This invention relates in general to portable collapsible outdoor furniture and deals more particularly with tables of knockdown type.
The current popularity of sport utility vehicles has spurred interest in automotive camping and has created an increased demand for collapsible or knockdown outdoor furniture of minimal size which may be conveniently carried in the trunk of a conventional passenger motor vehicle or stowed in one or more of the many small storage compartments usually provided in a sport utility vehicle. Such knockdown and collapsible tables as have been heretofore available are usually quite small and provide limited surface area. Consequently, it is essential to promptly dispose of all trash and other litter produced in preparing and serving a meal so that the luxury afforded by the table may be enjoyed to its fullest. The present invention is primarily concerned with this problem.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide an improved table which facilitates prompt disposal of sandwich bags, food wrappers and other litter produced during the service of a meal. It is a further aim of the invention to provide an improved means for securing a tabletop in a collapsed condition for storage in the vehicle after use.
A typical portable knockdown table assembly includes a base and a slatted tabletop each having a setup and a collapsed condition. The slatted tabletop is formed by a series of interconnected slats which define a substantially horizontal planar tabletop surface in a setup condition and which extend in a common direction to form a compact bundle in a collapsed condition. The slatted top and the base are separated from each other when the table assembly is in its knocked-down or not assembled condition. The table also includes means for releasable securing the slatted top in its setup condition in assembly with the base in its setup condition.
In accordance with the invention, the improvement to the table comprises a pair of elongated flexible longitudinally spaced apart bag retaining members. Each bag retaining member has a looped portion transversally encircling an associated tabletop slat and a retaining end portion integrally connected to and extending from the looped portion. Each flexible retaining member preferably carries at least two mating fastening elements which include a first fastening element and a second fastening element for mating fastening engagement with the first element. Each second fastening element is mounted on the retaining end portion of an associated bag retaining member in spaced relation to the first fastening element mounted on that retaining member. A flexible upwardly open trash bag having spaced apart handle openings at its upper end is supported in depending relation to the tabletop by the retaining members, each of which is threaded through an associated handle opening and connected to itself by mating engagement of the first and second mating fastening elements thereon. The retaining members are adjustable to support differing trash bags in depending position at an associated end of the tabletop and to maintain the supported trash bag in open condition, as will be hereinafter further discussed.
In the drawings and in the description which follows, the present invention is illustrated and described with reference to a portable knockdown table assembly embodying the present invention and indicated generally by the reference 10. The illustrated table assembly 10 includes a portable knockdown table of a known type shown in
In accordance with the invention, a pair of bag retaining members associated with the tabletop and designated generally by the reference numerals 18,18 support a trash bag B in open position at one end of the table 12 when the table is in its setup position as it appears in
The base 16, which supports the tabletop 14, may take various forms. The presently preferred base, shown in the drawings in
The base 12 further includes a pair of axially elongated tubular tabletop support members 32,32 each releasably secured to the upper end of an associated pair of legs 20,20 when the base is in its setup condition of
The illustrated collapsible tabletop 14 is square and has length and width dimensions substantially equal to the length of a leg 20. The tabletop 14 is formed by a series of substantially identical axially elongated tubular slats 40,40 of rectangular cross section maintained in side-by-side relation to each other in setup condition to define a substantially planar upwardly facing table surface 42. Elastomeric cords 44,44 act between the endmost slats, designated 40′,40′, pass transversally through openings 46,46 formed in the sidewalls of the slats and bias the slats 40,40 toward and into side-by-side relation to each other. Each opening 46 is fitted with a grommet 48 to protect the elastomeric cords 44,44 from abrasion. End caps 50,50 form closures for the opposite ends of the tubular slats 40,40.
When the table assembly 10 is in its setup condition the tabletop 14 is releasably secured to the base 12 by two pair of resilient downwardly open generally C-shaped clips 52,52, one shown in
After the tabletop 14 has been removed from snap-together assembly with the table 12, it is folded to collapsed condition by alternately folding the slats 40′,40 in one and in an opposite direction into face-to-face relation to each other, in zigzag fashion, to form a compact bundle, shown in
The invention may be practiced with a wide variety of bags. However, the presently preferred bag B is a unitary bag formed from a single sheet of flexible plastic material folded on to itself along a bottom fold line and joined along parallel side seams formed by heat sealing or another appropriate seaming process. The bag B, best shown in
In accordance with the present invention, and as previously noted, a trash bag B is releasably retained at an associated end of the tabletop 12 by the flexible trash bag retaining members 18,18, as shown on the table assembly 10 illustrate d in
The first fastening element 64 is preferably carried by the loop portion 60 of a retaining member 58 and may be located on either the upper or lower side of the loop portion 60, that is above or below the table surface 42. Each second fastening element 66 is carried by the retaining portion 62 of each retaining strap 58. This arrangement allows each retaining strap 58 to be threaded through an associated handle on a trash bag B and thereafter be secured by engaging the mating first and second fastening elements carried by the retaining strap. The loop portions 60,60 are slidably supported on an endmost slat 40′ for movement generally toward and away from each other, whereby the bag retaining straps 58,58 may be adjusted to accommodate bags of various size. Since the loop portions frictionally embrace the carrying slat, the retaining straps will remain at respective positions of adjustment relative to each other and may be relied upon to hold the mouth M of the trash bag in a generally open position for convenience in trash disposal.
The retaining device of the present invention may also be employed to releasably secure the tabletop in its collapsed or bundled condition for storage. This aim is attained by making the extending retaining portions of the retaining straps 58,58 of sufficient length to encircle the bundle while allowing for some strap overlap so that another second fastening element carried by a terminal end portion of each strap may engage and mate with a first fastening element 64 carried by its associated loop portion. When this arrangement is provided, each first fastening element will be located on a loop portion at the underside of the tabletop. The unused extending retaining portion of the retaining straps will then be located beneath the table.
The used trash bag will have been removed from the table before the table is collapsed, therefore, it is only necessary to provide a single first fastening element 64 on each retaining strap 58 since this element is used selectively with only one of the two second elements 66,66 to either secure the trash bag B to the table or to releasably retain the tabletop in its collapse condition.