Patent Grant
10729963
The present invention is generally directed to a stand to which a bucket may be attached to hold the bucket a distance above a horizontal support surface.
Baseball and softball coaches and players toss or throw multiple balls to their team players for batting practice and defensive practice. Baseball and softball pitchers throw multiple balls in pitching practice. Frequently, a 5- or 6-gallon bucket that is filled with multiple balls is placed near a coach or player from which the coach or player may select a next ball for a practice toss, throw or pitch. In many cases, such bucket is seated on a ground surface, such that the coach or player must bend down to select the next ball from the bucket. Repetitive bending may unnecessarily stress the coach or player's back.
Stands to hold practice balls above a ground surface are known. Jugs Sports offers a “Back Saver Ball Basket” with a canvas “basket” container over a foldable cage that can hold practice balls above a ground surface. Although the product is marketed to hold the practice balls directly in the canvas container, the user has an option to place a bucket filled with balls into the canvas container reservoir. The bucket is not supported against movement or tilting when held in the basket.
Improvements to devices to hold practice balls continue to be sought.
In a first embodiment of the invention, a bucket caddy or stand has a retainer defining at least three slot openings therethrough. Each slot opening receives one leg inserted through the slot opening. Each leg has a proximal end and a distal end and a central axis. Each leg has at its proximal end a shelf surface disposed at a first angle to the central axis and has a generally U-shaped hook disposed with its opening at a second angle to the central axis. In this first embodiment elastic bands removably connect at one end to a respective generally U-shaped hook and at their opposite end to a rim of the bucket to be held by the bucket caddy. The elastic bands each have a hook, such as an S-shaped hook, at their opposite ends that is configured to removably connect to the bucket rim. The elastic bands may comprise two loops of elastic band material joined together at a center section, leaving a loop at one end and a loop with the S-shaped hook at the other end.
In a second embodiment, the elastic bands remain connected to the U-shaped hooks at the proximal ends of the legs. The distal tip of each of the U-shaped hooks is bent so as to retain the loop at the one end of the elastic band inside the U-shaped hook.
In one embodiment, the shelf surfaces of the at least three legs each have a generally planar top surface and an opposite surface. In another embodiment, the shelf surfaces of the three legs each have a stepped top surface, with a first planar top surface portion and a second planar top surface portion separated by a bend in the top surface.
When the bucket caddy is in a bucket supporting configuration, the shelf surfaces of the at least three legs are directed radially inwardly toward the retainer, and preferably are disposed in a common plane. In the bucket supporting configuration, the generally U-shaped hook openings of the at least three legs are directed toward the support surface on which the bucket caddy is supported.
In one embodiment, the shelves of the legs are formed of an elastic material or coated with an elastic material. In addition, in this embodiment the U-shaped hooks of the legs are formed with an elastomeric material or coated with an elastomeric coating. Moreover, the hooks joined to the elastic bands may be formed of an elastomeric material or coated with an elastomeric coating. For example, the shelves of the legs, the U-shaped hooks of the legs, and the hooks joined to the elastic bands may be dip molded metal.
In the bucket supporting configuration, the legs are splayed apart with their central axes at angles to one another. In the storage configuration, with the bucket separated from the bucket caddy, the legs are disposed with their central axes parallel or substantially parallel to one another. A tape, such as a tape of Velcro or hook and loop fastener, may be joined at one end to one of the legs, and wrapped around the legs when the caddy is in its storage configuration. A handle for carrying the bucket caddy may be joined to one of the legs, such as the first leg.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the disclosure, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the disclosure, there is shown in the drawings an embodiment of a bucket caddy which is presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:
Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting. Unless specifically set forth herein, the terms “a,” “an” and “the” are not limited to one element, but instead should be read as meaning “at least one.” The terminology includes the words noted above, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.
It also should be understood that the terms “about,” “approximately,” “generally,” “substantially” and like terms, used herein when referring to a dimension or characteristic of a component of the invention, indicate that the described dimension/characteristic is not a strict boundary or parameter and does not exclude minor variations therefrom that are functionally similar. At a minimum, such references that include a numerical parameter would include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit.
Referring to the drawings in detail,
Fittings 40, 42, 44 are installed on the top portions 30, 32, 34 of the legs 20, 22, 24. The fittings 40, 42, 44 each have a shelf surface 50, 52, 54 that extends away from the center axis of the respective fitting at an angle a thereto. When the bucket caddy 10 is in the bucket-supporting configuration, the shelf surfaces 50, 52, 54 are disposed generally in a same or substantially same plane and are thus configured to support thereon a bottom surface of the bucket 100.
The fittings 40, 42, 44 terminate at their distal ends at U-shaped hooks 60, 62, 64. The U-shaped hooks 60, 62, 64 each receive a respective elastic cord or bungee 70, 72, 74 used to engage the bucket 100 to the bucket caddy 10. Preferably, the elastic cords or bungees are double cords, with two loops of elastic cords joined together with a crimp fastener 76. The double cords have enhanced strength as compared a single loop cord.
S-shaped hooks 80, 82, 84 are joined to the opposite ends of the elastic cords or bungees 70, 72, 74. The S-shaped hooks 80, 82, 84 grip the upper rim 102 of the bucket 100. The bucket 100 is secured to the caddy 10 with three elastic bands 70, 72, 74. Each band 70, 72, 74 loops through the generally U-shaped hook portion 60, 62, 64 of a leg, and the S-shaped hook portion 80, 82, 84 at the opposite end of the band 70, 72, 74 grips the upper rim 102 of the bucket 100.
Referring to
When the legs 20, 22, 24 are splayed to the support configuration, the shelf surfaces 50, 52, 54 are directed radially inwardly toward the retainer 12 and the tops of the shelf surfaces 50, 52, 54 are held in a common plane. The shelf surfaces 50, 52, 54 of this embodiment are flat, and adapted to receive the bottom of the large bucket 100. The generally U-shaped hook openings 60, 62, 64 are pointed with the open side directed toward the ground or support surface.
Alternatively, the shelf surfaces 50, 52, 54 of the legs maybe stepped, such that a first top shelf portion 50a may be adapted to receive the bottom of a large bucket, but the stepped lower shelf portion 50b may be adapted to receive the bottom of a smaller bucket having a smaller diameter or footprint, such as a paint can. See
The legs 20, 22, 24 may be formed of a metal, such as steel, or of a composite, such as fiberglass. For example, the legs may be of tubular metal having a diameter of 16 mm with a wall thickness of 1.2 mm with a length of 800 mm. The legs 20, 22, 24 may be formed in two sections, e.g., 20 and 30, 22 and 32 and 24 and 34, with the bottom section threadedly engagable to the top section, such as a top section of 400 mm length and a bottom section of 400 mm length.
Each shelf 50, 52, 54 may be formed of metal, such as steel, and coated with an elastomeric coating. Each shelf alternatively may be formed of an elastomer, such as a rubber. Preferably, the shelf top surface is grip-able or tacky. Each shelf may be formed of dip-molded metal to create the gripping or frictional engagement between the bottom of the bucket and the shelf that prevents the bucket from sliding. A shelf formed of sheet steel that is dip molded with an elastomeric coating is preferred.
Different sized buckets in terms of bucket diameter or footprint may be accommodated on the shelf due to the frictional engagement of the elastomeric coating with the bucket bottom. More particularly, for the embodiment with stepped shelf surfaces, a smaller diameter bucket may be accommodated on the lower stepped surface. With or without the stepped shelf surfaces, different sized buckets in terms of bucket height may be held on the caddy due to the flexible nature of the elastic band or bungee cord attachments to the hooks of the shelves.
The U-shaped hooks 60, 62, 64 may be formed of metal, such as steel, and coated with an elastomeric coating. The U-shaped hooks 60, 62, 64 alternatively may be formed of an elastomer, such as rubber.
The elastic bands 70, 72, 74 preferably are bungee cords with a diameter from 0.2 to 0.5 inch and a length of from 10 to 12 inches. A double bungee loop such as shown in
A Velcro tape or hook and loop fastener tape 90 is appended to the first leg 20. When in the storage configuration shown in
Referring next to the embodiment shown in
The top portions of the legs 30, 32, 34 are joined to the bottom portions of the legs 20, 22, 24 with threaded fittings 130. In this embodiment as shown in
Footers 120, 122, 124 may be joined to the bottom ends of the legs 20, 22, 24. As shown in
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims priority under 35 USC § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/676,048, entitled “Bucket Caddy”, filed May 24, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1371263 | Reed | Mar 1921 | A |
| 2190623 | Benson | Feb 1940 | A |
| 2749147 | Herrschaft | Jun 1956 | A |
| 7896350 | Harries | Mar 2011 | B2 |
| 8444097 | Morrow | May 2013 | B2 |
| 9220339 | Chen | Dec 2015 | B1 |
| 9625085 | Jones | Apr 2017 | B1 |
| 20030150964 | Sherer | Aug 2003 | A1 |
| 20080169389 | Hill | Jul 2008 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62676048 | May 2018 | US |
