CHAIR HAVING CUP HOLDER

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to chairs in which there is a cup holder in one or both arms of the chair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many types of chairs which have cup holders on one or both arms of the chair. One type of chair having a cup holder has a circular opening in the arm of the chair which is sized to receive a cup or other beverage container. The opening may be tapered to hold the cup with a friction fit or there may be a cup-shaped structure below the opening which holds the cup or beverage container. If the chair or arm of the chair is plastic, them the cup shaped structure may be molded into the chair. United Staes Design Patent No. D955,255 S discloses a molded plastic chair arm having an opening and attached cup-shaped structure. The cup shaped structure could be a separate item that is dropped into the circular opening. Preferable this cup shaped structure should fit securely within the opening with either a friction fit or have locking connection with the chair arm.

Yet, another type of cup holder is attached to the underside of a chair arm or to the arm support and can pivot or rotate between a closed position in which the cup holder is nested under the arm of the chair for storage and an extended position for use. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,361,105 B1, 8,182,031 B2 and 9,532,654 B1 disclose this type of cup holder that is attached with a locking mechanism to the underside of the chair. When beverages are placed in the cup holder, it may sag unacceptably due to a lack of structure especially near the fixed end where the forces are greater. Also, cup holders that swing out to the side of the arm are put into a highly exposed position where at times they may get sat on or pushed down on or otherwise experience some manner of excessive loading or abuse. Accidental excessing loading may happen one or more times causing the cup holder to crack. Because cup holders of this type do not have a break-away mechanism excessive loading, could cause the chair arm to crack or break. Then the whole chair would be lost due to an issue with just the cup holder. The cup holder may not stay in the retracted position, swinging either partially or fully open, This could occur if the chair were on a slightly uneven surface, it may try to swing partially or fully closed. A cup holder that does not remain stationary in the open position may cause beverages to be in different positions relative to the chair arm or block the cup holder opening and thus prevent one from putting a beverage in the holder. This type of cup holder may also prevent or impede stacking of the chair, as the cumulative height of the chair arm and the cup holder could be significant.

There is a need for a chair having a cup holder which fits into an opening in a chair arm and can be securely locked in place. Preferably the cup holder can be configured to receive a collar from a table or other accessory to securely hold the table or other accessory on the chair arm. The cup holder should not impede stacking upon one another of chairs having the attached cup holder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

I provide a chair having a cup holder that fits through an opening in an arm of the chair and can be locked in place. The chair has a seat, a back, legs attached the seat and a chair arm attached to at least one of the back and the seat. The chair arm has a circular opening and, a plurality of spaced-apart tabs extending from the chair arm into the circular opening, the tabs defining a selected number of gaps each gap being between adjacent tabs. All gaps should be the a same size. Each tab has a bottom surface. A rotational stop is attached to the bottom surface of at least one tab, but preferably all tabs have a rotational stop.

The cup holder is positioned within the circular opening and has a circular bottom and a cylindrical wall attached to the circular bottom. There is a ring attached to and extending outwardly from the top edge of the circular wall. A selected number of locking tabs are attached to outer surface of the cylindrical wall. Each locking tab is sized and positioned to fit through the selected number of gaps. When the cup holder is fully inserted into the circular opening the cup holder is rotated until the tabs extending from the cup holder each engage a rotational stop. Preferably the amount of rotation is about 15 degrees. A spring tab may be attached to the chair arm below each gap to help position the cup holder so that the cup holder can be rotated until each the tabs extending from the cup holder abut a respective rotational stop.

The interior of the cup holder may be configured to receive a collar that extends from the bottom of a table or other accessory to enable the chair to securely hold that table or other accessory.

Other objects and advantages of my chair having a cup holder can be seen and understood from certain present preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a present preferred embodiment of my chair having a cup holder;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a portion of the chair shown in FIG. 1 showing the cup holder positioned above the circular opening in the chair arm that receives the cup holder;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a present preferred embodiment of my cup holder;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the cup holder and a portion of the chair arm shown in FIG. 2 positioned within the circular opening in the chair arm that receives the cup holder;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view similar to FIG. 4 showing the circular opening in a portion of the chair arm without the cup holder in the opening;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a portion of the opening in the chair arm;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 7 with the collar inserted into the cup holder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 I provide a stackable molded plastic chair 1, having a seat 2, a back 3 attached to the seat, and legs 4 attached to the seat. A right arm 5 and a left arm 6 are connected to the back and the seat. As can be seen in FIG. 2 there is an opening 8 in the right arm which is sized to receive a cup holder 20. This opening could be in the left arm or there could be an opening that receives a cup holder in both the right arm and the left arm. Although the chair in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a molded plastic Adirondack chair, my invention is not limited to that type of chair or to molded plastic chairs.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6 there are four equally-spaced tabs 12 extending from the chair arm into the circular opening 8. There is a gap 13 between each pair of adjacent tabs. All of these gaps should be the same or about the same size. Referring to FIG. 6 there is a rotational stop 14 attached to the bottom surface of each tab 12. A spring tab 10 is attached to one end of at least one tab 12 and extends below the opening 8 between that tab and the adjacent tab.

There are four tabs 22 on the cup holder 20 that pass through the gaps 13 when the cup holder is inserted into the opening 8. The cup holder must be inserted into the opening a sufficient distance so that the spring tabs or spring tab 10 is depressed sufficiently to enable the cup holder to be rotated until the tabs 22 on the cup holder engage a respective rotational stop 14 attached to the bottom surface of each tab 12. I prefer that the amount of rotation be 15 degrees. At that point the tabs 22 on the cup holder 20 will have cleared the rotational springs 14 and the rotational springs will pop back up and act as a rotational stop.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, the cup holder 20 has a cylindrical body 21 and cylindrical wall 23 attached to a circular bottom 24. A drain hole 25 may be provided in the bottom. Vent holes 26 can be provided in the cylindrical wall 22. A ring 27 is attached to and extends outwardly from the top edge of the cylindrical wall. This ring is seated in the circumferential groove 18 surrounding the circular opening 8 in the chair arm 5.

The locking tabs 22 attached to the cylindrical wall are each sized and positioned to fit through the gaps 13, engage the a rotational stop 14 and allow the spring tab to pop up to its original position when the locking tabs 22 are each adjacent to a rotational stop 14.

As can be seen most clearly in FIG. 3, I prefer that the cylindrical wall 23 have an upper portion 23a and a lower portion 23b in which the inner diameter of the upper portion is greater than the inner diameter of the lower portion and the outer diameter of the upper portion is greater than the outer diameter of the lower portion. This configuration allows the cup holder to receive a collar that extends from the bottom of a table or other accessory. FIG. 8 shows such a collar 30 inserted into the cup holder. The collar has spring tabs 32. A tooth 33 is provided on at least some of the spring tabs. When the collar is fully inserted into the cup holder 20 the teeth will fit into a circumferential recess 29 at the base of the interior surface of the upper portion 23a of the cup holder 20 to hold the collar 30 in place.

Although I have described and illustrated certain present preferred embodiments of my chair having a cup holder, it should be distinctly understood that my invention is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.