Patent Application
20170169925
Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to tool and fastener retention devices and more particularly pertains to a new tool and fastener retention device for preventing metallic tools and fasteners from rolling off of a workbench or other countertop.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a countertop that has an upper surface supported above a floor surface. A pad is positioned on the upper surface and is comprised of magnetic material configured to retain magnetically attracted objects on the pad.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure 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 disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure 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:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A pad 18 is positioned on the upper surface 14 and is comprised of magnetic material configured to retain magnetically attracted objects 20 on the pad 18. The pad 18 is resiliently flexible and may comprise an elastomeric material. The pad 18 is thus comfortable to work on due to its resiliently compressible structure. The pad 18 has a top side 22 and a bottom side 24 wherein the top side 22 faces away from the countertop 12. The top side 22 has an area greater than 3.5 ft2 and will typically have an area less than 12.0 ft2 and more particularly less than 9.0 ft2. However, the pad 18 may be cut to size by the end user of the system 10. The pad 18 has a height from the top side 22 to the bottom side 24 that is between 0.25 inches and 1.0 inches. The pad 18 may have a first end edge 26, a second end edge 28, a first lateral edge 30 and a second lateral edge 32 such that the pad 18 has a rectangular shape.
An adhesive 34 is positioned on the bottom side 24 of the pad 18 and releasably secures the pad 18 to the upper surface 14. The adhesive 34 may be a conventional pressure sensitive adhesive. Additionally, a backing 36 may be positioned over the adhesive 34 to protect the adhesive 34 until it is needed. The backing 36 is removed from the adhesive 34 before attachment of the pad 18 to the countertop 12.
In use, the pad 18 it attached to the countertop 12 as described above wherein the adhesive 34 may or may not be utilized. When metallic tools and fasteners, or magnetically attracted objects 20, are placed upon the pad 18, its magnetic properties prevents these items from rolling and from falling off of the countertop 12.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, 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 an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure 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 disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
