Drink vessel holder

A drink vessel holder holds a drink vessel on a target surface such as a plate of food and allows the user to hold both the plate and the drink vessel held thereon with the same hand in order to allow the other hand to be used for enjoyment of the products being held. The drink vessel holder has a body member with a convex upper surface that seats within a concave bottom surface of a drink vessel. A tab extends outwardly from the body member, the tab being used by the user to hold the drink vessel on the plate. The tab may have an arcuate channel that receives a portion of the bottom structural ring of the drink vessel or the structural ring may be depressed or slotted for passage of the tab therethrough.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device that holds a drink vessel which can rest on a plate or other surface allowing the user to maintain the drink vessel securely thereon with one hand freeing the other hand. The present invention works specifically with a drink vessel that has a generally concave bottom, such as beverage can as well as certain glass and stem ware.

2. Background of the Prior Art

Most parties and other similar social occasions serve both food and drink. Obviously, the food is placed onto a plate while the drink is held within a drink vessel such as a can, or a glass, either a drink glass or a wine glass. This very straightforward holding method, while very efficient in its containment performance, does have its drawbacks.

If the social occasion is such that food and drink are retrieved from one or more central serving stations, and upon retrieval of the bounty, the user returns to a seat at a table, the separate plate and drink vessel tend to be satisfactory for most such occasions—also efficient for being served. The problem arises when it is desired that the party attendee not return to a table for consumption of the food and drink being served. Such lack of a desired destination can occur when the party host lacks sufficient sit down facilities to accommodate all of the guests. This typically occurs when it is the host's desire to keep the attendees on their feet in order to keep the attendees circulating in order to facilitate dynamic guest interaction.

As the guest must hold the food filled plate with one hand and the drink vessel with the other, this desire to keep a large portion of the guests circulating at any given time, presents some problems. Although sipping a drink presents few problems, having both hands full makes the consumption of the food on the plate a tricky occurrence. The guest may sit at a table to consume both food and drink in relative comfort. However, either by necessity or by design, the availability of sitting locations may be at a premium and many guests do not want to sit down desiring to mingle even while eating and drinking. The guest may find a location, such as a table, onto which either the plate or the drink vessel may be placed, thereby freeing one hand allowing for proper maneuverability between plate and drink vessel. However, this may also be problematic due to the limited availability, either by necessity or by design, of such rest areas available to the guest. Furthermore, this method also tends to tie down the guest to a specific location, although not necessarily as much as sitting at a table.

Another method used to overcome the problem of having both hands full, is for the guest to retrieve their food or drink initially, and upon consumption of the initial item, to retrieve the other item in order to consume food and drink in sequential fashion. While this method works as planned, most guests desire to have a drink during, as opposed to before or after, food consumption. Additionally, this arrangement throws into disarray parties that are designed for the intermingling of food and drink such as wine and cheese parties or beer and pretzel parties.

One other method employed by many guests is to attempt to hold the food plate and the drink vessel with one hand and to use the other hand to facilitate enjoyment of the consumables. While many guests may prove to be quite adept at succeeding with such maneuverability, other guests will proceed with disastrous and embarrassing results.

In order to facilitate the ability of a guest to be able to enjoy food and drink simultaneously without the need to sit at a table or to place either the food bearing plate or the drink vessel onto a fixed surface and without the need to perform heroic acrobatics, combined plate and drink vessel holders have been proposed. Such prior art devices are designed to serve as a plate in order to hold food and are also designed to hold a drink vessel securely so that a user can hold the food bearing plate and drink vessel with one hand in order to allow the other hand to be available to facilitate the enjoyment of the food and drink. Such prior art devices come in a variety of designs and work with varying degrees of efficiency, however, they tend to suffer from one or more drawbacks.

Many such food plate and drink vessel holding devices perform their intended task with great efficiency, yet such devices are unduly complex in design and construction, making such devices unusually expensive to employ. As these devices tend to be disposable, a high cost device is unjustified in most settings. Other prior art devices have the ability to hold only a specific type or specific size of drink vessel, making the utility of such devices limited in many situations. Still other devices require certain steps to be taken for proper device usage, which steps may not be obvious to a guest who has not encountered such a device previously, rendering such devices awkward in operation with the potential for device failure and the attendant embarrassment that results.

My previous U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,625, issued on Aug. 28, 2003, has resolved many prior art problems while my continued work in this field has produced an ever expanding set of device solutions to the need to be able to hold a plate and a drink vessel with a single hand in order to allow the use of the other hand for consumption efforts from the plate and vessel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The drink vessel holder of the present invention continues to solve the aforementioned shortcomings found in the art. The drink vessel holder is a device that allows a user to hold a drink vessel on a target surface, such as a plate, with the one hand so that the other hand may be employed to enjoy both food and drink. The drink vessel holder is of relatively simple and straightforward design and construction and is relatively easy to manufacture, employing standard manufacturing techniques for its production. The drink vessel holder is designed for drink vessels that have a relatively concave bottom surface, such as soda and beer cans, certain glass ware and wine glasses, which vessels represent a large segment of the overall drink vessel universe, at least as is concerned with typical social gatherings whereat the present invention is targeted for deployment. My present invention is quick and easy to deploy and use, even to a device novice, rendering the chance for potential disaster during device usage relatively small.

The drink vessel holder of the present invention is comprised of a circular body member having a convex first upper surface and a matching concave first lower surface, the curvature of convexity of the first upper surface corresponding to the curvature of concavity of a bottom surface of a target drink vessel. A tab has a second upper surface and a relatively flat second lower surface and extends outwardly from the body member. The first upper surface of the body member is attached to the bottom surface of the drink vessel, and the second lower surface of the tab rests on a target surface (plate, serving tray, counter, etc.) with a user's thumb or finger resting on the second upper surface of the tab in order to press the second lower surface of the tab onto the target surface in order to help stabilize the drink vessel on the plate. The body member and the tab may be unitary in construction and may even be monolithic in construction. An arcuate channel may be disposed within the second upper surface of the tab such that the structural ring of the drink vessel seats within the channel whenever the body member is attached to the drink vessel. An adhesive layer may be disposed atop the first upper surface of the body member with a peel away protective membrane positioned atop the first upper surface it order to protect the adhesive layer. The body member and tab are made from an appropriate thin, flexible material such as plastic, rubber, silicone, aluminum, paper (including cardboard), etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, it is seen that the drink vessel holder of the preseat invention, generally denoted by reference numeral10, is comprised of a generally disk shaped body member12having a concave lower surface14(although the lower surface may also be relatively flat) and a convex upper surface16that corresponds to the concavity of the lower surface14, if so configured. A tab18, also having a relatively flat lower surface20and an upper surface22, extends outwardly from a side of the body member12, such that the body member12and the tab18are unitary and possibly even monolithic in construction. An optional arcuate channel24is disposed within the upper surface22of the tab18. The body member12and tab18are made from an appropriate flexible material such as flexible plastic, rubber, silicone, aluminum, paper (including cardboard), etc., although the drink vessel holder10can also be made from a relatively rigid material within the scope and spirit of the invention

The drink vessel holder10of the present invention is designed to be attached to the bottom surface26of a beverage vessel28such as the illustrated can, the can28being generally cylindrical in shape and having the bottom surface26encompassed by a structural ring30and a top surface32also having a structural ring34and a tabbed opening36for dispensing of the fluid held within the can28. As seen, the bottom surface26of the can28is generally concave with a curvature of concavity corresponding to the curvature of convexity of the upper surface16of the body member12. It is expressly recognized that beverage holders other than the illustrated beverage can28can be used with the drink vessel holder10of the present invention. For example, many glasses, such as high ball glasses, simple water glasses, wine glasses, etc., also have a generally concave lower surface.

In its simplest iteration, the body member12is attached to the drink vessel28such that the convex upper surface16of the body member12is received within the concave bottom surface26of the beverage can28. Attachment of body member12to bottom surface26of can28can be as simple as a frictional attachment. However, as many drink vessels, especially cans28, tend to be cold and therefore have a condensation layer on their outer surface, including the bottom surface26, the upper surface16may have an adhesive layer thereon for facilitating adhesive attachment of body member12to can (vessel)28. Advantageously, such an adhesive allows bonding of the body member12to a relatively wet surface26of the beverage vessel28. The peel strength of the adhesive material is sufficiently high so as to maintain firm adhesive contact with its respective device28, even if moisture is present. If an adhesive layer is provided on the upper surface16of the body member12, then an appropriate protective membrane38overlays the upper surface16of the body member12and is peeled off therefrom when the device10is ready to be attached to the drink vessel28.

After the body member12is attached to the beverage vessel28, the tab18is extended outwardly (if not already so positioned). The tab18is dimensioned so that it extends beyond the outer perimeter of the beverage vessel28. The beverage vessel28is placed upon a flat surface, such as the plate P illustrated inFIG. 2, and the user uses his or her thumb T of the hand H holding the plate P to press the tab18onto the plate P in order to steady the beverage vessel28on the plate P. This allows the user to hold the plate P and the beverage vessel28with a single hand H.

If the channel24is present on the upper surface22of the tab18, the radius of curvature of the channel24matches the radius of curvature of the structural ring30of the beverage vessel28and is positioned on the tab18so that the structural ring30of the beverage vessel28seats within the channel24whenever the body member12is centrally attached to the bottom surface26of the beverage vessel28. This seating helps hold the beverage vessel28on the plate P. If the channel24is not present within the tab18, then the tab18, by being resilient due to the materials used to produce the tab18, allows the structural ring30to be pressed into the upper surface22of the tab18for added securement of the beverage vessel28being held by the device10.

Alternately, as seen inFIG. 6, the can28can be modified so that a portion of the structural ring30proximate the bottom surface26of the can28, has a depression40(or alternately slotted (not illustrated)) in order to allow the tab18to pass therethrough. The structural ring30should not be completely eliminated at this area in order to preserve the structural integrity of the can28.

The drink vessel holder10of the present invention can be packaged and sold independently of the beverage vessel28onto which the device10is to be attached and deployed as desired. Alternately, the beverage vessel28can come equipped with the drink vessel holder10pre-installed by the manufacturer of the vessel28, as illustrated inFIG. 4A, or the tab18can be folded, or curled back against the body member as illustrated inFIG. 4B. Pre-installation of the drink vessel holder10by the manufacturer of the beverage can28may call for the use of an appropriate adhesive to attach the convex upper surface16of the body member12to the concave bottom surface26of the beverage can28, or, if the drink vessel holder10is made of thin flexible aluminum, the upper surface16may be spot welded or riveted to bottom surface26as an alternative to using an adhesive.

Once use of the beverage vessel28is no longer needed, then the drink vessel holder10is either left on the beverage vessel28, with both being discarded, or the drink vessel holder10is detached from the previous beverage vessel28and placed upon a new beverage vessel28as desired.