Silverwear Protective Supports

Abstract

A protective support for an article of silverwear has a body with a lowermost interface to a tabletop and an uppermost region presenting a cradle opening vertically upward for restraining a silverwear utensil, the cradle having a bottom restraint supporting the silverwear utensil, and side restraints constraining the supported silverwear utensil from moving off the support on either side.

1 . A protective support for an article of silverwear, comprising:
 a body having a lowermost interface to a tabletop and an uppermost region presenting a cradle opening vertically upward for restraining a silverwear utensil, the cradle having side restraints constraining the supported silverwear utensil from moving horizontally off the support on either side.   
     
     
         2 . The protective support of  claim 1  having a plurality of cradles implemented side to side for a plurality of silverwear utensils. 
     
     
         3 . The protective support of  claim 2  wherein the body is molded from a polymer material, the cradles are v-shaped with a flat bottom and angled sidewalls providing a wider entrance than a width of the bottom of the cradle, and wherein the lowermost interface to the tabletop is a flat, planar surface. 
     
     
         4 . The protective support of  claim 3  wherein the body comprises a rearward portion with the cradles implemented therein, and a forward portion comprising a forward support surface at a height less than a height of the flat bottom of the cradles. 
     
     
         5 . The protective support of  claim 4  comprising indicia on the forward support surface in front of each cradle, the indicia indicating a specific silverwear utensil to be supported in the specific cradle associated with the indicia. 
     
     
         6 . The protective support of  claim 1  wherein the body is formed of a plurality of rectangular flat sheets joined along edges at angles such that lowermost joined edges provide the interface to the table top, and uppermost joined edges provide v-shaped cradles opening upward for restraining silverwear utensils. 
     
     
         7 . The protective support of  claim 1  wherein the body is formed from a single flat sheet of metal or polymer to have a forward portion arcing to an uppermost height having an apex, and wherein cradles are depressions implemented side-by-side along the apex of the forward portion, the depressions having a flat central region and raised sidewalls, providing cradles. 
     
     
         8 . The protective support of  claim 7  wherein slots implemented side-by-side in a direction of the length of the support passing through the forward portion to a specific depth, provide cradles for supporting silverwear utensils, with forward and rearward edges of slots forming bottom of cradles, and side edges of slots forming sides of the cradles. 
     
     
         9 . A method for protecting a silverwear utensil from possible contamination from a tabletop, comprising:
 providing to the tabletop a protective support having a body with a lowermost interface to a tabletop and an uppermost region presenting a cradle opening vertically upward for restraining a silverwear utensil apart from the tabletop, side restraints constraining the supported silverwear utensil from moving horizontally off the support on either side; and   placing a silverwear utensil onto the support with a portion of the untensil restrained in the cradle.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the protective support has a plurality of cradles implemented side to side for a plurality of silverwear utensils. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the body is molded from a polymer material, the cradles are v-shaped with a flat bottom and angled sidewalls providing a wider entrance than a width of the bottom of the cradle, and wherein the lowermost interface to the tabletop is a flat, planar surface. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  lwherein the body comprises a rearward portion with the cradles implemented therein, and a forward portion comprising a forward support surface at a height less than a height of the flat bottom of the cradles. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  comprising indicia on the forward support surface in front of each cradle, the indicia indicating a specific silverwear utensil to be supported in the specific cradle associated with the indicia. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9  comprising forming the body from a plurality of rectangular flat sheets joined along edges at angles such that lowermost joined edges provide the interface to the table top, and uppermost joined edges provide v-shaped cradles opening upward for restraining silverwear utensils. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9  comprising forming the body from a single flat sheet of metal or polymer to have a forward portion arcing to an uppermost height having an apex, and wherein cradles are depressions implemented side-by-side along the apex of the forward portion, the depressions having a flat central region and raised sidewalls, providing cradles. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  comprising implementing slots side-by-side in a direction of the length of the support passing through the forward portion to a specific depth, provide cradles for supporting silverwear utensils, with forward and rearward edges of slots forming bottom of cradles, and side edges of slots forming sides of the cradles.