Lockable flanged item caddy

The invention comprises a support structure for receiving and lockably holding various items. The support structure has one or more of a variety of receiving structures in its upper surface. Container bases to which containers may be attached or which are formed in one piece with the container bases fit in a particular receiving structure and may be locked into place in the support structure. This invention permits organizing bottles, containers and caps for various felt markers and wirting instruments of various sizes and for holding them securely in a fixed position so that they may be easily opened and closed with only one hand while at the same time allowing them to be easily removed from the support.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a device for organizing, securely holding, 
and supporting small items such as those commonly found on desks. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is often difficult for persons engaged in the graphic arts, or others, 
who work with small bottles, containers and drawing implements such as 
markers of various sizes, to keep the containers neatly organized, upright 
and available for easy use. It is also often inconvenient or difficult, 
especially for handicapped persons, to use both hands to open and close 
the bottles and markers. Many prior art supports and holders only have 
holes or openings in which to set the bottles loosely. Others hold the 
bottles so firmly that easy removal of the bottles is not possible. This 
invention provides a device for organizing such bottles and containers and 
for holding them securely in a fixed position so that they may be easily 
opened and closed with only one hand while at the same time allowing the 
bottles to be easily removed from the support. This invention is an 
improvement over the inventor's prior invention (Ser. No. 06/891,130) now 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,108 and the prior art in that it provides a support 
that is designed to allow locking of the containers into place on the 
support and also to allow easy unlocking for removal of the containers 
from the support. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
One object of the invention is to provide a device that can be used to 
support and hold bottles and containers of various sizes. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a device that can be used to 
organize differently sized objects. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a device that can hold a 
variety of containers by providing standard sized flanges for the 
containers. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a device that can be 
inexpensively constructed. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a device that allows bottles 
and other containers easily to be locked into position on a support 
structure as well as easily to be removed from that position. 
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to 
those of skill in the art after reading the following description of 
preferred embodiments. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is comprised of a lockable flanged item caddy support 
structure having one or more types of receiving structures capable of 
receiving a variety of containers by means of container bases styled to 
fit the particular type or receiving structure and into which receiving 
structure the container bases may be locked into place. The items such as 
bottles or other containers may be attached to the container base by a 
variety of means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The shape and size of the caddy 1 of the invention, which may have any 
number of receiving structures, may be designed to fit many use or space 
constraints and may contain one or more levels to receive containers. Each 
receiving structure is a depression in an upper plane and is designed to 
fit a particular container base design. The upper plane 2 of each level 
may be horizontal, slanted or curved or a combination of more than one 
plane. An embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 1 in which the item 
caddy 1 has various embodiments of receiving structures for container 
bases. FIGS. 2-16 are perspective, diagrammatic and cross-sectional view 
of the embodiments of the container bases and receiving structures as 
discussed individually in more detail below. FIGS. 17-20 are embodiments 
of the container fixtures. FIG. 21 shows the caddy 1 with container 
fixtures in the receiving structures. 
In FIGS. 2-6, the first receiving structure 3 is comprised of a square 
opening 4 in the upper plane 2 of the caddy 1 through which the square 
first container base 5 (FIG. 5) is placed. The shape of the interior 6 of 
the receiving structure 3 beneath the upper plane 2 is derived from a 
circle 7 having a diameter equal to the diagonal 8 of the square container 
base 5, which circle 7 has preferably four periodically spaced 
indentational stops 9 such that the square container base 5 may be rotated 
from position a to position b (FIG. 4), with the corners of the square 
container base 5 coming to rest against the stops 9 and beneath the side 
of the square opening 4 that is cut in the upper plane 2. In this 
position, the base 5 cannot be removed from the receiving structure 3 
without rotation because the four tips 10 of the square container base 5 
are beneath the upper plane 2. To enhance the locking effect, the 
container base 5 may be provided with upwardly projecting knobs 11 which 
either fit into indentations 12 in the lower surface 13 of the upper plane 
2 (FIG. 5) or in holes 14 through the upper plane 2 (FIGS. 2 and 6). These 
knobs 11 are preferably of plastic or other flexible material so that with 
sufficient downward and rotational pressure they may be disengaged from 
the indentations 12 or holes 14 for removal of the container base 5 from 
the receiving structure 3. 
The second receiving structure 15 in the preferred embodiment (FIGS. 7-9) 
is also comprised of a square opening 16 in the upper plane 2 of the caddy 
1 through which the square second container base 17 (FIG. 9) is placed. To 
accommodate locking of the second container base 17 in the second 
receiving structure 15, wedge-shaped base projections 18 on the second 
container base 17 are designed to butt against angled stops 19 projecting 
downward from the upper plane 2. To enhance the locking effect, a 
downward-hanging flexible catch 20 may be provided to stop the corner of 
the base projection 18 from moving unless moderate force is exerted. Both 
the first and second receiving structures are best used for containers and 
implements having slip-on caps such as marking pens because if used with 
containers having screw-on caps, the process of opening or closing the 
caps may cause the container base to turn in the receiving structure. 
The third receiving structure 21 may open at any edge 22 of the item caddy 
1 (FIGS. 1-2). The sides 23 of the third receiving structure 21 are 
parallel to each other and may be perpendicular to or at other angles to 
the edge 22 of the caddy 1. The upper plane 2 of the caddy 1 overhangs the 
sides 23 of the receiving structure 21 to form a track 24 in which the 
third container base 25 slides. The third container base 25 need not be 
rectangular but must have two parallel sides. As shown in FIG. 11, 
upwardly projecting knobs 26 on the sides of the third container base 25 
fit into either indentations 27 in the lower surface 13 of the upper plane 
2 (FIG. 10) or in holes 28 through the upper plane 2 (FIG. 12). These 
knobs 26 are preferably of plastic or other flexible material so that they 
may be disengaged from the indentations 27 or holes 28 for removal of the 
base 25 from the receiving structure 21. As shown in FIG. 12 the receiving 
structure 21 may have more than one set of indentations 27 or holes 28 
along its sides 23 to allow for placement of the third container base 25 
at more than one position or to allow for placement of more than one 
container base 25 in the receiving structure 21. 
The fourth receiving structure 29 may also open at any edge of the item 
caddy 1. The sides 30 of the fourth receiving structure 29 are parallel to 
each other for use with a rectangular container base 31 or may be angled 
for use with an angled container base. In either case, the fourth 
container base 31, has wedges 32 along the side edges 33. The fourth 
receiving structure 29 has an upper track surface 34 inclined downward 
from the opening into which the wedges 32 along the side edges 33 of the 
container base 31 may slide (FIG. 16). An end catch 35 of flexible sturdy 
material allows the fourth container base 31 to be locked in place in the 
fourth receiving structure 29 until pressure is exerted. The amount of 
pressure required to unlock the container base 31 in this embodiment as 
well as in the others obviously will depend on the type of material used 
for the catch 35. The fourth receiving structure 29 may have a slanted 
groove 36 in the upper plane 2 into which the wedge 32 slides and which 
has a catch 35 at the tall end of the slanted groove 36 (FIG. 13), or the 
upper track surface 34 may be a slanted lower surface of the overhanging 
upper plane 2 (FIG. 14). 
The bottoms of containers, such as bottles 37, may be attached directly, 
such as with glue or any other means of attachment, to the container 
attachment site 45 of any of the container bases for use in the receiving 
structures (FIG. 19). Alternatively, container fixtures that are adapted 
for particular items may be attached to the container bases to hold the 
various desk implements, bottles or jars firmly or the container bases may 
be formed in one piece with the container fixtures. Thus, a cup-structure 
38 with interior threads 39 may be attached to any container base (FIG. 
18). The edges of the container base may be wider than the container as 
shown in FIGS. 17 and 19 or, as shown in FIG. 18, the container base may 
be as narrow or narrower than the container for added stability and 
sturdiness and to allow the container to rest on the caddy 1. This design 
is particularly useful for cap structures that fit writing implements as 
shown in FIG. 22. The size of the cup structure 38 may be designed to fit 
the cap of a marker pen (FIG. 19) or the bottom of a bottle or other 
container or implement (FIG. 18) of any size. The caps of commercial 
marker pens or other writing implements may be replaced with special caps 
40 having external threads 41 that fit the cup structure 38 and thread 
into the interior threads 39 (FIG. 19) or are unthreaded and are attached 
directly to or are part of a container base (FIGS. 21 and 22). Bottles 42 
with external threads 41 on the bottom sides of the bottle 42 may be used 
to fit in the cup-structure 38 (FIG. 18). Alternatively, slip-on bottle 
covers or caps 46 may be formed to be externally threaded to fit into the 
cup structure. To allow enhanced locking, backward-projecting protrusions 
43 on the top external threads 41 catch in notches 44 on the top interior 
threads 39 of the cup-structures 38 to keep the threaded bottle 42 or cap 
40 from unscrewing unless sufficient pressure is exerted (FIG. 20). Any of 
the cup-structures 38 may also be attached directly to the upper plane 2 
of the caddy 1 as shown in FIG. 1. A new bottle 42 or cap 40 may be 
screwed into the appropriately sized cup-structure 38 to replace used 
supplies or pens or to change the items kept on the caddy 1. As shown in 
FIG. 1, cup-structures 38 may be attached directly and permanently to the 
caddy 1 and not to container bases.