Removable article holder for a dishwasher

An article holder for the dish rack of a dishwasher is provided for securely holding cup-shaped articles. The article holder includes a hinge member for removably interconnecting said article holder to a horizontally extending tine of the dish rack. The article holder also includes an article engaging member that extends generally vertically with respect to the interconnecting member of the article holder. A curvelinear biasing member of the article holder is interposed between the interconnecting member and the article engaging member for resiliently biasing the article engaging member against an article, holding a wall of the article between the holder's article engaging member and a dish rack member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an article holder for a basket or dish 
rack and more particularly to a removable article holder for securing 
cup-shaped articles and the like to the dish rack of a dishwasher. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Known dishwashers typically include a first dish rack, typically an upper 
dish rack, for supporting cups, containers and similar articles and a 
second dish rack, typically a lower dish rack, for supporting plates, 
pots, pans, and other large articles. Water pressure on cup-shaped 
articles especially lightweight plastic articles, in either dish rack 
during the operation of the dishwasher often causes the articles to turn 
over landing either upright or in an unstable position. When turned over 
during the operation of the dishwasher, a cup-shaped article will collect 
dirty water in its base so that the article is not cleaned. Further, the 
unstable position in which the article lands may result in the article 
tipping over as the dishwasher is opened so that the article dumps dirty 
water onto clean dishes or onto the user of the dishwasher. 
Dish racks are known to have various members for supporting dishes and 
glasses as follows. U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,088 shows pivotal dish supporting 
elements in a folding dish drying rack. U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,498 shows 
individual curved members each for supporting a dish at a plurality of 
points wherein the members may be hooked together to form a modular dish 
rack. U.S. Pat. No. 2,708,037 shows a detachable rack for draining glasses 
in a dish rack, the detachable draining rack having large upstanding 
members to support large glasses and smaller upstanding members positioned 
in a plane slightly offset from the large members so that the rim of a 
small glass may be gripped between a large and small member. U.S. Pat. No. 
3,451,556 shows a removable article supporting device for a dish rack. The 
supporting device is U-shaped having indentations in each leg near the 
base of the device so as to engage adjacent parallel tines in the base of 
the dish rack. U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,322 shows a dish rack with spaced pins 
that are pivotal to various positions including intermediate inclined 
positions in which the pins press against the outer surface of an article 
to be held in place on the rack. U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,261 shows a 
dishwasher rack with removable fences for supporting glasses and dishes. 
None of the known glass/dish supporting devices for dish racks provides a 
resilient bias for affirmatively securing a cup or the like between the 
supporting device and a member of the dish rack that extends above a 
horizontal tine of the dish rack to which the holder is removably secured. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the present invention, the disadvantages of prior art 
glass/dish supporting devices for the dish rack of a dishwasher have been 
overcome. The dish rack article holder of the present invention includes a 
member for removably interconnecting the holder with a horizontally 
extending tine of a dish rack; a member for engaging an article, the 
article engaging member extending generally vertically with respect to the 
interconnecting member; and a member interposed between the 
interconnecting member and the article engaging member for resiliently 
biasing the article engaging member of the holder towards a dish rack 
member that extends above the horizontal tine to which the holder is 
attached to resiliently grip a wall of an article between the article 
engaging member and the dish rack member. 
More particularly, the biasing member of the article holder of the present 
invention is curvelinear having a first linear portion extending outwardly 
from the interconnecting member of the holder, a curved portion curving 
upwardly and inwardly from the first linear portion, and a second linear 
portion extending inwardly from the first curved portion. The second 
linear portion of the biasing means extends inwardly into a knee or curved 
portion of the article engaging member, the knee curving generally 
upwardly. The second linear portion of the biasing member extends inwardly 
a greater distance than the distance that the first linear portion extends 
outwardly to position the knee of the article engaging member inwardly of 
the interconnecting member so that when the holder is attached to a 
horizontal tine of the dish rack, the knee of the article engaging member 
is resiliently biased towards the dish rack member. 
The interconnecting member of the article holder includes a hinge member to 
allow the article holder to pivot about the horizontal tine of the dish 
rack. The hinge member further snaps onto the horizontal tine so as to 
allow the article holder to be easily attached and removed from the dish 
rack. 
The interconnecting member, article engaging member and biasing member are 
integrally formed to provide an article holder having a unitary 
construction. Further, the article holder is formed of a resilient 
material such as plastic so as to resiliently hold articles between the 
article engaging member and the dish rack. 
The dish rack article holder of the present invention securely holds 
cup-shaped articles in position to prevent such articles from turning over 
during the operation of a dishwasher. These and other objects, advantages 
and novel features of the present invention, as well as details of an 
illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully understood from the 
following description and the drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A removable article holder 10, shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and constructed in 
accordance with the principles of the present invention, is particularly 
well suited for securing cup-shaped articles to a dish rack, such as an 
upper dish rack 62 (FIGS. 2 and 3) or dish rack 17 (FIGS. 3 and 4), of a 
dishwasher. The article holder 10, however, may be employed with any dish 
rack or basket having at least one horizontally extending tine and a 
member or members extending above the tine as will be apparent from the 
following description of the article holder 10. 
The article holder 10 includes a hinge member 12 for removably 
interconnecting the article holder with a horizontal tine 13 of a dish 
rack 17. The hinge member 12 has a pair of curved members 14 and 16 that 
extend from opposite sides of a base crossbar 18 curving upwardly to 
respective inverted U-shaped ends 20 and 22 that are connected by a second 
crossbar 24. The crossbar 24 and the U-shaped ends 20 and 22 form 
apertures 26 and 28 into which the horizontal tine 13, 64 of the dish rack 
17, 62 snaps, the article holder 10 being securely attached to the tine 
13, 64 by the crossbar 24 which extends inwardly towards the members 14 
and 16 to substantially encircle the tine 13, 64 with the U-shaped ends 20 
and 22. When snapped onto a horizontal tine 13, 64, the article holder 10 
is pivotable thereabout. The central portion 29 of the base crossbar 18 is 
formed having a greater cross-section than the remainder of the crossbar 
to form a stop for the article holder 10 when used on the dish rack 17 as 
described below. 
The article holder 10 includes an article engaging member 30 that extends 
generally vertically with respect to the hinge member 12. The article 
engaging member 30 has parallel legs 32 and 34 each having a linear 
portion 36 that extends upwardly and outwardly from a respective curved 
portion or knee 38, wherein the linear portions 36 extend upwardly into a 
curved portion 39 so as to join the legs 32 and 34 together at their upper 
ends. The linear portions 36 of the legs 32 and 34 fit into the interior 
of an inverted cup-shaped article with the knees 38 of the legs 32 and 34 
abutting a sidewall of the article as discussed below with reference to 
FIG. 3. 
The parallel legs 32 and 34 also form part of a bias member 40 of the 
article holder 10. Each of the legs 32 and 34 of the bias member 40 has a 
first linear portion 42 that extends outwardly from the base crossbar 18 
on opposite sides of the central portion 29 of the crossbar 18. The first 
linear portion 42 of each of the legs 32 and 34 extends outwardly into a 
respective curved portion 44 that curves upwardly and inwardly therefrom. 
The curved portion 44 of each of the legs 32 and 34 extends into a second 
linear portion 46 of the bias member 40. Each of the second linear 
portions 46 extends inwardly, in the direction of arrow A, from the curved 
portions 44 a greater distance than the distance that the first linear 
portions 42 extends outwardly, in the direction of arrow B, from the base 
crossbar 18 so that the knees 38 of the holder's article engaging member 
30 are positioned inwardly of the hinge member 12 as shown in FIG. 4. 
The hinge member 12, the biasing member 40 and the article engaging member 
30 of the article holder 10 are integrally formed to provide a unitary 
construction. Further, the article holder 10 is formed of a resilient 
material such as plastic so as to resiliently bias the article engaging 
member 30 against an article secured thereby to a dish rack 17, 64. 
The article holder of the present invention may be secured to different 
dish racks, one of which, the dish rack 62 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and 
another of which, the dish rack 17 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Each of the 
dish racks 17 and 62 has a respective horizontally extending tine 13, 64 
onto which the hinge member 12 is snapped and a member 50 or members 66, 
67 extending above the respective horizontal tine 13, 64 to allow an 
article to be secured to the dish rack 17, 62 with a wall of the article 
resiliently gripped between the article holder 10 and the upper member 50 
or members 66, 67. 
As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the dish rack 62 includes a pair of 
spaced, horizontally extending tines 63 and 64 and a number of spaced, 
perpendicular tines 65, 68, each of which is joined to the horizontal 
tines 63 and 64. More particularly, each of the tines 65-68 includes a 
generally vertically extending linear portion 70 and a generally S-shaped 
portion 72. The S-shaped portion 72 has a linear portion 76 that is 
attached to the horizontal tine 63 and extends into a curved portion 78, 
the curved portion 78 curving downward into a second linear portion 80 
that extends into a second curved portion 82, the second curved portion 82 
curving upward into a third linear portion 84 that extends upward from 
below the horizontal tine 64 into the linear portion 70 where the tine 
65-68 is joined to the horizontal tine 64. To use the article holder 10 
with the dish rack 62, the article holder 10 is slipped over a pair of 
adjacent upwardly extending tines 66 and 67 so that the tines 66 and 67 
are positioned between the crossbars 18 and 24. The hinge member 12 is 
then snapped onto the horizontal tine 64. The article holder 10 pivots in 
a clockwise direction about the tine 64, as shown in FIG. 3, until the 
crossbar 18 abuts the linear portion 84 of the tines 66 and 67. When the 
article holder is mounted as such onto the dish rack 62, the knees 38 of 
the holder's article engaging member 30 extend between the linear portions 
70 of the tines 66 and 67. To secure a glass or other container or 
cup-shaped article to the dish rack 62, the glass is inverted, i.e., 
turned upside down, and inserted over the article engaging member 30 so 
that the linear portion 36 of the article holder 10 extends into the 
interior of the glass. The glass is slid down over the article engaging 
member 30 until a portion of the rim of the glass abuts the crossbar 18 
with the knees 38 of the article holder 10 engaging an inner side wall of 
the glass to hold the glass between article engaging member 30 of the 
article holder 10 and the upwardly extending tines 66 and 67 of the dish 
rack 62. A glass secured to the dish rack 62 is resiliently gripped 
between the tines 66 and 67 and the knees 38 of the article engaging 
member 30 with the forces acting on the glass distributed between four 
radial arcs. Fragile glasses or containers are thus gently but securely 
held in the dish rack 62. 
When the article holder 10 is used in a dishwasher to secure a cup or a 
glass 60 to a dish rack 17 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the hinge member 12 
is snapped onto a horizontal tine 13 of the dish rack 17 of the 
dishwasher. The article holder 10 pivots around the tine 13 until the 
central portion 29 of the base crossbar 18 and the ends 54 and 56 of the 
members 14 and 16 abut a dish rack member, such as the horizontal tine 52, 
vertically displaced below the tine 13, the central portion 29 and ends 54 
and 56 of the members 14 and 16 stopping the pivotal movement of the 
article holder 10. When the article holder 10 is mounted as such onto the 
dish rack 17, the knees 38 of the holder's article engaging member 30 are 
resiliently biased by the biasing member 40 against the horizontal tine 50 
to exert a horizontal force perpendicular to the tine 50. To secure a 
glass 60 or other container or cup-shaped article to the dish rack 17, the 
article engaging portion 30 of the article holder 10 is moved outwardly 
and the cup 60 turned upside down and inserted over the article engaging 
member 30 so that the knees 38 of the article holder 10 engage an inner 
sidewall 62 of the cup 60 holding the cup 60 between the article engaging 
member 30 of the article holder 10 and the vertically displaced dish rack 
tine 50. Because the linear portions 36 of the article holder 10 extend a 
distance into the inverted cup, when the knees of the holder 10 are 
resiliently biased against the inner sidewall of the cup 60, the cup 60 is 
held firmly in place and prevented from turning over and collecting dirty 
water during the operation of the dishwasher. 
Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in 
light of the above teachings. Thus, it is to be understood that, within 
the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise 
than as described hereinabove.