US3711975A

US3711975A - Receptacle packeted sugar, condiments and the like

Info

Publication number: US3711975A
Application number: US00087143A
Authority: US
Inventors: R Downing
Original assignee: JOHNSON HOWARD CO
Current assignee: FRANCHISE HOLDINGS Corp; HJ ACQUISITION CORP A CORP OF DE; JOHNSON HOWARD CO; TM Acquisition Corp
Priority date: 1970-11-05
Filing date: 1970-11-05
Publication date: 1973-01-23
Anticipated expiration: 1990-01-23

Abstract

A structure having a base with a receptacle mounted thereon for rotation about a vertical axis. The base is weighted and the receptacle has a bottom wall rotatably connected to the base and side walls extending vertically therefrom which form an open top enclosure. The side walls are inwardly concave and at their opposite vertical edges there are lateral, vertically extending grooves adapted to receive the edges of cards of greater width than the straight line distances between the grooves with the portions therebetween displaced inwardly in engagement with said concave wall.

Description

O Umted States Patent 1 1111 3,711,975

Downing 1 Jan. 23, 1973 [5 1 RECEPTACLE PACKETED SUGAR, 436,135 9/1890 Hoffmann ..206/44.11

CONDIMENTS AND T IKE 1,367,948 2/1921 Curtin ..221/284 1,864,874 6/1932 Voight ....220/D1G. 6 [751 Dmvninlb Smneham- 1,527,024 2/1925 Brookbank.... ..40/68 1,020,175 3/1912 Arnold ...40/124 [73 Assisnee; Howard Johnson Company 3,041,762 7/1962 Knox ..40/152 Dorchesm Mass 2,515,053 7/1950 Ncscl "40 1521 [22] Filed: 5, 1970 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell 2 App| 7 143 Attorney-Roberts, Cushman & Grover [57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. C1 ..40/77.8, 40/10 51 1111. c1 ..G09f 11/02 A Structure having a base with a receptacle mounted [58] Fi ld f S h 40/1, 44, 65, 68 124, 152, thereon for rotation about a vertical axis. The base is 40/152,], 156, 306, 77,8; 220/318, 17, DIG, weighted and the receptacle has a bottom wall 6, DIG. 27; 221/119, 284, 287; 211/70, 78; rotatably connected to the base and side walls extend- 206/44 R, 44.11, 45.19, DIG. 22, DIG. 29, ing vertically therefrom which form an open top en- 44 B; 229/8; 248/131, 458, 349 closure. The side walls are inwardly concave and at their opposite vertical edges there are lateral, verti- [56] References Cited cally extending grooves adapted to receive the edges of cards of greater width than the straight line UNITED STATES PATENTS distances between the grooves with the portions 2,614,689 10/1952 Bell ..211/70 therebetween displaced inwardly in engagement with 459,972 9/1891 Chubbuck.... .220/l T said concave wall, 2,059,090 10/1931 Cornelius..... ...221/199 1,696,080 12/1928 Draggie ..22l/284 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 32 26 I l I I, /z lC/l \(NUC I mm (m/HRH! 5- RECEPTACLE PACKETED SUGAR, CONDIMENTS AND THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Rotatably supported receptacles commonly referred to as Lazy Susans are used for many purposes and hence are not new per se. The present structureis of the foregoing kind especially designed for holding packets of sugar, condiments, and the like, for customer use in restaurants, hotel dining rooms, clubs, and the like, where it is not only desirable to provide an adequate supply of packeted sugar or condiments for customers but is also desirable to provide for displaying the menu-of-the-day, specialities and/or the name of the establishment and affiliated establishments for advertising purposes, and especially to be able to replace the aforesaid easily for day-to-day changes.

SUMMARY As herein illustrated, the structure comprises a base, a receptacle mounted on the base for turning about a vertical axis, said receptacle having a bottom rotatably connected to the base, and side walls rising therefrom to form an enclosure open at the top, said side walls between their vertical edges being inwardly concave and having at'their vertical edges laterally extending grooves for receiving the opposite edges of cards wider than the shortest distance between the grooves to hold the cards with the portions therebetween bowed inwardly against the concave sides of the walls. The base has a horizontal section at least as great as that of the structure, is hollow and contains ballast of a predetermined weight such as to counterbalance the expected weight of the content of the receptacle. The bottom of the structure has straight edges, at the intersecting corners of which there are vertically disposed posts and.

the vertical edges of the walls are secured between the posts. The portions of the bottom wall between the posts and the inwardly concave walls comprise ledges against which the lower edges of the cards are seated. There is a rim secured to the upper ends of the posts, the outer edges of which parallel the outer edges of the bottom and overlie the upper ends of the grooves and the inner edges of which correspond in configuration to the inwardly concave walls. The base has on its upper surface an annular shoulder and the bottom wall has on its lower surface a plurality of radially disposed bearing blocks for engagement with the aforesaid shoulder to stabilize the receptacle and to provide a substantially frictionless bearing to enable easily to rotate the receptacle on the base.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. I is a top view of the structure looking into the open top;

FIG. 2 is an elevation with a portion of one wall broken away;

FIG. 3 is an elevation taken on the line 33 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an elevation taken on the line 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken-on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary diametrical section of the base showing the means for attaching it to the receptacle; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view ofa card adapted to be mounted against a side wall of the structure.

Referring to the drawings, the structure comprises a base 10 on which there is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis a receptacle 12, the latter having a bottom wall 14 and vertically disposed side walls 16. As herein illustrated, the bottom 14 is of rectangular configuration having four straight side edges 18, at the corners of which there are vertically disposed posts 20. The side walls 16 are connected at their vertical edges to the posts 20 and there are at the vertical side edges at their junctions with the posts 20 vertically disposed, laterally extending grooves 22. The side walls 16 are inwardly concave, as shown in FIG. 5, so that at the bottom there are lenticular-shaped ledges 24. A rim 26 is secured to the upper ends of the posts 20, the outer edges 28 of which are parallel to the edges 18 at the bottom and the inner edges 30 of which correspond in curvature to the inner sides of the concave walls 16 and which have downwardly extending flanges 32 which engage the inner sides of the walls 16 and form a smooth opening at the top of the receptacle.

The bottom 14 contains a plurality of arcuate openings 34 disposed concentrically with respect tothe vertical axis of the receptacle to provide for ventilation and each of the walls contains near the top an opening 36 to enable easily mounting and dismounting cards within the grooves as will appear hereinafter.

The base 10 has four radially extending legs 38 and is hollow. At the upper side of the base there is a circular boss 40 containing a centrally located opening 42 through which extends a button 44 having a head 46 located within the receptacle and a nipple 48 adapted to extend through the opening 42 into the base. Alock ring 49 at the lower end of the nipple holds the bottom in place thus rotatably securing the receptacle to the base for rotation about its vertical axis.

Ballast comprising a pair of metal washers 50 are disposed in the hollow base about the nipple of a predetermined weight such as to counterbalance the weight of the material to be placed in the receptacle.

To stabilize the bottom of the receptacle with reference to the base and to provide for free, substantially frictionless rotation the boss 40 has at its upper side an annular shoulder 52 which is relatively narrow and the bottom has fixed to it a plurality of radially disposed bearing blocks 54 adapted to bear against the shoulder 52. These bearing blocks 54 may be formed integral with the bottom or attached thereto and are comprised ofa relatively hard slippery material.

The structure thus described is designed to receive in one or more of its four sides a card 56 which is wider than the straight line distance between the grooves 22, so that when disposed in the grooves with its upper and lower edges engaged with the ledges at the bottom and with the rim at the top it will be displaced rearwardly into engagement with the concave side of the wall 16 and will be retained in this position by the elasticity of the card. The card may bear upon its surface the name of the establishment in which the structure is 'used and/or associated establishments, the menu-of-the-day and/or specialities, and the provision of the openings 36 in the wall enable easily removing and replacing these cards.

The structure, although shown herein as rectangular, may have a lesser or greater number of sides, may be comprised of molded plastic or any other suitable material, is structurally simple, durable, antiseptic, attractive and inexpensive to manufacture.

it should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A structure comprising a receptacle, a base and means rotatably supporting the receptacle on the base for turning about a vertical axis, said receptacle comprising a bottom wall, posts supported at their lower ends on the bottom wall, said posts being spaced about the vertical axis at equal radial distances therefrom and at equal angular distances from each other, side walls having upper, lower and side edges situated between adjacent posts with their lower edges resting on the bottom wall and with their side edges connected to the posts, said side walls being transversely inwardly concave, a cap mounted on the upper ends of the post, said cap having an outer edge corresponding in configuration to the outer edge of the bottom wall and containing an opening of a size and configuration corresponding to the inside of the receptacle, a flange around said opening extending downwardly therefrom inside the side walls in engagement therewith and supporting the side walls at their upper ends, said flange forming a smooth entrance at the open top of the receptacle,

grooves in the confronting sides of the adjacent posts extending from bottom to top, said grooves being situated at the outer sides of the side walls adjacent the junctions of the side walls with the posts, and cards wider than the distance between the grooves disposed with their edges in said grooves and the portions therebetween bowed inwardly into engagement with the concave surfaces of the side walls.

2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein there is means rotatably connecting the bottom wall of the receptacle to the top of the base comprising a pin extending from. inside the bottom wall downwardly through the bottom wall into the base, means at the ends of the pin retaining the ends in the receptacle and base, and mutually engaged annular bearing members at the underside of the bottom wall of the receptacle and the upper side of the base concentric with the axis of the pin.

3. A structure according to claim 2, wherein the base is hollow, the pin extends into the hollow base and the means retaining the lower end of the pin within the base comprises a ballast for supporting the structure in stable equilibrium.

4. A structure according to claim 1, wherein the side walls contain at their upper ends openings through which the inner sides of the cards are accessible and the bottom wall contains a plurality of vent openings arranged concentrically about the axis of rotation.

Claims

1. A structure comprising a receptacle, a base and means rotatably supporting the receptacle on the base for turning about a vertical axis, said receptacle comprising a bottom wall, posts supported at their lower ends on the bottom wall, said posts being spaced about the vertical axis at equal radial distances therefrom and at equal angular distances from each other, side walls having upper, lower and side edges situated between adjacent posts with their lower edges resting on the bottom wall and with their side edges connected to the posts, said side walls being transversely inwardly concave, a cap mounted on the upper ends of the post, said cap having an outer edge corresponding in configuration to the outer edge of the bottom wall and containing an opening of a size and configuration corresponding to the inside of the receptacle, a flange around said opening extending downwardly therefrom inside the side walls in engagement therewith and supporting the side walls at their upper ends, said flange forming a smooth entrance at the open top of the receptacle, grooves in the confronting sides of the adjacent posts extending from bottom to top, said grooves being situated at the outer sides of the side walls adjacent the junctions of the side walls with the posts, and cards wider than the distance between the grooves disposed with their edges in said grooves and the portions therebetween bowed inwardly into engagement with the concave surfaces of the side walls.

2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein there is means rotatably connecting the bottom wall of the receptacle to the top of the base comprising a pin extending from inside the bottom wall downwardly through the bottom wall into the base, means at the ends of the pin retaining the ends in the receptacle and base, and mutually engaged annular bearing members at the underside of the bottom wall of the receptacle and the upper side of the base concentric with the axis of the pin.