The invention relates to identifiers for individual keys in a set.
In modern societies, most people carry a number of keys for locking and unlocking their homes and cars, as well as their mailboxes, file cabinets and safes where they keep their valuable or private belongings. The keys generally have different sizes and shapes and from experience, users of the keys eventually remember which key pairs with which lock. Quite often, however, a user cannot swiftly identify the keys to unlock or lock, either due to lack of recall, low light, visual impairment, or because different keys look alike.
The user can assist the matching recognition process by arranging the keys in a certain order on a key ring or a key holder. Sometimes, people mark their keys with ink pens of different colors, so that they differentiate the keys more readily, especially if the keys look alike. Users also stick small pieces adhesive paper tape on the top parts of the keys and mark the tape. Some manufacturers provide key tags, which the users attach to keys through holes in the non-mechanical parts of the key. The key tags are then marked, often by noting the objects the keys unlock.
A number of disclosures relate to the management or identification of keys, including some relating to labeling of keys using tags that hand through the holes in keys (U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,772; US Publication No. 2005/0016040 A1, Howard, Raymond, W.). Another disclosure relates to the labeling and monitoring of large numbers of keys, using adhesive tags of different colors and different planar shapes (or different patterns on such planar shapes) and an indicia system on a reference sheet for matching colors and shapes to the keys (US Publication No. 2003/0188467 A1, Truelsen, Thomas E.). Some design patents relate to the ornamental design of key tags, which bear mostly aesthetic value (US No. D439,037 S, Kebarian, Jack N.; US No. D456,852 S, Maloney, William, C.). Other patents relate to the design of key rings or key holders (U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,768, Rieffel, Robert and Vogeli, Earnest), while yet other relate to devices, electronic or mechanical systems or computers for managing the identification of large numbers of keys (U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,195. McLaren, Michael J.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,528. Reznickenko, Yury, et al.).
Notwithstanding these various tagging procedures, there is a need for an identifier which can be easily viewed in low light, and/or which can be identified by touch. These features allow key identification by the visually-impaired, and allow users to identify keys in dark or low light. This can significantly enhance security for the user, where one is attempting to quickly open the entrance to a home or car in a potential threat situation. Additionally, quick key identification may enhance health, e.g., for a patient needing to gain access to a locked medicine for acute treatment, or one needing to drive quickly to the hospital for acute medical care.
The invention relates to coded identifiers, which can be adhered to keys, which permit identification of keys visually, in low-light conditions, or by touch. Most people have, including their personal and work-related keys, fewer than ten keys. The identifiers described herein require only limited visual acuity, are coded for fast and easy recognition and can be identified in low-light or by touch only.
Different sets of such tag identifiers identify individual keys in a set. The identifiers include a set of protrusions from a surface of the key, and identifiers for different keys may differ in the total number of protrusions, the shapes of the protrusions, and/or the color of the protrusions.
The set of protrusions for each key can be adhered to the key by placing the protrusions on one side of a support strip that is coated with adhesive on the other side. The strip is preferably placed on the portion of the key that does not enter the lock, to avoid interference with its mechanical function. In one embodiment, a set of identifiers includes up to five individual hemi-spherical or conical-shaped protrusions (with more protrusions of different shapes also possible), which can be individually colored red, yellow, green, blue, and violet (in accordance with the other of the colors in a rainbow, for easier recall) or otherwise colored, to enhance recognition or to multiply the number of combinations for additional keys. The protrusions may fluoresce to enhance identification in low light or darkness.
The protrusions can be arranged with respect to each other as a lone protrusion (for one), side-by-side (for two), in a triangular pattern (for three), in a square formation (for four), and in cross or an “X” shape (for five), or in other patterns, as desirable or where additional protrusions are present. The strip the protrusions reside on can be any shape, including round or square, and may be shaped to correlate with the shape of the protrusions it bears, such as a round strip for hemispherical protrusions and a square strip for conical protrusions.
The particular arrangements of protrusions in the respective strips 10-14 and 20-24 facilitate visual and tactile recognition, as one can swiftly and easily see or feel the difference between different protrusion patterns in each of the labels. However, other arrangements are also possible. Different colors of the protrusions can also be used, to provide additional coding or to facilitate visual recognition of different patterns. The protrusions can be different shapes e.g., hemi-spherical or conical.
As shown in FIGS, 1, 2 and 3, where 5 keys are encoded, five protrusions are preferably used for encoding, and for encoding additional keys, two or more sets of tags with distinctive features (shapes, colors, patterns or size) can be used. The protrusions can be any of a number of colors, with one arrangement of five protrusions being that the individual protrusions are red, yellow, green, blue, and violet, respectively; it in order of the colors in a rainbow. As shown in
Suitable materials for the protrusions include plastic or rubber—relatively firm and/or slightly flexible. Suitable materials for strips are flexible, like conventional tape, so it can tightly adhere to a non-uniform key surface. The surface of the strips bearing the adhesive is preferably coated with a releasable piece of thin film or paper, which can be peeled off before adhering the strips to the keys.
Plastic case 16 is preferably formed from two clear plastic sheets that can be snapped together to form the case. The case 16 should be sized so that the code on sheet 18 can be easily read, in one embodiment, the case 16 is about 3 cm×4 cm.
Sheet 18 allows decoding of the keys. As shown, along the left margin of sheet 18 is an image of a hemisphere (e.g., red in color) and the round strip it is mounted on, and the numbers “2 (in yellow)”, “3 (in green)”, “4 (in blue)”, and “5 (in violet),” and to the right side of these images are lines with blank spaces for noting in writing the locks with which the keys are paired. The other side of sheet 18 (not shown), is the same, except the red hemisphere and its round strip is replaced by a red cone and its square strip. The sheet 18 is sized to fit into the case 18. Two sets of five keys can be encoded with such a system.
It should be understood that the terms, expressions and examples used herein are exemplary only, and not limiting, and that the scope of the invention is defined only in the claims which follow, and includes all equivalents of the subject matter of the claims.