Caddy for Art Supplies

This invention relates generally to storage containers and, more particularly, to a caddy for storing and transporting art supplies.

Artists often travel with their art supplies. For example, if an artist is sketching or painting a landscape, an artist might travel to the site of their work to view the landscape in person as they create. Similarly, if an artist wishes to paint or draw a building or a person, it is sometimes advantageous for the artist to travel to the location of the building or person to view the subject as the artist creates the artwork. Unfortunately, the advantages gained by traveling to the site of the artist's subject are somewhat counterbalanced by the logistical difficulties inherent in transporting the artist's supplies. For example, in order to paint a picture, an artist would require multiple paint brushes, multiple paints and a supply of paper or the like. It can be very difficult and burdensome to store and transport an array of supplies such as this without damaging the supplies and the artwork.

Similarly, it is often desirable for children to travel with art supplies. For example, if a family is traveling for a relatively long period of time, it is often necessary to keep a child entertained. One way to accomplish this task is to provide the child with art supplies such as crayons, coloring pencils, and paper to use during the trip. However, it can be difficult to store and transport these supplies without soiling either the child, the vehicle, or the supplies. For example, it is often easy to drop or crumple drawing paper thereby leaving it in an unusable state when moving the child and the supplies from location to location. Similarly, it can be easy to inadvertently mark the surrounding environment or lose one or more writing instruments when traveling.

Also, it is desirable for the caddy and art supplies to be stored at home or at the home of a friend or relative. For example, when the child visits the friend or relative, the art supplies are stored in one location in the caddy and the child can readily access the art supplies. After the child has stopped using the art supplies, the art supplies can be stored in the caddy for the next visit by the child.

It is, therefore, a general object of the present invention to provide a caddy for storing and transporting art supplies. More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved caddy for storing both paper and other art supplies such as scissors, writing utensils and paints in a single, transportable carrying unit. It is a related object to provide a caddy for storing and transporting paper and other supplies wherein the paper is kept in a separate cavity or compartment away from the other supplies to avoid inadvertent marking of the paper.

The present invention accomplishes these objectives by providing a caddy for storing and transporting art supplies which includes at least two pivotably coupled trays disposed in substantially parallel, vertically displaced, planes. Access to the contents of the lower tray or trays is obtained by pivoting one or more of the trays.

More specifically, the caddy includes a first tray disposed in a first plane and having a bottom and a perimeter wall defining a first storage cavity for storing art supplies and a second tray which is pivotably coupled to the first tray. The second tray is disposed in a second plane substantially parallel to the first plane and includes a bottom and a perimeter wall defining a second storage cavity for storing art supplies. In one embodiment of the invention, the second tray is disposed above the first tray, and the second tray is pivotable in the second plane to provide access to the first storage cavity. In another embodiment, the second tray is disposed beneath the first tray such that pivoting the first tray with respect to the second tray (or vice versa) provides access to the second storage compartment.

In other embodiments the caddy is provided with a third tray. This third tray is disposed in the second plane adjacent the second tray and includes a bottom and a perimeter wall defining a third storage cavity for storing art supplies. The third tray, like the second tray, is pivotably coupled to the first tray for pivoting in the second plane. This third tray can be added to either of the embodiments discussed above. Thus, the third tray can be pivotable in the second plane to provide access to the first storage cavity or it can be pivotable in the second plane to provide access to the third storage cavity.

In any of these embodiments, the first tray is preferably dimensioned to store paper. Therefore, the caddy can preferably be used to transport art supplies such as drawing or painting utensils as well as paper.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent upon reading the following description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention and upon reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a left, front perspective view of a caddy constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a left side elevational view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a right side elevational view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a rear elevational view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a left, front perspective view similar to FIG. 1, but showing the caddy with the lids of the upper trays in an open position.

FIG. 9 is a left, front perspective view similar to FIG. 8, but showing the caddy with its upper trays pivoted to provide access to the lower storage cavity.

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the caddy of FIG. 1, but showing the caddy with its upper trays pivoted to provide access to the lower storage cavity and with the lids of the upper trays open to provide access to the upper storage cavities.

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of the caddy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 12--12 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 13 is a left, front perspective view of an alternative caddy constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a left, front perspective view similar to FIG. 13, but showing the caddy with the lower trays pivoted to provide access to the lower storage cavities and the lid of the upper tray opened to provide access to the upper storage cavity.

FIG. 15 is a left, front perspective view of the caddy similar to FIG. 1 but showing the caddy in its packaging.

A caddy 10 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is shown generally in FIG. 1. The caddy 10 is preferably constructed to provide a separate storage cavity for storing paper and at least one other storage cavity for storing other art supplies such as drawing or writing utensils, glue, scissors, and paints. To this end, the caddy 10 includes at least two pivotably coupled trays 20, 50 disposed in two substantially parallel planes. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the trays 20, 50 are preferably coupled such that the upper tray 20 can be positioned adjacent the lower tray 50. Thus, the upper tray 20 forms a lid covering the lower tray 50 to enclose the contents of the lower tray 50 during transportation and storage.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, although the caddy 10 can be constructed with only two trays 20, 50 without departing from the scope or spirit of the instant invention, in this embodiment the upper tray 20 actually comprises two separate trays 20a, 20b as most easily seen in FIGS. 9 and 11. Thus, although the remaining description will describe the caddy 10 as including three storage trays 20a, 20b, 50, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the caddy 10 can be constructed with two, four, or even more trays without departing from the scope or spirit of the instant invention.

Turning back to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the lower tray 50 is preferably a substantially rectangular structure whose width and length are significantly larger than its height. As most easily seen in FIG. 11, the lower tray 50 includes a bottom 52 and a perimeter wall 54. The bottom 52 and perimeter wall 54 combine to define a substantially rectangular storage cavity 56 which is preferably dimensioned to receive and store a stack of 81/2 inch.times.11 inch paper. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that both the storage cavity 56 and the lower tray 50 can have many sizes and shapes without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Nonetheless, it should be noted that, in this embodiment, the lower tray has a height of approximately 1 inch (2.54 cm), a length of about 14 and 3/4 inches (37.5 cm), and a width of about 9 and 3/8 inches (23.8 cm) and the storage cavity 56 of the lower tray 50 has a depth of approximately 3/4 inches (1.9 cm), a length of about 11 and 1/4 inches (28.6 cm) and a width of about 8 and 3/4 inches (22.2 cm).

The perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50 includes several features which should be noted. For example, in order to facilitate the withdrawal of paper stored in the storage cavity 56, the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50 is provided with finger recesses 58. These finger recesses 58 enable a user to insert their finger under one or more sheets of paper for easy removal. In order to further ease removal of paper from the storage cavity 56, the bottom 52 of the lower tray 50 includes circular bores 59 positioned adjacent the finger recesses 58 of the perimeter wall 54. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 10, these bores 59 permit a user to easily insert a finger beneath the stored paper thereby obviating the need for crumpling the paper to obtain a secure grip during removal. As also illustrated in FIG. 5, the bottom 52 of the lower tray 50 preferably includes legs 60 which support the tray 50 (and the caddy 10). These legs 60 lift the tray 50 away from the ground thereby insuring that the bores 59 provide clearance for inserting a finger beneath the stored paper.

Turning back to FIG. 11, it can be seen that the lower tray 50 is preferably provided with a cylindrical post 70 for coupling the lower tray 50 to the upper trays 20a, 20b. This post 70, which is preferably positioned at a substantially right angle to the surface of the perimeter wall 54 (i.e., substantially perpendicular to the planes of the upper and lower trays 20a, 20b, 50), preferably has a substantially circular cross-section. Although it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the post 70 could be affixed to the lower tray 50 via many mechanical or chemical means without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention, in this embodiment the post 70 is integrally formed with the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the upper trays 20a, 20b are each preferably provided with a projection 21a, 21b for coupling the upper trays 20a, 20b to the lower tray 50. More specifically, the projections 21a, 21b of the upper trays 20a, 20b each define a cylindrical bore and six fins 23a, 23b which are dimensioned to slidably receive the post 70 of the lower tray 50. When the bores and fins 23a, 23b operatively engage the post 70 of the lower tray 50, the upper trays 20a, 20b can be pivoted relative to the lower tray 50 (and vice versa) as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 to provide selective access to the storage cavity 56 of the lower tray 50. It should be noted in this regard that, for purposes of this application, the term "access" shall mean at least partial access. It should further be noted that although this description often refers to pivoting the upper trays 20a, 20b relative to the lower tray 50, the opposite action, (i.e.) pivoting the lower tray 50 relative to the upper trays 20a, 20b could also be used to the same effect.

It should also be noted that in order to prevent the upper trays 20a, 20b from separating from the lower trays 50, the caddy 10 is further provided with a cap 72. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the cap 72 includes a circular lid 74 of substantially the same diameter as the projections 21a, 21b of the upper trays 20a, 20b and openings 75. The cap 72 also includes a series of downwardly directed tabs 76 positioned in a circular configuration for engaging a rim disposed within the cylindrical post 70 to prevent the cap 72 from being removed. Thus, the post 70, the projections 21a, 21b, and the cap 72 all combine to hold the lower and upper trays 50, 20a, 20b in operative engagement.

Turning to the upper trays 20a, 20b themselves, it can be seen that the two upper trays 20a, 20b are preferably substantially symmetrical structures. However, as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 11, the projection 21a of the left upper tray 20a is positioned above the projection 21b of the right upper tray 20b to enable both projections 21a, 21b to engage the post 70 simultaneously. In all other respects, the upper trays 20a, 20b are preferably symmetrical. Consequently, in the remaining description the upper trays 20a, 20b will not be treated separately and the individual components of the trays 20a, 20b will be similarly numbered and will include the letter "a" or "b" to signify its correspondence with either upper tray 20a or upper tray 20b, respectively.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the upper trays 20a, 20b are preferably substantially rectangular structures whose lengths are significantly longer than their widths and heights. As most easily seen in FIG. 10, the upper trays 20a, 20b each include a bottom 22a, 22b and a perimeter wall 24a, 24b which combine to define a substantially rectangular storage cavity 26a, 26b that is preferably dimensioned to receive and store art supplies such as crayons, coloring pencils, paint brushes, glue, and scissors. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the storage cavities 26a, 26b and the upper trays 20a, 20b can be constructed to have many sizes and shapes without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Nonetheless, it should be noted that, in this embodiment, the upper trays 20a, 20b have a height of approximately 3 and 5/8 inches (9.2 cm), a length of about 14 and 3/4 inches (37.5 cm), and a width of approximately 4 and 5/8 inches (11.7 cm) and the storage cavities 26a, 26b have a depth of approximately 3 and 1/2 inches (8.9 cm), a length of approximately 14 and 1/4 inches (36.2 cm) and a width of about 3 and 3/4 inches (9.5 cm).

It should further be noted that, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the upper trays 20a, 20b are preferably provided with movable dividers 67 and mating receiving slots 69 which enable a user to divide the trays 20a, 20b into multiple compartments for storing art supplies. It will, of course, be appreciated by those skilled in the art that although only one divider is illustrated in the figures, in this embodiment multiple dividers are provided in order to enable the user to divide the upper trays 20a, 20b in many ways.

In order to prevent the contents of their storage cavities 26a, 26b from spilling during transportation and the like, the upper trays 20a, 20b are preferably provided with lids 28a, 28b as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. These lids 28a, 28b, which are preferably dimensioned to operatively engage the outer edges of the perimeter walls 24a, 24b thereby covering the storage cavities 26a, 26b, are preferably connected to the perimeter walls 24a, 24b via hinges 29 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Thus, in order to gain access to the contents of the storage cavities 24a, 24b of the upper trays 20a, 20b, a user must pivot the lids 28a, 28b open as illustrated in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

In order to insure that the lids 28a, 28b do not inadvertently open when the caddy 10 is transported, the lids 28a, 28b are provided with tabs 32 which operatively engage recesses 30 disposed in the perimeter walls 24a, 24b of the upper trays 20a, 20b as shown in FIG. 8. As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the lids 28a, 28b are closed, their tabs 32 are received by the recesses 30 such that the tabs 32 engage the undersurface of the perimeter walls 24a, 24b and thereby prevent the lids 28a, 28b from opening. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the user can then open the lids 28a, 28b by pushing the tabs 32 to the side and lifting such that the tabs 32 move free of the undersurface of the perimeter walls 24a, 24b and pass through the recesses 30. In order to facilitate this opening process, the lids 28a, 28b are dimensioned with finger recesses 34a, 34b as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Transportation of the caddy 10 is facilitated by the inclusion of hand wells 36a, 36b in the lids 28a, 28b as shown in FIG. 2. As best seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, the perimeter walls 24a, 24b are contoured to define a central pocket 40 between the two upper trays 20a, 20b when the trays 20a, 20b are positioned as shown in FIG. 8. The hand wells 36a, 36b of the lids 28a, 28b and the central pocket 40, thus combine to form a handle for transporting the caddy 10. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the tabs 32 and recesses 30 described above serve to keep the lids 28a, 28b closed when carrying the caddy 10 in this manner.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 6, 8 and 9, the upper trays 20a, 20b are further provided with tabs 44a, 44b which combine with a platform 55 disposed on the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50 to prevent the upper and lower trays 20a, 20b, 50 from inadvertently pivoting relative to one another during transportation. As best seen in FIG. 9, the tabs 44a, 44b of the upper trays 20a, 20b each include a protrusion 45a, 45b which engages a mating protrusion on the underside of platform 55 to lock the upper trays 20a, 20b in the position illustrated in FIG. 1 for transportation. This engagement can be released by providing a sidewise, pivoting force to the trays 20a, 20b when the user wants access to the lower tray 50.

It should be noted that, although in this embodiment the platform 55 is provided with protrusions for engaging the protrusions 45a, 45b, indents on the undersurface of platform 55 for mating with the protrusions 45a, 45b could likewise be employed without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Similarly, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that although the platform 55 is preferably integrally formed with the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50, the platform 55 could be affixed to the lower tray 50 by many mechanical or chemical means without departing from the invention. In addition, it should be noted that, although the upper trays 20a, 20b have been illustrated as pivoting with their lids 28a, 28b in the open position, in this embodiment the upper trays 20a, 20b can pivot whether their lids 28a, 28b are open or closed.

As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50 is provided with a recess 63 on each of the two long sides of the storage cavity 52. These recesses 63 are positioned to selectively mate with tabs 66 on the bottom of the upper trays 20a, 20b when the upper trays 20a, 20b are pivoted as illustrated in FIG. 9. These recesses 63 and tabs 66, therefore, combine to limit the pivoting motion of the upper trays 20a, 20b. In this embodiment, however, a user can overcome this feature by applying an upwardly directed force to the upper trays 20a, 20b as they pivot so that the tabs 66 pass above the perimeter wall 54 of the lower tray 50 instead of engaging the recesses 66. This ability to bypass the pivot limiting feature of the caddy 10 enables a user to selectively gain access to a larger area of the storage cavity 56 of the lower tray 50. It will, of course, be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the tabs 66 and recesses 63 can be omitted from the caddy 10.

It should be noted that the caddy 10 and all of its components are preferably constructed from molded plastic. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the caddy 10 could be constructed from other materials such as wood without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

It should further be noted that the caddy 10 can be packaged in a cardboard enclosure 91 to insure the caddy remains closed during shipping and handling as illustrated in FIG. 15. If desired, either the caddy 10 or the caddy and the enclosure 91 can be wrapped in cellophane or the like to protect the caddy from becoming soiled during shipment and handling. Although in this embodiment, the cardboard enclosure 91 is a sleeve or a wrap, it will be appreciated that other enclosures such as a box might also be appropriate.

It should also be noted that, although other art supplies and paper types could be included in the caddy, in this embodiment the caddy 10 includes construction paper 93 in its lower tray 50 and a box of colored pencils 94, scissors 95, two markers 96, and a box of crayons 97 as shown in FIG. 9.

An alternative caddy 110 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the instant invention is illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the alternative caddy 110 is substantially similar to the caddy 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1-12. However, in the alternative caddy 110 the relative positions of the pivotable trays have been reversed. Specifically, the alternative caddy 110 includes a single upper tray 150 having a bottom 152 and a perimeter wall 154 which combine to define a storage cavity 156 that is preferably dimensioned to store 8-1/2 inch by 11 inch paper. The caddy 110 also includes two lower trays 120a, 120b each of which includes a bottom 122a, 122b and a perimeter wall 124a, 124b which combine to define a storage cavity 126a, 126b that is preferably dimensioned to store art supplies such as crayons, pencils, scissors, paints and glue. Because of the reversal in the relative positions of the trays, the upper paper tray 150 now includes a lid 128 which is hinged to the perimeter wall 154 of the upper tray 150 to provide selective access to storage cavity 156. In the alternative, the lid 128 could be pivotally attached to cap 172 so that the lid 128 could be pivoted with respect to the upper tray 150. Similarly, since the upper tray 150, now, in effect, provides a lid for the storage cavities 126a, 126b of the lower trays 120a, 120b, the lower trays 120a, 120b do not include separate lids. The storage cavities 126a, 126b can be accessed by pivoting the lower trays 120a, 120b as illustrated in FIG. 14 (or by pivoting the upper tray 150 with respect to the lower trays 120a, 120b).

It will readily be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the alternative caddy 110 can be provided with various handles for transporting the caddy 110 and various latches for preventing inadvertent pivoting of the trays 120a, 120b, 150 during transportation. A representative handle 190 and representative latches 192 are shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 for illustrative purposes. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other handles and latches might likewise be employed without departing from the invention.

In summary, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a unique caddy for storing and transporting art supplies has been shown and described in this application. The caddy offers users the ability to store paper and other art supplies in separate storage cavities of a single unit in order to avoid soiling during transportation.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto. Since modifications may be made to the disclosed structures by these skilled in the art particularly in light of the foregoing teachings without departing from the invention, the appended claims are intended to cover all structures, regardless of modifications, that fall within the scope and spirit of the instant invention whether or not such structures are specifically described herein.