5 Holder 1 of Figs 1 to 6 is formed from a generally cylindrical flexible tube which tapers at its centre to form waist 2. Holder 1 has a longitudinal split 3 which is wide at the top but tapers to touching contact at waist 2 and widens again at base 4 of holder 1. 10 Accordingly when inverted ob-round bottle 5 is inserted into holder 1 its slightly oval opening expands and grips bottle 5. Base 4 of holder 1 has a smaller opening than the top and so holder 1 can be inverted to hold smaller bottles. 15 Holder 10 of Figs 7 to 12 is similar to holder 1 but slit 13 only extends to waist 12 and has an annular base 14. Accordingly holder 10 is more stable for use on irregular surfaces such as wire shelves as found in some refrigerators. It will be obvious that several different sizes of holders 1 and 10 are able to hold 20 a wide range of inverted containers securely while their remaining contents drain towards the opening. Holders can be also be molded from a range of flexible materials such as different colored plastics. VARIATIONS 25 It will be realized that the foregoing has been given by way of illustrative example only and that all other modifications and variations as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein set forth. Throughout the description and claims of this 30 specification the words "comprise" and variations of that word such as "comprises" and "comprising" are not intended to exclude other additives components integers or steps.

Claims

1. An inverted container holder formed as a generally cylindrical flexible tube which tapers to a waist at its mid section and has a longitudinal split. 5

2. The holder of claim 1 in which the split is wide at the top of the holder, tapers to touching contact at the waist and widens again at the base of holder.

3. The holder of claim 1 in which the longitudinal split extends only from the top of 10 the holder to the waist.

4. The holder of claim 3 which has an annular base.

5. The holder of claim 1 in which the cross section of the tube is oval. 15 20 25 30