Abstract:
To pairs of elongated legs for supporting a tray and shiftable from a deployed position orienting the tray in a horizontal working orientation and including one or more connector lengths connecting the tray and legs for shifting to a vertical position when the legs are collapsed together to a self-supporting position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to stand up trays for use by stylists in styling the hair of customers.  
       DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART  
       [0002]     Hair stylists often times share salon space and typically have personal stations where they store their working tools, hair coloring and treatment products. In the efficient rendering of their service menus it is important that the stylists have ready access to their hair treatment products for repetitive applications to different selected areas of the customer&#39;s hair. Mobile stands nave long been utilized by stylists, typically supported on castors for rolling about with the stylists as he or she maneuvers about the customers&#39; chair to perform the styling tasks. A problem arises with storage of these stands when not in use, often leading to collection of a number of such stands at one end or corner of the salon thus detracting from the aesthetics and frequently invading the space of a stylists occupying the station where stored.  
         [0003]     Thus, there exists a need for a standing tray, which is convenient to erect for usage and to collapse for storage. Efforts in different applications have led to proposals of different styles of collapsible serving stands, furniture and the like. A collapsible serving stand has been proposed which includes a pair of X-shaped legs pivoted together centrally to support at their upper ends a removable tray and which includes an intermediate shelf connected to the legs by pivot pins and followers which travel through a circuitous cam path during the collapsing procedure to cause the intermediate shelf to be manipulated in rectilinear fashion to a vertical collapse position. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,802,578 to Barile. Such serving stands are relatively expensive to manufacture and require some degree of care in maintaining the latch and keeping it clear. Furthermore, the requirement that the tray be removed for storage renders such a stand inconvenient to use in a styling salon in that the separation of the tray for collapsing would create a temptation for the stylists to store the tray separate from the stand so that, when the stand is to be subsequently erected, the tray must be retrieved and the stand manipulated about with two hands to deploy to its standing position for mounting of the tray thereon. This task would be time consuming and would tend to discourage the stylists from using the stand itself.  
         [0004]     Other efforts for providing satisfactory collapsible furniture has led to the proposal of convertible furniture incorporating pairs of legs pivotally connected together in X-fashion to support a foldable tray from their top ends with the legs being pivotable to different positions to selectively position the tray in a planar position, intermediate V-shaped position to act as a bookshelf or a collapsed position sandwiched between the upper extremities of the legs. Such a device suffers the shortcoming that deployment of the furniture piece requires some degree of dexterity for manipulation thereof and for locking the tray in its selected orientation.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     The fold away service tray of the present invention includes, generally, a pair of crossed legs having upper extremities to support a tray with the tray being pivotally connected on one side to the upper extremity of one pair of the legs and being connected on its other side to the other pair of legs by means of at least one pivotal link to allow for collapse of the frame and tray to a compact configuration for storage.  
         [0006]     Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of my foldable tray apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a top view thereof;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a left side view thereof;  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is a right side view thereof;  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  is a bottom view thereof;  
         [0012]      FIG. 6  is a front view thereof;  
         [0013]      FIG. 7  is a rear view thereof;  
         [0014]      FIG. 8  is a bottom detailed view thereof, in enlarge scale, taken along the line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 3  and depicting a latch in the latching position;  
         [0015]      FIG. 9  is a detailed view similar to  FIG. 8  but depicting the latch in its unlatched position;  
         [0016]      FIG. 10  is a partial detailed view similar to  FIG. 8  but depicting part of the latch broken away;  
         [0017]      FIG. 11  is a partial rear view similar to  FIG. 7  but depicting the castors shown therein translating past one another; and  
         [0018]      FIG. 12  is a left side view similar to  FIG. 3  but depicting the tray apparatus in its collapsed position. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]     Referring to  FIGS. 1, 3  and  12 , the foldable salon tray of the present invention includes, generally, first and second pairs of formed legs  21  and  23  which, in the deployed position shown in  FIG. 1  cross one another in X-fashion to be pivotally connected together at the intersection by respective pivot pins  25  and are formed on their bottom extremities to curve vertically downwardly forming respective knee portions  27  and  29 . The pair of legs  23  are pivotally connected at their upper extremities to one side of a service tray, generally designated  33 , and the top ends of the pair of legs  21  abut the bottom surface on the other side of such tray and are connected thereto by respective parallelogramatic links, generally designated  35  ( FIGS. 3, 4  and  12 ). Thus, the tray apparatus may conveniently be grasped by one edge and lifted to the position shown in  FIG. 12  thereby drawing such legs to their collapsed position depicted with the respective knees  27  and  29  crossing back over one another allowing respective roller castors  39  at the bottom ends thereof to be spaced laterally under the vertical center of gravity of such tray apparatus to conveniently support the apparatus in its collapsed position.  
         [0020]     Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , the pairs of legs  21  and  23  may conveniently be constructed of formed metallic tubes or plastic and may be bent to the desired configuration. The walls of pair of tubular legs  21  and  23  are conveniently pressed together at their upper extremities to form respective flat pivot flanges configured with respective through pivot bores for receipt of respective pivot pins  36  and  38  for connection to the tray and link, respectively. The legs of the pair  21  are connected together medially by means of a cross rod  30  ( FIG. 1 ) and the other pair  23  by a cross rod  32 .  
         [0021]     The tray  33  is preferably of rigid construction and may be constructed of plastic halves molded with a hollow construction and textured on its exterior surface to provide an aesthetically pleasing and effective gripping surface. The tray is formed in its bottom side with a parametrical channel, generally designated  41 , which is, itself, constructed on one side with a downwardly depending longitudinal mounting rib  43  ( FIG. 7 ) and on its opposite side with a corresponding mounting rib, generally designated  45  ( FIGS. 8-10 ). The rib  45  is formed at one end with an inturned latch mounting block, generally designated  47 , configured along its laterally outside under surface with a longitudinally extending downwardly facing and laterally outwardly opening latch channel  51 . The rib is configured interiorly thereof with a downwardly projecting, generally U-shaped latch stop housing  53  formed at the end of one leg of the U-shape with a laterally outwardly facing latch stop surface  55  and on the other leg of the U-shape with a laterally outwardly facing abutment surface  57  angling at about 25° to the longitudinal extent of such tray. An elongated latch bar, generally designated  61  is pivotally mounted medially from the latch channel  51  by means of pivot screw  63  and includes a catch end  65  and a downwardly bent handle extremity  67 . Mounted from the screw  63  and sandwiched between the bar  61  and latch surface  51  is a torsion spring, generally designated  71  formed on one end with a stop  73  projecting into the hollow of the U-shaped latch housing  53  and abutting one side thereof ( FIGS. 8-10 ). The opposite end of the torsion spring  73  is formed with a hook  75  which hooks over the latch end of such bar  61  and biases it in the counter clockwise direction as viewed in  FIGS. 8-10  to the latching position disposed beneath the bottom edge of the link  35  when such when the link is in its horizontal position as dictated by deployment of the tray apparatus.  
         [0022]     The mounting ribs  43  and  45  are formed with an offset such that the top extremities of the pairs of legs  21  are spaced laterally outwardly of the top extremities of the pairs of legs  23  to provide for clearance of the legs to pass by one another. Referring to  FIG. 6 , cylindrical axial spacers  81  and  83  are sandwiched between the medial portions of such legs at the pivot points to define by the pivot screws  25  to provide clearance for such legs to pass by one another during collapsing and deployment.  
         [0023]     In the preferred embodiment, the castors  39  are in the form of offset spherical roller castors such that, as the tray apparatus is collapsed from the position shown in  FIG. 1  to the position shown in  FIG. 12  the castors, to the extent they engage one another, will be pivoted about their vertical pivot axis for the bodies thereof to be disposed laterally away from one another and to provide clearance as such castors past by one another. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art such castors may take many different forms such as conventional castors, cylindrical castors or the special configuration shown.  
         [0024]     In operation, it will be appreciated the tray apparatus of the present invention will typically be stored in the collapsed configuration shown in  FIG. 12 . There, the pairs of legs  21  and  23  cross one another at the respective pivot pins  25  with the respective knee portions  27  and  29  being re-crossed over one another as shown so that the vertical center of gravity of such tray apparatus is disposed generally medially between the laterally spaced respective castor rollers  39  so that the apparatus is self supporting in its vertical position for convenient storage.  
         [0025]     As the stylist progresses with his or her task and desires to support, for instance, an open container of hair treatment solution he or she may grasp the top or activating edge of the tray  33  as depicted in  FIG. 12  and pivot such top edge downwardly about the pivot axis defined by the pivot screws  36  at the top ends of the respective pairs of legs  21  pivot the tray downward to cause the lateral outer edge  64  of the latch bar  61  to engage the top surface of the underlying link  35  causing such cam edge  64  as downward pivoting continues, to be driven laterally inwardly by the top edge of such link thus pivoting the latch bar  61  counter clockwise as viewed in  FIG. 8  to thus clear the path of such link and to ride downwardly along the interior planar surface thereof until such time as the bottom surface of the tray engages the top end of the respective pairs of legs  21  for nesting support thereon. At that time, the latch bar  61  will be moved into the horizontal plane beneath the level of the lower edge of the link  35  thus freeing the working extremity of such latch to be pivoted laterally outwardly by the torque spring  71  to be engaged beneath such link to restrict the activating extremity of the tray from lifting upwardly relative to the pivot pins  36  at the top extremity of the pairs of legs  21  to thus lock the tray apparatus in its deployed support position.  
         [0026]     Treatment hair materials may then be placed on the top of the tray  33  for ready access. As the stylist&#39;s moves about the chair of the customer, her or she can grasp the tray  33  and draw or push the tray apparatus in one direction or another for convenient rolling on the rollers  39  to be positioned in convenient relative positions for ready access to the paraphernalia thereon. The latch bar  61  will serve to maintain such tray apparatus in its deployed position and prevent accidental raising of the actuating extremity end of such end  34  of such tray to avoid lifting and premature collapse of the tray apparatus or tilting of such tray resulting in discharge of the working paraphernalia from the top surface thereof.  
         [0027]     When the tasks associated with the paraphernalia supported on such tray are completed, the paraphernalia may be removed from the top surface of such tray and the tray easily and conveniently collapsed by the stylists merely grasping the down turned handle extremity  67  and rotating the latch bar  61  counter clockwise as viewed in  FIG. 8  to the position shown in  FIG. 9  to clear the vertical path of the link  35  such that the actuating end  34  of such tray may be lifted to pivot such tray about the respective pivot pins  36  to allow the tray to be raised to its vertical position shown in  FIG. 12  thereby collapsing the pairs of legs  21  and  23  in a compact self supporting storage position for easy storage either along the wall of the stylists station or at one end of the salon for convenient retrieval at a later time.  
         [0028]     From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the folding stylists tray apparatus of the present invention provide a sturdy economical apparatus for compact storage but readily deployable to a deployed position for use by a stylist in need of ready access to hair treatment solutions and tools.