US2736320A - Ash tray - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 28, 1956 J. H. ROBERTS 2,736,320

ASH TRAY Filed April 10, 1955 1N V EN TOR.

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United States Patent p Asn TRAY Joseph H. Roberts, Gardner, Mass., assignor to Heywood- Wakefield Company, Gardner, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application April 10, 1953, Serial No. 348,077

2 Claims. (Cl. 131-235) This invention relates to ash trays, and more particularly to the combination of a chair-arm and an ash tray adapted for insertion into a recess in the chair-arm.

Chair-arm ash trays are most frequently employed in vehicle chairs as, for instance, in railway cars and airplanes.` Numerous types have been employed in the past. Some have employed vertical tubular members extending downwardly into the chair-arm and other types have employed trays mounted to tilt outwardly from the forward edge of the chair-arm. These previously employed ash trays have a number of disadvantages. In the iirst place they have been difficult to empty. Secondly, the locking mechanism employed in securing such ash trays in position has not been adequate with the result that occupants of the chair have been able to tamper with the ash tray. Thirdly, such ash trays are not usually secured to the chair-arm, and as a consequence they are sometimes misplaced or stolen.

It is an object of my invention to provide a chair-arm ash tray which is simple in operation and both easy and convenient to empty. Another object of my invention is to provide a simple locking mechanism to retain such an ash tray in place on the chair-arm but which locking mechanism will be hidden from view, and the operation of which will not be readily apparent to the occupant of the chair. A further object of my invention is to provide a mechanism for securing the ash tray permanently to the chair-arm without interfering with the emptying operation of the ash tray.

In the accomplishment of these and other objects of my invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, I mount an ash tray in a recess in the upper forward corner of a chair-arm. The tray itself consists in a roughly rectangular box and is mounted on a hinge, one leaf .of which is secured to the tray and the other leaf of which is slidably connected to the base of the recess in the chair-arm. An opening for ashes and the like is provided on the top of the box and emptying is accomplished by first sliding the tray out and then tilting the tray over by utilization of the hinge.

It is a feature of my invention that the tray is locked in position on the arm by means of a wide headed bolt mounted in the rear of the recess and which passes through a recess in the rear wall of the tray. A latch is employed to engage the head of the said bolt and is pivotally mounted adjacent to the said recess on the rear wall of the tray. It is a feature of my invention that the said latch mounts a snuffer so that when the tray is locked in place, the latch mechanism appears to be only a snuer. Thus, unless one is familiar with the construction of the tray, it is not readily apparent that the snuffer is associated with the mechanism for locking the tray in place.

Further objects and features of my invention will best be understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of my invention, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

2,736,320 Patented Feb. 28, 1956 rice Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the ash tray of my invention mounted on a typical chair-arm;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing in phantom lines the dumping position of the tray; l

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3 3 of Fig. 2; f

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2, but with the latch mechanism in the elevated position in order to permit the tray to be withdrawn; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan section taken along the lines 5-5 of Fig. 3.

The preferred embodiment of my invention herein shown is fabricated of sheet metal and consists in a rectangular tray or box indicated generally at 10, having side walls 11, a bottom wall 12, a rear wall 14, and a top 16 which curves down over the front of the box 10 and provides a front wall in addition to a top wall. The top 16 is provided with an opening indicated at 18 and may be closed by means of a sliding cover 20. The cover 20 is supported within the tray on longitudinally extending tracks 22 secured to the side walls 11.

The tray or box 10 is mounted in a recess 21 in the upper forward cornerV of a chair-arm 23 and is connected thereto by means of a hinge 24, one leaf of which is welded to the bottom wall 12 of the tray 10 and the other leaf of which is welded to a rearwardly extending plate 26. The plate 26 is slotted longitudinally and is slidably connected to the chair by means of a wide headed rivet 28 tting into the said slot in the plate 26 to permit the tray to be withdrawn forwardly from the chair-arm, but limiting the said motion when the rivet reaches the end of the said slot.

In Fig. 2 I have shown in phantom the position of the tray when it has been drawn out and tilted over for the purpose of emptying ashes and the like.

The tray 10 is locked in position by means of a wide headed bolt 30 located in the rear of the recess in the arm and secured to the chair-arm. When the tray is fully lodged in the recess in the chair-arm, the bolt 30 passes through a hole 32 in the rear wall 14 of the tray and by cooperating with a latch 34, which is pivotally mounted on the rear wall 14 of the tray, serves to retain the tray securely locked in the chair-arm recess. The latch 34 further serves the purpose of supporting a snuier 36 which adequately obscures the locking mechanism from view, thereby lessening the chance for unauthorized tampering with the latch mechanism.

To empty the tray, one need only release the latch 34 by lifting the snulfer 36. This releases the latch from the bolt 30 and permits the tray 10 to be drawn forwardly to the position shown in phantom in Fig. 2. In this position, the tray is well forward of the chair-arm and thereafter the ashes may be dumped out into a larger container. It will be noted that the ash tray remains permanently connected to the chair-arm thus reducing the chances of accidental misplacement or theft. It will be further noted that when the latch is tilted upwardly to disengage the bolt 30, the snuffer 36 is also tilted upward to a position wherein it presents less obstruction to the passage of ashes out of the tray during dumping. I regard this latter feature as important to my invention.

Since numerous minor variations of the preferred embodiment of my invention herein described will now be apparent to those skilled in the art, it is not my intention to confine the invention to the precise form herein shown, but rather to limit it in terms of the appended claims,

Having thus described and disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In combination with a chair-arm, an ash tray, walls forming a recess in said chair-arm complementary in size and shape to said tray to receive said tray, a hinge having two leaves interconnecting said tray to said chair-arm, one said leaf secured to said tray, the other leaf being secured to an elongated plate having an elongated slot extending along the longitudinal axis thereof, means secured to said chairearm extending into said slot whereby a sliding connection is provided between said chair-arm and said plate whereby said tray may be withdrawn from said recess and pivoted about said interconnection to empty the same and whereby said tray may be inserted into said recess, and means locking said tray within said recess including a bolt in the rear of said recess, latch mechanism pivotally mounted on said tray adapted to hook onto said bolt when said tray is in place within said recess, and a snuer mounted on said latch mechanism adapted to conceal the bolt and the operative portions of the latch mechanism.

2. In combination with a chair-arm, an ash tray, walls forming a recess in said chair-arm complementary in size and shape to said tray to receive said tray, a hinge having two leaves interconnecting said tray to said chair-arm, one said leaf secured to said tray, the other leaf being secured to an elongated plate having an elongated slot extending along the longitudinal axis thereof, means secured to said chair-arm extending into said slot whereby a sliding connection is provided between said chair-arm and said plate whereby said tray may be withdrawn from said recess and pivoted about said interconnection t empty the same and whereby said tray may be inserted into said recess, means locking said tray Within said recess including a bolt in the rear of said recess, latch mechanism pivotally mounted on said tray adapted to hook onto said bolt when said tray is in place within said recess, a snuler mounted on said latch mechanism adapted to conceal the bolt and the operative portions of the latch mechanism, said locking means being adapted to lock said tra against longitudinal motion and also to lock the rear end of said tray against vertical motion, and said hinge being adapted to secure the front end of said tray against vertical motion whereby said hinge and locking means cooperate to support said tray within said chairarm and secure said tray against random jarring forces.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,641,249 Blumental Sept. 6, 1927 2,210,972 Christensen Aug. 13, 1940 2,270,914 Williams Ian. 27, 1942 2,449,965 Bell Sept. 2l 1948 2,635,680 Zentmire Apr. 21, 1953 2,639,055 Carlson May 19, 1953 2,652,944 Visser Sept. 22, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 574,802 Great Britain Ian. 22, 1946

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