US1952377A - Tray - Google Patents

Description

F. S. LACK March 27, 1934.

TRAY

Filed July so. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet a (Ittorneg Patented Mar. 27, 1934' UNITED STATES TRAY Fred S. Lack, Paducah, Ky., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Tray Service. Company, Dallas, Tex., a corporation of Texas Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,590

12 Claims.

This invention relates .to service trays such as are used for serving soft drinks and the like to occupants of automobiles and, among other ob jects, aims to provide an improved brace attachment adjustably secured to a tray so as to support one side thereof while the other side rests on top of a car door or window ledge. The invention provides a relatively simple and novel brace for service trays having a pivotally mounted brace arm adapted to be quickly and easily folded under the tray to serve as a support when the tray is placed on a table or counter.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending applications Serial No. 605,054,

filed April 13, 1932, allowed June 22, 1932, now abandoned, and Ser. No. 555,795 filed Aug. 7, 1931, allowed Nov. 2, 1932.

In the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a tray showing the improved brace supporting it on an automobile door;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line .33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan View of the tray showing the brace in folded position; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the tray in its upright position also showing the brace in folded position.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the illustrated brace attachment is shown as being slidably mounted on a rectangular tray'lO of the reinforced, rolled rim type. In order to provide a slide for the brace and also to provide means to hook over a door, a bar 11 is secured to the bottom of the tray near one end. This bar, which conveniently may be made of flat metal stock,

extends transversely across the tray and is spaced from the bottom thereof. One. end of the bar is bent upwardly and rigidly secured to one side wall of the tray and, adjacent the other side of the tray, the bar is ofiset upwardly and secured to a flat bracket piece 12. The bracket 12 is bent to conform to the side and bottom of the tray and is secured thereto by an ordinary rivet. The end of the bar adjacent the bracket 12 extends outwardly beyond the bottom of the tray and is bent downwardly at an acute angle to the vertical to form one door-engaging arm or lug 13, as shown in said copending applications. Another lug or arm 14 is bent outwardly and downwardly from a short bar 11 which is secured to a bracket piece 12 similar to bracket 12 near the other end of the tray and on the same side as the lug 13. These arms or lugs are adapted to be inserted in a window channel between the glass and one side of the door of a closed automobile to support the tray in level position. The lugs 13 and 14-, together with the adjacent portions of the bars 11 and 11 are also adapted to eigage the inside and top surfaces of a door 15 of an automobile, so that the tray may be supported horizontally by means of a brace about to be described. The upper portion of the lugs and the adjacent portions of the bars 11 and 11 are preferably enclosed in rubber sleeves as shown so as to prevent scratching the surface of the door. Instead of the above construction, the bar 11 may be made like bar 11, that is, it may be extended entirely across the tray, if desired.

Herein, the brace attachment is shown as including a relatively short cross bar 16 preferably made of strap metal, which is adjustably mounted on the bar 11 and extends a short distance toward the transverse axis of the tray to form a support for a brace to be later described. The bar 16 is slidably secured to the bar 11 by means of a sheet metal clip 17, having flanges 18 secured by machine screws 19 to the cross bar 16. The clip is U-shaped and is conveniently the same width as the cross bar. The opposite side legs of the clip 17 are adapted to grip the side edges of the bar 11 in a manner to be later described.

A brace 20 having a rubber cushion 21 to engage the outside of a door is shown as being pivotally and frictionally secured to the extended portion of the cross bar 16 by means of a U- shaped strap metal clip 22. The clip may be spot-welded or riveted to the cross bar and a pin 23 is secured to its flanges providing a pivot or shaft for the brace 20. The pin extends transversely of the tray so that the brace swings in a perpendicular plane longitudinally of the tray.

Herein, the brace 20 is shown as being bifurcated at its pivoted ends, being conveniently made of two strap metal arms, the main arm 24 having its pivoted end adjacent to one flange of the clip 22 and projecting at right angles to the axis of the pin. The other arm 25 has its pivoted end adjacent to the other flange of the clip 22 and extends at an angle from the axis of the pin to a point near the free end of the main arm to which it is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to serve as a brace for the main arm. An expansile coiled spring 26 is arranged on the pin between the arms 24 and 25 to force them tightly against the flanges of the clip 22 to hold the brace in adjusted position. The free end of the arm 24 is bent U-shaped as indicated at 27 to space the rubber cushion from the arm, 24. Thus when the tray is in place on a door the arm 24 is spaced from the door more stably to support the tray.

In order that the arm 2 1 may be utilized to support the tray when it is placed on table or counter and to provide as long an arm as possible, the clip 22 is located adjacent to bar 11, and when in folded position and the bar 16 moved to a point r mote from the lugs 13 and 14, the arm 24 may rest on a table or counter indicated at 28, 5, while the lugs overhang the edge 29 of the table.

As will be noted in Fig. 5, the tray, when placed on a table top, is at a slight angle thereto. To prevent the extreme bent end of the arm 24 from damaging the table top, and also to space the lower edges oi said arm parallel to the bottom of the tray when the arm is folded, the endof arm 2.4 is bent toward the tray bottom, as shown in Figs 2 and 5, so that it contacts with the bottom of the tray. It will be noted that the comparatively long arm 24:, when folded, is substantially parallel to the tray bottom (see dotted position in Fig. 2) and provides a substantial support for the rear of the tray, while the bars 11 and 11 support the front of the tray at spaced points.

As it is desirable for the rubber cushion to engage the door substantially midway between the lugs 13 and 14, the pivoted ends of the arms 24 i and 25 are cut off at an angle, as shown in Fig.

3, so as to provide stop shoulders 30 adapted to abut against the bar 16 to limit the downward swinging movement of the brace when the cushion 21 is substantially midway between the lugs 13 and 14.

When the brace is swung downwardly and the cushion engaged with a door, as shown in Fig. 1, it exerts pressure on the cross bar 16, tending to slide it outwardly from the door and also to turn it into an acute angular position relative to the longitudinal axis of the tray so that the clip 17 frictionally grips the opposite edges of the bar 11 between its legs and prevents the cross bar from sliding on the bar 11.

To move the cross bar 16 on the bar 11 so that it may be adjusted to doors of various thicknesses or to move it into position to support the tray on a table, the operator grasps the clip 22 and moves it in the desired direction. If the brace is grasped near the free end or even in the middle,

I the cross bar will turn and the clip 1'7 will lock it to the bar 11.

Obviously, the present invention is not re stricted to the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a curb service tray, a bar secured to and substantially parallel with the bottom of the tray; said bar extending transversely of the tray; a door-engaging lug bent downwardly from the bar at one side of the tray; acomplementary lug secured to the tray on the same side as the first-mentioned lug; a cross bar slidably mounted on the transverse bar; a U- shaped clip rigidly secured to the cross bar near the transverse bar; a brace member pivotally mounted on the clip and adapted to be folded beneath the tray and to swing downwardly in a vertical plane longitudinally of the tray; a cushion member on the free end of the brace; and stop means on the brace to limit its downward movement when the cushion member is midway between the lugs.

2. In combination with a curb service tray; a bar secured to and substantially parallel with the bottom of the tray; said bar extending transversely of the tray near one end thereof; a doorengaging lug bent downwardly from the bar at one side of the tray; a complementary lug secured to the tray on the same side as the first-mentioned lug and near the other end of the tray; a cross bar slidably mounted on the transverse bar; a U-shaped clip rigidly secured to the cross bar near the transverse bar; a pivot pin secured to the flanges of the clip; a brace arm journaled on the pin adjacent one flange of the clip and extending at right angles from the axis of the pin; said arm having a U-shaped bent free end; a bumper member on said free end; a second arm journaled at one end on the pin adjacent to the other flange of the clip and extending at an angle from the pin axis, the other end of the second arm being secured to the first arm adjacent to the bent end thereof; and a compression spring on the pin between the arms to hold frictionally against the clip flanges.

3. In combination with a curb service tray; a flat bar secured to the bottom of the tray and extending transversely thereof; said bar being spaced from the bottom of the tray to provide v a slide; door-engaging members extending outwardly and downwardly from the tray at one side of the tray; a cross bar slidably mounted on the slide; a U-shaped clip rigidly secured to the cross bar adjacent to the slide; a brace member pivotally mounted on the clip and adapted to be folded beneath the tray, the lower edge of said brace, when folded, being parallel to the tray bottom so that the brace may support the side of the tray remote from the door-engaging members on a table top, the other side of the tray being supported by the outwardly extending portions of the door-engaging members, said door-engaging members being adapted to overhang the edge of the table top.

4. In combination with a curb service tray, a fiat bar secured to the bottom of the tray and extending transversely thereof; said bar being spaced from the bottom of the tray to provide a slide; door engaging members extending downwardly from the tray at one side of the tray; a cross bar slidably mounted on the slide; means automatically to hold the cross bar in adjusted position on the slide; a brace member pivoted at one end on the cross bar; means frictionally to hold the brace in adjusted position; cushion means on the free end of the brace adapted to engage one face of a support when the brace is swung downwardly and when the door-engaging members are engaged on top of and on the other face of the support; and stop means on the brace to limit the downward swinging movement thereof.

5. The combination with a curb service tray, of means at one side of the tray for hooking the tray over the lower edge of an automobile window, a brace shiftable on the tray in an extended position thereunder toward and from said hooking means, said brace being foldable to provide supporting surfaces longitudinally of the side of the tray remote from the hooking means, and means to hold the supporting portions of the brace substantially parallel to the tray in a position under the tray to engage a flat surface upon which the tray is rested whereby the brace may support one side of the tray solidly without rocking on said flat surface to receive refreshments thereon for service to the occupants of an automobile.

6. The combination with a curb service tray, of means at one side of the tray for hooking the tray over the lower edge of an automobile window, a brace shiftable on the tray in an extended position transversely on the under side of the tray toward and from said hooking means, said brace being foldable to a retracted position longitudinally of the tray and having means holding the brace parallel to the tray in its fully folded position, said brace when folded extending below the tray to engage a fiat surface on which the tray is rested to support one side of the tray solidly without rocking on a fiat surface to receive refreshments thereon for service to the occupants of an automobile.

'7. The combination with a curb service tray, of means at one side of the tray for hooking the tray over the lower edge of an automobile window, said hooking means extending outwardly and downwardly beyond the edge of the tray so as to be engageable in the window groove in the lower edge of said window between an edge of said groove and the window pane, a brace shiftable on the tray in an extended position thereunder toward and from said hooking means said brace being foldable when not in use to a position longitudinally under the tray, and means holding the brace parallel thereto at such a distance below the tray that the brace may support one side of the tray solidly without rocking on a flat surface upon which the tray is rested to receive refreshments thereon for service to the occupants of an automobile.

8. The combination with a curb service tray, of means at one side of the tray for hooking the tray over the lower edge of an automobile window, said hooking means extending outwardly and downwardly beyond the edge of the tray so as to be engageable in the window groove in the lower edge of said window between an edge of said groove and the window pane, a brace shiftable on the tray in an extended position transversely on the under side of the tray toward and from said hooking means, said brace being foldable to a retracted position longitudinally of the tray, means holding the brace in substantially parallel position respecting the bottom of the tray to engage a flat surface on which the tray is rested to support one side of the tray solidly and without rocking on a fiat surface to receive refreshments thereon for service to the occupants of an automobile.

9. In combination with a curb service tray having a bar presenting a straight portion extending transversely below and substantially parallel to the bottom of the tray, downwardly extending hook members at one side of the tray toward which said bar extends, a brace attachment comprising a cross bar slidably and removably mounted on said straight portion of said bar, and a foldable brace arm carried by said cross bar and movable between an extended position below the tray and a retracted position under the tray permitting the tray to be placed on a fiat surface.

10. In combination with a curb service tray having a bar presenting a straight portion extending transversely below and substantially parallel to the bottom of the tray, downwardly extending hook members at one side of the tray toward which said bar extends, a brace attachment comprising a cross bar slidably and removably mounted on said straight portion of said bar, and a foldable brace arm carried by said cross bar and movable between an extended position below the tray and a retracted position under the tray permitting the tray to be placed on a flat surface and means for frictionally holding said brace arm in said extended and retracted positions.

11. A detachable brace attachment for curb service trays of the character described comprising a cross bar having a removable clip adapted to secure the attachment for sliding movement on a parallel supporting member beneath the tray, a U-shaped clip secured to the cross bar, a pivot pin secured to the flanges of the U- shaped clip, a brace arm pivotally mounted on the pin, and a compression spring on the pin engaging the brace arm frictionally to hold it in adjusted positions.

12. In combination with a curb service tray adapted to be solidly supported on a counter or the like in substantially horizontal position and hooking means thereon extending downwardly from said tray in over-hanging relation with an edge of said counter when said tray is so supported said hooking means being engageable in the window groove at the lower edge of an automobile window to support the tray in a substantially horizontal position on said edge of said Window, a brace means movable toward and from said hooking means in an extended position below the tray, said brace means being foldable to provide a supporting portion longitudinally of the tray opposite the hooking means and sufficiently below the tray to engage the fiat surface of the counter.

FRED S. LACK.

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