Fence-mounted portable rack for refreshments, equipment, or accessories

Abstract

Athletic fields, fairgrounds, parks, construction sites, and other informal outdoor venues often lack ample sheltered, level horizontal surfaces where patrons or workers may securely rest drinking vessels while they eat, exercise, shop, or work. However, vertical barriers such as fences, rails and boundary walls are often present. Variations on a durable, lightweight, versatile, portable open-work rack can be temporarily hung on such vertical barriers, used to hold any of a diverse range of drinking vessels, and removed without leaving a mark on the barrier. Both single- and multiple-vessel racks are stackable for compact storage. Besides drinking vessels, the racks can also support food containers such as fruit or yogurt cups, and other outdoor items such as small potted plants.

1 . A rack, comprising:
 a hook,   a back column connected to the hook,   a bottom rail connected to the back column,   a front column connected to the bottom rail, and   a front bow connected to the front column, where   the hook is configured to secure the rack to a rim or opening of a vertical structure, and   the back column, bottom rail, front column, and front bow are configured to temporarily hold an object.   
     
     
         2 . The rack of  claim 1 , further comprising empty spaces, large enough to admit multiple fingers of a hand, between the back column and the front column and between the back column and the front bow. 
     
     
         3 . The rack of  claim 1 , further comprising an empty space, open at the top, between the front column and the back column, wide enough to admit the handle of a cup or mug. 
     
     
         4 . The rack of  claim 1 , where the bottom rail is convex and sufficiently slender to discourage water and liquids of similar viscosity from pooling thereon. 
     
     
         5 . The rack of  claim 1 , where outer surfaces of the back column, bottom rail, front column, and front bow are nonporous and nonreactive to common cleaning solutions. 
     
     
         6 . The rack of  claim 1 , further comprising a second hook. 
     
     
         7 . The rack of  claim 6 , where the hook and the second hook may be pulled away from each other to provide a temporarily wider spacing, and will return to their original positions when tension is released. 
     
     
         8 . The rack of  claim 1 , where the front and back columns are parallel. 
     
     
         9 . The rack of  claim 1 , where the front and back columns diverge at a taper angle from bottom to top. 
     
     
         10 . The rack of  claim 9 , where the taper angle is configured to enable nested stacking of an identical rack. 
     
     
         11 . The rack of  claim 10 , where the hook is formed with a taper to further facilitate the nested stacking. 
     
     
         12 . The rack of  claim 1 , where the bottom rail is multiply bent to stabilize objects of multiple sizes and shapes. 
     
     
         13 . The rack of  claim 1 , where the hook is configured to let the object swing free under gravity if the vertical structure changes its angle relative to the ground. 
     
     
         14 . A method of making a rack, comprising:
 enabling a length of linear stock to bend,   bending a front bow,   forming a pair of bottom rails,   bending a pair of front-corner columns between the bottom rails and the front bow,   bending the front bow out of a plane of the front-corner columns,   bending a pair of hooks away from the bottom rails, and   bending a pair of back-corner columns between the bottom rails and the hooks.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising hardening the linear stock after bending. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , where the linear stock comprises at least one of rod stock, tube stock, or helical stock. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising treating a surface of the linear stock to make the surface at least one of:
 non-porous,   chemically inert,   cushioned,   dent-resistant,   abrasion-resistant,   weather-resistant, and   decoratively colored or patterned.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising repeating the bending steps to form multiple sets of front bows, bottom rails, front-corner columns, back-corner columns, and hooks from a continuous length of the linear stock. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , where the multiple sets are left attached to each other to form a multiple-object rack. 
     
     
         20 . A means for suspending an object, comprising:
 means for coupling the suspending means to a rim of, or an opening in, a vertical face or a structure,   means for supporting the object from below, and   means for stabilizing the object on three sides, where   the coupling means is flexible in at least one direction to accommodate variations in thickness and form-factor of the structure, and   the stabilizing means is flexible in at least one direction to accommodate variations in shape and size of the object.