Abstract:
A cupholder is mountable on the interior of a supermarket cart and can be mounted to the cart with a saddle that fits over the top edge of the cart wall, or mounted to a track that is bolted to the cart wall. The cupholder can be moved to different locations along the length of the wall on which it is mounted and retained in position with suitable fasteners. The cupholder can fit onto end walls, side walls, or onto a child seat in the handle area of the cart, and provides a way of holding not only cups, but also accessories, such as note pads, pens and the like.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 08/877,256, filed Jun. 17, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,091, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 08/717,130, filed Sep. 20, 1996 entitled SUPERMARKET CART CUPHOLDER now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a cupholder that is mountable in a conventional shopping cart and positioned for holding not only a cup but also accessories such as coupons, pencils, pads or the like. The cupholder is mounted onto a wall of the cart, either permanently or as a slip-on holder using a hanger type support. The holder can be slid to positions least likely to interfere with items that are placed into the cart. 
     Conventionally, shopping carts are made in several styles and have a wheeled frame, with either a wire or a plastic basket mounted on the frame. The basket is used for holding products that are to be purchased while in a supermarket or store. The baskets are generally made so that the carts will nest together. Some baskets fold upwardly, while other baskets have folding rear walls which move upwardly when the carts are nested. Carts also have folding child seats adjacent the handle. 
     Various wire racks have been used with shopping carts as auxiliary supports, and there have been wire cupholders that will mount onto handle portions of a shopping cart. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a cup or drink container holder (called a cupholder) that is mountable on a shopping cart for convenience of a user. It preferably includes not only a receptacle for receiving a drink cup or container, but also receptacles for coupons, wallets, pencils and pens, etc. The cupholder is easily mounted onto the sidewall or end wall of a shopping cart. The cupholder can be fixed in place or can be removably mounted with a hanger type bracket. The hanger bracket also can be fixed in place, if desired. 
     As shown in one form of the invention, the cupholder may be mounted for slidable movement on a longitudinally extending track between a plurality of positions along the track. The track in turn is attached to the shopping cart itself. 
     The cupholder is a molded unit, preferably, which has flanges or a hanger used for mounting directly to the cart or for sliding in a track. The selection of how to mount it can be made by the user. 
     The cupholder can mount in a suitable location, such as a side wall or an end wall of the cart. When the carts are formed so that the entire basket folds up, the cupholder is preferably mounted on the sidewall of the cart. In most carts there are spaces that are not occupied when the carts are nested, and that area is used for mounting the cupholder. 
     The cupholders shown are easily formed, and finds wide utility in shopping cart applications to free the hands of a user, and to temporarily store things such as store coupons and pens and pencils, as well as shopping lists. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cupholder shown mounted in a shopping cart, which is fragmentarily illustrated for illustrative purposes; 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the cupholder of FIG. 1 shown mounted onto a track, which is also shown fragmentarily; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the cupholder of FIG. 2 shown in place in the track; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of a cupholder of the present invention applied directly against the sidewall of a shopping cart; 
     FIG. 5 is a modified form of the cupholder used with a removable hanger type bracket for support; and 
     FIG. 6 is a view showing optional fasteners to secure the cupholder in place. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a cupholder made according to the present invention is indicated generally at  10 , and is mounted onto a shopping cart  12 , which has a wall  13  shown as a wire cart wall. The shopping cart  12  is a conventional cart and is a manually movable cart having wheels on a support frame (not shown) that supports the wall  13 . 
     The cupholder  10  is molded from a suitable plastic, and has a base wall  15 , sidewalls or flanges  16  that join the base wall, and a front wall  18 . A top wall  20  is provided with a drink cup holder receptacle molded downwardly therefrom and indicated at  22 . Additionally, the receptacle  22 , which is of size to receive a cup or can of desired configuration, is flanked by a pair of pockets  24  and  26 , respectively, that have slot openings of sufficient length to receive and hold store coupons or “cents back” coupons that are commonly used in grocery shopping. 
     A pair of cylindrical pockets  28  also can be provided for holding pens or pencils. The base wall  15  forms an upper flange  32  and a lower flange  34 . The flanges  32  and  34  each have a plurality of openings  36  therein. The openings in the upper flange are shown. 
     In the first form of the invention, these flanges are used as supports that fit into receptacles of a guide track  40 . The track  40 , as can perhaps best be seen in FIG. 3 has a base wall  42 , and inverted U-shaped guide receptacles  44  and  46  at the top and bottom, respectively. These receptacles receive the flanges  32  and  34 , respectively, for slidably mounting the cupholder  10  and permitting movement of the cupholder along the length of the track. 
     While the full length of the track  40  is not illustrated, the top view of FIG. 2 shows that it extends along the supermarket cart wall, which is indicated at  48 , and is the type of wall that would be a plastic or molded wall cart for illustrative purposes. 
     The track  40  can be mounted onto the wall  48 , or the wall  13  through the use of suitable cap screws  50  which pass through the base  42 , and wherein the cap screw heads can fit into a recess  52  that is formed in the track  40 . The cap screws  50  can pass through apertures  54  in the supermarket cart wall  48 , or between the wires  13  the wall  13 , and secure clamp straps  56  to the outside of the wall  48 . The clamp straps  56  can be held securely with lock nuts or the like which do not snag or catch on objects easily. 
     The flanges  32  and  34  and apertures  36  are also used for attaching the cupholder directly to the sidewall of a shopping cart as illustrated in FIG.  4 . The same clamp straps  56  can be used as with the track  40 . A separate clamp strap  56  will be used for the top and the bottom flanges. The wall  60  of a shopping cart would thus support the flanges  32  and  34 . Suitable countersunk cap screws or round headed carriage bolts  62  would be passed through the apertures  36  on both the top and bottom flanges, and then bolted in place to clamp the sidewall  60  in position using the clamp straps  56  for backing. The wall  60  could be either a molded wall or a wire wall of a shopping cart. The direct attachment utilizes the same flanges as those used for the tracks and gives an additional benefit to the cupholder. 
     The receptacles  22 ,  24 ,  26  and  28  are generally molded in place with walls that are surrounded by the sidewalls  16  and front wall  18 . As shown fragmentarily in FIG. 4, the depending wall of the cup receptacle  22  is shown at  66 . A typical pencil holder or pen holder wall is illustrated at  68 . The coupon holder pockets are formed with walls  70 . The surrounding skirt or walls  16  and  18  shield the internal molded walls. 
     Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a second form of the supermarket cart cupholder is shown at  80 . The supermarket cart cupholder in this form of the invention includes a molded cupholder member  82  that has side walls  83 , and a front wall  84 . The cupholder has a base or rear wall  86 , and a top wall  88 . 
     A receptacle  90  is formed inwardly from the top wall, for receiving a cup or can as in the first forms of the invention. 
     Also, cylindrical pockets  92  can be provided as in the first form of the invention, and elongated pockets  94  are positioned along the sides for receiving coupons, wallets, or other items that will fit into this type of pocket. 
     In this form of the invention, the supermarket cart cupholder is provided with a support hanger indicated generally at  95 , which comprises a top or cross wall  98  and a depending wall  100  that joined to top wall  98  and is spaced from the base wall  86  of the cupholder. This forms a U-shaped receptacle  102  so that it is a type of a hanger that will fit over the side wall  94  of a supermarket cart that is illustrated schematically. 
     The top rail  96  of the supermarket cart wall will support the under surface  98 A of the top or cross wall  98 , and if the hanger bracket wall  100  is not secured, the cupholder can be slid along the top rail  96  to any desired position. 
     The support for the cupholder is adequate because of the depth of the U-shaped receptacle  102 , and if desired, as shown in FIG. 5, suitable fasteners  106  can be passed through the openings in the vertical slats of the supermarket cart wall  94  and screwed partially into the base wall  86  to hold the cupholder very securely in place. Alternatively, threaded nuts could be molded into the base wall  86 , and fasteners  106  extended through the hanger bracket wall  100 . 
     A modification of a fastener is to use a bump or latch dog  108  that is near the open end of the U-shaped receptacle (FIG.  6 ). The bump or latch dog is of size to leave a minimum clearance with wall  100  that is less than the diameter of the top rod or rail  96 . The latch dog  108  would prevent the cupholder from being slid up easily and removed from the supermarket cart until the wall  100  had been moved or bent outwardly from the base wall  86 . 
     The supermarket cart cupholder thus is removable, and is easily installed by merely placing the receptacle  102  above the top rail  96  of a suitable wall of the supermarket cart, and sliding it down into position. 
     The other features of the invention are the same as in the first form of the invention, and the present form provides for adjustment along the rail  96  quite easily, and also provides for removal and replacement. 
     The long receptacles for the coupons can be placed to extend in direction of the flanges  32  and  34 , between the base wall and the receptacle  22 . Several accessory pockets can be formed in desired locations. 
     The cupholder may have an opening in the bottom wall, formed with cross supports, if desired. The depth of the drink cup receptacle is selected to support various size cups. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.