Patent Publication Number: US-6336563-B1

Title: Cup and saucer hutch

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to hutches for holding cups, saucers, coffee and tea. 
     It is often desirable to carry and to place one or more sets of cups and saucers from-place-to-place for convenient serving of coffee and tea. Often, it is desirable also to carry coffee, tea, sugar and creamer with the sets of cups and saucers. 
     There are no known hutches for accomplishing these objectives. Different hutches known are mostly designs without utility taught by this invention. Examples of known related but different devices and structures are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 334,855, issued to Harrington, et al. on Apr. 20, 1993, illustrated an earring tree with horizontal bars for holding earrings. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 312,556, issued to Ancona, et al. on Dec. 4, 1990, illustrated a mug tree with a post on a container not structured to contain saucers and without a door to prevent saucers or other objects from falling when being carried from-place-to-place. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 297,192, issued to Mixon, et al. on Aug. 16, 1988, illustrated a display stand for dishware without a door on a saucer hutch and without a post with bars for holding cups. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 295,351, issued to Splane, et al. on Apr. 26, 1988, illustrated a cup and saucer stand without a cupboard with a door for holding saucers. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 250,379, issued to Zahn on Nov. 28, 1978, illustrated a stand with pivotal shelves. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 238,405, issued to Athey on Jan. 13, 1976, illustrated a necktie rack without the cupboard-door feature taught by this invention. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 189,724, issued to Herrick, Sr. on Feb. 7, 1961, illustrated a doughnut holder that was pivotal on a stand. U.S. Pat. No. 750,803, issued to Burnside, et al. on Feb. 2, 1904, described a display rack without the saucer-holding cupboard and doors taught by this invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Objects of patentable novelty and utility taught by this invention are to provide a cup-and-saucer hutch which contains cups and saucers securely on a convenient serving rack for being carried and placed from-place-to-place. 
     This invention accomplishes these and other objectives with a cup-and-saucer hutch having a shelf for containing a predetermined size and plurality of saucers securely without falling when being carried from-place-to-place for serving. A cup-rack post with cup-handle hangers with retainers for holding cup handles is projected uprightly from a top of the shelf. Optionally, a refreshment container can be positioned above the cup-rack post for containing, sweetener, creamer, tea and coffee. The refreshment container can be positioned on a top of the cup-rack post and on pillars extended uprightly from the case top. 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     This invention is described by appended claims in relation to description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the following drawings which are explained briefly as follows: 
     FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front elevation view of a cup-and-saucer hutch having a cup-rack post; 
     FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway top view of the FIG. 1 illustration; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of a refreshment container for a top of a cup-rack post; 
     FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway front elevation view of a cup-and-saucer hutch having a refreshment container supported by pillars; 
     FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front elevation view of a cup-and-saucer hutch having a refreshment container on atop of the cup-rack post; and 
     FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of a cup-and-saucer hutch having cup-handle hangers extended from a carousel positioned on an axle extended laterally from the cup-rack post. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Listed numerically below with reference to the drawings are terms used to describe features of this invention. These terms and numbers assigned to them designate the same features throughout this description. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                  1. Saucer case 
               
               
                   
                  2. Saucers 
               
               
                   
                  3. Case bottom 
               
               
                   
                  4. Case top 
               
               
                   
                  5. Cup-rack post 
               
               
                   
                  6. Cup-handle hangers 
               
               
                   
                  7. Handles 
               
               
                   
                  8. Cups 
               
               
                   
                  9. Case door 
               
               
                   
                 10. Walls 
               
               
                   
                 11. Hinges 
               
               
                   
                 12. Knob 
               
               
                   
                 13. Retainer 
               
               
                   
                 14. Hutch handle 
               
               
                   
                 15. Refreshment container 
               
               
                   
                 16. Pillars 
               
               
                   
                 17. Partitions 
               
               
                   
                 18. Container lid 
               
               
                   
                 19. Lid handle 
               
               
                   
                 20. Container bottom 
               
               
                   
                 21. Post handle 
               
               
                   
                 22. Lid rim 
               
               
                   
                 23. Carousel 
               
               
                   
                 24. Axle 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Referring first to FIGS. 1-2, a cup-and-saucer hutch has a saucer case  1  sized and shaped to contain a predetermined plurality of saucers  2  stacked vertically intermediate a case bottom  3  and a case top  4 . A cup-rack post  5  is extended uprightly from the case top  4 . A plurality of cup-handle hangers  6  are extended laterally from the cup-rack post  5  for holding handles  7  of cups  8 . A case door  9  in walls  10  of the saucer case  1  prevents the saucers  2  from falling when being carried from-place-to-place for use. 
     The case door  9  has hinges  11  and a knob  12  to hold it in place. 
     The cup-handle hangers  6  have retainers  13  to prevent the handles  7  from sliding off when the cup-and-saucer hutch is being carried. 
     As depicted in FIGS. 1,  4  and  5 , The cup-handle hangers  6  can be extended laterally from the cup-rack post  5  at predetermined heights vertically above the case top  4 . Preferably, a first two of the cup-handle hangers  6  are extended laterally from first oppositely disposed sides of the cup-rack post  5  at a first height and a second two of the cup-handle hangers  6  are extended laterally from second oppositely disposed sides of the cup-rack post  5  at a second height vertically above the case top  4 . 
     Further as depicted in FIG. 1, a hutch handle  14  proximate a top of the cup-rack post  5  is used to hand-carry the cup-and-saucer hutch. 
     Referring to FIGS. 3-5, a refreshment container  15  for containing coffee, tea, sweetener, creamer and other items can be positioned on a top of the cup-rack post 5 where it can be supported optionally also by pillars  16 . Partitions  17  in the refreshment container  15  can be provided for separating refreshment items which are not shown. A container lid  18  with a lid handle  19  can be provided. 
     The refreshment container  15  can have a container bottom  20  that is supported by a post handle  21 . A lid rim  22  can be employed to keep the container lid  18  in position between walls  10 . 
     The FIG. 5 embodiment is particularly suited for construction with either wood or plastic. The refreshment container  15  can be slightly smaller to compensate for additional height and still have stability. 
     Referring to FIG. 6, the cup-handle hangers  6  can be extended laterally from a carousel  23  which is rotatable on an axle  24  extended laterally from the cup-rack post  5 . 
     A new and useful cup-and-saucer hutch having been described, all such foreseeable modifications, adaptations, substitutions of equivalents, mathematical possibilities of combinations of parts, pluralities of parts, applications and forms thereof as described by the following claims and not precluded by prior art are included in this invention.