US3042467A - Chair arm-mountable accessory-carrying device - Google Patents

Description

y 1962 w. D. GERMICK 3,042,467

CHAIR ARM-MOUNTABLE ACCESSORY-CARRYING DEVICE Filed Jan. 24, 1961 INVENTOR. WILLARD D. GERMICK United States Patent 3,642,467 CHAIR ARM-MGUNTABLE ACCESSORY- CARRYING DEVICE Willard D. Germicli, Doylestown, Pa., assignor of onetenth to Gadget-Of-The-Month Club, Inc, North Hollywood, Calif, a corporation of California Filed Jan. 24, 1961, Ser. No. 84,592 1 Claim. (Cl. 311-17) The present invention consists of an accessory-carrying device adapted to normally be mounted independing relationship with respect to a chair arm and immediately outside thereof so as to not in any way interfere with the sitting region of the chair, but so as to be conveniently at hand for access by a person sitting in the chair so that magazines, drinks, and the like, may be efiectively carried by the device between periods of use by a person sitting in the chair.

In one preferred form, the device may include protective cover means adapted to be controllably moved into protective covering relationship over the device during non-use periods whereby to prevent damage to any magazines or other articles positioned in the device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel chair arm-mountable accessory-carrying device of the character referred to above, which is of extremely simple, cheap, foolproof construction such as to be conducive to widespread use of the device.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which follows hereinafter and will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study thereof.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, one exemplary embodiment is illustrated in the hereinbelow-described figures of the accompanying drawings and is described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is an oblique view of one exemplary form of the present invention shown in mounted relationship with respect to a chair arm (shown fragmentarily for drawing simplification and space conservation reasons).

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrates the apparatus with the shelf-tray means in downwardly folded non-use position and also shows the drinking glass support member removed from the device.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 but shows the apparatus after the protective cover means has been thrown over the open top of the receptacle whereby to protect the contents thereof from rain, or the like.

FIG. 4 is a view of the device as seen from the opposite side of FIG. 2 and shows the reverse surface of the protective cover in an inner position carrying pockets in a conveniently accessible position for use.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but shows the waterproof cover in the reverse position such as illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but illustrates the use of the connection means for the purpose of cornpensating for a non-horizontal positioning of the chair arm whereby to cause the receptacle to hang in a true vertical position despite the non-horizontal position of the chair arm.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken in the direction of the arrows 8-8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view illustrating the removable attachment of the drinking glass support member of FIG. 1 to the end wall of the receptacle.

Referring to the figures for exemplary purposes, one illustrative embodiment of the invention takes a typical exemplary form wherein it comprises an open-topped receptacle, indicated generally'at 20, for carrying accessory items and being provided with a securing strap, indicated generally at 21, removably and angularly adjustably connected to one side thereof by the connection means indicated generally at 22, and having a free remote fastening end portion 23 adapted to be passed over a supporting chair arm, such as that indicated at 24, and to be firmly fastened to another fastening portion 25 by fastening means 26. In the specific example illustrated, the open-topped receptacle has an outer wall 23, an inner wall 29, a bottom wall 30, and two end walls 31 which together define a hollow interior storage chamber, indicated generally at 32, within the receptacle 20 and normally accessible through the open top 33 thereof.

The receptacle 20 is adapted to store magazines, books, newspapers, and a variety of other articles which an occupant of the chair may desire to use while sitting in the chair. In the specific example illustrated, the receptacle 20 may be made of metal, plastic, or various other suitable materials.

In the specific example illustrated, the securing strap, indicated generally at 21, is preferably made of a flexible material such as fabric, flexible plastic sheeting, or the like, although not specifically so limited.

In the specific example illustrated, the connection means indicated generally at 22 for connecting the securing strap 21 to the inner wall 29 of the open-topped receptacle 20 comprises headed projecting pin-type engaging means 34 controllably insertible into apertured and slotted engaging means 35 which consists of a plurality of holes 35A large enough to receive the heads 34A of the pins 34 and upwardly extending smaller diameter slots 35B adapted to allow slidable movement of the pins 34 therein but too small to allow direct withdrawal of the larger pin heads 34A positioned therebehind when the connection means 22 is in fully engaged position as shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7.

It should be noted that the plurality of pins 34 and the plurality of apertured slotted engaging means 35 are arranged for selective engagement in a desired angular orientation with respect to a transverse axis extending transversely through and perpendicular to the inner and outer side walls 29 and 28 of the receptacle 20. This is for the purpose of allowing adjustment so that the receptacle 24) will hang in a true vertical orientation even though the securing strap 21 is positioned on a chair arm 24 Which is angularly displaced from a true horizontal position as shown in FIG. 6.

It should be noted that the lower end of the belt-like strap 25 is provided with headed pin-type engaging means 34 generally similar to the pin-type engaging means 34 shown in detail in FIG. 7 and similarly cooperable with any of a plurality of slotted engaging means 35' generally similar to the slotted engaging means 35 best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Since the structure of the pin-type engaging means 34 and slotted engaging means 35 are similar to those shown at 34 and 35 and previously described in detail in connection therewith, it is thought that further description of the elements 34' and 35 is not necessary. It should be noted that this feature of the invention is best shown in FIG. 8 and all portions of the connection means comprising the pin-type engaging means 34 and slotted engaging means 35 are designated by similar reference numerals (primed however) corresponding to those designating corresponding parts of the connection means previously described and illustrated and just referred to above.

In the specific example illustrated, the free remote fastening end portion 23 of the securing strap 21 is a belt-like structure having a plurality of holes 36 therein and is adapted to cooperate with the fastening means 26 carried by the other belt-like strap 25, which comprises a buckle through which the apertured strap end 23 is adapted to be passed in a manner such that the pivoted buckle latch member 37 passes through any selected one of the holes 36. This provides a convenient means for firmly fastening the recaptacle 263 with respect to the chair arm 24 on the outer side thereof in firmly mounted relationship with respect thereto. However, it should be noted that any type of buckle or, indeed, virtually any type of fastener may be employed for this purpose other than the specific belt and buckle type of fastening means illustrated in the figures.

Exterior portions of the receptacle 20 may additionally be provided with apertured and slotted engaging means adapted to removably mount exteriorly positioned support means which in turn are adapted to carry various articles and/or containers such as glasses, bottles, cups, and other types of containers and articles in a position for convenient access by a person sitting in the chair. Certain of such engaging means are indicated generally at 38 as being carried by the end walls 31 of the receptacle 2t and the support means which they are adapted to carry are indicated generally by the reference numeral 39. Bottles, cups, and other items adapted to be carried by the support means 39 are designated generally by the reference numeral 44?.

In the specific example illustrated, said engaging means indicated generally at 38 are of an apertured and slotted type including apertures 38A large enough to receive the heads 41A of headed pins 41 comprising engaging means carried by the support means 39 whereby the smaller diameter pin portions 41 may be slidably moved down the slotted portions 385 of the engaging means 38 so as to retain the larger headed portions 41A in a manner such as to firmly mount the support means 39 in outwardly projecting position from the end walls 31 in the manner best shown in FIG. 1 at the left end of the receptacle 20, although not limited to said location. The support means 39 includes a recessed upper surface surrounded by an edge flange, such as is indicated at 42, whereby to positively position and hold a container of the type indicated at 4%} therein for convenient use by an occupant of a chair fragmentarily shown by the portion of the arm 24 thereof.

The outer wall 28 of the receptacle 2!) may also be provided with shelf-tray means, such as is indicated at 43, which is hinged at the top thereof, as indicated at 44, to the outer wall 28 of the receptacle 2%) for movement from the normal non-use position lying immediately alongside of the outer wall 28 as shown in FIG. 2 into a horizontally extended use position as shown in FIG. 1, in which position it is maintained by the inwardly directed prop means 45 pivotally attached as indicated at 46 and having its bottom transverse portion 47 removably engage'd by the projecting engaging means 48 carried by the outer surface of the outer wall 23 of the receptacle 20 whereby to firmly support the shelf-tray 43 in the outwardly projecting position shown in FIG. 1 when desired.

it should be noted that the surface of the shelf-tray 43 which is effectively the outer surface thereof when said shelf-tray 43 is in the downwardly folded position shown in FIG. 2, is provided with engaginr means of a type similar to that shown at 38 as being carried by the end walls 31 and, in this case, designated by the reference numeral 38. This is for the purpose of allowing support means of the type shown at 39 to be removably engaged with the outer surface of the downwardly folded shelf-tray means 4-3 when in the position shown in FIG. 2.

The open-topped receptacle 2t) may be effectively provided adjacent the top thereof with a protective cover means such as is indicated generally at 49 and which, in the example illustrated, comprises a flexible thin-sheet cover member which may be made of fabric, thin-sheet plastic material, or any other suitable protective mate: rial which is preferably water impervious and which is adapted to be thrown over the open top 33 of the receptacle 26 for protective purposes when dampness, dew,

Ag. mist, rain, fog, or the like, might tend to moisten the contents of the open topped receptacle 20. For example,

if the chair is left out overnight, the protective cover means 49 will normally be thrown over the open top 33 of the receptacle 20 as shown in FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 7. At other times, the protective cover 49 may be allowed to hang down the inside of the chair arm 24 just inside of the securing strap fastening means 26 in the manner shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4.

It should be noted that the inner side or the reverse side of the protective cover 21 is provided with pocket means 5% having controllably openable and closable pocket flaps or covers 51 andfastening means 52 thus providing an arrangement increasing the storage capacity of the unit when it is in the use position shown in FIG. 4.

It should be noted that the specific type of securing and/or fastening means for mounting the entire device on a chair arm and the specific type of engaging means employed for removably mounting the container support means may be modified substantially from the specific exemplary illustrative embodiment shown in the drawings and described in detail hereinbefore without departing from the basic spirit, scope, and/or teachings of the present invention. It should also be noted that, in certain forms of the invention, the shelf-tray may be modified substantially, arranged for removable engagement with respect to the receptacle or eliminated entirely. This is also true of the protective cover means.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific description thereof set forth in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specific structure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore. Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantially equivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventive concept of the present invention.

I claim:

A chair arm-mountable accessory-carrying device, comprising: an open-topped receptacle for carrying accessory items, the outer side of said receptacle being hingedly provided adjacent the top with shelf-tray means norm-ally lying in downwardly extending relationship immediately alongside of the outer side of the receptacle but being controllably movable into a substantially horizontal, outwardly extending position and being provided with underneath pivotally mounted downwardly and inwardly directed prop means engageable with engaging supporting means carried by the outer side of the receptacle for firmly supporting said shelf-tray in said horizontal position when desired, exterior portions of said receptacle being provided with first engaging means comprising apertured and slotted engaging means; support means provided with second engaging means comprising projecting headed pin-engaging means adapted to be removably inserted into and supportingly received by said first engaging means for firmly mounting said support means outwardly of said receptacle; the inner side of said receptacle being provided with third engaging means comprising apertured and slotted engaging means arranged in a plurality of differently angularly positioned orientations with respect to a transverse axis extending transversely through the inner and outer sides of the receptacle; and supporting strap means having opposite ends provided with fourth engaging means comprising headed projecting pin engaging means controllably insertible into selected ones of said third engaging means for effectively fastening said strap means over a chair arm to the inner side of said receptacle in a selected angular orientation relative thereto such as to compensate for angular positioning of the chair arm over which said supporting strap means is to be fastened the outer surface of the downwardly folded shelf-tray being also provided with first engaging means comprising apertured and slotted engaging means adapted to removably receive said second engaging means aud mount said support means; said opentopped receptacle being provided adjacent the top thereof with a flexible protective water-impervious cover adapted to be thrown over the open top of the receptacle for protective purposes When desired.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 993,818 Bethea May 30, 1911

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