Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02314765 2000-06-28
Titles "Support for holdiag an article or articles oa top of a
television receiver".
Backcrouad of the Invention.
l.Field off, the Iavsation
5_ The present invention relates to a support for holding an
article or articles, and especially a piece or pieces of
electronic equipment, on top of a television receiver cabinet
or the like, where the cabinet is of the type having a
generally flat front cabinet portion and a downwardly sloping
rear portion. The term "television cabinet or the like" is
intended to include video displays having this feature. The
support is especially designed for holding a video cassette
recorder (VCR) above a television receiver cabinet, but may be
used for other electronic equipment such as digital video disc
~5 (DVD) players or audio remotes.
2.Prior Art
Nowadays, many owners of a television receiver
(hereinafter "TV") also have a VCR, and the VCR is often
mounted in a stand along with the TV cabinet. Commonly such
stands can only support the VCR below the TV cabinet, which
puts it close to the floor, and this is particularly
inconvenient for older persona who cannot easily crouch down to
operate the VCR. Moat persons would probably prefer that the
VCR be above the TV cabinet, where it would be at a more
comfortable level for operation. However, the standard TV has
a flat front cabinet portion, which is generally horizontal,
and a downwardly sloping rear cabinet portion, and the flat
front portion is too small safely to support a VCR.
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The prior art includes two patents which seek to meet the
need of a support to hold a VCR above a TV set, namely:
U.S.Pat.No.4,966,342, issued Oct.30, 1990 to Noguera; and
U.S.Pat.No.5,988,571, issued Nov.23, 1999 to Ward et al.
Noguera shows a tray type device having a flat, level
support surface for the VCR, and having a rear substructure
including adjustable legs which can extend down to rest on the
sloping rear cabinet portion of the TV. The legs are attached
by brackets to the rear of the tray, and screws are provided
which allow adjustment of the legs both in the fore and aft
direction, along slots provided in the tray, and in angular
orientation. Adjustment for the position and height of the rear
legs thus requires use of a screw driver, and the screws would
need to be well tightened in order to hold the rear legs
1,~ properly in position.
Ward et al. shows a tray which has side members provided
with clamps for holding the VCR, and clamps for engaging the
sides of the TV cabinet. The positions of the clamps can be
adjusted by screws which attach the side members to the tray,
20 so that again screw drivers are needed for adjustment. Also,
the presence of clamps at the sides of the TV cabinet would be
likely regarded as giving the arrangement an unaesthetic
appearance, and the clamps could catch on other objects.
Sumeiarv of the Invention
25 The present invention provides a device which is similar
to that of Noguera in giving a support suitable for holding a
VCR and/or another article above a TV or similar video display
cabinet, but which is easily adjusted without the need for a
screw driver. The support is also neat in appearance,
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especially as compared to that of Ward et al.
In accordance with the present invention, there is
provided a support for holding an article or articles on top of
a television receiver cabinet or the like, of the type
described above, comprising:
a tray providing a generally flat support surface for an
article and including means for locating the article on the
support surface, the tray having a front part suitable for
resting on top of the front cabinet portion, and having a
.~0 substructure under a rear part of the tray, the substructure
having extendible leg means suitable for resting on the rear
cabinet portion. The extendible leg means include, at each side
of the tray, a leg having a threaded shaft capable of being
received in one of a aeries of generally vertical bores in the
,1~, substructure, the substructure being formed so that the lower
ends of the bores increase in depth towards the rear of the
support, each leg being capable of being adjustably positioned
in a selected one of said bores.
The substructure may include two ribs depending from the
tray part and each accommodating a series of the vertical
bores, the ribs increasing in depth towards the rear of the
support. The ribs may also diverge from a central region the
support to rear corner regions of the support.
Brief Desarirtioa of the dr:wiace.
25 A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be
described by way of example with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which;
Fig.l shows a perspective view of the support, mounted on
a TV cabinet which is shown in broken lines;
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L: ..6:. -OT-18
Fig.2 shows an underside view of the support;
Fig.3 ehow$ a front view of the support;
Fig.4 shows a side view of the support mounted on the top
of a TV cabinet which is indicated in broken lines;
Fig.S shows a sectional view on lines 5-5 of Fig.2, with
some additional sectioning of the rib portion of the
substructure;
Fig.6 shows two views of a foot part for use at the front
of the support;
Fig.7 shows two views of an extendible leg used at the
rear of the support.
Fig.B shows a view of a portion of the extendible leg on
lines 8-8 of Fig.7; and
Fig.9 shows a view similar to Fig.4 of a modified
~S construction.
Detailed Dwscription.
As shown in Fig. l, the support has a flat, apertured tray
part 10 having a raised flange il along the two sides and rear
of the tray, the flanges providing means for locating a VCR or
similar equipment on the tray. The tray is of suitable size for
receiving a VCR or DvD player, and is preferably about 17
inches wide by 12 inches deep. The tray has a flat central
cross-member or strut 12 extending from side-to-side, the
center of this strut 12 being connected by a smaller strut 13
2~ to the front part of the tray.
The underside of the front portion of the tray 10 has four
small projections 14, including an outer pair each situated
near a front corner of the tray, an inner pair spaced within
this outer pair. Each of these projections 14 has a vertical
3~ threaded bore capable of receiving the threaded shank 16 of a
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foot 17 shown separately in Fig.6, the foot including a convex
rubber pad 18 bonded to the plastic foot part and suitable for
frictionally engaging the top of the TV cabinet C. The feet 17
can be engaged in either the outer or the inner pair of
projections 14, depending on the width of the TV cabinet.
As seen in Figs.2 to 5, a rear part of the tray has two
downwardly projecting, wide ribs 20, each extending from near
the center of the strut 12, i.e. at a central region of the
tray, to outer rear corners of the tray. As seen in side view
in Fig.4, each rib slopes downwardly from its front end to the
rear corner end at an angle of about 25 or 30~ which is
comparable to or slightly less than the slope of the rear
cabinet portion CR of the TV set. As indicated in Fig.5, each
rib 20 has a series of seven vertical screw threaded bores 22,
spaced along the rib, these bores having their lower ends
increasing in depth, as measured from the tray, towards the
rear of the support. Each of these bores can accommodate a
threaded shaft 24 of an extendible leg 25, shown separately in
Fig.7, and which, like foot 17, has a foot 26 and a convex
~Q rubber pad 27 bonded to its lower end suitable for frictionally
engaging the top of the rear cabinet portion. This pad 27 is
similar to pad 18 and is shown in section in Fig. B.
Adjustment of the support to suit a particular TV cabinet
is simple and does not require any tool. Firstly, the front
_25 feet 17 are inserted either in the inner or the outer pair of
proj ections 14 , depending on the width of the TV cabinet . Then,
the two rear extendible legs 25 are inserted in a selected
corresponding pair of the bores 22, depending on the fore-and
aft dimension of the cabinet, and are threaded in until the
30 pads 26 can rest on a suitable part of the cabinet while
holding the tray generally horizontal. The friction of the pads
CA 02314765 2000-06-28
18 and 27 is sufficient to hold the support in place. The whole
arrangement is neat in appearance, as compared to prior art
arrangements discussed above.
Since the long extendible legs 25, as shown, may be too
,;Z long to be adequately held in the shorter bores 22, the support
will preferably be supplied with both a long pair of extendible
legs, as shown, and a short pair suitable for fitting into the
shorter bores.
Fig.9 shows a view similar to Fig.4 of a variation, in
which the ribs 20', which are otherwise similar to ribs 20,
have bores 22' which are sloped from the vertical when the tray
is horizontal, so that the axes of the bores are off-set about
5° from the vertical, as indicated in Fig.9. Also, as indicated
in Fig.9, the foot portions 26 may be slanted relative to the
1~ perpendicular to the leg axis to align each foot portion better
with the rear portion CR of the TV cabinet.
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