1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding cup holder attached to an interior of a passenger compartment in an automobile, and more particularly to a folding cup holder having a structure which does not easily break even when accidental external force is applied, and is easy to be restored.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of equipment such as a cup holder are mounted to the interior of the passenger compartment in an automobile for the convenience of the passenger. There are cup holders which are built into the interior, however, there is proposed cup holders of an add-on type. The add-on type cup holder is proposed as a folding structure, which does not obstruct the passenger when it is not in use.
In the folding cup holder, it is necessary to make an arm for holding a cup and a structure for supporting the arm narrow and small, for the purpose of achieving both of the matters of the cup holder being compactly foldable and the cup holder being expandable largely. Accordingly, it is necessary to employ a countermeasure to prevent the cup holder from being broken in the case where accidental external force is applied. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-8687 shows an art of the folding cup holder. This cup holder is fixed to a wall surface or the like of the interior, can be folded compactly when not being used, and can be expanded forward when being used. The structure is such that a structure for supporting a bottom plate is cancelled so as to prevent the structure from being broken when accidental external force is applied.
According to the proposed folding cup holder mentioned above, when the structure for supporting the bottom plate is cancelled due to the accidental external force, the bottom plate drops down. In order to restore this, it is necessary to reassemble the bottom plate in the supporting structure again according to a troublesome operation. It is hard to smoothly execute this operation without considerable practice, and in particular, it is even harder to execute while driving the vehicle.
The present invention is made in view of the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a folding cup holder having a structure which does not easily break even when accidental external force is applied and can be easily restored.
According to the present invention, a folding cup holder is provided with a base plate including one or more through holes; a holder arm for holding a cup, the holder arm being pivotally supported to the base plate; and a tray including one or more latch arms respectively inserted to the through holes, and axially supported to the base plate. The latch arms and the through holes engage with each other to hold the tray in a position for holding a cup and an engagement thereof is easily cancelled in a case that excessive force is applied to the tray.
According to the structure mentioned above, when excessive force is applied to the base plate, the latch arms easily displace from the through holes and the base plate becomes free to swing, so that it is possible to prevent the base plate and a bearing thereof from being broken. Further, at a time of making the structure in an initial state, the latch arms easily engage with the through holes simply moving the base plate upward by hand and inserting the latch arms to the through holes. Accordingly, it is possible to easily restore to the initial state without a complex operation.
Preferably, each of the through holes is provided with a leaf spring for catching the latch arm and the leaf spring is fitted to an edge thereof. The engagement and the cancellation of the latch arms mentioned above can be more smoothly executed by engaging the latch arms with the leaf springs in place of the through holes. Accordingly, as well as a risk of breakage being reduced, the restoring operation can be more easily executed.
More preferably, a distal end of each of the latch arms is formed in a fork shape. Since the fork shape increases flexibility of the distal end of the latch arm, the risk of breakage is reduced, and the restoring operation can be more easily executed.
Further preferably, through holes and the latch arms are constituted in a pair respectively and proximal ends of the latch arms are integrally connected by a rib which has a U-shaped end portion. The latch arms are reinforced with the rib so that the latch arms are hard to be broken.