US2716483A - Coin holder and key chain device - Google Patents

Description

Aug- 30, 1955 w. G. NAUMAN 2,716,483

com HOLDER AND KEY ACHAIN DEvIcE Filed March 22, 1952 L1 j /a i i f j EE 25 /2 |NvENToR /5 WALTER G.NAUMAN ATTORNEYS United States COIN HOLDER AND KEY CHAIN DEVICE Walter G. Nauman, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application March 22, 1952, Serial No. 278,064 6 Claims. (Cl. 206-0.81)

My invention appertains to a coinl holder and key chain combination and more particularly to a novel coin holder which may be easily and readily attached or removed from its key chain without the necessity f opening the snap fastener of the chain.

While my device may be readily adapted to hold any denomination, size or number of coins, it is primarily I, designed asvan emergency coin holder tofhold coins of the denomination now used generally for parking meters and pay telephones. Persons who frequently use parking meters or pay telephones have heretofore been obliged Lil" to keep on hand a considerable number of coins of the H,

correct denomination for that use. invariably, however, if a person is not constantly reminded in some manner, he forgets to replenish his supply and often finds that he does not have the desired coin when he is about to use the parking meter or pay telephone. This means that he must obtain change in order to .acquire the correct denomination of coin and this often results in undue effort, delay and waste of time.

In order to overcome this ditlculty coin holders have been designed in the past to carry coins of certain denomassurance should an emergency arise that he will always f? have available the correct coins.

Therefore, it is a primary object of my invention to provide a coin holder and key chain in whichthe coins in the holder are visible to the user and in which the coin holder may be quickly and readily detached from the chain without the necessity of opening thekey chains snap fastener. t

Another important object of my invention is to provide a at elongated coin holder which has provided at one end thereof a round aperture of a suicient diameter to receive a ball key chain and which is provided with a restricted slot communicating with the -round aperture and opening out at one end of the coin holder but, of such a width that the balls of the key chain willnot pass through.

A further object of my invention is to provide the ball key chain with a reduced portion intermediate its length which will pass through the restricted end slot. y

A still furtherk object of my invention is `to, provide a simple, practical and reliable construction that is economical to manufacture,` easy to assemble, and positive in its operation.

With these and other objects in view, and to the end of attaining any other advantages hereinaftery appearing,

2,716,483 Patented Aug.,30, 1955 ICC combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, pointed out in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In said drawings:

Figure l is a top plan view of my novel coin holder and key chain, certain parts being broken away to better illustrate details of construction;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of my coin holder and key chain showing in particular how the coin holder is held to the ball key chain;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal` section through my coin holder, the section being taken on the line 3-3 of Figure l looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the coin holder in the same position on the key chain as illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of my device showing the key holder in the same position on the chain as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawing;

Figure 5 is a vertical, longitudinal section through my coin holder, similar to Figure 3 of the drawings but, showing the reduced portion of the ball key chain in alignment with the restricted opening of the coin holder whereby the key chain may be moved in the direction of the arrows to the dotted line position to release the coin holder therefrom;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional viewl similar to n Figures 3 and 5 of the drawing but illustrating a modified reduced portion on the ball key chain;

Figure 7 is an end elevational view similar to Figure 4 of the drawings and showing the modified key chain shown in Figure 6; and

Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view through my coin holder similar to Figures 3, 5, and 6 of the drawings but illustrating a further modification of the reduced portion of the ball key chain.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter H generally indicates one type of my improved coin holder and key chain device.

More specifically, the coin holder and key chain device H comprise a receptacle 10, adapted to receive the coins C, and the ball key chain 11. The receptacle 10 is of the same construction in lall figures in the drawing and includes a relatively thin and long body 12 having a closed rounded end 13, a rounded open end 14, .top and bottom walls 15 and 16, side walls 17 and 18, and a rounded end wall 19 to form the integral receptacle 10.

While the body 12 of the receptacle 10 may be formed from any desired material, in the preferred form I utilize a transparent plastic so that the coins will always be visible to the user and serve as a constant reminder to keep ou hand the coins of desired denomination. It is to be noted that the side walls 17 and 18 terminate a short distance before the rounded open end 14 and that the top and bottom walls 15 and 16 therefore, extend beyond the side walls to form an open space 20.

The coins C may be slipped into the open space 20 through the open end 14 and into the receptacle 10. The coins are held in the receptacle 10 by the chain 11 which is received in the rounded apertures 21 and 22 vformed in top and bottom walls 15 and 16 respectively adjacent the open end 14. Also formed in the top and bottom walls 15 and 16 communicating with the rounded apertures 21 and 22 and opening out on the end 14, are a pair of restricted slots 23 and 24. It is to be noted that the rounded apertures 21 and 22 are of a size and configuration to receive the balls 25 of the key chain 11 and that the restricted slots 23 and 24 are of such a this invention consists in certain features of construction, T width that the balls 25 will not pass through.

The spacing and width of the key hole type opening 26, formed by the apertures 21 and 22 and restricted slots 23 and 24, is such that when one of the balls 25 is ,received in .the space 2li the nextadjacent balls -25 on .ei-ther side of the ball 25 in the opening 2l) willbe received in the respective rounded apertures 2l and 22 .as illustrated more particularly in Figures l, 2, 3 Vand 4 of the drawings. Therefore, the coin holder or receptacle 10 cannot be disengaged from the chain ll and vthe chain blocks the open end i4 so that the coinscan not be removed from the holder.

However, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide the key chain ll with a pair of conventional snap fasteners 2'7 and the links between the two snap fasteners 27 are modified to form elongated reducedlink portions 23 and 29 between the balls 3l). By referring to Figure 5 of the drawings it can be seen that 'the elongated narrow link portions 2S and 29 are of the same length as the thickness of the respective top and bottom walls 15 and 16. Therefore, when the coin holder is aligned with the ball 30 in the space 2.0, the reduced link portions 28 and 29 will be aligned 4with the restricted slots 23 and 24 and the next adjacent balls 3ll'will lie on the outer surface of the top and bottorn walls 1S and 16. In this position the chain 1l may be .moved in the direction of the arrows to its dotted line position whereby the ball 30 will move through Vthe space 2t) and the link portions 23, 29 will move through the restricted slots 23 and 24 respectively to release the coin holder or receptacle l0 from chain 11 and the coins may then be easily removed.

The above embodiment of my invention is extremely easy to manufacture and may be put on the market at a very reasonable cost. The chain l1, for example, is formed merely from two types of stock. The longer length of the chain in which the balls 25 are closely spaced and the shorter length from stock in which the balls 30 are spaced apart is a length which exceeds the length of the top or bottom wall 1S or 16 respectively. ln assembling the chain l prefer utilizing tive equally spaced balls 30 for the short length, the center ball be- 'ing designated as 3Q'. I find that this equal spacing provides additional space between the balls Sil, not only acts as a releasing means but also adds a novel locking feature to my device which prevents the accidental removal of the coin holder. For example, assuming that the coin holder 10 is on the chain l1 as shown in Fig. 3, but just above the top snap fastener 27 shown in Fig. 5 of the Y g drawings and that through accidental means the coin holder is moving toward the shorter chain portion and the balls 3i). As soon as the bottom wall i5 of the coin holder lll Clears the end of the upper snap fastener 27 the reduced portion 28 between the balls 30 will be received in the slot 23 and the ball 30 just adjacent the center ball 30 will lock on the under surface of the which the conventional. snap fastener 27 is provided with a flattened or reduced portion 3l, the length of so which is slightly greater than the thickness of the coin holder 10. When the reduced portion 31 is aligned with opening 26 as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the coin holder may be released by moving the chain in the direction of the arrows to its dotted line position. lt is to be noted that in order for the holder to be accidentally removed the snap fastener 27 must be turned so that the llattened or thin edge of the reduced portion 31 is aligned with the slot 23 or 24.

In Figure S the key chain is of the conventional type and is provided with a single snap fastener (not shown). At any point intermediate its length, one link 32, between the balls 25, is elongated to form the reduced portion.

VThe elongated reduced length 32 is also of a slightly by moving the chain in the direction of the arrows to the Vdotted line positionas shown, the coin holder may be released from the chain, the link 32 passing through the slots 23 and 24.

From the above it can be seen that I have provided a novel coin holder and key chain combination in which the key chain may be quickly and easily attached to the coin holder and vice versaywithout the necessity of opening the chain and that the key chain also acts to hold or retain the coins in the receptacle` Changes in details lmay be made without departing from the spirit Vor the scope of this invention, but, what I claim as new is:

l. A coil holder and `ball -key chain combination wherein said coin holder is normally attached to said chain but may be quickly and easily detached therefrom without opening the key chain snap fastener, comprising athin elongated body having integral top,tbottorn, side .andend walls deninga recptacle therein opened at one end, said open end having a longitudinal key hole slot opening .out on .the .open end providing an inner enlarged aperture o'f a slightly greater diameter than the diameter .of any one of the halls `in the key chain and a restricted .slot portion the thickness of which is less than the diameter of anyone ofthe balls on the key chain, and a reduced portion .onsaid ball key chain intermediate its ends of a length greater than the thickness of the coin holder, whereby when the reduced portion of the ball key slot chain is aligned in the key opening the coin holder may be separated from the chain.

.2. A ,Coin holder and 'ball key chain combination wherein-said `coin Iholder is normally attached to said ,chain but maybe quickly and easilyk detached therefrom without opening the keychain snap fastener comprising .a thin elongated body Yhaving integral top, bottom, side and end -walls'den'ing a receptacle therein opened at one end, said open end having a longitudinal key hole slot opening out-on the open endproviding an inner enlarged aperture of a slightly greater diameter than the diameter of any one. of the balls in the key chain, said ball key chainhaving a pair of spaced snap fasteners intermediate its ends, defining an elongated chain length and a relatively short chain` length, said short chain length having elongated reduced link portions between the balls, said reduced link portions be-ing of a greater length than the thickness of therestricted slot portion.

`El. A .coin holder and ball 'key chain combination wherein said coin holder is .normally attached to said chainbut may be quickly and easily detached therefrom without opening the key chain snap `fastener' comprising a thin elongated body having 'integral top, bottom, side and end walls defining a receptacle therein opened at one end, said top and bottorn'walls terminating beyond said side walls adjacent said open end to form an open space therebetween, said top and bottom walls each having an aligned rounded aperture -therethrough and a restricted slot communicating with said aperture and opening out on saidopen end, said restricted slot having an open thicknesswhich isless 'than the diameter of any one of 'theballs in Vthe key chain, and a reduced portion on said ballikey `chain of a size land configuration to pass through therestrictedjs'lots, whereby whenA the restricted slots are in 'alignmentwith said reduced 'portion the coin holder 'may'berernoved from the ball key chain.

4. A coin holder and key chain combintion as set forth-'in claim l wherein'the reduced portion of said ball Lkey chain includes afattened intermediate section on the key chain snap ffastener.

:5. `A-coin fholder and ball keychain combination as lset'forth in claim 'llwherein theireduced portion of said ball-key chaincomprises anelongated narrow link ybetween .clhain 'ibut fmay: be l:quick1yl.and I easily i detached .therefrom without opening the key chain snap fastener, comprising the coin holder may be detached from said ball key a thin elongated body having an integral top, bottom, chain. side and end walls defining a receptacle therein opened at one end, said top and bottom walls each having an References Ctedin the file 0f this Patent aligned rounded aperture and a restricted slot opening 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS restricted slots are in alignment with said reduced portion

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