PASSPORT CASE

Abstract

Described herein is a passport case that can safely store airline tickets, cards, receipts, and the like and can mount a mobile phone, a tablet, and the like. The passport case includes a case body in which a storage space is formed, a first locking part provided in the case body and configured to open or close the storage space, a cover provided on one outer side of the case body, a hinge provided inside the cover and configured to fold the cover and adjust an angle of the cover, and a second locking part configured to fasten the cover to the case body.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0050874, filed on Apr. 16, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a passport case, and more specifically, to a passport case that can safely store a passport, airline tickets, cards, receipts, and the like and can hold a mobile phone, a tablet, and the like.

BACKGROUND

A passport is an official document which certifies the nationality or identity of a person traveling abroad and requests the hosting country to protect the person. Therefore, when travelling abroad for business or tourism purposes, travelers should carry a passport which serves as an identification card. The passport has a problem in that its outer surface is made of paper, and thus the passport not only gets dirty easily, but also is prone to damage, such as wear and tear.

Due to this problem, the passport is generally stored in a transparent vinyl case, or a passport wallet, which has the same structure as the vinyl case but is made of a different material, is used. The conventional passport wallet is made of a material, such as synthetic material or a natural leather, and has a function of simply storing a passport.

Meanwhile, the passport wallet is stored in a traveler's pocket or a carry-on bag. In addition, airline tickets, boarding passes for aircraft, airline mileage cards, writing instruments, entry/exit declaration forms, customs declaration forms, storage vouchers, credit cards, and the like which are being carried when entering or leaving the country or while traveling are stored in a bag or general wallet. There are many inconveniences in keeping the passport and the carried items separately when traveling.

For example, when checking in for flight, an airline ticket should be presented along with the passport, which is an identification card, at the airline counter. However, since the passport and airline ticket are stored separately, travelers may have to look for them in different places. This makes it a hassle for most travelers who have busy schedules. This also applies to transportation boarding passes, credit cards, and the like which should be presented along with the passport when traveling abroad. In addition, there may be a problem when the passport and other traveler's items are stored separately in a bag, a general wallet, and the like, thus making it difficult to organize while increasing the risk of losing some of the items.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure is directed to a passport case which improves product efficiency and increases convenience of use through implementing various structures and functions to safely store a passport inside a case body of the passport case. It should be noted that objects of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described objects, and other objects of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following descriptions.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a passport case includes a case body in which a storage space is formed, a first locking part provided in the case body and configured to open or close the storage space, a cover provided on one outer side of the case body, a hinge provided inside the cover and configured to fold the cover and adjust an angle of the cover, and a second locking part configured to fasten the cover to the case body.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the case body includes an upper cover and a lower cover which are folded or unfolded at a center of a hinge surface, one or more fitting grooves are formed on the upper cover, and a passport holder is formed on the lower cover. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first locking part includes a locking and support member provided on the lower cover of the case body, a first magnet provided inside the locking and support member, and a first metal piece provided inside the upper cover of the case body to attach to the first magnet. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the cover includes a connection member attached to the lower cover of the case body and an auxiliary storage and mounting part which is attached to the connection member, wherein an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part may be adjusted by the hinge, and the auxiliary space and mounting part is configured to hold a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or a tablet computer.

In one example, the auxiliary storage and mounting part includes a hinge connection piece attached to the upper cover of the case body and a mounting plate, wherein an angle of the mounting plate is adjusted by being folded to the hinge connection piece through the hinge. In one embodiment, one or more auxiliary fitting grooves are formed on the mounting plate. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the hinge includes a support member provided on the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover, a hinge pin connected to the support member, and an angle adjustment member rotatably connected to the hinge pin and configured to adjust an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover.

In one embodiment, the support member includes a fixing piece fixed to the hinge connection piece, a plurality of protruding pieces extending from one side of the fixing piece, and an insert piece which extends from each end of the plurality of protruding pieces and connects to the hinge pin. In one example, the angle adjustment member includes a fitting piece into which the hinge pin connected to the insert piece of the support member is inserted to allow the angle adjustment member rotate around the hinge pin and an angle adjustment piece which extends to an upper portion of the fitting piece to be rotated around the hinge pin.

In one embodiment, the angle adjustment piece is formed such that an upper side is wider than a lower side. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the second locking part may include a second magnet formed inside the cover and a second metal piece provided inside the upper cover of the case body to attach to the second magnet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Example embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an unfolded state of a case body of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an upright state of the cover of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating the upright state of the cover of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the cover on which a hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure, is installed;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating the hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating the hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure; and

FIG. 13 is a bottom perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case, according to the present disclosure.

Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Advantages and features of the present disclosure and methods for achieving them will be made clear from embodiments described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure may, however, be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein, and the embodiments are provided such that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains, and the present disclosure is defined by only the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, in some embodiments, well-known process operations, well-known device structures, and well-known techniques are not specifically described to avoid ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure. The same reference numerals refer to the same components throughout the present specification.

As shown in the drawings, spatially relative terms “below,” “beneath,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like can be used to easily describe a correlation between one element or components and another element or components. In addition to a direction shown in the drawings, the spatially relative terms should be understood as terms including different directions of components when the components are used or operated. For example, when an element shown in the drawing is inverted, the element described as being “below” or “beneath” another element may be disposed “above” another element. Consequently, the exemplary term “below” can include all of downward and upward directions. An element can be oriented in a different direction so that the spatially relative terms can be interpreted according to the orientation.

Terms used herein are intended to describe embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. In this disclosure, the singular forms include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is noted that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” used herein does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps, operations, and/or elements in addition to stated components, steps, operations, and/or elements.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a sense commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. In addition, terms which are defined in a commonly used dictionary are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless explicitly defined otherwise.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an unfolded state of a case body of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an upright state of the cover of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating the upright state of the cover of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the cover on which a hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure is installed, FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 10 is a front view illustrating the hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating the hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure, FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure, and FIG. 13 is a bottom perspective view illustrating the hinge of the passport case according to the present disclosure.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a passport case according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a case body 100, a first locking part 200, a cover 300, a hinge 400, and a second locking part 500. The case body 100 includes an upper cover 110 and a lower cover 120 which are folded or unfolded at the center of a hinge surface 101, and a passport 1 may be stored between the upper cover 110 and the lower cover 120.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, a passport holder 130, in which the passport 1 is inserted and accommodated, is provided inside the lower cover 120. In this case, the passport holder 130 may be formed with a depth or height in which the passport 1 does not fall out even when a part of the passport 1, not its entirety, is stored. Meanwhile, the passport holder 130 is not limited to the lower cover 120 and may be provided in the upper cover 110 or in both the upper cover 110 and the lower cover 120 depending on a user's need.

In addition, at least one fitting groove 111 may be formed inside the upper cover 110 for fitting items, such as tickets and cards. In addition, the case body 100 may be of a flat shape corresponding to a size of the passport 1 so as to prevent the passport 1 from falling off arbitrarily, and the case body 100 may be made of any one or more of soft leather, artificial leather, and a synthetic resin. That is, it is desirable that an outer surface of the case body 100 is covered with a leather material that gives a luxurious image and a soft touch, and an inner surface thereof is made of a synthetic resin and artificial leather.

The first locking part 200 is provided in the case body 100 where the first locking part 200 folds the upper cover 110 and lower cover 120 to allow the passport 1 to be loaded into or unloaded from the passport holder 130. The first locking part 200 includes a locking and support member 210 fixed to an outer surface of the lower cover 120 of the case body 100, a first magnet 220 provided inside the locking and support member 210, and a first metal piece 230 provided inside the upper cover 110 of the case body 100 to attach to the first magnet 220. Meanwhile, the first magnet 220 is provided not only to the locking and support member 210 but also to the upper cover 110, and the first metal piece 230 configured to affixed to the first magnet 220 is provided on the locking and support member 210.

In this case, the locking and support member 210 may be adhered and fixed to the lower cover 120 by adhesive or sewing. Meanwhile, one of parts for fixing the locking and support member 210 may be made of a magnet and the other thereof may be made of a metal piece. Alternatively, both of the parts may be made of a magnet, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto and the parts may be fixed through various types of fasteners, such as a pair of male and female snap buttons or Velcro® tape.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a holder 211 into which a writing instrument, such as a ballpoint pen, is provided inside the locking and support member 210. The cover 300 is provided on one external side of the case body 100 to accommodate items, such as airline tickets, tickets, and cards, and the cover 300 may allow a device 2, such as a cell phone or tablet, to be placed upright.

Referring to FIGS. 6 to 8, the cover 300 includes a connection member 310 attached to the lower cover 120 of the case body 100 and an auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 which is attached to the connection member 310. In one example embodiment, the rotation and angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 is adjusted by the hinge 400, and the device 2, such as a cell phone and a tablet, may be placed on the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320. Meanwhile, the connection member 310 and the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 may be formed separately and attached to each other. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, so the connection member 310 and the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 may be formed integrally.

In this case, the connection member 310 may be fixed or fastened to the case body 100 with adhesive or sewing. In addition, the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 includes a hinge connection piece 321 attached to the upper cover 110 of the case body 100 and a mounting plate 322 configured to hold or accommodate the device 2, such as a cell phone or tablet, when the mounting plate 322 is folded to the hinge connection piece 321 through the hinge 400 so as to adjust an angle. In this case, one or more auxiliary fitting grooves 323 may be formed inside the mounting plate 322 to allow items, such as airline tickets, tickets, and cards, to be fitted.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 is preferably formed to have a length enough not to be raised to an upper portion of the locking and support member 210 when the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 is folded and brought into a close contact with the upper cover 110 of the case body 100. That is, the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 may be formed to have a length that reaches an end of the locking and support member 210 as much as possible. The hinge 400 is provided inside the cover 300 to fold the cover 300 and adjust an angle of the cover 300.

Referring to FIGS. 8 to 11, the hinge 400 includes a support member 410 provided on the hinge connection piece 321 of the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320, a hinge pin 420 connected to the support member 410, an angle adjustment member 430 provided on the mounting plate 322 of the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 where the angle adjustment member 430 is rotatably connected to the hinge pin 420 to adjust an angle of the mounting plate 322. In this case, the support member 410 is formed using a thin plate in a shape of “1”, and the support member 410 includes a fixing piece 411 fixed to the hinge connection piece 321, a plurality of protruding pieces 412 extending from one side of the fixing piece 411, and an insert piece 413 extending from an end of each protruding piece 412 to connect to the hinge pin 420.

In addition, the angle adjustment member 430 includes a fitting piece 431 into which the hinge pin 420, which is connected to the insert piece 413 of the support member 410, is inserted and which rotates the angle adjustment member 430 around the hinge pin 420. The angle adjustment member 430 also includes an angle adjustment piece 432 extending from an upper portion of the fitting piece 431 to accommodate the device 2, such as a cell phone or tablet. Meanwhile, the angle adjustment piece 432 may be formed such that an upper side is wider than a lower side. Thus, when the angle adjustment piece 432 is in an upright state at a predetermined angle, a mounting area of the device 2 expands to enable a stable mounting of the device 2.

In addition, the angle adjustment piece 432 may be formed by bending a connection portion of the hinge pin 420 upward so as not to get caught to the hinge pin 420 when the angle adjustment piece 432 is rotated around the hinge pin 420. Thus, when the angle adjustment piece 432 is folded, the angle adjustment piece 432 is spaced apart from the support member 410.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, a hook bump 413a is formed on a side surface of the insert piece 413, and a stop bump 431a is formed on the side surface of the fitting piece 431 to be stopped at a certain angle by being caught to the hook bump 413a when the angle adjustment member 430 is rotated. In addition, when the angle adjustment member 430 is rotated around the hinge pin 420, the stop bump 431a is caught to the hook bump 413a so that the angle adjustment member 430 can no longer be unfolded to maintain an angle θ in that state.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, the unfolding angle θ of the angle adjustment piece 432 may be determined depending on a user's eye level or a size of the mounted device 2 and is preferably set to approximately a maximum angle of 80 degrees, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The second locking part 500 may be affixed to the case body 100 while the cover 300 is being folded.

Referring to FIG. 4, the second locking part 500 includes a second magnet 510 accommodated inside the cover 300 and a second metal piece 520 provided inside the upper cover 110 of the case body 100 to attach to the second magnet 510. Meanwhile, like the first locking part 200, various ways such as snap buttons or Velcro® tapes may be applied to the second locking part 500.

In this way, according to the present disclosure, in a state in which the passport 1 is accommodated in the passport holder 130 formed on the lower cover 120 inside the case body 100, the upper cover 110 is covered to prevent the upper cover 110 and the lower cover 120 from being unfolded with the first locking part 200 so that the passport 1 may be stored safely, and the passport 1 may be easily taken out by detaching the locking and support member 210 from the upper cover 110 and by unfolding the upper cover 110 and lower cover 120. In addition, since one or more fitting grooves 111 are formed inside the upper cover 110, various items, such as tickets, cards, and the like, in addition to the passport 1 may be stored inside the case body 100.

In addition, since the cover 300 is provided with the hinge 400 and the angle adjustment member 430 is rotated around the hinge pin 420, the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 of the cover 300 is unfolded at a predetermined angle so that the device 2, such as a cell phone or tablet, may be mounted on the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 in a state of being supported by the locking and support member 210. Thus, the device 2 may be placed at a predetermined angle on the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 to increase the convenience of use. In addition, even when the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 is unfolded at a predetermined angle, the auxiliary fitting groove 323 is located inside the auxiliary storage and mounting part 320 so that the items fitted into the auxiliary fitting groove 323 are not exposed to outward, thus enabling safe storage.

As described above, according to the present disclosure, since a passport is stored in a case body so as not to be exposed to the outside, and a cover into which items such as tickets and cards are inserted is provided on one outer side of the case body and is stood at a predetermined angle by a hinge, product efficiency can be maximized by safely storing the passport and accommodating various items, and convenience of use and user satisfaction can be increased by standing the cover at a predetermined angle to mount devices such as mobile phones and tablets.

It should be noted that effects of the present disclosure are not limited to the above described effect, and other effects of the present disclosure not mentioned above can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the above description.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely illustrative, and the scope of protection of the present disclosure may include various modifications and equivalent examples for those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A passport case, comprising: a case body comprising a storage space;a first locking part coupled with the case body and configured to open or close the storage space;a cover provided on an outer side of the case body;a hinge provided inside the cover and configured to fold the cover and adjust an angle of the cover; anda second locking part configured to fasten the cover to the case body.

2. The passport case of claim 1, wherein the case body includes: an upper cover and a lower cover configured to hold or unfold at a center of a hinge surface;at least one fitting groove formed on the upper cover; anda passport holder formed on the lower cover.

3. The passport case of claim 2, wherein the first locking part includes: a locking and support member provided on the lower cover of the case body;a first magnet provided inside the locking and support member; anda first metal piece provided inside the upper cover of the case body to attach to the first magnet.

4. The passport case of claim 2, wherein the cover includes: a connection member attached to the lower cover of the case body; andan auxiliary storage and mounting part attached to the connection member, wherein an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part is configured to be adjusted by the hinge and the auxiliary storage and mounting part is configured to hold a mobile device.

5. The passport case of claim 4, wherein the auxiliary storage and mounting part includes: a hinge connection piece attached to the upper cover of the case body; anda mounting plate, wherein an angle of the mounting plate is adjusted by being folded to the hinge connection piece through the hinge.

6. The passport case of claim 5, wherein at least one auxiliary fitting groove is formed on the mounting plate.

7. The passport case of claim 6, wherein the hinge includes: a support member provided on the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover;a hinge pin connected to the support member; andan angle adjustment member rotatably connected to the hinge pin and configured to adjust an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover.

8. The passport case of claim 7, wherein the support member includes: a fixing piece fixed to the hinge connection piece;a plurality of protruding pieces extending from a side of the fixing piece; andan insert piece extending from each end of the plurality of protruding pieces and connecting to the hinge pin.

9. The passport case of claim 8, wherein the angle adjustment member includes: a fitting piece into which the hinge pin connected to the insert piece of the support member is inserted to allow the angle adjustment member rotate around the hinge pin; andan angle adjustment piece which extends to an upper portion of the fitting piece to be rotated around the hinge pin.

10. The passport case of claim 9, wherein the angle adjustment piece is formed such that an upper side is wider than a lower side.

11. The passport case of claim 2, wherein the second locking part includes: a second magnet formed inside the cover; anda second metal piece provided inside the upper cover of the case body to attach to the second magnet.

12. A passport case, comprising: a case body comprising a storage space;a first locking part coupled with the case body and configured to open or close the storage space;a cover provided on an outer side of the case body;a hinge provided inside the cover and configured to fold the cover and adjust an angle of the cover; anda second locking part configured to fasten the cover to the case body,wherein the case body includes an upper cover and a lower cover configured to hold or unfold at a center of a hinge surface and at least one fitting groove formed on the upper cover.

13. The passport case of claim 12, wherein the first locking part includes: a locking and support member provided on the lower cover of the case body;a first magnet provided inside the locking and support member; anda first metal piece provided inside the upper cover of the case body to attach to the first magnet.

14. The passport case of claim 12, wherein the cover includes: a connection member attached to the lower cover of the case body; andan auxiliary storage and mounting part attached to the connection member, wherein an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part is configured to be adjusted by the hinge and the auxiliary storage and mounting part is configured to hold a mobile device.

15. The passport case of claim 14, wherein the auxiliary storage and mounting part includes: a hinge connection piece attached to the upper cover of the case body; anda mounting plate, wherein an angle of the mounting plate is adjusted by being folded to the hinge connection piece through the hinge.

16. The passport case of claim 15, wherein at least one auxiliary fitting groove is formed on the mounting plate.

17. The passport case of claim 16, wherein the hinge includes: a support member provided on the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover;a hinge pin connected to the support member; andan angle adjustment member rotatably connected to the hinge pin and configured to adjust an angle of the auxiliary storage and mounting part of the cover.

18. The passport case of claim 17, wherein the support member includes: a fixing piece fixed to the hinge connection piece;a plurality of protruding pieces extending from a side of the fixing piece; andan insert piece extending from each end of the plurality of protruding pieces and connecting to the hinge pin.

19. The passport case of claim 18, wherein the angle adjustment member includes: a fitting piece into which the hinge pin connected to the insert piece of the support member is inserted to allow the angle adjustment member rotate around the hinge pin; andan angle adjustment piece which extends to an upper portion of the fitting piece to be rotated around the hinge pin.

20. A passport case, comprising: a case body comprising a storage space;a first locking part coupled with the case body and configured to open or close the storage space;a cover provided on an outer side of the case body;a hinge provided inside the cover and configured to fold the cover and adjust an angle of the cover; anda second locking part configured to fasten the cover to the case body,wherein the case body includes an upper cover and a lower cover configured to hold or unfold at a center of a hinge surface and a passport holder formed on the lower cover.