US2634777A

US2634777A - Pass case

Info

Publication number: US2634777A
Application number: US216589A
Authority: US
Inventors: Benjamin S Berger
Original assignee: PHILIP FLORIN Inc
Current assignee: PHILIP FLORIN Inc
Priority date: 1951-03-20
Filing date: 1951-03-20
Publication date: 1953-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 1970-04-14

Description

Patented Apr. 14, 1953 PASS CASE Benjamin S. Berger, South Orange, N. J., assignor to Philip Florin, Incorporated, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New York Application March 20, 1951, Serial No. 216,589

(Cl. 15o- 59) Claims.

This invention relates to a pass case for billfold wallets.

Conventionally, the pass case section of a billfold wallet comprises a pair or pairs of transparent envelopes, the envelopes of each pair being attached to opposite side edges of a strip of material which is stitched along its center to the backing of the case. The Windows thus provided function like the pages in a book, so that only two can be fully and properly viewed at one time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pass case which will permit full viewing of many more than two pictures at a time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pass case of the character described which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pass case having a novel construction which is such as to enable the foregoing objects to be achieved.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

This invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the devices hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a closed pass case constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view to a smaller scale of the pass case shown in Fig. 1, the same being partially unfolded (open);

Fig. 3 is a top view of the pass case completely unfolded and with some of the envelopes removed;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective showing an end of the pass case as viewed substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary top view of an end of a pass case embodying a modified form of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral I0 denotes a rectangular cover fabricated, for example, from leather and divided by a hinge portion I2 into a front panel I4 and a back panel IB. The hinge simply may be a fold in the material, if the latter is flexible, or may constitute a flexible strip connecting two stiff panels. The axis of rotation of the hinge is parallel to and midway between the short edges oi' the cover. The front panel has a narrow strap I8 integral therewith on which the female half 20 of a snap fastener is carried. Said front panel is adapted to be inserted in a billfold wallet by being slipped under a front flap thereof having a slot parallel to and adjacent an end of the Wallet. The slot is of such length as to permit snug insertion therethrough of the strap.

The back panel I6 has the male half 22 of a snap fastener mounted at its end. Said back panel is adapted to be disposed over the front flap of the wallet under which the front panel I2 ls located. The male half of the snap fastener faces away from the wallet. The female half faces the male half when the strap is bent around the open end of the pass case.

Pursuant to the present invention there is provided an elongated wide rectangular ribbon 24 of exible limp material, for example, a highly plasticized synthetic resin film-forming polymer or an elastomeric plastic such as a vinyl copolymer, said ribbon preferably being slightly narrower than the cover. The ribbon is threaded through an end-to-end series of open-ended flat envelopes 2B, the length of the ribbon being slightly more than the combined lengths of the envelopes 26.

Said ribbon is attached, for example, by a line 28 of transverse sewing, to the inner surface 3@ of the cover along the hinge I2, being divided thereby into two

wings

32, 34 which need not be equal in length so long as each has a length which is an integral multiple of the length of an envelope plus a slight additional length.

The envelopes are fabricated from a stiff transparent material, for example, a clear plastic pellicle, and serve to contain cards, pictures, and the like. Each envelope constitutes a single oblong sheet 36 of material the length of which is somewhat greater than twice the width of the ribbon 24. The sheet is formed with folds 38, 40 parallel to its ends, one fold 38 being spaced from an end a distance about equal to the width of the ribbon, and the other fold 40 being spaced from the iirst fold a distance slightly greater than the width of the ribbon, whereby a narrow transverse strip 42 is provided adjacent the second fold under which the end of the sheet remote from the second fold may be tucked to effect closing of the envelope.

An envelope may be held on the ribbon by inserting the longitudinal edges of the latter within the folds of the envelope and thereafter closing the envelope as explained above.

Outwardly facing cards C are disposed on op- 3 posite sides of the ribbon, although if the latter is transparent the cards may be located on the same side of the ribbon.

The envelopes are retained in tandem relationship by fastening the two endmost envelopes to the ribbon, as with channel-shaped clips 54. Each clip is fabricated from metal and ts over one end of the ribbon and the outer end of the associated endmost envelope. One leg of the clip is indented as at 46 to form an inwardly extending projection which pierces the ribbon and at least one wall of the envelope so that the envelope cannot move lengthwise of the ribbon. The remaining envelopes, although captively retained in an end-to-end series, are free, because of the slight extra length of the ribbon, to shift slightly, longitudinally of the ribbon.

If the ribbon has an appreciable coefcient of friction with respect to the envelopes, the contact between the two will hinder such movement especially if the folds 38, llt are very narrow. This shifting movement Venables adjacent envelopes to be spaced apart slightly whereby to provide a slender space e'l which serves as a hinge.

In a modified form of the invention electronic stitching -52 is employed to fasten the endmost envelopes to the ribbon, said stitching passing through the two walls of the envelope at the end thereof as well as the end of the ribbon (see Fig. 5).

It thus will be seen that there is provided a device which achieves all the objects of the invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, there is claimed as new and desired to be secured -by Letters Patent:

l. A pass case for billfold wallets, said case comprising an elongated cover including two parts joined by a hinge, a single elongated wide limp ribbon secured to the panel at the hinge, whereby the ribbon is divided into two wings, a plurality of separate transparent envelopes attached to said ribbon tandemwise with the end edges of adjacent envelopes slightly spaced from one another, and means additionally to permanently secure the most remote envelope at each side of the hinge of the cover to the ribbon.

2. A pass case for billfold wallets, said case comprising an elongated cover including two parts joined by a hinge, a single elongated wide limp ribbon secured to the panel at the hinge, whereby the ribbon is divided into two wings, more than two separate transparent envelopes attached to said ribbon, the remote end of a given envelope being disposed adjacent the inner end of the next remoter envelope, the reference point being the hinge, the end edges of adjacent envelopes being spaced slightly from one another, and means additionally to permanently secure the most remote envelope at each side of the hinge of the cover to the ribbon.

3. A pass case as set forth in claim 2 wherein the means to permanently secure the most remote envelope to the ribbon constitutes a metal channel located at the end of said ribbon.

4. A pass case as set forth in claim 2 wherein the means to permanently secure the most remote envelope to the ribbon constitutes electronic stitching at the end of said ribbon.

5. A pass case for billfold wallets, said case comprising an elongated cover including two parts joined by a hinge, a single elongated wide limp ribbon secured to the panel at the hinge, whereby the ribbon is divided into two wings, more than two separate transparent envelop-es attached to said ribbon, the remote end of a given envelope being disposed adjacent the inner end of the next renioter envelope, the reference point being' the hinge, the length of said ribbon being slightly greater than the combined lengths of the envelopes, the distance between the securement of the ribbon to the cover and an end of the ribbon being slightly greater than an integral multiple of the length of an envelope, the endedges of adjacent envelopes being spaced slightly from one another, and means additionally to permanently secure the most remote envelope at each side of the hinge of the cover to the ribbon.

BENJAMTN S. EERGER.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 715,809 Jagodnigg Dec. 16, 1902 1,621,777 Gladstone ivi'ar. 22, 1927 1,893,397 Buxton Jan. 3, 1933 1,906,311 Burgstaller May 2, 1933 1,995,518 Perry Mar. 26, 1935 2,431,472 Fistell Nov. 25, 1947 2,432,557 Broughton Dec. 16, 1947 2,493,409 Knee Jan. 3, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 121,129 Switzerland June 16, 1927 206,205 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1939