Horizontally supported planar surfaces – With structural installation – Vehicle supported
Patent
1997-08-25
2000-03-21
Wilkens, Janet M.
Horizontally supported planar surfaces
With structural installation
Vehicle supported
224276, 248454, A47B 2300
Patent
active
060389834
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
PRIOR ART
The invention is related to a table arrangement as for motor vehicles. Such table arrangements are put into operation particularly while a vehicle is stopped. Such table arrangements are used both as a tray for a meal, to hold plates, silverware and the like, or as a desktop on which one can write.
In a known table arrangement of this generic type (British Patent Application GB 2218 624), the lower part of the table is placed on the steering wheel of the motor vehicle, and protrusions are provided on the side toward the steering wheel of the lower part, which prevent the table arrangement from slipping toward the driver, given the oblique position of the steering wheel. The pivoted position of the table top is determined by oblong-slotted tabs, which are disposed laterally on the table top, and can be tightened via tightening screws, on which the tabs are guided by their oblong slot, in order to determine the angular position. On the side toward the driver, a strip is provided on the table top, by which the literature that can be placed on the table top is prevented from slipping away. It is not possible to position this table top horizontally. This greatly restricts the range of application, and in particular it is impossible to use as a table to eat on. Moreover, the adjusting device for determining the angular position does not withstand major loads, unless the tightening screw is tightened extraordinarily firmly, which not every driver is capable of without additional tools.
In another known table arrangement of this generic type (U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,559), the lower part comprises a shallow box open at the bottom, which is fitted over the steering wheel. This makes torsionally secured anchoring to the steering wheel almost impossible. However, the table top can be pivoted into a horizontal position. As an adjusting arrangement to determine the angular position, support rods are provided that have rows of holes through which a bar that engages both support rods can be inserted, which to that end can also be inserted through the frame of the lower part. The bar itself is stored on the underside of the table top. Aside from the fact that this is an inconvenient type of adjusting arrangement, as in the other known table arrangement the support is disposed outside the lower part and thus extends into the area of the legs of the driver below the steering wheel. Hence the driver cannot leave the vehicle and enter it without hindrance. Last but not least, it is true of both these known table arrangements that their utility is greatly restricted and they are inconvenient to manipulate.
THE INVENTION AND ITS ADVANTAGES
The table arrangement according to the invention has the advantage over the prior art that such a container can be used in manifold ways. The container can be used to hold both foods and beverages and reading material, so that the driver on leaving the vehicle can carrier the container along with him and fill it and empty it as desired at any other point. The table arrangement thus has an additional purpose, which is of extraordinary significance. The container can be embodied variously, as needed and in accordance with its use. For instance, it can have the form of a suitcase, in which the lid of the suitcase acts as the table top. The container may comprise plastic, wood or metal, or also other materials, such as processed natural substances. Because of the presence of such a container, unwanted persons are prevented from taking notice of things the driver carries with him, whether they are foods and beverages or the like, or important papers, or newspapers or other reading material.
In an advantageous feature of the invention, the anchoring device has hooks or the like, which reach around the steering wheel to engage it on the side remote from the driver. It is known in principle to use hooks (German Utility Model DE-GM 1 867 782). The advantage of such hooks is that because of the wedging action, the table arrangement can clamp firmly to the steering wheel, and thus cannot be rot
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Greigg Edwin E.
Greigg Ronald E.
Wilkens Janet M.
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