GB2174230A

GB2174230A - A data holder

Info

Publication number: GB2174230A
Application number: GB08510723A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Alan Grix
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1985-04-26
Filing date: 1985-04-26
Publication date: 1986-10-29
Also published as: GB8510723D0

Abstract

A data holder 2 to be carried in a pocket or bag comprises a front cover 4; a back cover 6; a plurality of data bearing cards 8 pivotable about a tubular eyelet 10; first catch means 12,14 formed by first cooperating parts of the covers for preventing the front cover separating from the back cover in a plane parallel to the cards; and second catch means 24,26,30 formed by second cooperating parts of the covers for preventing the front cover separating from the back cover in a direction perpendicular to the cards, the first and the second catch means being effective to retain the cards in position between the covers as the data holder is being carried in the pocket or bag, and the tubular eyelet being such that it provides a fixing aperture for a fastening device. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A data holder This invention relates to a data holder and it relates more especially to a data holder which is adapted to be carried in a pocket or a bag.

Accordingly, this invention provides a data holder which is adapted to be carried in a pocket or a bag and which comprises a front cover; a back cover; a plurality of data bearing cards; a tubular eyelet which passes through the front cover, the back cover and the cards to hold the front cover, the back cover and the cards together whilst allowing them to rotate relative to one another in planes parallel to the cards; first catch means which is formed by first cooperating parts of the front cover and the back cover and which is for preventing the front cover separating from the back cover in a plane parallel to the cards; and second catch means which is formed by second cooperating parts of the front cover and the back cover and which is for preventing the front cover separating from the back cover in a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the cards, the first and the second catch means being effective to retain the cards in position between the front cover and the back cover as the data holder is being carried in the pocket or the bag, and the tubular eyelet being such that it provides a fixing aperture for a fastening device.

The data holder may be carried in a closed position and it may be attached to keys or the like by a fastening device in the form of a link, split ring, chain, ball and chain arrangement, or the like passing through the fixing aperture in the tubular eyelet. The data holder is primarily for being carried in a pocket or a bag but it can of course be carried as may be desired by the owner. The first and second catch means provide simple yet effective fastening of the front and back covers and the cards together so that the data holder does not normally come open as it is being carried.

This is obviously desirable so that the data holder does not become entangled with keys, coins and the like that may be carried in the owner's pocket or bag.

Preferably, the first cooperating parts for the first catch means and the second cooperating parts for the second catch means are integrally formed with the front cover and the back cover.

The first catch means may be formed by a tongue portion in the back cover, which engages in a recessed portion in the front cover.

The tongue portion and/or the recessed portion may have lead-in parts for facilitating a sliding engagement and disengagement of the front cover with the back cover in the plane parallel to the cards.

The lead-in parts are preferably formed to have lead-in angles of 45".

Advantageously, the recessed portion extends into a thumb or finger receiving recess for receiving a thumb or finger for facilitating engagement of the back cover to exert a pressure on the tongue portion and thus the back cover to cause the front cover to separate from the back cover in the direction which is substantially perpendicular to the cards. The provision of the thumb or finger receiving recess enables the tongue portion to be kept small such that the tongue portion does not project much beyond the top cover.

Thus the tongue portion does not provide a possible projection for unduly catching on items in a person's pocket or bag.

If desired, the first catch means may be formed by the reverse arrangement to that mentioned above in which the front cover has the tongue portion and the back cover has the recessed portion.

Preferably, the second catch means is formed by at least one edge portion of the front cover, clipping into a complementary groove in the back cover.

Preferably, there are two edge portions in the front cover which clip into two complementary grooves in the back cover, the two edge portions of the front cover and their associated complementary grooves being provided one on either side of the first catch means.

If desired, the reverse arrangement for the second catch means may be employed and in this case, at least one edge portion of the back cover will clip into a complementary groove in the front cover.

The front and back covers may be made of the same or different materials. Any suitable materials may be employed. Thus, for example, the front and the back covers may be made of a plastics material.

When a plastics material is employed, the front cover can be transparent if desired, so that the first card can be seen. The first card can then be provided with appropriate general data, such for example as flags of countries or company names and logos. The back cover can also be transparent if desired although the front and the back covers can equally well be nontransparent.

The data bearing cards may include any desired form of data. Thus, for example, the cards may include a plurality of different emergency data statements printed in several languages. The different emergency data statements may be of the kind most commonly needed in emergency circumstances. Thus the data holder can be used to largely obviate the problem of communication in an emergency since written requests or statements of the kind commonly required will always be readily available.

If desired, the data holder may be used as a company information holder so that, for example, a company could provide the cards with data relating to the names, departments and telephone extension numbers of key personnel, or with company history and/or management structures, or with maps showing the locations of various factories within the company.

The data holder can also be used by firms for promotional purposes. Thus, for example, the data holder could be distributed by firms and the cards could contain data relating to products made and/or sold by the company.

Generally, any type of data in any type of suitable form may be provided on the cards.

The cards will usually be made of good quality paper but they can be made of any desired material including card or plastic materials. In this connection, it is to be appreciated that the word "card" is not intended to mean that only cardboard materials are employed.

Preferably, the tubular eyelet is positioned remote from the longitudinal centre line of the data holder. With the eyelet so positioned, a compact data holder can be produced.

Preferably, the eyelet is positioned off centre by one quarter of the width of the data holder.

The eyelet may be positioned off centre by one quarter of the width of the data holder, and in addition the eyelet may extend in distance beyond the remainder of the data holder by one quarter of the width of the data holder.

The data holder is preferably rectangular but other shapes can be employed.

With a rectangular data holder, the total extension of the data holder to accommodate the eyelet preferably does not exceed half the rectangular width. Such an arrangement ensures that when a card is opened by pivotting through 90, the entire area of the card is available for viewing thus ensuring that the maximum area of the card has been made available for a minimum opening angle. This makes for considerable ease of use.

The tubular eyelet will normally have its edges forced over to retain it in position. The tubular eyelet is preferably made of brass or copper but other materials can be employed.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a data holder in an open position,; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the data holder shown in Figure 1 but in a closed position; Figure 3 is an end view of the data holder as shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of part of the data holder shown in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a perspective view of an alternative data holder; and Figure 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view showing part of the data holder shown in Figure 5.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, there is shown a data holder 2 which is adapted to be carried in a pocket or a bag. The data holder 2 comprises a front cover 4, a back cover 6, a plurality of data bearing cards 8, and a tubular eyelet 10 which is made of brass or copper and which passes through the front cover 4, the back cover 6 and the cards 8 as shown.

The eyelet 10 is thus effective to hold the front cover 4, the back cover 8 and the cards 10 together whilst allowing them to rotate relative to one another in planes parallel to the cards 8.

The data holder 2 also includes first catch means which is formed by a tongue portion 12 and a recessed portion 14. The base 6 extends into an end wall 16 and the tongue portion 12 is formed as an extension of the end wall 16. The tongue portion 12 is formed with shoulders 18 which extend at 45Q as shown most clearly in Figure 3. The recessed portion 14 is formed with adjacent shoulders 20 as shown most clearly in Figure 2 and these shoulders 20 are also formed at 45".

The 45" shoulders 18,20 enable the front cover 4 to pivot about the eyelet 10 in a plane parallel to the cards 8 between an open position (in which the cover would then be in the position shown by the card 8 in Figure 1) and a closed position as shown in Figure 2.

The tongue portion 12 snaps into and out of the recessed portion 14 whilst not putting too much strain on the tongue portion 12.

The recess portion 14 extends into a thumb or finger receiving recess 22 for receiving a thumb or finger for facilitating engagement of the tongue portion 12 to exert a pressure on the tongue portion 12 and thus the back cover 6 to cause the front cover 4 to separate from the back cover 6 in a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the cards 8.

The data holder 2 comprises second catch means which is shown most clearly in Figures 2 and 4. The second catch means comprises a pair of edge portions 24,26 of the front cover 4. Figure 4 shows that the edge portions 24 are located at positions 28. A pair of grooves 30 (see Figure 4) are provided adjacent the edge portions 24,26 in the end wall 16 of the back cover 6. The edge portions 24,26 clip into these grooves 30 and they can be released from the grooves 30 by applying finger or thumb pressure on the tongue 12 by placing a finger or a thumb in the recess 22, and then pressing on the tongue portion 12. The edge portions 24,26 and their complementary grooves 30 are for preventing the front cover 4 separating from the back cover 6 in a direction as stated above which is substantially perpendicular to the cards 8.

The first catch means constituted by the tongue portion 12 and the recessed portion 14, and the second catch means constituted by the edge portions 24,26 and the grooves 30 are thus effective to retain the cards 8 in position between the front cover 4 and the back cover 6 as the data holder 2 is carried in the pocket or the bag of a person. Obviously, the number of cards 8 will be so chosen that when the first and the second catch means are closed, everything is a relatively tight friction fit.

For example, sixteen cards 8 may be employed but this obviously depends upon the thickness of the material employed for the cards 8.

The tubular eyelet 10 is such that it provides a fixing aperture 32 for a fastening device such for example as a link, a split ring or a chain. The fixing aperture 32 can thus be used to secure the data holder 2 to a bunch of keys, a pocket torch or any other desired device.

The cards 8 can be printed or otherwise provided with any desired information such for example as emergency information or company promotional information.

If the front cover 4 is made of a transparent plastics material, then the first card 8 can be left substantially blank and perhaps provided with flags 34 of various countries. This will be particularly appropriate when the cards 8 are provided with emergency statements in various languages because the flags of the countries can then indicate the languages to be found on the other cards 8. Obviously, if desired, the front cover 4 can be non-transparent.

Referring now to Figures 5 and 6, similar parts as in Figures 1 to 4 have been given the same reference numerals and their precise construction and operation will not again be given. In Figures 5 and 6, it will be seen that the positions of the tongue portion 12 and the recessed portion 14 have been reversed so that the tongue portion 12 is integrally formed with the front cover 4 and the recessed portion 14 and its associated recess 22 are integrally formed in the end wall 16 of the back cover 6.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected, Thus, for example, the data holder 2 can be produced in a shape which is other than the basically rectangular shape shown in the drawings. Also, the edge portions 24,26 could be provided as projections on the inside face 36 of the end wall 16, in which case these projections would fit in grooves 30 formed in the end portions 24,26 of the front cover 4.

Claims

1. A data holder which is adapted to be carried in a pocket or a bag and which comprises a front cover; a back cover; a plurality of data bearing cards; a tubular eyelet which passes through the front cover, the back cover and the cards to hold the front cover, the back cover and the cards together whilst allowing them to rotate relative to one another in planes parallel to the cards; first catch means which is formed by first cooperating parts of the front cover and the back cover and which is for preventing the front cover separating from the back cover in a plane parallel to the cards; and second catch means which is formed by second cooperating parts of the front cover and the back cover and which is for preventing the cover separating from the back cover in a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the cards, the first and the second catch means being effective to retain the cards in position between the front cover and the back cover as the data holder is being carried in the pocket or the bag, and the tubular eyelet being such that it provides a fixing aperture for a fastening device.

2. A data holder according to claim 1 in which the first cooperating parts for the first catch means and the second cooperating parts for the second catch means are integrally formed with the front cover and the back cover.

3. A data holder according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the first catch means is formed by a tongue portion in the back cover, which engages in a recessed portion in the front cover.

4. A data holder according to claim 3 in which the tongue portion and/or the recessed portion have lead-in parts for facilitating a sliding engagement and disengagement of the front cover with the back cover in the plane parallel to the cards.

5. A data holder according to claim 4 in which the lead-in parts are formed to have lead-in angles of 45".

6. A data holder according to any one of claims 3 to 5 in which the recessed portion extends into a thumb or finger receiving recess for receiving a thumb or finger for facilitating engagement of the back cover to exert a pressure on the tongue portion and thus the back cover to cause the front cover to separate from the back cover in the direction which is substantially perpendicular to the cards.

7. A data holder according to any one of the preceding claims in which the second catch means is formed by at least one edge portion of the front cover, clipping into a complementary groove in the back cover.

8. A data holder according to claim 7 in which there are two of the edge portions in the front cover which clip into two complementary grooves in the back cover, the two edge portions of the front cover and their associated complementary grooves being provided one on either side of the first catch means.

9. A data holder according to any one of the preceding claims in which the tubular eyelet is positioned remote from the longitudinal centre line of the data holder.

10. A data holder according to claim 9 in which the tubular eyelet is positioned off centre by one quarter of the width of the data holder.

11. A data holder according to claim 10 in which the tubular eyelet is positioned off centre by one quarter of the width of the data holder, and in which the tubular eyelet extends in distance beyond the remainder of the data holder by one quarter of the width of the data holder.

12. A data holder according to any one of the preceding claims and which is rectangular in plan.

13. A data holder according to claim 12 in which the total extension of the data holder to accommodate the tubular eyelet does not exceed half the rectangular width.

14. A data holder substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.