US2319173A - Ash tray and token holder combination - Google Patents

Description

May l 1, .1943.

F. L. WEISS ASH TRAY AND TOKEN momma COMBINATION Filed July 7, 1939 INVENTOR Patented May 11, 1943 UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE ASH TRAY AND TOKEN HOLDER COMBINATION Frank L. Weiss, New York, N. Y. Application July 7, 1939, Serial 190,233,135 a 1 Claim. (o 1a1--2s5) This invention pertains to a combination device for the retention and stacking of multiple sets of tokens or coins and for the collection and retention of smokers refuse, such as ashes, partly consumed cigars, cigarets and the like.

Sinceit is usual that persons engaged in gaming at the same time engage in smoking, it has been found desirable to provide in a single unit some form of receptacle which can at the same time function to retain in stacks the tokens used in the games, such as coins, or so-called playing chips, and which will simultaneously function to hold-the refuse which is derived from the smoking of the players.

It has hitherto been the custom for a separate receptacle to be provided solelyfor the purpose of the collection of smokers refuse. When a single receptacle is made to function for the use of the plurality of players who are necessarily present at games, such receptacle will speedily become filled, if it be made of a size which may conveniently be placed upon the surface of the table where the gaming is .taking place. If made large enough to be placed upon "the floor, it can be conveniently accessibleto only two players, and furthermore itis extremely liable to be accidentally overturned under such circumstances, unless elaborate and expensive devices are used to minimize the danger of suchoverturning. on the other hand if separate ash traysbe provided for each player, the trays will take uproom and interfere with .his stacking of tokens, so that under such circumstances the possibility of ac-: cidental mixture of the contents of the ash tray with tokens is ever present. v

' The present invention overcomes the d'ifficul-' ties, just described by providing aplurality of combined ash .trays and token holders, one for each player. Thus each player can have before him all of his tokens stacked in such fashion as to be readily available, and his individual ash tray, the two articles being so combined that intermixture of the contents of the twoflis not liable to accidental occurrence, --and the table space taken up by the combination article is only slightly greater than that which would be occupied byan individual ash tray alone. a

One object of the present invention is to provide an individual combination ash tray and token holder which will be light in weight, at-' tractive in appearance, and which may be filled with tokens prior to the actual commencement of a game, so that time Will not be consumed in dealing out tokens, as is customarily necessary.

in a device of this combination character, means for retaining a number of tokens of various sizes, colors or appearances, such as arecustomarily used to represent diiferent monetary values, each separate denomination being retained in its individual compartment, whereby the removal of a predetermined total monetaryvalue of tokens, by the player, is greatly facilitated, as also is; the re-stackingof tokens taken in by the player.

A yet further object of this invention is .to providela combination device of this character which may belmolded from suitable plastic material in a form having pockets, the interior of which may be used to 'snufi out the unconsumed portion of cigarets, so as to avoid the continued combustion thereof, when the smokerhas finished his use of thecigaretf I T ff A still further purpose fofthis' invention is to so form the pockets of the device that'thie projecting portions of the legs of one tray ,Will fit within the pockets of another ash tray, thereby allowing the individual trays to be stacked upon one another when not in use, even though the token compartments contain a number ofjtokens therein, andthe'interfitting of the 'legs of the separate trays preventing such trays from being accidentally dislodged from the stack of trays, as 'Well as, aiding in retaining the tokens in each tray. r

I may additionally provide spring retaining means for. holding together the trays into a stack of the character just described, and may form this springretaining means so that a portion thereof may, serve as a handle whereby to carry about the once-assembled stackof trays.

Furthermore, I may so form the spring retaining means,,so as to allow its use fora purpose analogous to the rake of the croupier, as employed in gaming practice, 1. e., to shove or push about upon the surface of the gaming table, tokens which are lying upon'such surface. I

' In addition I may provide a covering means which may be placed upon the topmost of the trays. after these latter have-been stacked together, and which Will function to retain in their respective compartments the tokens which are in such topmost tray, the tokens in the other trays of the stack being retained in their proper corn- 'partments by the functioning of the bottoms of the respective trays which are situated immediately above and thus serve as retaining covers for such tokens lying directly therebeneath.

The handle member itself may serve to hold at least some of the tokens in their respective Another object of this invention is to provide pockets.

Other purposes and advantages of this invention will be apparent from an inspection of the hereunto attached drawing where:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one of the units of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation partly in cross section, illustrating the way in which two units of my invention interlock with one another. v I Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the composite struc ture formed by the interlocking of several units with a handle.

Referring now especially to Figs. 1 and 2, ther is shown a flat body I of suitable design formed of any suitable material, such as molded plastics of the phenolic condensation or other types.

This is provided with a recess 8, serving as a I refuse receptacle.

open at the edge and provided with flanges H), of a size and shape suitable for the stacking of tokens ll, of any suitable kind. The projecting lips l2 of the cut away portions, serve to retain tokens in place, so that they can only be removed through the upper surface of the body 1. The recesses 9 are open at the top and bottom so as to permit the tokens to be grasped between Directly beneath each pocket 13 there continues Along a, portion of the edge of the body, there are token-receiving recesses 9 a downwardly projecting leg 15, of smaller diameter than the pocket. v

' Referring now additionally to Fig. 3, there is here illustrated the manner in which one of the legs l5 will fit into the packet I3of the unit lying directly beneath it, when two units are being assembled or stacked upon one another, forpurposes of storage and carriage; In Fig. 4 there are shown four such units which have been interlocked with one another after the fashion shown in Fig. 3, but with the interlocking complete, so that the adjacent surfaces of each unit are in close contact with each other, thereby preventing the tokens lying in the lower chambers 9 from falling out after the units have been assembled. However, it will be noted that the tokens'in the unit which is uppermost of the stack will'not have lying thereover any such retaining means. ThereforeI may provide a disc :IB, to cover the topmost tray. This disc is conveniently made from any suitable material such as a plastic, and may be transparentif so de-' sired. This disc is preferably of the same diam-j eter as the unit trays, land may be of any suits able thickness, according to the material of which it is formed.

The assembled trays and the retaining disc are conveniently held together by a clamp memj 7 ber ll, of flat metal or similar material, such as spring strip, and is slightly springy, yielding enough to allow its clamping over the assembled trays. The upper end 18 of member I! forms a handle and when the member is removed and the trays separated, the handl may be used to shove about tokens upon a table surface.

The locking devices of this device may be formed other than as legs, and may extend either upwardly or downwardly to engage the adjacent tray in a vertical direction.

The upper surface of one or all of the bodies I may have shallow notches such as I9, 20 to -position the clamp member I! in case the disc is not used. In fact, the clamp member l1 may serve to assist in holding at least some of the tokens in the respective top chambers by simply 5 applying the clamp member over the chambered portion of the body.

The combination device serves to hold a number of sets of tokens in such a manner that they can all be handled as a, unit, the trays being separated when desired and distributed to the individual players.

While I have shown the trays as approximately circular it should be understood that so far as this application-is concerned they might have any desired configuration, such as square, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal, etc.

I claim:

In a combination token and ash holder formed in a plurality of sections, means acting as a sup porting leg, as a cigar snufier and as a detent to hold said sections in a predetermined stacked relationship, said means including a member having a hollow part, said member projecting downwardly from the base of each section, the hollow part being closed at the bottom and open at the top, the exterior of said member being so dimensioned as to fit snugly within the interior of a; similar member upon another section when the V other section is stacked below the first section, and so as to act as a detent between said sections, the hollow interior of said part acting as a snuffer and said member also acting as a supporting leg when said sections are separated, each section being additionally provided with shallow depressions each having a substantially fiat bottom, upon a portion of the surface thereof and in line with one another and also including a single relatively narrow strip of substantially flat, resilient material formed of a width corresponding to the width of said depressions so as to fit at least partly therewithin when said sections are stacked, said strip being formed in a U-shape having the respective legs of'the U pressing upon the outside surface of the top andbottom sections of a stack'and having the cross portion of the U lying along the sides of all the sections when stacked, saidstrip also including an integral portion bent backward so as to project into free space andconstitute a handle for the stack of sections. c 7 FRANKL. WEISS.

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