Food/drink tab/check holder

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6808208
  • Patent Number
    6,808,208
  • Date Filed
    Monday, December 16, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, October 26, 2004
    20 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Wellington; Andrea
    • Henderson; Mark
Abstract
A food/drink tab/check holder for making it easier for the customer to be able to read one's tab/check upon the receipt thereof. The food/drink tab/check holder includes a book having a front cover and a back cover being pivotally connected to the front cover and closable upon said front cover with the front cover having a side facing the back cover upon the book being closed and with the back cover having a side facing the front cover upon the book being closed; and also includes a tab/check member including a piece of paper being removably held within the book and having indicia displayed thereupon; and further includes an elongate magnifying member being movably attached to the book for enlarging the indicia for a user to easily view without having to use eyeglasses; and also includes a light-emitting assembly being attached to the book for providing light between the front and back covers upon the book being opened; and further includes a writing utensil being removably supported upon the book.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to bill holders and more particularly pertains to a new food/drink tab/check holder for making it easier for the customer to be able to read one's tab/check upon the receipt thereof.




2. Description of the Prior Art




The use of bill holders is known in the prior art. More specifically, bill holders heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.




Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,610,770; 1,567,643; 5,471,347; 4,850,680; 4,932,520; and Des. 183,382.




While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new food/drink tab/check holder. The prior art includes descriptions of various books but none having a magnifying member to enlarge the indicia printed on the tab/check.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new food/drink tab/check holder which has many of the advantages of the bill holders mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new food/drink tab/check holder which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art bill holders, either alone or in any combination thereof. The present invention includes a book having a front cover and a back cover being pivotally connected to the front cover and closable upon said front cover with the front cover having a side facing the back cover upon the book being closed and with the back cover having a side facing the front cover upon the book being closed; and also includes a tab/check member including a piece of paper being removably held within the book and having indicia displayed thereupon; and further includes an elongate magnifying member being movably attached to the book for enlarging the indicia for a user to easily view without having to use eyeglasses; and also includes a light-emitting assembly being attached to the book for providing light between the front and back covers upon the book being opened; and further includes a writing utensil being removably supported upon the book. None of the prior art includes the combination of the elements of the present invention.




There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the food/drink table/check holder in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.




In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of; other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.




It is an object of the present invention to provide a new food/drink tab/check holder which has many of the advantages of the bill holders mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new food/drink tab/check holder which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art bill holders, either alone or in any combination thereof.




Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new food/drink tab/check holder for making it easier for the customer to be able to read one's tab/check upon the receipt thereof.




Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new food/drink tab/check holder that is easy and convenient to set up and use.




Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new food/drink tab/check holder that eliminates the customer from having to dig out one's eyeglasses to read the tab/check or to squint one's eyes to try to red the tab/check.




These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:





FIG. 1

is a front perspective view of a new food/drink tab/check holder according to the present invention.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to

FIG. 1

thereof, a new food/drink tab/check holder embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference numeral


10


will be described.




As best illustrated in

FIG. 1

, the food/drink tab/check holder


10


generally comprises a book


11


having a front cover


12


and a back cover


13


being pivotally and conventionally connected to the front cover


12


and closable upon the front cover


12


. The front cover


12


has a side


14


facing the back cover


13


upon the book


11


being closed. The back cover


13


has a side


15


facing the front cover


12


upon the book


11


being closed. The book


11


includes a first pocket


19


being conventionally disposed upon the front cover


12


, in particular, upon the side


14


facing the back cover


13


; and also includes a second pocket


20


being conventionally disposed upon the back cover


13


, in particular, upon the side


15


facing the front cover


12


and being adapted to hold a credit card


33


therein; and further includes a clip


21


being conventionally attached to the back cover


13


, in particular, to the side


15


facing the front cover


12


. The book


11


further includes a first elongate slot


17


being disposed in an outer longitudinal edge


16


of the front cover


12


and extending from near a bottom edge through a top edge of the front cover


12


, and also includes a second elongate slot


18


being disposed in the front cover


12


, in particular, in the side


14


facing the back cover


14


near an inner longitudinal edge of the front cover


12


and extending from near the bottom edge through the top edge of the front cover


12


. The second elongate slot


18


has an L-shaped lateral cross-section. The clip


21


includes an arcuate-shaped member having a first end being conventionally attached to the back cover


13


and also having a free being spaced from the back cover


13


. The inner longitudinal edge of the front cover


12


is pivotally and conventionally attached to an inner longitudinal edge of the back cover


13


.




A tab/check member


22


includes a piece of paper being removably held within the book


11


and having indicia


23


conventionally displayed thereupon. The indicia


23


displayed upon the tab/check member


22


includes listings of food/drink items purchased by a customer, and also includes prices for the food/drink items purchased by the customer. The tab/check member


22


is removably inserted in the first pocket


19


.




An elongate magnifying member


24


is movably attached to the book


11


for enlarging the indicia


23


for a user to easily view without having to use eyeglasses. The elongate magnifying member


24


includes a generally flat bar portion


25


being movably disposed upon the front cover


12


and comprising a magnifying lens for enlarging the indicia


23


displayed upon the tab/check member


22


, and also includes end portions


26


,


27


being removably received in the first and second elongate slots


17


,


18


, and further includes a handle tab portion


32


being integrally attached to and extending outwardly from one of the end portions


26


for the customer to grasp to move the elongate magnifying member


24


along a length of the front cover


12


and upon the tab/check member


22


. The end portions


26


,


27


of the elongate magnifying member


24


have L-shaped lateral cross-sections to effectively support the elongate magnifying member


24


upon the front cover


12


.




A light-emitting assembly is conventionally attached to the book


11


for providing light between the front and back covers


12


,


13


upon the book


11


being opened. The light-emitting assembly includes an elongate light-emitting member


28


being removably and conventionally attached to the back cover


13


, in particular to the side


15


facing the front cover


12


, and also includes a power switch


29


being depressibly and conventionally disposed upon the back cover


13


, in particular, upon the side


15


facing the front cover


12


, and being conventionally connected to the elongate light-emitting member


28


, and further includes a battery


30


being removably and conventionally disposed in the back cover


13


and being conventionally connected to the power switch


29


for energizing the elongate light-emitting member


28


. A writing utensil


31


is removably supported upon the book


11


. The writing utensil


31


is removably clipped to the back cover


13


with the clip


21


.




In use, the user would place the tab/check member


22


in the first pocket


19


of the book


11


behind the elongate magnifying member


24


, and would present the book


11


to the customer who would open the book


11


with the elongate light-emitting member


28


becoming illuminated upon the power switch


29


being let out and turned on which energizes the elongate light-emitting member


28


. The customer grasps the handle tab portion


32


of the elongate magnifying member


24


and moves the elongate magnifying member


24


upon the tab/check member


22


which magnifies and enlarges the indicia


23


printed upon the tab/check member


22


so that the customer can easily read the indicia


23


.




As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.




With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.




Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the food/drink tab/check holder. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.



Claims
  • 1. A food/drink tab/check holder comprising:a book having a front cover and a back cover being pivotally connected to said front cover and closable upon said front cover, said front cover having a side facing said back cover upon said book being closed, said back cover having a side facing said front cover upon said book being closed, said book including a first pocket being disposed upon said front cover, in particular, upon said side facing said back cover; and also including a second pocket being disposed upon said back cover, in particular, upon said side facing said front cover and being adapted to hold a credit card therein; and further including a clip being attached to said back cover, in particular, to said side facing said front cover, said book further including a first elongate slot being disposed in an outer longitudinal edge of said front cover and extending from near a bottom edge through a top edge of said front cover, and also including a second elongate slot being disposed in said front cover, in said side facing said back cover near an inner longitudinal edge of said front cover and extending from near said bottom edge through said top edge of said front cover; a tab/check member including a piece of paper being removably held within said book and having indicia displayed thereupon; an elongate magnifying member being movable received in said first and second slots for enlarging said indicia for a user to easily view without having to use eyeglasses; a light-emitting assembly being attached to said book for providing light between said front and back covers upon said book being opened; and a writing utensil being removably supported upon said book.
  • 2. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 1, wherein said second elongate slot has an L-shaped lateral cross-section.
  • 3. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 2, wherein said clip includes an arcuate-shaped member having a first end being attached to said back cover and also having a free being spaced from said back cover.
  • 4. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 3, wherein said indicia displayed upon said tab/check member includes listings of food/drink items purchased by a customer, and also includes prices for said food/drink items purchased by the customer.
  • 5. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 4, wherein said tab/check member is removably inserted in said first pocket.
  • 6. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 5, wherein said elongate magnifying member includes a generally flat bar portion being movably disposed upon said front cover and comprising a magnifying lens for enlarging said indicia displayed upon said tab/check member, and also includes end portions being removably received in said first and second elongate slots, and further includes a handle tab portion being attached to and extending outwardly from one of said end portions for the customer to grasp to move said elongate magnifying member along a length of said front cover and upon said tab/check member.
  • 7. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 6, wherein said end portions of said elongate magnifying member have L-shaped lateral cross-sections to effectively support said elongate magnifying member upon said front cover.
  • 8. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 7, wherein said light-emitting assembly includes an elongate light-emitting member being removably attached to said back cover, in particular to said side facing said front cover, and also includes a power switch being depressibly disposed upon said back cover, in particular, upon said side facing said front cover, and being connected to said elongate light-emitting member, and further includes a battery being removably disposed in said back cover and being connected to said power switch for energizing said elongate light-emitting member.
  • 9. A food/drink tab/check holder as described in claim 8, wherein said writing utensil is removably clipped to said back cover with said clip.
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