Suction cup having compact axial installation and release mechanism

A compact axially-driven suction cup device, comprising:

• a housing comprising a substantially planar external drive surface formed with an aperture therethrough;
• and
• a substantially rigid rotational drive member comprising a tubular frame forming a substantially planar drive surface at one end thereof structured to cooperate with the housing drive surface, a pair of fixed installation drive members spaced around an internal wall surface of the tubular frame and projecting substantially axially inwardly therefrom, an aperture into the tubular frame and axially aligned with the internal wall surface and fixed installation drive members thereof, and means for manually rotating the tubular frame;
• an axial drive member comprising a columnar drive shaft structured to travel through the apertures of the rotational drive mechanism and housing, a first end of the columnar drive shaft including means for connecting to a suction cup, and including a pair of substantially diametrically opposed spiral installation drive members each being extended at least partially about the drive shaft and spaced there along away from the first end thereof and being structured for interacting with one or both of the fixed installation drive members of the rotational drive member for moving the columnar drive shaft through the longitudinal aperture of the rotational drive member in an outwardly direction relative to the planar drive surface thereof.

A suction cup holding device having a compact axial installation mechanism, the device comprising:

• a housing comprising a relatively wide and shallow concavity formed therein and forming a first opening on the surface thereof, an external reaction drive surface axially aligned with the concavity, and a second opening communicating between the concavity and the external reaction drive surface;
• a plunger comprising a drive shaft coupled at one end to a suction cup having a resiliently deformable portion sized to cooperate with the housing concavity and an integral peripheral lip portion sized larger than the first opening, the resiliently deformable portion of the suction cup being installed substantially within the housing concavity with the peripheral lip portion projecting beyond the first opening thereof, and the plunger drive shaft being engaged with the second opening between the concavity and the reaction drive surface with a distal portion of the plunger drive shaft projecting external to the concavity and beyond the reaction drive surface, and a pair of substantially diametrically opposed spiral installation drive surfaces each being extended at least partially about the plunger drive shaft;
• and
• a rotational drive member comprising a rotational drive surface structured to cooperate with the housing reaction drive surface and forming a substantially round central passage therethrough sized to slidingly admit the plunger drive shaft and rotate relative thereto, and two or more fixed installation drive surfaces each being fixed crosswise to the plunger drive shaft and spaced substantially uniformly about an interior of the rotational drive member and spaced away from the rotational drive surface, each of the fixed installation drive surfaces being structured to interact with at least one of the pair of spiral installation drive surfaces of the plunger drive shaft.