1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder structure, and more particularly to a dismountable holder structure for holding a plurality of cups, which is capable of flexibly adjusting the inner storage space according to the sizes of cups and the components thereof are fabricated stably and are removable.
2. Related Art
In recent years, as the increasing of people's life standard and the popularization of knowledge and education, people in the modern society pay more and more attention to sanitation status in daily life, especially table wares for holding food, which are closely relevant to people's diet, such as bowls, dishes, and cups. In the past, these table wares for holding food were rinsed manually after being used, no matter in a private house or a restaurant. In a private house, since there is only a small amount of table wares and the diners are almost fixed, the table wares need not be rinsed and disinfected by using a washing machine in most instances, but some families paying more attention to hygiene still use washing machines, such as dish washers and cup washers. However, in public restaurants, since a large amount of table wares is required and used frequently, and diners are always changed, the table wares must be rinsed and disinfected with a large-scale washing machine, so as to enhance the efficiency for rinsing the table wares and keep the table wares sanitary.
Generally, most of washing machines for rinsing table wares should be used together with a basket-type table ware rack. Firstly, a user may collect the table wares into the basket-type table ware rack, i.e., many table wares are together put into and rinsed in a washing machine, thereby saving manpower and rinsing time, and the table wares may also be sterilized and disinfected under a high temperature. However, the conventional basket-type table ware rack has no separate spaces divided for placing each of table ware, as a result, the table wares made of brittle materials, such as ceramics and glass, may be easily broken due to the impact and crashing between each other when being carried along all together, which often occurs for cups for holding liquid, such as water cups and wine glasses. In addition, since there are various kinds of cups for holding liquid, for example, the cups for holding wine may be classified into standing cups and beer tumblers. Different types of cups are different in size, such that it is difficult to collect such cups on the same table ware rack. Furthermore, the conventional basket-type table ware racks with table wares being placed therein cannot be stacked with each other, but must be carried by the user one by one, and thereby degrading the efficiency and wasting time.
In order to place the same kind of cups together without being broken due to shaking and crashing, different holders have been designed to cater to various cups with different sizes in the field. However, under this circumstance, the holders of different sizes must be produced through die sinking, which is not cost-effective considering the cost. Furthermore, the holders cannot be stacked together, which are carried and stored inconveniently. Therefore, many cup holders that can be stacked with each other are proposed, such as in Taiwan Utility Model No. M245944, a table ware holder that can be stacked is disclosed, which can be carried, stacked, and stored. The table ware holders disclosed in M245944 are stacked together only by fitting one holder on the top of another by using the groove at the bottom of the former. In this manner, the holders cannot be stacked stably, and may be easily tilted due to an external force when being carried.
In order to overcome the problem that cup holders may be easily tilted, a latching structure for mounting cup holders is proposed. However, if the holders are mounted by the latching structure, the holders can not be separated each other and be mounted again. Although the latching structure can increase the stability of the cup holders, but is not capable of flexibly adjusting the inner storage space according to the sizes of cups. Therefore, to a large extent, it has currently become an urgent problem to be solved that how to design a holder suitable for cups of different sizes and may be stacked stably and removable easily, thereby saving the manufacturing cost and enhancing the protectability of cup placement.
In view of the problems of the prior art that the stacking cup holders cannot be stacked stably and dismounted repeatedly and the conventional cup holder has a high cost due to being produced through die sinking, the present invention is mainly directed to a dismountable holder structure, in which the components thereof are capable of being stacked and assembled together stably and also capable of being dismounted conveniently, so as to form storage spaces for cups of different sizes.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a dismountable holder structure, which is used for holding a plurality of cups. The holder structure includes a base and at least one dividing rack. The base has an accommodation space with an upward opening and at least one oblique first buckling hole formed on an outer edge of the base. The dividing rack is sleeved in the base along the opening, and has a plurality of cross-connected division plates formed therein, so as to divide the accommodation space in the base into a plurality of storage spaces for storing cups. The dividing rack further has at least one hooking member, which includes a swing arm and a hook. One end of the swing arm is movably connected to the outer edge of the dividing rack, and the hook is formed at the other end of the swing arm and obliquely corresponds to the first buckling hole of the base. The hook is fastened in the first buckling hole at a fastening position and forms a height difference with the upper edge of the first buckling hole, such that the hooking member normally hooks the first buckling hole, so as to fix the dividing rack on the base. The hooking member may also be activated to drive the hook away from the fastening position to disengage from the first buckling hole, thereby dismounting the dividing rack from the base.
The efficacies of the present invention lie in that, the hooking member of the dividing rack selectively hooks the first buckling hole of the base or releases from the first buckling hole, and in this manner, not only the dividing rack may be fixed on the base stably to prevent the holder from tiling due to an external force when being carried and easy to dismounted repeatedly, but the storage spaces also can be designed to cater to the cups with specific sizes through increasing or reducing the number of the dividing racks, so as to save the die sinking cost for independently developing the holders of different sizes and further save the manufacturing cost and protect cups in a better way.
The detailed features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following embodiments. Those skilled in the arts can easily understand and implement the content of the invention. Furthermore, the relative objectives and advantages of the invention are apparent to those skilled in the arts with reference to the content disclosed in the specification, claims, and drawings.
It is to be understood that, both the above description of the content of the present invention and the following detailed description are intended to demonstrate and illustrate the principle of the invention, and to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, which thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
In order to make the object, structure, features, and functions of the present invention be more comprehensible, preferred embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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Both the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 have a plurality of hooking members 23, a plurality of second buckling holes 24, a stepwise slot 25, and a supporting surface 26. Each of the side walls 21 includes an outer plate 211, a clamping plate 213, and an inner plate 212, the clamping plate 213 is formed between the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212, and the inner plate 212 of each of the side walls 21, the clamping plate 213 of each of the side walls 21, and the outer plate 211 of each of the side walls 21 are bent respectively to be ring-connected. The top end of the outer plate 211 is bent to be connected to the clamping plate 213 and the inner plate 212, so as to form a supporting surface 26 on the top of each of the side walls 21. The supporting surface 26 surrounds the four side walls 21 to present an annular rectangle shape, and the inner edge of the supporting surface 26 is recessed to form a stepwise slot 25. The stepwise slot 25 is disposed on the top of the inner plate 212 and surrounds the four side walls 21 for another dividing rack 20 or another stacking rack 30 to be fitted thereon. The second buckling holes 24 are formed on the outer edge of each of the side walls 21 in pairs, and the second buckling holes 24 are recessed inward from the outer plate 211 to extend to the clamping plate 213, and decline towards the supporting surface 26 to form an included angle, such that an inclined plane 241 is formed on the upper side of the second buckling holes 24. Each of the hooking members 23 is located outside the side walls 21 adjacent to each of the second buckling holes 24, and the quantities and positions of the hooking members 23 and the second buckling holes 24 are the same as and corresponding to that of the first buckling holes 15 of the base 10. The hooking members 23 may hook the first buckling holes 15 of the base 10, the second buckling holes 24 of the dividing rack 20, or the second buckling holes 24 of the stacking rack 30 at a fastening position. Each of the hooking members 23 includes a swing arm 231, a hook 232, a notch 233, a bend point 234, and an inclined plane 235. One end of the swing arm 231 is movably connected to the clamping plate 213 and located on the outer edge of the side walls 21, and a notch 233 is formed at the connection point between the swing arm 231 and the clamping plate 213, such that a bend point 234 is formed between the section of the swing arm 231 and the clamping plate 213, and the swing arm 231 swings relative to the side walls 21 (the dividing rack 20 or the stacking rack 30) around the bend point 234. The hook 232 is formed at the other end of the swing arm 213, and declines to have the inclined plane 235, which respectively corresponds to the inclined plane 151 of the first buckling holes 15 and the inclined plane 241 of the second buckling hole 24.
The structure of the dividing rack 20 is substantially the same as that of the stacking rack 30, and the difference there-between lies in that the dividing rack 20 further has a plurality of division plates 22. The division plates 22 cross-connected with each other and connected to the inner plates 212 of the side walls 21 respectively, so as to divide the opening 13 and the accommodation space 14 of the base 10 into a plurality of storages spaces 18 for accommodating the cups 50. In this embodiment, for example, there are only sixteen storage spaces 18, but the quantity and size of the storage spaces 18 are designed depending upon the size of the cups 50, which is not limited herein. The division plate 22 further has a plurality of protrusions 221 extending from the division plates 22 towards the hollow bottom wall 12 of the base 10.
Referring to
The length of the clamping plate 213 of the dividing rack 20 (the stacking rack 30) in a stacking direction (i.e., the direction from the opening 13 of the base 10 to the hollow bottom wall 12) is less than the length of the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212 in the stacking direction, such that the clamping plate 213 and the adjacent outer plate 211 and inner plate 212 on both sides have a height difference. Since the side wall 11 and the side wall 21 respectively have the stepwise slot 16 and the stepwise slot 25, the widths of the supporting surface 19 and the supporting surface 26 are both less than the distance between the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212. Through the height difference between the clamping plate 213 and the outer plate 211, and that between the clamping plate 213 and the inner plate 212, the top of the side wall 11 of the base 10 may be inserted into the bottom of the stacking rack 30 (between the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212), and the top of the side wall 21 of the stacking rack 30 may be inserted into the bottom of the dividing rack 20 (between the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212). Meanwhile, the clamping plate 213 and the inner plate 212 of the stacking rack 30 respectively bear against the supporting surface 19 and the stepwise slot 16 of the base 10, and the clamping plate 213 and the inner plate 212 of the dividing rack 20 respectively bear against the supporting surface 26 and the stepwise slot 25 of the stacking rack 30. Therefore, the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 both can be sleeved on the top of the side wall 21 of the stacking rack 30 and the top of the side wall 11 of the base 10 with the outer plate 211 and the inner plate 212, thereby achieving suitable support, such that the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 may be fitted with each other and then be together sleeved on the base 10.
The first buckling hole 15 and the second buckling hole 24 respectively decline towards the supporting surface 19 and the supporting surface 26, and the hook 232 of the hooking member 23 is obliquely disposed on the swing arm 231, corresponding to the obliquity of the first buckling hole 15 and the second buckling hole 24. The distance between the bend point 234 of the hooking member 23 on the stacking rack 30 and the upper edge of the first buckling hole 15 is slightly larger than that between the same bend point 234 and the front end of the hook 232, and the distance between the bend point 234 of the dividing rack 20 and the upper edge of the second buckling hole 24 of the stacking rack 30 is slightly larger than that between the same bend point 234 and the front end of the hook 232. Therefore, when the hook 232 of the hooking member 23 hooks the first buckling hole 15 and the second buckling hole 24 at the aforementioned fastening position, the front end of the hook 232 forms a height difference with the upper edge of the first buckling hole 15 and with the upper edge of the second buckling hole 24 respectively, such that the hooking member 23 of the stacking rack 30 normally hooks the first buckling hole 15 of the base 10, and the hooking member 23 of the dividing rack 20 normally hooks the second buckling hole 24 of the stacking rack 30. Meanwhile, the inclined plane 235 of the hook 232 closely contacts the inclined plane 151 of the first buckling hole 15 and the inclined plane 241 of the second buckling hole 24 respectively, and if no external force is exerted, the hook 232 will not be disengaged from the first buckling hole 15 and the second buckling hole 24, thereby fixing the dividing rack 20 on the stacking rack 30 stably, and further fixing the stacking rack 30 on the base 10 stably. On the contrary, the hooking members 23 may be activated to drive the hook 232 away from the fastening position to be disengaged from the first buckling hole 15 or the second buckling hole 24, such that the dividing rack 20 is dismounted from the stacking rack 30 and the stacking rack 30 is dismounted from the base 10.
Based on the above, if a user wants to design a space on the base 10 to cater to the size (the height along the aforementioned stacking direction) of the cups 50, and particularly, a storage space 18 (the height along the aforementioned stacking direction) suitable for storing the cups 50 can be easily designed on the base 10 merely through stacking a specific number of dividing racks 20 and stacking racks 30, and separating through the division plates 22 of the dividing rack 20, such that the cups 50 are capable of being collected for being rinsed, under the production of the holder structure. Furthermore, dividing racks 20 and stacking racks 30 are able to be mounted stably on the base 10 through the hooking member 23 or to be easily dismounted easily from the base 10.
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Therefore, in the present invention, the hooking member 23 may selectively hook the first buckling hole of the base 10 or the second buckling hole 24 of the stacking rack 30 and the dividing rack 20, such that not only the dividing rack 20 and stacking rack 30 may be fixed on the base 10 stably or fixed with each other, so as to prevent the holder from tilting due to an external force when being carried, but also the placement space suitable for the size of the cups 50 may be designed through increasing or decreasing the quantities of the dividing racks 20 and the stacking racks 30, so as to save the die sinking cost for independently developing the holders of different sizes and save the manufacturing cost and protect the cups 50 in a better way.
In the present invention, the hooking member 23 of the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 may selectively hook the first buckling hole 15 of the base 10 or disengage there-from, and the hooking member 23 of the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 may selectively hook the second buckling hole 24 of another dividing rack 20 (or the stacking rack 30) or disengage there-from, such that not only the dividing rack 20 and the stacking rack 30 may be freely combined to form the storage spaces 18 suitable for the cups 50, so as to save the cost for developing the holder structure, but also the dividing rack 20, the stacking rack 30, and the base 10, or another dividing rack 20 (or the stacking rack 30) may be stably stacked, thereby protecting the cups 50 in a better way.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.