The present invention relates generally to cup holding devices and more specifically to such devices which are adapted to be removably secured to a variety of supporting surfaces without requiring separate fasteners or the like.
In many situations it is desirable to provide apparatus for holding a drinking cup which can be attached to an adjacent structure such as for example an arm of a chair, a bicycle or motorcycle or even a portion of a motor vehicle. Generally, such devices must provide both horizontal support to the drinking cup or container as well as lateral support so as to inhibit accidental tipping of the cup and/or spilling of the contents. Accordingly, various types of devices have been developed to answer these needs. However, most of the cup holders, as are presently available, require mounting devices be secured permanently to the supporting surface. In many applications this may be undesirable or even impossible to accomplish. Further, these cup holders may be relatively expensive to manufacture in that their designs provide intricate basket portions for supporting the container. Also, these basket arrangements can make removal of the cup from the holder a difficult task particularly when the cup being used is relatively short so as to have the top thereof rest below the top surface of the basket.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a cup holder having an extremely simple design which is suitable for supporting a variety of different sized containers and which may be easily fabricated at very low cost. Further, the present invention is uniquely adapted to be secured to various supporting surfaces having a wide variety of cross-sectional contours without requiring the use of any adhesives or fasteners which may mar or otherwise require defacing of the desired supporting surface. For example, in one form the present invention is uniquely adapted for mounting on the handle bars of a bicycle or any other generally cylindrically shaped member. In another embodiment a flexible strap may be employed to enable the device to be secured to supporting means having larger cross-sectional surfaces such as the arm of a lawn chair or the like. Also, in yet another form, an L-shaped bracket may be provided which enables the holder to be cantilevered from the window slot of an automobile or the like. Additionally, in several of the embodiments the cup holding member may be easily removed from the support member when not in use so as to prevent it from interfering with other activities.
Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the claims appended hereto.