WO1996028988A1

WO1996028988A1 - Item holder

Info

Publication number: WO1996028988A1
Application number: PCT/AU1996/000080
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Colin Rebbechi
Original assignee: John Colin Rebbechi
Priority date: 1995-03-23
Filing date: 1996-02-16
Publication date: 1996-09-26
Also published as: AUPN189595A0

Abstract

An item holding device (10) such as a keyring is formed from a single piece of wire to preferably define two loops (11, 12) each loop able to store keys separately, the loops having turned in lips (14, 15) which overlay a common portion of the loop (13) to allow keys to be more easily inserted and removed from the device (10). Each loop (11, 12) can include an identification tag, or be coloured differently to allow easy identification of a particular type of key on the loop (11, 12). The turned in lips (14, 15) may be recessed into the common loop portion (13) to provide a flush non-snagging keyring. The common loop wall (13) may be angled.

Description

TITLE ITEM HOLDER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an item holder, an example of which is a key holder, and which can allow items such as keys and other items which can be kept on keyrings and the like to be attached to or removed from the device.

BACKGROUND ART For the purpose of this invention, the invention will be described with reference to keyrings, but it should be appreciated that the item holding device can be used to hold various other items, including tools, trinkets, name tags, flashlights and the like. Conventional key rings are formed from coils of spring steel on which a key or similar item can be threaded. The coils are biased together in a clamp-like action to prevent keys from being inadvertently removed from the ring. The coil has two free ends which point in opposite directions. Each end is typically flattened and needs to be prised open to allow a key to be inserted. Because of the strength of the spring steel, the force required to prise open a keyring is substantial. If a fingernail is used, the fingernail can be broken in an attempt to prise open the keyring. It is also difficult to use an edge of a key to attempt to prise open the keyring as the key edges are usually thick and do not have a nose portion to facilitate opening of the keyring. A similar difficulty is encountered when attempting to remove a key from the keyring as again it is necessary to prise open the other end of the keyring to remove the key. It is common for the adjacent coils in the keyring to be firmly clamped together and to have a large overlapping distance which means that the key must be forced through a long distance between adjacent tightly clamped coils in order to work the key loose. If other keys are on the keyring, each key must initially be pushed aside to allow the new key to be inserted or removed. Other disadvantages with existing keyrings are that all the keys are mixed together and cannot be separated into different storage zones. Thus, it is not possible to separate for instance house keys from car keys.

Attempts to improve item holding devices such as keyrings have been made. For instance, it is known to provide a key holder which is substantially circular and where a portion of the keyring is bent to form a push bar. The push bar is pushed by a person's finger to force it away from the rest of the keyring thereby allowing easier insertion or removal of a key. However, this arrangement still has disadvantages. Firstly, finger action must still be used to push the push bar away from the rest of the keyring and the force required is quite large making this type of keyring unsuitable for older people. Also, once a key is threaded onto the push bar, it must then still be forced between tightly clamped adjacent coils of the keyring to thread it properly onto the keyring. There is therefore a tendency to keep the key on the push bar portion which is dangerous as a key in this position is not properly secured on the keyring. Further disadvantage with this keyring is that to remove a key, it is still necessary to prise apart the other end of the coil and to force the key between tightly clamped together adjacent coils back onto the push bar for removal.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an item holding device which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention comprises an item holding device formed from an elongate unitary resilient element having at least one item storage zone, the element having at least one free end formed with a turned in lip, the lip overlying another portion of the element, the lip and the other portion being biased towards each other. By having this arrangement of a turned in lip biased against another portion of the element, it is possible to attach keys or similar devices more readily and it is possible to use the key itself to simply force apart the turned in lip and the other portion to allow the key to be attached to the device.

The item holding device can be used to attach keys but can also be used for other items or objects.

The elongate unitary resilient element suitably comprises a rod or wire. The rod or wire may be formed from metal, plastics or composite material. Suitably, the resilient element is formed from a spring steel.

The item holding device may be formed into at least one loop. Part or all of the loop may comprise the storage zone. The lip may form one end of the loop and may overly another portion of the loop.

To allow keys to be separately stored, the item holding device may be formed into at least two loops. Each loop may have its own storage zone. The resilient element may be formed such that two adjacent loops share a common portion of the loop wall. It is preferred that the turned in lip overlies this common portion. If two loops are formed, it is preferred that each loop has its own turned in lip to allow keys to be attached or removed from that loop.

If the item holding device comprises two loops sharing a common loop wall, one turned in lip may overly one side of the common loop wall, while the other turned in lip may overly an opposite side of the common loop portion. This may facilitate insertion and removal of keys or like items into the separate loop areas.

The at least one loop may be of any suitable size or configuration. For instance, the at least one loop may be circular or oval but may also be formed into other shapes such as polygonal shapes, triangles, aesthetic shapes such as heart shapes and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 illustrates an item holding device according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the device of Figure l;

Figures 3A and 3B show plan and side views of a key about to be attached to the item holding device;

Figure 4 shows a key attached to one loop of the item holding device;

Figure 5 shows an embodiment where the turned in lips are recessed to provide a flush surface; and Figure 6 shows a further slimline embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings and initially to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown an item holding device 10. Item holding device 10 is formed from an elongate unitary resilient metal rod or wire. Item holding device 10 in the embodiment comprises two loops 11, 12, each loop forming an item storage zone where keys or similar items can be stored. It can be seen in the Figures that the embodiment allows keys to be stored on separate loops such that, for instance, house keys and car keys can be attached to different loops. If necessary, each loop can include an identification tag, or be coloured different to allow easy identification of the particular type of key on the loop. Loops 11, 12 share a common loop wall 13 which bisects the two loops 11, 12. Common loop wall 13 in the embodiment does itself not form a storage zone area as keys or like items are not stored on the common loop wall 13 but should be moved along this wall to the storage portions of the respective loop 11 or 12.

In the embodiment, the item holding device is formed from a single wire which is bent into the required shape. The wire therefore has two ends. In the embodiment, it is preferred that each end is left free and is provided with a turned in lip 14, 15. Turned in lip 14 forms the entry or exit point for loop 12 while turned in lip 15 forms the entry or exit point of loop 11. The turned in lips 14, 15 overly common loop wall 13 and the common loop wall 13 and the respective turned in lips 14, 15 are biased towards each other to tightly clamp together. This can be achieved by having the resilient element formed from a suitable spring steel. As can be seen in the Figures, the turned in lips are on opposite sides of the common loop wall 13 which can facilitate attachment of keys to the respective loops 11, 12 without inadvertently attaching a key to the wrong loop.

The turned in lips 14, 15 do not need to be chiselled or ramped to facilitate attachment of keys, although this may be done to prevent snagging or to provide an aesthetic finish. Turned in lips 14, 15 extend only a short portion along common loop wall 13 and preferably do not extend across the entire loop wall as this is unnecessary. Instead, it is preferred that the length of the turned in lip is sufficient to provide enough clamping contact with common loop wall 13 to prevent inadvertent removal of the keys. The length of the turned in lip is also preferably short enough to allow a key to be inserted with the end of turned in lip able to be readily inserted into key slot 16 (see Figure 2) . It is found that the length of the turned in lip can be between 3 to 10mm.

Figures 3A and 3B illustrate how a key can be easily inserted onto the keyring. Initially, and as illustrated in Figure 3A, the head of a key 17 is pushed between the clamped together turned in lip 14 and the underlying common loop wall 13. This action can be assisted by holding loop 11 between a thumb and forefinger and then pushing the head of key 17 between turned in lip 14 and common loop wall 13. The pushing action is assisted as the key can be guided along loop 12 and towards turned in lip 14. Once the key has been pushed to open up turned in lip, it is pushed further until the turned in lip naturally passes through key slot 16. Once this occurs, the key is attached to loop 12 and can then be simply pushed to any portion of the loop. That is, unlike other keyrings, there is no large distance in which to force the key between tightly clamped adjacent coiled portions. Once the key is on loop 12, turned in lip 14 will spring back to clamp against common loop wall 13 to prevent the key from being removed. The turned in lip has other advantages in that although the actual clamping distance between turned in lip 14 and common loop wall 13 is relatively small, a key on loop 12 will not become inadvertently dislodged as it will tend to strike the common loop wall and will not constantly press against turned in lip 14.

Keys can be attached to the other loop 11 in a similar manner but this time using turned in lip 15. A key on one of loops 11 or 12 cannot be moved to the other loop without being removed from the one loop and reinserted into the other loop.

Figure 5 shows a variation where the turned in lips are recessed into common loop wall 13 to provide a flush non-snagging keyring.

Figure 6 shows another slimline configuration where the common loop wall is angled.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An item holding device formed from an elongate unitary resilient element and having at least one item storage zone, the element having at least one free end formed with a turned in lip, the lip overlying another portion of the element, the lip and the other portion being biased towards each other.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the element is formed into at least one loop, part of the loop comprising the storage zone, the lip forming one end of the loop and overlying another portion of the loop.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the element is formed into at least two loops, each loop having a said storage zone, the at least two loops having a common portion of the loop wall in common, each loop having a free end formed with a turned in lip which overlies the common portion.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein one of the turned in lips overlies one side of the common portion and the other of the turned in lips overlies an opposite side of the common portion.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the two loops form separate storage zones whereby an item attached to one loop cannot be freely moved to the other loop.

6. The device of claim 5 comprising a keyring.