Key ring structure

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6332345
  • Patent Number
    6,332,345
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, October 31, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, December 25, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Gall; Lloyd A.
    Agents
    • Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Abstract
A key ring structure comprises an assembled disk, a ring, and a button. The assembled disk is formed by a lower piece and an upper piece. An annular groove is formed between the upper piece and the lower piece. The opening of the groove faces toward a circumference of the disk. The lower piece and upper piece are installed with a first recess and a second recess. The first recess and the second recess are installed with respect to one another and are installed at two sides of the groove so that the groove is formed with a movable opening; and the movable opening faces outwards. The head of the ring body is slidably installed to the groove of the disk. The head is capable of being moved out or placed in the groove through the disk. A button has a button body. The button body is installed in the disk. A restoring spring is disposed between the button body and the disk. The button is movable along the disk. One side of the button body extends outwards so as to be formed as a stopper. The stopper is movably matched with the recess for controlling opening and closing of the movable opening. Therefore, a key ring structure is formed, in which the movable opening on the disk can be opened or closed easily and conveniently, the finger will not feel ache. Furthermore, key can be placed in or removed from the key ring structure of the present invention.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a key ring structure, in which the movable opening on a disk can be opened or closed by a button axially moving along an axial direction of a disk.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The prior art key ring structure serves to place a plurality of key ring bodies for hanging more keys. Furthermore, the key ring bodies can be taken out or placed in the ring body flexibly.




The U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,858 discloses a key ring structure (referring to FIGS.


1


and


2


). The key ring structure has a disk


10


, at least one ring body


20


and a sliding device


30


. The disk


10


is placed with a ring body


20


. Each ring body


20


has an arm


21


and a head


22


. The ring body


20


serves to hang keys


40


. The head


22


is slidable installed in a groove


11


of the disk


10


. The opening of the groove


11


faces to the circumference of the disk


10


. The groove


11


is installed with a movable opening


12


. The head


22


can be taken out from or placed in the groove


11


through this opening


12


. The movable opening


12


is formed by an enlarged cross section of the groove


11


facing outwards. The sliding device


30


serves to reduce the cross section of the movable opening


12


so as to be smaller than the cross section of the head


22


, and therefore, the movable opening


12


can be closed (see FIG.


1


). Therefore, the head


22


is prevented from separation with the movable opening


12


. The sliding device


30


and the groove


11


are formed with a cross section of a channel so as to be passed by the head


22


and the arm


21


. When the sliding device


30


moves downwards radially along the disk


10


, the movable opening


12


can be opened (see

FIG. 2

) so as to be formed with a cross section of a channel. Therefore, the head


22


of the ring body


20


can be taken out or placed into the groove


11


for increasing or decreasing the number of the rings


20


.




However, in the aforesaid prior art ring, the sliding device


30


is opened through a handle


31


for controlling. The handle


31


is a smaller post and the sliding device


30


resists against a restoring spring


32


for providing a restoring force for closing the sliding device


30


. Therefore, as the user pushes the handle


31


, the operation is inconvenient and needs a larger force, even the finger will feel ache and thus the operations of taking out a ring body


20


or placing into the ring body


20


are inconvenient.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a key ring structure, in which the movable opening on the disk can be opened or closed easily and conveniently by a button. The finger will not feel ache. Furthermore, the button axially moves along the disk so as to have a large area for pressing the button body. The finger will not feel uneasy and thus passing of the ring body is convenient.




To achieve the object, the present invention provides a key ring structure comprising an assembled disk, a ring, and a button.




The assembled disk is formed by a lower piece and an upper piece. An annular groove is formed between the upper piece and the lower piece. The opening of the groove faces toward a circumference of the disk. The lower piece and upper piece are installed with a first recess and a second recess. The first recess and the second recess are installed with respect to one another and are installed at two sides of the groove so that the groove is formed with a movable opening; and the movable opening faces outwards.




The head of the ring body is slidably installed to the groove of the disk. The head is capable of being moved out or placed in the groove through the disk.




The button has a button body. The button body is installed in the disk. A restoring spring is disposed between the button body and the disk. The button is movable along the disk. One side of the button body extends outwards so as to be formed as s stopper. The stopper is movably matched with the recess for controlling opening and closing of the movable opening. Therefore, a key ring structure is formed.




The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when reading in conjunction with the appended drawing.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a cross sectional view of a prior art key ring structure.





FIG. 2

shows an application of the prior art key ring structure.





FIG. 3

is an assembled perspective view of the present invention.





FIG. 4

is an exploded perspective view of the present invention.





FIG. 5

is a plane view of the present invention.





FIG. 6

is cross sectional view along line A—A of FIG.


5


.





FIG. 7

is a schematic view showing an application of the present invention.





FIG. 8

is a schematic view showing another application of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Referring to

FIGS. 3

to


5


, the key ring structure of the present invention is illustrated. The key ring structure of the present invention includes an assembled disk


50


, at least one ring body


70


, and a button


80


.




The disk


50


is formed by a lower piece


51


and an upper piece


52


. The lower piece


51


is installed with a receiving groove


53


and a plurality of rivet posts


54


having a U shape and a round positioning hole


55


. The upper piece


52


is installed with a button through hole


56


. A centering axis of the disk extends through the hole


56


and the groove


53


. An embedding groove


57


is installed at an outer side of the button through hole


56


of the upper piece


52


. The upper piece


52


is further installed with a rivet hole


58


and positioning post


59


with respect to the rivet post


54


and the positioning hole


55


. The lower piece


51


and upper piece


52


are accurately positioned by the engagement of positioning hole


55


and the positioning post


59


. Then, by the rivet post


54


mating with the rivet hole


58


, the end portion of the rivet post


54


is separated, and thus the rivet post


54


and the rivet hole


58


are combined by riveting. Therefore, the lower piece


51


and upper piece


52


are assembled as a round disk


50


.




An annular decorating piece


62


is embedded in the embedding groove


57


so as to be more beautiful. The lower piece


51


is installed with an embedding groove


63


for being embedded with another decorating piece


64


. The decorating piece


64


is installed with characters or patterns for advertising or decoration. When the lower piece


51


and the upper piece


52


are assembled as an integral body, a round groove


60


is formed between the upper piece


52


and the lower piece


51


. The opening of the groove


60


faces toward the circumference of the disk


50


. The groove


60


is installed with a movable opening


61


. The movable opening


61


is formed by an enlarged cross section of the groove


60


. The lower piece


51


and upper piece


52


are installed with a first recess


65


and a second recess


66


. The first recess


65


and the second recess


66


are installed with respect to one another and are installed at two sides of the groove so that the groove


60


is formed with a movable opening


61


having an enlarged cross section. The movable opening


61


faces outwards.




The ring body


70


has an arm


71


and a head


72


. The ring body


70


can be hung with keys (not shown). The head is slidably installed to the groove


60


of the disk


50


so that the ring body


70


can be placed on the disk


50


. The head


72


can be moved out or placed in the groove


60


through the opening


61


of the disk


50


.




The button


80


has a button body


81


. A spring chamber


82


is formed in the button body


81


for receiving a restoring spring


83


. The button body


81


is installed in the receiving groove


53


of the disk


50


. The top of the button body


81


passes out through the button through hole


56


of the disk


50


so as to be pressed by users. The restoring spring


83


is disposed between the button body


81


of the button


80


and the lower piece


51


of the disk


50


for providing a resilient force to restore the button body


81


. One side of the button body


81


extends outwards so as to be formed as a stopper


84


. The stopper


84


is movably matched with the recess


65


for controlling the opening and closing of the movable opening


61


. By aforesaid structure, the key ring structure of the present invention is formed.




Referring to

FIG. 6

, the restoring spring


83


may push the button


80


to be axially moved along the disk


50


toward the upper piece


52


so that the stopper


84


of the movable opening


61


provides a stopper effect, therefore, the movable opening


61


can be closed (as shown in FIG.


6


). Therefore, the head


72


is prevented from separating with the movable opening


61


. The button


80


and the groove


60


are formed with a through hole for passing the head


72


and the arm


71


. Thus, the ring body


70


may freely move on the disk


50


.




Referring to

FIGS. 7 and 8

, when the user presses the button body


81


of the button


80


, the button


80


may axially move along the disk


50


toward the lower piece


51


so that the stopper


84


of the button


80


is completely received in the first recess


65


for opening the movable opening


61


(as shown in

FIG. 8

) so as to be formed with a through hole which may be passed through by the head


72


and the arm


71


. As a result, the head


72


of the ring body


70


may be moved out or placed in the recess


60


for increasing or decreasing the number of rings.




Furthermore, the disk


50


may be used to place a hook


90


(as shown in

FIGS. 3 and 4

) so that the present invention can be suspended from the belt of trousers through the hook


90


. The hook


90


has an arm


91


and a head


92


. The head


92


is slidably installed in the groove


60


of the disk


50


, as a result, the hook


90


is placed in the disk


50


. Through the opening


61


of the disk


50


, the head


92


can be moved out or placed in the groove


60


.




In the key ring structure of the present invention, the opening of the button


80


is controlled through a button body


81


. The button body


81


is operated by pressing. The user presses the button body


81


by a finger easily and conveniently and the button


80


axially moves along the disk


50


so as to have a large area for pressing the button body


81


. The finger will not feel uneasy and thus object can pass through the ring body


70


conveniently.




Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details described thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A key ring structure comprising:an assembled disk formed by a lower piece and an upper piece; an annular groove being formed between the upper piece and the lower piece; an opening of the groove facing toward a circumference of the disk; the lower piece and upper piece being installed with a first recess and a second recess; the first recess and the second recess being installed with respect to one another and being installed at two sides of the groove so that the groove is formed with a movable opening; and the movable opening faces outwards; at least one ring body having an arm and a head; the head being slidably installed in the groove of the disk; the head is capable of being moved out or placed in the groove through the disk; and a button having a button body; the button body being installed in the disk; a restoring spring being disposed between the button body and the disk; the button is movable along the disk; one side of the button body extending outwards so as to be formed as a stopper; the stopper being movably matched with the recess; the button body is movable in an axial direction which is generally parallel to a centering axis of the disk for controlling opening and closing of the movable opening.
  • 2. The key ring structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower piece is installed with a plurality of rivet posts and a plurality of positioning holes, and the upper piece is further installed with a plurality of rivet holes and positioning posts with respect to the rivet posts and the positioning holes; the lower piece and upper piece are positioned by the engagement of respective holes and the respective posts; and by the rivet posts and the rivet holes being combined by riveting; therefore, the lower piece and upper piece are assembled as an integral body.
  • 3. The key ring structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the disk is installed with a receiving groove and a button through hole, the button body is installed in the receiving groove; and a top of the button body protrudes out from the button through hole.
  • 4. The key ring structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the disk is installed with an embedding groove for being embedded with a decorating piece.
  • 5. The key ring structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein a spring chamber is formed in the button body, and the restoring spring is received in the spring chamber.
  • 6. The key ring structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the disk is placed with a hook, the hook has an arm and a head; the head of the hook is slidably installed in the groove of the disk; through the opening of the disk, the head of the hook is capable of being moved out of or placed in the groove.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Number Name Date Kind
2791899 Marien May 1957
3181321 Gits May 1965
4512168 Reitze Apr 1985
4584858 Wolter Apr 1986
5224366 Huang Jul 1993
5755127 Huang May 1998
6003352 Yu Dec 1999
Foreign Referenced Citations (5)
Number Date Country
318207 Jan 1920 DE
3017803 A1 Dec 1980 DE
2572262 May 1986 FR
614224 Dec 1960 IT
617265 Feb 1961 IT