Abstract:
A monolithic container holder has a top surface and a receptacle depending from the top surface. The receptacle includes a generally bottom planar wall, a pair of end walls having a height extending between the top surface and the bottom planar wall, and a pair of side walls. Each side wall consists essentially of a concave curved section. The concave curved sections are spaced apart and arranged to receive a curved or round container therein. The end walls are spaced apart and arranged to receive a generally rectangular container therein. The monolithic container holder, or cup holder, may be formed as part of another structure such as a seat formed to support a juvenile with arms and a back, all forming a monolithic body.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to a container holder, and in particular to a monolithic container holder. More particularly, the invention relates to a container holder for holding round and rectangular containers. 
     SUMMARY 
     A monolithic container holder in accordance with the present disclosure includes a container receiver formed to include a top surface and a receptacle depending from the top surface. The receptacle includes a bottom wall, a pair of end walls having a height extending between the top surface and the bottom planar wall, and a pair of side walls. 
     Each side wall consists essentially of a concave curved section. The concave curved sections are spaced apart and arranged to receive a round container therein. The end walls are spaced apart and arranged to receive a rectangular container therein. A first of the end walls is arranged to extend between and interconnect front-end edges of the concave side walls and a second of the end walls is arranged to extend between and interconnect rear-end edges of the concave side walls. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The detailed description particularly refers to the following figures in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a cut-away perspective view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a front-elevated view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of the container holder; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a first type of container; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a second type of container; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a third type of container; 
         FIG. 10  is a view of a second embodiment of a container holder in accordance with the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 11  is a view of a third embodiment of a container holder in accordance with the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of another embodiment according to the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A juvenile vehicle seat  10  with container holders (cup holders)  11  formed in arms  12  is shown, for example, in  FIG. 1 . Each cup holder  11  is formed to receive at least a round container such as cup  51  as suggested in  FIGS. 6 and 7  and a rectangular container such as juice box  151  as suggested in  FIGS. 6 and 8  and a lip-shaped container such as juice pouch  251  as suggested in  FIG. 9 . 
     The juvenile vehicle seat  10  includes seat bottom  13 , lower back portion  14 , spaced-apart arms  12  rising upwardly from seat bottom  13 , and cup holders  11 . Monolithic body  15  is made of, for example, plastics material which may be formed by molding. As seen in  FIG. 1 , there are two cup holders  11  and seat bottom  13  is arranged to lie between cup holders  11 . Each cup holder  11  is located at an outer end of one of arms  12  of monolithic body  15 . Each cup holder  11  forms a cavity which extends into monolithic body  15 . In an illustrative embodiment, cup holders  11  do not protrude outwardly from any exterior surface of monolithic body  15 . 
     An upper backrest  16  may be attached to monolithic body  15  by any of a snap-fit connection, a pivot connection, and/or any suitable connection permanently or temporarily fixing upper backrest  16  to monolithic body  15 . Reference is hereby made to a U.S. patent application entitled “Juvenile Vehicle Seat with Quick-Connect Backrest,” filed on Nov. 29, 2004, for a description of a suitable snap-fit connection, which application is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     As seen in  FIGS. 2-5 , cup holder  11  may be monolithically incorporated as part of a juvenile vehicle seat  10  which includes a seat bottom  13  and lower back portion  14  monolithically coupled to seat bottom  13 . Upper backrest  16  is mounted to lie in a fixed position relative to monolithic body  15  as suggested in  FIGS. 1-5 . 
     An opening  17  shown, for example, in  FIG. 3 , is provided in arm  12  to provide for access to a belt receiver  19  formed in monolithic body  15  for vehicle lap or shoulder belts.  FIG. 12  shows an exemplary embodiment wherein arm  112  is configured and arranged to include a belt receiver  119  to accommodate lap and shoulder belts. 
     Cup holder  11  is shown in  FIG. 6 . Cup holder  11  terminates at interior edge  50  and has a back end wall  20 , an outside side wall  21 , a front end wall  22 , an inside side wall  23 , and a bottom  24 . Bottom  24  is illustratively a planar or flat wall. Walls  21 ,  23  are concave surfaces arranged to face toward one another and curved outwardly away from the interior of cup holder  11 . 
     Cup holder  11  is designed to hold containers  51 ,  151 , and  251  shown in  FIGS. 7-9  in a manner suggested, for example, in  FIG. 6 . Concave walls  21 ,  23  are adapted to extend in spaced-apart relation to one another between first and second end walls  20 ,  22  to mate with or associate with many containers of various shapes. 
     A round container  51  shown in  FIG. 7  includes a round base  27  and a “tubular” or somewhat conical side wall  29 . A phantom outline of round container  51  is shown in cup holder  11  of  FIG. 6 . 
     A container  151  shown in  FIG. 8  has a rectangular base  30 , top  31 , two side walls  32 , and two end walls  33 . Each side wall in container  151  has a length  132  of about 2.125 inches and a height  131  of about 4.125 inches and a width  133  of about 1.625 inches. A phantom outline of rectangular container  151  is also shown in cup holder  11  of  FIG. 6 . 
     The “juice pouch” container  251  in  FIG. 9  is, for example, made from two side walls  40  and a bottom wall  41 . Side walls  40  are joined at top edge  42  and side edges  43 . Bottom wall  41  is joined along its periphery to bottom edge  44  of side walls  40  to form an enclosure  45 . Side walls in the container  251  of  FIG. 9  are typically about 3.875 inches long and 5.25 inches high when container  251  is empty and the walls are flat and abut each other. When a liquid is placed in container  251 , it expands the side walls apart which draws side wall edges  43  together so that the width from edge  43  to edge  43  is reduced and container  251  is provided with a somewhat “lip-shaped” configuration. Walls  40  and bottom wall  41  of container  251  of  FIG. 9  are flexible so as to enable container  251  to assume different shapes and to fit into cup holders  11  of varying sizes and shapes. 
     Cup holder  11  particularly is suited to receive round containers  51  and rectangular containers  151 , but will accommodate containers of varying shapes and sizes including lip-shaped container  251 . Side walls  21  and  23  are arcuate to provide support surfaces and thus to accommodate curved containers  51 . Because of the serial “connection” of flat back end wall  20 , concave outside wall  21 , front end wall  22 , and concave inside wall  23  to omit any inwardly projecting corners, the volume of interior region  43  of cup holder  11  is maximized and the “cleanability” of bottom  24  and walls  20 - 23  is enhanced. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 8 , the back and front, or end, walls  20  and  22 , respectively, are 1.94 inches in length and are spaced three inches apart by outside and inside walls,  21  and  23 , respectively. Back end wall  20  and front end wall  22  are flat in an illustrative embodiment to provide support surfaces and thus to accommodate containers such as container  151  with one or more flat sides. These dimensions may be varied, but these are preferred dimensions since it has been found that they are particularly advantageous for use with containers of optimal sizes and shapes. That is, they are in a range of sizes and shapes that will accommodate containers of a size intended for use by juveniles. Edges  50  of cup holder  11  are beveled or rounded to provide adequate “draft” to permit easier insertion and removal of a container and to provide blunt edges that are less likely to contact persons or articles. Cup holder  11  does not have interior protruding surfaces or corners that will snag, cut, mar, or otherwise damage a container as it is inserted, held, and/or removed. 
     As seen, for example, in  FIG. 1 , outside side wall  21  and inside side wall  23  are curved or bowed outwardly, away from the interior region  43  of cup holder  11 . The curved sides terminate at flat back wall  20  and flat front wall  22 . This configuration is adapted for holding a round container  51 . Many round containers  51  taper from the top to the bottom and the configuration shown in  FIG. 1  enables round containers  51  of various diameters to be held firmly in an upright position in the cup holder dependent on where the taper engages the interior surface of the walls. 
     A cup holder that provides an interference fit is hereby defined herein as a cup holder that has an interior diameter smaller than a corresponding diameter of the container. Examples of such cup holders  111  and  211  are shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 . 
     In the illustrated embodiment, monolithic container holder  11  includes a bottom wall  24  having, in series, a straight back end edge  241 , a convex outside side edge  242 , a straight front end edge  243 , and a convex inside side edge  244  as shown, for example, in  FIG. 6 . Back end wall  20  is appended to straight back end edge  241  of bottom wall  24  and arranged to extend upwardly away from bottom wall  24 . Front end wall  22  is appended to straight front end edge  243  of bottom wall  24  and arranged to extend upwardly away from bottom wall  24 . 
     Curved outside side wall  21  is appended to convex outside side edge  242  and arranged to extend upwardly away from bottom wall  24 . Curved outside side wall  21  has a rear-end edge appended to back end wall  20  and a front-end edge appended to front end wall  22  to cause curved outside side wall  21  to extend between and interconnect front and back end walls  20 ,  22 . 
     Curved inside side wall  23  is appended to convex inside side edge  244  and arranged to extend upwardly away from bottom wall  24 . Curved inside side wall  23  has a rear-end edge appended to back end wall  20  and a front-end edge appended to front end wall  22  to cause curved inside side wall  23  to extend between and interconnect front and back end walls  20 ,  22 . Each of the curved inside and outside side walls  21 ,  23  has concave surfaces arranged to extend between front and back end walls  20 ,  22  and face toward one another to locate bottom wall  24  therebetween. 
     In an illustrative embodiment, each of front and back end walls  20 ,  22  is flat. Each of the concave surfaces provided on side walls  21 ,  23  has a radius of curvature. The radius of curvature of the concave surface of curved outside side wall  21  is about equal to the radius of curvature of the concave surface of curved inside side wall  23 . 
     In an illustrative embodiment, each of front and back end walls  20 ,  22  has a width extending between curved inside and outside side walls  21 ,  23 . The radius of curvature of each of the concave surfaces provided on side walls  21 ,  23  is greater than the width of each of front and back end walls  20 ,  22 . 
       FIG. 10 , walls  121 ,  123  are shown to curve inwardly toward the interior and/or center of cup holder  111 . The curvature in  FIG. 10  is exaggerated for illustration purposes. The curvature shown achieves a minimum diameter for cup holder  111  about midway between bottom  24  and perimeter edge  50 . In an illustrative embodiment, cup holder  111  minimum diameter is closer to edge  50  than midway between bottom  24  and edge  50 . Walls  121 ,  123  having a slight curvature (as shown in  FIG. 10 ) provide enhanced stability for the container. Walls  121 ,  123  may be made flexible (e.g., the wall thickness may be thin so as to be flexible) to expand slightly to accommodate a container of slightly greater dimension than the distance between the closest points of walls  121  and  123 . The flexibility of the container walls enhances the ability of cup holder  111  in monolithic body  115  to hold firmly the container  51  and to accommodate containers of different sizes. 
     In  FIG. 11 , walls  221 ,  223  of cup holder  211  are shown to slant with respect to a line perpendicular to the bottom  24 . The slant in  FIG. 11  is exaggerated for illustration purposes. Actually a “draw” or slant of about 2° from vertical (a line perpendicular to bottom  24 ) is preferred. This allows the monolithic body to be removed from a mold and also allows a container to be inserted into and removed from cup holder  11  easily. Also, a container whose bottom is larger than the width of bottom  24  may be inserted into cup holder  211  and held by an interference fit at a point at, or above, the bottom. This is possible in part because containers are flexible and when the container bottom becomes wedged into cup holder  211 , the sides  221 ,  223  tend to expand and the container bottom tends to be distorted to fit the space provided. Thus, an interference fit is formed between the container and cup holder  211  in monolithic body  215 . The expansion of the sides and the interference fit prevents the container from moving around in cup holder  211 . As seen in  FIG. 11 , walls  221 ,  223  of cup holder  211  are slanted with respect to each other. Front and back walls  20  and  22  similarly may be slanted to diverge upwardly from the bottom  24 . Each of the outwardly curved walls  221  and  223  may have a height equivalent to the height of the end walls  20  and  22 . 
     As best seen in  FIG. 12 , cup holder walls may all be the same height. That is, the distance from bottom  24  to edge  50  of opening  17  may be the same for each of back wall  20 , front wall  22 , inside side wall  23 , and outside side wall  21 . This configuration provides excellent stability for retaining a container  51  in cup holder  11 .  FIG. 1  shows front wall  22  to be shorter than back wall  20 . That is, edge  50  on front wall  22  is closer to bottom  24  than edge  50  on back wall  20 . This configuration facilitates insertion and removal of some containers. Reference is hereby made to a U.S. patent application entitled “Juvenile Vehicle Seat Base With Cup Holder,” filed on Nov. 29, 2004, for a description of a suitable monolithic seat base, which application is hereby incorporated by reference herein.