A container holder for a vehicle is stored in an armrest and can be moved to a use position exposing a container supporting element. Upon returning the container holder to its storage position, at least one arm of the container holder is retracted by the action of the top of the armrest contacting a support member. A slide mechanism couples at least one arm of the holder to the support member to effect the retraction of the arm for storage with the movement of the support member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to holders for a container and particularly 
to one for use in connection with a vehicle and more particularly an 
armrest within a vehicle. 
Typical beverage container holders offered as original equipment on 
automobiles either include a deep cylindrical support recess formed in an 
armrest, console, or other support member into which a beverage container 
or cup can be placed or a shallow cylindrical recess formed in the 
backside of glove compartment door. These structures have certain 
drawbacks. The armrest or console holder gathers dirt and foreign matter 
which is difficult to remove because the holder is deep and its floor not 
readily accessible. The glove compartment door offers little support to 
the beverage container, so the container can easily be spilled if the 
automobile is moving and hits a bump. Also, when the door is open for use 
as a beverage holder, the contents of the glove compartment can be jarred 
and fall from the open compartment while the car is moving. 
There exists a variety of cupholders or container holders utilized for 
supporting cups, cans or other beverage containers in a vehicle such that 
the vehicle occupants can support such beverage containers while in the 
vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,764 issued Nov. 29, 1983, is representative 
of one cupholder structure which is incorporated in the armrest of a 
vehicle and which can accommodate such containers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,497,076 and 4,040,659 also disclose cupholders which move from a storage 
position within a support structure and automobile to a use position. 
Alternatives to the above-described typical container holders frequently 
include complicated structures which require too much room, particularly 
if they are to be incorporated into an armrest or console between the 
front seat of an automobile where other items, such as cassette tape 
storage compartments, parking brake levers, etc., may be located. In 
addition to requiring too much room, many of the typical container holders 
in use today require a considerable effort on the part of the occupant of 
the vehicle to extend the container holder from its storage position to 
its use position. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The container holder of the present invention includes a housing from which 
at least one spring-loaded arm automatically extends by pivoting outwardly 
to grip a container in a horizontal manner while a vertical support means 
drops down to support the container bottom. The housing itself is 
pivotally mounted to an armrest or other vehicle support structure such 
that it can be easily moved from a concealed stored position to a use 
position. The support means, also known as a "bail", is coupled to at 
least one container arm for actuating the arm to automatically return the 
arm to a retracted position for storage. Thus, such a container holder is 
readily accessible by occupants of a vehicle with a minimum amount of 
effort, is readily accessible for cleaning, and it compactly fits into a 
limited storage area such as the interior of an armrest. 
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention 
will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof 
together with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown an armrest 12 which includes 
a lower half 13 defining a generally rectangular interior storage 
compartment 14. Armrest 12 also includes a cover 15 which is pivotally 
mounted along its rear edge to lower half 13 such that cover 15 can be 
moved between a closed, storage position shown in FIG. 2 and an open 
position shown in FIG. 1 by pivoting it as indicated by arrow A. Container 
holder 10 for cups, cans or other containers 11, which embodies the 
present invention is pivotally mounted to the forward edge of the inside 
of compartment 14 near front wall 16 of the lower half 13 of armrest 12. 
Container holder 10 includes a molded polymeric housing 20, as best seen in 
FIG. 4, which housing is divided into an upper section 22 and a lower 
section 24 suitably joined during assembly of the container holder 10. The 
housing and the container supporting elements mounted thereto pivot from a 
stored position inside armrest 12 to a use position, as shown by arrow B, 
by means of pivot arms 26 integral with lower housing section 24 and 
including rods 27 which extend outwardly from opposite sides of the lower 
section 24 of housing 20. The pivot arms 26 ar inserted into apertures 28 
formed in the sides of lower half 13 of armrest 12 near the front wall 16, 
as best seen in FIG. 3. Pivot arms 26 are sufficiently resilient such that 
they can be deflected for the insertion of container holder 10 into 
apertures 28 of armrest 12 during assembly. 
The rear wall 21 of the lower section 24 of housing 20 includes a anchor 
eyelet 30 (FIG. 3) for one end of a tension spring 32 which has its 
opposite end attached through aperture 34 to a movable link 36. Movable 
link 36 integrally includes a slide 38 at the bottom, as shown in FIGS. 4 
and 5, which slide fits into a slot 39 formed in a track 40 which is 
integral with the upper surface of the lower section 24 of housing 20. The 
end of movable link 36 opposite the attachment aperture 34 for spring 32 
includes log 42. Log 42 extends up from movable link 36 at a 50.degree. to 
60.degree. reverse angle as seen in FIG. 4. At the same end of movable 
link 36 there is an aperture 44 (FIGS. 3-5) large enough for the upwardly 
extending end 47 of support means 46 to fit through the aperture. End 47 
engages log 42 which acts as a cam follower in response to the upward 
motion of support means 46 to move movable link 36 to the right as viewed 
in FIG. 4. 
Support means 46 is pivotally mounted to the lower section 24 of housing 20 
by means of a pivot pin 49 as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. Support means 46 
terminates at its lower end in a T-shaped support member or bail 48. 
Support member or bail 48 extends under and supports the bottom of one or 
more containers 11 supported by the container holder as seen in FIG. 1. 
The pivot pin 49 fits into apertures of a pair of spaced mounting bosses 
50 integrally formed in the forward wall of lower section 24 of housing 20 
to pivotally mount the support means 46 and bail 48 to the lower section 
24 of housing 20. A laterally extending groove 29 formed in the lower 
section 24 of housing 20 allows bail 48 to nest into the housing when bail 
48 is in its collapsed storage position as seen in FIGS. 2 and 6. 
The container holder 10 includes a pair of pivoted arms 52 which pivot 
outwardly on a horizontal plane from housing 20 as best seen in FIGS. 1, 
3, and 5 to partially circumscribe and thereby support a container 11 held 
by the container holder 10. Pivoted arms 52 are coupled to the spring 
loaded movable link 36 and actuated by the end 47 of support means 46 to 
automatically extend and retract from the stored and use positions as 
container holder 10 is extended from armrest 12 or stored in the armrest 
respectively. Thus when container holder 10 is pivoted into the armrest 
storage compartment 14 and cover 15 closed, the cover engages the bail 48 
which causes support means 46 and end 47 to move. End 47 actuates, through 
its impact on log 42, movable link 36, which in turn pivots the arms 52 
inwardly to a collapsed or retracted stored position such that the 
container holder is fully contained within the armrest when stored. The 
structure for achieving this arm control is now described. 
Each arm 52 includes a pivot pin 53 mounted at one end and which is 
pivotally captured in apertures 51 (FIG. 4) in housing sections 22 and 24 
during assembly to pivotally mount the arms 52 on a horizontal plane to 
housing 20. The arms 52 circumscribe an arc of about 45.degree. and 
cooperate with curved walls 55 of housing sections 22 and 24 to 
substantially enclose the outer curved diameter of a container held 
therein. This relationship of the arms and housing together with the 
container floor supporting bail 48 is best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5. The arms 
52 are coupled to moveable link 36 by spring steel wires 54 which have one 
end secured in apertures 56 in arms 52 in spaced relationship but 
generally near pivot pins 53. The opposite ends of the wires 54 are 
coupled to apertures 58 at the forward end of movable link 36 as best seen 
in FIGS. 3 and 5. The connecting spring steel wires 54 provide a flexible 
and yet stiff coupling of the pivoted arms 52 to the movable link 36 which 
moves in a fore and aft direction to translate the sliding motion of 
movable link 36 to a pivoting motion of the connected arms 52. The offset 
of pivot pins 53 and apertures 56 is selected to provide a full range of 
pivoting arc for the arms 52 in response to the full range of sliding 
motion of the spring loaded movable link 36 to which arms 52 are coupled. 
When the container holder 10 is pivoted, as shown by arrow B in FIG. 1, 
from its use position to its storage position as illustrated in FIGS. 2 
and 6, and cover 15 of armrest 12 is lowered onto the still upwardly 
extending bail 48, which is held in such position by the force of log 42 
acting by the spring tension on end 47 of support means 46, the following 
occurs. Bail 48 collapses onto the lower section 24 of housing 20 and 
nests within groove 29. The movement of support means 46 is transmitted to 
log 42 which forces movable link 36 to travel forward in a straight line 
motion of slide 38 moving in slot 39 on track 40. This forward motion of 
movable link 36 is transmitted to arms 52 via wires 54 causing arms 52 to 
pivot on a horizontal plane towards the center of the container holder. 
This pivoting action causes arms 52 to fold toward each other thereby 
occupying a lesser space in both the horizontal and vertical dimension 
such that they can be fitted into the armrest 12. Thus the overall width 
and depth of container holder 10 becomes narrow enough such that arm rest 
storage compartment 14 and cover 15 can envelope it with the container 
holder occupying a minimal amount of space in the compartment 14. (See 
FIG. 2) 
When container holder 10 is in its storage position inside armrest 12 
(shown in FIGS. 2 and 6) and the occupant of the vehicle desires to use 
the container holder, the cover 15 is lifted, and bail 48 will fully 
extend due to the force of spring 32 on sliding member 36 and the 
engagement of members 42 and 47. When spring 32 moves movable link 36 back 
on track 40, this action is imparted to arms 52 via wires 54 causing arms 
52 to pivot outward. This pivoting action causes arms 52 to extend from 
their collapsed, storage position to their open, use position. 
Another embodiment of this invention is shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 8A. In this 
embodiment, the interconnection of the support means, arms, and slide 
includes gear mechanisms instead of wires 54, and elements 42 and 47. In 
this embodiment, the movable link 36 of the first embodiment is replaced 
with a sliding rack 78 having teeth 76 on opposite sides which engage the 
mating teeth of gears 80 which are rotatably mounted adjacent and on 
opposite sides of rack 78 and on lower housing section 24 by means of 
vertical axles 81 as seen in FIG. 7. One end of rack 78 is coupled to the 
tension spring 32 to be urged in a rearward direction thereby. The lower 
side of rack 78 includes a slide 79 which fits within slot 39 as in the 
first embodiment to guidably support the rack with respect to the housing 
20. 
Rack 78 also extends at its forward end between a pair of second rotatable 
gears 84 which are rotatably mounted to housing section 24 by means of 
axles 85. Like gears 80, gears 84 have teeth which mesh with teeth 76 of 
rack 78. Arms 52' include teeth 57 which mesh with the teeth of gears 80 
such that the movement of the rack 78 which rotates gears 80 causes the 
arms to move in an arc between an extended use position as shown in solid 
lines in FIG. 7 to a retracted stored position as shown in phantom lines. 
As shown in FIG. 8A, arms 52' have an inner groove 90 which allows them to 
move back and forth over supporting guide rod 92. Guide slots 23 in the 
top half 22 of housing 20 restrain the vertical movement of arms 52'. 
Rack 78 is moved by the movement of support means 46 which terminates at 
its upper end in a pair of spaced arcuate gears 70 with inwardly facing 
gear teeth 72 which mesh with gears 74. Gears 74 are rotatably mounted to 
the bottom half 24 of housing 20 by means of axles 75 which position the 
gears 74 in engagement between gear teeth 72 and gears 84. Support means 
46 is pivotally mounted to the housing 20 in the same manner as in the 
first embodiment to move between a lowered use position as seen in FIGS. 7 
and 8, and a raised storage position nested within groove 29. As in the 
prior embodiment, support means 46 terminates at its lower end in a 
T-shaped support member or bail 48. 
When the container holder of FIGS. 7 and 8 is stored in the same manner as 
the earlier embodiment, the cover of the armrest engages bail 48 of 
support means 46 to move the rack 78 forwardly which in turn moves the 
arms 52' to their retracted position. When the cover 15 is raised however, 
the spring 32 moves rack 78 rearwardly to extend the arms and the bail. 
The container holder is then pivoted from the storage area 14 of the 
armrest 12 as before for use. When the container holder is returned to 
storage, and before cover 15 is closed, bail 48 is extended as are the 
arms 52'. As the cover engages bail 48, support means 46 pivots to a 
closed position thereby driving rack 78 forwardly through gears 84 and 74 
and which causes arms 52' to move inwardly to a stored position. 
In both embodiments the spring constant of spring 32 is selected to provide 
the desired movement of the arms when the container holder is exposed by 
the raising of armrest cover 15. The container holder also could be 
mounted in a vehicle storage area other than an armrest as long as the 
bail interacts with the storage member to provide the arm controlling 
action. 
It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that various 
modifications to the preferred embodiments of the invention as described 
herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope thereof as 
defined by the appended claims.