CARD HOLDER

Abstract

A card holder includes an inner casing connected pivotally to an outer casing, several inter-connected card-reception boxes disposed in and connected to the inner casing, and several propeller rods respectively disposed below and pivoted to bottom of the card-reception boxes such that each rod has a propeller section extending into bottom of a respective box. Pivotal action of the inner casing away relative to the outer casing results in simultaneous rotation of the card-reception boxes away from the outer casing while the cards received in the boxes are lifted upward by the propeller sections of the propeller rods.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a card holder, and more particularly to a card holder which includes several assorted card-reception boxes for holding different kinds of cards, such as credit card, name cards and member cards.

2. The Prior Arts

Nowadays, a person may possess several credit cards or ATM cards issued by different banks in addition to member cards, department store cards through which some bonus can be accumulated. He or she may also possess several names cards graded according to profession and are generally kept in man's wallets or women hand bag. The cards are sometimes kept in specially designed files. So far, no card holder is available to facilitate a user to keep the assorted cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a card holder having a novel appearance and card-reception boxes to provide protection to the cards kept therein.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a card holder including an inner casing connected pivotally to an outer casing and a plurality of card-reception boxes movably disposed in the inner casing. Each card-reception box defines a card space extending through its bottom. A plurality of propeller rods are used for interconnecting the card-reception boxes while one coupler pin is used to connect pivotally the inner casing and one of the card-reception boxes so that rotation of the inner casing relative to the outer casing results in keeping the card-reception boxes within the inner and outer casings via a press button and a first engagement element. When the user wishes, pressing the press button results in disengagement of the inner casing from the first engagement element, thereby releasing the inner casing from the outer casing while the card-reception boxes are also release simultaneously from the outer casing such that the card-reception boxes are spread out in a sequential manner. Owing to the propeller section of the propeller rod extending into the respective card-reception box and simultaneously movement of the propeller rod together with the respective card-reception box, the cards (like credit cards or visiting card) kept therein are lifted upward to facilitate the user fetching of the same.

The card holder of the present invention includes an outer casing defining an interior space, having an entrance for access into the interior space, a side wall formed with a limiting slot and a press button at one end of the entrance and provided with a first engagement element; an inner casing defining an inner space, connected pivotally to the outer casing so as to be kept within the interior space of the outer casing and shielding the entrance, the inner casing having a side wall formed with a first curved slot and a second engagement element for engaging the first engagement element; a plurality of card-reception boxes disposed in and connected pivotally to the inner casing via a common pivot, each card-reception box having left and right side walls formed with a protrusion and a curved slot slidably engaging with the curved slot and the protrusion of adjacent card-reception box, each card-reception box further having a slide groove formed at bottom of the left and right side walls and a card space extending through top and bottom of each card-reception box, wherein one card-reception box adjacent to the outer casing has a limiting tab slidably engaging the limiting slot of the outer casing; and a plurality of propeller rods respectively disposed below the card-reception boxes, each propeller rod having a coupler section formed with a pin extending into the slide groove of a respective card-reception box, a propeller section integrally formed with one end of the coupler section and extending into the bottom of the respective card-reception box and a pivot section provided with protrusion-and-recess mechanism so that the pivot sections of the propeller rods are connected to one another. Owing to the propeller section of the propeller rod extending into the respective card-reception box and simultaneously movement of the propeller rod together with the respective card-reception box, the cards (like credit cards or visiting card) kept therein are lifted upward to facilitate the user fetching of the same.

In order to facilitate fetching of two visiting cards disposed within two adjacent card-reception boxes, the propeller section extends from a first end toward a second end of the propeller rod and has a width smaller than that of the coupler section and the pivot section which extends from the second end toward the first end. The coupler section and the pivot section of the propeller rod cooperatively defining a width greater than the width of the propeller section and smaller than a width defined between the left and right side walls of a respective card-reception box. During the pivotal action of the inner casing relative to the outer casing, the two visiting cards disposed respectively within adjacent pair of the card-reception boxes are raised by the propeller sections of the propeller rods, thereby disposing the two adjacent card-reception boxes at two different elevations and two angular angles to facilitate fetching of the visiting cards from the desired boxes.

Preferably, the press button is mounted to the outer casing via an axle provided with a first torsion spring which applies a torque upon the press button. The torsion spring is capable of providing a restoring force upon release of an applied external force therefrom.

To facilitate the manipulation, the entrance of the outer casing is an inverted U-shaped consisting of at least one short section and one long section with the press button installed at the short section.

Preferably, the first engagement element 144 and second engagement elements are tongue-and-groove fastening mechanism for engaging each other.

The card holder of the present invention further includes a second torsion spring sleeved around the common pivot for biasing the inner casing so as to disengage the first and second engagement elements relative to each other, thereby permitting rotation of the inner casing relative to the outer casing for exposing the care-reception boxes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a partly exploded view of a card holder of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the card holder of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the card holder of the present invention;

FIG. 3A illustrates pivotal action of an inner casing relative to an outer casing upon pressing of a press button installed on the outer casing in the card holder of the present invention viewed from a first angle;

FIG. 3B illustrates pivotal action of the inner casing relative to the outer casing upon pressing of the press button installed on the outer casing in the card holder of the present invention viewed from a second angle;

FIG. 3C illustrates pivotal action of the inner casing relative to the outer casing upon pressing of the press button installed on the outer casing in the card holder of the present invention viewed from a third angle;

FIG. 3D illustrates pivotal action of the inner casing relative to the outer casing upon pressing of the press button installed on the outer casing in the card holder of the present invention viewed from a fourth angle;

FIG. 4 illustrates pivotal action of the inner casing toward the outer casing for closing the card holder of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the card holder of the present invention in a closed position, the dotted lines show how the card-reception boxes are kept with the inner and outer casings of the card holder of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 illustrates how a first torsion spring engages the press button in the card holder of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein FIG. 1A is a partly exploded view of a card holder of the present invention; FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the card holder of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the card holder of the present invention. As illustrated, the card holder of the present invention includes an outer casing 1, an inner casing 2 connected pivotally to the outer casing 1 so as to be kept within an interior space defined by the outer casing 1, a plurality of card-reception boxes 3 and a plurality of propeller rods 4. The outer casing 1 has a press button 14 pressing of the same against biasing action results in pivotal action of the inner casing 2 relative to the outer casing 1, and exposing the inner casing 2 from the outer casing 1 as best shown in FIG. 3. For external aesthetic beauty, two decorated plates 17A, 17B are mounted adhesively on two side walls of the outer casing 1 and one generally L-shaped side plate 17C is mounted at one side of the outer casing 1. The decorated plates 17A, 17B, 17C are made from metal to provide rigidity to the outer casing 1, which, in turn, is made from plastic materials. Preferably, the decorated plates 17A, 17B are formed with enforcing ribs to provide additional strength of the outer casing 1.

The outer casing 1 defines an entrance 11 for access into the interior space, has a side wall formed with a limiting slot 16 which limits the pivotal action of the inner casing 2 relative to the outer casing 1, a detailed description will be given in the following paragraphs.

The outer casing 1 is generally rectangular while the entrance 11 formed at one side thereof is inverted U-shaped consisting of at least one short section and one long section with the press button 14 installed at the short section. In this embodiment, the entrance 11 is shielded by the generally L-shaped side plate 17C while a common pivot 35 extends through pivot holes 12, 21 in the inner and outer casings 2, 1 for pivotally connecting the former two.

As shown in FIG. 6, the press button 14 is mounted to the outer casing via an axle 15 that extends through holes 13 of the outer casing 1, two pivot holes 142 formed in two symmetric lugs 141 of the press button 14. The press button 14 has a first engagement element 144, which in fact is an engagement hole. The bottom of the press button 14 is formed with an L-shaped retention groove 145. A first torsion spring 143 has a central hole 146 sleeved around the axle 15, and one end portion engaging the retention groove 145, thereby permitting rotation of the press button 14 relative to the outer casing 1. Note that the first torsion spring 143 is capable of storing restoring force upon being pressed and retrieves to its initial position when an applied external force is released therefrom.

The inner casing 2 defines an inner space, is generally triangle when viewed from a lateral side, has a side wall formed with a first curved slot 23 and a second engagement element 24 for engaging the first engagement element 144 when kept within the outer casing 1 (see FIG. 3A). The card holder of the present invention further has a second torsion spring 34 sleeved around the common pivot 35 and biasing the inner casing 2 so as to disengage the first and second engagement elements 144, 24 relative to each other, as best shown in FIG. 3. Preferably, the first engagement element 144 and the second engagement element 24 are tongue-and-groove fastening mechanism, however the structure thereof should not be construed only thereto.

Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 3, three card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C are disposed in and connected pivotally to the inner casing 2 and the outer casing 1 via the common pivot 35, which extends through pivot holes 33A, 33B, 33C of three card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C. Note that only three card-reception boxes are used for explanation herein but the number can be added according to the need. Each card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C has left and right side walls formed with a protrusion 36A, 36B, 36C and a curved slot 38A, 38B, 38C slidably engaging with the curved slot and the protrusion of adjacent card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C. Each card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C further has a slide groove 32A, 32B, 32C formed at bottom of the left and right side walls and a card space extending through top and bottom of each card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C. Note that the card-reception box 3C adjacent to the outer casing 1 has a limiting tab 37 slidably engaging the limiting slot 16 of the outer casing 1.

Three propeller rods 4A, 4B, 4C are respectively disposed below the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C. Each propeller rod 4 has a coupler section formed with a pin 41A, 41B, 41C extending movably into the slide groove 32A, 32B, 32C of a respective card-reception box 3, a propeller section 46 integrally formed with one end of the coupler section and extending into the bottom of the respective card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C and a pivot section provided with protrusion-and-recess mechanism (42A, 43A), (42B, 43B), (42C, 43C) so that the pivot sections of the propeller rods 4A, 4B, 4C are connected to one another. Note that a coupler pin 44 extends through pivot hole 22 in the inner casing 2 and the recess 42A of the propeller rod 4A to permit simultaneous rotation of the card-reception box 3A and the inner casing 2 while the former two pivot away from the outer casing 1 during opening of the card holder of the present invention, a detailed description will be given in the following paragraphs.

In this embodiment, in each propeller rod 4A, 4B, 4C, the propeller section 46 extends from a first end toward a second end of the propeller rod, has a width smaller than that of the coupler section and the pivot section which extends from the second end toward the first end. In other words, the coupler section and the pivot section of each propeller rod 4A, 4B, 4C cooperatively define a width greater than the width of the propeller section 46 and smaller than a width defined between the left and right side walls of a respective card-reception box 3A, 3B, 3C. Under this condition, the propeller rods 4A, 4B, 4C are pivotally retained at the bottom of the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C so as to permit holding of cards within the card space in the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, when the inner casing 2 is kept within the outer casing 1, the first and second engagement elements 144, 24 are fastened together so that the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C are also kept within the inner casing 2 and the propeller rods 4A,4B,4C generally extend in a horizontal direction. The card space 31A-31C of the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C are occupied by two assorted cards 5A1, 5A2 which do not slip off through the bottom thereof owing to supporting action by the structure of the propeller rods 4 described above.

Referring to FIG. 3A, upon pressing of the press button 14, the second engagement element 24 (a hook) disengages from the first engagement element 144 (in fact is an engagement hole) such that the inner casing 2 pivots away from the outer casing 1 owing to biasing action of the first torsion spring 34. The card-reception box 3C moves together with the inner casing 2 away from the outer casing 1 due to sliding of the limiting tab 37 of the card-reception box 3C in the limiting slot 16 of the outer casing 1. Hence, the inner casing 2 rotates about the largest angle (35°), where all the card-reception boxes 3A-3C are juxtaposed to one another, so that it is not convenient for the user to take off the cards 5A1, 5A2 from the card-reception boxes 3A-3C.

As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the user can at this time move the inner casing 2 downward further away from the outer casing 1 to a first angle A (15°) until the protrusion 36A of the card-reception box 3A engages one end of the first curved first curved slot 23 in the inner casing 2. Since the card-reception box 3C is prevented from moving downward due to engagement of the limiting tab 37 of the card-reception box 3C in the limiting slot 16 of the outer casing 1 and since the card-reception boxes 3A, 3B, 3C are inter-connected relative to one another via the protrusion 36A, 36B, 36C and the curved slot 38A, 38B, 38C, only the inner casing 2 rotates about the first angle A (15°), which in turn, pulls the card-reception box 3A downward together such that the propeller rod 4A rotates about the pin 41A while the propelling section 46 lifts the card 5A1 upward from the card-reception box 3A while the card 5A2 in the card-reception box 3B are retained in their initial position, thereby disposing the cards 5A1, 5A2 at different elevations and different angular positions to facilitate the user fetching the desired card.

As illustrated in FIG. 3C, the user can further move the inner casing 2 downward further away from the outer casing 1 to a second angle B (30°), wherein the propeller rod 4A pulls the propeller rod 4B downward until the protrusion 36B of the card-reception box 3B engages one end of the curved slot 38 of the card-reception box 3C. At this time, the propeller rod 4B rotates about the pin 41B while the propelling section 46 lifts the card 5B1 upward from the card-reception box 3B while 5B2 in the card-reception box 3B are retained in their initial position, thereby disposing the cards 5B1, 5B2 at different elevations and different angular positions to facilitate the user fetching the desired card.

As illustrated in FIG. 3D, the user can further move the inner casing 2 downward further away from the outer casing 1 to a third angle C (about 45°), wherein the propeller rod 4A pulls the propeller rods 4B, 4C downward until the protrusion 36C of the card-reception box 3C engages one end of the curved slot 38B of the card-reception box 3B. At this time, the propeller rod 4C rotates about the pin 41C while the propelling section 46 lifts the card 5C1 upward from the card-reception box 3C while the card 5C2 in the card-reception box 3B are retained in their initial position, thereby disposing the cards 5C1, 5C2 at different elevations and different angular positions to facilitate the user fetching the desired card.

FIG. 4 illustrates pivotal action of the inner casing 2 toward the outer casing 1 for closing the card holder of the present invention, wherein the card-reception boxes 3A-3C and the propeller rods 4A-4C acts in the reverse operation relative to the above-mentioned performances such that FIG. 5 illustrates the card holder of the present invention in a closed position, the dotted lines show how the card-reception boxes 3A-3C, the propeller rods 4A-4C and the cards 5A-5C are kept within the inner and outer casings 2, 1 of the card holder of the present invention.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A card holder comprising:

an outer casing defining an interior space, having an entrance for access into said interior space, a side wall formed with a limiting slot and a press button at one end of said entrance and provided with a first engagement element;

an inner casing defining an inner space, connected pivotally to said outer casing so as to be kept within said interior space of said outer casing and shielding said entrance, said inner casing having a side wall formed with a first curved slot and a second engagement element for engaging said first engagement element;

a plurality of card-reception boxes disposed in and connected pivotally to said inner casing via a common pivot, each card-reception box having left and right side walls formed with a protrusion and a curved slot slidably engaging with said curved slot and said protrusion of adjacent card-reception box, each card-reception box further having a slide groove formed at bottom of said left and right side walls and a card space extending through top and bottom of each card-reception box, wherein one card-reception box adjacent to said outer casing has a limiting tab slidably engaging said limiting slot of said outer casing;

a plurality of propeller rods respectively disposed below said card-reception boxes, each propeller rod having a coupler section formed with a pin extending into said slide groove of a respective card-reception box, a propeller section integrally formed with one end of said coupler section and extending into said bottom of the respective card-reception box and a pivot section provided with protrusion-and-recess mechanism so that said pivot sections of said propeller rods are connected to one another.

2. The card holder according to claim 1, wherein said propeller section extends from a first end toward a second end of said propeller rod and has a width smaller than that of said coupler section and said pivot section which extends from said second end toward said first end, said coupler section and said pivot section of said propeller rod cooperatively defining a width greater than said width of said propeller section and smaller than a width defined between said left and right side walls of a respective card-reception box.

3. The card holder according to claim 2, wherein said press button is mounted to said outer casing via an axle provided with a first torsion spring which applies a torque upon said press button, said torsion spring capable of providing a restoring force upon release of an applied external force therefrom.

4. The card holder according to claim 2, wherein said entrance of said outer casing is an inverted U-shaped consisting of at least one short section and one long section with said press button installed at said short section.

5. The card holder according to claim 2, wherein said first engagement element and second engagement element are tongue-and-groove fastening mechanism.

6. The card holder according to claim 2, further comprising a second torsion spring sleeved around said common pivot and biasing said inner casing so as to disengage said first and second engagement elements relative to each other, thereby permitting rotation of said inner casing relative to said outer casing.