US2634936A

US2634936A - Cup-and-saucer holder

Info

Publication number: US2634936A
Application number: US84439A
Authority: US
Inventors: Meline Irving
Original assignee: GLENBROOKE Manufacturing Co OF CONN
Current assignee: GLENBROOKE Manufacturing Co OF CONN; GLENBROOKE MANUFACTURING Co OF CONNEETICUT Inc
Priority date: 1949-03-30
Filing date: 1949-03-30
Publication date: 1953-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 1970-04-14

Description

April 1953 l. MELINE CUPAND-SAUCER HOLDER Filed March 50, 1949 Patented Apr. 14, 1953 CUP-AND-SAUOER 110mm Irving Meline, Boston, Mass, assignorto- GlenbroOkeManufacturing Company f Connecticut, Incorporated, New Haven,.Cnn., a, corporation of Connecticut I ApplicationMarch30, 1949, Serial-No. 84,439

2. Claims. 1

'I'he subject of the present invention is a devicecapable of holding a .saucer and a cup with the cup approximately centered in front of the saucer, and of supporting a cup and a saucer thus assembled, either one. horizontal surface, such. as a table, a shelf or the like, or suspended from a, hook or like support.

The object of the invention is to afford means by which the cup and saucer may be thus assembled, firmly held, and supported or suspended, which is simple but efficient in construction and function and can be fabricated at low cost. The invention comprises in itsmain. essentials a base, adapted to support and. confine the lower rim ofa saucer, or similar dish, an upright element or member, a complemental gripper in movable guided engagement with the upright adapted to overlie the upper, rim of a, plate so engaged with the base and having, a, hook for receiving the handle of a cup, and a spring disposed to exert force. on the gripper tending to move it toward thebase when the gripper is withdrawn fromfthe base far enough to distort. the spring and put it under stress. In the following specification there is described and in the ac.- companying drawings, illustrated}. a, cup.v and saucer holder which embodies the principlesv of the invention in their preferred form,

In these drawings- Fig. 1' is a front elevation of the holder in the position it-occupies when, resting on, a level support;

Fig. 2 is a sideviewof theholder'as seen from the right hand side of Fig. 1;.

Fig; 3 is a perspective, view. of the holder.

Now describing the holderthuszillustratedwith reference to the positionit occupies whenresting on a level support, themain or body part'vcomprises an upright portion or element a, two lateral elements b and c which extend oppositely to one another from the lower end of the upright a and are nearly in alinement with each other but have a slight downward and rearward inclination, forwardly extending portions d and e which project with an upright inclination from the outer ends of the members I) and 0, respectively, downwardly and forwardly extending elements f and g which are joined with the forward ends of the portions 11 and e, respectively, forwardly and upwardly extending portions h and i joined to the lower ends of the members I and g, and a cross bar a connected to the forward ends of the members it and i and extending across the space between them. The parts b to 7' constitute the base.

The bends or angles 7c and l at thejunctions of the members b and d and c and e, as also thebends or anglesm and 1. between themembers f and hand the members, g and 2', respectively, formfeet which are adapted to. rest on ahorizontal surface; and are separated from one another-both laterally and. inthe front to rear direction. far enough. to providea stable base. The members It and z. provide'rests for supporting the lower rim of asaucer or plate at opposite sides of: a vertical. plane through the center of, the saucer; the; bar 7', serves as a retainer which is raised. above the. plane of the feet is, Z, m and n and eX-tendsin front of that portion of the; rim of a saucer which lies between the rests h. and i. The angles 0 and 10 between the members at and jand the members eandg, respectively, may serve as knees or braces adapted to engage the rear surface of a saucer and. cooperate with the. retainer bar to hold thelower rim; of the-saucer. from rearward movement when the saucer is held. in forcible engagement. with the base.

A. retainer or gripper q is. coupled. with the baseprecedently described by a. helical spring r so mounted thatv the coilsof its. helix surround the upright a. The lower end of the spring carries aneye s which is engaged with an eye. t associated with the base. and;. the upper end of the; spring has aneye u. which is. interlocked with an eyeo onthe. gripperq. Thus the gripper is confined in close association with the up.- right and is enabled to. be. moved along the upright away from the base thereby. stretching the spring. It is. to be noted that the spring helix is considerably shorter than the length ofthe uprightabove. the pointwhere. the spring is. connected with the base, whereby a substantial range of movement is afforded to the retainer, enabling it to be passed over the upper rim of a saucer which is supported by the base, and to accommodate different saucers varying considerably in diameter.

The gripper is made with an intermediate dowardly facing hook portion 20 which is adapted to be passed over and engaged with the upper rim of a saucer, and with an upwardly facing terminal hook portion a: which is adapted to receive the handle of a cup, when the gripper is thus engaged with a saucer, and is then located so that the cup is suspended in front of the engaged saucer, as represented by broken lines in Figs. 1 and 2. When the gripper is not thus engaged with a saucer, it hangs from the upper end of the spring 1', which is at all fi sars times held in place by the upright a, which it surrounds.

The upper end of the upright a is provided with an eye or loop J, which may be passed over a hook or the like for suspending the holder and serves also as a stop for limiting upward distention of the spring.

Preferably the parts thus described are made of wire, the upright and base being formed from one single piece of wire of sufliciently heavy gauge to provide adequate stiffness; the gripper q being formed of a second piece of wire also of adequately heavy gauge, and the spring being formed of a helix of relatively fine spring wire.

The piece of wire forming the main body or portion is curled at one end on a curve of sufficiently large diameter to make the loopy. At a distance from this loop sufficient to provide a straight upright 11, the wire is bent laterally at approximately right angles to form the member 2). It is further bent forwardly at the point is through slightly more than a right angle to provide the forwardly extending member cl, then bent downwardly at approximately right angles at the point and bent forwardly again at the point m to provide the forward rest h. The members d, f and h are approximately in one plane, and are so disposed that, when resting on a level support, the members at and h are forwardly and upwardly inclined, While the member 1 is forwardly and downwardly inclined.

A further bend of the wire at the outer end of the member h at an angle to the before mentioned plane slightly greater than a right angle provides the cross bar a; and further bends at the opposite end of the cross bar, and at the points 71., p and I, provide the members i, g, e and c. The members i, g and Z are in approximately the same plane, which is nearly parallel with the plane containing the members 0!, ,f and h, but preferably these planes are convergent in the rear to front direction. The extremity of the wire at the inner end of the member 0 is bent up to form an end portion 2 beside and parallel to the lower end portion of the upright a, and its extreme end is curled over to form the eye It. A clip or strap [0 of sheet metal is curled around the adjacent parts of the upright a and terminal 2 close to their junctions with the parts b and c. This clip is tightly applied and holds the contiguous parts ofthe base framework in rigid connection. The wire of which the gripper q is made is curled at one end to provide the eye 1') and is suitably bent with reverse bends near the opposite end and inwardly therefrom to provide the oppositely disposed hooks w and 9:. Between the eye 1) and hook w it is additionally bent so that it may more conveniently pass over the rim of a saucer or plate at its upper side. This last mentioned bend, however, is not an essential feature and the gripper may be straight, or bent with any desired curvature or angularity in the portion between the terminal eye t and the hook w.

It will be apparent that the holder herein described may be used for holding a plate or dish only without using the hook a: to support a cup,

, or with a modified formation wherein the hook at is eliminated and the retainer is provided with only a single hook, such as the hook w, arranged for engaging a plate or the like.

What I claim'is:

. l. A holder for a saucer, plate or the like comprising a base, a substantially upright element rising from the base, and a gripper, the base having lateral elements extending substantially opposite to one another from said upright element, forwardly and upwardly extending portions joined to the outer extremities of said lateral elements, the junctions between said lateral elements and forwardly extending portions providing a pair of rear feet, downwardly and forwardly extending elements joined to the forward ends of said forwardly extending portions, the junctions between said last named elements and portions constituting knees, forwardly and upwardly extending rests joined to the lower ends of the downwardly extending elements, the junctions between said rests and last named elements forming a forward pair of feet, and a retainer bar extending between the outer ends of said rests; said rests, knees and retainer being adapted to support the rim of a saucer or the like and engage the forward and rear surfaces of such rim, and the gripper being resiliently connected with the base and movable longitudinally of the upright element for overlapping engagement with the upper rim of a saucer or the like so supported by the base.

2. A holder according to claim 1, in which the gripper is formed with an intermediate hook portion adapted to embrace and engage the upper rim of a saucer or the like so supported by the base, and has a terminal hook at the forward sideof the so engaged saucer adapted to receive the handle of a cup and hold the cup in front of the saucer.

IRVING MELINE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name