Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C11/00—Receptacles for purposes not provided for in groups A45C1/00-A45C9/00
  • A45C11/18—Ticket-holders or the like
  • A45C11/182—Credit card holders

Definitions

• the invention relates to a holder for credit cards and/or other cards or products which have essentially the same external dimensions with res- pect to one another.
• Figure 1A shows a slip case having a front wall, a rear wall, two side walls and a base, which slip case has been manufactured from a rela ⁇ tively hard and inflexible material. Only a few (usually one or two) credit cards fit in this slip case. If more credit cards have to be stored, sev ⁇ eral slip cases then have to be used and the total storage volume rapidly increases.
• Figure 1B shows a sleeve made of a relatively flexible material.
• the sleeve consists of an elongated web of material with a pocket in the vicin ⁇ ity of the opposing ends, it being possible to insert a credit card into each of said pockets.
• the sleeve is folded up about a centre line to pro ⁇ tect the cards.
• the drawback is that only a relatively small number of cards can be stored in this way, whilst, moreover, because of the use of the relatively limp material of the sleeve, little protection is provided against the cards bending (too far
• FIG. C shows a holder in book form with each "page" of the book consisting of a pocket, frequently made of transparent material, it being possible to insert one credit card into each pocket from the side. Because a separate pocket is provided for each card, the total thickness of this container will be relatively large. Putting away or removing a card can sometimes prove somewhat awkward, certainly in warm weather. Moreover, it is fairly laborious to remove grains of sand or other harmful dirt which can collect in the pockets in the course of time and there can lead to damage to the cards.
• Figure 1D shows a solution in which the individual slip-in pockets have been comDined into a long strip which can be folded up m zigzag fashion.
• the disadvantages of this solution are the same as the those des- c ⁇ bed with reference to Figure 1C.
• Figure 1F shows a holder in book form in which the outside is made of hard plastic material.
• the cards are inserted in a harmonica configuration which unfolds when the outside wall ⁇ are unfolded.
• the hard outside walls in themselves offer good protection against bending of the cards.
• a disad ⁇ vantage of this holder is that the harmonica configuration takes up a rela ⁇ tively large amount of space and, moreover, the cost of the holder is sub ⁇ stantially increased.
• Figure 1G shows a holder in which the slip-in pockets are located mutually offset in a row one above the other. A solution of this type is widely used in wallets and the like.
• holders of this type are relatively voluminous, certainly compared with the relatively restricted dimensions of the stack of credit cards which have to be stored in the holder.
• wallets are made of plastic materials which contain plasticisers.
• plasticisers which gradually diffuse from the plastic material to the outside, can attack the material of the credit cards. The cards become brittle as a result and any information which is present on the card can easily be lost.
• the aim of the invention is, now, to provide a holder for credit cards or other flat products which are essentially of the same shape with respect to one another, which holder has small dimensions, is able to hold a relatively large number of credit cards but is also suitable for just one credit card and is made of a relatively hard material and with which it is possible rapidly and easily to select a single credit card from the credit cards present.
• the aim of the invention is to provide a holder which combines optimum ease of use with relatively low production cost ⁇ , so that the holder is, from the commercial standpoint, suitable for a market segment in which the numbers to be produced are relatively large.
• a holder for credit cards or similar products comprising a box-shaped construction consisting of an essentially rectangular front wall two side walls perpendicular to the front wall a bottom wall which is perpendicular to the said side walls but makes an angle of less than 90° with the front wall an essentially rectangular rear wall which can hinge about a hinge which runs parallel to the bottom wall in such a way that, starting from a position in which the rear wall is parallel to the front wall, the top edge of the rear wall moves away from the top edge of the front wall, and vice versa, wherein part of the rear wall is able to hinge about a hinge located in the rear wall, which hinge runs parallel to the bottom wall in such a way that, starting from a position in which the said part is located in the plane of the rear wall, the edge of the said part which is facing the bottom wall moves towards the front wall, and vice versa, a spring with which the said hingeable part of the rear wall is pre- tensioned in the direction of the hinge movement described above.
• the cards are stored somewhat offset with respect to one another in the holder.
• the spring which presses against the hingeable part of the rear wall, ensures that said hingeable part of the rear wall presses against the stack of cards, as a result of which said stack is permanently under pretension and clamped in the holder. This prevents, inter alia, the cards from rattling in the holder if the holder is only partially filled. Because the rear wall as a whole is able to hinge with respect to the front wall of the holder, cards can easily be pulled slightly outwards together with the rear wall, it being possible, by virtue of the pretensioning, rapidly and easily to leaf through the cards and thus to select the desired card.
• the holder is provided with a top wall which runs parallel to the bottom wall and extends between the top edges of front wall and rear wall and over only part of the gap between the two side walls.
• the top wall takes up only part of the available space between the top edges of front wall, rear wall and side walls, the residual opening preferably being suf ⁇ ficiently large for the user's thumb easily to fit in this gap.
• the residual opening is adjacent to one of the side walls, by which means the ease of use of the holder is promoted.
• the cards present in the holder have as little as possible mutual movement over one another, so as to prevent wearing of the cards. Holding the cards still is promoted by the fact that the in ⁇ ide of the top wall i ⁇ provided with an uneven ⁇ urface.
• the holder is constructed in such a way that the inside of the top wall is provided with a ribbed surface, preferably with ribs parallel to the edges of the front and rear walls. The effect obtained by these means is that the cards are not able to move up and down in the longitudinal direction when they are clamped in the holder. The surface ribs on the top wall prevent this.
• the hinge about which the rear wall is able to hinge can be arranged in diverse locations. For example, it is possible to manufacture the bottom wall and the rear wall in one piece and to fit a hinge on the transition between the bottom wall and the front wall. It is also possible to allow only part of the bottom wall to hinge with the rear wall and therefore to fit the hinge somewhere in the bottom wall. However, it is preferable that the hinge about which the rear wall is able to hinge is located on the transition between the front wall and the bottom wall.
• the part of the rear wall which is able to hinge with respect to the remaining part can be situated in an arbitrary position in the rear wall. For example, a positioning such that said part abuts one of the side edges or the bottom edge is conceivable.
• the said part of the rear wall is surrounded on all sides by the remainder of the rear wall. Nevertheless, in some cases it is preferable that, in the position in which the said part is located in the plane of the rear wall, the said part of the rear wall adjoins one of the side walls.
• Figures 1A...1G show various embodiments of a credit card holder which are already known from the prior art.
• Figures 2A and 2B show two views of a holder according to the inven ⁇ tion.
• Figure 3 shows a cross-section along the line III-III in Figure 2A.
• Figure 4 shows a cross-section along the line IV-IV in Figure 2A and also indicates diagrammatically how "leafing" through the cards proceeds.
• Figure 5 shows a perspective view of one of the possibilities for using the holder according to the invention in practice, in particular while leafing through the cards stored in the holder. Every user will, incidentally, quickly develop his or her own "style" of use.
• Figure 2A shows a view of a holder according to the invention in which essentially the front wall, one of the side walls and the top wall are visible, whilst Figure 2B shows the holder rotated through 180°, essen ⁇ tially the rear wall, the bottom wall and the other side wall being vis- ible.
• the same reference numerals are used in both figures and these numerals also recur in Figures 3 and 4.
• the front wall is indicated by 10, the side walls are indicated by 12 and 14, the bottom wall is indicated by 16 and the rear wall is indicated by 18.
• the front wall 10 and the side walls 12 and 14 are joined to one another as a single whole.
• the bottom wall 16 and the rear wall 18 are joined to one another as a whole.
• the connection between the front wall 10 and the bottom wall 16 is formed by a hinge 20 which is located on the angled transition between the bottom wall 16 and the front wall 10.
• the rear wall 18 is provided with a section 22 which is attached via a hinge 24 to the remaining part of the rear wall 18. Said hinged section 22 is pressed inwards by a spring 26.
• Said spring 26 is essentially U-shaped although the connecting arm makes an angle with the two main arms of the U-shape. Said spring 26 clamps around the front wall 10, the rear wall 18 and the bottom wall 16 and therefore ensures t at the hingeable section 22 is under pretension.
• the holder is preferably also provided with a top wall 28, which at least is firmly joined to the front wall 10 and which extends over part of the space available for the top wall.
• the portion which is not taken up by the top wall offers a possibility for, as will be explained in more detail below, "leafing" through the stack of cards which can be stored in the holder.
• Figure 3 shows a cross-section along the line III-III in Figure 2A. It can be seen from Figure 3 how four cards 30, 32, 34, 36 are stored in the holder and are held in place by the movable section 22 of the rear wall 18, which section 22 presse ⁇ under pretension by the ⁇ pring 26 again ⁇ t the bottom card 36 of the stack and thus pres ⁇ es the entire ⁇ tack again ⁇ t the front wall 10.
• the length of the cards 30, 32, 34 and 36 essentially corresponds to the free space which is available between the bottom wall 16 and the top wall 28.
• the position where the hinged ⁇ ection 22 of the bottom wall 18 pre ⁇ ses against the stack of cards is fairly far towards the left.
• the right-hand ends of the cards consequently have a certain freedom of movement and, in particular, the right-hand end of the bottom card 36 would be able to start to slide down along the top wall 28.
• the inside of the top wall 28 is provided with a rough surface.
• ribs are arranged on the inner surface of the top wall 28, which ribs run parallel to the cards.
• Figure 4 shows a further cros ⁇ -section through the holder, in this case along the line IV-IV in Figure 2A. This figure also indicates diagram ⁇ matically the position of the holder during "leafing through” the stock of cards which are stored m the holder.
• Figure 5 shows a perspective view of an example of how the holder can be held by the user when leafing through. In this context it s pointed out that every user will rapidly develop his or her own "style of use" and that Figure 5 is therefore given solely by way of example.
• the holder as a whole is held in one hand 40 in such a way that in any event the front wall 10 and the two side walls 12 and 14 are clamped between the thumb and fingers of said hand 40.
• the rear wall 18 remains essentially free.
• the leafing movement is carried out using the other hand 42.
• the thumb 44 is placed on the exposed top edges of the stack of cards in the holder m the manner shown in Figure 5. Said cards, which are lying at a slope on one another, are then pulled a little outward together with the rear wall 18.
• the index finger 46 of the hand can press against the movable section 22 of the rear wall 18 and/or against the spring 26 and so exert an additional pretensioning force on said wall section 22.
• any desired card can be selected and removed from the holder in this way.
• the rear wall 18 In order to introduce cards into the holder it is necessary merely to pull the rear wall 18 together with the card (or cards) to be inserted in the holder sufficiently far outwards that there is adequate free space between the rear wall 18 and the top wall 28 to insert a card (or cards). If only the rear wall 18 is pulled outwards without pulling the cards, or at least some of the cards, present in the holder with it, the cards present in the holder will then remain pres ⁇ ed against the front wall as a consequence of the pres ⁇ ure which is exerted by the section 22, so that insertion of a new card is therefore not hindered.
• the inner surface of the rear wall 18, including the inner surface of the movable section 22 is smooth or is optionally provided with a smooth coating, as a result of which insertion and extraction of cards is facilitated.
• the holder according to the invention is preferably manufactured by an injection moulding process.
• the injection-moulded component which is shown in Figure 6A comprises, on the left of the figure, the front wall 10, the top wall 28 and parts of the two side walls, indicated by 12a and 14a, all of which are rigidly joined to one another.
• the rear wall 18, the bottom wall 16 and the remaining parts of the two side walls, indicated by 12b and 14b are rigid ⁇ ly joined to one another.
• the hinge about which the rear wall 18 is able to hinge, is in this case located between the front wall 10 and the bottom wall 16.
• the hinge is constructed as a film hinge, that is to ⁇ ay a ⁇ a thin wall section which has sufficient flexibility to be able to serve as a hinge.
• a hinge construction of this type is also used to attach the movable section 22 hingeably to the remaining section of the rear wall 18.
• the hinge 24 is thus also constructed as a film hinge.
• the spring in the use position, is essentially located withm the volume which is determined by the walls of the holder, so that the spring does not form a protruding part and the holder as a whole has as smooth as possible an outer surface.
• the ends of the arms of the spring are, as an example, provided with curled edges, indicated in Figure 6B by 48a and 48b, which engage in corresponding cut ⁇ outs in the front wall 10 and, respectively, in the movable wall section 22.
• FIG. 6A A ⁇ is also shown in Figures 6A and 6B, the wall section 12a is pro- vided with a protruding ridge 50a and the wall section 12b is provided with a protruding ridge 50b.
• said ridges 50a and 50b ensure that the movement of the rear wall 18 about the hinge 20 is limited.
• the rear wall 18 can be pulled out of the holder until the two ridges impinge on one another.
• Similar ridges with a similar function are arranged on the wall sections 14a and 14b, which ridges are designated as 52a and 52b in Figure 6A
• the holder can al ⁇ o be u ⁇ ed for other products, such as smart cards, diskettes, busine ⁇ card ⁇ and the like.
• the holder can be used for flat products of es ⁇ entially the same dimension ⁇ .
• the construction of the holder can be made relatively inexpensive, in particular if use is made of injection- moulded components.
• the invention is not restricted to this. It will be clear that other techniques, sometimes involving higher production costs, can be used, for example in order to produce "more luxurious" embod ⁇ iments of the holder. No information has been given above with regard to the dimen ⁇ ions and the positioning of the hingeable wall section 22 of the rear wall 18. In general there are also no special requirements in this regard.

Priority Applications (9)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=19761431

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (16)

Cited By (2)

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Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (16)

• 1995
  • 1995-08-11 NL NL1000970A patent/NL1000970C2/nl not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1996
  • 1996-08-08 CA CA002228638A patent/CA2228638A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1996-08-08 PL PL96324896A patent/PL181327B1/pl unknown
  • 1996-08-08 DE DE69603279T patent/DE69603279T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1996-08-08 DK DK96926022T patent/DK0844835T3/da active
  • 1996-08-08 JP JP9509174A patent/JPH11511049A/ja not_active Ceased
  • 1996-08-08 CN CN96196198.8A patent/CN1128595C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1996-08-08 EA EA199800161A patent/EA000185B1/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1996-08-08 AU AU66325/96A patent/AU702350B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1996-08-08 TR TR1998/00189T patent/TR199800189T1/xx unknown
  • 1996-08-08 US US09/011,337 patent/US6026873A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1996-08-08 EP EP96926022A patent/EP0844835B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-08-08 AT AT96926022T patent/ATE182054T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1996-08-08 ES ES96926022T patent/ES2133979T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-08-08 WO PCT/NL1996/000318 patent/WO1997006709A1/en active IP Right Grant
• 1999
  • 1999-07-20 GR GR990401890T patent/GR3030802T3/el unknown

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