A toolbox or tool chest is a container to organize, early, and protect tools. The toolbox may be used as part of a trade, a hobby, or for do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. The tools inside the toolbox may vary based on the tools needed for the trade, the hobby, and/or the DIY project.
The present description will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various embodiments of the present embodiment, which is not to be taken to limit the present embodiment to the specific embodiments but are for explanation and understanding.
The disclosed container organizers will become better understood through a review of the following detailed description in conjunction with the figures. The detailed description and figures provide merely examples of the various embodiments described herein. Those skilled in the art will understand that the disclosed examples may be varied, modified, and altered and not depart from the scope of the embodiments described herein. Many variations are contemplated for different applications and design considerations; however, for the sake of brevity, the contemplated variations may not be individually described in the following detailed description.
Throughout the following detailed description, examples of various container organizers are provided. Related features in the examples may be identical, similar, or dissimilar in different examples. For the sake of brevity, related features will not be redundantly explained in multiple examples. Instead, the use of related feature names will cue the reader that the feature with a related feature name may be similar to the related feature in an example explained previously. Features specific to a given example will be described in that particular example. The reader is to understand that a given feature need not be the same or similar to the specific portrayal of a related feature in any given figure or example.
Toolboxes or tool chests are containers to organize, carry, and protect tools. There are various tool chests available to service the needs of carpenters, mechanics, roofers, hobbyists, do-it-yourselfers (DIYers), and so forth. Conventional tool chests may include multiple drawers, trays, and/or open cavities for storing various tools. However, while the conventional drawers, trays, and/or open cavities provide a place for a user to store their tools, the drawers, trays, and/or open cavities of the tool chest tend to become unorganized as the user uses the tools and takes the tools in and out of the tool chest. For example, a user often finds that the tool they desire to use is located beneath several other tools, causing the user to have to unload several tools to get to the desired tool or to not see the desired tool and believe the tool has been misplaced. Looking for tools the user believes are lost or removing every tool or item in a tool chest can be very time consuming, inefficient, and frustrating. Additionally, unorganized tool chests may cause the user to carry around infrequently used tools or tools that they do not need because they remain unseen or covered up at a bottom of the tool chest, making the tool chest cumbersome and heavier than necessary.
Implementations of the disclosure address the above-mentioned deficiencies and other deficiencies by providing methods, systems, devices, or apparatuses to store and organize objects. The methods, systems, devices, or apparatuses may include a container (such as a toolbox or a tool chest) configured to store inserts with modular attachment assemblies to fasten the objects to the inserts. A modular attachment assembly may include a cord and posts that may, be configured to attach to the insert to fasten the objects against the insert to hold the objects in place. An advantage of the container and modular attachment assemblies may be to store multiple objects of various sizes and/or shapes in a variety of positions. Another advantage of the inserts may be to cleanly organize objects in the container. Another advantage of the inserts may be to provide removable object holders that a user may remove when the objects are not in use and may be temporarily removed for the user to view to find a desired object.
In another embodiment, the insert panel 102 may include a modular attachment assembly 106, clamp cavities 108, and a handle hole 110. The modular attachment assembly 106 may include a cord 116 and clamp posts 118. In one example, the cord 116 may be an elastic cord, a bungee cord, a rubber band, a nylon-cased band, a stretchable band, and so forth. The clamp posts 118 may be attached to each end of the cord 116. The length of the cord 116 may vary based on the size of the objects 104, 112, and/or 114, the spacing or pattern of the clamp cavities 108, the desired tension of the cord 116 to hold the objects 104, 112, and/or 114 to the insert panel 102, and so forth. In one example, the configuration of the clamp cavities 108 may be a rectangular or square grid pattern. In another example, the configuration of the clamp cavities 108 may be a honeycomb pattern.
In another embodiment, the modular attachment assembly 106 may be used to fasten or hold the object 104, 112, and/or 114 against the insert panel 102 in a relatively fixed position. For example, to fasten or hold the object 104, 112, and/or 114 to the insert panel 102, a first clamp post 118 attached to a first end of the cord 116 may be inserted into a first clamp cavity 108. The cord 116 may then be pulled to stretched across a portion of the object 104, 112, and/or 114 to partially circumscribe the object 104, 112, and/or 114. A second clamp post 118 attached to a second end of the cord 116 may be inserted into a second clamp cavity 108 so that the cord 116 is affixed against the object 104, 112, and/or 114. In this example, when the first and second clamp posts 118 are inserted into the first and second clamp cavities 108, the cord 116 may be stretched across an outer face of the object 104, 112, or 114 (i.e. a surface or face of the object facing away from the insert panel 102) such that an inner face of the object 104, 112, or 114 may be held against a surface of the insert panel 102 in a relatively fixed position.
The relatively fixed position may be where a movement of the object 104, 112, or 114 may be restricted or eliminated. In one example, the object 104, 112, or 114 may be fixedly held against the insert such that the object 104, 112, or 114 may not move until the first or second clamp posts 118 are removed or detached from the first or second clamp cavities 108, respectively. In another example, when the object 104, 112, or 114 is fastened or held against the insert panel 102, the object 104, 112, or 114 may move within a threshold range but remain fastened and held against the insert panel 102. In one embodiment, the clamp posts 118 of a modular attachment assembly 106 may be moved around independent of each other to accommodate different sizes of objects a user may desire to attach to the insert panel 102. For example, a user may insert a first clamp post 118 in a first clamp cavity 108 at a first location along the surface of the insert panel 102 and a second clamp post 118 in a second clamp cavity 108 at a second location along the surface of the insert panel 102 to accommodate a relatively, small object. In another example, a user may insert the first clamp post 118 in a third clamp cavity 108 at a third location along the surface of the insert panel 102 and a second clamp post 118 in a second clamp cavity 108 at a third location along the surface of the insert panel 102 to accommodate a relatively large object.
In one embodiment, the threshold range may be a coplanar movement of the object 104, 112, or 114 relative to a surface of the insert panel 102. In another embodiment, the threshold range may be perpendicular or at an angle relative to the surface of the insert panel 102 such that the object 104, 112, or 114 may rotate, twist, or turn while being held against the surface of the insert panel 102. In another embodiment, when the cord 116 is elastic, the cord 116 may stretch to allow the object 104, 112, or 114 to temporarily not be held against the insert panel 102 before contracting to hold the object 104, 112, or 114 against the insert panel 102, such as when the object 104, 112, or 114 is pulled, pushed, bumped, bounced, and so forth.
In another embodiment, the insert panel 102 may include a back plate 124 and a front plate 128 that is fastened or held together by tabs 120. In another embodiment, the insert panel 102 may include a handle hole 110 for an individual to grab and/or lift the insert panel 102 to place the insert panel 102 into the container 100, remove the insert panel 102 from the container 100, and/or to move the insert panel 102. In another embodiment, the insert panel 102 may include handle holes 110 along the top side, left side, right side, and/or the bottom side of the insert panel 102 such that the user may insert the insert panel 102 in the container 100 in different orientations.
In one embodiment, the insert panel 102 may be 212 millimeters (mm) in height, 439 mm in length, and 15 mm in thickness. In another embodiment, the handle hole 110 may be 102 mm in length. In another embodiment, a clamp cavity 108 may be 11 min in diameter. In another embodiment, a spacing between two clamp cavities 108 may be 25 mm between the centers of each clamp cavity 108. The sizes, dimensions, and configurations provided herein are not intended to be limiting and may vary based on the size and/or shape of the container 100.
In another embodiment, the back plate 124 may include drain holes 122. When the back plate 124 is connected to the front plate 128, the drain holes 122 may align with the clamp cavities 108 such that a channel is formed from a front surface of the front plate 128 to a back surface of the back plate 124. For example, when fluids and/or other material enter or are deposited into one or more of the clamp cavities 108, the drain holes 122 may provide a drain for the fluids and/or other materials to exit the clamp cavities 108 so that the fluids and/or the other material may not become trapped at a bottom of the clamp cavities 108. In another example, a diameter of the drain holes 122 may be smaller than a diameter of the clamp cavities 108 so that the clamp posts 118 may be inserted into the clamp cavities 108 while stopping the clamp posts 118 from extending to the back surface of the back plate 124.
One of the clamp posts 118 may include a cavity 138 that may be configured to receive an end 135 of the cord 116. For example, the cavity 138 of the clamp post 118 may include an open portion that an end may be inserted and an opening 137 that the cord 116 may be threaded through such that the end 135 of the cord 116 may be held within the cavity 135. As discussed above, the clamp cavities 108 may include tab slots 132 that may be configured to receive the clamp tabs 130. In one example, the tab slots 132 may be configured to align the clamp posts 118 in a defined position and orientation by only allowing the clamp posts 118 to be inserted into the claim holes 108 when the clamp tabs 130 are aligned with the tab slots 132.
The sizes, dimensions, and configurations provided herein are not intended to be limiting and may vary based on the size and/or shape of the container 100.
The disclosure above encompasses multiple distinct embodiments with independent utility. While these embodiments have been disclosed in a particular form, the specific embodiments disclosed and illustrated above are not to be considered in a limiting sense as numerous variations are possible. The subject matter of the embodiments includes the novel and non-obvious combinations and sub-combinations of the various elements, features, functions and/or properties disclosed above and inherent to those skilled in the art pertaining to such embodiments. Where the disclosure or subsequently filed claims recite “a” element, “a first” element, or any such equivalent term, the disclosure or claims is to be understood to incorporate one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
Applicant(s) reserves the right to submit claims directed to combinations and sub-combinations of the disclosed embodiments that are believed to be novel and non-obvious. Embodiments embodied in other combinations and sub-combinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties may be claimed through amendment of those claims or presentation of new claims in the present application or in a related application. Such amended or new claims, whether they are directed to the same embodiment or a different embodiment and whether they are different, broader, narrower or equal in scope to the original claims, are to be considered within the subject matter of the embodiments described herein.