The present invention generally relates to clips for holding articles of different types and, in particular, to clips for holding and/or gripping sunglasses, reading glasses, driving glasses, and the like. The present invention also relates to structural assemblies equipped with the clips, such as sun visors.
Clips have been used to hold or grip a variety of items, such as sunglasses, reading glasses, driving glasses, and the like. These clips are typically mounted on structural assemblies, such as sun visors which have been primarily provided in motor vehicles for blocking sunlight shining through the windshield.
When used in connection with sun visors, these existing clips are typically removably attached to a free side edge of the sun visor after which the various items are held or gripped by the clips while attached to the sun visor. A disadvantage to using such sun visor clips is that vehicle visors are subjected to vibrations from the vehicle. As a result of such vibrations, the clips require substantial holding and clamping force. The required holding and clamping force increase as the overall weight of the items held by the clip increases. Furthermore, the existing clips tend to slide off the sun visor as a result of vehicle vibrations or during movement of the sun visor by the driver/passenger to block sunlight, for example. Similar problems exist when the existing clips are mounted to structural assemblies other than sun visors in terms of their ability to securely retain the clips while holding/gripping the various objects.
There is, therefore, a need for clips for holding and gripping a variety of items, such as sunglasses, reading glasses, driving glasses, and the like, as well as structural assemblies for securely retaining such clips, which overcome the foregoing and other related disadvantages in the prior art.
In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a clip for removably and securely holding articles. The clip includes a main body having a first body portion and a second body portion mounted to undergo pivotal movement relative to the first body portion for selectively positioning the clip between an open state and a closed state. The first state of the clip is configured to allow an article to be positioned between the first and second body portions. The closed state of the article is configured to securely hold the article between the first and second body portions. A biasing member is mounted between the first and second body portions for biasing the clip to the closed state. The clip is configured for placement in the open state by pivotal movement of the first body portion relative to the second body portion against the biasing force of the biasing member.
According to a feature of the present invention, a cushioning member is disposed between the first and second body portions for protecting an article, or a portion or parts of the article, that this held therebetween.
As another feature of the invention, the first body portion has a pivotal shaft, and the second body portion has a pair of pivotal arms configured for connection to respective ends of the pivotal shaft to permit pivotal movement of the first body portion relative to the second body portion.
In yet another feature of the invention, the biasing member is configured to be securely retained between the first and second body portions by a holding recess formed in the first body portion and a holding pin extending from the second body portion. The holding recess is formed at one end of the first body portion and adjacent to the pivotal shaft and is configured to receive at least a portion of the biasing member, and the holding pin extends from an end of the second body portion and adjacent to the pivotal arms.
As still another feature of the invention, each of the first and second body portions is a unitary structure formed from a single piece of material, such as a plastic material.
As a further feature of the present invention, the clip comprises mounting means for mounting the clip to a structural assembly.
In one embodiment, the mounting means comprises a pair of first fasteners extending from a surface of the second body portion. The clip is configured to be mounted to the structural assembly by passing the first fasteners through respective openings formed in the structural assembly and bringing the first fasteners into engagement with respective second fasteners to securely mount the clip to the structural assembly.
In another embodiment, the mounting means comprises a retaining element securely connected to a surface of the second body portion and configured for removable connection to the structural assembly. The retaining element has leg portions, and retaining recesses formed in the surface of the second body portion are configured for securely removably receiving and retaining therein the respective leg portions of the retaining element.
In yet another embodiment, the mounting means comprises magnetic members connected to a surface of the second body portion and configured for removable magnetic connection to the structural assembly. Retaining recesses are formed in the surface of the second body member for receiving and retaining therein the respective magnetic members. As an example of this embodiment, the magnetic members are configured for magnetic connection to a corresponding magnetic surface of the structural assembly.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a structural assembly equipped with the clip according to any of the foregoing embodiments of the present invention. In an exemplary embodiment, the structural assembly is a vehicle sun visor assembly.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the disclosure, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the disclosure, there is shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangement and instrumentalities shown.
The present disclosure now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are shown and similar reference numerals denote the same or similar structure throughout. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration”. Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
For convenience of description, the terms “front”, “back”, “upper”, “lower”, “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “right”, “left”, “side” and words of similar import will have reference to the various members and components of the exercise device of the present disclosure as arranged and illustrated in the figures of the drawings and described hereinafter in detail.
It should also be understood that the terms “about,” “approximately,” “generally,” “substantially” and like terms, which may be used herein when referring to a dimension or characteristic of a component of the present disclosure, indicate that the described dimension/characteristic is not a strict boundary or parameter and does not exclude minor variations therefrom that are functionally the same or similar, as would be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art. At a minimum, such references that include a numerical parameter would include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit.
Clip 10 has a main body formed of a first body portion 12 and a second body portion 14 connected to the first body portion 12. First body portion 12 is configured for undergoing pivotal movement relative to second body portion 14. This allows clip 10 to be selectively positioned by a user between an open state and a closed state. In the open state, clip 10 is configured to receive an article between the first and second body portions 12, 14, and in the closed state clip 10 is configured to clamp or securely hold the received article between the first and second body portions 12, 14. A biasing member 16 is mounted between the first and second body portions 12, 14 for biasing clip 10 to the closed state. That is, clip 10 can be placed in the open state by pivoting first body portion 12 relative to second body portion 14 against the biasing force of biasing member 16.
Referring to
A cushion member 18 is configured to be securely mounted to a generally central region of surface 14a of second body portion 14. Cushion member 18 is preferably formed of any cushioning material capable of protecting the article(s) being clamped or held (e.g., sunglasses, eyeglasses, etc.) between first and second body portions 12, 14 of clip 10. For example, plastic foams made of polyethylene, polypropylene, flexible polyurethane and copolymers of polyethylene with polystyrene may be used for the cushioning materials.
Referring to
Referring to
Each of first body portion 12 and second body portion 14 is preferably constructed from one-piece of continuous plastic material, such as by a suitable injection molding process. For first body portion 12, the one-piece construction includes pivotal shaft 12b and holding recess 12c. For second body portion 14, the one-piece construction includes pivotal arms 14b, holding pin 14c, and first fasteners 20. Alternatively, each of first and second body portions 12, 14 can be made of a suitable metal. In this embodiment, biasing member 16 is illustrated in the drawings as a coil spring. Alternatively, biasing member 16 can be a leaf spring. It is understood, however, that other forms of the biasing member are suitable so long as first body portion 12 can be pivoted relative to second body portion 14 to place clip 10 between the open and closed states as described above.
As described above, clip 10 is configured to be securely integrated with sun visor 50 so that first body portion 12 is permitted to pivot about pivotal shaft 12b relative to second body portion 14 that is securely and fixedly mounted to sun visor 50 via first fasteners 20 and second fasteners 22. As best shown in
The difference between clip 200 of the second embodiment and clip 100 of the first embodiment is in the structural configuration for mounting clip 200 to a structural assembly, such as a sun visor. Referring to
First retaining recesses 14e are configured to receive and securely retain therein leg portions 210a, 210b of a retaining element 210 (
Each of second retaining recesses 14f is configured to receive and securely retain therein a magnetic element 220 (
Structural assembly 350 can be any structure to which clip 200 is desired to be mounted for gripping/holding various types of articles, items, or objects. For example, structural assembly 350 can be any type of wall or furniture structure as well as a vehicle sun visor. If structural assembly 350 or any surface portion thereof is made of metal, clip 200 can be mounted to structural assembly 350 by magnetic connection between magnetic elements 220 and the metal in structural assembly 350. If structural assembly 350 does not contain a metal surface, magnetic elements 220 of clip 200 can be magnetically connected to a separate magnetic element 375 which can be attached to structural assembly 350. For example, magnetic element 375 can be in the form of a magnetic strip with an adhesive backing to facilitate attachment to structural assembly 350. The foregoing specific design of clip 200, including magnetic elements 220, permits clip 200 to be readily mounted to structural assembly 300 so that various articles, objects, and items, such as glasses, can be readily clipped to and/or removed from clip 200 as described above for the use of clip 100.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing description with reference to the drawing figures that clip 200 is especially designed to enable and facilitate a dual form of attachment to a structural assembly, via retaining element 210 and via magnetic elements 220. In first form, clip 200 can be removably securely attached to a structural assembly (e.g., a sun visor) using retaining element 210, such as shown in
As yet another feature of the present invention, first retaining recesses 14e and second retaining recesses 14d are formed in surface 14d of second body portion 14 so as to be symmetrical about a longitudinal axis A of second body portion 14 (
It will be appreciated that by the foregoing constructions of clips 10 and 200 according to the present invention, when clips 10 and 200 are mounted to respective structural assemblies a user can selectively clip a desired item on clips 10 and 200 and remove it therefrom as described above by using only a single hand. This is made possible by the fact that clips 10 and 200 can be mounted on the structural assemblies with the requisite strength and stability as described above. Clips 10 and 200 are also configured to provide sufficient holding and clamping force, particularly when the structural assembly is subjected to movement and vibrations, such as when the structural assembly is a visor assembly (e.g., as shown in
While the exemplary embodiments described herein show clips 10 (
The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/887,420, filed Aug. 13, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/328,305, filed Apr. 7, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63328305 | Apr 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17887420 | Aug 2022 | US |
Child | 18201298 | US |