Tray attachable to a steering wheel
A steering wheel tray is used on a steering wheel to support a horizontal tray that can be used to take notes coming over the cell phone. Of course, the driver could not be driving at this time. The tray consists of a plate that is attached to the surface of the steering wheel by upper spring loaded hooks that engage the rim of the steering wheel. At the bottom of the plate there is attached a tray that can be moved into a forward position toward the driver by way of a ratchet hinge.
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STATEMENT REGARDING FED SPONSORED R & D(none)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe invention is directed to a useful device in a vehicle. In a vehicle, when parked, there is normally no provision made to perform certain tasks when sitting in a driver's seat, such as, taking notes while talking on a cell phone, operating a flat top computer or even while eating. Any of these tasks are extremely cumbersome or impossible to perform because of a lack of support.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTo alleviate the above noted problems, the inventive concept involves a tray that may be attached to the steering wheel of a vehicle. The tray has a background plate which will be located flat against the steering wheel, it has hooks that hook over the circle of the steering wheel and at the bottom the plate will have a hinge to which is attached a platform tray which then is useful for performing certain tasks on the tray similar to a surface of a table only somewhat smaller.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In view of all of the above it can now be seen that a convenient tray system has been developed that can be used on a steering wheel of a vehicle to accommodate various activities when not in the process of driving.
Claims
1. A tray to be attached to a steering wheel of a vehicle including a plate attached to a surface of said steering wheel, a tray is attached to a lower margin of said plate, said tray is situated in a substantial horizontal plane by way of a hinge at said lower margin, said hinge having ratchets therein to allow said tray to be adjustable in different positions.
2. The tray of claim 1 including means for adjusting said plate to different positions on said steering wheels.
3. The tray of claim 2, wherein said means for adjusting said plate includes means for adjusting said plate to different heights relative to said steering wheel.
4. The tray of claim 1, wherein said ratchets consist of male ratchet elements and female ratchet elements that interengage with each other to lock said tray in predetermined positions.
5. The tray of claim 4 wherein said male and female ratchet elements are under a spring bias to stay engaged with each other.
6. The tray of claim 5 including a push button on one side of said hinge to release said spring bias to enable said hinge to move said tray to different horizontal positions.
7. The tray of claim 1, wherein said ratchets consist of opposing teeth located on opposing plates.
8. The tray of claim 7, wherein some of said opposing plates are located in a stationary manner in said hinge and others are located in a movable manner on a rod extending through said hinge.
9. The tray of claim 7, wherein said rod is spring biased to engage said opposing teeth.
10. A steering wheel tray including a substantially horizontal tray extending toward a driver in a vehicle, said tray being supported by a plate being attached to a surface of a steering wheel, means for attaching said plate to a rim of said steering wheel, said means for attaching comprises at least two spring loaded hook elements being hooked over said rim of said steering wheel.
11. The steering wheel tray of claim 10 including means for adjusting the height of said tray relative to said steering wheel.
12. The steering wheel tray of claim 11, wherein said means for adjusting said height is a ratchet mechanism.
13. The steering wheel tray of claim 12, wherein said ratchet mechanism is adjustable to different heights.
14. The steering wheel tray of claim 10 including means for adjusting the relative position of said plate relative to said tray.
15. The steering wheel tray of claim 14, wherein said means for a relative adjustment includes a ratchet mechanism.
16. The steering wheel tray of claim 15 including means for releasing said ratchet mechanism.
17. The steering wheel tray of claim 10 including an upstanding edge at a bottom of said tray.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 10, 2004
Publication Date: Feb 16, 2006
Inventor: Alan Miller (Lutz, FL)
Application Number: 10/914,674
International Classification: A47B 37/00 (20060101); A47B 23/00 (20060101);