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This invention relates to a combination locking puzzle gift box for use with gift cards, cash, and other small items.
The present inventor received a U.S. Pat. No. 8,517,193 in 2013 on a combination locking bottle holder for use with wine bottles or other gifts that can be enclosed within a bottle. The device uses tumblers with indicia that, when aligned to a preset five letter code word, allows the locking mechanism to be opened and the entire bottle or gift to be withdrawn. The product is intended to be a novelty puzzle and game item. After market research, it has been found desirable to have a smaller sized novelty product that can act as a combination locking puzzle gift box for use with smaller items such as gift cards, cash, coins, notes, etc. The solution for this application has required inventing an entirely new locking mechanism to work within a thin compact enclosure assembly. This new invention can be produced in various materials and can be scaled in size for use as a lock box for other commercial applications that require securing larger sized items. In its current application, as a retail puzzle/game product, it can be manufactured with a minimum number of parts, cost, and required assembly.
There are a number of inventions and products on the market related to combination lock boxes. “Prescription Drug Lock Box” U.S. Pat. No. 8,944,263 and “Combination Locking Storage Container” U.S. Pat. No. 8,939,301 both to Small (author of this application) show combination lock boxes with primary use for securing medications. “Locking Pill Bottle U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,415 to Corbin & Warner show a receptacle with a combination locking cap.
Other locking devices such as “Locking Container” U.S. Design Pat. No. D747606 to Serell again show a hinged locking container.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a combination locking puzzle gift box for use in giving a present of money, gift cards, or other small items in a novel way having the following advantages which are:
(a) to provide a new interactive game for exchanging gifts by means of solving clues to find an unlocking code word that can be used to open a puzzle box;
(b) to create a novelty product that is simple to manufacture at high volume production levels;
(c) to create a gift puzzle that requires the fewest number of unique parts and which uses a minimum amount of materials
(d) to provide a combination locking puzzle that permits easy setup of a personalized unlocking code word;
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
The present invention provides a combination locking puzzle gift box that can have different embodiments, each with its own advantages depending upon end use application. For promotional marketing uses, it may be desirable to produce large volumes of the product that are all set to an identical unlocking code. Alternatively, it may be preferable to allow end users to set up their own personalized unlocking codes when exchanging gifts. Although materials could vary for various applications, the preferred manufacturing method for producing the components is plastic injection molding. The invention is designed with minimal use of parts and is currently shows use of three dials for the combination (three letter code word), however it could easily be adapted for use with greater or less number of dials.
The invention consists of a drawer, a cover, and plurality of dials. The drawer has a locking rib with gaps or notches along its length. The cover assembly has three concentric dials nested inside of each other and assembled to the cover. Each dial has a cylindrical locking wall beneath it that projects beneath the cover. With the drawer inserted, the locking walls intersect, rotate, and pass through gaps provided in the drawer's locking rib. Each locking cylindrical wall has one break in it. The breaks are angularly aligned with unlocking code indicia on the front of the dials. When the unlocking code is positioned under a marker on the cover, the breaks coincide and are centered to locking rib thus allowing the drawer to be freely inserted or withdrawn from the cover assembly. With the drawer inserted, and cover assembly in a locked state, where one or more dials having the code indicia not aligned with the marker, the full portion of locking cylindrical walls intersect through the gaps in the locking rib and prevent the drawer from being withdrawn.
The following descriptions and drawings illustrate various embodiments. There is no single preferred embodiment. Each has advantages depending upon its intended end use and application. Each embodiment may require different materials or need be sized to provide greater mechanical strength or rigidity. The drawings and descriptions below do not imply or suggest any specific dimensions, wall thickness, or materials. Likewise exact values for fits, allowances, tolerances, etc. are not specified.
A first embodiment of a combination locking puzzle gift box using dials with integrally formed indicia is illustrated in
Accordingly, the reader will see that combination locking puzzle gift box of this invention can secure small items such as gift cards, cash, coins, paper notes, etc. and can be used as a novel way to give a present. In its simplest embodiment, its mechanical function relies upon just three basic elements: a drawer, cover, and a set of dials. In applications where end users may wish to set and reset personalized unlocking code words, an embodiment that uses adhesive backed labels as means for applying indicia to dials may be of advantage. Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the various embodiments of this invention. Different materials, or combinations thereof, could be used in manufacture of the embodiments. Such materials could include but are not limited to metals, plastics, woods, or laminates. Manufacturing processes used for producing the components could include plastic injection molding, die casting, investment casting, forging, machining, among others. The design could be altered to utilize more or less than three dials and sized appropriately. The means for retaining the dials to the cover could be accomplished by other methods including but not limited to heat staking, ultrasonic welding, or uses of mechanical components. Other language alphabets, colors, symbols, etc. could be used for indicia, and the number of indexing positions on each dial could be greater or less than a twenty-six letter alphabet. In addition, the invention is not limited to just gift cards, cash or thin items. The scale of the box could easily be enlarged and have greater volume to accommodate larger items and be useful in other application aside from gift giving. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than the examples given.
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