Chairs and seats – With holder or receptacle for disparate article – On or integral with armrest
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-16
2002-10-01
White, Rodney B. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
With holder or receptacle for disparate article
On or integral with armrest
C297S188060, C297S188040, C297S188180, C297S188200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06457772
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to holders used to store food and beverage materials while a person is engaged in another activity, such as watching a sporting event or other stadium activity. In particular, this invention relates to holders used to store food and beverages that are suitable for use in places where there is not much room for such holders. Even more particularity, the present invention relates to such holders that are useful for mounting on the standard of a seat without protruding into the walkway aisle between rows of seats.
B. Background
Many people attend events, such as sporting games, concerts, automobile races and the like, that are held in stadiums, arenas and theaters and other performance facilities having multiple rows of seats. Although in the past the seating arrangements in these facilities often consisted of benches or open seating, the increased popularity in use of these facilities, particularly for professional sporting events, has led to significant improvements in seating arrangements. For instance, most of these performance facilities now utilize chair seats that are mounted on a seat standard for increased comfort and enjoyment of the activity taking place. These seats are typically formed in a plurality of rows emanating from the playing or performing surface upward on an inclined or stepped-up portion of the facility such that each row of seats further away from the field or performing surface is higher than the row in front of it in order to improve the viewing of those persons in the seats behind other rows. In between the rows are aisles for walking and placing one's feet. Generally, the seats used for these facilities are capable of having the bottom or seating portion folded up against the upright or back portion in order to permit safe ingress and egress through the aisles.
It is well known that persons attending sporting or other events at performance facilities such as stadiums and the like often desire to purchase food and beverages from the vendors at such facilities for consumption during the sporting or other event. A common problem arising from the purchase and subsequent consumption of food and beverages is where to place the food and drink while the person is watching the game or performance. People generally do not desire to constantly hold the food or beverage products in their hands, even if they are capable of holding such products, while the game or performance is taking place. Many persons enjoy showing emotion or enjoyment of the event taking place by utilizing their hands for clapping, waving or other activity. For younger persons, holding on to the drink or food product can be particularly difficult. Even if a person is capable of holding on to these products, the hot or cold nature of the food or beverage generally discourages the constant holding of the product.
As a result of the problems associated with holding on to the food and beverage products, they are typically placed on the floor below the seat, between the seats or in the aisle. An obvious problem with such placement of food and beverages is that persons moving in the aisle or even those sitting in their seats can and do tend to knock over these products. Besides wasting the money spent on the food or drink and causing frustration with having to either do without or go get new products, the spillage of the food or beverage creates a mess that is generally lived with for the duration of the sporting event or performance and which must be cleaned up by the facility cleaning crews after the sporting event or performance is over. Often the mess migrates from the person whose food or beverage product was spilled to the seating area of persons located nearby, including those in rows in front of where the product spilled. Naturally, this reduces the enjoyment of the activity for the person who loses their food or beverage product and those located nearby where the mess migrates and creates additional expense, in the form of clean-up costs, for the facility managers or owners.
Various food and beverage holders have been developed to provide a location for persons to place their food and drink products to eliminate the problems described above. Providing a food and beverage holder for use in stadiums, arenas, theaters and other such performance facilities requires a solution to the problem of holder placement without interfering with the spectators moving in and out of the rows of seats along the aisle. Any such holder must balance the convenience for the holder for the person using the holder with the need to avoid taking up space in the aisle. The preferred way of accomplishing this objective is to take advantage of the inclined nature of the seat backs in front of the aisle and the space created below the top of the seat and above the aisle floor. For safety and functional purposes, the horizontally projecting portion of the holder should not extend past the invisible vertical plane where the top edge of the seat leans backward so as to not project into the aisle behind the seat any further than the back of the seat. Many state, county or local ordinances require that there be a minimum distance between the lowered seat bottom of seats in the rearward aisle and the upright seat back of the seats in the forward aisle and that any projection on the seats in front not protrude into this minimum space. For instance, some ordinances (i.e., fire codes) require a minimum of twelve (12) inches for this clear space.
A number of patents have issued for food and beverage holders for use in performance facilities described above. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,638 to Ayotte, et al. discloses a seat attachment for mounting to the seat brackets, used to support the seat backs, which extend from the standard of a stadium seat. The device has a cup holder and a pair of arms extending from the cup holder that attach to the standard utilizing the bolts used to mount the seat backs to the brackets. The device is installed by removing the seat back bolts, placing the attachment against the standard and then re-inserting the bolts back into the seat backs through the brackets. While this patent does provide a cup holder useful for stadium seats, the installation of the attachment appears to be difficult due to the number and location of bolts to be removed and then reinstalled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,659 to Carpentier, et al. discloses a tray holder for holding food and beverages which attaches to the back of stadium seats using a belt and clamps. This device folds up to permit access through the aisle when not in use. Both the attachment mechanism and the structural configuration of this patent are considerably different than the present invention.
Other patents also show that it is known to connect a food and/or beverage holder to a stadium-type of seat. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,544 to Lambert, U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,467 to Germick and U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,566 to Herman disclose other type of fold-up trays which attach to the backs or arms of seats. The attachment mechanism disclosed in these patents and the manner of folding and supporting the projecting tray are considerably different than the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 1,893,458 to Tatum, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,010 to Fujiwara, U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,014 to Olivant and U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,381 to Brenna disclose food and/or beverage holders that attach to the back of a seat. The structure of these patents are considerably different than the present invention. A related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,315 to Manne, discloses that it is known to mount a holder (in this instance a book holder) to the standard between the seats using a pair of “clips” bolted onto the standard. This invention requires a hole to be drilled through the standard for insertion of the bolt for the clips. As such, it differs from the present invention.
The existing art, both individually and in all appropriate combinations, show that the broad concept of providing a food and beverage
Ryan Richard A.
White Rodney B.
LandOfFree
Food and beverage holder does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Food and beverage holder, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Food and beverage holder will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2994854