Abstract:
A bracket is used for mounting onto the standard of a stadium or theater seat. The bracket can be bolted in place at the same time as seat backs are bolted onto the seat standard. The bracket has latches that permit a drink cupholder to be installed by sliding the cupholder along mating guides in one direction. The latches engage complementary latch portions on the drink cupholder to prevent removal of the drink cupholder. The drink cupholder has a wall that mates to the bracket, and includes skirt walls that cover the bolts used for attaching the bracket and the seat backs to the seat standard.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a drink cupholder on the seat standard or frame of stadium seats, which includes a separate mounting bracket that can be preinstalled on the standard, before the seat backs are put into place and using bolt holes that are also used for mounting the seat backs in place. The mounting bracket can be installed, and later the seat backs can be installed. A separate drink cupholder is fitted into the place on the mounting bracket as a final step and locks in position covering the bolts used for mounting the mounting bracket and sent back to prevent tampering. 
     In the prior art, drink container holders or drink cupholders have been advanced, and have become very popular in stadium seating for theaters, sports arenas and the like. The cupholders generally are mounted at the rear of the seat backs, so that they are accessible and useable for persons seated in the row behind the row of seats on which the cupholders are mounted. Also, separable mounting brackets and drink cupholders have been shown in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,644, illustrates such a cupholder. Improvements in the ease of mounting, and the procedures for enabling one to install a mounting bracket at the time the seat standards are installed into the arena, and then later adding the drink cupholders, while insuring that the drink cupholders are secured in place is important. Tampering with drink cupholders can be a problem, and the cupholder of the present invention covers the bolts that attach the mounting bracket to the seat standard when the drink cupholder is snapped into place. This construction will discourage, and essentially eliminate, removal of the brackets and the drink cupholder. 
     The bracket and the drink cupholder can be molded out of suitable plastic materials, and provide an attractive, easily installed, and relatively tamper proof assembly. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a mounting bracket and a drink cupholder that are separately made, and which are installed on the standards or frames for mounting the bracket stadium seats. The mounting bracket is adapted to snap into place on the arm support between a pair of seats. the mounting bracket extends to the rear of such standard. Molded or formed seat standards can have various curved shapes, and the present mounting bracket can easily be adapted to such curves for fitting into place, particularly along flanges at the rear of the seat standard. The seat backs are installed on provided supports at the rear of the standard with suitable bolts. The same bolts are used for securing the mounting bracket in place, so the mounting brackets can be mounted and secured at the time the seat backs are installed. 
     The drink cupholder that attaches to the mounting bracket can be installed at a later time by sliding it onto a provided guide wall so it snaps and latches in place. The drink cupholder is then non-removably attached without utilizing special tools. Attaching the mounting bracket to the standard at the time of installing the seat backs, makes the installation process easier. 
     Since the drink cupholder can be installed at a later time, it is made to shield the mounting bolts that are used for attaching the mounting bracket on the seat standard. Once the drink cup or drink cupholder has been snapped into place, the mounting bolts are not accessible from the rear but the drink cupholder is accessible to a person sitting in a seat row behind the row of seats on which the drink cupholder is installed. 
     Different versions of drink cupholders can be installed on the same mounting bracket, depending on the use that is desired. Each drink cupholder has a guide or slide that has recesses that mate with the lugs on the mounting bracket. 
     The mounting bracket is easily molded, and the drink cupholders also are molded so that they can be made rugged, in suitable colors, and with pleasing shapes. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the typical seat standard having a drink cupholder mounting bracket and drink cupholder installed thereon, with the seat backs removed; 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the standard of FIG. 1 fragmentarily showing a seat back in dotted lines in position for illustrative purposes; 
     FIG. 3 is a rear end view of a mounting bracket; 
     FIG. 4 is a view of the end of the mounting bracket opposite from FIG. 3, that would be installed on the seat standard; 
     FIG. 5 is a side elevational view showing the drink cupholder latched into place on a mounting bracket; 
     FIG. 6 is a back side view of the drink cupholder showing the receptacles that latch onto lugs on the mounting bracket; 
     FIG. 7 is a fragmentarily enlarged sectional view of the mating parts for mounting the drink cupholder on the mounting bracket taken on line  7 — 7  in FIG. 5; and 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective front view of a modified view of the drink cupholder shown installed on a bracket. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in particular, a stadium seat standard indicated generally at  10  is for mounting seats in a conventional manner in a stadium seating arrangement. The seats are not shown in detail, in that they can be of any suitable design. The standard  10  includes a base  12  that mounts onto a suitable support, such as a poured concrete floor of a stadium, and has frame uprights  14  at the front edge that curve upwardly to a top flange  16 . The rear side of the standard has a rear upright  18 , with a mounting flange  20  that is used for mounting a seat back  22 , as shown schematically in FIG.  2 . The seat back  22  has suitable brackets  28  that fit against the inner surface of the flange  20  in alignment with slots  24  on the mounting flange. 
     The flange  20  extends on opposite sides of a center panel  26 , and there is a slot  24  on each of the extending side portions of the flange  20 . The flange  20  and panel  26  can be curved at the rear side, as desired, and the brackets  28  used for mounting the seat backs fit this curvature. 
     The top flange  16 , extends on opposite sides of the center panel  26 , as shown, and various openings  30 , can be provided. The side portions  16 A and  16 B of the top flange are used for supporting a mounting bracket  32  for a drink cupholder  34  in a drink cupholder assembly  36 . 
     The mounting bracket  32  is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 3 and 4, and includes a horizontal top wall  38  that rests above the flange  16 , and has snap on resilient latch fingers  40 A and  40 B on the two sides of the top wall  38 , respectively, that fit over edges of the side flanges  16 A and  16 B of the top flange  16  on the seat standard. 
     The top wall  38  joins a support head  42  that is positioned at the rear side of the mounting bracket  32 . The support head  42  in turn is joined to a support wall  44  that is molded in two wall sections,  44 A and  44 B, to conform to the upper portions of the flange  20  at the rear side of the standard  10 . The wall  44  is provided with bolt openings or slots  46  in the lower support wall section  44 B that is resting on a portion of the flange  20  carrying the slots  24  for the bolts  50  which are used for mounting the seat backs  22 , and which also are used for attaching the mounting bracket  32  in position. 
     The support head  42  supports a generally planar upright track or wall  56  that is joined to the support head  40  with a block or web  54 . The wall  56  has two latch lugs  58 A and  58 B formed thereon. The lugs  58 A and  58 B taper outwardly in downward direction and form downwardly facing shoulder surfaces  60 A and  60 B, respectively. The planar wall  56  mates with latch slide guides  62  at the back of the drink cupholder  34 . 
     The back of the drink cupholder  34  has a pair of spaced side walls  61 A and  61 B that have upper portions  65 A and  65 B extending laterally from the wall  63  forming the cup receiving cylinder a greater distance than the lower portions of the wall (see FIGS. 5,  6  and  7  in particular). The upper portions  65 A and  65 B have inwardly turned flanges  64 A and  64 B that fit over the side edges of the upright track or wall  56 . When the cupholder  34  is to be installed on the mounting bracket  32 , the cupholder  34  is raised above the wall  56  as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5, so that the flanges  64 A and  64 B are to the front side of the edges of the wall  56 , and then the cupholder  34  is slid downwardly and guided along wall  56 . 
     The wall  33  of the cupholder  34  also has a pair of latch walls  66 A and  66 B between the side walls  61 A and  61 B. The latch walls  66 A and  66 B have latch recesses  67 A and  67 B which have upwardly facing shoulder surfaces that lock under shoulders  60 A and  60 B of the lugs  58 A and  58 B for locking the cupholder  34  in place. The latch walls  66 A and  66 B have edges that will slide along the tapered surfaces of the lugs  58 A and  58 B respectively, when the cupholder is moved downwardly in the direction indicated by the arrows  74 . The lower ends of latch walls  66 A and  66 B are tapered as shown at  70  in FIG. 5 to aid in assembly as the cupholder is slid into place. The flanges  64 A and  64 B will flex so that the latch walls will ramp or slip over the lugs  58 A and  58 B on wall  56  upon the application of a reasonable amount of force in the direction of arrow  74 . The lugs  58 A and  58 B will snap into the latch recesses and the cupholder  34  is locked on the mounting bracket. The latch is a one-way latch. The lower end of wall  44 B has a center stop lug  75  that will prevent the cupholder  34  from being slid too far downwardly. 
     The cupholder  34  has side skirts  76  that are spaced apart enough and have vertical length sufficient go over the ends of wall  44  and to cover the bolts  50  on both sides of the bracket  32 . The side skirts  76  shield the bolts  50  from removal at the rear of the standard  10  unless the cupholder is forced off. Generally, the removal of the cupholder  34  will cause destruction of the mounting bracket or the cupholder, unless a special tool is used for resiliently bending the walls  56  and  62  to permit the lugs  58 A and  58 B to be released from recesses  67 A and  67 B. 
     The cupholder  34 , as shown, can be in different forms. As shown in FIG. 1, the cupholder has a cup or container receptacle  80  formed by cylindrical wall  63  and also side pockets or receptacles  82  for holding various items such as a small program, or other written materials, and can have a receptacle  84  for a pen or pencil. 
     In FIG. 8, a modified version of the cupholder is shown at  90 , installed on a mounting bracket  32 . The cupholder  90  has side flanges or walls  92  that extend laterally from the main body  93  of the attachment block. The flanges  92  support rearwardly extending skirts  94  that cover the ends of the flange  20  on the standard, and the ends of the wall  44  of the mounting bracket  32 , to completely shield the bolts  50 , and the mounting slots or openings. The cupholder or drink container holder  90  has a receptacle  96  that receives a cup. A top wall  98  is also provided. The mounting block  93  has guides, as shown in FIG.  7 . The mounting block also includes latch receptacles to receive the lugs  58 A and  58 B. 
     The mounting bracket  32  can be used for various styles of cupholders, as shown. This makes the final design of the cupholder adaptable to the particular installation that is desired. The cupholders do not have to be installed until the end of construction of the stadium. The mounting brackets themselves can be mounted at the time the standards are put in or when the seat backs are put into place. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.