A plumber's caddy is disclosed which provides a holder for plumbing tools, fittings and supplies. An arm permits the caddy to be secured to a member such as a ceiling joist. The arm is jointed in one or more places such that the holder can move relative to the fastener. A swivel joint is disclosed which permits rotation and tilting of the holder relative to the fastener. Hangers are provided for hanging tools from the holder.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to the field of plumbing. More 
specifically, it relates to a plumber's caddy for holding items such as 
plumbing tools, fittings and materials. 
BACKGROUND 
Plumbers are routinely required to install and repair piping for water and 
waste lines. Such piping is typically made of PVC or metal. Work on PVC 
pipes requires tools, fittings, PVC primer and glue. Work on metal pipes 
requires tools, fittings and flux. 
Water and waste pipes are often located in ceilings and other inaccessible 
places. There is often very limited space in which the plumber can work in 
order to gain access to these pipes for installation and repair. The space 
available for placing tools, fittings and materials is therefore limited. 
It is therefore very difficult to keep the necessary tools and materials 
close at hand, especially when the plumber has to work from a ladder and 
with both hands. 
Fittings, primer, glue or flux and tools must be readily accessible to the 
plumber. Tools can be carried on a belt, but primer and glue usually have 
to be balanced on the ladder. One solution is to tape the cans of primer 
and glue. However, spills and drops are still commonplace. 
There is a long-felt need to provide some way for plumbers to have easy 
access to tools, fittings and materials, especially PVC glue and primer, 
so that their hands are free and so that spills and drops of fittings and 
tools are minimized. The present invention addresses this long-felt need. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention comprises a plumber's caddy for holding plumbing materials 
(tools, fittings glue, primer and/or flux). The caddy comprises one or 
more holders adapted to accommodate such materials. The holder is 
connected to a fastener, preferably a clamp which secures the caddy to an 
object such as a ceiling joist. A joint or joint is/are provided between 
the holder and the fastener to permit the holder to move relative to the 
fastener. This structure permits a plumber to have ready access to his or 
her materials when working in a confined space or up a ladder. 
A more detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention is 
provided below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. 
Caddy 1 is designed to hold plumbing materials, including one or more of 
tools, fittings, glue, primer, flux. Caddy 1 is made up of a shallow base 
tray 3, two cylindrical holders 5 and 7 and arm 9. Base tray 3 is a 
rectangular box formed from sheet metal, preferably, 0.5" aluminum angle 
iron with vertical walls 11, forming a box shape which is useful in 
holding various small objects. Four plastic feet 12 are secured to bottom 
surface 10 of base tray 3. Feet 12 allow the caddy to be placed on a flat 
surface without damaging it (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Cylindrical holders 5 and 
7 are dimensioned to receive and accommodate cans 19 and 21 snugly, but 
such that they can easily be removed. Holders 5 and 7 are cup-shaped 
members. They are thin-walled circular steel tubes with a circumference of 
4.5" and a depth of 2". Cans 19 and 21 are commercially available PVC 
primer and glue cans, well known to plumbers. Attached to front wall 13 by 
means of rivets are two galvanized steel hangers, 15 and 17. Hangers 15 
and 17 are for hanging tools such fitting brushes and saws. Similar 
hangers 16 and 18 are provided on rear wall 14 (see FIG. 3). The structure 
just described allows the caddy to hold a variety of plumbing supplies and 
tools. 
Arm 9 is an aluminum pipe with an outer diameter of approximately 0.5". Arm 
9 comprises post 23 and upper member 24. Upper member is shown broken into 
two parts in FIG. 1. It is however a unitary member of about 18" in 
length. 
Post 23 is secured to tray 3 by welding and is thus connected to holders 5 
and 7. It could of course be connected directly to holders 5 and 7. The 
upper (hinged) end 25 of post 23 is flattened, folded and riveted to form 
a hinge to secure swivel joint 27. Swivel joint 27 is a commercially 
available joint made up of three parts--lower joint member 29, axle 31 and 
upper joint member 33. The first, lower joint member, 29 is stirrup 
shaped. The lower part of lower joint member 29 is journaled in the hinged 
end 25 of post 23 so that it can tilt. Rotation is provided by axle 31 
which connects lower joint member 29 to second, upper joint member 33. 
Upper joint member 33 is journaled to upper member 24 in the same way as 
first member is journaled to post 23. That is to say, lower end 35 of 
upper member 24 is flattened, folded over and riveted to form a hinge 
which allows tilting. 
Arm 9 has an upper end 37. This end is flattened and has a hole punched or 
drilled through it. Fastener 39 is secured to upper end 37 by means of 
cotter pin 41. This provides a joint which permits fastener 39 to rotate 
about cotter pin 41 and thus move with respect to tray 3 and hence holders 
5 and 7. Cotter pin 41 thus allows caddy 1 to be secured to a vertical or 
horizontal joist while remaining parallel to the floor. This overall 
structure of arm 9 provides a universal joint which allows movement of 
tray 3 and hence holders 5 and 7 relative to fastener 39. 
Fastener 39 is preferably a commercially available carpenter's clamp. It is 
spring loaded with a spring having sufficient stiffness that when the 
clamp is attached to an object such as a ceiling joist, it can secure 
caddy 1, fully loaded without slippage. 
It will be recognized by persons of ordinary skill in the art that a wide 
variety of variations on the basic structure just described can be used to 
implement the invention. For example, holders 5 and/or 7 and/or tray 3 
could be replaced with baskets made of metal or plastic. The entire 
structure could be made of a unitary plastic molding. Post 23 and/or upper 
member 24 could be made of a variety of metals or plastics. They could 
also be light I-beams or other such members. Fastener 39 could be a 
C-clamp, or a quick release clamp. Movement of the holders relative to 
fastener 39 and/or arm 9 could also be accomplished by a variety of 
joints, the joints being placed at various points between holders 5 and 7 
and fastener 39, the purpose of the joints simply being to provide 
movement in several dimensions to allow the caddy to be secured to members 
of different orientations. 
One alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 4. In that embodiment, holder 5 
is in the form of clips 51 and 53 and holder 7 is in the form of clips 71 
and 73. Clips 51, 53, 71 and 73 are identical. They are made of a 
resilient material such as steel or plastic and welded, riveted or glued 
to vertical member 54. Clips 51, 53, 71 and 73 are dimensioned and spaced 
along vertical member 54 such that cans 19 and 21 can clip into them and 
fit snugly and such that cans 19 and 21 can easily be released for 
replacement or refilling. 
A second alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, 
pans 83 and 93 are secured to post 23. Pans 83 and 93 have flat bases 85 
and 95 respectively and are dimensioned so that the bases of cans 19 and 
21 can rest in them. Cans 19 and 21 are secured by clips 81 and 91 which 
are similar to clips 71 and 73. 
While the invention has been described with reference to its preferred 
embodiment, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art 
that various modifications can be made to the preferred embodiment without 
departing from the spirit of the invention or limiting its scope.