EP1345186A1

EP1345186A1 - Multiple holder for coins and other articles for personal use

Info

Publication number: EP1345186A1
Application number: EP02425148A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Christian Pio Pedulla'
Original assignee: Pagliacci Gianfilippo; Piazzolla Paolo
Current assignee: Pagliacci Gianfilippo; Piazzolla Paolo
Priority date: 2002-03-13
Filing date: 2002-03-13
Publication date: 2003-09-17

Abstract

A multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use comprises a hollow body (C) of generally prismatic shape, whose cavity (V) is prearranged to house and eventually fix therein one or more objects of personal use, such as a packet of cigarettes (S), a mobile phone and the like. The walls of said container have a structure formed of two layers (Ci, Ce) with a narrow interspace (I). Said interspace (I) is divided into a plurality of channels, open at least at one end and provided with a central slit (F) of access on the external wall, into each of said channels being housed one or more superposed rows of coins of different value.

Description

The present invention concerns a multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use such as, in particular, mobile phones, packets of cigarettes, banknotes, keys and the like.
As known, the recent introduction in Europe of the united Euro currency has lead to a radical change in the daily uses of our money, particularly in those countries where the value and, consequently, the number of coins has notably increased in respect of those circulating previously. This circumstance has made it indispensable to adopt new purses apt to speed up and make more practical the use of this new considerable amount of coins, as well as making it simpler to single out each different coin.
For this purpose, several types of purses have been proposed up to date on the market, which can be substantially divided in two groups: purses in which the coins are freely housed into one or more compartments; and purses in which the coins are instead blocked into a plurality of specifically prearranged compartments.
The more traditional purses form part of the first group and they substantially differ one from the other for the number and arrangement of the compartments, for their opening system and for the layout of the coins. The second group comprises instead the purses recently spread on the market, which substantially consist of a stiff plate, generally of rectangular shape, consisting of two facing sheets of plastic material, the interspace formed between the two sheets being divided into a plurality of channels, each of which has a transversal dimension exactly corresponding to that of a specific coin.
A row of coins having the same value can thus be housed into each of said channels, the inlet and outlet of such coins being obtained by acting with a fingertip into an appropriate slit extending along one of the two sidewalls of the channel and throughout the length thereof. The fingertip acts against the slight friction which the sidewalls of the channel impart onto the edge of the coins, said friction preventing any accidental outlet of the coins from the purse.
The present invention concerns this second group of purses, of which it forms a substantial improvement. The inventor has in fact reckoned how said purses, although providing obvious advantages in respect of the traditional purses, as they allow to make a payment in an easy, fast and precise manner, also involve evident drawbacks, tied to their stiff shape and to their considerable bulk

seen that they must be able to store as many as eight different types of coins
which make their use uncomfortable and unpleasant, thereby limiting the spreading thereof in the market. These drawbacks become all the more evident in the summer period when, due to the fact that one wears less and lighter clothes, the number and size of the personal objects having to be carried must forcedly be reduced.

The object of the present invention is thus to supply a purse of the type belonging to the second group described heretofore, namely with different channels to house the coins, each sized for a single type of coin, which substantially takes up no additional space for the user, in respect of that taken up by the other objects of personal use which the user is normally accustomed to carry along.
According to the present invention, said object is reached by means of a multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, characterized in that it comprises a hollow body of generally prismatic shape, whose cavity is prearranged to house and eventually fix therein one or more objects of personal use, and in that the walls of said container have a structure formed of two layers with a narrow interspace and said interspace is divided into a plurality of channels, open at least at one end and provided with a central slit extending along at least part of the external wall delimiting the channel, each of said channels having its wider transversal dimension corresponding to that of a coin of specific value.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, said object of personal use is a packet of cigarettes and said container is shaped as a right parallelepiped, having an inner section fitting to the outer section of a packet of cigarettes, and it is open at one end.
According to another feature of the invention, said object of personal use is a mobile phone and said container is generally shaped as a right prism, with a section apt to fit said mobile phone, it is open at one end where a closing cover is provided, and it moreover comprises windows and/or walls of flexible transparent material in correspondence of the screen and of the keypad of said mobile phone.
According to a further feature of the invention, said object of personal use includes one or more objects having an irregular or a time-changeable shape, and said container has a box-like configuration of any shape, eventually comprising inner partitions to house or fix therein one or more of said objects.
An embodiment of the container according to the present invention, in which the object of personal use consists of a packet of cigarettes, will now be described more in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partially cut through, of a multiple container according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view from the top, partially cut through, of the container of fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a plan view from the bottom, partially cut through, of the container of fig. 1; and
Fig. 4 is a lateral view, partially cut through, of the left side of the container of fig. 1.
The inventor's insight, on which the present invention is based, derives from the initial observation according to which the great majority of the consumers, namely the people who are potentially interested in using an efficient and practical purse, normally carry with them, practically always, a plurality of objects of personal use. Said consumers would thus evidently be very interested in being able to associate a purse to such objects, or vice versa, so as to reduce the overall space taken up by said articles, which often causes inconveniences and forgetfulness.
Nonetheless, in this field of technique, the inventor's insight has not expressed itself in the mere juxtaposition of two different existing objects, but rather in the accomplishment of a multifunctional container of a totally new type, which involves a drastic reduction in the bulks and an increased efficiency of use. In fact, said container substantially consists of a main body apt to house inside the same one or more objects of personal use, while its external walls have a configuration consisting of two layers with a narrow interspace apt to house, into suitable channels formed therein, coins of different size and value.
The object of personal use can have a definite shape of its own - as, for example, a packet of cigarettes or a mobile phone - and, in this case, the inner cavity of the container will be shaped so as to fit, with a slight slack, said object of definite shape. Alternatively, the object of personal use can have an irregular or time-changeable shape - as in the case of banknotes, keys, handkerchiefs, chewing-gum, and the like - in which case the inner cavity will have a box-like configuration of any shape and will eventually comprise partitions to allow inserting or fixing therein one or more of said objects.
The structure of a particular embodiment of the multiple container according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Said embodiment of course represents a mere example and its features should in no way be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention.
The multiple container according to the present invention consists of a hollow body C which defines an inner central cavity V, into which can be housed one or more objects of personal use. In the illustrated embodiment, said object consists of a packet of cigarettes S; the pocket V is therefore shaped as a right parallelepiped with a rectangular section, which is identical to the outer section of a packet of cigarettes, except for the slight slack required to make sure that the packet could be inserted therein. Said body C is open at one end - and precisely the top end - to allow inserting and extracting the packet of cigarettes S. Finally, the height of the body C is such as to leave free the top part of the packet of cigarettes, in correspondence of its opening.
According to the essential feature of the present invention, all the external walls of the body C have a double-layer structure formed of two thin parallel walls Ci and Ce - the inner and the outer wall respectively - parted by an empty interspace I. Vertical and horizontal baffle plates T are positioned across the inner part of said interspace I, said plates T being apt to create the required mechanical connection between the inner wall Ci and the outer wall Ce of the body C, and being moreover apt to form a plurality of straight channels with parallel walls for housing the coins. In correspondence of each of said channels the outer wall Ce of the body C has a wide slit F, which leaves open the central part of the channel, thereby displaying a portion of the coins inserted in the channel, as clearly illustrated in figs. 1 and 4.
The channels described heretofore can be formed on all the walls of the container and can be suitably configuration to allow housing coins of different size. The thickness of the baffle plates T varies of course from channel to channel, so that the width of each channel may exactly correspond to that of the coins having to be housed therein; in this way, the actual plates T are apt to guarantee the friction required to keep the coins in a steady position, once they have been inserted in the respective channel. Preferably, the gap width of the interspace I, and thus the gap width of the channels formed therein, is such as to allow inserting in each channel more than one row of superposed coins, for example two rows as shown on the drawings; in this case a thin longitudinal rib, formed in a central position on the lateral surfaces of the baffle plates T, allows to insert more easily the coins into the channels with double gap width and keep them therein in a correct position.
The different channels can of course be freely arranged on the walls of the body C and, moreover, they can be blind (as shown on the drawings) or open at both ends, with no limitations. The drawings illustrate a possible arrangement of the channels, particularly designed to house Euro coins, which will be briefly described hereunder.
Vertical channels 1E and 2E are formed on the front surface of the body C (fig. 1), to house two superposed rows, each comprising two coins of 1 Euro and, respectively, 2 Euro; while channels 50C and 20C are formed on the rear surface of the body C (plan view of fig. 2) to house, in a likewise manner, as many coins of 50 cent and, respectively, 20 cent. It can be noted that the rear wall of the body C can also be made higher than the front wall, that is, up to reaching the opening portion G of the packet of cigarettes S (fig. 4); in this case, the channels 50C and 20C will have an extension such as to allow housing three coins in each row.
On the left side of the body C (fig. 4) there are formed a vertical channel 5C having a reduced height and being apt, to house two superposed rows, each comprising two coins of 5 cent, and an underlying horizontal channel 1C which houses two superposed coins of 1 cent. Likewise, on the right side of the body C (fig. 2) there are formed a vertical channel 2C housing four coins of 2 cent, and an underlying horizontal channel 1C (not shown on the drawings) housing two coins of 1 cent. Finally, three transversal channels (fig. 3) to house three couples of coins of 1 cent or of 2 cent, or alternatively, a single longitudinal channel to house six coins of the same type, can be formed on the bottom of the body C.
The container according to the present invention is thus apt to house, in a simple, efficient and promptly available manner, up to thirty-eight coins of different value for an overall amount exceeding 15 Euro, taking up a space which is practically equal to that taken up by the packet of cigarettes S, namely by the object of personal use inserted in said container, thereby fully reaching the object of the present invention.
From the above description it should be quite evident that the dimensions and shape of the container according to the present invention, as well as the arrangement and dimensions - both in length and in gap width - of the channels formed therein, can be widely varied, both so as to be adapted to the shape of the object or objects of personal use housed therein, and so as to house different quantities or types of coins, without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention, such as defined in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, characterized in that it comprises a hollow body (C) of generally prismatic shape, whose cavity (V) is prearranged to house and eventually fix therein one or more objects of personal use, and in that the walls of said container have a structure formed of two layers (Ci, Ce) with a narrow interspace (I) and said interspace is divided into a plurality of channels, open at least at one end and provided with a central slit (F) extending along at least part of the external wall delimiting the channel, each of said channels having its wider transversal dimension corresponding to that of a coin of specific value.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in claim 1), wherein said object of personal use is a packet of cigarettes (S) and said container is shaped as a right parallelepiped, having an inner section fitting to the outer section of a packet of cigarettes (S), and it is open at one end.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in claim 1), wherein said object of personal use is a mobile phone and said container is generally shaped as a right prism, having a section apt to fit said mobile phone, it is open at one end where a closing cover is provided, and it moreover comprises windows and/or walls of flexible transparent material in correspondence of the screen and of the keypad of said mobile phone.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in claim 1), wherein said object of personal use includes one or more objects having an irregular or a time-changeable shape, and said container has a box-like configuration of any shape, eventually comprising inner partitions to house or fix therein one or more of said objects.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in any one of the previous claims, wherein said interspace (I) has a gap width such as to allow housing, in each of said channels, two rows of superposed coins.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in claim 5), wherein a thin longitudinal rib is formed, in a central position, on the sidewalls of said channels, so as to delimit the position of said rows of superposed coins.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in any one of the previous claims, wherein said interspace (I) is divided into channels through a plurality of baffle plates (T), which also form elements of mechanical connection between the inner layer (Ci) and the outer layer (Ce) of said two layer structure.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in any one of the previous claims, wherein said channels extend partly in a vertical direction and partly in a horizontal direction.
Multiple container for coins and other objects of personal use, as in claim 8), having the shape of a right parallelepiped and comprising two vertical channels (1E, 2E and 50C, 20C) on the two major surfaces, a vertical channel (5C and 2C) and an underlying horizontal channel (1C) on the two minor surfaces, and three transversal channels or a single longitudinal channel, all anyhow horizontal, on the bottom surface.