GB2346549A - Bottle holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A wall-mounted or free-standing bottle holder has one or more support stems 1 from which extend horizontal leaf-like members 2 each adapted to support a bottle on its side. A single U-shaped member may extend through a slot in the support to form a pair of leaves, one on each side.

Description

Bottle Holder The present invention relates to bottle holders, and especially to holders for holding bottles of wine.

Wine bottle holders are known which support the bottle by its neck. Such a holder is shown in US 5180066 and includes a base from which a steeply inclined plane or ramp extends. The ramp includes holes through which the neck of a wine bottle is inserted.

The hole is a little larger than the neck so that when the bottle is released, it is held securely with the longitudinal axis of the wine bottle being generally horizontal. No further support for the bottle is required.

It is also known to store wine bottles in racks which include shelves in which the shelf has been partitioned so as to leave a space for a wine bottle between each partition.

Such racks normally form part of a kitchen suite.

However, the former prior art mentioned above requires the ramp to be inclined, and so bottles of wine which are held generally one above another are not held directly one above the other, but are longitudinally displaced with respect to each other. Thus, storage is not very compact. In addition, if you have a large rack of such holders, it becomes difficult to locate the hole with the neck of wine bottle when a bottle is inserted between a number of other bottles which surround that hole. In addition, it is necessary to remove the bottles longitudinally in order to remove the neck of the bottle from the hole, and this may be difficult in a confined space.

In the latter prior art, such a wine rack is expensive to make, and is again unsuitable for confined spaces where the wine bottle must be removed longitudinally from the rack.

In addition, wine bottles tend to roll about within their compartments since each compartment is designed to take any size of wine bottle, and since the bottle is sitting on a flat self it is free to roll, to a limited extent, from side to side.

According to the present invention, a bottle holder comprises at least one support element for supporting a bottle on its side, and means for mounting the or each support element in a generally horizontal position. Such an arrangement is simple, and yet holds the bottle safely. The or each support element is preferably a leaf. It should be understood that the term, leaf includes any kind of sheet element which is suitable for supporting a bottle on its side.

Each leaf is preferably of a generally U-shaped cross-section in order to retain the bottle thereon, and each leaf may be tapered towards one end to ease insertion and removal.

Wherc there is more than one leaf, they may be mounted one above another, and the space between successive leaves may be sufficient to allow insertion and removal of the bottles sideways relative to the leaves. This may be particularly advantageous where the bottles are stored in a confined space, and it is not possible to remove the bottles longitudinally from the leaves.

The mounting means preferably includes one or more stems from which leaves extend, since these are convenient points to which leaves may be attached. The stem may include slots in which the leaves are supported, and in some cases, the slots may pass right through the stem so that a single leaf element may be mounted through the slot in order to form a leaf on either side of the stem.

The holder would normally be either free-standing in which case it includes a base, or may be wall-mounted in which case means are included for attaching the holder to a wall.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig I is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention in which the holder is wall-mounted ; Fig 2 is a front view of a second embodiment of the invention in which the holder is free-standing; Fig 3 is a front view of a third embodiment in which the holder is free-standing; Fig 4 is a perspective view showing a wall-mounted holder according to a fourth embodiment; and Fig 5 is a front view of a fifth embodiment which is a free-standing holder with support elements shaped like bunches of grapes.

Referring first to Fig 1, the wine bottle holder includes a support in the form of a stem 1 which holds a number of leaves 2 in a generally horizontal or lateral position. The holder includes, at each end of the stem 1, wall mounts 4 whereby the stem 1 may be attached to a wall. Thus, the holder of the first embodiment is a wall-mounted bottle holder. The stem 1 is generally tubular, and the leaves 2 depend therefrom. The leaves 2 are securely attached to the stem 1 so as to be capable of supporting a bottle, such as a bottle of wine 3. To enable them to do this, they are of generally U-shaped cross-section so as to retain the bottle 3 thereon. Bottles 3 are supported by the leaves 2 on their sides, as bottles of wine 3 should correctly be stored. The ends of the leaves 2 remote from the stem 1 taper so as to facilitate easy insertion and removal of the bottle 3 on to and from the leaves 2.

In this embodiment, pairs of leaves 2 extend in opposite directions from the stem 1, and further pairs of leaves 2 are disposed immediately above each pair. In this case, twelve leaves 2 are located on the stem 1, six extending from one side, and six extending in the opposite direction from the stem 1. Clearly, such an arrangement is very compact in that the holder does not extend very far from the wall, and yet twelve bottles 3 are easily stored. In addition, it should be understand that each bottle of wine 3 may be removed from the wine bottle holder by displacing it longitudinally so that it slides from the end of the leaf 2, or alternatively, the bottle 3 may be moved sideways from the leaf 2 so that the bottle 3 does not need to be removed longitudinally. The clearance between successive leaves 2 is sufficient that sideways removal is possible. This can contribute significantly to the compact storage of the bottles 3.

Referring to the second embodiment shown in Fig 2, the holder is free-standing and has three stems 1 extending upwardly from a base 5. As before, the leaves 2 extend from the stems 1. The base 5 is designed to allow the holder to stand either on the floor, or on some other generally horizontal surface, such as a table or sideboard. The holder includes a handle 6 located at the top thereof whereby a person may easily move the holder from place to place. In this second embodiment, fifteen leaves 2 are shown which extend towards the viewer. Depending on the arrangement of the base 5, a further fifteen leaves 2 may extend away from the viewer on the opposite side of the holder. As in the first embodiment, the leaves 2 have a U-shaped cross section in order to retain wine bottles thereon, and taper towards one end.

Referring to Fig 3, another free-standing wine bottle holder is shown, which again includes a stem 1, leaves 2 for holding bottles of wine 3, a base 5, and a handle 6. In this case, the base 5 is generally circular, and six leaves 2 extend from each side of the stem 1. As in the previous embodiments, the leaves 2 are arranged to hold a bottle of wine 3 on its side as bottles of wine should normally be kept. The handle 6 permits easy movement of the wine bottle holder.

A fourth embodiment is shown in Fig 4 in which a stem 1 supports twelve leaves 2 to hold bottles of wine 3 on their sides. The stem includes U-shaped slots 7 through which leaf elements 8 are inserted to create a leaf 2 on either side of the stem 1. The stem 1 is, in this embodiment, wall-mounted by virtue of wall-mounting attachments 9.

Figure 5 shows a further embodiment which is a free-standing wine bottle holder having a base 10 from which a stem 11 extends. At the top of the stem 11 is a handle 12 by which the holder may be carried. Leaves 13 extend from the stem 11, in order to support bottles of wine 14.

The stem 11 is patterned, for example with vine-leaf shapes, and the leaves 13 are patterned or shaped to have the appearance of bunches of grapes carried by vine. The leaves 13 are constructed from sheet material which is suitably shaped both so as to be suitable for supporting bottles of wine 14 and also to bear the shape of a bunch of grapes. Alternatively, the leaves 13 may be support elements which are not formed from sheet material.

This invention is not restricted to being constructed of any one material, but some materials are particularly suitable, such as wood, metal or plastic.

Claims (12)

1. CLAIMS: 1. A bottle holder comprising at least one support element for supporting a bottle on its side, and means for mounting the or each support element in a generally horizontal position.
2. 2. A bottle holder according to claim 1, wherein the or each support element is a leaf.
3. . A holder according to claim 2, wherein the or each leaf has a generally U-shaped cross-section to retain a bottle thereon.
4. 4. A holder according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the or each leaf is tapered towards one cnd.
5. A A holder according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein two or more leaves are mounted one above another.
6. 6. A holder according tu claim 5, wherein the space between successive leaves is sufficient to allow insertion and removal of bottles sideways relative to the leaves.
7. 7. A holder according to any one of the claims 2 to 6, wherein the mounting means includes one or more stems from which : he leaves extend.
8. A A holder according to claim 7, wherein the or each stem includes slots in which the leaves are supported.
9. 9. A holder according to claim 8, wherein the slots pass through the or each stem, and leaves on either side of the slot are formed by a single leaf element which passes through the slot.
10. 10. A holder according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the mounting means includes means for attaching the holder to a wall.
11. 11. A holder according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the mounting means includes a base to permit the holder to stand on a generally horizontal surface.
12. 12. A holder constructed and arranged substantially as described herein with reference to any one of Figures 1, 2,3 or 5.