US2052847A - Holder for cups and similar articles - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 1, 1936. F. A. SCHAFER HOLDER FOR CUPS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES Filed Aug. 17, 1934 III/III.

Patented Sept. 1, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention has for its object the provision of a simple and. inexpensive device whereby a tumbler or drinking cup may be supported and held against lateral movement. The invention also seeks to provide a tumbler holder which may be mounted upon a kitchen faucet and be firmly supported thereby but readily detached therefrom. These stated objects, and other objects which will incidentally appear in the course of the following description, are attained in such a device as is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then more particularly defined in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing my invention as embodied in a practical device.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the holder removed from its support.

Figure 3 is a plan view.

Figure 4 is an elevation of one end of the device before the coils have been spread into cup-like form.

Figure 5 is an elevation showing a modification.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective of the handle portion of the device shown in Figure 5.

In Figure 1, three faucets I have been illustrated, but it will be understood, of course, that the number or style of the faucets is immaterial. In carrying out the present invention, a single strand of stout wire, preferably of non-corrodible metal, is formed into a fiat volute coil, as shown at 2, the wire then extending from the outer edge of the coil at a right angle thereto, as indicated at 3, and doubled upon itself so that the parallel branches of the end portions may be twisted spirally about each other, as shown at 4, to form a rigid handle. When the outwardly extending end portion of the wire is doubled it is left untwisted with its sides slightly spaced apart, as shown at 5 in Figure 3, and bent into a curved hook, as shown most clearly at 6 in Figure 2, this hooked bight of the handle member providing a convenient means for suspending the device upon a supporting bracket. The device thus formed will present the appearance seen in Figure 4, and, in order that it may prevent sliding or lateral movement of an article placed thereon, the volute coil is extended to the form shown in Figures 1 and 2. To efiect this result a fiat bladed instrument may be engaged through an outer coil of the body of the device and pressure applied to this flat instrument while the outermost coil is held by the fingers and thumb.

The pressure thus applied will cause the number of coils below the bladed instrument to recede from the outer coils so that the outer coils will be spread, as shown at I, to any desired degree, the spread coils constituting the side portions of a cup-like holder of which the unspread coils will constitute the bottom. The natural resiliency of the wire strand makes it necessary to extend or spread the coils to a slightly greater degree than is desired in the finished article, as will be understood. When the device is supported as shown in Figure 1, the hooked end of the handle is engaged over and around the body of one faucet with the handle extending across and over adjacent faucets, so that the device will be firmly supported and a tumbler or cup may be easily placed within the expanded coils to rest upon the closely wound coils which constitute the bottom of the holder. The wire being doubled upon itself and the branches of the bight being twisted about each other tightly, as indicated in the drawing, a very firm handle will be produced so that the weight of the article held by the holder will not bend the handle nor cause its release from the bracket or other support with which it is engaged.

In Figures 5 and 6, I have shown a slight modification of the device in which the volute body 2 is produced as before described, and the uppermost or outermost coil 8 is slightly raised from the main body of coils. The end of the wire is extended upwardly from the outer coil 8, as indicated at 9, and then doubled upon itself to form a hook ID, the outer side I I of the hook merging into a lateral link I2 at the end of which a second hook I3 is formed. The two hooks I0 and I3 may be engaged over the edge of a water bucket I4, as shown in Figure 5, and will thereby support the device so that a cup or drinking glass may be held at the bucket and be thereby always within access when its use is desired.

My holder is exceedingly simple in construction and may be produced at a very slight cost without the use of expensive tools and without requiring highly skilled labor. The device may be used in various ways besides being employed primarily as a holder for drinking vessels.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A device of the character described comprising a strand of wire having one end portion formed into a volute coil constituting an article supporting body having the remainder of the wire strand extending therefrom and substantially midway its length bent back upon itself to provlde handle forming sections having their outer end portions spaced transversely from each other and being then twisted together to form an elongated reinforced shank of a length to extend in bridging relation to a pair of spigots, the spaced portions of the strand being bent downwardly and inwardly to form a hook adapted to engage about a spigot and detachably mount the device with the hook engaged about one spigot and the twisted shank extending across and resting upon the other spigot and the article supporting body spaced transversely from the last-mentioned 5 spigot.

FREDERICK A. SCHAFER.

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