US3129741A - Safety attachment for wallets - Google Patents

Description

April 21, 1964 KRAUSE SAFETY ATTACHMENTS FOR WALLETS Filed Jan. 30, 1963 FIG. I

INVENTOR. ERIOH K RA US E BY 9 i i ATTORN EY United States Patent 3,129,741 SAFETY ATTACHMENTS FOR WALLETS Erich Krause, Rte. 28A, West Shokan, N.Y. Filed Jan. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 255,050 1 Claim. (Cl. 150-47) This invention relates to wallets, billfolds and like articles which are usually carried in a hip pocket, and constitutes an improvement over the invention entitled Safety Attachments for Billfolds or Like Articles disclosed in my United States Patent No. 2,480,484, issued August 30, 1949.

An object of the present invention is the provision of additional means in connection with the envelope or bag in which a length of relatively stifi resilient wire or the like such as, for example, piano Wire, is carried, whereby both the desired function of the device is more efliciently and effectively attained and the useful life thereof is substantially increased. In basic principle, the improved device functions in a manner similar to that set forth in the above patent and it serves substantially the same purpose, that is, to provide, an attachment or insert for a wallet so that, when it is carried in the pocket it would be diificult for a pickpocket to extract it without alarming its possessor.

The above as Well as additional objects will become clear in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing in intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to the exact details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing, FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wallet in fully open position and showing, in broken, lines, the present invention incorporated therein.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, with parts broken away and partly in section.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the wallet, with the safety device mounted therein, with the two flaps thereof in substantially the positions they assume when the wallet is folded prior to inserting into a hip pocket or just after removing it from the pocket, after which it will open fully or partly if not restrained by the hand of the user.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of a garment having a hip pocket, partly in section with the front wall of the pocket broken away, showing the positions taken by the two flaps of the wallet after insertion into the pocket and its release from the hand.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a bag-like or envelope-like container shaped to fit into a compartment of a wallet or the like 11. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the wallet is represented in its simplest form, that is, it is shown including only two opposed walls, the inner wall 12 and the outer wall 13, together enclosing or defining the compartment 14 extendnig the full length of the wallet and open at the top.

The envelope 10 is dimensioned to fit more or less snugly within the compartment 14, and is also shown open at the top, although, not shown, a closure flap such as is common on envelopes, may be provided to close the top opening. Moreover, after the device has been assembled the top edge or opennig may be sealed by such a flap or by other means.

The envelope 10 includes the front wall 15 and the rear wall 16, and the envelope is made of any suitable flexible fabric, synthetic plastic, oil cloth or other material. Guide means or members for the purpose noted below, are provided as follows. Secured within the two opposite ends of the envelope, preferably by means of cement or glue, are stiff or rigid guides 17. These guides, which are preferably made of sheet metal, essentially include two spaced parallel plates 18 and 19, rectangular in outline and having the same height as the height of the envelope, FIGS. 1 and 3, with the plate 18 cemented to the wall 15 of the envelope and the plate 19 cemented to the wall 16. The top and bottom edges as well as the outer edges, respectively shown at 20, 21 and 22, of the guides 17, are closed, so that a pocket or recess 23 is provided between the walls 18 and 19 thereof. As is to be noted, the wall 19 extends outward beyond the wall 18, that is, it is wider than the wall 18, thus providing a more easily accessible entrance into this pocket.

A relatively stiff yet flexible wire or the like 24, having a greater length than the length of the wallet, is insertd into the envelope 10 through the open top thereof and the ends of the wire are inserted into the pockets 23 of the guides through the entrances into the pockets. The wire is so inserted that it bulges convexly against the bottom edge of the envelope, as shown, with its extremities in engagement with the outer edges or edge walls 22 of the guides.

Owing to the resiliency and stiffness of the wire 24 and its length, which causes it to bend or bulge downward, FIGS. 1 and 3, against the bottom edge of the pocket 14 of the wallet, when the wallet is folded the fold line is a diagonal, shown at 25, with the two wallet flaps 26 and 27 extending at an angle to each other and urged into such position by the spring wire.

FIG. 6 illustrates the safety characteristic of the device when the wallet is inserted into a garment pocket, such as a hip pocket, for example, or a pocket in a jacket, wherein the pocket is open at the top. Upon insertion into the pocket as illustrated in FIG. 6, with the fold line uppermost and with the two flaps 26 and 27 somewhat squeezed between the opposed side edges 28 of the garment pocket 29, it is apparent that the diagonally opposed corners of the wallet will frictionally engage the said edges 28. The same will occur if the wallet is inserted in reverse position, with the fold line 25 at the bottom. As a consequence, lifting the wallet from the garment pocket will be accompanied by a rubbing of the flaps against the pocket walls or edges and so call the attention of the user, to thwart a pickpocket.

During the folding or unfolding of the wallet, the extremities of the wire 24 will slide up or down the outer edges 22 of the guides, with the top edges 20 thereof serving as upper limit stops. Owing to the rigidity of the guides 17, especially owing to the substantial width of the plates 19 thereof, it is apparent that the wallet flaps, and especially the end portions thereof, are prevented from bending. An undesirable feature of the device covered in the above-identified patent was that upon folding the wallet the end portions tended to follow the inherent tendency of the Wire to bend to a degree in a direction at an angle to the plane of the pocket flap, so that the flaps in the portions at and for a distance from the end edges tended to become deformed. The flatness and the substantial width of the guides results in maintaining the two wallet flaps also flat. Further, the same properties of the guides assist the end portions of the wire, upon folding of the wallet, in that the pressure of the extremities of the wire is distributed over the entire area of the plates 18 or 19, or both, and upon releasing the wallet after removing it from the garment pocket the two flaps consequently spring apart more quickly and effectively.

An added feature of the two rigid guides is that the extremities of the wire do not cause any injury to or wear upon the end walls of the envelope 10 since the wire extremities do not engage these walls or edges of the envelope.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to the structure shown in the drawing such is not to be construed as a limitation upon the invention which is best defined in the appended claims.

It is to be noted that while the folded wallet is positioned in the pocket as shown in FIG. 6, or in the reverse position, the force of the spring wire also tends to spread the two flaps from each other about the fold line 25, so that there is a frictional engagement also with the front and back walls of this pocket, thus providing a multiple wedging action of the wallet against the inside of the garment pocket.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

In combination with a wallet having a lengthwise pocket open at the top and adapted to be folded about a center fold line into two flaps, a safety attachment comprising a flat envelope of approximately the demensions of the wallet pocket insertible thereinto, the envelope having in each end thereof a thin flat rigid rectangular guide member extending between the top and bottom edges of the envelope, the guide members each comprising two parallel plates joined together along their top and bottom edges and along their outermost side edges thereby providing in the members pockets between the plates thereof having the entrances to the pockets thereof facing toward the fold line of the wallet, the envelope having mounted therein an arched resilient spring wire of a length greater than the length of the envelope with the ends of the wire registering in the guide pockets and slidably engaging the walls of the pockets remote from said entrances and with the bulge of the wire engaging the bottom edge of the envelope, one of the plates of each guide member having a greater width measured lengthwise of the envelope than the other plate thereof, the plates of greater width being cemented to one wall of the envelope and the other plates being cemented to the opposite wall of the envelope.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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