Patent Application
20130327906
The present invention relates to a furniture structure and particularly to a furniture structure to hold beverage containers.
People living in modern time often have to bear of lot of stress. How to release the stress is an important issue. Many types of channels and programs have been offered to help people to release the stress, amount them outdoor activities are very effective and enjoyed by many people. By embracing the nature such as mountain hiking or relaxing in scenic sites people often can get serene mind and unwind from the stress of life or work.
Many people like to carry a piece of outdoor furniture during outdoor activities, such as a chair, a lounge chair or the like for resting during the activities. They also often bring drinks with them to quench thirst whenever needed. The unfinished drinks often are put on the ground around the furniture so that they can be easily fetched and drank next time. This often results in incidental toppling of the drinks caused by inadvertence of people. It creates unnecessary waste and costs that people need to spend extra expense buying the drinks again.
To solve the aforesaid problem, some outdoor furniture is equipped with a holding portion to hold beverage containers. But most outdoor furniture does not have such a design. People have to install by themselves an extra beverage container holding rack for this purpose. The beverage container holding rack now on the market usually is made in a fixed style. Moreover, most outdoor furniture is not being designed with the consideration of adding the beverage container holding rack. Hence when the outdoor furniture is folded the added beverage container holding rack could hinder folding, or jut outside the furniture after folding and create problems in storing of the outdoor furniture. Moreover, the conventional beverage container holding rack made in one fixed style also cannot accommodate many other beverage containers of different sizes.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a furniture structure to hold beverage containers.
To achieve the foregoing object, the furniture structure according to present invention comprises a furniture body, a beverage container holding rack and a fastening element to fasten the beverage container holding rack to the furniture body. The furniture body includes at least one support portion and an assembly hole formed on the support portion. The beverage container holding rack includes a base, a retaining body and a carrying body hinged on the base and retaining body. The base includes a first pivotal portion connected to the carrying body and an assembly portion corresponding to the assembly hole. The carrying body includes a second pivotal portion connected to the retaining body and a carrying plane exposed upon flipping against the base. The retaining body includes a confining plane exposed upon flipping against the carrying body. The base, carrying plane and confining plane jointly form a housing space to hold a beverage container. The fastening element is fastened to the assembly hole and has a fastening portion on one side opposing to the assembly hole to fasten to the assembly portion.
In one embodiment the base has a first latch portion connected to the assembly portion, and the retaining body has a second latch portion corresponding to and latchable with the first latch portion.
In another embodiment the first pivotal portion has a first elastic element to provide an elastic action force for the base.
In yet another embodiment the second pivotal portion has a second elastic element to provide an elastic action force for the carrying body.
In yet another embodiment the base has a first barrier wall extended into the housing space.
In yet another embodiment the carrying body has a retaining wall extended into the housing space.
In yet another embodiment the retaining body has a second barrier wall extended and perpendicular to the carrying plane.
In yet another embodiment the carrying plane has at least one drain port.
In yet another embodiment the retaining body has an elastic butting plate connecting to the confining plane.
In yet another embodiment the base has a first leaning portion leaned by the carrying body to prohibit the carrying body from flipping, and the carrying body has a second leaning portion leaned by the retaining body to prohibit the retaining body from flipping.
In yet another embodiment the fastening portion of the fastening element is a dovetail groove and the assembly portion coupled on the beverage container holding rack is a dovetail.
By means of the structure set forth above, the beverage container holding rack can be constructed with the base, carrying body and retaining body pivotally connected so that the carrying body can flip against the base and the retaining body can flip against the carrying body. After the aforesaid elements have been flipped the beverage container holding rack can be changed in structural forms. Compared with the conventional beverage container holding rack that provides only one fixed style and cannot be changed in response to requirements, the invention provides the beverage container holding rack that can be folded for storage and quickly removed from the furniture body as required, thus resolves the storage problem of the conventional beverage container holding rack.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
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To limit the carrying body 23 to flip within a selected displacement, the base 21 further has a first leaning portion 216 to be leaned by the carrying body 23 after it has flipped against the base 21 for the selected displacement, and the carrying body 23 has a carrying plane 232 exposed. The carrying body 23 also has a second leaning portion 236 to limit the retaining body 22 to flip within a selected displacement so that the retaining body 22 can flip against the carrying body 23 only within a selected displacement, and the retaining body 22 has a confining plane 221 exposed upon leaning on the carrying body 23. Thereby the base 21, carrying plane 232 and confining plane 221 jointly form a housing space 5 to hold the beverage container 4.
Referring to
When to return the beverage container holding rack 2 to the folding and storage state is desired, move and flip the retaining body 22 against the carrying body 23 to stack over thereof, then move and flip the carrying body 23 against the base 21 to stack over thereof, then all the pieces are compacted in the original folding and storage state.
Please refer to
In yet another embodiment, referring to
In yet another embodiment of the invention, referring to
These days beverages are often provided in a cold drink fashion. When the cold drink is exposed to the atmosphere for a prolonged period of time moisture in the air is condensed to form water drops on the surface of the beverage container 4. To address this phenomenon the present invention provides another embodiment in which the carrying plane 232 has at least one drain port 235 to discharge water drops condensed on the surface of the beverage container 4 holding cold drink.
Due to the beverage container 4 can be formed in different sizes, the present invention also provides another embodiment with the beverage container holding rack 2 to accommodate different sizes of beverage containers 4. In this embodiment, the confining plane 221 of the retaining body 22 is connected to an elastic butting plate 224 which can flip against the confining plane 221. When the beverage container 4 is formed at a smaller diameter than that of the housing space 5, it can be butted by the elastic butting plate 224 and securely held in the housing space 5 without slipping out. In the event that the beverage container 4 is formed at a diameter same as the housing space 5, when the beverage container 4 is loaded, the elastic butting plate 224 is pushed and flipped towards the confining plane 221 in parallel therewith. The elastic butting plate 224 previously discussed merely serves for illustrative purpose and is not the limitation of the invention.
As a conclusion, the present invention provides a furniture structure to hold beverage containers. It includes a beverage container holding rack that is constructed with various elements pivotally connected to allow the carrying body to flip against the base and allow the retaining body to flip against the carrying body, thereby the structural states of the beverage container holding rack can be changed after flipping of the constructed elements to meet use requirements. Compared with the conventional beverage container holding rack made in only one fixed structure and not changeable, the beverage container holding rack of the invention can be formed in a folding and storage state to overcome the storage problem of the furniture body that occurs to the conventional beverage container holding rack.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, they are not the limitations of the invention, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
