Abstract:
A retaining device for retaining a shower caddy or other item on a shower arm or other elongated member includes a clip structure for partially surrounding the shower arm or elongated member and having retaining arms extending therefrom and a plastic sleeve structure having receptacles for receiving the retaining arms to hold the sleeve structure on the clip structure, and a shower-arm engaging portion or elongated member engaging portion for engaging the shower arm or elongated member to render the shower caddy or other item immobile on the shower arm or elongated member.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/460,030 filed Dec. 22, 2010. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a device for attachment to an elongated member, especially an apparatus for securing a shower caddy to a shower arm to which a showerhead is attached, and more particularly to a clip structure and sleeve structure for securely but removably attaching a device such the shower caddy to an elongated member such as a shower arm. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Many shower caddies are known having a metal rack with a back piece having an upper loop for extending over a shower arm to hold the shower caddy in place, with the shelves and other components of the shower caddy accessible beneath the shower arm. However, the portion of the prior art devices for holding the shower caddy to the shower arm are ineffective for a number of reasons. If the metal device itself engages the shower arm, it is likely to slip off the shower arm or cause the shower caddy to swing on the shower arm, making the shower caddy unstable and often ineffective since devices held on the shower caddy can fall to the floor, tip over, have their contents spill out or to have the entire shower caddy fall off the shower arm. In other instances the shower caddy has a narrow upper loop for extending over the shower arm, the loop being generally semi-circular for engaging the shower arm in a fairly tight manner. Sometimes the foregoing loop can be attached into a larger loop of the shower caddy and may be less noticeable since its primary purpose is often to keep the shower caddy steady while the main loop applies the weight of the shower caddy and its contents to the shower arm. Even in this situation, the shower caddy is likely to swing about the shower arm when it or its contents are touched by a person, and this could not only make possible the tipping over of jars and other equipment held in the shower caddy but also could cause scratching of the shower arm by the loop. 
     Efforts have been made to enable the engagement of the relatively narrow loop with the shower arm in a manner which both protects the shower arm from being scratched by the loop and to hold the shower caddy in place. This has involved making the loop of relatively thin wire having open ends and providing a tubular cover for the loop made of plastic. The plastic is intended to tightly grip the shower arm since the plastic is flexible and can fit tightly over the shower arm to both prevent the swaying of the shower caddy and to protect the shower arm from being scratched or otherwise marred. However, even this supposed solution was not effective. The loop had to be long enough to substantially surround the shower arm, and this made the threading of the loop across the shower arm difficult due to the friction between the metal loop, the interior of the plastic tube and to the limited flexibility of the tube. Since shower caddies are made in large numbers, a simple and fast requirement for putting the loop protector in place was required. One possible solution had been to provide a plastic tube with a longitudinal slit running along the edge of the tube (longitudinal means running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube, even though the tube in many instances would be curved). However, in practice it was found that such loops slipped off of the loop. This is particularly true in those cases where the clip had straight portions near its ends onto which the loop was inserted. The protective loop can be slipped off the shower caddy during handling of the shower caddy at the factory where it is being made, during handling when the shower caddies are packed for shipment from a factory to the customer, and by a user of the shower caddy. 
     Although the present invention relates primarily to shower caddies being mounted on shower arms, the present invention could be used to attach any item to be suspended from or otherwise supported on an elongated member. The elongated member could be a cylinder, but it could also have other cross sections with various perimeters such as hexagonal, octagonal, oval, regular or irregular perimeters, etc. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a device for securely but removably suspending a structure from a shower arm or the like. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide the device for securely enabling the attachment of a shower caddy or the like to a shower arm or the like which can be effected over the showerhead connected to the shower arm, which prevents the inadvertent tilting or removal of the shower caddy or the like on or from the shower arm or the like. 
     It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a retaining device for tightly and removably hanging a shower caddy from a shower arm which prevents the inadvertent tilting or removal of the shower caddy on or from the shower arm to prevent both slippage and overturning of objects held by the shower caddy, to prevent marring of the shower arm and to prevent the slippage of the shower caddy from the shower arm. 
     It is yet still a further object of the present invention to provide a clip structure for use with a shower caddy which at least partially surrounds a shower arm to removably secure the shower caddy to the shower arm, and a sleeve structure for being attached to the clip structure in a fast manner, which cover cannot be inadvertently removed from the clip. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a clip structure for a shower caddy with a sleeve structure which can easily and effectively be applied to the clip for bulk production in a fast and effective manner. 
     Another general object is to provide a device for enabling the secure attachment of an item to an elongated member having a variety of cross sections. 
     Other objects of the present invention will appear from the description to follow and from the appended claims. 
     The foregoing objects are achieved according to the preferred embodiment of the invention by means of a clip structure which is secured to a loop larger than the clip structure for being applied over a shower arm with a showerhead in place, the clip structure being made of metal wire having an inverted U-shaped portion for going over the top of the shower arm and having retaining arms in the form of lower linear portions facing forwardly. A sleeve structure comprising a shower-arm engaging portion in the form of a ribbon-like body portion with holding structure or integral receptacles in the form of end tubes at its opposite ends which can be bent so that the opposite tubes can be slipped over the parallel arms of the clip structure in a fast manner. In operation, the ribbon-like body engages the shower arm in a firm manner for preventing the swinging of the shower caddy about the shower arm or removal of the shower caddy from the shower arm, with the tubes of the sleeve structure firmly engaging the retaining arms to prevent the inadvertent removal of the sleeve structure from the clip structure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a shower caddy incorporating the invention hung on the shower arm. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of a shower caddy including the clip structure and sleeve structure according to the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the shower caddy with the clip structure and sleeve structure as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a cross section of the shower caddy including the clip structure and sleeve structure as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of the shower caddy including the clip structure and sleeve structure as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of the upper portion of the shower caddy including the clip structure and the sleeve structure as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of a clip structure and sleeve structure which are incorporated in the shower caddy shown in  FIGS. 1-6 . 
         FIG. 8  is a top view of a clip structure and sleeve structure shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 9  is a view taken in the direction A-A as shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  is a view taken in the direction B-B shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of the clip structure and sleeve shown in  FIGS. 1-10 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIGS. 1-5  show a shower caddy  1  hung on a shower arm S. Shower arm S protrudes from a wall W and has a showerhead H mounted on its free end. Shower caddy  1  has a support portion  3  which is in the form of an inverted U having a pair of opposed loop arms  7  with a relatively large internal diameter D as shown in  FIG. 6 . Depending from support portion  3  are a pair of transition arms  5  which are integral with each of loop arms  7  of support portion  3 . Transition arms  5  are integral with a pair of opposed parallel straight arms  9  of shower caddy  1 . Arms  9  support one or more baskets or trays  11 . In shower caddy  1  as shown, extending at about 90° from the portion of straight arms  9  at the opposite portion thereof from support portion  3  are a pair of straight members  13  having end portions  15  which are bent towards support portion  3  to form a pair of arms from which items can be hung. A pair of suction cups  17  are disposed beneath the lowest of shelves  11  for retaining shower caddy  1  against wall W beneath shower arm S 
     The inverted U of support portion  3  is symmetrical about an axis Y as shown in  FIG. 2 . A clip structure  19 , also in the form of an inverted U, is attached to support portion  3  between loop arms  7  of support portion  3  and positioned to share axis Y with support portion  3 . Clip structure  19  is shown more clearly in  FIGS. 6-11 . Clip structure  19  is composed of a curved portion  21  from which extend opposed parallel arms  23  which are parallel with straight arms  9  of shower caddy  1 . Curved portion  21  has an inside diameter d as shown in  FIG. 7 . Bent at about 90° from the end of parallel arms  23  opposite curved portion  21  are a pair of opposed retaining arms  25 . Retaining arms need not be at 90° from parallel arms  23  and can be transverse thereto. Curved portion  21  and parallel arms  23  fall generally in a plane, and retaining arms  25  are perpendicular to that plane. Curved portion  21 , parallel arms  23  and retaining arms  25  are preferably made from a uniform cylindrical wire having the same diameter throughout, which is preferably smaller than the wire of which support portion  3  is composed so as to make clip structure  19  less noticeable when in use. Furthermore, since clip structure  19  has a relatively small inside diameter, it can be bent inwardly to reduce its diameter d or bent outwardly to increase its diameter d. As explained below, clip structure  19  can be slipped over a shower arm S, and clip structure  19  can be manually squeezed to reduce inner diameter d or moved apart to increase diameter d so as to enable clip structure  19  to tightly engage shower arms having various outer diameters. 
     Attached to clip structure  19  is a sleeve structure  27 . Sleeve structure  27  is preferably made from PVC, polyurethane or similar plastic and is a unitary, one-piece member comprised of a generally curved portion composed of inner layers  31  and opposing outer layers  33 . Inner layers  31  and outer layers  33  form a pair of opposing receptacles in the form of parallel hollow tubes  35  which can be separated from each other by a distance to enable each of them to receive or slip onto one of the retaining arms  25  of clip structure  19 . Inner layers  31  and outer layers  33  are respectively separated from each other so that they can each receive one of the retaining arms  25  in a sliding engagement. Inner layers  31  are formed to protrude towards each other near the respective tubes  35  at opposing protrusions  37 . Opposing protrusions  37  combine with an inner surface  39  of sleeve structure  27  to expand the portion of sleeve structure  27  which engages the outer surface of a shower arm S to enhance the holding power of clip structure  19  and sleeve structure  27  on shower arm S. As noted earlier, opposing parallel arms  23  of clip structure  19  can be bent towards each other to increase the holding force of clip structure  19  and sleeve structure  27  on shower arm S. 
     One of the features of clip structure  19  and sleeve structure  27  which is not found in the prior art is the ability of sleeve structure  27  to remain on clip structure  19  by virtue of the gripping of retainer arms  25  by the surfaces of sleeve structure  27  forming tubes  35  which engage retaining arms  25 . The latter holding force is very effective and remains in effect to keep sleeve structure  27  on clip structure  19  from as soon as sleeve structure  27  is installed on clip structure  19 , regardless of the handling procedures which ensue during the completion of the manufacturing process for shower caddy  1 , the packing and shipping of shower caddy  1 , and regardless of the amount of times that shower caddy  1  is placed upon and removed from shower arms S. 
     The inventor has found that for a clip structure made from wire having an outer diameter of 0.23 inch that the length between the outside surface of parallel arm  23  and the free end of retaining arm  25  of clip structure  19 , as shown by the distance  1  in  FIG. 10  is 0.77 inch, the total height from the top of curved portion  21  of clip structure  19  to the outer dimension of outer wall  33  of sleeve structure  27  shown by the letter H in  FIG. 9  is 1.35 inches, and the distance between the outer surfaces of sleeve structure  27  shown by the letter h in  FIG. 8  is 1.23 inches. 
     Referring to sleeve structure  27 , the entire sleeve structure is made of opposing layers  31  and  33  as noted above. The total thickness of these layers when they are contacted, as shown for example where curved surface  39  is located, is preferred to be 0.217 inch. Of course, all of the foregoing dimensions could be modified depending on the components of shower caddy  1  and the respective clip structure and sleeve structure used. 
     There are various ways in which clip structure  19  could be affixed to support portion  3  of shower caddy  1 . In its preferred form, a portion  41  shown in  FIG. 7  on a plane about which clip structure  19  is symmetrical at the center of curved portion  21  can be MIG welded in a manner well known in the art. 
     Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, it should be understood that the present invention is broader than the preferred embodiment. The invention generally relates to a retaining device for retaining a shower caddy on a shower arm which extends from a wall. The retaining device comprises a clip structure and a sleeve structure. The clip structure includes a shower arm engaging structure configured to engage part of the shower arm and retaining structure extending in a direction transverse to the wall when the shower caddy is hung on a shower arm for cooperating with the sleeve structure. The sleeve structure has a receptacle for receiving the retaining structure to prevent the inadvertent removal of the sleeve structure from the clip structure. The receptacle could be a tubular member, as discussed with respect to the preferred embodiment, but could also be sleeve structure to the clip structure which would prevent the inadvertent removal of the sleeve structure from the clip structure. 
     Also as noted above, the invention is not limited to shower caddies for attachment to shower arms. It could be used for items such as those used in kitchens, bathrooms, houses in general and numerous commercial environments where an item is to be firmly attached to an elongated member. The elongated member could be cylindrical, but also could have polygonal cross sections, irregular cross sections etc. Although the elongated member could extend horizontally from a support, this is not a requirement. 
     The invention has been described in detail, with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiment thereof, but variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.