Article holder

Abstract

An article holder configured for one-handed operation includes an upper arm pivotally connected at one end to a lower arm such that the upper and lower arms having opposing inner surfaces. A cushion may be attached on an inner surface of either arm and a spring member disposed near the hinge may bias the inner surface of the lower arm toward the cushion to form a clamping surface in a rested state. A clip disposed on an outer surface of may be included to attach the holder to a desired surface. In certain embodiments, the lower arm includes a toe portion on an end opposite of the hinge which extends beyond a corresponding end of the upper arm to provide a leveraging surface to open the clamping body from the spring-biased clamping position. Additional embodiments and variants are also disclosed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to a device for holding personal articles such as eyeglasses and the like. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to a device that holds eyeglasses or sunglasses, pens, pencils or any other small object and clips. The device may be attached to any surface such as appliances, furniture, computers, clothing, clothing accessories and flat surfaces such as automobile visors and books.

2. Background Art

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Many people periodically wear eyeglasses and/or sunglasses. However, at certain times, a wearer of eyeglasses or sunglasses (collectively referred to herein as “glasses”) may wish to remove and store their glasses for short periods when the glasses are not needed. For example, a wearer of sunglasses may remove them during evening hours when sunlight begins to fade. The wearer may typically remove them and place them in a convenient location such as on the dashboard of the car, on an adjacent seat, in a cubbyhole or the like. These locations, while convenient, may subject the glasses to be susceptible to soiling, damage and/or loss. Consequently, there is a need for a holder of personal articles, including glasses, which conveniently stores such items to prevent soiling, damage and/or loss.

Many attempts to provide such a holder have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,134,753 and 5,794,312 to O'Mahony disclose holding devices including a clip portion for attaching the holding device to a desired surface and a S-shaped or U-shaped portion for securing temples of glasses.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,487 to Keely discloses a retainer for holding eyeglasses that includes a retainer ring rotatably mounted to a clamping means. The clamping means secures the retainer to a desired surface, such as a automobile visor, while the retainer ring receives and secures the temple portion of a pair of eyeglasses.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,476 to Mancinelli discloses a holder for securing eyeglasses to a visor including a body and a clip. The body receives the bridge of the eyeglasses with the temple bars of the glasses resting on-top of the body. The clip is disposed on a portion of the body and forms a flexible clamp for securing the holder to a visor.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,459 to Goldenberg discloses a clip for securing eyeglasses or sunglasses that slides onto an article of clothing. The clip is similar to a conventional money clip but has an elastic material to create a channel for receiving a temple of a pair of glasses.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,003 to Chan discloses a personal article holder having a clamping body and a visor clip. And U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,432 to Kushner, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a personal article holder having a clamping body and a display window disposed on the clamping body for displaying desired images.

While these and other known retainers and holders for glasses and other articles may provide effective for protecting such items against loss, damage or soiling, they may have drawbacks such as requiring two hands to insert an article into the respective holder, not securely holding an article once inserted into the holder, damaging an article inserted into the holder, and/or consisting of intricate, expensive and potentially delicate parts.

An improved article holder which alleviates one or more of these drawbacks is desirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention in reference to the appended drawing in which like numerals denote like elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an article holder in a closed or clamped position according to one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the article holder of FIG. 1 in an open position;

FIG. 3 is perspective and expanded view of disassembled pieces of the article holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an assembled personal article holder according to various embodiments; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the article holder clipped to a surface and holding an article.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning to FIGS. 1 and 2, an article holder 100 according to one embodiment of the invention may include: a clamping body 110 configured to secure an article and an attachment portion 105 attached to clamping body 110 and configured to secure clamping body 110 to a desired surface. In this exemplary embodiment, clamping body 110 may generally include an upper arm member 115 hingedly connected on one end to a lower arm member 120. The upper and lower arm members 115, 120 may be pivotally connected to one another and include a tension member to bias opposing surfaces of the upper and lower arm members toward each other to a closed or clamping position as shown in FIG. 1. The tension biases holder 100 to the closed position in its natural state of rest.

In one embodiment, the upper or lower arm members 120, 115 may include a soft cushion member 130 disposed on an inside surface which serves to gently secure an inserted article between opposing surfaces of upper and lower arm members 115 and 120.

In certain embodiments cushion member 120 may be glued or otherwise attached to the upper arm member 115. The attachment portion 105 is secured to upper arm member 115, opposite the side of its respective cushion member 130 for attaching to a desired surface such as a car visor, clothing, refrigerator, or other surface.

In preferred embodiments, lower arm member 120 may be longer than upper arm member 115 such that a toe 124 of lower arm member 120 extends outward from article holder 100, past a corresponding end of upper arm member 115. In this manner, toe 124 of lower arm member 120 may serve as a leveraging surface to open article holder 100 from a clamped position with the same hand being used to insert an article for holding. Toe 124 may also serve as a guide for certain articles to be held as discussed below with reference to FIG. 5.

In one non-limiting embodiment, an inner surface of lower arm member 120 may include one or more securing mechanisms 122 for securing articles from slipping out from between upper and lower arm members 115 and 120 when they are in a clamped position (FIG. 1). Securing mechanisms 122 may include one or more notches or ribs, and/or non-slip surfaces as discussed with respect to the embodiments shown in reference to FIGS. 3-5. As shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, securing mechanisms 122 may consist of one or more notches which may assist in preventing temples of glasses, writing utensils or other orthogonally placed elements from incidentally slipping out of the grasp of article holder 100.

Turning to FIG. 3, an embodiment for an article holder 300 is similar to that previously discussed. FIG. 3 shows respective pieces of article holder 300 in a disassembled manner. It can be seen in this embodiment that upper and lower arm members 315 and 312 respectively include hinge axis members 313 and 323 on like ends which when coupled by a pivot or pin 311 allow the upper and lower arm members 315 and 320 to rotate with respect to one another about an axis. When a tension member such as spring 312 is coupled about the axis formed by pin 311, the inner surfaces of upper and lower arm members 315 and 320 may be biased against each other in a clamping or closed position as shown in FIG. 4.

It should be recognized that instead of pin 311, alternative types of pivoting couplings could be used such as one or more collars and corresponding protrusions formed in hinge axis members 313 and 323. Additionally, various types of tension members other than spring 312 could be used and thus the inventive embodiments are not limited to the specific arrangement shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the article holder of FIG. 3 in an assembled and natural state; that is, biased to a clamped or closed position. As with other embodiments, lower arm member 320 is significantly longer than opposing upper arm member 315 which forms an extending toe 324. A key advantage of the article holders of the inventive embodiments is derived by the extending toe 324 and pivoting spring-biased action in that a user wishing to insert an article can easily manipulate toe 324 in a position away upper arm member 315 (i.e., to open holder 300 from a clamped position) with a single hand that is holding the article to be inserted. For example, a user holding an article to be stowed may use the back of their thumb to leverage lower arm 320 downward while inserting the article with other fingers between cushion member 330 and securing surface 322. When downward pressure on lower arm member 330 is released, lower arm member 320 returns to the clamped position via bias from spring 312.

The embodiment of FIGS. 3-5 differs from that of FIGS. 1 and 2 in that it includes a securing mechanism 322 formed from a rubber, foam rubber or other type of non-slip surface instead of notches. In certain embodiments, securing mechanism 322 is a substantially flat foam rubber cushion insert placed in a recessed surface of the lower arm member in a manner that the inner surface of the lower arm member, including foam rubber insert, is substantially flush. In this manner, an article may inserted between cushion member 330 and foam rubber insert 322 by merely sliding the article along the upper surface of lower arm member 330 when pressure is placed down on the lower arm member. Subsequently, when pressure is released from lower arm member 330, the article will not inadvertently slip out.

Cushion members 130, 330 may be any material suitable to gently secure an article between the upper and lower arm members in the clamped position. In certain embodiments, cushion members 130, 330 may be made of a foam rubber material and fixed or removably attached to one or both upper and lower arm members in any manner for one material to be secured to another, e.g., snaps, adhesive, VELCRO, etc. In one embodiment, an oversized cushion member 130, 330 is fixed to the interior surface of the lower arm member using an adhesive.

Upper arm members 115, 315 and lower arm members 120, 320 of the clamping body may be made from any rigid material rigid such as rigid plastics, ceramics, metals, woods or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, upper and lower arms are formed in an injection mold using an ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadience-Styrene) plastic material, which may be tinted or colored to achieve a desired color. ABS plastics are used in preferred embodiments since they are relatively inexpensive, possess high strength and durability material characteristics and readily accept plating and painting to vary appearance and design of the device.

The clamping body may be formed in using elongated single upper and lower arm member to obtain any desired shape such as a circle, an oval, a rectangle, a square, a trapezoid or any other symmetrical or asymmetrical shape and may be any size or color desired. However, in certain embodiments, lower arm member 120, 320 may be formed in a scoop-like shape. The scoop-like shape allows the toe 124, 324 of lower arm member 120, 320 to be easily leveraged away from upper arm member 115, 315 as well as acting as a guide member for certain articles. Additionally, when article holder 100, 300 is clipped to a horizontal surface such as an automobile visor, scoop-like shape may help prevent an article which in not fully secured, or may become inadvertently dislodged, from falling entirely.

Attachment portion 105, 305 of the respective embodiments may be any mechanism or arrangement for facilitating temporary or permanent fixation of the clamping body to other surfaces. Examples of attachment portion 105, 305 include a clip, a magnet, VELCRO™, a suction cup, double sided tape, etc. In one embodiment, attachment portion 105, 305 is a tensioned wire attached to a side of upper arm member 115, 315 opposite the side having cushion member 130, 330 similar to, but not limited to, the example shown in FIGS. 1-5. With this arrangement, holder 10 may be utilized as a bookmark by clipping a desired portion of a book between wire 105, 305 and upper arm member 115, 315. In another embodiment attachment portion 35 is a segment of double-sided tape (not shown) having one side adhere to the clamping body and readily attachable to a desired surface, such as a computer monitor, using the adhesive opposite side.

FIG. 5 illustrates article holder 300 in use. As shown, article holder 300 may be attached to a surface 501 such as a sun visor in an automobile using attachment portion 305. In this example, article holder 300 is shown securing glasses 570 securely between upper and lower arm members 315, 320.

Unless contrary to physical possibility, the inventor envisions the components of respective embodiments may be combined in any manner.

Although there have been described preferred embodiments of this novel invention, many variations and modifications are possible and the embodiments described herein are not limited by the specific disclosure above, but rather should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An article holder comprising:

a clamping body comprising: an upper arm member having a first width; a lower arm member having a second width substantially similar to the first width of the upper arm member; a pivot connecting one end of the lower ann member to a corresponding end of the upper arm member; a cushion attached on an inner surface of the upper arm member; and a spring member disposed within the clamping body to constantly bias an inner surface of the lower arm member toward the cushion to form a clamping surface in a rested state, the clamping body devoid of a latch mechanism; and

a clip connected to an outer surface of the clamping body to attach the clamping body to a desired surface;

wherein the upper arm and lower arm members are formed of an injection molded plastic and wherein the lower arm member includes a toe portion on an end opposite of the pivot, the toe portion extending substantially beyond a corresponding end of the upper arm member and formed to have the inner surface of the lower ann member provide a leveraging surface to open the clamping body from the clamping position.

2. The article holder of claim 1 further comprising a securing mechanism formed on one or both of the inner surfaces of the upper or lower arm members.

3. The article holder of claim 2 wherein the securing mechanism comprises one or more notches formed in the inner surface of the lower arm member.

4. The article holder of claim 2 wherein the securing mechanism comprises a non-slip surface material disposed on the inner surface of the lower arm member at a position opposing the cushion residing on the inner surface of the upper arm member.

5. The article bolder of claim 1 wherein the lower arm member including the toe portion is formed in a scoop-like shape between its respective ends.

6. A holder for supporting and securing objects comprising:

an upper arm member having a first width and having a cushion member disposed on a bottom surface thereof;

a lower ann member having a second width substantially similar to the first width of the upper arm member, the lower arm member further having a cushion insert disposed on a top surface thereof, the lower arm member having an end hingedly attached to a corresponding end of the upper arm member such that the upper and lower arm members form a clamping body wherein the cushion member and cushion insert face one another to secure an article there between when said upper and lower arm members are in a closed position, the clamping body devoid of any latch mechanism;

a tension member disposed proximate the hingedly attached ends of the upper and lower arm members to constantly bias the upper and lower arm members toward the closed position in a state of rest; and

an attachment portion disposed on an outer surface of the clamping body, the attachment portion arranged to attach the bolder to a desired surface.

7. The holder of claim 6 wherein said upper and lower arm members are at least partially composed of an injection molded plastic.

8. The holder of claim 6 wherein an end of the lower arm member opposite the hingedly attached end protrudes farther outward than a corresponding end of the upper arm member to form a lever in which pressure may be applied on the top surface of the lower arm member to open the holder from the constantly closed position.

9. The holder of claim 7 wherein the too surface of the lower arm member is formed of the injected molded plastic and including a recess, the holder further comprising a second cushion insert positioned within the recess a manner that the second cushion insert is substantially flush with the top surface of the lower arm member.

10. The holder of claim 6 wherein the attachment portion comprises one of a segment of double-sided tape; a magnet; a clip; or a hook.

11. The holder of claim 6 wherein the lower arm member is longer than the upper arm member and is formed in a scoop-like shape to enable a user to leverage the holder from the tension member-biased closed position to an open position for insertion of an article.

12. The holder of claims 6 wherein both the cushion member and opposing cushion insert are formed of a foam rubber material.

13. A holder of personal articles comprising:

an elongate first arm having a first width;

an elongate second arm having a second width substantially similar to the first width, the second arm hingedly attached at one end thereof to a corresponding end of the first arm in a manner that the first arm and second arm have substantially opposing inner surfaces, the first and second arms devoid of any latching mechanism;

a cushion member disposed on at least one of the opposing inner surfaces of the first or second arms; and

a spring disposed near the hingedly attached ends of the first and second arms to bias the inner opposing surfaces toward one another to a closed position such that an article may be clamped between the cushion member and an opposite arm, the spring member being positioned within the second arm to substantially concealed from external view; and

a clip attached to an outer surface of one of the first or second arms.

14. The holder of claim 13 wherein the holder includes two cushion members, a first large cushion disposed on the opposing inner surface of the first arm and a smaller flat cushion disposed on the inner surface of the second arm.

15. The holder of claim 13 wherein one of the first or second arms includes a notch on its respective opposing inner surface to assist in securing articles disposed between the notch and the cushion member.

16. The holder of claim 13 wherein one of the first or second arms is longer than the other and formed in a scoop-like shape to enable a user to apply pressure on an inner surface of an extending end of the longer arm to leverage the holder from the closed position to an open position.

17. The holder of claim 13 wherein the first and second arms are composed of injection molded plastic.

18. The holder of claim 13 wherein the cushion member is composed of a foam rubber material.

19. The holder of claim 16 wherein the clip is configured to be attachable to an automobile sun visor.

20. The holder of claim 13 further comprising an axial pin to hingedly attach the first arm to the second arm.