Supporting apparatus for articles

• US 6,957,854 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2003
• Issued: 10/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bernard J. Seastrom
• Original Assignee: Bernard J. Seastrom
• Inventors: Seastrom, Bernard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelson, Jr., Milton
• Application Number:
  US10/455,211
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 248/118, 248/218.4, 248/219.1, 248/309.1, 248/314, 248/125.8, 297/188.06, 297/188.01, 297/188.04, 297/188.05, 297/188.2, 297/188.21, 297/391, 297/394, 297/397, 297/410, 297/406, 297/407, 297/398, 297/405, 297/396, 224/275
• US Class Current: 297/188.04
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 7/043 mounted on or under a seat

Abstract

An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle that is equipped with a pair of headrest supporting sockets in the backrest and a headrest removably mounted in the sockets. The article supporting device includes a horizontal supporting component, an article supporting fixture fixed to the front end of the horizontal component, and a pair of spaced posts fixed to the rear end of the horizontal component.

Claims

1. An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle that has a pair of spaced substantially vertical headrest supporting sockets, said article supporting device comprising:

(a) a substantially horizontal first arm having a first forward end and a first rearward end;

(b) a substantially horizontal second arm spaced from said first arm, and having a second rearward end and a second forward end connected to said first forward end;

(c) a fixture for supporting an object, said fixture being fixed to at least one of said first and second forward ends;

(d) a substantially vertical first post permanently fixed to said first rearward end and adapted to be inserted into one of said sockets; and

(e) a substantially vertical second post permanently fixed to said second rearward end and spaced from said first post, said second post being adapted to be inserted into the other of said sockets.

2. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said first post and said second post has an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion having a larger cross-section than that of said lower portion.

3. The article supporting device as recited in claim 2, wherein each of said first post, and said second post has an intermediate portion between the upper portion and the lower portion of the post, said intermediate portion having a smaller horizontal cross section than the upper portion and a larger horizontal cross section than the lower portion of the post.

4. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said article supporting device is adjustable for changing the vertical position of said fixture.

5. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said first and second arms, and said first and second posts are formed from a single strip of metal as an integral structure.

6. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said first and second posts is generally c-shaped in horizontal cross-section and made of a resiliently deformable material that enables the normal outer horizontal dimension of the post to be reduced upon application of a squeezing force to the post, said post being adapted to resume its normal outer horizontal dimension in the absence of said squeezing force.

7. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said fixture is a tab having at least one aperture.

8. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said fixture is a horizontal bar having an aperture and extending transversely to said first and second arms.

9. The article supporting device as recited in claim 8, wherein said article supporting device is resiliently deformable with respect to movement of said first and second arms toward and away from each other, and wherein said bar has a pair of spaced slots that extend transversely to the long dimension of said bar for receiving said first and second arms.

10. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said first and second forward ends are an integral structure that extends rearwardly toward said first and second posts to form said fixture.

11. The article supporting device as recited in claim 10, wherein the forward ends of said first and second arms are made of a resiliently deformable material so that said fixture is a loop having a forwardly facing opening and constituting a spring clip.

12. The article supporting device as recited in claim 10, wherein the forward ends of said first and second forward ends is a flat strip of deformable material and having a vertical dimension which is greater than the horizontal dimension of the strip, said fixture being flat and having a horizontal dimension which is greater than the vertical dimension of said fixture.

13. The article supporting device as recited in claim 1, wherein said article supporting device is adjustable for changing the distance between said first post and second post.

14. An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle that has a pair of spaced substantially vertical headrest supporting sockets, said article supporting device comprising:

(a) a substantially horizontal first arm having a first forward end and a first rearward end;

(b) a substantially horizontal second arm spaced from said first arm, and having a second rearward end and a second forward end connected to said first forward end;

(c) a fixture for supporting an object, said fixture being fixed to at least one of said first and second forward ends;

(d) a substantially vertical first post permanently fixed to said first rearward end;

(e) a substantially vertical second post permanently fixed to said second rearward end and spaced from said first post; and

(f) at least a portion of said supporting device being bendable, which enables said article supporting device to be bent to change the distance between said first post and said second post.

15. The article supporting device as recited in claim 14, wherein the bendable portion of said supporting device is non resilient, and said first and second arms are bendable to selectively raise and lower said fixture relative to said first and second posts.

16. The article supporting device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bendable portion of said supporting device is non-resilient, and each of said first and second arms is a flat strip that is twisted approximately 90 degrees between the forward end and rearward end of the arm so that the forward end of each of said first and second arms is flat in a vertical plane and the rearward end of each of said first and second arms is flat in a horizontal plane.

17. An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle which has a pair of spaced substantially vertical headrest sockets, said article supporting device comprising:

(a) a substantially horizontal support member having a forward end and a rearward end;

(b) a fixture for supporting an object, said fixture being permanently fixed to said forward end;

(c) a substantially vertical first post fixed to said rearward end and adapted to be inserted into one of said sockets; and

(d) a substantially vertical second post permanently fixed to said rearward end and spaced from said first post, said second post being adapted to be inserted into the other of said sockets.

18. The article supporting device as recited in claim 17, wherein said fixture is a tab having at least one aperture.

19. The article supporting device as recited in claim 17, wherein said article supporting device is adjustable for changing the distance between said first post and second post.

20. The article supporting device as recited is claim 17, wherein said article supporting device is adjustable for changing the vertical position of said fixture.

21. An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle which has a pair of spaced substantially vertical headrest sockets, said article supporting device comprising:

(a) a substantially horizontal support member having a forward end and a rearward end;

(b) a fixture for supporting an object, said fixture being fixed to said forward end, said fixture is a spring clip having two opposed elements that are biased toward one another, and which define a forwardly facing opening for providing forward access between said elements by an object;

(c) a substantially vertical first post fixed to said rearward end; and

(d) a substantially vertical second post fixed to said rearward end and spaced from said first post.

22. An article supporting device for use in a motor vehicle that has a pair of spaced substantially vertical headrest supporting sockets, said article supporting device comprising:

(a) a first arm having a first outer end and a first inner end;

(b) a second arm spaced from said first arm and having a second inner end and a second outer end;

(c) a fixture for supporting an object, said fixture being connected to said first outer end and to said second outer end;

(d) a substantially vertical first post permanently fixed to said first inner end and adapted to be inserted into one of said sockets; and

(e) a substantially vertical second post permanently fixed to said second inner end and spaced from said first post, said second post being adapted to be inserted into the other of said sockets.

23. The article supporting device as recited in claim 22, wherein each of said first and second arms is vertical.

24. The article supporting device as recited in claim 22, wherein said first and second arms, said first and second posts, and said fixture are a single integral strip of material.

25. The article supporting device as recited in claim 22, wherein each of said first and second posts is generally c-shaped in horizontal cross-section and made of a resiliently deformable material that enables the normal outer horizontal dimension of the post to be reduced upon application of a squeezing force to the post, said post being adapted to resume its normal outer horizontal dimension in the absence of said squeezing force.

26. The article supporting device as recited in claim 22, wherein said fixture has a first end, a second end, and comprises:

(a) a first member fixed to at least one of said forward ends, said first member having a first upper surface and a first lower surface extending at an angle to said first upper surface and converging toward said first upper surface from the second end of said fixture to the first end of said fixture, said first member having an opening extending from said first upper surface to said first lower surface;

(b) a second member having a second lower surface parallel to said first upper surface and a second upper surface parallel to and abutting said first lower surface, said second member having an aperture vertically aligned with said opening and extending from said second upper surface to said second lower surface, said aperture being elongated along an axis extending from the first end of said fixture to the second end of said fixture, said aperture tapering from a relatively large width adjacent the first end of said fixture to a relatively small width adjacent the second end of said fixture; and

(c) a fastener having a first part for engaging said first upper surface, a second part for engaging said second lower surface and a threaded shank fixed to one of said first part and said second part for extending through said aperture and said opening and being threaded into the other of said first part and said second part, the thickness of said shank being less than the relatively large width of said aperture and greater than the relatively small width of said aperture, the angle of said first lower surface relative to said first upper surface, and the friction between said first lower surface and said second upper surface being such that the tightening of said fastener to draw said first part toward said second part causes said second member to slide relative to said first member along said axis toward the first end of said first fixture so that the relatively small width portion of said aperture moves toward said shank until said shank is snug within said aperture.