US2908306A

US2908306A - Safety wallet or like article of manufacture

Info

Publication number: US2908306A
Application number: US683364A
Authority: US
Inventors: Chorost William
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-09-11
Filing date: 1957-09-11
Publication date: 1959-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 1976-10-13

Description

Oct. 13, 1959 w. CHOROST SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Filed Sept. 11, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. WILLIAM C'HOROST BY MM ATTORNEY 15 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. WJLLMJM 0110x052- ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1959 w. CHOROST SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Filed Sept. 11, 1957 Oct. 13, 1959 Filed Sept. 11, v1957 w. CHOROST 1 2,908,306

SAFETY WALLET 0R LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent f SAFETY WALLET OR LIKE ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE William Chorost, Rockaway, NJ.

Application September '11, 1957, Serial No. 683,364 6 Claims. (Cl. 150-47) This invention relates to wallets, billfolds and like articles of manufacture, and the main object of the invention is the provision of certain new and-useful improvements therein whereby the security of the wallet against accidental lose or theft as, for example, by a pickpocket, is very substantially enhanced.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved wallet, billfold or the like having extensible means slidably mounted in and permanently anchored in the Wallet and having means thereon for readily attaching it to a support such as, for example, the belt of the user, or a suspender strap, or other suitable support preferably at'or nearthe waist of the user, so that with the wallet nested in a pocket, such as a hip pocket, loss from, orextraction by a pickpocket from, the pocket, will not mean loss of the wallet because of its securement to the support mentioned.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of improvements of the nature set forth above for wallets, billfolds or the like, whereby the user of the wallet may remove it from the pocket and open it to. take out or put in any money paper, card or memorandum, without having to detach the said extensible means from the support to which it is attached, thus further assuring the user against inadvertent losing or mislaying the wallet.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of the above-mentioned extensible means in the form of a strip of springy or flexible and rather stiff material or metal such as, for example, steel, preferably covered with leather or other suitable material, so that the strip is not only readily slidable within the wallet but also that the strip may not easily be severed as with a knife or scissors by a pickpocket.

A further object is the provision of a guide tunnel in one side or wall of the wallet, extending substantially through both wings thereof, the said strip normally registering in the entire length of the tunnel, whence the springy stripv normally urgesthe two wings of the Wallet to unfold.

The above as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description whereinreferencenumerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is-to be understood that the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily toany or all of the exact details illustrated or described except insofar as they maybe deemed essential to the invention as defined in the appended claims. i

. Referring briefly to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a fragmentaryfperspective view of a persons trousers or the like including a portion containing a hip pocket, showing a Wallet provided withthe security means presented by the present invention.

uFig. 2. is a sectional'view taken on the line 22 of .,Fig.E1 .x Y a 2,908,306 Patented Oct. 13, 1959 Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the improved wallet in belt of the user, showing how the wallet may be removed from the hip pocket to extract anything therefrom or to place anything into it, without detaching the safety strip from its support.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a wallet, billfold or like article of the type having two

wings

11 and 12 mutually foldable about a fold 13 and normally carried in a pocket or purse in folded condition, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the wallet 'being unfolded in approximately the condition shown in Fig. 6 to gain access to the pockets or pocket-like compartments therein such as indicated, for example, at 14.

Such wallets, as is Well known, are usually formed of an outer wall 15 and one or more layers of inner walls, of which one layer is indicated at 16, the Walls 15 and 16 being secured together around their edges by any suitable means. A lining or additional layer 17 is provided against the inner side of the wall 15, also secured thereto around the edges in any desired manner. An elongated tunnel 18 is formed along one longitudinal edge of the unfolded wallet by, for example, spaced longitudinal stitching lines 19, the tunnelbeing closed at one end by stitching 20 and being open at its other end 21-.

Near the open end 21 of the tunnel, the stitching lines 1%! are closer together-to provide a reduced end portion 18:: of narrower width.

Slidably mounted in the tunnel 18 is a thin strip-of springy material which may be steel, preferably coated with leather or other suitable fabric, the strip, including the steel and the coating being shown at 22; in Fig. 2 the steel strip is shown at 23 and its coating at 24. The portion 25 of the tunnel at which the end portion 18a begins to be reduced in width, tapers substantially as shown. The rear or tail end of the strip 22 is widened as shown at 26 and has its opposed sides 27 tapered or rounded approximately complementary to the. tapering tunnel portion 25. Thus the enlarged end 26 provides an anchor to prevent the strip from being extracted through the open end 21 of the tunnel.

The outer end of the strip 22 is provided with means adapted to secure the strip to a support such as, for example, a belt 28 worn by the user, in any suitable manner. One way of securing the strip to the belt consists in elon gating the strip and providing one element 29 of a snap button closure near the extremity of theend portion 22a of the strip and securing the other element 30 thereof on.

tate the buttoningof thestrip to the belt or other support by encircling the same. A second snap button element similar to the element30 may be provided, as indicatedat 32, on the outer wall 15 of the wing 11, so that when the.

wallet is closed and not'positio ned inf the pocket'of the? 9 user, the portion 22a may be snapped in buttoning'posfl tion against the said wall portion. This would be the case, a

for example, when the wallets are packaged or otherwise on sale, or when a person for any reason does not wish to use the strip 22 to attach the Wallet to a support of the kind mentioned.

When the two wings of the wallet are folded'together, the inherent resiliency of the steel strip 23 will tend to swing them apart on the fold 13 of the wallet, that is when the strip 22 is fully home registering in the tunnel, 18. This is the case for the wallet as illustrated in Fig. 3. However, since the steel strip will always tend substantially to straighten out, this will also be the case when the wallet is folded with even a small portion of the length of the strip extending from the wing 12 through the wing 11 for a distance, as is obvious. Hence, when the wallet is folded and positioned in a pocket 33 of the user, the tendency of the steel to straighten out will cause the Wings 11 and 12 to be urged against the opposed Walls of the pocket. Consequently the wallet will be securely wedged between the pocket walls to make falling out of the wallet almost impossible and at the same time make it difficult for a pickpocket to extract it. A further advantage of the steel strip 23 is that, when the wallet is removed from the pocket, the steel will tendto unfold the

wings

11 and 12 and thus aid in giving access to the wallet by opening it as well as permitting sliding out of the strip 22 when the wallet is withdrawn, as shown in Fig. 6, a sufficient distance to conveniently handle the contents thereof.

Although not shown in the drawing, wallets, billfolds and the like usually are fattened by the contents thereof, such as currency, cards, bank checks and other items. As a consequence the wallet at the fold 13 is substantially thickened so that the steel strip 23 will also be rounded at the fold 13 and thus tend to prevent the formation of a permanent bend at that point. After manufacture of a wallet, it may be padded with tissue paper or some other filler to simulate a filled wallet and thus also prevent such a permanent bend in the steel prior to its sale.

After the wallet has been used, and owing to the stiffness of the steel, it is obviously easy to slide the strip 22 back home in its tunnel 18 prior to refolding it and placing it back into the users pocket.

Although the improved wallet presented by the present invention has been illustrated as adapted for use in connection with a person and a pocket in his clothing, it is to be understood that the wallet may also be used by women in a hand bag and particularly for keeping the wallet in a pocket of the hand bag so long as the bag has any suitable strap or other support to which the outer end of the strip 22 may be secured in any suitable manner.

From all of the above it is apparent that a pickpocketproof and accidental loss-proof improved wallet, billfold' dividing the same into two wings foldable about the fold line, two transversely spaced longitudinal portions of said lining extending substantially throughout the length thereof between the transverse edges thereof being secured to the outer wall thereby providing a tunnel in the wallet, one end of said tunnel being positioned at one transverse edge of'the wallet and being open, the other end of the tunnel being positioned adjacent the other transverse edge of the wallet and being closed, a normally substantially straight strip of'springy material slidably mounted in said tunnel and having a length greater than the length of the tunnel so that the outer end of the strip protrudes from 4 the open end of the tunnel, means partly on the strip and partly in the tunnel restraining the strip from extraction from the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means for securing the same to a support.

2. A wallet or like article of manufacture according to claim 1, said tunnel being positioned closely adjacent one longitudinal edge of the wallet,

3. A wallet or like article of manufacture including an elongated substantially rectangular outer wall and having a fold line intermediate its length dividing the same into two wings foldable about the fold line, a longitudinal sheet of reduced width compared to the width of the wallet and of substantially the same length of the wallet having its longitudinal edges secured to the inner surface of said outer wall parallel with the longitudinal edges of the outer wall thereby providing a tunnel in the wallet, one end of the tunnel terminating at one transverse edge of the wallet and being open, the other end of said tunnel havig the corresponding end of said sheet secured to said outer wall to close the other end of the tunnel, a normally substantially straight strip of springy material of greater length than the tunnel slidably mounted in the tunnel, means partly on the strip and partly on the interior of said tunnel restraining the strip from complete extraction from the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means for attaching the same to a support.

4. A wallet or like article of manufacture according to claim 3, said last-named means comprising a two-element snap button, one of the elements of the button being mounted on the strip near the outer extremity of the strip and the other of said elements being mounted on the strip spaced from said one of the elements, the portion of the strip between said elements being adapted to encircle said support and to have said elements interengaged to lock said portion to the support, said portion of the strip between said elements having a transverse bend therein intermediate the distance between the elements normally bending said portion between the bend and said one of the elements in a direction toward doubling back the same against the strip to facilitate interengagement of the elements.

5. A wallet or like article of manufacture including an elongated substantially rectangular outer wall having. a fold line intermediate its length dividing the same into two wings foldable about the fold line, a longitudinal tunnel of lesser width than the width of the wallet provided on the inner side of said outer wall and positioned substantially parallel with the longitudinal edges of said wall, said tunnel having one end thereof adjacent one transverse edge of the wallet and closed and having the other end thereof positioned at the other transverse edge of the wallet and open, a normally substantially straight strip of springy material of greater length than the tunnel slidably mounted in the tunnel, means partly on the strip and partly on the interior of the tunnel restraining the strip from extraction from the tunnel, the outer end of said strip having means for attaching the same to a support comprising a permanent transverse bend therein spaced from the extremity thereof normally bending the portion of the strip between said bend and said extremity in a direction toward doubling back thereof against the strip, the

distance between said bend and said extremity being larger stantially intermediate its length dividing the same intotwo wings foldable about the fold line, two transverselyspaced longitudinal portions of said lining extending from one transverse edge of the wallet on one of said wings past said fold line and terminating in the other of said wings being secured to the outer wall thereby providing a longitudinal tunnel in the wallet of greater length than the length of said one of the wings, the end of the tunnel at said one transverse edge being open, a normally substantially straight strip of springy material slidably mounted in said tunnel and having a length at least equal to the length of the tunnel, the outer end of the strip having means for securing the same to a support, and means partly on the strip and partly in the tunnel restraining the ship from complete extraction from the tunnel, said tunnel having the end thereof which terminates in the other of said wings closed, said strip having a length greater than the length of said tunnel and therein having the outer end thereof projecting from the open end of the tunnel when the strip is moved inward to said closed end of the tunnel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS