Carrying assembly

Abstract

The invention is an assembly for carrying a small item, such as a cell telephone, on one's person. The assembly includes a male and female fixture, one which is affixed to the small item or its carrying case and the other of which is attached to a convenient site, such as a person's belt, other article of clothing or the dashboard of an automobile. The male fixture has a stem portion with a smaller diameter than a slot provided in the female fixture. A button, mounted at the distal end of the stem, has a diameter larger than the width of the slot. When the stem is positioned at the bottom of the slot of the female fixture, a spring biased latch mechanism is provided to secure the male fixture within the slot. If the latch is depressed as by the pressure of a person's finger on the latch mechanism, the latch is released, and the male member can be withdrawn from the slot and the female member.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an assembly for carrying small items, such as cell telephones, pagers and the like on one's person. More particularly, the invention relates to an assembly that includes a male and a female fixture, one of which is attached in persons belt and the other of which is attached to a small personal item or its protective case. The invention provides a means by which the male and female fixtures can easily be engaged or disengaged from each other, rotated relative to each other, and held, if desired, in a given position of rotation.

A number of assemblies for carrying small personal devices are disclosed in the prior art which utilize male and female fixtures that can be releasably engaged with each other. Conventionally, one of the fixtures is attached to a person's item of clothing, as a belt and the other fixture is secured to a small personal item or its carrying case. By way of example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,335 in which a male fixture in the form of the shaped button is received in a U shaped opening in the female fixture. The male fixture is attached to the personal item and the female fixtures is attached to a person's belt. In this assembly, the button is inserted into an opening in the female fixture, much like a key is inserted into a lock. The male fixture and its button are then rotated into a locked position to secure the male fixture within the female fixture. The procedure is reversed to separate the fixtures.

Other types of carrying assemblies utilize similar arrangements in which the female fixture includes a generally U-shaped slot with the open end extending upwardly. This permits the stem of the male fixture, attached at its distal end to a button of larger diameter, to be inserted into the slotted opening in the female fixture. One such arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,589. The design of this apparatus requires that the male fixture be correctly oriented with respect to the female fixture when engaging or in disengaging one from the other.

An improved design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,170 which makes it easier to engage the male fixture from the female fixture. Here the male fixture can be inserted in the female fixture from any position. But, to avoid accidental separation of one from the other, provision is made to secure the male fixture within the female fixture unless and until they rotated into a predetermined position relative to each other.

Additionally, many different carrying assemblies have been proposed in which a first fixture is attached to one's person, as by a belt or strap, and a second fixture, which carries the device or its protective case, can be inserted and held within the first fixture. These assemblies generally require the male and female fixtures to be oriented relative to each other both to enable the fixtures to be engaged with or disengaged from each other. It may prove difficult to align the fixtures as may be necessary to permit the fixtures to be engaged or disengaged from one another. It may prove particularly difficult when, as is a common practice, the carrying assembly is secured at near to a person's a waist where the assembly is partially obscured from view.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an assembly in which a personal item, or it's carrying case, may be held in a fixture when the personal item is not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide an assembly in which a personal item, or it's carrying case, can be safely and securely supported.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying assembly comprising male and female fixtures which may be engaged or disengaged from each other with a minimum inconvenience.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carrying assembly comprising male and female fixtures which may be engaged or disengaged from each other without requiring the fixtures to be in a particular alignment relative to each.

These of other objects are achieved by providing a novel arrangement and configuration of male and female fixtures that can be secured in and released from one another. The male fixture of the invention has a stem portion and a button mounted at the distal end of the stem. The stem is of a smaller diameter than the width of the slot formed by the U-shaped opening and the button is of a larger diameter than the width of the slot. When the stem is positioned at the bottom the slot of female fixture, a spring biased latch mechanism is provided to secure the male fixture within the slot. The latch mechanism may be depressed against a spring bias to release the male member so that it can be removed from the slot. Preferably, a flange is located at the free end of the latch mechanism that provides a convenient finger hold to depress the latch mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred configuration of the an assembly of the invention is shown in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of the device of this invention illustrating a male and female fixture seated in mating relationship one to the other.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the female fixture of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the female fixture.

FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation of the male fixture.

FIG. 5 is a view in plan showing the exposed surface of a button mounted on the distal end of the male fixture of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The same reference numerals are used throughout to identify the same elements as illustrated in the several drawings.

FIG. 1 is a representation of the device of this invention 1 as attached to an object 3, such as a cell telephone. The essential elements of the device 1 are the male fixture 5 and the female fixture 7. An open ended loop 9 is provided on the female fixture 7 to accommodate a belt 11 as here shown in cross section. The loop 9 is formed with a finger hold 13 which can be used to separate the free ends of the loop 9 to make it easy to allow the belt 11 to be inserted and held within the loop 9.

The female fixture 7 is attached to a support plate 15. An outwardly facing (away from a wearer's body) faceplate 17 is mounted on the support plate 15. As best can be seen in FIG. 3, the faceplate 17 has a centrally located U-shaped slot 19 as defined by the side walls 21-21. An upwardly and outwardly configured tongue 25 made from a resilient material is positioned within the female fixture 7. The entire assembly of the female fixture 7, including the belt loop 9, the support plate 15, the faceplate 17 and the tongue 25 is held together by rivet fasteners 23-23.

In the above description of the female fixture 7 the tongue 25 is secured at its lower end on the support plate 15. A latch 27 is located on a lower portion of the tongue 25. A detent 28 projects from the surface of the tongue 25 at a point just below the latch 27.

Details of the male fixture 5 are shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. A baseplate 29 is affixed on its one side to an object to be carried and the stem 31 protrudes from its other side of the baseplate 29 normal to the plane of the baseplate 29. The stem 31 carries a button 33 at its distal end. The stem 31 is of slightly lesser width than that of the slot 19 and the button 33 is of greater width than the at least the lower portion of the slot 19. This permits the stem 31 and the button 33 to be moved in a reciprocating path within the slot 19 but, once inserted into the slot 19, the diameter of the button 33, prevents the stem 31 from being axially pulled out of the slot 19.

In use, the carrying device 1 utilizes a male fixture 5 as attached to a small article 3 to be carried. A female fixture 7 is provided with means 9 to support the female fixture 7 on the garment of a wearer, as by a belt 11. When the article is to be secured in the assembly 1, the male fixture 5 is inserted in the open and the slot 19. The stem 31 of the male fixture 5 is moved towards the bottom of the slot 19 until the backside of the button 33 slides over the latch 29. The resilient tongue 25 is biased to push the button 33 flush against the backside of the faceplate 17. After the button 33 slides over the latch 28, the bias of the tongue 25 seats the button under the latch 29 to prevent the button 33 from being withdrawn moving upwardly in the slot 19. By these means, a male fixture 5 is secured within the slot 19 unless and until the finger hold or flange 25 is depressed to move the tongue 25 and the latch 27 out of contact with the button 33 and allow the button 33 to slide past the latch 27, to disengage the male fixture 5 from the female fixture 7.

When the button 33 is seated within the slot 21, the male fixture 5 can be rotated about the axis of the stem 31. As the male fixture 5 is rotated, the detent 28 will seat sequentially in the several grooves 35-35. This permits the male fixture 5 to be indexed into various desired positions where it is held, relative to the female fixture 7, by the detent 28, a groove 35 and spring bias of the tongue 25. The grooves 35-35 are relatively shallow so that when a sufficient turning moment is applied to the male member 5, the detent 28 may be unseated from any given groove 35.

By the foregoing described means, the male fixture 5 and the female fixture 7 may be engaged or disengaged from each other without regard to their orientation one to the other and, when they are engaged, the male fixture 5 is free to rotate relative to the female fixture 7 restricted only by the grooves 35-35 and the detent 28.

Claims

1. A carrying assembly for hand held articles, including a male fixture and a female fixture, one of which fixtures is adopted for attachment to the article and the other of which is adapted for attachment to a convenient carrying site in which: the female plate includes: a faceplate mounted on the support plate, the faceplate having a centrally located, upwardly disposed U-shaped slot, a tongue made of a resilient material positioned intermediate the support plate and the faceplate with the lower end of the tongue mounted on the support plate and the upper free end of the tongue biased by its resiliency away from the support plate and toward the faceplate, and a latch mounted on the tongue facing the faceplate; and the male fixture includes: a baseplate, a stem mounted on and extending away from the baseplate and a button mounted at the distal end of the stem, the stem being to dimensioned to fit within the slot of the female fixture the button being to dimensioned to be of greater width than the lower portion of the slot, whereby the stud of the male fixture can be inserted into the slot of the female member and moved toward the bottom of the slot until the latch engages the rim of the button to secure the male fixture within the female fixture.

2. A carrying assembly according to claim 1 in which an upwardly extending finger hold forums an integral part of the tongue to facilitate moving the tongue away from the faceplate to release the button and allow the stud to be removed from the slot.

3. A carrying assembly according to claim 1, in which the tongue has a detent located subjacent the latch adapted to seat within grooves that are provided in the exposed surface of the button.